Mixtapes

MIXTAPES is a project in Godot 4.2 that groups together 9 short games intended to be sold at a short price.

Also in Github : https://github.com/Falme/Mixtapes

Why?

Indie game developers typically spend months or even years creating a single game for release to the public. However, it is evident that creating shorter games would be beneficial for both developers and players.

The project's intentions are as follows:

• To incentivize the production of shorter games
• To release and sell a bundle of 9 short games
• Each game is short, ranging from 10 to 15 minutes
• No demos, but they can be used as publicity for the developer
• Offer a small price, making it accessible to everyone
• Collaboration among various developers in a Mixtape to help reach new players
• To serve as a response to layoffs in big game companies
• To fight against game company colonization

The Mixtapes were inspired by Alejandro Quan-Madrid's Mixtape.

Developing and publishing games doesn't have to be difficult; we can create themed Mixtapes about anything for anyone.

Quick Start

• Unzip the file "Mixtapes.zip" with zip, 7zip or similar
• Run "Mixtapes.exe" to open the collection
• Select a game to open in the 3x3 grid

There's some dummy projects in the Mixtapes collection, to change to your games check the Usage section.

Usage

To start adding your games to the Mixtapes, first open your Mixtapes unzipped folder and open the "Games" folder, there you will find 9 folders called:

• Game1
• Game2
• Game3
• Game4
• Game5
• Game6
• Game7
• Game8
• Game9

These are the folders that your games will be in, so we can use the Folder "Game1" as an example.

Open the "Game1" folder, delete all the contents except "mixtape_info.txt", this is the information data for loading your game.

Copy your game files and paste in "Game1" folder. Then update your game info inside "mixtape_info.txt".

Let's make an example that your game is called "My Own Game", that the developer is called "Lucas", the image file of your game is called "backgroundBanner.png" and the EXE file of your game is called "MyOwnGame.exe". So your mixtape_info.txt file must be something like:

TITLE:My Own Game 
AUTHOR:Lucas 
ART:backgroundBanner.png 
FILE:MyOwnGame.exe 

With that information, the Mixtapes can read and play your game when selected.

Just open the Mixtapes.exe and your game could be selected and played normally.

Do Not Rename the Game1 Folder , this is a Engine Compiled Level identification of the directory.

What Games Should I Add to a Mixtape?

Whatever game you want, if you want to sell or not, if you want to compile your favorite games, the end of the universe is the limit.

What I, Falme, reccomend is:

• Short Personal Experiences
• Length of 10 to 15 minutes, or a single mechanic for infinite game
• Not fully code Polished, No one will look at your code or care about it (bugs can be fun too)
• In an open-source game engine, like Godot, so it's fully yours
• With a Theme, like Educational Games or FPS Shooters or Roguelikes
• Gather 9 different Developers to make 9 games, from Veterans to Students/Beginners
• If you gonna Sell it, make sure you work with someone you trust or have an accountant
• If the Mixtape is not enough or need to change, Change it! Do it!
• Not dependable of a server, so the game could die (unplayable) in the future
• Not demos, a full short experience, If people liked it they will reach you

And last but not least, grow the short games community, talk to people, show your games to events, you will have 9 games to show to people, they can choose one or nine to play on the spot.

Disclaimer : At the moment I have only coded for Windows machines, but this will change soon.

If you want some examples, this is a list of short games to be inspired to : https://itch.io/c/6160/small-is-beautiful