So, I've realised we've been making games for five years now and, being in a reflective mood, I've sat down and tried to think of some of the the things I've learned in that time: the things we got right, the mistakes and if there's any tips and advice I can provide. These are all from a creative point of view, so there won't be any coding tips... but plenty of other stuff. Feel free to share your own :)
Here we go...
Being strong in graphic design is one of the best non-obvious skills you can have as a dev. Having to put out about a dozen banners/ thumbnails/ of different resolutions is not something I’d have expected. Then there’s avatars, overlays for videos and all sorts of other stuff.
Do not underestimate the value of fonts as one of the simplest ways to improve the perception of your game- in about 95% of cases where the font’s low-effort (e.g. arial), so is the game.
Before having someone let’s-play your game on Twitch or wherever, make sure you know what kind of streamer they are and tell them what they’re getting into. Someone having a fun, party stream, for instance, might not like having an upsetting murder in the first few minutes (I say ‘for instance’, but you clearly know this happened!)
Always mine your regular life for game-inspiration and opportunities. I work in a hospital, and I’ve been able to find an artist by putting an ad out on the intranet. Local pubs and landscapes have appeared in backgrounds on our games as edited photographs, and I even visited a castle in Staffordshire to take interior shots.
If- like me- you suck at social media, try thinking outside the box for publicity. We got the Bunny Hill Horror castle on Google Maps and it was actually in the top five most prominent locations in Stoke on Trent for a few months, until someone spoilt the fun and told them it doesn’t really exist.
If you make visual novels, custom made bookmarks are an excellent publicity tool. You can use them like business cards and leave them around libraries.
Unleash your creative side- I’ve had to do so many things for the games that I never thought I would: making props, audio recording, foley work, audio mixing, ‘modelling’, photography, animations, recruitment, negotiating copyright and commission terms, video commentary and it’s all great experience, fun (sometimes) and really helps make your games stand out.
The creative programs I’ve found most valuable are MS Word, Gimp and Audacity. I’m also starting to learn Inkscape now I understand the value of vector graphics. All but Word are free, and you probably have that somewhere anyway.
If you don’t fancy recording your own sounds, freesound.org is invaluable.
Mixing sound effects is the most fun part of making a game! I don't know why.
If you’ve got no budget, there are plenty of places you can go for music. Soundimage.org by Eric Matyas is probably the main one, but look around (I think there’s an itchio forum too). Also, sometimes people will donate their old stuff if you ask.
When commissioning someone for art or music, always choose people who have something similar to what you want already up (on Deviant or Soundcloud, or wherever), and don’t assume that when people say they can adapt to different styles that they actually can.
Always make sure you’ve got good stories about your games, or even your dev name. This is handy for streams, interviews and game-blurbs.
Always help out streamers/ Youtubers who play your games. Share their videos on social media, like/comment/subscribe and above all, be patient and pleasant. You’re helping each other out.
Cultural standards vary more you might think- what’s fine in Europe isn’t always fine in America.
Similarly, a lot of British words don’t travel. Americans don’t use ‘squiffy’, and assume ‘whinging’ is a typo of ‘whining’. There must be hundreds of examples of this...
Try and avoid proximity to hot button issues. I mentioned the KKK in passing in Bunny Hill Horror (as an acronym for Karen, Katy and Keith), and that turned into the most contentious part of the game for many people. (edit: this might be better phrased as 'avoid hot button issues if they're out of place within the context of your game'- by all means raise important issues if that's your theme.)
When dealing with criticism, I tend to respond in kind. If someone’s being respectful then I’ll be respectful back even if they hate the game but if someone is being abusive... well, I’m never exactly abusive but can’t stand seeing it when devs are meek and apologetic in the face of trolling...
Checking the itchio forum at least weekly is a very good idea. There’s often something going on like a sale or a bundle, or someone wanting a game like yours to stream.
The most important thing I’ve learned is that things like creative problem solving, expanding your knowledge, making friends with people from other cultures you’d never know otherwise, doing things you wouldn’t do otherwise etc. is part of the journey, but it’s also something very valuable in itself, and the journey never really ends (even if you make the most successful game in the world, you’ll still be worrying about the sequel), so always make sure you’re enjoying yourself :)
Anyway, this is all I can think of for now! Feel free to share your own lessons learnt, and advice.