My Indie Game Launch was a Failure - Steam Sales Numbers & Lessons Learned
Вставка
- Опубліковано 27 тра 2024
- Summit on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/14...
After a little over a year after I launched my 2D Metroidvania Summit I wanted to do a retrospective on what I would do better next time and how much money the game made (spoiler: it didn't make me rich).
Stay tuned for a new game development journey soon!
00:00 Intro
01:44 Sales Numbers
02:10 Lessons Learned
06:17 On the Bright Side
07:58 What's Next? - Ігри
99 percent of devs logs I see on UA-cam never launch a game. Congratulations on that huge milestone.
THIS! I have released a little game on the xbox360 indie section and honestly the learning experience of this is much more than starting and giving up on lots of projects. You cannot buy what you learn, I hope his game does pick up it seems a bit insane how hard it is to get games known these days.
Should of released it on the switch those guys will buy any garbage on the store
This is the #1 reason why I didn't start one, hah. Also, who has time for that? I'm making a game and working a day job, I can't make videos too, that's insane.
@@ghostradiogamesI relate more to this point of view than to the author one. There is not enough life time and life force to work and to do an actual side project. Not everyone can win the Olympic game and make a record, but there will always be few. More to this point: it is quite psychotic to persuade only the highest bars. While you have no war outside - have a chilly evening and appreciate it.
@@nugget9458 must… not… respond… to… this… bait… and… switch… comment.
You launched mate, that's not a failure! I think the hardest part is uploading the final build and pressing release :) Onwards!
It is a failure.
@smokinjoe9415 not half as much as your life
@@smokinjoe9415And how many commercial successes have you released on steam?
ITS NOT A FAILURE IF SOME CHECKBOXES EXIST.
1. Was it your first game?
2. Was it something you made mostly on your own, or with a few people involved?
If these two questions are answered with Yes. It wasn't a failure. Because I opened the app. I saw the game. Lots of parts in this "game" is just learning and using parts of game features.
example,
* Rope swing, originated from "Worms"
* Levels design are the same in most games. Using VFX, using parallax, blur, depth-perception
* Hub worlds (towns) to buy items from
* Item shop which require state management of inventory, health, and attributes points
* 2D travelling methods (bridges, slopes, elevators, mine carts, ...)
* Maps, progression, save points
Lots of its is core things you need to have in 2D platformer that (first time) takes time to learn, memorize and understand fully. You now possesses that knowledge. This is extremely valuable. Onto the game itself, It has a great premise. The idea of climbing comes with many challenges and possibilities for surprising experiences.
--- Imagine yourself playing the game. The game should be fun. And it probably is too! But when you released the game. Did ANYONE know it was released? Did the word spread by people online? Was it considered something that people was "excited" to get their hands on before release?
@@Vistorri 67
"Building a game is so incredibly hard that you really cannot afford to build it on an idea you're only half passionate about"
That quote is pure gold.
Thank You for the informative and quite inspiring video and wish You luck in future productions.
Then what is the bare minimum? Two-thirds? Three-quarters?
Two thirds and three quarters of that final third. :B@@austinreed7343
Making a 10 hour long game with fully hand-built content as a part-time solo dev takes and iron will. Looking forward to seeing what you have in mind for your next project!
And it takes a very strong character to see the game then "fail", decide to learn from it rather than be down, and look towards how one can improve the next project.
Hey, you shipped a game and learned the right lessons, for a very first commercial game that's a success! You should be proud!
As someone who released a *somewhat* successful game, here are other things I learned:
- Start with a very short game. If you want to make a game in 6 months, imagine a game that could be made in 2-3 months.
- Playtest your game a lot, every month/2 months or so. Even when you think you won't learn anything valuable, you will!
- Invest money in your key art. Pay someone to make it if you're not skilled enough in art. It's such an important part of you game getting noticed on Steam!
- Manage expectations: in your communications, trailers, Steam page etc, don't hesitate to state what your game is and particularly what it is not. Very important for reviews.
Best of luck with you future projects!
I think Thomas Brush would tell you that all of this is part of the success of failing forward. Many people never even finish the process of actually releasing the game. Keep moving forward!
Recently I watched a documentary about Bethesda.
The most important thing about it was that they were constantly testing the game at every step. They have the whole testing procedure there. They give the product to the testers and observe in silence. Maybe create a demo of the next game and share it on steam, advertise it on YT and ask people what they like and what they don't like, I know that many people do it and it works.
@@wPeniSwiadomy kinda fascinating to hear since Bethesda is known for their many bugs.
YES! Listen to this dev. ART matters. Visuals MATTER. If the game was 70% shorter and artistically eye catching it would have sold 100x more.
I think the art style was a major factor in the game's failure. As you said, it's hard to stand out and art style can make or break an otherwise good game.
nah art does not mean anything, gameplay is the key! Look at games like dwarf fortress ascii, vampire survivor and minecraft.
@@Mangeurdemouton You have a point to an extent but I think those games were able to sidestep artstyle because of outstanding gameplay. But if you just have good gameplay than you are among thousands of games that are also "good" and not outstanding". In which case having an great artstyle can lift the game up to greatness and get it noticed.
It's a balance.
@@Mangeurdemoutonexception is not the rule.
I agree. I am illustrator and concept artist and I think he made an awesome job considering he have not an art education. But yeah, it doesn't stand out at all. It looks quite generic and amateurish. He would benefit a lot collaborating with an experienced artist for his next project.
@@Mangeurdemouton Minecraft looks unique, it have its own aesthetic. And have also a unique and never seen before gameplay. The other 2 I don't know them but probably shine a lot in terms of gameplay. And last but not least, I think marketing and social media is an important thing in the sucess of a game launch.
I am not sure I've heard "play testing" even once. It's a shame people don't understand the value of play testing. Giving the opportunity to see other people interact with your game will make a world of difference.
Ok mr know it all
Very good point.
Love how easy it is to criticize. I know as a solo hobbyist dev myself with pretty much NO social media presence and no desire for one, finding players to play test and to market to is not only hard, but practically impossible without 'building' that social media presence.
@@fictitiousnightmares So you literally have no partner, no parents, no coworkers, and no one in the whole world who you can ask to play your game? Okay, I respect that. But dude. You have reddit with a million subs with some of them bound to be interested in what you build. You are one post away from play-testing.
@@ImpreccablePony Oh, so your definition of 'play testing' is having 1-3 people who will most likely lie to you because they are friends/family play it then? smh Come on, use some common sense. And you making up random numbers about Reddit and not even talking about any specific subreddit doesn't help anything. Also, reddit has that weird ass thing where you have to have points or thumbs up or some crap over time even to post or respond on it. I tried and stopped using it years ago because of that crap.
Hey man, appreciated your post mortem here. I'm a solo dev who shipped a massive SaaS B2B project a few years ago, and have made a whopping $500, with a net costs of around $6k (hosting, PO box, and local tax). So just here to say that I resonated a lot with some of your points. I also at one point reached a development hell, and realized I needed to ship or I might never ship. The result was the project worked but lacked enough features to really drive organic traffic. Marketing was also not my strong point so there was very little of that, and as a result many people never even saw it!
What kind of project did you build?
Congrats on successfully releasing a game!
What you learned from this game will help you a lot in your next one!
Thanks for the kind words and thanks for stopping by. Your channel has been a huge inspiration!
I absolutely know this... We released game a month ago and it is a failure... about 250$ before steam cut. But like you said, lessons learned...
Exactly! All the best for your next game!
@@NicNac2451 Thanks, you too! By the way, I will buy Summit today! As developers We have to support each other!
@@NicNac2451 Thanks! You too! By the way I bought your game today, I think as developers, we should support each other!
Congrats on being one of the few people who have actually released a commercial game though!
@@fiveprime7968Thanks!
You have a released, good looking, well designed, complete game on Steam... I do not see a failure there. No no no! Sales numbers do not defined failure nor success! I see a great accomplishment here. Keep updating the game based on feedbacks. Good luck.
Well said and just by what I see, I can already see he has what it takes to be successful in game dev. I believe if he had a publisher and marketing, his initial launch with this game would of been a lot different.
Cope, money defines success
The art style is too reminiscent of yearly and mid 2000s flash games. Which for me gives the gut reaction of a basic game with one single mechanic, you play for free for 30 minutes then never again.
But don't feel discouraged. What you did is already an incredible achievement. I know how hard it is to work on your free time on a project like this. I've been making an android app I hope to publish this year. And having to project manage myself, plus my social life, plus my ADHD is terrible.
Seeing someone able to complete a project, regardless if it's successful or not is a great inspiration.
I too would have passed the game up as an asset flip Shovel ware style game if not for this video. Now it is Steam wish listed. So even this video may have helped market the game.
I'm trying to figure out why the art style throws me off so much and i think it might be those ground textures. They're not as artistically shaded as the rest of the areas. They're just flat dirt or flat stone and they take up a lot of the foreground.
I'm trying to remember any 2-d games that I like doing that. I think most will put different interesting little filler or easter eggs in or just shadow the area so it isn't as noticeable. Think Terraria or Aquaria.
yeah the art style is lacking and the large head characters remind me of old toddler cartoons my kids use to watch. the general design is very basic too. people want to play as cool creatures or interesting otherworldly characters in crazy enviroments that are unique
Just what I wrote a minute ago, almost using the same words. Pretty neat, I think our feedback has some merit.
I just posted this! Everything else seems perfectly serviceable but then the graphics are such a turn off. Not that they're terrible but like you said. Just gives off Flash vibes and people associate a certain feeling to that.
@@Fickji Because you can tell it was made by an amateur so it looks cheap lol.
If a professional artist worked on it the colour pallete would be consistent and not all over the place for starters.
I'd be really proud if I were you of the end product. It's no Ori or whatever but I still think it has its charm.
Honestly dude as a programmer > artist, your art is excellent. Great video and reflections, thank you for sharing!
Wrong, it looks bad
Sorry to hear that. Chris Zukowski says that you need at least 2 games to get a good shot at being profitable and most studios quit after the first one, so you're on the right track!
Good luck with your future development and thanks for sharing this.
Part of our faults are sometimes to set an expectation against a back drop of a type of people that might not match up.
That being said, the truth is you have already put yourself up there in my opinion, the top 1%. I only see great work ahead of you and wish you your best success.
Thanks for the true and kind words!
Just the fact that you got to release is amazing. Especially with a project lasting 3 years! Most solo game developers lose interest and never look back, so all power to you for sticking with it. Game marketing is a beast of its own for sure. Gathering 1.000 wishlists is still good!
Good luck in the future, hopefully I can get my game to release in 2024 🙄
Not a failure, this is an inspiration. I’m new to game dev. Like you, I’m a programmer and not an artist but I have always been driven to create things. I look forward to your next game!
As someone that likes to work on mini projects and then leave them at the side - you did a fantastic job at rounding off a project into a total product. As others have said - not many get to this stage and you did.
In a recent podcast I was listening to - they were talking about the reasons you go in and do something. "Did you lose all that time for no monetary gain?" or "Did you learn so much during that time that the learning is the value out of what you did and that's what you value?". If you think of the second more -- you have a good chance at doing great things.
Based on this video, it sounds like you're the second type now ;). Good luck for your next project - I'm sure you'll learn a lot more and produce something better!
(I've wishlisted your game for when I next have some time - looks right up my street!)
I would say artstyle hurt this the most. I'm only speaking based on footage, but the mechanics and setting are cool. Just screams flash game. Solo dev is so frustrating because your limitations are GLARING as you continue your project.
I disagree, I think the art style is pretty decent actually. Fantastic graphics are not a necessity in games and if you read one of his very few positive reviews, it even mentioned how beautiful the game was.
@@fictitiousnightmares It doesn't have to have "fantastic" graphics and if we're being blunt the artstyle looks like a child learning Flash did it. Stop arguing points no one brought up.
@@manashieldworld Are you not educated enough to comprehend the English language you are using? Points that no one brought up? You literally said "I would say artstyle hurt this the most" I responded "I disagree, I think the art style is pretty decent actually." I then added to my comment with a relevant statement about games not needing fantastic graphics AND that I am not alone in disagreeing with your statement as the review itself stated it was a beautiful game. Thomas was Alone is all rectangles for christ's sake. West of Loathing is stick figures.
Get the hell off your high horse already. Your opinion does not trump mine or anyone else's. I will argue any point I want, especially ones that WERE brought up but you can't comprehend the English language enough to realize apparently.
@@fictitiousnightmares No one argued it needs to have fantastic art either. No one brought up whether or not a single individual liked the artstyle. The guy who made the video/commenters literally agree with my statement.
I'm glad you think 1 is more than 100. Smart guy you are.
@@fictitiousnightmares When I see a game with this art style I pass on it instantly. Just looks cheap.
I'm sure many people have the same reaction.
You made a bunch of great points. And I think your art looks polished. Good luck on round two!
Congrats on being able to ship it, Dominik! I'm a solo dev too so hope to get to that milestone soon. Really appreciate your candor. Best of luck in your next endeavor!
Congrats on actually finishing and publishing a game. Many indie devs don't even get to that point. Initial launch is critical but sometimes there's games that still find their audience after release.
I think art styles and satisfying animations are the most important factor for a game's sale. Then comes gameplay and game design
Congrats on shipping your game! My piece of advice that I've seen other devs lean heavily on, is playtesting. That first negative review was mostly critical of the controls. Controls might feel good to you, but maybe the majority of the play-testers will reveal what you're too comfortable with it to notice? Anyway, my #1 thing to do after making sure the art direction, and basic stuff is where you want it, is to playtest. Good luck with game #2! Never stop doing what you love. =D
a possibly interesting way to introduce the game and have it more zappy at the start is have him be fully capable, you do a small mission then fall and get injured, lose your equipment, and you need to build back up?
Exactly! Typical Metroid intro, that is part of the magic.
Metroid 101! Yes!
Thank you for the post-mortem of your indie project. It takes courage to create one, but it's very helpful to others... and yourself. Good luck, man!
Great perspectives shared here man. There’s an itch that only making a ten hour metroidvania passion project can scratch and you did it - that’s awesome. I’m excited to see your next project!!
Huge achievement. Well done and thank you for sharing your experience. You are well on your way to indie game success with Summit ad your first release.
The fact that people actually bought your game and that some actually enjoyed it is actually a huge achievement already in my opinion.
I think you can also consider making a "Summit Remastered" by working with an artist, and playtesting with a community etc. You've put a lot of effort into this game and you can probably pivot it to the point where it gets the attention it deserves!
It took me 4 games on Steam to make significant money. The way I see it as a solo dev, I can’t make my ultimate dream game, so I make games based on my life experiences. Short and polished is what finally gave me some success
Releasing a game is already a significant achievement that many people never reach. You can be proud of yourself !
Launching a game is a huge success. It's rare to succeed with the first effort.
Most important thing here is that you didn't give up. Sucks that summit didn't do the numbers (might still randomly go a little viral at some point) But you are ready to jump in and go for the next one. That is the right attitude and i wish you great success on round 2.
Surely this video led to many more sales? The artstyle of this game looks great, and way better than most new-dev platformers.
Congratulations on getting a game published. This is such a hard thing and it sounds like you learned a ton. Good luck on the next one!
No such thing as a failure, you learned and now you also have code that can be used in future projects to save time. Congrats on the release, it is a big step for most devs!
From what I've seen in this vid, I believe you did a really nice job for your first release. It might not have made that much money right now, but the learning experience is invaluable. And you made it to the finish line without giving up beforehand, even thinking about new projects after release. The mental aspect is important too, especially as a solo dev. Keep at it, maybe toy with the idea of smaller (scope) projects. I believe you have that spark in you to eventually create something special, alone or with likeminded people. Good luck!
Don't think I have ever made a comment on a UA-cam video. However, your honesty and sharing of mistakes is something I have tremendous respect for. May your future projects be blessed.
I added your game to my wishlist. It looks beautiful and I love this type of art.
And you grew your channel. Keep sharing :)
Someone already said it here, but first off, you finished a project, that’s epic. Well done on closing it out and getting it out the door.
👏
I was always dreaming about creating my own game and it's inspiring to see your optimism and how you look at this as a learning experience bringing you further in your goals.
Kudos for even getting to the finish line in the first place. Imho not just Metroidvania style platformers are overcrowded but also in general simple indie games are a very oversaturated market.
I work as a dev and I think game looks pretty cool. Some parts of the art looks good like the trees while the stones look a bit harsh though. Imoressed you released it. Congrats!
While it is true that the metroivania genre is over saturated at the moment, what is more important is to make the game stick out from the very beginning, and that's a very challenging thing actually, I think Celeste is a perfect example of this. Focusing on the important part of the gameplay, the gameplay loop, that has to be so polished that is always fun regardless of how many hours you play.
On the art side of things, I personally think the art style is perfectly fine, it is beautiful in some parts even, however art is not only beautiful tilesets, level design and world building is very important and it doesn't stick out in your game. Take a picture of a zone in your game, what does it tell? does it show you the way? How does world building affected it? Why is X in your level? Then composition, giving impressions and trying to give the player emotions through the environment and story.
Other games might require other things to focus on, but in a metroidvania the world and exploring it comes first, if the world is not unique, interesting and tells an story on its own, and it's fun traversing, it's not going to make people want to play it.
Lastly, marketing is very important, letting your game be known before hand, showing progress and having a steam page to accumulate wishlist, and way before launch making a marketing campaign, like a teaser, and publish it in many social networks, if the marketing fails, there is no way to get to know your game in the first place, even more so if the market is saturated, it will be lost in the hundreds of other games, it doesn't matter if your game is good or not, if it's not seen, it's not going to be played.
Hopefully this helps you out in your next game, think of what your next game's fundamentals are and make sure to make them stand out and be fun, that's for sure going to give you some good push in the right direction, good luck!
Nice work the game looks fun! I hope you more luck on your future games!
Pro Tip if you set your launch discount to 40% people tend to think your game is an Asset Flip/bad game 10% - 15% is typically what people normally set it as.
Hmm, that's interesting. I guess 40% was indeed a little high to start with. Guess I have to put in some work to nail the Steam basics next time.
That's very subjective. I can say one thing though, setting discount less than 20% will not send an email notification to people that wishlisted the game.
@@JoXeRUU i mean you might day that but I have never seen a game that had a discount that was more than 20% have legit positive reviews
Also I believe you get a "free" marketing push the your Wish listers the first time you discount to 20% so that can help you by releasing at 10 - 15% off and then after you have fixed the majority of the repeating issues people complained about and building your wishlist think about doing a 20% one to trigger that.
Agree. Author needs to have more confidence in their creation.
Congrats on your release mate. Thanks for sharing your story.
8:34 those words are extremely valuable.
Thanks for share your experience as an indie game developer 👍.
I hope your next game have better luck.
Hi!
I dont know you, but I'm proud of you! You finished it and you published it, NICE! I'm currently in the phase of creating a Demo for my own steam game. Sometimes its hard to keep the motivation to continue developing the same game for this long. You did well!
What a great experience and video! Keep developing!
Love the video! Thanks for sharing your experience! I think the game is definitely something you can be very proud of and it is great that you have motivation for the next project!
Cannot wait to see what you come up with next!
Thanks! All the very best for your upcoming launch as well!
You're right about making smaller games first. I've been making games commercially for 11 years. My first few games did terrible, but they were small games I made in a few months. My last game took 3 years to make too but I already had 7 years experience at that point and I was able to breakeven at least. Keep on learning game dev! Good luck!
It's amazing that you finished and released a metroidvania, I'm sure you'll do better for the next game.
Congratulations on launching your game ! This is just a step in hopefully a long and successful journey
People have given you support so I'll give you the critique.
All you need is a uniform, appealing artstyle. Right now the game looks like code came first and art was a secondary mandatory goal so you used what was available and it ended up looking a bit like South Park.
Whatever you do, be it doing it yourself or hiring someone, get concept art to remind you where the path is and keep it uniform. Have vision first and analyze what makes the style, then go by those rules and only stray from them if it is needed to emphasise something (think of the girl in red coat in Schindler's list). Humans are amazing at finding patterns and if artwork can't bring the stupendous amount of variety a real environment does everything sticking out catches your eye and looks wrong.
That being said, congratulations for being one of the few who actually finish and release a game. You made it.
First of all, congratulations on actually shipping the game. Most people don't even get this far.
I made similar experiences like you but back in 2017, when we shipped our (a good friend of mine an me) game. We worked on it 2 years and some of that time even as full-time devs. We too had the issue with quantity over quality, but we only realized this on retrospect. Our game had art that was commissioned to outside 2d artists, but of course that cost quite a bit of money and unfortunately, while the art is nice, it wasn't "flashy" enough to stand out. And I think this made it a hard sell overall.
We sold somewhere between 1500 and 2000 units since launch in 2017, which is not enough to even recover the cost of making the game. But I do not regret it and gained a ton of experience through it.
Actually releasing a game is such a great achievement. Well done!
As sign of appreciation, you now have my subscription and i'm going to buy the game and play through it.
Congrats on launching your game. Making games is one of the hardest things to do. There are so many skills you have to learn, so props to you Sir.
When you launch a game on Steam, you've succeeded. Game dev is a journey and you've successfully completed a milestone. Take the win my friend. Congratulations on your release. Subbed.
Congrats on releasing your game. I am also working on a indie game its been 4 months and its not easy at all! Thanks for the inspiration tho
Bro was doomed when he decided on Metroidvania/Platformer. Much respect for putting the numbers out there
Nice video. Good work on releasing your game. Good luck in the future.
I think your art has a nice charm to it, it reminds me of South Park aesthetics. That being said, it could be an interesting experiment (or video idea) to pay a professional artist to create all the visual assets for this game and reskin it, which would be easy considering it looks like you used bone based animation. You could also pay for a small amount of marketing this time around to see if what kind of difference marketing and visuals have on a game using the same gameplay mechanics. I also realize you might be completely burned out on this project by now, but thought I would share this anyways. Good luck with whatever project you work on next and congrats on seeing this project to completion!
Unique ideas of mine that you can steal:
Titan Takedown. You are looking at back of character. Think tomb raider view. You can only run left and right. Miles away in the background are titans attacking a city. You run left and right shooting at them. They occasionally throw stuff at you.
Idle FPS: This one I have about 70% done and playable but gave up on it. Works with pc but best for mobile. I designed it with mobile in mind. Top of screen is a first person view. Character auto runs around Quake style and blasts baddies. You don’t control him. Bottom of screen is a swipeable menu where you upgrade him. Spend coins on faster fire rate, more health and weapon damage etc etc. an idle….fps. On pc you can put the upgrades at bottom of screen or make it so it’s a menu that pops up. In mine, I made him break the fourth wall like Deadpool does. He knows he is in a game. “Hey, kid. I need an upgrade” he speaks to the player. Camera can go from first person to above view. He doesn’t pick up health or other pickups, you have to by tapping or clicking on them when you see them. If you miss one as he runs by it, change cam view to above view and tap it. I was going to release it but got lazy and super focused on school work. (At university for Computer Animation so kind of gave up on game design for now.)
Crusher. Again, made with mobile in mind. You have a ball and chain. Upgradable. You use your finger or mouse to grab end of chain. 2d side view. You swipe in circles and make the ball swing around. Release. It flies forward similar to how angry birds works. It smashes into buildings. Get score. Upgrade. Etc.
Anyways, I’m an artist and semi good animator.can make sculptures and 3d models pretty good too. If you ever want help, I’m down. Free of charge.
Congratulations on everything you've learned and done!! It's incredibly impressive.
For visual side I use AI and it's much harder that anyone think. I spent months creating workflows for consistent art style, tilesets, creating good normal maps, trying different models and tools, etc. But now I can accelerate with only small details to fix.
My first ever launch went pretty damn well. Keep going bro!
You did great! I think your work is good, and ends out to me a tremendous experiencie. Now you know where and how to get better! i'm sure your next games will be a selling success!
getting this recommended shortly after deciding to start getting into gamedev seems like a sign. can't wait to bring out my first failure. cause even if it fails it'll quite honestly be the most enriching experience of my past decade. thanks for the motivation
Very cool, I mean the success of launching a fully fledged game! I'm not one for metroidvania type games but I wouldn't mind taking yours for a spin!! Best of luck on your next endeavor!
I’ve tried to something but I don’t think I’m cut out for it, too hard and I unfortunately I really lack motivation so I admire anyone who can get as far as you have so congratulations on that, don’t give up and keep doing it if you enjoy what you are doing.
Purchased 🙂 I will mention this video and the game to others I know both in the retro community (since I think it will have some appeal there) and in the games industry where I work, perhaps some of my colleagues will try it out. I'm not particularly influentional so I doubt I will exactly cause a stampede 😄 But I think the value for the price makes this a no-brainer really, to anyone interested in Indie games. Huge congratulations on your launch, I love seeing labours of love like this reach the finish line.
Better than my work. I haven't been able to publish a game yet because I always thought it wasn't good enough.
It’s not a failure if you enjoyed making it and you learned from the experience.
Thanks for sharing your experience
Amazing work man, doing this amount of work all by yourself is something huge! Based on what you shared on this video I'm sure you will be able to eventually make this profitable! Huge milestone!
Great video mate! Love your style and insight!
Just ship it! Congrats man, onto the next one!
I just want to say don't give up quite yet. You've learned a lot about finishing a game and launching it, but there's still more to learn about post launch support. (Also, you launched during a Steam festival amongst several huge indie releases: Manor Lords the #1 wishlisted game, Hades 2, V Rising, etc.)
You have to realize that one of the strengths of digital products is that you can edit your copy live, change your trailer, update the first 10 minutes of the game to be snappier, A/B test things, buy ads, and participate in Steam sales. There are plenty of games that didn't sell well at launch but sold well later.
You'd be surprised at what a new trailer + intro fix + reply to negative reviews + ads + sales combo can do.
Ich werde es mir demnächst mal zulegen. Es sieht schön aus und das Einzige, das mich abschreckt ist der Metroidvania-Faktor, da ich eigentlich nicht wirklich auf solche Spiele klarkomme. 😄 Aber ich probier's auf jeden Fall mal aus. Ich wünsche Dir aber schon mal viel Erfolg bei Deinen weiteren Projekten! 🙂
Thanks for sharing your insights! You rarely see people speaking of failures, so it's very refreshing to see yours! Learning from failures is great, so don't give up! Take your ideas and build us THE game that goes through the roof and that we love to play
Thank you for sharing this! your knowledge and experiences are so valuable!
the sheer scale of your game is insane, i would not call this a failure at all!
You just gained an invaluable experience, that's for sure!
Really feel it mate. I've had a huge inspiration boost when Manor Lords released as well as when I found the series of Game Maker's Toolkit about the Magnet over Mind. I'd really love to make a game. Started last week just to realize yet another time that as a pure programmer it's super hard for me to create a game. So I kind of parked the idea and am trying to actually learn to draw and do pixel art now. Hope I can keep my motivation, but unless I learn it there's no practical way of ever creating a game on my own... and it's doable. So I guess I just need to spend some time on drawing, then I can start with a game :)
Don't remember who said it but: If your an indie dev, start marketing your game the same day you start making it.
For primarily a developer and not an artist, your game looks really good. Thanks for sharing!
Gratz on releasing a game. Huge accomplishment!
Just some thoughts as a fellow indy dev, although I did work in the "pro" industry long ago. Art is subjective and I don't think your art style is 'ugly'. I would argue that art has much less to do with a game's sales than people think- unless the genre is known as a showcase for cutting edge graphics. World of Warcraft didnt have cutting edge graphics at release and Minecraft has very primitive graphics, although they do have distinct styles. The platformer genre is indeed crowded, that is very true. In my view, your problem is marketing and engagement. You basically have to build a platform (community) of people eager and frothing for the release of the game. This is tedious because I (and I suspect most others) would greatly prefer crafting their game vs. making constant posts to twitter, FB pages, Twitch, Discord, and others. Its a full-time job by itself. This is hard to do after release because anticipation is a powerful force. Unfortunately, I don't have a solution for you (or anyone else that reads this), just 1 piece of advice: Sit on your game until you have that community dying to get their hands on it. Use a 'vertical slice' to dangle 'bait' to buyers. PS: Modern unpublished authors are laboring under the exact same circumstances- big publishers expect them to have a 'platform' in place before signing them. PPS: I know its hard after such sales numbers but I would soldier on. If you can make Summit 2 a success, it will have a 'phoenix effect' for the first 1.
After 15 sec in the video I understood why the game failed. But gratz on making one!
Mate, you've released a game. You've already accomplished more than vast majority of aspiring devs (myself included). Failure is a step to success, not its opposite.
Working on a game like you've described - free from expectation of making huge money, and just doing it for the craft - is the way to go as indie, and one of those days you'll make a great game.
Subscribed to keep an eye on you and what you make in the future.
Thanks, enlightening video. Main takeaway for us newbies, don't start with a Game Project that'll take 3 years. Strat with something much more simple and develop a following. But as many other note, you succeeded in launching so now you know all the challenges and pitfalls. Well done. I liked the climbing idea, but was it too difficult to relate to? Maybe you should focus on your 'new hook' which will generate interst in your next game. Thanks again and good luck.
You don’t make art because it’s profitable, you make it because you love to make it.
You created a full game and launched it. That’s an amazing achievement. I am not even able to work on an idea for more than 2 weeks 😅.
The effort is what its about my guy!!! Keep it up kumpel
Thanks for your honest video! I'm in a similar position working on a tycoon game in Godot.
The first lesson "platformer market is overcrowded". I'd say that is a very macro problem, where I could see it affecting the sales of a large release but not a small one like this one. As an example, if a game from a big studio needed to make 10 mil but only made 2 mil because of a crowded market, I could see that. But a game making 300 dollars because of a "crowded market" isn't likely the main cause.
An important lesson for many people out there, especially those, who dream of growing rich after release by "throwing a bomb like minecraft, just need the idea and some coding to be done". I'm hearing such phrases way to often. They see the storys of the two or three indie projects within a decade that achieved such an impact... but the DON'T see the millions of projects that either never finished or never repay for the maker, but still consumed years of their life. I'm sorry for you it didn't work out, especially as the market really needs fresh wind besides some of these big, well-known publishers who get damned more and more from the players.
I really wouldnt say your art style is bad. I think it looks fantastic actually. Honestly the main challenge any indie developer is going to have is standing out in a crowd. Continue to promote this game via socials when you can - it could be a slow, consistent burner in your portfolio. It looks very well made.
a right eye candy will get people playing even its not polished enough, as an artist says details is a must on which the eye can rest or take notice.