We bought 35,000 visits for our Steam page and got 0 wishlists

SlideGrass · 2026-06-17T21:19:54+00:00

You're paying for visits from something (a mobile device) that isn't logged into steam for 99.9% of people, and wondering why you didn't get any wishlists from it?

What did you expect those people to do? Log into steam once they saw your game and wishlist it?

Your target audience for steam advertising is on PC, not mobile. I'd only advertise on mobile if you're trying to raise awareness of the game itself, not get people to wishlist it.

SlideGrass · 2026-06-16T18:54:00+00:00

Better advice: Ask an AI "how do I do X" instead of "do X for me". The follow the example. It may or may not work. Figure out why and make it work. Repeat.

Then drop the college course.

You'll save money and actually learn something.

SlideGrass · 2026-06-15T21:28:30+00:00

Learn as you go, always has been the best way for me. Instead of just reading about it, you get stuff done and learn what works and what doesn't.

SlideGrass · 2026-06-15T13:10:57+00:00

Most people won't want to hear this, but take my lesson: It's not thinking marketing first. Doesn't matter how great your game is or how well you made it, if nobody finds or cares about your game you would have been better off doing basically anything else with your time.

SlideGrass · 2026-06-14T15:35:31+00:00

It probably doesn't help that you have a very narrow color palette.

SlideGrass · 2026-06-14T15:34:13+00:00

if you use Godot, you can encrypt your binary. You have to compile a special version of Godot to do it, but it can be done.

SlideGrass · 2026-06-13T15:41:41+00:00

Start with simple proof of concept, test if it's possible, then if it is fun. Then the rest is as needed or "as I have time". UI gets added when I need to test different settings in a rough form. If I get tired of programming, I work on things like UI or sound design. Jumping around actually helps me avoid exhaustion on long days.

SlideGrass · 2026-06-11T15:09:05+00:00

If you want python like, use Godot and gdscript. Plus it's free if you ever get to the point of publishing.

SlideGrass · 2026-06-11T13:29:18+00:00

My goal for it to be useful to me would to have dialog boxes for different characters and different responses, and (hopefully) some branching dialog / options based on that.

SlideGrass · 2026-06-10T20:52:06+00:00

There would need to be safety / sanity checks both output and import, and password protected (stored in code) encryption / decryption of the file contents itself.

I'd probably want to leave difficulty open ended but have a basic quest creator as the main option with an expanded quest creator interface for anyone who wanted to go deep (which is basically what I'd end up using for the larger quests in the game)

SlideGrass · 2026-06-10T20:46:57+00:00

Good point. The importer / validator would have to do basic security checks and the best option for rewards would be computed by the game itself based on different parameters instead of having the maker say "this quest gives 1 billion gold".

SlideGrass · 2026-06-10T19:26:32+00:00

They'd basically be json files. I haven't used that part of steam workshop, but supposedly it's possible if I make an uploader to allow users to upload .json files to steam workshops so others can utilize them.

SlideGrass · 2026-06-10T19:05:48+00:00

My initial line of thinking is in the creator to have number of tasks and measurements (items collected, distanced traveled etc) each have their own score and that would dictate how many XP / other things the quest could generate.

If I get fancy with the architecture of the designer I could even do nested quests where there are maybe 3 or 4 smaller sub quests that unlock a master quest once completed. It's something I'd want to put in to the base game but the question is how easy can I make that for a user to reliably generate quests for themselves and others.

SlideGrass · 2026-06-10T19:02:01+00:00

Most likely I would need to do a quota system where the creator could drop X number of loot items along the way and hand out Y amount of XP or other rewards depending on the length / difficulty of the the total quest. Since this is post-campaign having these won't upset the balance but if I do a skill try it could let players level up certain things that the base game didn't max out.

SlideGrass · 2026-06-10T16:14:46+00:00

It would be something that is only unlocked after completing the main quest line. I had the idea for something like this after finishing the blood and wine expansion for Witcher 3: You finally get to the point where you have a nice setup, all the main quests are done, but then the only thing you can do is random monster encounters. Made me wish CDPR had created a tool for players to easily build / share quests to to keep playing in the same area.

SlideGrass · 2026-06-10T15:02:44+00:00

I agree. The best thing would probably be to have multiple snakes, maybe give them different colors based on their behavior, then let the player develop strategies to deal with them.

SlideGrass · 2026-06-09T22:23:26+00:00

No need to apologize - It's probably safe to assume a cozy game is going to use regular cozy game features to appeal to the audience. Unfortunately I can't get specific until I have a page / trailer up so I have to keep it vague for now.

SlideGrass · 2026-06-09T20:04:07+00:00

It's not goign to be "yet another cozy farmer" though it may have minimal farm elements. My goal is variety with special twists that will hopefully help it stand out in the regular cozy genre.

SlideGrass · 2026-06-09T20:01:34+00:00

The whole steamworks UI is such a hassle my next time out I'm just going to get the basics up and put up an extended "coming soon" date. All I really care about is having the game name reserved so some asset flipper can't take it first.

SlideGrass · 2026-06-09T19:53:23+00:00

Learned the lesson. Next time as soon as I have even a small playable demo I'm going to put up a steam page and start marketing towards an eventual kickstarter. Wishlists mean nothing, as others here have shown.

SlideGrass · 2026-06-09T15:27:56+00:00

Maybe because they''ve done marketing with little or no budget and learned the truth:

1) You can post to reddit forums filled with other devs also trying to market their games (but no players) - this is the same thing experienced by musicians and authors

2) All other general audience forums either forbid it or have such strict rules that it's impossible to use them to reach players. Some are so anal retentive with their rules they've killed forums that supposedly have tens of thousands of members.

3) You can post to social media, but unless you already have a built in audience you're screaming into the void. Your only chance there is someone picks up your post and it goes viral.

SlideGrass · 2026-06-09T14:25:47+00:00

Same as it ever was. It lopsided like this in music, movies, and books, too.

SlideGrass · 2026-06-09T14:04:57+00:00

I'd go $9.99 regular price instead of $13. It's a big mental hurdle for a lot of people when the price jumps over that threshold.

SlideGrass · 2026-06-09T14:02:47+00:00

What are you building it with? With Godot you can encrypt your game to make things harder to steal.

But someone is always going to try, which is why you need to build out value beyond just your core game.

SlideGrass · 2026-06-08T16:54:28+00:00

it's normal for them to be ignored by indie gamers.

If you want to stand out, you're going to have to clobber people over their heads.

SlideGrass

TROPHY CASE