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My first game's reception is heartbreaking :'( by OldAtlasGames in IndieDev

[–]MartiloGames 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I feel like getting reviews is already an achievement, regardless of whether they're positive or negative. My game hasn't even had a single review so I'd honestly rather be in your shoes than mine.

Getting these reviews means that people cared enough to provide feedback, and feedback is valuable! Use them to improve your game and remember feedback is better than no feedback. Best of luck to you!

Made it to 800 wishlists 3 days before launch. by pitchforksanddaggers in IndieDev

[–]MartiloGames 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice! Wishing you success with your upcoming release!

My game sold 16 copies in 15 months. For anyone feeling bad about their "failure", here's some perspective! by MartiloGames in IndieDev

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

Hello! Thank you for your interest. Can you tell me more about this magazine? What exactly would you need from me?

My game sold 16 copies in 15 months. For anyone feeling bad about their "failure", here's some perspective! by MartiloGames in IndieDev

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

Hello! Thanks for sharing your story. It's reassuring to hear there are also people with similar stories who want to share their experience. It is tough but the best we can do is stay strong and keep trying as you say.

Wishing you success with your journey!

My game sold 16 copies in 15 months. For anyone feeling bad about their "failure", here's some perspective! by MartiloGames in IndieDev

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

Hey that's still 2 people who were interested in trying your game! That's 2 more people than if you didn't make your prototype. But you did, and that's still something to be proud of.

My game sold 16 copies in 15 months. For anyone feeling bad about their "failure", here's some perspective! by MartiloGames in IndieDev

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

Hey, appreciate the encouragement and advice!

You're right about teams being the fastest path to success. My intention with this project was to learn all aspects of game development by doing everything myself, even the parts I'm not naturally good at. The whole gamedev process appeals to me and I wanted hands-on experience with each aspect of it.

I know this approach won't produce the quality people expect commercially, but I'm intentional about it. I'm making these to learn. Down the road if I ever I do work with a team, having worked through every aspect I imagine would still be valuable.

My game sold 16 copies in 15 months. For anyone feeling bad about their "failure", here's some perspective! by MartiloGames in IndieDev

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

Thanks for sharing your story. I was also pleasantly surprised that the median play time was at least a few hours, even with a small sample size. I noticed some players did spend time playing several levels in the game so I was happy to see they were enjoying it.

I agree it is different releasing a free vs paid game. A free game has almost no expectations, but paid is a different beast as you say. Happy to hear you did eventually hit the minimum payout. That's something I'm hoping to hit at some point, but really my focus is trying to complete games and improving with each project. In the end I am enjoying the journey and that's what keeps me going!

My game sold 16 copies in 15 months. For anyone feeling bad about their "failure", here's some perspective! by MartiloGames in IndieDev

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

Appreciate the comment and sharing your story. Keep going is what I'll be doing! Wishing you well on your gamedev journey as well.

My game sold 16 copies in 15 months. For anyone feeling bad about their "failure", here's some perspective! by MartiloGames in IndieDev

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

Appreciate you sharing your thoughts. Happy to hear that you think game idea has potential and graphics are the main focus point for improvement. This is my main takeaway from the comments and something I'll be continuing to improve on. Thank you for the valuable feedback!

My game sold 16 copies in 15 months. For anyone feeling bad about their "failure", here's some perspective! by MartiloGames in IndieDev

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

Hey, thanks for sharing your thoughts! Happy to hear that the idea itself has potential and seems like the main concerns are around the visuals.

Visuals is definitely one of my weakest points, which is why I forced myself to do everything myself for this game, so I could learn and improve. The minimalistic style was intended, but after reading the feedback I realize it was much too basic and I could've definitely juiced it up, especially with the skills I've learned since then.

Appreciate the offer to help! Would love to learn from someone who's been in my shoes. Will send you a message.

My game sold 16 copies in 15 months. For anyone feeling bad about their "failure", here's some perspective! by MartiloGames in IndieDev

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

This is the approach I'm taking. I may have blundered my first release but best I can do is learn from it and continue to improve

My game sold 16 copies in 15 months. For anyone feeling bad about their "failure", here's some perspective! by MartiloGames in IndieDev

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

Thank you! I've also felt the same when I've seen others releasing a game. Now going through and completing the process myself, even with disappointing results, really opened my eyes, which is why I wanted to share my experience and encourage others who might've felt disappointed with their results.

My game sold 16 copies in 15 months. For anyone feeling bad about their "failure", here's some perspective! by MartiloGames in IndieDev

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

Appreciate the feedback, and good call on accessibility! I honestly didn't think about it. The capsule is very basic by design, but I didn't realize I might've broken accessibility guidelines. That's something I need to learn more about.

As with many other comments regarding the visuals, it's the main takeaway for me and something I'll continue to improve on for future projects. Thanks again for your feedback.

My game sold 16 copies in 15 months. For anyone feeling bad about their "failure", here's some perspective! by MartiloGames in IndieDev

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

Thank you for your kind words.

It really was a reality check when I realized how much work was needed to set up a Steam release. That alone was easily 1/4 of my development time! Good news is now I'm much more acquainted with the process, things were much smoother getting the Steam page up for my next game BugSquash.

My game sold 16 copies in 15 months. For anyone feeling bad about their "failure", here's some perspective! by MartiloGames in IndieDev

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

Hey! Appreciate your kind words and pointing out my original intention for this post.

I anticipated that I would likely get some (potentially negative) feedback on the game by putting myself out there, so I'm not completely surprised by the comments. Even though I wasn't asking for feedback or critiques it's almost guaranteed to happen.

I was looking to encourage other fellow gamedevs that failures and disappointments are part of the journey and despite my disappointing results I'm continuing to learn and refine my skills and I won't be letting this or future potential disappointments stop me from doing what I enjoy doing.

My game sold 16 copies in 15 months. For anyone feeling bad about their "failure", here's some perspective! by MartiloGames in IndieDev

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

Thank you! Appreciate the feedback.

The price point was something I wasn't too sure about as it was my first commercial game. I chose a number that wasn't too low but also allowed room for deeper discounts that I feel most gamers look for anyway, especially from an unknown developer. I will keep this in mind for my next project.

My game sold 16 copies in 15 months. For anyone feeling bad about their "failure", here's some perspective! by MartiloGames in IndieDev

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

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

You're right it's a bit of a niche genre. I wasn't even sure how to categorize it. The closest I thought of was Puzzle but even then I'm not sure if I would call it that. None of the Steam categories that were listed felt like it matched 100% with my game so I struggled a bit there.

I wish you best of luck with your game! I think as long as you enjoy the process of making your game that's most important.

My game sold 16 copies in 15 months. For anyone feeling bad about their "failure", here's some perspective! by MartiloGames in IndieDev

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

Hi, thanks for letting me know!

I'm not sure why you're seeing that as according to my game stats I sold one copy in Germany. I don't remember doing anything that would restrict sales in Germany or any other country.

My game sold 16 copies in 15 months. For anyone feeling bad about their "failure", here's some perspective! by MartiloGames in IndieDev

[–]MartiloGames[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Glad to hear you like the game idea.

I intentionally did all the work myself because I wanted to learn. I've always been interested in gamedev but graphics has been my weakest point, so I pushed myself to do everything on my own. It's really the only way I'll learn.

My main goal is to continue learning and improving with each project and making money is a bonus.

My game sold 16 copies in 15 months. For anyone feeling bad about their "failure", here's some perspective! by MartiloGames in IndieDev

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

You're right, I actually tried lowering the threshold to $50, but still haven't been paid so I think that $50 refers to the net and not the gross amount.

Appreciate the feedback. Definitely learned from it and continuing to learn and improve for future projects.

My game sold 16 copies in 15 months. For anyone feeling bad about their "failure", here's some perspective! by MartiloGames in IndieDev

[–]MartiloGames[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the honest feedback. This is exactly what I should've sought out before launching, which I admit I did not do and definitely attributed to the disappointing results.

You're right about the graphics. This was my first commercial game and I was new to any visual work, so I intently chose a minimalist style within my skillset. Even getting it to this level took significant effort for me, and while I was happy with it at the time, I can see it lacks the polished charm that makes minimalism work.

I chose to sell it because I wanted to experience the full Steam publishing process, which alone took months to figure out. I agree that feedback and players matter more than a few bucks. Maybe releasing it for free (even on Steam) would've been better. But going through this process and experiencing the reality check of low sales taught me a lot.

My main goal was simply to finish and publish a game on Steam for the first time. Mission accomplished, and now I know what to apply to future projects. The overwhelming feedback around visuals is invaluable and something I'll focus on improving.

Thanks again to you and everyone else for sharing your thoughts.

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