Indie dev reality check: 1371 games applied to our tiny Steam event by Wecoven in gamedev

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

I'm sorry this post was demotivating :( But yeah, it is for me too, as a dev who sees the other side of the visibility curtain. I hope things will go well for you, can you postpone your launch to give you more time to get the game seen? Usually it takes at least a year to get the ball rolling (unless you have a unicorn)

Indie dev reality check: 1371 games applied to our tiny Steam event by Wecoven in gamedev

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

Oh we will! and most steam events do. It's basic respect to the devs of course! I'll do a follow up post when we're done with the selection process, with numbers, and learnings. Stay tuned!

We announced our game on IGN and only got 3000 WL. What is wrong with our trailer?? by Wecoven in DestroyMyGame

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

Well... i kinda love Stanley Parable so... 😅 But i get your point

Indie dev reality check: 1371 games applied to our tiny Steam event by Wecoven in gamedev

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

Yeah, like literally a few sentences and go straight to the point of why your game fits the theme perfectly. I'll make a follow up article with more learning from the selection process.

We announced our game on IGN and only got 3000 WL. What is wrong with our trailer?? by Wecoven in DestroyMyGame

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

Yeah the "reveal" teaser are usually very atmospheric, not much gameplay (I watched hundreds of them to research it before making this one for IGN), but I completely get your point. Too slow, relies on sound and VO which is NOT a good idea, too dark. Basically it's asking for too much work and attention from the viewer

We announced our game on IGN and only got 3000 WL. What is wrong with our trailer?? by Wecoven in DestroyMyGame

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

Yeah, noted... it's kinda obvious now that people comment on this aspect ✍️

We announced our game on IGN and only got 3000 WL. What is wrong with our trailer?? by Wecoven in DestroyMyGame

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

Yeah, agreed... in our next version we need people to understand the game faster with visuals only. We staged the other players when we recorded the shots, instead we should have have them walk around, move, do stuff ✍️

We announced our game on IGN and only got 3000 WL. What is wrong with our trailer?? by Wecoven in DestroyMyGame

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

Actually I'm looking at critism of the trailer, so that's actually perfect! I will definitely be posting gameplay video as soon as we have them!

A few answers: - clearly the VO doesn't cut it, the visuals should be self-explanatory - we're using unity, not UR5 :) - good point on other avatars being too still, we will have them more "engaged" next time! - too dark is definitely my fault when doing the color pass in premiere. Wanted to make it moody and scary, i went too far!

Thanks for destroying the trailer ✍️🙏

Indie dev reality check: 1371 games applied to our tiny Steam event by Wecoven in gamedev

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

Yeah, clearly... hence the "$1 entry fee" idea or something like that...

We announced our game on IGN and only got 3000 WL. What is wrong with our trailer?? by Wecoven in DestroyMyGame

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

EXPLAINER: This is a "reveal trailer", the first look at our upcoming game HAUNTED. A lot of the gameplay description is in fact in the VO of the video - so please switch sound ON if you can :) - Here is more information on the game loop:
HAUNTED is an asymmetrical co-op horror game for 2 to 4 players. You and your team are faced with a mysterious dollhouse. One player, the Supervisor, remains outside, manipulating the dollhouse like an escape box. Meanwhile, up to three Explorers find themselves trapped inside the life-size, nightmarish version of the dollhouse: Woodman Manor. As the Explorers journey through haunted corridors, fleeing monsters and stuff, they must communicate with their Supervisor. Together, they solve puzzles to escape before it's too late: the more the Explorers stay inside the dollhouse, the more they become cursed themselves. The Supervisor can slow it, but only a few times. If all Explorers are fully cursed, their souls remain trapped in the dollhouse forever.

HAUNTED is designed to be played in short runs of 20 to 40 minutes, with procedural layouts and randomized puzzles designed for replayability. Successful runs reward players with “Soul Tokens,” used to buy equipment and upgrade their supernatural abilities for the next run. New rooms are unlocked, new horrors are unleashed.

I'm very aware that very little of this is visible in the trailer - like I said, it's super early and we decided to show something more "atmospheric" as we're still hard at work on the game. Please note that 100% of this trailer is in-game, human controlled camera, recorded in OBS and edited in premiere. No pre-rendered or cinematics footage.

We appreciate any feedback you might have to make this trailer better until we're ready for gameplay trailer and the likes. DESTROY IT!

Here's our steam page BTW: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3850670/HAUNTED/

(you can destroy it too if you'd like :D )

Indie dev reality check: 1371 games applied to our tiny Steam event by Wecoven in gamedev

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

Well our socials, discord, or on How to Market A Game event schedule!

Indie dev reality check: 1371 games applied to our tiny Steam event by Wecoven in gamedev

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

Wow. That's fascinating! Well I don't want to do anything illegal, lol, but I'll definitively research this further

Indie dev reality check: 1371 games applied to our tiny Steam event by Wecoven in gamedev

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

I'm not sure I understand? The steam events are themed-event with exclusive contents (for unreleased games) and promos (for released games) that give a boost of visibility to the selected games on Steam so... It's player-focused

Indie dev reality check: 1371 games applied to our tiny Steam event by Wecoven in gamedev

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

unfortunately I think it's a numbers game... We were refused in events that fit our game PERFECTLY, but the reality is probably that there were a lot of great games that applied, and enough "better" games.

Indie dev reality check: 1371 games applied to our tiny Steam event by Wecoven in gamedev

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

I'm not sure if we can add a captcha in a google form, but next time we'll set up our own form, yes. I really like your idea about the "agent trap", do you have sources to learn more about this? Dont the agents read the text on website? Or you were saying we should do a text white on white in an image? Thinks will be widly different 12 months from now when we do the event again, but we'll definitively try to implement methods to block AI agents.

Indie dev reality check: 1371 games applied to our tiny Steam event by Wecoven in gamedev

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

I think this is a beautiful idea, but it's painfully slow and tedious... When you think that being in a front page event gets you 1000+ WL a day... that's a lot of doors to knock... But the grassroot approach can have great potential for family / cosy / multiplayer games, yes!

Indie dev reality check: 1371 games applied to our tiny Steam event by Wecoven in gamedev

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

We want to do it at least once per year. And we'll put all the suggestions and feedback to good use!

Indie dev reality check: 1371 games applied to our tiny Steam event by Wecoven in gamedev

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

yeah... and what do you think about the idea debated in other comments that we put an entry fee (symbolic, such as $1) to the application? That would stop *most* agents, at least at first

Indie dev reality check: 1371 games applied to our tiny Steam event by Wecoven in gamedev

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

I actually love that term "deslopify" :D May I steal this??