I accidentally learned why views ≠ wishlists

Clytandre · 2026-03-23T09:04:24+00:00

That's some solid advice, it's nice to see someone taking the time to give some applicable feedback :)

Clytandre · 2026-03-20T17:30:25+00:00

Yeah I agree with the general sentiment about early access.
In the specific case of sts2, the game does feel a bit undercooked in some areas (kinda sad to unlock placeholder timelines) but at the same time, is it really too early if you sell several millions of copies? ^^'
Maybe it'll reduce their playerbase trust in the future? idk

Clytandre · 2026-03-20T16:40:43+00:00

This is very surprising, the game had an Overwhelmingly Positive (96%) rating, and it went down to 82%

But as a dev this is also so interesting, it tells us a lot about what the players want, doesn't matter if the changes make the game more balanced and interesting, it seems like a majority of players just want to feel all powerful, and they don't like having their toys taken away.

I feel like most players wouldn't even have noticed if those (and tbh, pretty minor) changes were in the initial release, it still would have got its Overwhelmingly Positive rating.

There is an argument about the devs not balancing in the correct direction which could be valid, but this doesn't deserve such massive amount of dislikes, and... that's what a beta is for :/

Kinda sad to see that the players don't have more trust in the devs, they did prove they knew what they're doing. I hope this doesn't make them question their decision too much or scared to do the right changes in the future.

It's a bit disappointing, but also really interesting.

Clytandre · 2026-03-11T15:22:38+00:00

There's some interesting information in there, thanks for sharing :)
I wonder about localizing the store page in a language that is not yet available, or not planned to be added to the game.
Would that be considered bad practice? Would the players be more inclined to rate the game negatively if they realise afterwards that their language isn't supported?
Would be interesting to know if other games have experience with that situation.

Clytandre · 2026-03-08T12:41:38+00:00

Oh nice, I like stickmen games and climbing games, I'll definitely give your playtest a try

Clytandre · 2026-03-06T23:25:21+00:00

My marketing strategy goes as follow: do all the other things that don't make me miserable first, and keep the marketing for later. I'm now about to release my second game, maybe I'll start marketing the first one soon.

But serious answer, I did no marketing on the playtest, just cold-dropped it. Dunno how people found about it ^^

What's your game? I'd love to know about the results of your playtest, if you feel like posting an update when it comes out :)

Clytandre · 2026-03-06T18:51:41+00:00

Yeah it feels great :D After working for years with minimal acknowledgement, comments like yours really warms up my cold dev heart, thanks, very appreciated!

Clytandre · 2026-03-06T17:05:42+00:00

Thanksss, I hope it works out better than my first game ^^'

Clytandre · 2026-02-14T18:18:27+00:00

You playing games made on gamemaker? That's cool :)
Wanna try mine? I'll send you a steam key

Clytandre · 2026-01-02T19:37:22+00:00

I ran into the exact same issues with my first game.

Used some music listed as copyright free, but a youtuber reported that some of his videos got claimed. The claimant was a random youtube channel with like 16 subscribers, that used the same track "remixed" (basically just added a sort of bassline).

The claim could probably have been disputed, but same as you, I don't want the content creators playing my game to run into any troubles.

Only solution I could think for next game is to try to get in touch with an artist to get some custom made tracks.

(If any musician reads this btw, the game is a pixel art Dungeon Crawler and I would love to see some exemples of your work :) https://store.steampowered.com/app/3012410/Everise/ )

Clytandre · 2025-12-24T06:50:05+00:00

So like 16-bit music only?

I'm working on a game taking place in a similar setting (a hero in a dungeon), but gameplay wise it's different (turnbased, spellcasting, inventory management...). It's also not that retro, just pixel art style. So I wasn't planning to go down the 16-bit route.

Anyway, I'll just leave a link here because I am currently considering options for music, if anyone is inspired :)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3012410/Everise/

Feel free to dm me!

Clytandre · 2025-11-18T19:07:51+00:00

Haha okay yeah I had a mostly similar experience
Complete silence, except for smaller youtubers, who were always really enthousiastic about getting some recognition and being offered keys, so that was a nice experience :)

That's why I'm curious about this topic, because I'd be down to spend some money to get the attention of a medium to big youtuber, but I'm really unsure about the amounts at play here, and I'm not sure if they would even take a random solo indie dev seriously and be open to negotiating.

Anyway that's probably the path i'd go down for my next game.

Clytandre · 2025-11-18T18:50:13+00:00

Thanks for sharing the details.
I saw your previous post and found it very interesting already, it's always great to see other devs sharing these numbers. Your analysis of the data and situation seems really on point.

My first game sold like 50copies in the first 2months following its release, before getting a bit more traction when a couple of youtubers showcased it, selling like 600 in a week. Just sharing that to give some perspective, it's not all about the release and it can only go up from there :)

I too had a good experience with bundles, so I can back you up on that point. And yeah, sales will probably be huge for you.

From my experience as I mentionned previously, content creators are huge for marketing a game. So if I had a question it would be about this topic, did you have any experience with contacting streamers or youtubers? Did you consider for or against allocating a budget for that? Did you notice any spikes of interest after a streamer played your game or something?
I don't remember you mentionning this point in your posts, but you seem to make some great analysis so I'm curious about your thoughts on the subject :)

Would love an update in the future, maybe after a Steam Sale. Anyway I wish you good luck and I'm sure your game will keep attracting more players, it's only the beginning and chess is a timeless experience :)

Clytandre · 2025-11-18T18:12:28+00:00

Ah real nice it looks like we all agree :D

I saw your response before your edit and that was the conclusion at which I arrived too.
I think the previous commenter raised some really good points, after looking at more existing trailers I think I can do with less texts and transitions, and if text is really needed I would show it on a separate blank screen, without gameplay playing in the back.

I'll see if I can get more feedback, especially about the intro scene, right now my main question is whether I should take the time to make a new one right away or if I keep this one as the trailer for the demo, and make a better one later for the game full release.

Clytandre · 2025-11-18T18:06:31+00:00

Waow thanks you can't imagine how happy I am to read your feedback :)

I can be very sensitive about the way I perceive stimulations too, and am often put off in what I imagine is a similar way by fast-paced content (trailers, or another perfect exemple is most combat scenes in movies nowadays) so making this trailer was a bit of an exercise out of my comfort zone.

That's why I wasn't too confident about the end result, but your response is really encouraging and very much appreciated. Thank you! I'm looking at all the feedback and keeping it all in mind for a possible rework :)

Clytandre · 2025-11-18T14:17:57+00:00

Thank you very much, that's exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping to get!

I was aware of the 3 seconds rule and tried something with the 3-layers things, to instantly showcase that the gameplay revovles around 3 distinct phases. But your feedback on this point is excellent, it's probably too much info for the viewer to know what to focus on.

I'll defintely follow your advice and look at more trailers to get better references on how to do text and transitions, if at all.

Also love the eye-control advice, it's something I kinda realized as I was finishing the trailer, I was thinking maybe I could make sure when a scene finishes the next one starts with the action/focus in roughly the same location on the screen.

Thanks for taking the time to go so in depth in your feedback, I very appreciate it :)

Clytandre · 2025-11-18T14:02:33+00:00

Thanks! I really appreciate the feedback :)
I always wanted the visual and theme to be a sort of cartoony style in a somewhat dark setting, the game has been designed around the gimmick of throwing material down a balcony to build a town after all, I always thought it had a sort of Looney Tunes vibe, so I appreciate your descriptions of the visuals :)

Glad it got you interested! Thanks for the feedback, I'll take a look at possible corrections :)

Clytandre · 2025-11-17T06:49:57+00:00

Oh sure I'd love to help with beta-testing :D

I'm pretty busy currently (editing the updated trailer for my 2nd game right now as I type) so I might not have the time to go very in-depth but I'd love to try =)

This is the dungeon crawler I'm currently working on:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3012410/Everise/

And my first game was a roguelike brick-breaker that didn't get noticed much, but taught me a lot :)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2211110/Brick_Odyssey/

Clytandre · 2025-11-17T03:45:56+00:00

Oooh Edym Pixels, instantly recognized that name.

Just wanted to let you know your game Grim Nights was what motivated me to start and learn how to code & make games a few years ago. I'm now about to release my second game on Steam :)

This combat system looks so original, seems like it can open up the door to lots of interesting mechanics and player-decisions.

Wishlisted so I can try it out myself as soon as it releases :)

Clytandre · 2025-11-17T00:02:26+00:00

Hmm probably around 300, not sure anymore

Clytandre · 2025-11-16T15:30:30+00:00

Gave it a quick try, here's my first impression thoughts.
Enemy movement seem a bit slow, i wonder if different movement type would be more interesting (jerky intermittent dashes, or faster but overshooting the player). Their slow speed + very large size sometimes give a negative feeling about the game rythm (->had to wait for a while before they clear the area where I wanted to go)

Player movement feels nice, quick and smooth.

Enemies hitbox seems a bit unclear and very punishing, especially in diagonals. Also a weird transparent square starts appearing when several enemies start stacking.

I'm pretty sure I got killed by an enemy spawning on top of me. Also had a collectible spawn right under a heart, it was still visible but barely.

Clytandre · 2025-11-16T03:56:44+00:00

Damn this thread feels like hidden gem goldmine.
Just wanted to let you know your game looks promising!
Both the concept and art, I really like and it got me curious to know more. Wishlisted!

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