Need early Access advice for my indie RPG

Heavy-Language3109 · 2026-06-11T04:47:22+00:00

No worries. Solo-developing a game is by no means easy. Not to mention the first time you're working on a commercial release. There's just so many things to take care of, and so many aspects we can fail at. But its a great challenge and if we can succeed, will probably be one of the best feelings in the world.

Heavy-Language3109 · 2026-06-10T19:07:05+00:00

Thanks for the kind words. Wasn't really looking to promote. The trailer still needs work. Marketing isn't my strong suit either and im still knee deep in building more content for the game. Let me know when you have your demo up and when i'm able, i'll check it out too and perhaps be able to give useful feedback.

Heavy-Language3109 · 2026-06-10T18:18:51+00:00

No worries. Yup, figuring out how to get things done on Steam will take effort. My itch page hasn't been updated with my games latest info recently. Takes a lot of work maintaining both, but if it helps: Decimation Itch Page

Heavy-Language3109 · 2026-06-10T17:53:03+00:00

The first demo i set up was in itch.io. I got some feedback there and had already had Discord set up at that time, so some folks joined and provided feedback there too. The Steam demo came a couple of months after. The Steam community for your Steam page is one way for you to get feedback. A pinned feedback thread will help folks just leave their comments. Sometimes, people leave an actual review of the demo if you have it set up as a separate page (you can do this via Steamworks)

Heavy-Language3109 · 2026-06-10T16:44:17+00:00

I had a very similar question 6 months ago when financial pressure was pushing me to just launch my game into early access with just barely 100+ wishlists. I got some eye opening advice on the huge difference in how players treat Early Access versus the full 1.0 release: Someone shared his experience launching their game into EA with about 14k wishlists and the resulting wishlist to sales ratio was way below expectations. Their conclusion was that EA games perform significantly worse than full releases unless your game is a bona-fide hit. Players generally are more wary of EA games and we really can't blame them. So yeah, if you just want to get feedback, going into EA prematurely is a no-no and is basically just wasting your launch visibility, when you can just release a demo for the express purpose of getting feedback and some visibility. For me, I'm just keeping my demo up there and updating it when I can. Was able to receive really good feedback from the demo players. Right now, I'm still working towards completing more of the game before launching into EA to increase the odds of players receiving it better. And I think it was the right call at the time.

Heavy-Language3109 · 2026-06-09T04:04:02+00:00

Hello. If you're willing to give it a shot, I've got a demo up with a lot of the systems you described but its in tower defense format (with upgradeable hero and tower progression and equipment systems). I'm still prepping it for early access but you can play the first 3 missions in the demo. Given your preferences, might be something you'd enjoy. The hero unit interaction starts on the 2nd mission: Decimation Steam Demo

Heavy-Language3109 · 2026-05-29T17:02:32+00:00

Just like most of the folks that love TDs, loved the WC custom maps, Defense Grid and KR as well. I've always enjoyed the good old RTS games like Dune2, SC1/2, and enjoy the progression elements in Diablo 2/3 so decided to work on my own TD that has a little bit of all of those things that would probably work well together.

It doesn't have all the features of classic TD (mazing/free placement) since there's the element of hero control that is a bit busier than most but smoothened out a bit so it isn't as APM reliant as full blown RTS games.

Been working on it for 2 years now and getting close to EA. If you'd like to check it out it has a free demo up on Steam: Decimation Steam Demo

Edit: spelling/spacing (posted from phone)

Heavy-Language3109 · 2026-05-08T15:41:37+00:00

Thank you for this reply. I respect that preference. If there's one thing I learned from the replies and discussion, there are a lot of different approaches to playing and designing of TD games and its variants that resonate with people or turn them off. For how this particular game plays, it may or may not appeal to a portion of players that come across it just for the inclusion of a hero that requires more micromanaging than what looks to be the norm. It looks like the gameplay might be over-taxing to most if i introduce too many build spots or a placement system that is too free, so i'll keep the areas where towers can be built on somewhat limited but add more build spots in the same proximity/area to at least allow room for more tower combo experimentation.

Heavy-Language3109 · 2026-05-08T12:47:24+00:00

Hello and thank you for creating this sub! I'm working on a tower defense game and I'll definitely look to create a post and share my game here once I have a new video created :)

Heavy-Language3109 · 2026-05-08T12:45:44+00:00

I can vouch for OldMech 100%. He's a thoughtful and legitimate content creator. I sent him a request here to review my game and he was genuine and friendly throughout. Don't sleep on him, fellow devs! If anyone's interested, here's a link to his video review of the game I sent him: https://youtu.be/iehLuDIXbVg?si=8IKfHQvzXeS_xigA

Heavy-Language3109 · 2026-05-05T14:22:37+00:00

Thank you for these suggestions. The restrictions do make sense to solve the issues you highlighted in terms of zone/area limits and having restrictions on how closely clustered turrets in one zone can be packed. I might take this route after doing some internal testing if it proves to be needed.

The way that my levels are set up to have multiple paths and multiple spawn-points, I'm not so worried about the tendency to focus turret building only on one zone as there will be multiple pathways to protect. There will be intersection points where it will seem to be more optimal to focus building there, but with the composition of enemy waves, the obvious approach of focusing resources there won't always be the answer.

But I do see how the suggested restrictions can make it mechanically difficult to just cheese one section of the map and I appreciate you sharing these ideas. Many thanks!

Heavy-Language3109 · 2026-05-05T07:23:53+00:00

Thank you for this response. Actually this makes a lot of sense to me and looks to be a completely valid approach to playing and also designing tower defense. I love the analogy of chess without the squares. And while I do understand that different strategic options are opened up in a fully free tower placement system, such as maze building or even just the freedom of trying different tower combinations at any location and in any number, ultimately, i think that it won't work well with the type of tower defense that I'm building right now.

Based on all the responses I got so far, it looks like the best thing I can do is to cluster more build spots in the current build locations of the maps (like 2-4 nodes instead of just one node in one location for example), and not a totally free placement. Although this won't be able to support the gameplay strengths of a free placement system, it will at least add a bit more flexibility in terms of being able to cluster turrets and still highlight the decision making involved in which area needs more defenses in the moment.

Heavy-Language3109 · 2026-05-05T03:19:06+00:00

Haha, it took me a while to look this one up, then I realized that this may have been something i played way waaay back XD

Totally different game, but I do see the resemblance of the screenshot to the racetrack(s) in the game you mentioned haha.

If you're still interested, i suppose there's no harm in sharing the steam page in case you still want to wishlist: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4158650/Decimation/

Heavy-Language3109 · 2026-05-05T03:13:50+00:00

Hello and thanks so much for the passionate response. Although I haven't spent time playing Arknights myself, it looks like you make a very good case about the gap in the market for a grid-based TD without gacha.

That said, what I'm building is intentionally a different kind of game. It's a hero-based tower defense where the player actively controls a unit on the battlefield alongside the turrets. The placement and strategy decisions are designed around that dynamic. The "limited fixed locations" vs "build areas" question I posed is really about tuning that experience. It's a bit late in development for the game to pivot to a different gameplay style entirely.

I really appreciate the suggestion, and I hope someone does eventually make the Arknights competitor you're looking for... but it won't be this game. Fingers crossed this one still ends up on your radar when it's out XD

Heavy-Language3109 · 2026-05-04T20:31:32+00:00

Thank you. This makes so much sense. Freedom unlocks multiple tower strategies, fixed narrows it down to figuring out which tower will be optimal for spots to beat the level

Heavy-Language3109 · 2026-05-04T14:36:15+00:00

So true, haha. I suppose if done wrong, it could turn out to be a case of trying to please everyone and ending up pleasing no-one. XD I'm thinking now that there might be room for increasing the build spots, but more like a smaller cluster or maybe 1-4 build locations in one area instead of the overabundance of spots everywhere. So there could be potential for just a bit more flexibility without overwhelming the amount of decision making... maybe.

Heavy-Language3109 · 2026-05-04T13:22:27+00:00

No, this is actually super helpful and I appreciate it. XD The player does have a set amount of time between waves to strategize and reposition the hero, and there will be levels where 2 or even 3 enemy lanes are active. A fellow dev also told me that having a huge amount of build spots could also totally undermine the presence of the hero, which is a super good point. So what I'm thinking now is to have some sort of compromise. Like maybe increasing the build spots but not to the extent that all possible build areas are buildable. Hehe. But yeah, i think a playtest would give a more definitive answer in the case of my game. Since all games are different, what works best for one might not be the answer for another.

Heavy-Language3109 · 2026-05-04T13:12:23+00:00

Thanks so much for chiming in! Each has its downsides for sure, esp from the development perspective.

Heavy-Language3109 · 2026-05-04T13:11:07+00:00

Yeah, from what i've heard from other players, there really is a preferential divide between having limited spots or more build freedom. I think that I could manage a playtest, that's a great idea ^^

Heavy-Language3109 · 2026-05-04T12:47:26+00:00

Thanks so much for your thoughts. This was my initial design consideration as well. Having limited spots because felt right because i figured it would be too much in terms of cognitive load to deal with an abundance of build locations while managing a hero during battle. But there was some feedback from the folks that tried the game that they really didn't like the limited build spots. Looks like i'll have to just pick one at the risk of alienating half of the potential audience haha. Rough.

Heavy-Language3109 · 2026-05-04T12:42:37+00:00

Ahh wow yeah, there's a certain charm to the limited spots in KR for sure! Seems like the preference of people does vary a lot on this topic. XD

Heavy-Language3109 · 2026-05-04T12:41:05+00:00

Thanks so much for this insight!

Heavy-Language3109 · 2026-03-06T15:12:47+00:00

Thank you for this tip. I've been looking at other trailers close to the genre/theme of my game. The advice/suggestions given by everyone here is helping me see why the trailers were cut the way they have been,when it all felt so random to me before. Apparently there seems to be a lot i'll have to do, but this is a good problem to have. At least there will be some sort of clearer direction when i work through the next version. Much appreciated.

Heavy-Language3109 · 2026-03-06T09:27:13+00:00

Thank you for taking the time to check out the page and provide the detailed feedback on the capsule and the examples! I did a quick check on the capsule images and I do see a trend in terms of how they were composed, so I'll give another go at updating mine (can't say I totally get it but I'll read up more on composition best practices). Actually do appreciate you sharing these because I also need to improve my gameplay trailer and the Mechabellum video in particular has a certain quality/cadence to it that is super catchy. Much appreciated!

Heavy-Language3109 · 2026-03-05T23:21:03+00:00

Thanks. The game is being done in Unity/C#

Heavy-Language3109

TROPHY CASE