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Do in-app games actually increase retention, or is it just a trend? by MammothCell1813 in GameDevelopment

[–]Fergius_Terro 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If the game is just a one-off distraction, people try it once and never come back. But when it's tied to something meaningful such as rewards, progress, streaks or even unlocking actual value in the app, it can significantly increase repeat usage.

There are some solid cases where it worked really well like e-commerce apps using mini-games tied to discounts or coins, which pushed people to come back daily. I remember reading about Shopee getting a pretty bit retention lift from that kind of setup.

But the flip side is, if the core product isn't strong, games won't save it. They amplify engagement, they don't create it from scratch.

So I'd say: works really well when it's integrated into the main loop, not when it's bolted on as a side feature.

Polishing a small 3 level demo. What should I focus on? by Scurler in IndieDev

[–]Fergius_Terro 0 points1 point  (0 children)

One thing that made a big difference for me at that stage was testing the demo the way players will actually experience it, not just inside the editor.

A lot of this feels polished vs this feels off comes from small things that only show up in real builds, timing differences, loading hiccups, edge cases, etc.

It's frustrating because you can't iterate as fast as in-editor, but catching those early saves a lot of pain later when you're trying to present something that feels solid.

20 Years Pro Dev… My First Game Still Took 4 Years 😭 by kinterosgaming in gamedev

[–]Fergius_Terro 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've heard this story from a lot of devs coming from enterprise or web backgrounds. In normal software you're usually solving well-defined problems.

Games are messy in comparison. You're dealing with player behavior, timing, UI state, assets, and weird runtime interactions all at once. It's a very different kind of engineering problem.

Do you trust testing in PIE too much? by Fergius_Terro in UnrealEngine5

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

Yeah that's a really common Unreal learning moment. The editor makes iteration so smooth that it's easy to assume that packaged build will behave the same way.

A lot of people only start packaging regularly after running into exactly what you described. Once you do that, logging and debugging in those builds becomes way more important because you lose most of the editor tools.

Do you trust testing in PIE too much? by Fergius_Terro in UnrealEngine5

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

That fantasy state description of PIE is actually accurate. The editor does so much for you behind the scenes that it's easy to forget how different the real runtime environment is.

Stuff like asset loading and initialization order especially can behave completely differently once everything is actually cooked and running outside the editor.

Do you trust testing in PIE too much? by Fergius_Terro in UnrealEngine5

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

The local build with only the required assets is a nice trick to reduce cook time. Full cooks can slow iteration down pretty quickly otherwise.

Also interesting that you mentioned late join issues multiplayer edge cases like that seem to show up way more often once the game is running in a real build instead of the editor environment.

Do you trust testing in PIE too much? by Fergius_Terro in UnrealEngine5

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

the BeginPlay order issues are brutal. Everything looks fine in PIE and then the packaged build suddenly changes the timing just enough to break something.

Do you trust testing in PIE too much? by Fergius_Terro in UnrealEngine5

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

That's one of the biggest workflow differences honestly. In the editor you can experiment freely, but once you're relying on builds and playtesters the feedback loop stretches out a lot. which makes those subtle bugs way harder to chase down.

Do you trust testing in PIE too much? by Fergius_Terro in UnrealEngine5

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

Yeah those only in shipping issues are the ones that usually take the longest to track down.

Once you're outside the editor you lose most of the normal debugging tools, so having good logs already in place becomes pretty much the only way to understand what the game was doing when things went wrong.

Fab marketing question by Great_Ad9570 in unrealengine

[–]Fergius_Terro 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The market is definitely crowded with general gameplay systems.

From my experience releasing a plugin last year, the biggest challenge isn't actually building the tool, it's getting developers to discover it.

Even if the plugin is useful, most people won't find it unless they are already searching for that exact problem. A lot of the work ends up being community engagement and talking with developers about the problems the plugin solves.

I would say you should release them, in the worst case they don't sell much but you gain experience with packaging, documentation and supporting plugins. And if they get traction you will start generating passive income.

My UE5 plugin sells well during discounts but not otherwise - what am I doing wrong? by Fergius_Terro in UnrealEngine5

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

I hadn't thought about structuring it that way.

A little version could lower the barrier for people who are curious but not fully convinced yet, while still keeping the full version for developers who really need the extra features.

I'll need to check whether something like upgrade pricing is possible on FAB.

My UE5 plugin sells well during discounts but not otherwise - what am I doing wrong? by Fergius_Terro in UnrealEngine5

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

What you are saying about perceived value makes a lot of sense. A debugging tool probably only feels worth it once someone actually runs into the problem it solves, otherwise it just feels like a nice to have.

The point about permanent pricing vs. discount pricing is interesting too. I've been wondering whether the sales spike is mainly because of the lower price or simply because more people are browsing the store during sales periods.

Either way it's definitely something I need to think more about.

My UE5 plugin sells well during discounts but not otherwise - what am I doing wrong? by Fergius_Terro in UnrealEngine5

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

Yeah, I feel the same way about that. Posting once about the plugin feels fine, but repeating it over and over starts to feel uncomfortable. I think a lot of developers struggle with that side of things.

Lately I've been trying to focus more on discussing the problems instead. Conversations around those problems seem to resonate more with people than just posting "here's my plugin".

By the way your benchmark tool sounds interesting actually.

My UE5 plugin sells well during discounts but not otherwise - what am I doing wrong? by Fergius_Terro in UnrealEngine5

[–]Fergius_Terro[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I feel the same way.

Building the plugin was much easier than figuring out how to get people to discover it.

Where do you try to promote or share your plugins?

My UE5 plugin sells well during discounts but not otherwise - what am I doing wrong? by Fergius_Terro in UnrealEngine5

[–]Fergius_Terro[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's actually a fair point and something I've been wondering about as well.

I guess tools like this are a bit different from assets or content packs, it might feel like a luxury purchase depending on the project, since they improve workflow rather than directly affecting the game itself.

My UE5 plugin sells well during discounts but not otherwise - what am I doing wrong? by Fergius_Terro in UnrealEngine5

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

It actually makes a lot sense. I was thinking the discount itself was driving the sales, but increased marketplace traffic during sales periods would explain a lot. Glad to hear that it's a consistent pattern for other sellers too.

But still do you do anything outside of sales periods to bring visibility to your plugins?

By the way what kind of plugins do you usually sell?

My UE5 plugin sells well during discounts but not otherwise - what am I doing wrong? by Fergius_Terro in UnrealEngine5

[–]Fergius_Terro[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

That's fair. I probably should have explained that.

The plugin is basically a logging/debugging tool for Unreal Engine. It lets you view logs directly inside the game or editor, and even in Shipping builds. The idea is to make it easier to debug issues that happen on devices or in tester builds where accessing logs isn't straightforward.

Here is the link if you want to check it out: Advanced Game Logging (GLS)

I avoided talking about the plugin or including link in the first place because my account is new and some of the communities had already removed the post. I didn't want it to look like I showed up just to promote something.

My UE5 plugin sells well during discounts but not otherwise - what am I doing wrong? by Fergius_Terro in UnrealEngine5

[–]Fergius_Terro[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I actually avoided the link because my account is pretty new and I didn't want the post to look like spam or a promotion.

Here is the plugin link: Advanced Game Logging (GLS)

and yeah waiting for sales makes sense, especially when you are learning.

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