I think a lot of people are like me and use the Wishlist as a tool to track games I'm "potentially interested in buying someday when my backlog allows it and a good sale is going on" and less as a tool to track games I'm "100% going to buy right at launch at full price." I personally rarely buy games at launch anymore, simply because my backlog is big enough that I'm in no rush to add anything else. If a sale on a game comes along that is too good to pass up, I'm buying, but I'm also willing to wait months or even more than a year before committing to making a purchase. Even something like Sea of Stars which is a relatively large-budget indie game where I said from the first time I saw the trailer "WOW, I am going to LOVE that game"........ I still haven't bought it yet! Because I'm not in a rush. It's not going anywhere and I've got plenty of "WOW, I am going to LOVE that game" games to play in the meantime that are still in my backlog. So while it's great for game developers that it has never been easier in the history of mankind to create and publish your own game, it's also the most competitive time in the history of mankind as well for that same reason. And consumers only have so much money and time, so they have to prioritize. That's at least how I see it. Sorry your game didn't do better than it did. But if it is any consolation, the only reason I came to this video right now is because I was looking up a review of it so that I could decide whether or not to buy it since it is part of the Steam Spring Sale. So perhaps you'll make another sale soon! Giving the demo a shot. But I also think it's a one-in-a-million chance that a developer's debut game is going to be successful when there is no marketing involved. So certainly I'd say that should be your biggest lesson from this. I don't remember how I came across your game (maybe it was in a Best Indie Games video?), but unless you're featured on a sizeable indie showcase channel or sponsor a prominent streamer to do a gameplay video of your game, I don't see how you'd have any real chance of making a big splash. Best wishes in your future endeavors! Update: Played the demo. Enjoyable time. Will go ahead and pick this one up. Cheers.
Thank you for honest response! This is actually what I expected. The reason wish lists don't convert to sales is obvious to me: it's like saying you would be down to study tomorrow, but then when the time actually comes and you have to face the reality of it, most people will bail out. Besides, a lot of the people wishlist to express support and encourage you, they don't really plan on buying the game.
Yeah, i thought it would be interesting to share the conversion rate since everybody is always talking about wishlists and how important they are, but in reality, it seems that they are not as useful as I expected. Its still a number that gives you some info on what to expect so at least that :)
@@TheCaecus1 It could also be the case that someone noticed wish lists had been a good metric, but then they told others about it, and so naturally others started inflating wish lists by telling viewers to wishlist and so on, and so it stopped being a representative metric. I don't know how much you've told your viewers to wishlist, but that might have influenced the numbers too.
The reason why only 2% of the wishlisters have bought the game is that most of them were having the game on the wishlist for years. For example, I have wislisted the game, but I had no idea it came out, because I have like 100 games on my wishlist, and I constantly get notifications, which are usually not that interesting. I was not actively looking for the releas of Ascendum, because I wishlisted it years ago, and kind of forgot about its existence until now.
Interesting, thanks for the info, i guess the wishlists are not as effective as i thought. Probably the game needs some mega marketing close to release, so that people, even the one who wishlisted, remember it exists :). Good to know for the future
Thanks :), Dont worry, I will advertise it for the next couple of years for sure xd. I am quite interested to see the numbers over longer periods of time, since everybody always talks only about the release.
С удовольствием попробую ваше демо. Про 2% вишлистов - я сколько ни слышал разрабов больших и маленьких проектов, они упоминали про конверсию в 1%, так что у вас вышло даже лучше :) А на счет маркетинга, может книга Сергея Галёнкина "Маркетинг игр" сделает из вашего следующего проекта мегахит. Удачи в вашей геймдев карьере!
passion is king, you definitely learned a lot during this experience, and I'm 100% sure that your next games will have much better marketing strategies !
I'm gonna be honest here, i did buy and play ascendum solo for about 45 minutes. The game was just too hard for me as a solo player so i requested a refund, which i eventually got. It's not that i didn't like the game, the art, music and gameplay were fun during the puzzle levels. However when that first chase sequence came up i tried for about 15 minutes and barely got past the first 5 jumps. I knew then that i could never beat this game solo, and since my friends aren't into indie games or puzzle platformers, i had to refund the game. However i did just now leave a positive review, so hopefully that somewhat helps! I'm still going to play mendacium whenever that comes out, as that is much more up my alley. Controlling two characters at once is too much for me, but just the one should be doable :D
Thanks for being honest, I completely understand. The solo gameplay is quite a challenge until you get used to the commands. I would surely recommend playing co-op over solo since its easier and way more fun. I feel sad that you didnt get to experience some of the later levels since there are some really nice puzzles, but thanks anyway, i appreciate the feedback :). And dont worry, im not planning to have the player control more than 1 character for future games ;)
As a fellow game dev student, your videos and games have inspired me massively... will definitely play Ascendum in the near future with my girlfriend. Keep it up :)
Thank you for sharing and I am sorry to hear that, as I am considering making a game and trying to find out if it's practical. Regarding the wishlist, it's very interesting to know what more realistic conversion rates are (for new solo devs without a huge YT following). Maybe they are waiting for discounts like I do since I feel guilty not waiting for a discount when knowing it will eventually happen and I have tons of other games to play until then. Or maybe I'm just cheap :P
Actually I did see this game promoted on the "Best indie games" yt channel and it looked quite interesting, the only reason I didn't personally buy it is because I don't know who to play it with - and yes I know it can be played solo, however I already have a backlog of around 100 solo games to be played, and I assume there's more people with the same mentality. Perhaps one way to fix this is do what "It takes two" has done, which is including a "friend's pass" version of the game, in which you cannot get any achievements or trading cards, from which you'd be able to play the game with someone that actually owns it. And here's the second point - local coop, most my friends don't live nearby and playing locally is a bit of an annoyance, it would be nice if the game supported online coop, and yes I know that's not easy to implement, but if you have some spare time to try to add that feature, I think it'd be a nice addition! Regardless, good job on the game! I did end up getting it, however won't play it until I find someone else to play it with, then might leave a review on steam.
@@TheCaecus1 Yup i know! last time I tried it, it required one of us to own a controller, whereas most my friends and myself are kbm players, but I'll surely give it another shot. I know there's a bunch of workarounds but an average person browsing steam might not wanna deal with all that, even if it's a few simple steps. Sorry about the disappointing launch, best of luck turning it around!
You can hire marketing agency thats less effective but thats an option. Dont work with publishers they will never give u good deals. They usually take like 50% to 60% and ask for ownership of the IP
@@TheCaecus1 yeah but do the math it does not work. Publishers have to give u a bad offer like 50%. Cause even if they sell 20k copies at 15usd they only get 105kusd after steam cut assuming its a 50-50 split. 105kusd is not enough considering they paid u some money to make the game like 30k usd and did all the marketing
Yes, but with some publishers you can make a deal where they give you money upfront, so it makes sense that they would get 50% of the sales, since you kinda already got the money. Tho its probably criminal to see the full numbers and then what you as a dev actually get xd. Im not big fan of either options being Publishers and payed Marketing, but i will do some research for the future projects just to be sure.
I've done some marketing for games, like unbound: worlds apart, but I have to say if the developers themselves aren't pushing hard to do it, it doesn't really work
Just my 2 cents here. I wishlist a lot of games just so I can track them for whatever reason. Not because I actually want to buy them on release. But maybe in the future if I've time and want to play something new. I've over 110 wishlists right now. Needless to say that I won't buy them all. I even sort them out once in a while, since I notice I'm not interested enough and won't play it ever. I 'guess' many people do it like me. Not exactly but, you know. Just so they have a list where they can quickly hover over interesting games.
I would say co-op games in general are a bit niche. Liike, am interested in a game, but I have no desire, for now, to be hitting people up, because it's a hassle. And solo seems a bit too hard, ngl. Also, I don't remeber getting a notification, even tho it's wishlisted. On topic of promoting - got a rec today by yt and it seems quite a valid strat, maybe of use to you. it's by Valadria - Steam game marketing gold.
Ascendum is really beautiful and smart puzzle platformer! The game and the developer himself deserves much more attention❤️
I think a lot of people are like me and use the Wishlist as a tool to track games I'm "potentially interested in buying someday when my backlog allows it and a good sale is going on" and less as a tool to track games I'm "100% going to buy right at launch at full price." I personally rarely buy games at launch anymore, simply because my backlog is big enough that I'm in no rush to add anything else. If a sale on a game comes along that is too good to pass up, I'm buying, but I'm also willing to wait months or even more than a year before committing to making a purchase. Even something like Sea of Stars which is a relatively large-budget indie game where I said from the first time I saw the trailer "WOW, I am going to LOVE that game"........ I still haven't bought it yet! Because I'm not in a rush. It's not going anywhere and I've got plenty of "WOW, I am going to LOVE that game" games to play in the meantime that are still in my backlog. So while it's great for game developers that it has never been easier in the history of mankind to create and publish your own game, it's also the most competitive time in the history of mankind as well for that same reason. And consumers only have so much money and time, so they have to prioritize. That's at least how I see it.
Sorry your game didn't do better than it did. But if it is any consolation, the only reason I came to this video right now is because I was looking up a review of it so that I could decide whether or not to buy it since it is part of the Steam Spring Sale. So perhaps you'll make another sale soon! Giving the demo a shot.
But I also think it's a one-in-a-million chance that a developer's debut game is going to be successful when there is no marketing involved. So certainly I'd say that should be your biggest lesson from this. I don't remember how I came across your game (maybe it was in a Best Indie Games video?), but unless you're featured on a sizeable indie showcase channel or sponsor a prominent streamer to do a gameplay video of your game, I don't see how you'd have any real chance of making a big splash.
Best wishes in your future endeavors!
Update: Played the demo. Enjoyable time. Will go ahead and pick this one up. Cheers.
I'm sad now, I really enjoyed Ascendum! It deserves more.
Thank you for honest response! This is actually what I expected.
The reason wish lists don't convert to sales is obvious to me:
it's like saying you would be down to study tomorrow, but then when the time actually comes and you have to face the reality of it, most people will bail out. Besides, a lot of the people wishlist to express support and encourage you, they don't really plan on buying the game.
Yeah, i thought it would be interesting to share the conversion rate since everybody is always talking about wishlists and how important they are, but in reality, it seems that they are not as useful as I expected. Its still a number that gives you some info on what to expect so at least that :)
@@TheCaecus1 It could also be the case that someone noticed wish lists had been a good metric, but then they told others about it, and so naturally others started inflating wish lists by telling viewers to wishlist and so on, and so it stopped being a representative metric.
I don't know how much you've told your viewers to wishlist, but that might have influenced the numbers too.
The reason why only 2% of the wishlisters have bought the game is that most of them were having the game on the wishlist for years.
For example, I have wislisted the game, but I had no idea it came out, because I have like 100 games on my wishlist, and I constantly get notifications, which are usually not that interesting.
I was not actively looking for the releas of Ascendum, because I wishlisted it years ago, and kind of forgot about its existence until now.
I am 100% in this boat, had no idea it came out until I saw this video.
Interesting, thanks for the info, i guess the wishlists are not as effective as i thought. Probably the game needs some mega marketing close to release, so that people, even the one who wishlisted, remember it exists :). Good to know for the future
You are an inspiration! ❤
Thanks for your information and your beauty game! Hope you get the 1mil downloads!
You are my favorite developer, dude! I wish you all the best in the future!
Let's hope your next game is a one click to a millionaire :)
I wish you the best luck. You devlogs have given me the inspiration I need to start my new project and get it done. Great videos!
Thanks for sharing, these advices are very helpful for fellow gamedevs like me.
Its a gorgeous game, it can only go up from here!
Congrats on the game release! And sure move to the next project, but still try to advertise this one, looks like a nice puzzle platformer! :)
Thanks for all the information, and congrats on releasing the game!
this not a game this is a masterpiece bro trust me this game has potential and you can still advertise it
Thanks :), Dont worry, I will advertise it for the next couple of years for sure xd. I am quite interested to see the numbers over longer periods of time, since everybody always talks only about the release.
Thanks for sharing this! It's very valuable to see both numbers and the analysis. I also hope you'll do well on your journey!
С удовольствием попробую ваше демо. Про 2% вишлистов - я сколько ни слышал разрабов больших и маленьких проектов, они упоминали про конверсию в 1%, так что у вас вышло даже лучше :) А на счет маркетинга, может книга Сергея Галёнкина "Маркетинг игр" сделает из вашего следующего проекта мегахит. Удачи в вашей геймдев карьере!
would play ascendum if i had anyone to play with LMAO
tho im 100% interetsed in your other projects since your my favorite solo dev
passion is king, you definitely learned a lot during this experience, and I'm 100% sure that your next games will have much better marketing strategies !
Happy to see you back!
Im going to buy the game next week !
I'm gonna be honest here, i did buy and play ascendum solo for about 45 minutes. The game was just too hard for me as a solo player so i requested a refund, which i eventually got. It's not that i didn't like the game, the art, music and gameplay were fun during the puzzle levels. However when that first chase sequence came up i tried for about 15 minutes and barely got past the first 5 jumps. I knew then that i could never beat this game solo, and since my friends aren't into indie games or puzzle platformers, i had to refund the game. However i did just now leave a positive review, so hopefully that somewhat helps! I'm still going to play mendacium whenever that comes out, as that is much more up my alley. Controlling two characters at once is too much for me, but just the one should be doable :D
Thanks for being honest, I completely understand. The solo gameplay is quite a challenge until you get used to the commands. I would surely recommend playing co-op over solo since its easier and way more fun. I feel sad that you didnt get to experience some of the later levels since there are some really nice puzzles, but thanks anyway, i appreciate the feedback :). And dont worry, im not planning to have the player control more than 1 character for future games ;)
Also big thanks for the positive review, you are a legend :)
@@TheCaecus1 least i can do, keep up the work. i love your vlogs and i can't wait for mendacium!
As a fellow game dev student, your videos and games have inspired me massively... will definitely play Ascendum in the near future with my girlfriend.
Keep it up :)
Been waiting for an update for so long
Let’s go another upload
Thank you for sharing and I am sorry to hear that, as I am considering making a game and trying to find out if it's practical. Regarding the wishlist, it's very interesting to know what more realistic conversion rates are (for new solo devs without a huge YT following). Maybe they are waiting for discounts like I do since I feel guilty not waiting for a discount when knowing it will eventually happen and I have tons of other games to play until then. Or maybe I'm just cheap :P
Actually I did see this game promoted on the "Best indie games" yt channel and it looked quite interesting, the only reason I didn't personally buy it is because I don't know who to play it with - and yes I know it can be played solo, however I already have a backlog of around 100 solo games to be played, and I assume there's more people with the same mentality.
Perhaps one way to fix this is do what "It takes two" has done, which is including a "friend's pass" version of the game, in which you cannot get any achievements or trading cards, from which you'd be able to play the game with someone that actually owns it.
And here's the second point - local coop, most my friends don't live nearby and playing locally is a bit of an annoyance, it would be nice if the game supported online coop, and yes I know that's not easy to implement, but if you have some spare time to try to add that feature, I think it'd be a nice addition!
Regardless, good job on the game! I did end up getting it, however won't play it until I find someone else to play it with, then might leave a review on steam.
I understand :). Steam has a RemotePlay Together feature where you can play local co-op games online, so maybe that can help you in some way.
@@TheCaecus1 Yup i know! last time I tried it, it required one of us to own a controller, whereas most my friends and myself are kbm players, but I'll surely give it another shot. I know there's a bunch of workarounds but an average person browsing steam might not wanna deal with all that, even if it's a few simple steps. Sorry about the disappointing launch, best of luck turning it around!
Interesting video! And who knows, maybe the game will blow up tomorrow and make you a millionaire ;)
Crazy
Marketing, UA-cam videos should be more before the The Release
For the algorithm
Damn, this game looks nice! Have you tried finding a publisher for your game?
You can hire marketing agency thats less effective but thats an option. Dont work with publishers they will never give u good deals. They usually take like 50% to 60% and ask for ownership of the IP
@@TheCaecus1 yeah but do the math it does not work. Publishers have to give u a bad offer like 50%. Cause even if they sell 20k copies at 15usd they only get 105kusd after steam cut assuming its a 50-50 split. 105kusd is not enough considering they paid u some money to make the game like 30k usd and did all the marketing
Yes, but with some publishers you can make a deal where they give you money upfront, so it makes sense that they would get 50% of the sales, since you kinda already got the money. Tho its probably criminal to see the full numbers and then what you as a dev actually get xd. Im not big fan of either options being Publishers and payed Marketing, but i will do some research for the future projects just to be sure.
I'll give you this comment, maybe it'll help you with the youtube algorithm
Also like... Puzzle platformer.
I've done some marketing for games, like unbound: worlds apart, but I have to say if the developers themselves aren't pushing hard to do it, it doesn't really work
Just my 2 cents here. I wishlist a lot of games just so I can track them for whatever reason. Not because I actually want to buy them on release. But maybe in the future if I've time and want to play something new. I've over 110 wishlists right now. Needless to say that I won't buy them all. I even sort them out once in a while, since I notice I'm not interested enough and won't play it ever. I 'guess' many people do it like me. Not exactly but, you know. Just so they have a list where they can quickly hover over interesting games.
I've been there. Used to have 2000+ games on my wishlist. Then I got bored and decided to organize some stuff
Interesting, thanks for the info. I guess the wishlists are not as useful as I initially though :)
How long it took you to made this game?
Like, how much Hours, days, etc
What do you use to make your games?
I would say co-op games in general are a bit niche. Liike, am interested in a game, but I have no desire, for now, to be hitting people up, because it's a hassle. And solo seems a bit too hard, ngl.
Also, I don't remeber getting a notification, even tho it's wishlisted.
On topic of promoting - got a rec today by yt and it seems quite a valid strat, maybe of use to you.
it's by Valadria - Steam game marketing gold.
can i get a free version please