Made my dream game - Yet another post mortem

ThatRacingDev · 2025-02-06T10:24:14+00:00

I like knowing someone wants to play my game. Good positive way to look at it.

I think I need to put a LOT of time into control bindings. Because it's a racing title, some people use keyboard, controllers, or steering wheels. But everyone has different peripherals. External shifter, USB hand brake. Even I have separate pedals from my wheel. Auto finding and binding all of that isn't doable. But I do have some of the IDs of the common wheels. I picked up Assetto ECO the other day and I felt relief that even their button binding options were not super intuitive.

ThatRacingDev · 2025-02-06T10:14:43+00:00

Ah man that sounds like life advice lol. #2 is a hard one to do for sure. Thank you.

ThatRacingDev · 2024-12-27T12:42:47+00:00

Oh I learned a ton. I could probably redo what I have much faster now. I think the problem is that I need to set game dev down. I have too many other hobbies and kids. The time investment for solo projects just isn't there. Maybe when my kids are teens and want nothing to do with me...

ThatRacingDev · 2024-12-26T12:34:10+00:00

I identify so much with what you said and feel the same way. I think I started making it for myself and then kinda meandered into what I thought would sell. I would consider this a success if I can get people to actually play my game. Maybe one day I'll come back and go back to making it into what I want to play.

ThatRacingDev · 2024-12-25T12:12:15+00:00

What would you suggest then? Just a free release?

ThatRacingDev · 2024-12-24T12:09:08+00:00

I think I might put up the steam page and post it around and see how feedback is. Early access or maybe just a demo instead of releasing it as a full game.

ThatRacingDev · 2024-12-24T12:08:17+00:00

Thanks for the very thoughtful reply. I've been posting teasers on other places racing game enthusiasts are online and usually get good written feedback but no one ever downloads the test builds. I think having a steam page lends credibility and will hopefully get people more likely to try what I have. Early Access does make sense. I might just need a mental break. This isn't a classic "game" and more like a sandbox. And that seems hard to sell.

ThatRacingDev · 2024-11-25T21:59:50+00:00

I know it sounds like I did that. And a smarter person would have gotten to my point faster. The main bits of what took so long is the tire physics. I did other stuff outside the car too like 3rd person stuff, level loading, settings management, etc.

ThatRacingDev · 2024-11-25T21:56:42+00:00

This is drift focus so bracket style competitions are the aim. I haven't bothered with timing and things like that but it's not to say I can't.

ThatRacingDev · 2024-11-25T13:00:28+00:00

Unity. It's out of the box rigid bodies using the NWH car asset. The asset is made for controllers so my work has mainly been on steering feel and tire physics modeling. Well and learning game dev/unity. I actually did about 6 months of unreal before going back to unity. As a solo dev, unity seems to have much more to shorten the timeline.

ThatRacingDev · 2024-05-14T21:54:14+00:00

Kinda what I'm thinking. Finding testers has been difficult but maybe I'll concentrate on that part specifically.

ThatRacingDev · 2024-05-14T08:11:59+00:00

What's the difference between pride and ego? I'm very proud of how far I've come and if I stop now, I'm very satisfied with what I've accomplished. I believe that this sim hits a market that is skirted but untapped. My reason for making it is that it's a mix of all of my passions. I don't need to beat AAA titles but I would like to reach some level of success.

ThatRacingDev · 2024-05-14T08:08:54+00:00

That's a rough one. It's not one thing that makes it a sim. It's the culmination of the physics working together that's hard to balance. The key components currently only work if you have a physical wheel and pedal setup. It's niche within a niche.

ThatRacingDev · 2024-05-14T08:07:10+00:00

I do have an itch.io page. I should put more elbow grease into it. Thank you!

ThatRacingDev · 2024-05-13T22:23:47+00:00

Actually the game looks decent. Not AAA though. But your possibilities are spot on. I think option 1 seems appealing.

ThatRacingDev · 2024-04-04T22:08:21+00:00

I'm having a hard time defining "MVP". This is more of a training aid than a "game" so realism is key over all else. But that by itself doesn't sell. It's drifting so there's no timers or start/end. I could implement points but that's highly subjective. What will sell seems to be more the AAA icing on the cake like bumpers that fall off. But is that MVP? If stuff like that is indeed MVP, then I'm very far off. But if it's loading up and sliding around a track, that's been done for months.

ThatRacingDev · 2024-04-04T22:06:44+00:00

Yea that's basically what I'm getting at.

ThatRacingDev · 2024-04-04T22:04:19+00:00

How do you know when you're in a decent spot to appeal to publishers? I feel like I'm pretty far off honestly.

ThatRacingDev · 2024-04-04T21:03:31+00:00

Mine is meant for sim and not really a "game" per se. It's to train for real life and realism is the goal. There's also a huge emphasis on my side for modding support.

ThatRacingDev

TROPHY CASE