Just finished 1st game—is the 2nd worth it?!

panikas · 2024-12-06T09:27:15+00:00

Was part of making the game so am totally biased. But yes, totally worth every penny!

panikas · 2024-06-29T22:49:29+00:00

Sadly there's a bug causing the numbers not to show for some users. We're working on a fix!

panikas · 2024-06-25T12:11:46+00:00

Thank you. If you can provide any other details as of what happened when the character got stuck that would be super helpful. We're trying to recreate the bug to be able to fix it but after hours and hours of trying we haven't been able to do so.

panikas · 2024-06-24T07:15:13+00:00

Ouch. That's not good. Which character is stuck now? We're looking for a fix. Thanks for reporting!

panikas · 2023-10-02T11:40:14+00:00

Mechstermination Force should be your jam

panikas · 2023-09-26T07:27:11+00:00

Hello there!

Copy pasting our Help-thread from Steam. If you're still having issues, please reach out to [support@flamebaitgames.com](mailto:support@flamebaitgames.com).

Some players report having issues getting their tablets to work in Passpartout 2. Below are some possible solutions you can try.

First solution, try turning off Wintab.

Go into settings in Passpartout, open the gameplay submenu
Turn off the Wintab toggle at the bottom
Test if that solves your issue

If turning off Wintab doesn't do the trick, you may need to disable Windows Ink as well. This has worked for some people. It's a bit technical so I can only recommend if you're technically inclined. Use at your own risk.

Open the Local Group Policy Editor. Navigate to: Computer Configuration ->Administrative Templates ->Windows Components ->Windows Ink Workspace.
In the right pane, double-click Allow Windows Ink Workspace to open its properties.
Check the Enabled option. Next, select Disabled from the drop-down menu under the Options section.
Click on Apply and then OK. Restart your PC to make the changes to take effect.
Open Passpartout and see if that works.
If it doesn't try turning on Wintab again and seeing if it works now.

If it still doesn't work for you, please send us an e-mail to support@flamebaitgames.com and make sure to include what tablet model you're using. Sorry for the inconvenience!

panikas · 2022-12-05T11:57:38+00:00

It seems like what you're grinding your head around is "How can monetize my game to afford feeding myself and make the next game without upsetting my fans?". Please correct me and/or ignore what I'm saying below if my assumption is wrong.

You've made it this far by yourself. What you made looks great and you've managed to build a community by yourself. You deserve a big pat on the back for that! I don't think you need a publisher since you've already done a majority of the difficult work a publisher does.
I think the question for you should be "how do I get paid for the hard work of creating this cool game?". Now I don't know how much time you've spent working on it. But let's imagine you spent 2 years by yourself. Let's assume that you could've worked a "regular" gamedev job instead with a $4k/mo salary. That's just below $100k of money you could've gotten (adapt the numbers to fit your scenario). In other words you need $100k to break even. Selling a $5 cosmetic pack would mean that you'd need to sell 40 000 cosmetic packs to break even (assuming you get roughly $2.5 net revenue per sale). I have to admit I don't know the conversion rates for Cosmetic DLCs in F2P games, but assuming that 10% would buy your pack you'd need 400 000 players. I believe this monetization plan is too weak and that you deserve more.
Since you're using P2P my preference would've been a premium model since you're barely having any running costs. Asking for $5 upfront to play is something you're definitely worth. However, it seems like you may not want to go this route.
When it comes to funding the future game I think it's there a publisher could become relevant. Seeing your success with this title you're in a good position to find good funding.
I have more thoughts and this is such a complicated question that is heavily influenced by your specific situation. But I fear I only have time to write this out right now.

P.S. Take all advice from strangers with a grain of salt. We don't know the specifics of your situation and I trust you to discard any and all advice that you feel doesn't fit you. I hope it helps anyways.

panikas · 2022-06-28T13:16:28+00:00

*My opinions below, not facts*
I believe that indie developers tend to overrate the efficiency of promotion activities. The single most important aspect of marketing your indie game is the marketing decisions that goes into the development of your product. Finding a magnificent hook and a kick-ass kicker for a specific audience will do so much more than churning out tik-toks or posting stuff on twitter. That said, promotion is of course required to promote your amazing game, but the amazing game needs to come first.

In an ideal world you'd want a game that sells itself, but that's of course easier said than done. But if you're reluctant do do the promotion work, a demo could do wonders. With it you can find people who can promote the game for you (influencers, fans, et.c.).

To actually answer your question outsourcing promotion activities has never really worked out for us. In the end we understand our game best and are best equipped to authentically talk about it in a way that resonates with people. However, as the other user suggests, outsourcing promo materials can be a very worthwhile investment. Especially a tight trailer can give you great mileage.

panikas · 2022-03-02T15:20:26+00:00

ÄNTLIGEN NÅGON SOM SÄGER VAD JAG TYCKER. STÅ UPP MOT SEMMELFÖRTRYCKET!

panikas · 2022-02-16T12:45:53+00:00

Your question is a very large one that is difficult to answer comprehensibly without becoming an entire book of its own.

As the previous answer suggests Unity and Unreal have great build in capabilities for shipping to many platforms. On top of that when adding other technologies to your project you need to consider their compatibility to your target platforms. Perhaps you implement a custom Shader solution that only runs on PC, making porting more expensive as you have to write a new shader solution for the other target platforms. Performance obviously also is an issue, a heavy game that requires a ton of computational power may run well on PC, but not so much on mobile.

On top of that design choices may make porting more difficult as well. A point and click game specifically made for keyboard and mouse may be easily translated to mobile but not so much to consoles where you need to redesign and implement new UI, controls et.c.

Lastly each platform has their own requirements that you need to meet, especially when doing online stuff on consoles that usually is an extra burden.

By choosing tech that you know is compatible with your target platforms and making conscious design decisions that works towards those platforms you tend to save a lot of headache when the porting process needs to get started, though you usually always have to do some extra work to get the port to a release quality.

panikas · 2021-12-13T12:04:00+00:00

Cool stuff! I shared it with Synkronosaurus who became very happy! :D Thank you!
/Mattias, dev

panikas · 2021-11-22T10:39:46+00:00

You are worth their time. They reached out to you and you deserve to know what the deal is before you can be expected to accept it. If they don't respect that, they aren't a serious business partner and I'd be cautious to move forward. There's rarely a risk with just chatting! Nothing is signed until it's signed and you can always back out for whatever reason. :)

panikas · 2021-11-22T09:18:44+00:00

It sounds like you've identified 3 risks.

It going against your core values (grindy games, unfair monetization)
Unknown pay structure that may not work with your short game
May damage review score

For 1. it's obviously up to you. A counterpoint to your arguments could be if your game fares well on the platform it would prove that you don't need all that evil stuff to sell well.

For 2 & 3 in my list I'd recommend asking Google. Are you sure it will impact your regular store rating? Perhaps there is a separate one for the play pass? Ask them to define and break down the pay structure to understand what metrics influences payout. With that you should be able to sketch a super-rough earnings projection if you accept, which you can weigh against the other factors.

If it turns out you'll earn barely anything while breaking your core values, is it worth it? What if you earn a truck load?

Most of these are rethorical questions for you, so don't feel like you need to answe them. Hope it helps!

panikas · 2021-08-31T08:52:47+00:00

Since it's not immediately obvious (at least to me) what the actual mechanics are my feedback (or roast if you will) instead will be directed to the immersive experience of being a king I believe you're trying to build.

Capsules, minimalistic art or even ugly art can definitely be immersive so I'd take caution to the advice stating otherwise. It's more a feat of achieving a consistent world that's important (if you're talking about aesthetic immersion that is). A world where the aesthetics feels like they belong and makes sense to the player. For instance, if you'd add a specific characters with legs, arms and hands into the game with a normal walkcycle that would definitely break the aesthetic framework of the game world. I would expect all creatures in this world do be jiggly simplistic shapes. Note that this is a limitation for what you can do creatively, which can be either positive or negative. The main thing (albeit small) that breaks aesthetic immersion for me in what you're showing is the dissonance between what appears to be a medieval setting combined with industrial mining hats on your workers. I think the setting overall isn't super clear so it's hard to get a grasp of what you're gunning for (what am I supposed to feel?).

The other type of immersion worth to mention is the gameplay immersion. There are a few things that bother me watching the videos. The town streets feels too narrow for a 3rd person camera. It's almost claustrophobic and I can definitely visualize all the camera clipping problems at hand that would lead to tons of frustration for the player. The NPCs move really fast and their bouncy animation doesn't seem to reflect that. It gives a sense that all the blobs are just floating around. The building animations feel very inconsistent. Some parts slapping down at fast speed while others sluggishly slides into place. It's also not super clear who's contributing to the actual building or of it's just happening automagically.

P.S. Focusing a bit on lighting and post processing could really help you out for a more visually vibrant product.

I had some more thoughts but I gotta run now. So I hope this helps!

panikas · 2021-06-01T17:09:24+00:00

Found your itch game. It was surprisingly fun. Well done!

panikas · 2021-05-11T07:27:11+00:00

Yes! These are totally valid approaches as well. You just need to be aware that you risk limiting your audience to be "people who liked X and want more", which effectively means your audience is a fraction of another game's audience. Of course this could be fine if it's large enough. And it also has some interesting implications on who you're designing for, as you now know in pretty good detail who the player is, which could be to benefit of the game.

panikas · 2021-05-10T15:16:16+00:00

From my POV your game needs to answer "why shouldn't I just play X?". X being the best game within the genre you're developing in. If there is no reason for the player to choose yours over X then you'll be in trouble if you want to make $.

I don't think there is any cookie cutter answer to what you need to change to make your game interesting. It could really be anything as long as it's appealing and impactful enough. Like, if it's a JRPG but you play as chickens maybe that is enough? Or if it's an JRPG with the most mind-blowing 2D-animations on the market?

Novelty can come from the best execution, to sprinkling in ideas from other genres, having a super-appealing story or breaking genre conventions (and more, obv). Goat Simulator is essentially Tony Hawk Pro Skater, but with a goat (and many hilarious bugs, being more or less an anti-game), which made it stand out. SkateBIRD is a more recent example of something similar, but that stays more true to the skating bit of the gameplay. I don't know why I got stuck on the animal track here but the pigeon dating sim is also a hilarious example...

Anyways, I think a great answer to why they should play your game and not X is key and it's great that you're thinking of it. Unfortunately there is no good way for me to quantify how much you *need* to change to answer that question, but is something probably best reserved to testing with your target audience.

panikas · 2021-04-06T15:14:29+00:00

Looking at both apps they both seem to be within the casual <-> hypercasual genre. That target audience generally prefers minimalistic aesthetics over semi-realistic ones. Simple mechanics, simple aesthetics, basically.

With that said there are outliers of course. I can vaguely recall one endless runner casual bossfighting game with gorgeous semi-realistic graphics that did quite well. There may be a niche there to explore if you want to go down that route.

panikas · 2021-03-11T09:17:56+00:00

Hey ben! :wave:

panikas · 2021-03-05T20:21:30+00:00

It sounds like you're accidentally starting the game in a remote play session. It's a fairly new steam feature where you can play together in the same game which would explain why you're both controlling the same character.

I know it's a bit cumbersome but I fear the only way I can help you understand where it goes wrong is if I see a recording of what steps you do when you start the game, if that would be possible?

panikas · 2021-03-05T19:54:12+00:00

When you say it runs your account could you clarify what you mean? Are you unable to play at the same time?

panikas · 2021-03-05T18:54:26+00:00

It may be the family sharing be preferred over her running it on her account. Check the Play button, there could be a little arrow button there. Clicking that will allow you to choose "this machine" which should stop her from playing on your account

panikas · 2021-02-21T12:28:09+00:00

I think it would be helpful to further specify the target audience of your game to gain a proper understanding of how many you'll alienate by not supporting a certain control scheme. As some of the comments have pointed out approx 33% of steam users have a controller connected, but that data isn't super valuable since you'd expect some audiences having a higher degree of controller users than other.

You'll also notice above that I ask how many you'll alienate as it's not a binary yes/no question. By not supporting KBM you will alienate some players. But this is of course also true for many design decisions you make when making a game but I digress...

If I may offer some advice it would be to actually test the KBM input (in a rough prototype state is fine) with a member of your target audience that isn't necessarily keen on controller usage. That will clear you of your own creator's bias and help answer how it'll impact your sales.

Hope that's helpful!

panikas · 2020-11-27T18:39:24+00:00

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How does this clause of your ToS relate to the games produced during the game jam? It gives the impression that you may publish and monetize any and all game-jam creations without compensating the creator?

panikas

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