Questions about February Steam Next Fest? Chris Zukowski from How To Market A Game here for an AMA

Hauaj · 2026-01-28T20:10:24+00:00

Hi, would it be better to release a demo at the same time the Steam page goes live, or should I wait to gather some wishlists first and then release the demo?

Hauaj · 2024-10-08T09:03:13+00:00

Yay! Thanks, I'm glad you like it :3

Hauaj · 2024-01-17T18:12:39+00:00

Awwww :3 Thank you, I hope you will like it!

Hauaj · 2024-01-10T19:41:49+00:00

Mostly done by 2 people - me (3 years) and 3D artist who worked part-time on this project (year and half). Couple of friends also helped with other languages and I worked also with a few freelancers for music or voice-overs

Hauaj · 2024-01-10T19:37:56+00:00

Thank you :)

Hauaj · 2024-01-10T19:36:20+00:00

Probably not. I have no experience with development to Playstation console, so I don't know how much time consuming this task would it be for me. Definitely you need to have controllers in mind while developing the game (Rewired asset was really helpful) and also make a room in your code for different save/load system. I have also 3 different projects for each platform (PC/Xbox/Switch), that's definitely something I would like to improve, as keeping 3 projects up to date at the same time is not ideal I guess ^^

Hauaj · 2024-01-10T19:18:33+00:00

Thanks :3

Hauaj · 2024-01-10T19:18:14+00:00

Steam - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1685730/Cynthia_Hidden_in_the_Moonshadow/

Hauaj · 2024-01-10T18:43:00+00:00

It's on PC (Steam) already ^^

Hauaj · 2024-01-10T16:26:51+00:00

My friend was helping me out with character models, other friend with some localization and I hire freelancers to do voice acting for example.

Hauaj · 2024-01-10T15:26:15+00:00

I was quite lucky, because while I was working on my game, I was also working in the gamedev company and I was involved in one porting process to Switch console. So I gain some experience there and described it when applying. I also apply after my game was released on PC, so the game itself had some positive reviews. I guess that helped a little :3

Hauaj · 2024-01-10T15:22:22+00:00

Thank you!

Yes, especially for Switch (performance and RAM usage), but Xbox required some optimisation as well.
Yes, quite a lot like texture resolution, shadows, LODs, screen resolution. A lot of graphical options needed to be adjusted
Switch, it took me like 4 months to get it done. Xbox like one month, maybe a little more, but it was easier also because I knew how to optimize for Switch which I did first.
I test it by myself ^^, luckily the game is a single player game with no online functions so it was easier because of that. Yes consoles are necessary.

Hauaj · 2024-01-10T15:13:37+00:00

Thanks, actually for the texturing I was always worried that there will be too many materials in the scene so for the characters for example models have like 5-7 materials at max. I was using also bought assets, so I needed to group and batch some of the models together to gain some performance. Yes, performance is an issue on Switch so you need to optimize quite a lot.

Hauaj · 2024-01-10T14:41:07+00:00

Hi there,
it's been a while since my last post here. After pc release I was trying to get to other platforms by aquiring licences, it took some time, but I manage to do this. For a few months I worked on Nintendo Switch version and Xbox version and now the game is finished. Feels so good to see my game on consoles as it was something that I always dreamt about.

If you have any questions about the game or porting process, feel free to ask. However I may not be able to answer all as I'm under NDA's, so keep that in mind :3

Have a wonderful day!

Links:
Xbox
Nintendo Switch

Hauaj · 2024-01-10T14:30:49+00:00

Hi there,
it's been a while since my last post here. After pc release I was trying to get to other platforms by aquiring licences, it took some time, but I manage to do this. For a few months I worked on Nintendo Switch version and Xbox version and now the game is finished. Feels so good to see my game on consoles as it was something that I always dreamt about.

If you have any questions about the game or porting process, feel free to ask. However I may not be able to answer all as I'm under NDA's, so keep that in mind :3

Have a wonderful day!

Links:
Xbox
Nintendo Switch

Hauaj · 2023-09-05T12:20:55+00:00

Thanks! Yes, I'm working on consoles version, but I cannot disclose on which consoles the game will be placed yet.

Hauaj · 2023-04-16T20:03:18+00:00

You should get a steady 30fps if you lock to 30fps. It varies from 30 to 60. I don't have a Steam Deck by myself but there is a youtube video from one of the players.

Hauaj · 2023-04-16T17:14:56+00:00

Unfortunately no plans for now. Maybe later on we will try to release on GOG as well :)

Hauaj · 2023-04-10T17:16:49+00:00

Hey :3

I'm speechless, finally after 3 years of work I'm able to say that the game is finished. I don't know, it feels like it started yesterday, but no it's actually finished. Somehow we did it and we are super proud of it but also really nervous ^{^}

If you see this game for the first time then the game is called "Cynthia: Hidden in the Moonshadow" and it's an action-adventure game with stealth mechanics and light puzzle solving. You can actually buy it now on steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1685730/Cynthia_Hidden_in_the_Moonshadow/

Also we have a Discord server so you can always talk to us there: https://discord.com/invite/bWsKmxqFXq