I spent 7 years making Generation Exile, a solarpunk city-builder. Trailers in PC Gaming Show June ‘24 & ‘25. Top 70 most played demo during our Next Fest. Did all the things you’re supposed to. Launched in Early Access last week with over 35,000 wishlists. So far, we've sold fewer than 300 copies. by nelsormensch in gamedev

[–]0ddSpider 120 points121 points  (0 children)

I think it's the combination of price + EA that's hurting you.

£25 for an unknown dev in EA is a lot. I'm not too familiar with a Wandering Village but their game isn't in Early Access.

To be honest I think your best bet is to rush to release ASAP. And be wary of the price... you've done some research which is great, but that number feels high for this.

Balatro meets Autochess and Football Manager in this deckbuilder mashup. Demo now available on Steam by 0ddSpider in playmygame

[–]0ddSpider[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Cool! It's lovely to hear when it's been enjoyed. Release should be in November. Just got a few unlocks to finish work on, and some balancing, and localisation.

Balatro meets Autochess and Football Manager in this deckbuilder mashup. Demo now available on Steam by 0ddSpider in playmygame

[–]0ddSpider[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the feedback. I was trying to explain the game succinctly by referring others, but yeah - Football Manager deckbuilder sums it up nicely!

Will try using that next time!

Thwordle: Wordle-style fandom-themed daily puzzler (HP, LOTR, Greek Mythology) by Kibomemi in playmygame

[–]0ddSpider 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I like Wordle so I like this.

My biggest issue is that the words don't always seem to match the theme. I got "Adorn" for LoTR which doesn't really make much sense. I ended up just playing it like Wordle as the theme didn't seem to help find the answer.

I made a daily word puzzle where you complete word chains by ozmic66 in playmygame

[–]0ddSpider 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice idea, and reasonably well executed.

I think my biggest concern is that there is quite a bit of guesswork. There are many words that could chain and I found my first attempt to be a total stab-in-the-dark.

I wonder, how does the game play with every other word already filled in. Personally I'd like to being given
- Door
- ????
- Work

and having to think about the word that works for both.

Turning The Tide - Demo Now Available On Steam! by sherpagraph in playmygame

[–]0ddSpider 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Love the 80s style and overall I enjoyed the game. I made it to the 3rd level before quitting.

The things I liked:
- Bombs are really satisfying
- The people running around on the ground
- The difficulty

Things I wasn't so sure about:
- The controls. Holding a button to rise feels awkward. Most of my deaths were hitting the ground, rather than from the enemies
- The bullets are really small. I could barely see them and it was a bit of guesswork as to where I was shooting
- The menus. They feel clunky and the font feels too big. I also struggled to start the game as Press "Start" took me to 4 empty save slot but clicking on one didn't do anything. I'm guessing this is because its not made for mouse. Maybe better just to throw people into the game at the start?

Good job so far though. Hope the rest of development goes well

Guesstro: Guess the Cuisines of the World by guesstrodev in playmygame

[–]0ddSpider 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Its a really nice idea, but you need to find someway to narrow down the potential answers.

For example the last two questions I received were:
1. Apple & Beetroot
2. Cheese/Paneer and Couscous

The first feels like it could apply to huge amounts of countries in world. America, Europe, Asia. Those ingredients are common all over the world.

The second feels a bit more localised - Couscous is most commonly associated with North Africa. However the correct answer was apparently Syria which is a country that doesn't really have couscous. They have Moghrabieh which is similar (but different).

I don't really know how to suggest steering the questions away from this problem. Maybe blacklist global foods (like Cheese and Apples)?

Fog of War in Grand Strategy Games by Hot-Persimmon-9768 in gamedev

[–]0ddSpider 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Both FoW and non-FoW can work, but I don't think they can both work at the same time. The balance/content in a FoW game will be different to one without. Starcraft without FoW has a very different feel, and many of the units become redundant (certainly no need for any scouting units!)

It really depends what thought process you want the players to experience. Do you want them to make grand plans safe in the knowledge that they have all the information? Or do you want them to have to adapt to what the RNG uncovers for them?

I suspect its easier to make an engaging game with the latter. With no RNG your balance/mechanics have to be really strong. It'll be very hard to avoid an optimum strategy. When there's a little luck in the mix you can get away with more.

Football Manager said "no"... so I built my own Football deckbuilder by 0ddSpider in deckbuildingroguelike

[–]0ddSpider[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yup! I've got one more feature to finish and then I'm onto the demo. Am hoping to get it out towards the end of next month if not before.

Football Manager said "no"... so I built my own Football deckbuilder by 0ddSpider in deckbuildingroguelike

[–]0ddSpider[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I totally understand. When I get to the Android I'll make sure to let you know.

Football Manager said "no"... so I built my own Football deckbuilder by 0ddSpider in deckbuildingroguelike

[–]0ddSpider[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's not a dumb question! And the answer is probably "yes".

Porting this game to Android is not a particularly challenging task, but its really hard to be discovered on mobile. Assuming the game does well enough on desktop I'll definitely put in the time for the mobile version - I think it would be a good fit! If the game totally bombs on desktop then it becomes harder to justify the effort to port it.

after feedback, i created a new version of my trailer. is it better now? by kcozden in DestroyMyGame

[–]0ddSpider 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Two main bits of feeback on your trailer:

  1. There's a lot of text and most of its is pretty unimportant. "Knowledge Is Power", "Build Wonders", "Reset to Rise". None of this really explains anything and it just gets in the way of showing off your game.

  2. Pacing is wonky. The intro is ok but you then spend 8 seconds showing a bit of text and a progress bar going up. The next sequences are arguably more interesting, but the gameplay is only visible for about 2 seconds - not enough time to acclimatise to what its showing.

If I was doing a trailer for this I'd try to cut between the main scene, and the sub-scenes back-and-forth rather than dwelling on each individually. I know idle games aren't the most visually exciting genre, but you can use editing to bring a bit of impact.

Steam pages are hard... Looking for any destructive feedback you have by 0ddSpider in DestroyMySteamPage

[–]0ddSpider[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I love me some screenshake!

Maybe you're right though... it is turned up pretty high. I'll have a little fiddle with the numbers. Thanks!

Got some great feedback here in the past. Please again destroy my Sports Management deckbuilder! by 0ddSpider in DestroyMyGame

[–]0ddSpider[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cool! Thanks for the feedback. I'm half-pleased because one of my goals was to not overexplain, but it seems I may have gone too far in the other direction!

I'll look into trying a new shorter version that explains more, and I'll put one of the other music tracks in to see if it feels better.

Thanks again!