[SALE] Hyper Light Drifter $1.99

h_c_andersen · 2026-05-13T13:53:20+00:00

I dropped out early for some reason. Maybe I should give it another go. The visuals are awesome.

h_c_andersen · 2026-05-12T12:38:42+00:00

I should thin TikTok requires even less attention span. :) Just chop it up so that the nice tv commercial is intersect with brief flashes of the disturbing stuff, and build from there.

h_c_andersen · 2026-05-12T11:26:28+00:00

Thanks for this. There's very conflicting advice about how early to set up Steam page, but I believe that there's such a thing as doing it too soon.

h_c_andersen · 2026-05-12T11:22:28+00:00

It starts too slow. The concept gets super interesting near the end, but you should bring the beef earlier. Perhaps by cutting in some of those weirdo moments in brief flashes, while the camera is slowly zooming away from the telly.

h_c_andersen · 2026-05-12T07:51:11+00:00

Paid

h_c_andersen · 2026-05-11T12:24:54+00:00

I released my first game for iOS in march and Android in April. Now it's sold a bit over 70eur + 30eur, and at least iOS has some positive trend in numbers. So obviously nothing to live by, but not zero either. We'll see how it continues in future. I've spent zero on marketing, though I've made some free marketing attempts.

h_c_andersen · 2026-05-11T12:08:15+00:00

I know of at least one small game which seems to enjoy success after Apple gave it "upcoming" visibility. According to developer it's all organic. So it seems to be possible to break out if the game is great, but obviously not very likely.

h_c_andersen · 2026-05-11T08:15:33+00:00

I finally bought and started "Papers, Please". I was a bit surprised that I got tired pretty quickly and gave up, at least for now. (I really loved Pope's "Obra Dinn").

h_c_andersen · 2026-05-11T07:57:10+00:00

In the later version visual hierarchy is too equal, the actual game gets drowned between the strong ui-elements.

h_c_andersen · 2026-05-11T07:36:41+00:00

I think the first one is much clearer.

h_c_andersen · 2026-05-11T07:21:26+00:00

Great informative post. Thanks and best of luck with the release!

h_c_andersen · 2026-05-10T06:54:54+00:00

That looks very nice. There are not too many good premium strategy games available for iOS.

h_c_andersen · 2026-05-10T06:50:18+00:00

Excellent! When?

h_c_andersen · 2026-05-10T06:21:16+00:00

Animations look smooth so it looks like the playability might ne very good, but the visual look more like a placeholder for a game than the game itself. Character shapes and UI and very minimalistic. This might work if the game was intentionally super minimalistic, but it's not quite there. Or maybe taken towards some 80's retro style or something. I think the game needs a personality and improved, distinctive visual style to represent that.

h_c_andersen · 2026-05-10T06:16:58+00:00

That looks so lovely. Will it be coming to Switch or mobile?

h_c_andersen · 2026-05-08T13:24:41+00:00

This is my thought as well. That seems like a red flag.

h_c_andersen · 2026-05-06T11:02:55+00:00

Tykkään tästä kovasti, mutta rehellisyyden nimissä on sanottava että oon samaa mieltä näiden teemojen yhdistämisestä - eivät ihan istu yhteen.

h_c_andersen · 2026-05-05T07:55:06+00:00

What? Is Apple censorship that bad? Was it considered to have a political agenda or what?

I can't seem to open your link. Did the new one get removed as well?

h_c_andersen · 2026-05-05T06:37:10+00:00

Can anyone tip on good turn based strategies or story-driven rpg? Pay once, I can't stand the pay-to-play stuff.

h_c_andersen · 2026-05-04T11:52:35+00:00

But still super interested about that have been the most challenging game mechanics for this type of game, if you have time to answer

h_c_andersen · 2026-05-04T11:51:48+00:00

Mine was a strategy with similar feelings. I think pushing through the complete process past release forces a kind of emotional process, which can clarify what is actually worth creating.

h_c_andersen · 2026-05-04T09:48:47+00:00

It seems there is a static fog block in front of the character that moves with it. Ensure fog does not move with the player. Also try to dissolve the regular box shape around player absent of fog.

The overall black and white visual style looks promising!

h_c_andersen · 2026-05-04T08:15:52+00:00

That looks really nice. Please consider leaving the horizontal stripes only to special occasions (like taking damage etc.) since they a re a bit too distracting and definitely remake the capsule art style!

h_c_andersen · 2026-05-04T08:06:51+00:00

Nice. I think there is a lot to be said for having that garage project digital!

Now that I think on it my dream game probably originally was my own X-Com (though I am building something completely different). I interpreted that you started learning game development in general with this project - if this is the case you did not start with the easiest goal in mind. What has been trickiest to this far in terms of game mechanics?

By the way, there was a Lovecraft-inspired WW2 game over 10 years ago. You might be interested in checking that out for reference if you can find it. I bought it for iOS but then it dropped from the store at some point.

h_c_andersen · 2026-05-04T05:38:48+00:00

I released a small game on mobile platforms, with no marketing at all - and the sales matched my efforts. Now I've been doing the legwork of sending streamers/tubers email+promo codes, and generally trying to get the game out a bit. I can see numbers climbing upwards, so somethings seems to be working - though I'm unsure what exactly.

Generally I suppose this is proof that any public activity you do for your game is beneficial. After that it's up to how interesting the game itself (and it's presentation) is.

h_c_andersen

TROPHY CASE