Wow, hi! I know this isn’t exactly what these posts are for but I’ve been overwhelmed by the positive responses my game has gotten today and I couldn’t just sit there without properly thanking everyone! So, wow! Thank you!

All day today I’ve been wondering what’s going on with Divine Omen’s game page here on itch. It has exploded.

See what I mean? Over 100 views in just a day? AND STILL GROWING? I didn’t even get that when the project page first dropped 2 years ago!

SEE? This was what the demo release week looked like!

This is the most traction my game has gotten since…ever? I have no idea if a Youtuber has covered Divine Omen, the sale’s kicking in (although it’s been a few days), or maybe I’ve gotten featured somehow…I’m at a loss. All I can say is I’m so grateful to see people checking out the game and enjoying it enough to leave glowing reviews and even donations??? Hello??? Thank you??? As a small dev, moments like these make all the hard work worth it. Again, I can’t thank you all enough for the sudden outpouring of love and I hope we can keep the momentum!

Now, I wanna talk about my community experiences really quick. I wanna follow the itch guidelines! Can’t just say thanks on a long form discussion post and go about my business, can I? So let’s get into it.

I’ll be honest, it’s been hard to get eyes on this game. Like, really hard. Some days it’s really disappointing, like yesterday when all of my projects collectively got 0 views. It was scary to think that after all that hard work, nobody was seeing what I made - and yeah, they’re just numbers on a screen. But they’re numbers on a screen that are tied directly to the success of your game. You want to see all your work get the recognition you feel it deserves. Marketing is hard. Like, really hard. Don’t listen to anyone who says it’s easy.

Posting on socials is hard to do on top of already making a game. Multiply that by 10 if you’re an adult with a job and bills to pay. In my experience, posting on social media hasn’t gained much traction for the game. I’ve had a tiny hit here and there, but unless you’re really pandering to the algorithm(s), you’re not gonna get far. Unfortunately for me I’m too stubborn to pander to the algorithm and as a result my efforts haven’t translated into much success for the game itself, but it *has *built a little community and that’s a great thing! I’ve made a lot of new friends who have become some of my biggest supporters and that already means everything on its own. Just because that doesn’t translate into numbers on a screen doesn’t mean it’s not one of the greatest things you can do for your game. All those posts with 8 likes and 2 comments are proof that you were there. You gave it your all and if success never comes to you, nobody can ever say it isn’t because you tried. So keep trying and don’t get discouraged. And if you *do *get discouraged…

One more time I wanna say thank you for this little win. It’s been a fun day and made me feel a lot better about the state of Divine Omen! I didn’t have time to prepare something special to thank you guys properly, but here’s a little creation I hope you enjoy :-)

I’ll use this opportunity to prepare another tiny update too. A few days ago in my Chapter 3 devlog I said I was 10k words into Chapter 3. Well, now I’m at 13k, so it’s safe to say things are going pretty well! Thanks again for the sudden outpouring of support - I really appreciate it. If you wanna hear more about Divine Omen while the 3rd chapter is in progress, check out the website here to find links to all my socials and all the places you can find the game, including Steam.

If you’re still here - talk to me! How did you learn about Divine Omen? What did you think about it? What works? What doesn’t? It’s important to know what I’m doing right and what needs to change in order to keep this momentum into the future. I’d love to hear your thoughts as I dive into the remaining chapters! Thanks! ♥ ♥ ♥