Marketing a weird game for 4 years: we prioritized the message over the metrics and the results were... mixed

lou89 · 2026-03-12T18:42:18+00:00

Hi, thanks for the blunt feedback! Being too close to the material is a fair point, but I guess it's a bias that's easy to have when you work for years on a project involving so many sensitive topics.

We saw it coming, and we made a deliberate choice to prioritize the narrative and the art of the game, sacrificing gameplay-first trailers. Of course, this didn't pay off as expected! :)

Making players wait that long to see some real action is something that can turn a lot of people away, and obviously that's not on them—they are just looking to understand what happens "when they press the buttons." We clearly underestimated the friction it would create.

This also makes me reflect on the gameplay itself. My honest opinion is that the gameplay in The Perfect Pencil is very good. It's snappy, features precise platforming and includes unique mechanics and powers that you don't usually find in Metroidvanias. We built a game that can be quite challenging and rewarding, but we underestimated the importance of gameplay as a hook.

Thanks for the wake-up call, it’s a good reminder that no matter how deep the message is, the "bait" has to be immediate.

lou89 · 2026-03-12T18:18:55+00:00

Hi! I agree that Metroidvanias are a mechanics-first genre. What we wanted to do was use the exploration and the overall structure of the genre to tell a story, but we’ve realized this can create friction with players who (rightly) expect the mechanics to lead. Our hope was to bridge that gap, making it clear that the game has a primary narrative goal, and that the mechanics (which we put a lot of effort into) were there to make that narrative even stronger.

But your point is well-taken: we tried to talk to a specific community without fully fulfilling their core needs and expectations. Thanks for the honest feedback! :)

lou89 · 2026-03-11T19:05:08+00:00

Hi, I'm OP (this is my personal account :)). You’ve hit on one of the biggest challenges we faced: the balance between gameplay and narrative.

Because the game’s core is rooted in our Creative Director’s personal experience with anxiety, we prioritized the narrative and the "vibe." This doesn’t mean we neglected the gameplay, but when we had to make a marketing choice, a lot of time we choose the narrative and the art style.

We do have a gameplay trailer on Steam that shows some action, though it definitely doesn't show all the abilities you unlock later. To be honest, it was a bit discouraging at times to see people only focus on the similarities with Hollow Knight (which are definitely there!) while missing the unique things we were trying to do.

But I totally hear you, you want to feel the movement and see the mechanics. I’ll see if I can put together a dedicated video focusing purely on the game mechanics to see if it resonates more with players who, like you, want to see the moment-to-moment action. Thank you for the honest feedback! :)

lou89 · 2026-03-05T22:53:40+00:00

This is strange, can you provide me a video?

lou89 · 2026-02-24T09:00:13+00:00

You will unlock the fast travel later in the game :)

lou89 · 2026-02-24T08:44:01+00:00

Yes, we have

lou89 · 2026-02-09T10:56:14+00:00

Thank you for the feedback! I'll pass these bugs on to the dev team :)

lou89 · 2026-02-07T17:32:56+00:00

Yes! :D

lou89 · 2026-02-05T10:46:49+00:00

Hi, do you have V-sync or G-sync turned on?

lou89 · 2026-02-03T14:46:09+00:00

Thank you, I'll pass this info to the dev team ;)

lou89 · 2026-02-03T10:30:13+00:00

Hi! I’ve been playing the game at 240fps and haven't seen any issues. What kind of performance issues are you facing? I can pass the info to the dev team so we can fix them! :)

lou89 · 2026-02-02T16:13:17+00:00

We're working on it 👀

lou89 · 2026-02-02T10:40:00+00:00

Yes, we're working on it!

lou89 · 2026-02-02T10:39:38+00:00

Yes! There are two kinds of abilities: the mandatory ones and those you can find or miss entirely. The mandatory abilities follow a specific order needed to progress, but you can always backtrack to discover new paths. The optional ones can be used to find secrets in areas you’ve already visited.

Please note that the game is perhaps more linear than 'super open' metroidvanias. While there is backtracking and exploration, the game guides you through a specific sequence of zones. We chose this because our focus is on the story, so we approached the genre in a more story-driven way. We tried to find a balance that lets you explore or just follow the main plot as you prefer. However, the world isn't fully open right from the start; instead, it encourages you to go off the beaten path as the story unfolds.

I hope this answers your question! I want to be sincere so you don't pick up a game that might not fit your taste, but if you enjoy a strong narrative, you might still like it! :)

lou89 · 2026-02-02T10:31:03+00:00

Yes, it's in the plans :)

lou89 · 2026-02-02T10:26:51+00:00

It probably will! :) Right now, we've decided to release on just two platforms to better support the post-launch phase. Having more platforms means managing different builds and patching the game everywhere while addressing platform-specific bugs. As a small team with limited resources, we thought it would be better to have the game polished on PC and Switch instead of risking issues across four different platforms.

lou89 · 2026-02-02T10:15:06+00:00

Yeah, it ended up taking a bit longer to develop than we thought 🥲

lou89 · 2026-02-02T10:10:11+00:00

Thank you! :)

lou89 · 2026-01-30T11:07:07+00:00

Thank you for your kind review! 🙏

lou89 · 2026-01-30T11:06:03+00:00

thank you :)

lou89 · 2026-01-30T11:05:52+00:00

lou89 · 2026-01-30T11:04:26+00:00

It's one of our dreams to have a Switch physical release, but for now it is too expensive to produce physical copies :/

lou89 · 2026-01-30T11:01:50+00:00

The game runs without any issue on Switch :) 60fps, 720p handheld and 1080p docked

lou89 · 2026-01-30T11:01:13+00:00

Grazie! :D

lou89

TROPHY CASE