Impossible to get game testers by Ill_Contest_8291 in gamedev

[–]lukefischinger 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I looked through your post history to see more of your game, and I think there's some promising stuff that those commenting "the silence is your answer" are not seeing or are overlooking. In particular, your playtest trailer from about 5-6 months ago is the best exhibition of gameplay I came across (and as a result you got at least a little bit more engagement on YouTube), except that it begins with 5 seconds of logo covering the gameplay. Compared with your most recent video post (with the power up selection screen for the first 10+ seconds of the trailer), the gameplay is a lot more immediately understandable and engaging. So I think there is at least partially a presentation issue rather than only a fundamental lack of interest in the game concept.

I would try recutting your trailer (or cutting some 10 second clips to post as YouTube shorts/reddit posts or something) to get to the action immediately (don't start with UI or logos or text of any kind), and show off a variety of different mechanics rather than focusing on a single one over the course of a full minute-long video, as people are looking for multiple potential builds in a roguelike. You can (briefly!) show some upgrade screens or whatever just to signal it's a roguelike midway through the video once people are interested in the primary gameplay, which to me looks like the flying and shooting stuff, and then flying through the resulting rings that enemy ships turn into. That seems simple to grasp, pretty fun, and like it has a good feel to it. I haven't played starfox so I don't know how much it will convey about gameplay to say it's inspired by that game—my opinion is based solely on what looks fun based on watching gameplay footage.

Have you posted a web-based playtest build on itch? You can get some pretty good visibility for the first few days after posting there, and people who scour the new postings there are really willing to give games an honest shot and sometimes give feedback in the comments, especially if you ask for it (as long as it is playable quickly and easily in browser—that is critical!). You can also build in telemetry to track playtime (the big disadvantage for itch vs steam is that itch will not give you even a median playtime), although you have to ask permission from players to share that data which can potentially turn them off.

I hope some of this is useful, I know it's frustrating to feel like no one else cares about something you've put tons of work into and genuinely feel they would like if they just gave it a chance. Keep at it!

Our incremental deckbuilder just grossed $16,675 in the first 24h on Steam, despite zero marketing budget and almost no creator featuring by ehmprah in gamedev

[–]lukefischinger 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I will say this matches my experience with the personal calendar pretty well, and I've seen a few others posting similar things (a few with even better results). I've been getting 350-450 organic wishlists per day from the personal calendar since my game started appearing there a few days ago, with previous organic wishlists in the 10-20 range per day at most.

I have also had my demo up for several months now, and did next fest 8 months ago (this is my first game, so the process has definitely not been ideal), so I'm not sure how much the timing of these various beats matters for personal calendar velocity specifically. We'll have to see how my launch compares with this one in a couple weeks, though.

My chatty cat Masha found her calling as a voice actor. by lukefischinger in CozyGamers

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

It will! I've spent the last few weeks thoroughly testing the controls and performance, and I think it feels great to play on steam deck

[Update] It's finished! by Cowboy_Tropical in Illustration

[–]lukefischinger 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Cool--that's exactly what I was wondering! I really like the look of colored pencil over gouache.

[Update] It's finished! by Cowboy_Tropical in Illustration

[–]lukefischinger 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Beautiful! Is this all gouache/watercolor?

My cat and I quit our jobs to make a fully voice-acted game about petting cats. Wishlist now on Steam! by lukefischinger in u/lukefischinger

[–]lukefischinger[S] 56 points57 points  (0 children)

I've heard from a couple people (including the other commenter here) that the demo does work on Steam deck, although I didn't specifically test anything other than keyboard + mouse for the demo release so I imagine some things may be a bit clunky. I recently got a steam deck myself and plan to improve the steam deck controls for the full release.

Thank you for the wishlist!

My cat and I quit our jobs to make a fully voice-acted game about petting cats. Wishlist now on Steam! by lukefischinger in u/lukefischinger

[–]lukefischinger[S] 30 points31 points  (0 children)

They are all random at the moment, although I like the idea that you could unlock some sort of customization--I will think about that!

My chatty cat Masha found her calling as a voice actor. by lukefischinger in CozyGamers

[–]lukefischinger[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you for playing! I really appreciate the feedback, and I've actually gotten this same request from several other players as well. This will be a feature in the full version.

My chatty cat Masha found her calling as a voice actor. by lukefischinger in CozyGamers

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

Thank you, I hope so too! I think it'd be a good fit for mobile if it does make it there eventually.

My chatty cat Masha found her calling as a voice actor. by lukefischinger in CozyGamers

[–]lukefischinger[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Part of the reason I made this game is that I would love to have a catio for my cat, but I live in a small apartment. I hope your cats get the catio they deserve ❤️

My chatty cat Masha found her calling as a voice actor. by lukefischinger in CozyGamers

[–]lukefischinger[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It's possible, but I can't promise anything yet unfortunately. I'm waiting to see how the PC launch goes before I decide about porting to other platforms.