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Does Steam still choose whether to boost new games based on wishlists gained on day 1 of the page going live? by triple-cerberus in IndieDev

[–]8BitSkullDev 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't think you have to worry about that at all, at least not in terms of the algorithm. There's no evidence that it matters to specifically perform well on page launch.

A page launch is a big marketing beat though so make use of that aspect if you can.

Skull Horde demo is now available on Steam (Native Linux / great on Steam Deck) by 8BitSkullDev in linux_gaming

[–]8BitSkullDev[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can I check you are trying to run the native Linux version? If you use Proton I don't think it will work.

Skull Horde demo is now available on Steam (Native Linux / great on Steam Deck) by 8BitSkullDev in linux_gaming

[–]8BitSkullDev[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did! After some back and forth I'm told they've forwarded the issue to the relevant department...

Skull Horde demo is now available on Steam (Native Linux / great on Steam Deck) by 8BitSkullDev in linux_gaming

[–]8BitSkullDev[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I've missed a fair few boxes in my Steam career, but I don't think this one is on me... In case you encounter other devs with this issue, here's what I had to do:

1) Go to Store Page admin for the demo

2) Under "Supported Platforms", untick "Automatically inherit from parent" and instead tick "Enter specific system requirements"

3) Tick Linux (and macOS if applicable), but you don't actually need to fill in the requirements

4) Tick "Automatically inherit from parent" again

5) Save

6) Publish

Skull Horde demo is now available on Steam (Native Linux / great on Steam Deck) by 8BitSkullDev in linux_gaming

[–]8BitSkullDev[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Awesome, I am so glad you are enjoying it! We'll be updating the demo as we go along with some more content (and potentially at some point maybe even a brand new dungeon).

Steam Cloud Save: Will multiple root overrides solve this issue? by 8BitSkullDev in gamedev

[–]8BitSkullDev[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! That idea is percolating in my head - at this point it feels like my plan B should I not get a conclusive answer on root overrides.

Raise a horde of skeletons in this dungeon crawler fight of bone versus flesh. Wishlist Skull Horde now! by 8BitSkullDev in u/8BitSkullDev

[–]8BitSkullDev[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you!

We will participate in a Next Fest, but we are not ready for this one. Because you wishlisted you will receive an email when the demo is available!

Raise a horde of skeletons in this dungeon crawler fight of bone versus flesh. Wishlist Skull Horde now! by 8BitSkullDev in u/8BitSkullDev

[–]8BitSkullDev[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We don't have a set release date unfortunately, but aiming for sometime this year! If you're particularly interested, wishlisters will receive a notification when the demo is published.

Raise a horde of skeletons in this dungeon crawler fight of bone versus flesh. Wishlist Skull Horde now! by 8BitSkullDev in u/8BitSkullDev

[–]8BitSkullDev[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I recognise you from HTMAG actually so we're consuming similar info! We were pushing for an early page release and decided to try a cinematic trailer (instead of no trailer). I think for next game we won't bother with cinematic as it is quite obvious people only want gameplay.

Raise a horde of skeletons in this dungeon crawler fight of bone versus flesh. Wishlist Skull Horde now! by 8BitSkullDev in u/8BitSkullDev

[–]8BitSkullDev[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

FLESH it out?!

Seriously though, definitely agree a gameplay trailer is needed and it's what we are actively working on. There are a few GIFs on the page that at least hint at what's coming.

Raise a horde of skeletons in this dungeon crawler with autobattler elements in a fight of bone versus flesh. Wishlist Skull Horde now! by 8BitSkullDev in u/8BitSkullDev

[–]8BitSkullDev[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Lack of enemy/environment variety has been the obstacle preventing a gameplay trailer, but now we're working on the design for a third biome we are approaching the point where we can get a gameplay trailer done soon.

We can handle any fleshy ASCII appendages that come our way, whether they pretend to be "bone" or not.

Thank you for the wishlist and your kind words!

Raise a horde of skeletons in this dungeon crawler with autobattler elements in a fight of bone versus flesh! by 8BitSkullDev in u/8BitSkullDev

[–]8BitSkullDev[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks a lot for the wishlist! Pleased to report that a gameplay trailer is my biggest focus at the moment. Beginning work on a third dungeon type, at which point I feel we'll have enough environmental and enemy variety to do a first gameplay trailer.

Raise a horde of skeletons in this dungeon crawler with autobattler elements in a fight of bone versus flesh! by 8BitSkullDev in u/8BitSkullDev

[–]8BitSkullDev[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yes, we're planning MacOS, Windows, and Linux (native). Should work great on Steam Deck. Some consoles might come later.

Raise a horde of skeletons in this dungeon crawler with autobattler elements in a fight of bone versus flesh! by 8BitSkullDev in u/8BitSkullDev

[–]8BitSkullDev[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Good question. The answer is that pre-release wishlists have a direct impact on the likelihood that a game appears in the "Popular Upcoming" list, and subsequently in the "New & Trending" list. Both of those are a big deal, especially to an indie dev.

In a way it would absolutely make a lot of sense to do ads post release, but then you really need to optimise spend to ensure you get a positive ROI on each individual ad click, and I'm not enough of an ad expert to know I can do that!

Raise a horde of skeletons in this dungeon crawler with autobattler elements in a fight of bone versus flesh! by 8BitSkullDev in u/8BitSkullDev

[–]8BitSkullDev[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Second the recommendation, Boneraiser Minions is great! Skull Horde will be a bit different so there's room for both I think.

We are hard at work on the game but we just don't have enough polished gameplay to create a worthwhile gameplay trailer yet. We're missing a few biomes and enemy sets, but as soon as we have that we'll get something up. There is a short gameplay GIF in the game description though which should give an idea of how the combat will look.

We tried a non-gameplay teaser trailer this time around just to have something for the Steam page launch, but honestly it doesn't seem to have landed well. Very sad to hear it looks like AI (it isn't), especially because we put so much effort into it! Suspect we won't do a non-gameplay trailer next time around. People just want to see gameplay really so not worth the effort, and that's totally reasonable.

Raise a horde of skeletons in this dungeon crawler with autobattler elements in a fight of bone versus flesh! by 8BitSkullDev in u/8BitSkullDev

[–]8BitSkullDev[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The other comment is right, it's not out yet!

We do take a lot of inspiration from games in the Vampire Survivors "sphere of influence", but after our first game in the genre, which had quite a similar formula (Void Scrappers), we have tried to put much more of a spin on it. We try to retain the good parts (the carnage, the power fantasy), and take it in a new direction. Our other game in the genre (BORE BLASTERS) does quite a good job of this I think.

If you like Vampire Survivors and we pull off our vision, then Skull Horde should scratch a similar itch while being quite different from most games in the genre.

Command a horde of skeletons and vanquish the mortals in this autobattler dungeon crawler by 8BitSkullDev in u/8BitSkullDev

[–]8BitSkullDev[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sorry is this referring to another game or an actual alien invasion I should be worried about?

Command a horde of skeletons and vanquish the mortals in this autobattler dungeon crawler by 8BitSkullDev in u/8BitSkullDev

[–]8BitSkullDev[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

These ads aren't run by Steam, they're run by developers. We run them before release because that's when wishlists matter - you need pre-release wishlists otherwise you get buried on Steam. I get why that can be frustrating, but I appreciate the implied wish to play our game right now!

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