Building the Buzz - Where did you hear about Orbz?
by Jay Moore · in General Game Discussion · 09/30/2003 (9:53 pm) · 11 replies
Ok... I'm the marketing guy at GarageGames, and I'm always curious about the way in which people come to discover our games. As Orbz continues to increase in popularity its nice to find out what got you playing. So if everyone could humor me and answer a few informal questions it will help us continue to build the awareness of this great game.
1. How did you find out about Orbz? (Where did you download the demo from, did someone personally tell you about Orbz)
2. What caught your interest? (Screenshot, name, game description, someone telling you about it)
3. Where would you expect to find out about a game like Orbz? (online game site, download site, magazine, at school)
4. How do you describe this game to other people or what do you think addicted you to Orbz? (single player challenges, online matches, player rankings)
5. Have you recommended Orbz to other players?
Thanks in advance for your feedback.
1. How did you find out about Orbz? (Where did you download the demo from, did someone personally tell you about Orbz)
2. What caught your interest? (Screenshot, name, game description, someone telling you about it)
3. Where would you expect to find out about a game like Orbz? (online game site, download site, magazine, at school)
4. How do you describe this game to other people or what do you think addicted you to Orbz? (single player challenges, online matches, player rankings)
5. Have you recommended Orbz to other players?
Thanks in advance for your feedback.
About the author
Serial / parallel entrepreneur, insight merchant, sailor and red wine enthusiast. Co-founder of BitRaider, out to change the game. An original partner in GarageGames and hosted Indie Game Con `02-`05.
#2
10/01/2003 (10:12 am)
I heard about it from some guy I was sharing an office with at the time...
#3
2. the demo!
3. online game site, download site
4. an easy to learn game, very hard to master, perfect for LAN-play
5. yep
10/01/2003 (10:31 am)
1. I found out about it on garagegames.com :)2. the demo!
3. online game site, download site
4. an easy to learn game, very hard to master, perfect for LAN-play
5. yep
#4
Including all the current distributions of Orbz (GG Win, GG Mac, GG Linux, Real Arcade, and Shockwave) and both demo and retail stats - there were 75,500 solo matches and 40,750 online matches in just September alone.
That's 105 solo matches and 57 online matches per hour!
10/01/2003 (3:56 pm)
This is a great thread Jay, I'm excited to see the answers to these questions. On another note I just calculated the stats from Orbz for Septemeber (which was a record settings sales month for Orbz). Check this out:Including all the current distributions of Orbz (GG Win, GG Mac, GG Linux, Real Arcade, and Shockwave) and both demo and retail stats - there were 75,500 solo matches and 40,750 online matches in just September alone.
That's 105 solo matches and 57 online matches per hour!
#5
2. high quality game for Linux - there still aren't a huge number of commercial games for Linux, although it is slowly changing for the better. The ranking system keeps me coming back for more!
3. see answer to #1
4. I tell other people that you're an orb shooting at stars in a 3-d environment. I then show them screenshots on the garagegames web site after getting a confused look of what I just told them! The network play with online rankings keeps me addicted - probably too much, but that's another story ;-)
5. yep... a friend of mine bought the game after downloading the demo and playing a few online games. We were looking for a network game to play while he is in Windows & myself in Linux.
Keep up the great work of supporting other OS's out there besides Windows. If it weren't for Linux support, I wouldn't have heard about the game at all (much less buy a Windows game). At least you have the tools available to make cross-platform support easier (Torque Game Engine) & the desire to do so!
10/06/2003 (7:52 am)
1. The Linux Game Tome - www.happypenguin.org - probably one the the best sites to announce Linux games2. high quality game for Linux - there still aren't a huge number of commercial games for Linux, although it is slowly changing for the better. The ranking system keeps me coming back for more!
3. see answer to #1
4. I tell other people that you're an orb shooting at stars in a 3-d environment. I then show them screenshots on the garagegames web site after getting a confused look of what I just told them! The network play with online rankings keeps me addicted - probably too much, but that's another story ;-)
5. yep... a friend of mine bought the game after downloading the demo and playing a few online games. We were looking for a network game to play while he is in Windows & myself in Linux.
Keep up the great work of supporting other OS's out there besides Windows. If it weren't for Linux support, I wouldn't have heard about the game at all (much less buy a Windows game). At least you have the tools available to make cross-platform support easier (Torque Game Engine) & the desire to do so!
#6
2. It is a damned good game, and it is available for Linux.
3. As 1
4. The online play, and ranking is what keeps me coming back for more...
5. Yes
10/13/2003 (2:17 pm)
1. I found orbz via Linux Games.com2. It is a damned good game, and it is available for Linux.
3. As 1
4. The online play, and ranking is what keeps me coming back for more...
5. Yes
#7
A way to maybe to create more interest would be offer lots of $$$$ to anyone who holds onto no.1 for a week without slipping, this would perhaps make up for not running round with a bl***y gun and macho image which seems so attractive to the masses.
Even a rumor would stir up a bit of interest .
03/17/2004 (1:56 am)
Apart from Star Control the only games i've played are M.B & Orbz, M.B demo was on Mac. mail site for free, when i went to buy it i noticed Orbz was mutli-player. That's how i found it. I have recommended it to 7 players.A way to maybe to create more interest would be offer lots of $$$$ to anyone who holds onto no.1 for a week without slipping, this would perhaps make up for not running round with a bl***y gun and macho image which seems so attractive to the masses.
Even a rumor would stir up a bit of interest .
#8
03/17/2004 (5:28 pm)
I found out about orbz by looking on RealArcade. I wanted to try out some new games with my new software so i decided to check it out and i found out that this game is like the best game ive ever played in my life. Its soooo addictive cant stop playin.
#9
i told all my friends about orbz but i don't have alot of friends that get into games! But as for me i wouldn't want to play any thing else on my pc
Shakey Bonez
04/13/2004 (1:06 pm)
I downloded the demo from shockwave and at first didn't take to it and just let it sit on my system for about a month before buying it! then i got bored oneday and fired it up and next thing ya know i am addictedi told all my friends about orbz but i don't have alot of friends that get into games! But as for me i wouldn't want to play any thing else on my pc
Shakey Bonez
#10
2. Watching my son play it.
3. no comment
4. Agree w/ others, the online is the most addictive.
5. Not yet but likely would if appropriate.
04/20/2004 (7:06 am)
1. My son was begging me for a month to register it. He found out about it via MarbleBlast, which I'd dloaded from .mac. 2. Watching my son play it.
3. no comment
4. Agree w/ others, the online is the most addictive.
5. Not yet but likely would if appropriate.
#11
10/08/2021 (2:56 pm)
So the game isn’t dead yet and next year is the 20th Anniversary of it coming out. Biggest problem I have is finding people who own a computer anymore to play it since the game hasn’t been updated in forever there isn’t a iOS or tablet version which is very sad but for anyone who wants to play again for old times sack I made a Facebook and messenger for orbz to try to get the community back. All info you need can be found here including course pack 6 and there is also a working online server now. https://www.facebook.com/103211945476487/posts/103215808809434/?d=n 
Torque 3D Owner Gareth Davies
1. Err I was at the IGC when they announced it :)
2. See 1.
3. I personally usually only ever find out about games if they're mentioned on the game news sites I read (these days only really Blues News and Penny Aracde). And apart from word of mouth that's about it. I never go out of my way to find games.
4. I haven't yet found a way to accurately describe Orbz to anyone with any degree of success. I like Orbz it's a good game, and the current version is very polished. But I have no idea how I could sell it to myself without playing it. "Yeah it's about collecting stars with err Orbs" just doesn't cut it with the counterstrike players. And despite the initial thoughts of it not being suitable for that segement I actually think it's ideal. Orbz is a skill based game, very very few random elements. If you lose it's because they were better than you, not because they got some lucky random head shot.
5. All the time, but I seldom can even get people to play it. Which is a shame, since I think once you have a critical mass of people playing it the others would follow.