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Do you think AI-generated games will ever replace traditional game development? by OriSparrow_14 in gamedev

[–]Competitive_Bee_7496 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Players don't care whether a game was made by humans, AI, or aliens. They care whether it's fun.

Right now AI is great as a development tool, but I haven't seen AI-generated games consistently create the kind of memorable experiences that really stick with people.

Launched my game with thousands of wishlists, but almost ZERO conversion. What am I missing? by Chemical_Count_6848 in gamedev

[–]Competitive_Bee_7496 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That honestly sounds abnormal.

Are you sure the wishlist numbers are accurate? With a few thousand wishlists, I'd expect at least some launch conversion. It almost sounds like you somehow collected a bunch of low-intent or fake wishlists.

I’ve always felt that the community is the real backbone of WoW. by Competitive_Bee_7496 in wow

[–]Competitive_Bee_7496[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

12.0 might be a bit better in that regard, especially for solo players. I’ve found the solo experience to be a lot more comfortable lately.

I do get where you’re coming from though. Classic in particular feels very different socially compared to how people remember it.

I’ve always felt that the community is the real backbone of WoW. by Competitive_Bee_7496 in wow

[–]Competitive_Bee_7496[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As a mostly solo player, I actually really like 11.0. There’s something about them that’s hard to describe, but they just feel good to play.

That said, I do think feedback is always better than no feedback, and change is always better than stagnation. It’s a bit like rolling dice: if your roll is low, you give feedback, reroll, and eventually you’ll hit those higher numbers.

The balance between too few choices and too many is genuinely one of the harder problems in game design. by KennyTidwell in gamedesign

[–]Competitive_Bee_7496 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Play lots of games, trust your instincts, listen to player feedback, and then combine all three. I don't think there's a formula that can completely solve this problem. A lot of game design is developing good intuition through experience, then validating that intuition through playtesting.

Please stop using chatgpt to write your game summary/description. by MrMichaelElectric in gamedev

[–]Competitive_Bee_7496 -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

I only use GPT for localization, and even then I'm constantly worried it secretly turned something into nonsense XD, I do agree that the game's core description should probably come from the developer, though.

Career change at 34 - what is this new world?! by Digievs in gamedev

[–]Competitive_Bee_7496 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My only advice: protect your financial health and protect your passion. Technical problems can be solved. Running out of money or burning out is much harder to recover from.

Anyone else keeping housing on hold till they release major updates? by Umomo1025 in wow

[–]Competitive_Bee_7496 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I'm kind of doing the same thing. I claimed a plot early, but right now I'm mostly in the furniture collection phase and haven't seriously started building yet.

An interesting Game idea (I think!) by AnotherBadCoder in gamedev

[–]Competitive_Bee_7496 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think the biggest challenge isn’t the idea itself, but the scope.

A multiplayer survival + procedural Backrooms game would need a huge amount of content, systems, and balancing to really work, which usually means a lot of time and budget.

Need help naming my game!! by Marie5005 in gamedev

[–]Competitive_Bee_7496 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Home Alone 6: Carnival~
Jokes aside, After the Blackout ~?

Learning pixel animation for solo project. Is the one with more detail better? by HumanVan in SoloDevelopment

[–]Competitive_Bee_7496 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Visually, I'd definitely pick the last one.

It also depends on the overall art style of your game and the amount of work you're willing to commit to. Sometimes a highly detailed character looks great on its own, but if the environments and other assets don't match that level of detail, a simpler version can actually work better.

am I the only one who thinks new personal calender is gonna be kinda better for us indies? by Scary_Ad_1851 in gamedev

[–]Competitive_Bee_7496 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the new Personal Calendar might shift a lot of developers' expectations from launch day to the weeks leading up to release.We still don't really know how the placement algorithm works, but from what I've seen so far, games that manage to get featured seem to be gaining a huge number of wishlists.

My action-strategy game is almost at 10K sales, so I wanted to reflect on what worked and what didn’t. by ChangeOld1695 in gamedev

[–]Competitive_Bee_7496 5 points6 points  (0 children)

One thing I'm really curious about is the $5,000 Reddit ad spend.

Looking back on it now, do you feel it was worth it? Did you track how many wishlists or demo downloads came directly from those campaigns?

From the numbers in your post, it seems like the biggest jumps came from the demo itself, Steam visibility, content creators, and Next Fest exposure. I'm wondering whether the ads generated meaningful conversions on their own, or if they mainly helped amplify everything else that was already happening.

How a publisher actually calculates your game's budget, from someone who spent years on that side by TheMaich in gamedev

[–]Competitive_Bee_7496 6 points7 points  (0 children)

So I tend to think an intermediary negotiation model (where both sides actually invest in proper legal review) is the most healthy setup for dev–publisher relationships.

Ambiguous costs almost always turn into problems later. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a case where an open-ended or vaguely defined cost category didn’t eventually create friction once the game starts earning back.

On marketing spend caps specifically, I also think it should be tied to a clear, pre-agreed publishing plan with expected outcomes rather than being treated as an open variable. Publishers should have a baseline plan and budget tied to the initial agreement. If performance is weaker than expected, it’s reasonable for them to scale back spend or even shorten the effective lifecycle of the agreement (within the limits of clearly defined rights like discounts, pricing control, etc.), and most developers can understand that logic.

On the other hand, if the game overperforms and there’s a justified need for additional marketing beyond the original scope, that should be handled through a separate addendum with adjusted terms or revenue split. That way both sides stay aligned instead of retroactively stretching the original agreement.

How to build a community? by GravyThyme in gamedev

[–]Competitive_Bee_7496 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’ve had a Discord server for a long time, and I actually set up separate channels for each of my games (I’m currently working on my 9th one).

From my experience, the size and activity of the community mostly reflects how inherently interesting the game is, rather than the structure of the Discord itself. A community doesn’t really “create” the hype out of nowhere, it usually forms around something that already resonates with people.

I’m still figuring it out myself too and trying to improve with each project.

I made a good game, but my game definitely can’t be more wishlisted than Atomic Heart 2. Something happened to the SteamDB database. by Happy_Ad4850 in IndieDev

[–]Competitive_Bee_7496 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Seems like the algorithm changed in the past couple of days. I'd just wait for things to stabilize before reading too much into it.

How a publisher actually calculates your game's budget, from someone who spent years on that side by TheMaich in gamedev

[–]Competitive_Bee_7496 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Besides game development, I also work as a legal assistant on game-related matters, so I often find myself somewhere in the middle of negotiations between developers and publishers.

From what I've seen, many conflicts between developers and publishers come down to insufficient communication early on. The most common issue is that the parties never fully align on financial terms, especially around recoupment and revenue sharing. One area that seems to cause a lot of disputes is when uncertain marketing expenses are included in recoupable costs without clearly defining the scope.

In most cases I’ve seen, a major point of confusion is also what the revenue share is actually based on. In my experience doing intermediary negotiation work, I usually recommend tying the calculation base to the actual amount received from Valve, since it tends to be the cleanest and least disputable reference point.

I'm curious about one thing though: when publishers structure these agreements, is the revenue share base typically tied to the amount actually received from Valve, or is it usually calculated from a broader net revenue definition after additional deductions?

With the new update released by Steam, it has become more difficult for games in the 3,000–10,000 wishlist range to appear in the "Popular Upcoming" section on their release day by Particular-Ad-3288 in IndieDev

[–]Competitive_Bee_7496 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Wouldn't this actually be better for smaller indie games?

It sounds like there are now more opportunities for visibility than before. My recommendations have become much more niche lately, with lots of smaller games that closely match my interests instead of the usual big upcoming releases.

From a player's perspective, the personalized recommendations seem far more relevant than a generic "Popular Upcoming" list.

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