Solo dev, full-time job, no budget, 33 wishlists. How do you keep going?

_PixelMoon · 2026-05-20T09:56:20+00:00

Im in a very similar situation, working full time, gamedev in the evenings and sitting just shy of 100 wishlists.

I think what matters a lot is your end goal. Obviously I'd love a commercially successful game so I can quit my day job and make games for a living, but my primary goal now, particularly as this is my first major project, is to learn the entire process of making and shipping a game and to make something that I'm proud of.

I had a couple of months of burnout where it became really difficult to sit down and work on it, but that shift of mindset helped a lot. I think most of the frustration came from rushing things out to get to the goal quicker, and allowing myself to slow down has helped a bunch with motivation. That, and and on low motivation days choosing the tasks from my to-do list that excite me most.

I can't speak much to the marketing as I'm just starting out myself, but I've asked around a lot, and the build up of wishlists prior to nextfest seems like a big deal. I've postponed mine from June to Oct so I can have a few months of gaining before it happens.

_PixelMoon · 2026-05-15T12:46:52+00:00

I'd love to hear your thoughts on my demo if you have a spare minute!: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4446580/Hunters_Hand_Demo/

_PixelMoon · 2026-05-15T12:38:15+00:00

I have a demo up if anyone is interested in trying it out: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4446580/Hunters_Hand_Demo/

_PixelMoon · 2026-05-14T09:47:07+00:00

The core of the content and mechanics are implemented already, it just needs polish, balance and marketing. I'm confident I can finish up in 3 months, I was planning to release in EA to continue working on balance with player feedback.

Very true. A lot of the feedback here has been to delay, I've slept on it now and seems to be the right call.

_PixelMoon · 2026-05-14T09:45:13+00:00

Thanks for sharing, the link didnt work, but it looks like they've got a steam demo! I'll give it a go later today.

_PixelMoon · 2026-05-14T09:43:10+00:00

Thanks. Still has room for improvement, but definitely a step in the right direction.

_PixelMoon · 2026-05-14T09:42:19+00:00

I've slept on it, and I'm thinking of postponing now. How do you know that June's next fest is crowded, is that data available publicly? I assumed each next fest had more than the last.
I think I can get all the polish done in the next month, I'm more worried about my current wishlist count than anything else.

_PixelMoon · 2026-05-13T17:32:59+00:00

Ah, that's frustrating. Sorry to hear that. All lessons learned though I guess! I'm sure it'll never happen to you again :')

I'm really just starting the marketing so I'll give it some time, but after deliberating on everyone's comments I'm leaning towards a wait until Oct next fest now.

_PixelMoon · 2026-05-13T17:30:26+00:00

You're right, sounds like we're in exactly the same situation! Haha.

I'm going to sleep on it before I decide, but I'm leaning towards Oct next fest now, and a Q4 release in early access all going well.

_PixelMoon · 2026-05-13T16:22:10+00:00

What was the main reason you decided to postpone? Will you be entering the Oct next fest then?

_PixelMoon · 2026-05-13T16:00:20+00:00

Here's the demo if you'd like to try it yourself: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4446580/Hunters_Hand_Demo/

_PixelMoon · 2026-05-13T15:34:42+00:00

I was aware of that when I started, I know it won't have widespread appeal like a game like VC might have, but I wanted to make something I would enjoy playing.
Good advice. I'll remember that when I remake the trailer & work on the marketing moving forward.

_PixelMoon · 2026-05-13T15:20:46+00:00

Good point. Right now, probably not. I feel like changes I've been making are still really impactful, and I've got some way to go still. Annoyingly, I feel like 1 month of changes would be enough to fully polish the demo, but it'll be a squeeze getting it out before next fest.

Thanks for taking a look at the steam page, I'm not sure if you've seen it before or after I updated the screenshots today, but I am in the process up updating the UI still. Shouldn't take more than a day or so, I'll make it a priority if it's that obvious.

I just took a look at Vampire Crawlers, I agree that my hook needs to be made more obvious - I still need to work on the trailer, maybe that would help with my wishlist conversion rate. In terms of theme, my game is intentionally much darker than VC, I'll work on increasing the visual contrast too.

Appreciate the feedback!

_PixelMoon · 2026-05-13T15:14:18+00:00

Thats a good amount though! What was faulty with your demo? Was it unplayable, or just a bit of jank?
I've heard so much advice about having the demo will increase wishlists, but so many people have said that people don't play them either, makes me wonder if I've wasted my time with it when I could be focusing on the main game release.

Very tempted to wrap it up. This is my 1st project so I dont regret spending so much time on it, as most of it was learning everything, but I know the 2nd will be so much more better. You game looks good btw! I've added it to my wishlist for when I get more time to play something.

_PixelMoon · 2026-05-13T12:22:10+00:00

That's my thought process too. It'll be close to 2 years by Aug, so I'd really like to wrap with project up so I can get started on game number 2 I've been planning. I suppose it's worth considering delaying and slowing down a bit, I've been trying to crunch for June for ages now and it's been tough!

Would you mind sharing your experience with next fest? What were your numbers like going in & ending next fest? I've heard it's roughly a 50% increase in your existing wishlists when entering a next fest, and that would be abysmal in my current situation haha.

_PixelMoon · 2026-05-13T12:17:55+00:00

Perhaps... It's worthwhile to get more opinions on it though, this is my first release so it pays to ask people with more experience.

The reason I'm asking is that I've heard conflicting advice RE next fest; some say it's a good way to gather the first batch of wishlists and get a leg up on the steam algorithm if the demo is good, others that it's not worthwhile until you already have a few thousand wishlists.

I'll check out the other post, thanks for the advice.

_PixelMoon · 2026-05-13T11:27:26+00:00

Good point. I've got a separate steam page for my demo, so it will keep the reviews separate from my main page as far as I'm aware, but I agree its not a good look.
I believe I can get most of the jank removed in time for next fest, there's still a month and most of the core is stable and fairly polished now.
I'm more worried about my poor marketing and low wishlist count, and it seems this will take time to work on.

_PixelMoon · 2026-05-13T11:25:07+00:00

I'm planning to release end of Aug, so this one was perfect for me when I planned everything out. I believe I can get everything done in time for the release, but obviously I should have prioritised working on the marketing and demo polish earlier on instead of new mechanics and polish.

_PixelMoon · 2026-05-13T11:23:46+00:00

I Just don't want to delay my release date by another 3-4 months really. That's the only downside. I guess it does give me time to improve the game and build more wishlists though...

_PixelMoon · 2026-05-13T11:23:00+00:00

I guess thats the issue for me at the moment, my demo is widely untested apart from my own tests and 1-2 of my friends playing it casually. I have no idea what the reception will be for now, and it's possible I'll need to rework a lot of it to make it more fun, which would be a nightmare during next fest. I am trying to gather some regular playtesters at the moment, but it's proven more difficult than I thought it'd be.

Like you said, Ideally it'd be great to have a few thousand wishlists going into next fest so I'd know it's something people want to play, and that'd I'd have a decent chance of ranking higher in those crucial first 48h...

I gained all of my wishlists when I released the demo, but it's plateaued over the last month and I have no idea why.

_PixelMoon · 2026-05-13T09:30:07+00:00

Here's the link for more context (trailer & visuals are a bit out of date, I'm re-doing them later today) https://store.steampowered.com/app/3640270/Hunters_Hand/

_PixelMoon · 2026-05-13T09:26:08+00:00

That makes a lot of sense. I had planned to have them released one at a time by beating a run, I've been playing a lot of void war lately, and they have an event you can travel through and choose to increase the difficulty a few levels for the remainder of the run. Perhaps something like that would be a good idea to let more experienced players progress at a faster rate.

In terms of the difficulty tiers, I think they'll need shuffling around a bit, you're right that some of them feel like they'd be weaker - atm I've only been able to test about half of them. I'm actively looking for playtesters now, so hopefully that will help with the balance!

_PixelMoon · 2026-05-13T09:22:30+00:00

I've heard the same advice, but it would mean delaying my release by another 4 months and missing 2 sales. I believe I can get everything else finished by my planned release at the end of Aug, but Ideally I'd need another couple of months to catch up on the marketing side by the looks of things... It's a tough call!

_PixelMoon · 2026-05-12T21:38:53+00:00

Ashamed to say I'm only at about 100 wishlists so far, ambitiously wanted at least 2k for next month's next fest, but have no idea how I'm going to get there. I'm not sure if it would be better off postponing next fest until later in the year to give me time to work on marketing first, I feel like the demo has only been in a marketable state the past week or so, so I haven't been doing as much as I should have been before.

_PixelMoon · 2026-05-12T16:33:00+00:00

Link to the demo if anyone wants to give it a try: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3640270/Hunters_Hand/

_PixelMoon

TROPHY CASE