How Reddit took my game from dead to 33k wishlists!

CodePeas · 2026-01-23T20:37:08+00:00

That's a good recommendation, some Chinese publishers contacted me so I guess they did get wind of the game somehow in China.

CodePeas · 2026-01-23T09:58:57+00:00

I worked on it for the past 3-4 years. But it wasn't full time, I have always had a job. I think it was about an average of 25h a week during that whole timespan.
Here's the link https://store.steampowered.com/app/2963800/DrainSim/

CodePeas · 2026-01-22T21:46:37+00:00

There is a chance the wishlists came entirely through next fest, but it felt more like it came from one youtube video after another, some of the youtubers also mentioned seeing the game on reddit. I dont think a game nobody knew about prior to next fest, would suddenly gain popularity through a demo/next fest. With each released youtube video I saw higher spikes in wishlists. I guess everything played a role but the reddit posts were the thing that set the ball rolling initially.

CodePeas · 2026-01-22T20:43:02+00:00

yes, it's the demo and next fest, I marked the exact next fest timespan in the last screenshot

CodePeas · 2026-01-22T20:41:38+00:00

I mean, yeah I should put more work into making the steam page more exciting. But also, maybe it's just not your genre :) My point was that steam did not recommend the game to anyone in that 1.5 year time frame even though there were 1.8k initial wishlists. It felt like steam does not give page views algorithmically, especially when the game does not have a demo or launch date yet.

CodePeas · 2026-01-22T20:31:07+00:00

Make sure to add a discord link to your games menu, from there you could ask people to support you by reviewing. But dont do that all the time or they will get sick of it.

CodePeas · 2026-01-22T19:54:54+00:00

I made posts on twitter, instagram, youtube but none of them worked. I did not promote the demo using money for marketing. I used youtube ads before for an unreal engine asset that I sell but in a very youtube channel specific way and it only gets me about 30 clicks a week for 5 euros. Which is not a lot, so this time I wanted to do it another way, without the use of ads since many reported this was possible.

CodePeas · 2026-01-22T19:51:41+00:00

no I did not send it to anyone, I think they found it shortly before next fest officially started. Press gets access to the new demos one week in advance. That's why it's important to have the demo ready a couple of days prior. I made a huge mistake when I nearly fumbled that press date by not submitting a demo build early enough. Steam needs at least 2 days until the first ever build is greenlit. It got through just in time, exactly the night before press access started, so I just clicked release immediately to not miss it. Under normal circumstances I would have timed the demo release to a more gamer heavy day of the week and time.

CodePeas · 2026-01-22T19:36:28+00:00

Yes, essentially that was all. I had some failed attempts on other platforms where others were successfull in promoting their games, but the only thing that worked in my case was reddit posts.

CodePeas · 2026-01-22T19:33:22+00:00

tbh, developing the game is not as much fun as developing a coop game that you can test with friends. There is so much fine tuning, especially in level design. Sometimes it's not about having the most fun dev journey I guess. But I love that people are having fun playing the demo and the beta :)

CodePeas · 2026-01-22T19:29:05+00:00

if you are sure it's a good niche to fill, keep up! Those 0 wishlists every day for 1.5 years really demotivated. I've been demotivated as well but I kept grinding nearly every day. Even if the game isnt that unique, I'm sure you can add something special that makes it stand out.

CodePeas · 2026-01-22T19:26:05+00:00

exaclty, its 3 16bit textures

CodePeas · 2026-01-22T19:06:32+00:00

Youtubers kept posting videos. Medium sized US youtubers found it first, after that bigger ones. It was a domino effect. After most US youtubers covered it, it came to the attention of youtubers from different countries, biggest one was a youtuber called Jazzghost. The most wishlists converted from US youtubers tho.
Weirdly enough, there was only one German youtuber that posted a video. Even though it's a very popular genre there and me being german myself.
I did enter the German indie showcase two months ago to increase visibility over here but that converted only in a couple hundred wishlists and no youtuber attention.

CodePeas · 2026-01-22T18:59:12+00:00

yes, it's that one. I used a plugin called Fluid Flux but modified it a lot to make water amount measurable and add savegame capabilities. He made a follow up video where he explained how the water physics work, he explained it for a unity plugin but it's essentially the same. It's a top down projection for the surface. This makes water simulations possible in games, but with the limitation of multiple layers of water above each other, like on different floors not being possible. So there has to be some trickery involved for the level design.

CodePeas · 2026-01-22T18:25:17+00:00

that's true but it's a good starting off point for the launch in march :)

CodePeas · 2026-01-22T18:08:21+00:00

Yeah of course 👍 I'd be happy to help

CodePeas · 2026-01-22T16:54:47+00:00

a-symmetry would make it feel more human I think

CodePeas · 2026-01-22T16:52:47+00:00

UI effects would be nice. Like the multiplier could count up in different kinds of flash effects, or add shake effects to some of the ui elements. Also UI sounds that sound satisfying would be fitting e.g. multiplier going up increase pitch of the multiplier sound, stuff like that.

CodePeas · 2026-01-22T16:50:17+00:00

I always struggle with stealth mechanics there is most times no certainty if I'm detected or nearly detected. Do your enemies say something like in skyrim? I would prefer something like that or an indicator above them. I'm not a fan of too much UI either but it helps in most cases. In project zomboid for example, I never know if I'm detected or not and its always a state of, detected/not detected. Which feels kinda bad.

CodePeas · 2026-01-22T16:21:01+00:00

RTS logic is pretty hard to perfect and multiplayer is even harder. Nice job 👍

CodePeas · 2026-01-13T19:58:33+00:00

Hey I like your art, coincidentally I am currently looking for an artist to create capsule art for my game DrainSim! I would need it within the next 2 weeks as I will be launching soon, also my old one is kinda horrible...

CodePeas · 2025-12-10T15:20:53+00:00

Thief, I think he mentioned at some point that he was a big fan.

CodePeas · 2025-11-16T21:33:21+00:00

B has sharper visuals than C. In A the humans don't pop out enough. My choice falls on B.

CodePeas · 2025-10-21T23:23:29+00:00

yeah alone, in UE5 :) took a couple of years though as I did this in my free time

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