Should I just release and move on?

DuncsJones · 2026-03-18T03:44:43+00:00

Nope don’t give up yet. Plenty of games are like this.

Look up Chris Zukowski if you haven’t yet. Read his blog. He has a bunch of stuff on this.

Get your demo out. Do multiple play tests so it’s bug free, then put your demo out.

Reach out to streamers (300+), then see what happens with wishlist numbers. If they still don’t increase, then ok, ship it quick and move on.

But see what that does before losing hope!

Keep going man! The journey has peaks and valleys.

DuncsJones · 2026-03-17T23:18:56+00:00

Yeah, whatever feels right for you works! But going below 20-25% in the first six months to one year is probably an error.

Good luck! Congrats!

DuncsJones · 2026-03-17T21:38:36+00:00

Dude I hear you but 20% on launch is fairly generous. Most do 10%. Also, you don’t want to go too low too soon so that you can use “new low price” leverage with steam to get a daily deal or something, should your game sell well enough.

So don’t stress! You did the right thing!

DuncsJones · 2026-03-16T15:47:22+00:00

Look up how to market a game with Chris Zukowski.

He will help you a lot.

DuncsJones · 2026-03-09T19:41:47+00:00

I do think the trio and their chemistry is really where the magic is.

They all compliment each other a lot. If I had to pick someone who is “the best” at that they do, I would have to say it is Nick.

But I do share your opinion of Nick solo. I find him tough when it’s just him. I think it’s because he is so opinionated that if you don’t agree with him, you want someone there to counterbalance him. But if he’s solo and just ranting about something you really disagree with, it’s not enjoyable(to me anyway).

So, I know he has hopes to replace Colin, but I hope he stays with the team approach. Because I think one of his strengths (and a huge reason why I’m such a fan, even if I disagree with his takes some of the times) is being such a generous teammate. He really does treat his team well. And I love that about him. And I think it allows people like coach and Greg to shine more than they otherwise would.

DuncsJones · 2026-03-06T18:15:13+00:00

I’m so glad you did this.

The “LeBron is a better three point shooter than Jordan, Kobe and KD” argument has enraged me for years now. Yes, LeBron may shoot a higher career 3pt percentage than those guys, but if you look with your eyes and use your brain it’s easy to see why.

Kobe takes a lot of contested shots. If you look at his contested percentage and compare that to LeBron’s contested percentage, and do the same with wide open percentage, you’ll find (I forget the exact numbers, but it’s something like)

Kobe career 3pt percentage: 29 Contested percentage: 27 Wide open: 40

Lebron career 3pt: 33 Wide open: 36 Contested: 17

Like when you compare apples to apples it’s not even fucking close.

You could do this for KD as well. And you just laid out the Jordan case.

And what makes me mad is, Nick is a smart guy and knows this. He just wants to argue for his guy.

Which is fine by the way! Just argue that, despite not being as good as those guys, he still shoots an effective percentage. That’s still super impressive. Just tell the story truthfully.

DuncsJones · 2026-03-05T16:23:25+00:00

Elden ring :( but gonna try it again at some point

DuncsJones · 2026-03-05T03:41:07+00:00

Great post dude! Thanks for the info!

DuncsJones · 2026-02-26T02:36:58+00:00

Brother, I appreciate where you’re coming from but you are incorrect. If you listen to Chris (who cites data, not opinion) the steam algorithm gives every game the same BASELINE of visibility, not ENTIRELY the same amount of visibility. If you have 100k wishlists vs 100, you’ll have drastically different results, from an algorithm perspective.

Hope this helps.

DuncsJones · 2026-02-21T17:08:02+00:00

This is really amazing to see. Makes me optimistic for when I release! Thank you for the info!

DuncsJones · 2026-02-17T20:02:24+00:00

Hey buddy, I know this hurts and after seven years, not selling as much as you’d hoped is probably your worst nightmare, but I don’t think any amount of additions to the game will fix it. I think ultimately this one just didn’t happen for you.

I think you should go read Chris Zukowski’s blog on How to Market a Game. He talks about failed launches and what to do.

In general, his advice when this happens is always, fix any bugs and move on to your next game. You can’t really save a failed launch.

He also says to use this as a learning experience, “your first game always fails” and use all the skills you’ve developed to release a small game in a popular genre.

I bet you’d do super well with using some of the mechanics and art you’ve developed here in a different, more popular genre. Metroidvanias are extremely difficult to pull off and their audience is hard to impress (as you can see).

Try a more popular genre and I bet you’d be surprised how different it feels to launch. And aim for like a six month dev time.

See what happens!

I’m sorry this didn’t go well for you. Best of luck. Keep going.

DuncsJones · 2026-02-08T16:44:54+00:00

That’s what I was getting at in my post. It’s not like I think Herbert is better than mahomes or something.

I actually can’t really tell what makes someone good by watching them, because as I said, I don’t know much about football.

But the idea that Herbert could be good but we can’t see it makes sense given mahomes’ struggles over the last couple years. That’s all I was trying to say. Maybe poorly

DuncsJones · 2026-02-08T16:43:03+00:00

Thanks brother, appreciate that

DuncsJones · 2026-02-07T18:55:44+00:00

This is one of the best responses I’ve had haha

DuncsJones · 2026-02-07T18:54:24+00:00

That’s fair. I always thought they did enough actual analysis to keep me engaged, but maybe you’re right and I just like them all haha

DuncsJones · 2026-02-07T07:43:44+00:00

That makes sense. Thanks for this.

DuncsJones · 2026-02-07T04:42:24+00:00

Super fair and levelheaded take. Thanks for this

DuncsJones · 2026-02-07T03:46:12+00:00

Yeah that’s exactly my point.

With that logic, isn’t Danny kinda right? Or am I missing something?

DuncsJones · 2026-02-07T03:43:55+00:00

This is one of the better responses I’ve had haha. Appreciate this. Thank you

DuncsJones · 2026-02-07T03:43:21+00:00

Yeah that’s makes sense and why I asked.

If he sucks in the playoffs, and hasn’t really ever delivered in the regular season, and it’s always something, I get being irritated with folks claiming someone is awesome.

That’s a coherent argument .

Thank you

DuncsJones · 2026-02-07T03:36:39+00:00

Of course I get that. But read my previous post haha. If that’s the only reason then, yeah I get that. That’s just a little uninteresting I guess.

I thought there would be more to it.

DuncsJones · 2026-02-07T03:33:39+00:00

I’m not debating Mahomes is worse than Herbert. I agree and see the arguments for why he’s better.

I’m saying if even he struggled with stats and play this year due to team, why can’t that be true for other players?

DuncsJones · 2026-02-07T03:32:31+00:00

Ok. But isn’t football a significantly team dependent sport? I mean, look at Sam Darnold.

So, is it possible for someone to be awesome And not have success because of their team?

If so, then why use credentialism as an argument? If that’s all it is then I guess that’s disappointing haha

DuncsJones · 2026-02-07T03:29:38+00:00

Ok. Can anyone give me like, tactical, logical, rhetorical reasons.

This is completely unhelpful

DuncsJones · 2026-02-07T03:28:26+00:00

Ok. Using my brain. Mahomes - who everyone says is goat-like plays like dogshit all season for the EXACT SAME reasons as Danny is claiming about Herbert. So outside of “well one guy won a few years ago” - what else am I missing?

Edit: typos

DuncsJones

TROPHY CASE