How about "Not Dyson (but really it is)"

'Parachute', after dandelion seeds.

$20?! That's pretty steep for such a simple game. C'mon guys, $10 is where it should be at.

So... Did the vacuum cleaner guy threaten to sue?

@Anonymous - $20 isn't steep. Support indie game developers!

from what i gather, the game isn't as simple as the early version we played a year or so ago; it has 30 levels, whereas that old version just had the one. given that, $20 is reasonable.

A name change worries me, they could very well lose the momentum the game has built thus far. :-/

BUT... $20 is fair. We pay three times that for most mainstream games, and this way we get to feel all fuzzy on the inside.

P.S. Edmund's name = winnar.

$20 seems definitely steep and will hurt sales alot.

Edmund, quick! Enter that name! ;-)

On a more serious note, the game has grown MASSIVELY over the last 12 months we have been working on it. Among other things it has a single player campaign with 25 levels, 8 endlessly replayable skirmish level, loads of new features and content, new AI, and quite importantly, we worked really hard to get LUA script integrated, so it is completely open to modding. For example, somebody can create a random level generator with it if they want. Plus there is 2 hours of really good music from Brian Grainger to enjoy. :-)

So everything together makes it quite a different prospect from the little 6 level demo that people have played so far.
Fact of the matter is that we worked long and hard to develop it to a level where we really think we are offering a big chunk of indie gaming.

Also.. 25% off! :-D

My 2nd name submission is
"$20 isn't steep. Support indie game developers!
"

How about "Grow"

Can someone please explain to me what the differences are between this and the already awesome freeware Dyson?

Yserbius, I have outlined a few major differences 3 posts above, but there are other ones as well. :-)

Rudolf

The full game has 30 levels; 2 hours of music; modding and user level support enabled.

Plus if you liked the freeware version that much you could consider buying it to retroactively support us ;)

The new demo will be pretty much limited to what's in the current release, 6 levels, less music, and we'll have user levels disabled. As a free user you'll obviously still benefit from our graphical, UI, AI and other improvements :)

I do hope the changes have improved things. I had a brilliant time with the demo until I realized the only consistently viable strategy was to be aggressive, aggressive, aggressive. If you tried to get a balance of defense and offense, you were toast.

Defense trees were generally useless, since as long as you maxed out offense trees and pumped units, you were guaranteed victory. Units did as good a job as defense trees at defending the base, and they could also pick up and leave while more spawned.

Even with this discovery the game is insanely atmospheric and intriguing, but there wasn't enough strategy to make it anything more than a relaxing, pretty diversion at that point. Which makes me very curious to see how the final version stacks up.

I'm also excited for modding and user levels; that's always a great way to add to a game's shelf life.

Hope the game sells well, despite the eyebrow-raising price tag.

Yeah, I'm not going to get into defending the price tag :) Ask me by PM on our forum or by email if you want know what I think about it.

I stole this from my own blog, for those wondering about the reason behind the old name:

"The game was named after physicist Freeman Dyson (b. 1923), a true renaissance man who studied and formulated ideas about everything from theoretical physics to nuclear engineering to quantum field theory (which is really just the tip of the iceberg). Dyson proposed the creation of a Dyson tree, a genetically-engineered plant capable of growing on an asteroid."

UncommonAssembly, your blog is most excellent!

Very nice Dyson writeup as well, but that is beside the point. :-)

Loving the blog too. Subscribing to it right away.

I hate to say this, but I happen to think "Dyson" is the best name for it. It is the name people recognize. Other than that... "SeedStar" "Pollination" "Tree Grounds" "SeedSphere" ...i can keep going....

Kenny, by all means do keep going.:-) Put it all in an email, and submit your name suggestions. That way there is more choice for us and a chance for you to win something back for your help. :-)

You're abandoning the perfect name. Name it Dyson.

Anyone capable of confusing a quiet strategy game about robots colonizing asteroids with a vacuum cleaner manufacturer probably isn't bright enough to play the game anyway, no?

call it Tyson.