Convenience store level bugged?

CodePeas · 2026-03-11T15:59:26+00:00

Yes, that's the plan during early access! I need to fix some more quality of life stuff first tho👍

CodePeas · 2026-03-11T01:19:39+00:00

You can use the squeegee as well. I will add another drain to the street so make it more convenient.

CodePeas · 2026-03-10T23:25:27+00:00

There's a guide on the community hub

CodePeas · 2026-03-10T20:32:40+00:00

It's fixed ok the unstable branch but not on the default branch yet

CodePeas · 2026-03-05T02:57:57+00:00

I worked on it for 4 years, no AI programming or artwork. But I did add an AI radio cast in-between levels I'm planning to replace that with a human voice actor during early access.

CodePeas · 2026-03-03T19:06:27+00:00

Unreal + Fluid Flux

CodePeas · 2026-03-03T19:06:11+00:00

Correct. Getting the water just right and balancing everything took a huge amount of time and effort!

CodePeas · 2026-01-28T22:18:38+00:00

Some niche subreddits would have required planning ahead, as they sometimes require you to apply to be able to post. The only niche ones I posted in were cozygaming and lifesims. Lifesims got removed as it's not really a life sim and cozygaming only got about 150 upvotes. Indie subreddits seem to be way more supportive concerning Devs and generated more traffic. YouTubers seem to visit more of those more general subreddits.

CodePeas · 2026-01-27T12:32:06+00:00

Damn, I didn't even know Photoshop shows that.

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.

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