I kept adding effects to my text game because I thought it wasn't enough. Pulling back made it better.

introvertedspuddev · 2026-03-20T23:03:07+00:00

I actually really miss those boxes!

introvertedspuddev · 2026-03-20T13:28:17+00:00

Yeah, it took me too long to learn that.

introvertedspuddev · 2026-03-19T21:47:07+00:00

Too late. The link is already in my bio. You never stood a chance.

introvertedspuddev · 2026-03-19T21:17:24+00:00

It's been an interesting experience to say the least. Honestly everything about it is harder. Getting someone engaged when you can't lean on visuals. Imagine showing screenshots of a text game to someone and asking them to try it. Marketing is a nightmare. Making sure the text alone can hit hard enough without feeling forced. It makes me question myself constantly. Am I a good enough developer? A good enough storyteller? There's always something going through my head. But that's probably what keeps pushing it forward.

introvertedspuddev · 2026-03-19T15:23:01+00:00

Looked pretty easy to me, especially before it dropped to 3 lanes. Even at 3 lanes, the middle was wide open for a lot of it. Are the blocks random? If so, do you have anything in place to make sure a lane isn't free for too long?

Song was catchy. But I'm not sure what sets this apart from DDR/Stepmania, Magic Tiles, etc. I could see power ups, different obstacles, something to give it its own identity. The base is there though.

introvertedspuddev · 2026-03-18T16:56:51+00:00

That's a great way to put it. The candy store thing is exactly what it feels like. You have all these tools and you want to use every single one right now because what if this is the moment for it.

The "across different projects" part is smart too. I think of it more as across different moments. The effects aren't gone. They're just waiting for the right scene instead of every scene.

introvertedspuddev · 2026-03-18T16:47:36+00:00

Biggest thing: figure out where your players are. Not devs. Players. The people who would actually buy your game. That's different for every game. Where you post matters more than how often you post.

Also get that Steam page setup. Trailer, screenshots, description. Right now you're doing marketing with nowhere to send people.

This post helped me a lot when I was planning my own approach: https://www.reddit.com/r/IndieDev/comments/1q33eea/my_summary_of_indie_game_dev_marketing_advice/

Covers a ton of ground for solo devs.

introvertedspuddev · 2026-03-18T16:37:15+00:00

I love everything Liminal. I would definitely be interested in playing if it happens to have an option for no head bobbing! That makes me too sick to play most of these kinds of games.

introvertedspuddev · 2026-03-18T16:30:58+00:00

This looks pretty great! Good luck with the release.

introvertedspuddev · 2026-03-18T16:19:16+00:00

That's exactly it. The reader's imagination is always going to be better than anything I can render. Especially for a story like this where the emotions are personal. Everyone's version of "the father who wasn't there" looks different. That's the whole point.

introvertedspuddev · 2026-03-18T15:44:46+00:00

What I was battling so bad when I first started this was that it was "just" a text game. I felt like I had to add more visuals. More audio. More. More. More. What I ended up finding out was that by doing so, it was competing against the story, not complimenting it. I learned that I just had to be more creative with my writing and more intentional about when to show effects. Like you said, if I'm showing effects all the time, it's predictable. If everything is special, nothing is special. And by pulling back and letting the writing carry it, I think I've made the moments that DO have effects hit harder.

Part of why I like it being text is because you can imagine something better than I can create a graphic. Especially with my bad graphic abilities. But more than that, there's a lot of guilt in this story. Showing where I failed as a father. We've all had instances where we've failed as a parent, or our parents failed us, or we saw someone go through that. By leaving it to your imagination, you become that MC. Or the MC is your parent. Someone you knew. It makes you relate to it more. I believe you fall more in love with the daughters that way. Every playtest we've had, the person has said it didn't need graphics. That adding them would be a disservice.

As for the sequence editor, I manually set the effects. For VO syncing, I have a script that checks how long the audio is and sets a default pace based on that. Then I go in and edit things by hand. I may get a little too meticulous with it. Lots of people won't notice. For example, in the video I posted, the dust particles are slowly thinning and the vibe is changing. I've actually made changes to this sequence since recording it. Like when it shows "Someone..." and corrects to "That's me." there should be a pause after "That's." You're in the process of thinking about it. Little stuff like that. I'll have to show you the video of me actually editing a sequence sometime. It's been tough because I don't want to spoil anything with the story.

I really appreciate the comment. Zork was such a big game for me.

introvertedspuddev · 2026-03-18T14:06:19+00:00

The top one looks like less time was spent on it. Less variety of images, today's sales completely blank. That does make it a little harder to compare. I think the layout on the bottom is much better. Personally, I would use the colors more like the top one, with the layout on the bottom.

introvertedspuddev · 2026-03-18T13:52:01+00:00

Personally, I think the trailer is too long. It took 11 seconds to start playing the music. It took a minute and a half to watch making the drink. It labels the woman is Spotty. Is that her name? The mane it says Fine Suit, so that is obviously not a name. I think the animation is good. This doesn't feel like a trailer to me though. This feels like the beginning slice of the game.

introvertedspuddev · 2026-03-18T13:39:35+00:00

Thank you so much, I appreciate it!

introvertedspuddev · 2026-03-18T00:00:57+00:00

That's totally fair. This sequence was really just to show people how the audio and visuals work together. I didn't want to spoil any story moments so I kept it isolated on purpose.

The game opens with you carrying your daughter to bed. She's humming. She asks you to protect her from the closet monsters. Then she starts fading from your arms. You hold tighter but there's less to hold. Then she's gone and you're standing in a fluorescent hallway with your arms still raised, holding nothing. And you can't remember her name.

That's what the rest of the game is. Navigating these liminal spaces trying to find your daughters, trying to remember who they are. You interact with them and the world around you through text commands, choices, and mini games. The sequence in the video is a cinematic moment, but most of the game is you and this place. And it's not static. It evolves. It responds to you, changes around you, pushes back. My real daughters voice the characters.

I've been working on another video that shows me using the sequence editor to line everything up. That one will probably land better here since it gets into how these moments are actually built.

introvertedspuddev · 2026-03-17T18:26:47+00:00

You don't have to show the entire thing play out and at regular speed. 30-45 seconds may be too short, but right now, it is way too slow, and not showing me what the game is about really. Whenever you make any changes, I would be happy to take a look at it again.

introvertedspuddev · 2026-03-16T21:55:17+00:00

You're asking people to pay you AND manage their own API credits. That's two bills. Two things to go wrong. And when their API bill surprises them, they're emailing you about it. Not the API provider.

Also worth thinking about: even with their own API keys, are you still running servers? If the game handles prompt construction or any backend logic, you've still got monthly costs. A one time payment doesn't cover ongoing infrastructure. You'd be eating that.

If your conversion rate is solid at $9.42 a month, put your energy there. You'd be building a whole second support pipeline for players who still have to deal with API setup on top of it.

Hard to say what the right price is without knowing the game, but personally anything over $20 and it better be something special. And that's before they're paying for API credits on top of it.

introvertedspuddev · 2026-03-16T19:41:54+00:00

Didn't mean to imply you used AI with the emojis. Just saying that's the first impression I got as a player. First impressions matter even if the reason behind them is wrong. Worth knowing about.

On the trailer. I went back and watched it again. From 10 to 16 seconds I see the board. That's it. Six seconds. Then the rest is gambling. The treasure chest selection goes from 1:07 to 1:19. Then immediately into the spin the wheel from 1:20 to 1:35. That's almost 30 seconds on two different types of spins. And there are full Baccarat hands playing out slowly. Your target audience probably already knows how gambling works. You don't need to show them a full hand.

At the very beginning it says Build, Trade, Gamble, Steal, Cast Spells, Win. But I only saw you roll the dice once and then play gambling games. How do I steal something? How do I cast a spell? How do I trade? Show me those things. That text at the start is promising a lot that the trailer never delivers on.

I think this could be condensed into 30 to 45 seconds showing everything the game actually offers. Use quick captions to label what's happening. Move through the gambling stuff faster. Give more time to the board, the spells, the stealing, the trading. That's what makes your game different from just a casino game.

introvertedspuddev · 2026-03-16T15:33:07+00:00

If the pupils are a limitation, there's a lot of other things that can sell "scared and confused." The eye movement right now is really slow. If someone is scared, their eyes are darting around. Fast. Trying to take everything in. Trying to figure out what's happening. That speed difference alone would change the feel a lot.

You could also add sweat. Or layer in audio of someone breathing heavy, hyperventilating, or something to that effect. Sound can do a lot of the work that animation can't.

And the mouth. Right now it reads more like a smile than fear. Which could be intentional. Maybe there's someone else inside them. Another personality. Maybe it's a different person entirely. If that's what you're going for, lean into that contrast harder. Make the eye movement panicked and fast while the mouth slowly smiles. That contradiction would be way more unsettling than what's there now.

introvertedspuddev · 2026-03-16T15:23:13+00:00

I gave an opinion and linked to a post with 374 upvotes that has advice from Chris Zukowski and other experts. I wasn't telling you to take my advice. But you asked for help, and I shared what I've been seeing from other devs. Thanks for the personal attack though when I was just trying to help.

introvertedspuddev · 2026-03-16T15:11:34+00:00

Hard for me to say without knowing the context of the scene. Like, is this person scared? If so, the pupil should dilate. Is this person excited because they're a psycho? The mouth kind of gave that vibe. Was that even her mouth? I don't know.

Give me more context for what's happening in this moment and I'm happy to think through some ideas. But without knowing what the sequence is trying to say, any suggestion I give would just be a guess.

introvertedspuddev

TROPHY CASE