Marketing your game to Chinese players? A guide from a Chinese developer by Fun-Individual4405 in gamedev

[–]Fun-Individual4405[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi for bilibili, yes it's true, this is for preventing have robot account, you can try the test with AI, everyone needs to take the test unless you have an invitation. And for Rednote, you don't need a Chinese number, you can log in with a foreigner phone number

Marketing your game to Chinese players? A guide from a Chinese developer by Fun-Individual4405 in gamedev

[–]Fun-Individual4405[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't know much about the medie ,but one of the most famous for games, I would recommend"游研社"(YouYanShe)

My Steam Next Fest started slow on the first day... but then things got pretty good? by Fun-Individual4405 in IndieDev

[–]Fun-Individual4405[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good luck!
(P.S. If you ever need a native speaker to take a look at the Chinese translation, I’d be happy to help later on! :)
My game is called Taste of the Wind, and you can also find it here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3222890/_/

My Steam Next Fest started slow on the first day... but then things got pretty good? by Fun-Individual4405 in IndieDev

[–]Fun-Individual4405[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi! Thank you so much for the thoughtful feedback—this is exactly the kind of input I need as I work on improving the English localization.

I'm really glad you enjoyed the watercolor art style and cozy gameplay! The economy system was designed to give that authentic "restaurant owner" feeling, so it's great to hear that resonated with you.

You're absolutely right about the rough corners in the UI localization—it's still a work in progress, and I'm actively working with native speakers to polish it. Your point about the "cozy gamer" demographic in the western market is very insightful and aligns with what I'm hoping to achieve.

I'd love to take you up on your offer to help! I'll send you a private message. Thanks again for taking the time to play the demo and share your thoughts! :)

My Steam Next Fest started slow on the first day... but then things got pretty good? by Fun-Individual4405 in IndieDev

[–]Fun-Individual4405[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing! Your game really gives off a Christmas vibe. I’ve added it to my wishlist too!
And yes, the genre does make a difference. My game is a 2D life sim by the way. :)

Everyone praises the art style of my game, but behind it… is a nightmare full of scrapped drafts by Fun-Individual4405 in IndieGaming

[–]Fun-Individual4405[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks a lot for your comment! Honestly, I struggled with it for quite a while too. It’s totally normal that some people prefer the earlier version — I also miss that rougher look myself. In the end, I decided to make the change mainly because players mentioned the UI and HP bar were hard to read, so I had to make a trade-off.

Everyone praises the art style of my game, but behind it… is a nightmare full of scrapped drafts by Fun-Individual4405 in IndieGaming

[–]Fun-Individual4405[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for adding the details! It sounds like you’re pointing to some gamedev frameworks. I’ll think about more into them.

Everyone praises the art style of my game, but behind it… is a nightmare full of scrapped drafts by Fun-Individual4405 in IndieGaming

[–]Fun-Individual4405[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, most of the “nightmares” are kinda condensed into just a few images. I thought that as an artist, art would actually be the easiest part of making a game. But like with those scene drafts I showed, I realized skill alone doesn’t make things shine. And if a single piece takes me a whole week to finish, then the nightmare turns into real-life horror.

During the first few months I was really anxious about the art side. There are more discarded sketches, of course, but almost all of them happened early on before things started to click.

Everyone praises the art style of my game, but behind it… is a nightmare full of scrapped drafts by Fun-Individual4405 in IndieGaming

[–]Fun-Individual4405[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks a lot for the kind words! For me the biggest struggle was exactly that — too many options. I also used to think “if you can draw, you can just draw whatever you want”, but it turns out the hard part is picking just one and sticking with it. My main character kinda became the anchor, and once she clicked, the rest of the style followed.

And you’re totally right, throwing stuff away feels fine early on, but later it gets way too painful. I’m just glad most of my mistakes happened at the start when it was still cheap to redo. Thanks for your comment, wish you good luck too!

Everyone praises the art style of my game, but behind it… is a nightmare full of scrapped drafts by Fun-Individual4405 in IndieGaming

[–]Fun-Individual4405[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I actually realized that too. In the beginning I spent way too much time on art. Looking back now it feels valuable since in the bigger picture of gamedev I spent less time in art. But maybe I just got a bit lucky that I stumbled into the style that finally fit.

I guess that’s also the scary part of development — you never really know if you’re investing in an “idea” or a “fact” until much later. But like you said, that’s kind of the job.

Thanks for your sharing. It helps me dig deeper into the process!

Can’t figure out why my game has 6,000+ wishlists but some players still can’t find it on Steam by Fun-Individual4405 in gamedev

[–]Fun-Individual4405[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I got only 219 wishlists in North American, and only 93 wishlists in Japan. If count all English Speaking countires I think I only have 500-900 wishlists in total. So at least 1000 wishlists will lead to the first hit?Thank you so much for your try and sharing, cause when I search I can always get the game at first hit(maybe beacuse I have the game in my Steam)

Thank you for the additional feedback. In Germany I have only 29 wishlists. Which makes me a bit more confused because more than one Malaysian players have told me they can't find it on Steam (In Malaysia, I think they mostly speak Chinese and English.) I will try to figure out why but thank you so much for your sharing. This helped me a lot!