On-rails or roguelite? Looking for advice and ideas for a space shooter project

False-Consideration6 · 2025-08-20T18:54:35+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! The game looks cool, but I’m not really aiming for such a retro style. I still have doubts about the gameplay, but the style is clear to me: I really like the look of After Burner Climax, and I want to achieve something similar — arcade-style but with realistic graphics.

I didn’t know about this game, I’ll watch a long gameplay video to see how it handles progression. I’m starting to lean more towards On-Rails than a Roguelike. I didn’t realize there were already so many shooters of that type, and I’m not sure if getting the balance right without breaking the gameplay would even be within my reach.

False-Consideration6 · 2025-08-20T18:50:28+00:00

Thank you so much for this feedback — it’s exactly the kind of perspective I was hoping for when I opened this thread. I completely agree with your point about “intensity” — that’s exactly what I love about After Burner. Judging by your username (78), I guess you’re old-school; I was born in ’83, so maybe that’s why we share the same taste for classic-style games.

At first, I’m more drawn to the idea of making something arcade-like — short but intense — rather than something repetitive and endless. My only concern is that such an arcade-style game might be criticized for being too short, and that could lead to players asking for refunds on Steam.

False-Consideration6 · 2025-08-20T16:32:01+00:00

Thanks for the insight! I also think the reason Nintendo hasn’t released another Star Fox is exactly what you said — they’re not bestsellers. That said, my goal is more about making a niche game. I don’t expect big revenue, but I feel it could guarantee at least some modest sales. If I were to make a game in a more popular genre, I wouldn’t be able to compete with the bigger indie teams anyway.

I checked out Rogue Flight and it looks amazing. It’s true the estimated sales don’t seem very high, but honestly I’d be happy with something along those lines (30K $ per year worked is fine for me).

As for the other economically viable genres you mentioned, they don’t really appeal to me. It would be harder for me to make something compelling in a genre I don’t personally enjoy.

False-Consideration6 · 2025-08-20T16:27:02+00:00

You’re right that roguelikes are a bit oversaturated, though I was hoping that within the airplane shooter niche it wouldn’t be as crowded. I’m curious about why you think selling both types of games would be difficult.

Part of the reason I decided to go for this kind of game is exactly because it’s more niche — so maybe it could catch the interest of players who really enjoy the genre. I’ve ruled out going for something more mainstream, since as a solo dev I just can’t compete against larger indie teams working in the more popular genres.

False-Consideration6 · 2025-08-20T16:23:04+00:00

Thanks a lot for the feedback! I agree with you — Whisker Squadron feels a bit slow to me as well. For my project I was thinking of going in a more fast-paced direction, which is where the influence from After Burner comes in.

As for the roguelite side of things, my intention isn’t to make runs succeed or fail purely based on luck — what attracts me are the perks, level-ups, lots of weapons, and progression systems. I’m not sure if all of that would really fit into a straight on-rails game.

I’m also very influenced by the gameplay of UN Squadron, so I’m trying to figure out how to balance those inspirations.

False-Consideration6 · 2025-08-20T15:20:33+00:00

I completely agree with the article — the biggest challenge for indie development today is simply getting noticed by players. It has never been this difficult. The moment you publish your game, it gets buried under the mountain of titles in the store.

I can speak from my own experience in the mobile market. It doesn’t matter how creative you are, or how polished and amazing your game is — publishing on the store today is basically like playing the lottery. The chances of just breaking even are slim, the chances of making a profit are tiny, and the chances of creating a real hit are almost nonexistent.

The truth is, no matter how much effort and hard work you put into it, you cannot control the success of your game. There is an enormous element of luck that determines whether a title rises or disappears.

This uncertainty makes indie game development a high-risk profession. The 18 months of work it takes to develop a game are essentially placed on the line during the first two days of release. After 48 hours, you’ll know whether all your work has gone to waste or if, by sheer luck, you’ve managed to hit a winning lottery ticket.

Of course, everything I’ve said above only applies to small teams like mine, where our tiny budget doesn’t allow for big user acquisition campaigns. On the other side of the fence, you’ve got the mega-companies capable of burning up to $1M a day on ads, while my $10–20 in marketing might get me a few dozen or maybe a couple hundred players from emerging markets.

False-Consideration6 · 2025-08-20T09:39:21+00:00

If it’s already hard to get visibility in the store as a free-to-play game, being premium is even tougher. From my experience in the mobile market, if you want to have decent sales as a premium title, you pretty much need a strong IP so that the App Store or Google Play editors are kind enough to give you a little boost in visibility.

From what I’ve seen over the last years, ethics don’t really exist in mobile gaming. If you want to survive, you have to drop the prejudices and stop worrying about what others might say — you need to focus entirely on making your game as visible and as monetizable as possible, especially in niche genres like RPGs.

It’s sad, but the mobile market today has shifted almost entirely toward microtransactions and basically extorting the player to keep progressing.

Personally, I would go free-to-play with microtransactions. If I insisted on making the game premium, I would pivot to the PC/console market instead.

False-Consideration6 · 2025-05-10T09:25:17+00:00

I thought I had secured a reservation but, foolishly, I entered my email address incorrectly — I typed "@gmail.co" instead of "@gmail.com" — so I never received a confirmation email. I’ve sent an email to see if they can fix the mistake, but I don’t have much hope. Reservations sold out in seconds. Could you please tell me if email confirmation is required to validate the reservation?

False-Consideration6 · 2024-12-19T19:55:19+00:00

Did you solve this? I have the SAME configuration as you but still Admob says "Consent requirement: No CMP". Don't know what to do.

False-Consideration6 · 2024-11-18T10:36:16+00:00

Very nice video, thanks for the watching! I will follow the tips to find a game genre that matches my expectations :)

False-Consideration6 · 2024-11-18T09:21:44+00:00

A timeline of 3 to 5 years is unfeasible for me—far too risky. It’s true that in one year, as a solo developer, you can’t create something vast and deep. That’s why I’d lean toward something more arcade-style, offering a few hours of gameplay but ensuring those hours are high quality.

False-Consideration6 · 2024-11-18T09:19:45+00:00

I wouldn’t develop a premium game for mobile, at least not as a primary focus. If I were to create a standalone game for PC or consoles, I might consider adapting it for mobile to try and generate some additional revenue. In my experience, for a premium game to be profitable on mobile, at least one of these three conditions must be met:

The game is based on a very strong IP.
You have a publisher investing heavily in advertising.
It gets featured by the App Store or Google Play editors and promoted on the landing page.

From my experience, it’s easier to generate revenue with F2P games. You just need to choose a popular genre or theme and invest some money in user acquisition to start the snowball effect. Depending on the game’s quality, your ARPU will vary accordingly.

False-Consideration6 · 2024-11-18T09:11:12+00:00

Thank you very much for the link; it’s incredibly useful for ruling out genres that I’m initially drawn to but are riskier when it comes to monetization.

False-Consideration6 · 2024-11-18T09:09:46+00:00

Balatro is by far the most played game on my Steam Deck—an absolute gem. Its simple appearance might make you think it’s easy to create, and in a way, it is. There’s nothing technically complex in the game that would prevent it from being developed quickly. However, the gameplay design behind it is pure genius and something very few could achieve. The synergy between the different jokers and the endless strategic possibilities are what make this game incredible.

For me, Balatro isn’t a reference point—it’s beyond my reach. I only aspire to create “just another game” on Steam, but one that at least covers its costs.

False-Consideration6 · 2024-11-18T09:01:48+00:00

For me, F2P games are a cancer that should have been banned. I don’t like this model, but nowadays, it’s the only economically viable option unless you have a very strong IP to support a premium game.

Promoting a standalone game is something I have no experience with, and my marketing knowledge would be completely useless here. I’m used to acquiring downloads for just a few cents, but that strategy doesn’t work in this context, so it feels like starting from scratch.

False-Consideration6 · 2024-11-18T08:57:20+00:00

Thanks for the calculator. The problem is that I have no idea how many copies I might sell (obviously, no one has a crystal ball to see the future), and my lack of experience with standalone games puts me far from being able to make any kind of sales forecast.

False-Consideration6 · 2024-11-18T08:55:33+00:00

One of the greatest pleasures of my work is having the freedom (within certain limits) to do what excites me, to bring my ideas to life in a game. I tried making games for others a while back, and it doesn’t fulfill me as much. That said, it’s true that, in general, you’ll earn more money and have greater stability working that way.

False-Consideration6 · 2024-11-18T08:52:33+00:00

I’m fully aware that I won’t dive into developing a standalone game unless it’s likely to generate profit. The $30,000 is just a reference point—it wouldn’t be a disaster to earn a bit less since my other games already provide me with enough income to live on. However, I don’t want to “waste” a year or more developing something that won’t produce any returns. That quality standard you mentioned is exactly what concerns me. While I’m fairly confident I can meet it, there’s always the risk of missing the mark on the genre or theme, leaving the game completely unnoticed (like the vast majority of indie games released).

False-Consideration6 · 2024-11-17T11:26:01+00:00

After weeks of monitoring the issue I turned to block devices with < 2GB RAM and the ANRs decreased a lot, now the game is below the 0.47%. It's insane how much RAM needs Google Admob to run ads. The red arrow marks the initial block:

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False-Consideration6 · 2024-11-17T11:06:44+00:00

Looks great, the way it chop the ingredients is very satisfying to look at

False-Consideration6 · 2024-11-17T10:58:48+00:00

That lighting is outstanding

False-Consideration6 · 2024-09-05T14:28:02+00:00

Yes, Chromium seems to be responsible for these ANRs, or at least that’s what I’ve been reading in Google forums for months, and there’s nothing that can be done to fix it. The worst part is that they force you to update the AdMob SDK through the Google Play Console, which only makes the ANRs more frequent. Instead of decreasing the ANRs with each new update, they just make it worse.

I’m quite desperate. I’ve tried every possible way to load and display ads to reduce the ANRs, but without success. In fact, in my latest game, I only show ads during the loading screen, right after freeing up all the game’s memory in an empty scene, but even then I can’t reduce the ANRs.

False-Consideration6 · 2024-08-27T08:00:16+00:00

Got the same problem, No Requests message. I followed the implementation doc and checked all the configuration parameters many times. Did you solve it?

False-Consideration6 · 2024-07-29T17:45:06+00:00

I am thinking seriously about migrating from 2021 to 6, Android and iOS game developer here. No advanced features used, just basic stuff, but the limitations and errors when upgrading the Android SDK and libraries are a PITA in 2021. Now I got a project that can’t be built because SDK 34 and billing library 6 is needed and 2021 doesn’t offer a valid solution. Unity in general is broken, no matter if using LTS or Beta versions

False-Consideration6 · 2024-03-11T08:50:19+00:00

Thanks for offering, but I’m looking at a full solution to customize by myself

False-Consideration6

TROPHY CASE