I’ve always wanted to release a game on Steam. Before doing so, I wanted to see if it would be well received and if people liked the style and gameplay. Based on the feedback, I planned to further develop the game and, if it’s well received, also bring on a sound artist to create a fitting audio setting for it. After that, a Steam release would be planned.
You’re a developer? That’s really cool, all the more reason I appreciate your feedback! What are you working on at the moment, if I may ask?
Good luck! I think you've got a solid skill set already, so your chances are better than average; but yeah don't underestimate marketing, I'm sure you've seen how many indies have an okay game and don't get even 10 reviews.
I'd offer help but I don't have actually sound design experience yet, and don't think I would be quickly good at it. But Kenney is working on a sound design tool that will hopefully release soon, that looked pretty simple & powerful... well anyway, plenty of audio related talent around.
I have, as we all do, dozens of potential projects written down. Currently working on a minimalistic clicker multi-mini-game, mostly so that Google doesn't close my Android developer account again. In the background working on a large-scale detailed town simulation text/GUI game (drawf fortress but less combat and more mundane human life), and also Bevy game jam starts this weekend so I'll to join.
BTW how many hours have your poured into this game so far? Ballpark?
Yeah, that’s true, marketing is really important. And I can totally understand how tough it is for the indie game community, especially after setbacks like with BlockBlasters: Infected, where Steam downloads contained malware disguised as a patch. That really makes it hard for indie developers to gain the community’s trust.
But I’m optimistic, because I’m not in it to make money; I develop games out of passion. I just want to play games I can’t find in the store. Nowadays, everything is focused on profit and online requirements. I’m an “’89er” and I miss old-school games: buy once, keep forever, no early access, just a finished, polished game.
I also want to engage with my community and try to take their wishes into account as much as possible, so we can create a game together that really has value, not just a source of income, but something that makes history. :D
Your game idea sounds really interesting! I’d love to hear more and test it when something’s available.
I definitely need to check out that sound tool when it’s finished!
Feel free to join my Discord, then we can add each other (if you have a Discord account) and chat if you’re interested.
How long did I spend on the game? For the assets, I spent about 20 hours drawing (using Aseprite). Coding and developing the first prototype took around 10–15 hours. After that, until the current version, I’ve spent about 6 weeks, roughly 100+ hours.
