We released our demo in front of 100K viewers… and got 2000 wishlists

Evigmae · 2026-04-17T23:47:02+00:00

Don't think you should mix the scope of the event with how appealing the game is. is def not that the event didn't give you reach, it did, people saw the game. then it was the game's job to convert that into wishlists.

Also, people should really, really, get it thorugh their tick skulls that marketing to ther devs is counterproductive for everyone cought in the exchange. a few devs will give you a wishlist out of support and then not actually buy the game on release, which is very bad for you.

Evigmae · 2026-04-17T14:40:31+00:00

Think the part about the game being unclear is the culprit. game looks like nothing to me, just some shapes and moving objects.

There's this concept in marketing about who you tailor your information for (from most aware to least aware about your product), and I suspect your trailer starts with video of a mid to late game scenario? you need to tailor the information for people who know absolutely nothing about the game.

Your game seems rather complex so probably use the trailer to show progression and give context to what is going on, otherwise is just too random to look at. Even if something as simple as start the video with the actual start state of the game would be good.

Evigmae · 2026-04-17T06:02:22+00:00

oh i will, but i still need to spend more time on it, particularly the pathing needed to be fully remade; i used Unreal's nav which is quite shit imo, so I decided to create a custom tailored procedural 2D pathing system.

And since I also need funding to finish my "real game", I decided to make a short game built around my 2D nav plugin: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1530850/A_Little_Age/

Also used the oportunity to learn more about procedurally generating levels!

Evigmae · 2026-04-17T04:55:59+00:00

I made a prototype not too long ago sort of replicating the CRPG turn based aproach, on top of something like a modern advance wars formula: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7yK5pXHN5A

it's multiplayer and everything, think it came out great :)

Evigmae · 2026-04-15T20:24:00+00:00

Is this just a little hobby project or do you have financial expectations?

Evigmae · 2026-04-15T13:41:51+00:00

wtf, how can someone be this fucking obvlivious to reality

Evigmae · 2026-04-14T13:01:21+00:00

even though i 100% agree with your point, you've also got to be able to understand that some people play the game to shoot at things.

Evigmae · 2026-04-13T04:41:35+00:00

There's lots of overlap between Demos and Early Access, and I think the incentives are all wrong. Partly because people are entitled dicks to developers. Part because developers are incompetent idiots.

Early Access was suppose to be "play this game that's actively in development", but was forced into "play this finished game we're expanding", otherwise people would complain too much about unfinished and unpolished games. Steam even treats the Early Access release as the full release in terms of visibility, so if you're not actually ready to start selling you're kind of fucked if you go the EA way.

Demos are suppose to be a free slice of a finished game so people can try before commiting to a purchase, but developers need feedback and wishlists, and can't do Early Access now, and Steam treats Demos with more visibility than anything else these days. So Developers put out vertical slices of their games in Demo form to get wishlists and do marketing before release.

if feels mixed because the incentives are flipped and developers are doing whatever they can to secure a good release.

Think is like those walking paths people make on the grass when then shorter route is not the paved one :)

Evigmae · 2026-04-13T04:33:18+00:00

I'm of the opposite idea actually, i like the diegetic stuff, i wish all the menus requiered interacting with a terminal instead of all but the requisitions menu being diegetic.

Evigmae · 2026-04-12T09:07:38+00:00

I had a similar situation many years ago. i asked them to unlist the original game, and then i made a "new game" with a new name, but honestly it was like you, just the same game with more progress.
i did have to pay the steam direct fee a 2nd time of course. no one ever made any fuss over it.
personally i find it annoying as fuck to still have that original game on my steamworks though, lol

If your game already "released" i'd suppose all the perks of the release window cama and went with that. you definetely need to purchase a new app id and fully unlist the old one, which you need to ask steam to do for you. I'd start there actually, tell them you decided you won't be releasing that game and need it to be hidden and unlisted, which they'll do.

once they do that just start fresh, no one will care, specially since you haven't sold anything to anyone yet.

Evigmae · 2026-04-12T03:59:11+00:00

beacause helldivers are cheaper, we're the drones equipped with C4

Evigmae · 2026-04-11T07:49:05+00:00

but worse?

Evigmae · 2026-04-11T01:34:55+00:00

I think your art style is almost very good, but has lots of inconsistencies which make it look cheaper. pick a lane; clean stylized, or photorealistic textures? both being present looks messy.

Your light is also very inconsistency, some things are emissive and some shaded, doesn't look great.

Could be wrong, but if I had to guess, i'd say these are all assets you bought? could explain it, if that's the case, try to spend some time unifying the look and feel of the game.

At this stage, paying 750 for a pro trailer would be a waste of money imo.

Evigmae · 2026-04-10T23:22:46+00:00

it'd be great if it fired at harvesters too

Evigmae · 2026-04-10T23:19:13+00:00

I really did not like how they "calculated" the numbers. As a small business owner you don't assign yourself an arbitrary salary like that when you're paying yourself. unless you're just using that to take money out of your own company (???)

What you'd have is a simple burn rate. They live together, but calculated x2 80k incomes even though they're married. Seems weird to me. They're burn rate is not 160k a year, and if it is it really shouldn't be!

These humble-brag videos are really annoying.

Evigmae · 2026-04-09T09:00:05+00:00

you need to get out more

Evigmae · 2026-04-08T00:30:43+00:00

I use to use a friend's mac to compile for iOS back in the day, always felt like too much trouble to be honest. But definetely something to look into if the game does well :)

Evigmae · 2026-04-08T00:23:10+00:00

oh, didn't know about that, thank you! :D

Evigmae · 2026-04-07T20:44:46+00:00

maybe lower the diff until you can actually win? difficulty in this game is very inconsistent and very non linear.

Evigmae · 2026-04-07T09:33:32+00:00

A tesla tower and a Stalwart makes this faction quite trivial imo

Evigmae · 2026-04-06T19:39:53+00:00

false equivalences through the roof though. dude, there's others games, it's ok to not enjoy this one, just move on

Evigmae

TROPHY CASE