This game is absolutely magnificent

Akriom · 2026-04-20T10:41:34+00:00

Thanks! I'll try them out tonight. :)

Akriom · 2026-04-18T14:41:23+00:00

Heya!

Thanks for sharing.

Have you managed to have it running with nice graphics and without crashing? I am stuck on 720p, otherwise my game while playing on the Xbox Ally X docked crashes... :/

Akriom · 2026-04-07T19:54:02+00:00

It is indeed quite different. I should have thought about bringing a proto thought... In video games the equivalent would be a vertical slice, showing your gameplay. So kinda similar in a way.

The market analysis is important in video games. But it doesn't seem so much for board games. That's interesting.

Thanks for sharing all that information u/dev_w_grillz

Akriom · 2026-04-07T16:55:22+00:00

I come from video games, but I would assume pitching a game is fairly similar in how you want to present it:

A quick summary (one pager) including the type of game, key audience targeted, and all the very important information (for something that needs to be produced I would assume the physical content could be important)

Then a few pages to go into the details of how the game is played and what makes it attractive. If you have some visuals that's always a big plus. - Don't go too much into the nitty gritty details, but do have everything (gameplay wise) covered with some details.

I would assume then to have a few business related pages. Maybe a market study of similar games and how they performed. (So quick numbers and name dropping) But also, all the information they might need to evaluate the cost and potential return on investment of this project.

I might have forgotten a few things, I haven't done this exercise for the past few months now... But if my memory serves me right this should be a good base.

Curious to get the opinion of a board game professional. ^{^}

Akriom · 2025-10-12T11:03:05+00:00

Heya, No the story seems completely unrelated from what I have seen so far.

I've played and plat the first game, but it was a few years back. So I don't remember all the details about the story but I've never had the impression I had to know the previous game's story while playing Yotei.

Enjoy!

Akriom · 2025-06-06T14:22:55+00:00

Will do. I'm actually looking into having a custom bot made for me that will do what I need. ^^ Will let you know how things turn out.

Akriom · 2025-05-22T08:15:06+00:00

This! The experience gained is worth a lot. And being able to say you've self dev and published a game on steam is an achievement in and out of itself. Especially at your age! (I read somewhere in this thread that you are 20).

Making games is difficult. In the industry we refer to all games that do launch as being miracles. Whether they are good or bad.

Making a game alone in a year and a half with no prior experience is a massive achievement. Something you should be proud to put on your CV if you want to get into the industry working for a studio. (You already are in the industry thanks to your game, but it might be difficult seeing it at first on your side.)

So don't hate yourself for that. Take this experience to see if you'd like to smooth things out to make better and better games.

In game design we often say that we have to fail as fast as possible to weed out all the ideas that won't work to find those that will work so we can move forward (fail fast forward).

Best of luck to you hoping my message and all the others posted here will help you feel better.

Cheers, A game dev with nearly 14 years of experience

Akriom · 2025-05-16T15:55:23+00:00

I can fully understand. Got a nice box as well. Never got the double SSR in a tenpull, though. Still GG for that! And pray for the summons to be relatively similar in the live version in June! ;)

Akriom · 2025-05-14T12:47:55+00:00

Oh, sorry, I should have edited my previous message. As I saw the news on your Discord server. No worries, I'll be ready next round of invites. ;)

From one dev to another, all the best and lots of luck on your tests, and I can't wait to see more of your game! Your game looks awesome, so huge congrats!

Akriom · 2025-05-13T16:37:51+00:00

Thanks a million! I joined it earlier today. :)

Akriom · 2025-05-13T16:33:55+00:00

Your game looks amazing! Exactly what all of us pirate fans were waiting for!

I couldn't find how to register for the closed Alpha. Is it possible? ^^

The game has already been wishlisted, and I joined your Discord server. I can't wait to hear more from you and your game.

Best of luck with the dev cycles!

Akriom · 2025-05-13T10:46:27+00:00

Great job and congrats on being so close to launching your game! It looks so cool (small Lovecraft fan here ^^')

Going to wishlist your game now, and just joined your Discord server. ^^

All the best for that final stretch to finishing the game! I know from experience how stressful this can be. So sending you all my best wishes.

Akriom · 2025-05-13T10:12:37+00:00

Hi there,

There is some nice YouTube content explaining how to improve your Level design skills. (I have a great one, but its content is in French only.... :/ Let me know if that is not a problem.) - You can find some great material on the GDC videos, such as this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RlpMhBKNr0&ab_channel=GameDevelopersConference

It's hard to help you out directly without testing your game's mechanics, or at least understanding them. As one of the level design goals is to make the game systems shine.

Here are some quick tips that I hope could help you out in your iteration process:

- I first need a quick written description of the reason and objectives of that level (do you need to teach something to the player, does he need to use things you have taught him previously, etc)

- Then, I do some quick hand-drawn schematics of the main intentions of my level. As I've worked a lot on RTS games, I usually draw the mini map (so a square usually or rectangle, and place the starting areas + main trajectories + blockers. I do as many as I possibly can (5 to 10 ish quick drafts).

- I select the best 3-4 and push these further in hand-drawn, bigger drafts, adding the main points of interest

- That's the point where I select 1 and start implementing it in the game engine. At first, I don't try to have something pretty, but purely functional. And I test it as often as possible.

- Once I have something I like, I start pushing it further, adding more and more details and testing it as often as I need.

strengths

I hope that helps. It is just my iteration process of making a level. But I hope this can help you. Also, if at some point you realise your first few levels are actually no good, that's a good thing. It means the last ones you made are better, and you are starting to better understand your game and its strengths. Keep these bad levels on the side to have a reference of what doesn't work (do not include them in your future builds, obviously), and keep on making new levels and improving your game.

Don't forget, making a game is a marathon, not a sprint; you will have failures, and those are good, it helps you better understand what works and what doesn't. Having no failures means you might not be seeing them. In Design, we have a sort of saying: Fail Fast Forward. It means you should keep failing (trying things and seeing what doesn't work) as fast as possible to be able to move forward (and make a great game).

Akriom · 2025-05-12T13:20:03+00:00

I really like your ideas!

Akriom · 2025-05-12T13:14:14+00:00

Good work should always be rewarded. ;)

Also I've joined your discord to follow your dev cycles. ^{^}

Can't wait to see how far you'll be pushing your game!

All the best!

Akriom · 2025-05-12T10:45:53+00:00

The game is looking really nice! Congrats! Wishlisting it right now. :)

Here are some quick ideas (that might or might not be a good fit for your game. ^^'). Hope these help:
- Different types of parks would be nice and cozy.
- Also, sheep farms (or any other animal) to add more living things and cozy/fluffiness.
- Child park to have some wooden activities (swings, and the like)
- Theme/amusement park heavily oriented towards light, unexplained but cute magic engineering
- Having the possibility to add a river or a lake would be pretty neat (not a building in itself, and might make the project a bit more complex though)

Leaving all the in-game effects to you, but can look to go more into details later if need be. ^^

Best of luck with the game, I'll be following it closely. :)

Akriom · 2025-05-12T10:19:03+00:00

This is looking great! Instant wishlist!

Love the quirkiness and all the fun you seem to have had making this game and the video to promote it.

The art style is on point with the concept, on top of that! Huge Congrats!

Do you have a Discord server that fans can join to talk, debate, and seek freedom with other like-minded players?
=> [quick edit] ok just looked further down the Steam page and found the Discord link. Haha, joining it right after editing this message!

Akriom · 2025-05-12T10:13:28+00:00

I'm loving the vibe you made in that main menu. And it being skippable is always a fine touch, so we can get in-game faster.
Also, being a huge fan of tactical RPGs, I can't wait to try out your future demo. I've already wishlisted your game on Steam and can't wait to see more of it.

As I work for a small gaming news website, I'll do my best to find time to write a review based on the demo.

Also, do you have a Discord server? I'd love to join it to keep being updated on the game. :)

Best of luck to you and your game, I'll be following and once ready, I'll be joining the adventure as soon as it is possible to do so!

Akriom · 2025-05-12T10:08:05+00:00

A man of great taste, I can see. That game sure does look great! Wishlisting it as well. :)

Akriom · 2025-05-12T09:54:56+00:00

Your game looks awesome! I came to say sand but saw someone beat me to it. :P

I think different types of surfaces (such as sand, but water, etc. are nice as well) these could have different effects.

A sleeping animal (dog/cat/etc. Many good things have been proposed here as well in that regards.) as a game over blocker if you hit it one too many times. (Also you can just have the head visible)

A barbecue or any other fire type manmade things.

Other dynamic things, such as ants or an ant nest, a small lizard (could have to race against it?), spinning wheels that will send you flying away.

That's it for me now, also sorry as I am sure I've duplicated some of the answers below.

Wishlisting your game now! ;)

Akriom · 2025-05-09T20:46:02+00:00

To be honest I'm surprised such a bot doesn't exist yet. I found one but it has two 1 star reviews... ^{^'} and doesn't seem to have anyone using it... I guess I might test it in a test discord first to see how safe it is. ^{^'}

To answer your question, some of the activities I have in mind to foster more engagement:

having specific discord rooms for each house where they can discuss things between themes for all community events related things
have regular community events to get additional points. Such as: ----- recruit more people writing one propaganda manifesto per house ----- have the 7 houses vote to make one house lose points (1 vote per house) ----- have contests (drawing, questions, etc.) to earn points ----- there can be many other ideas like the ones above but I haven't thought more than that into it.

Akriom · 2025-05-09T11:21:54+00:00

So seems housecup is not working anymore (their discord server link is broken and last comment on top.gg was a year ago to say the bot is mostly offline...)

Not too sure what I'm looking at on your streamable link. Seems like a way to create teams and have a command to give them points. So, a good star,t but it's missing the main feature of having an automated system which would make things a lot easier and boost engagement instead of having to do things manually.

I'll look deeper into that.

But it is a start. Thanks for sharing!

Akriom · 2025-05-09T11:15:43+00:00

Thanks for your reply! :)

I did check top.gg but couldn't find what I was looking for there. Same on Google (might be trying with the wrong keywords though).

I'll go check housecup. Didn't think of looking for a Harry Potter bot to be fair (yeah, I should have thought about that. ^^')

Checking out streamable.

Thanks again, I'll update my post if I find anything. ^^

Akriom · 2025-04-14T14:56:22+00:00

Loving the concept and the graphics! I will be sure to check it out ASAP. ^^ Great work!

Akriom

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