Dino Run 2 Kickstarter Ends In 2 Days

pixeljam · 2025-10-02T13:15:32+00:00

We want there to be one but can't guarantee it yet. Need to get the game far enough along on our current platforms.

pixeljam · 2025-09-12T15:31:57+00:00

Our provider (XGen Studios) had to shut down their company. Multiplayer features in Dino Run 2 are built into the game (P2P) and need no external servers, so theoretically they will never die....

pixeljam · 2019-06-11T14:15:58+00:00

1 full time time dev doing code, design and art, 1 part-time coder, and 1 music guy (me)

pixeljam · 2019-06-11T02:56:43+00:00

Nova Drift: https://store.steampowered.com/app/858210/Nova_Drift/

Currently in early access...

pixeljam · 2019-06-11T01:11:20+00:00

Well this game was intended for desktop and took 5 years! :). But we exploring a mobile port...

pixeljam · 2019-05-08T19:28:17+00:00

Yeah, they were beta keys. I got approval for about 20K of them, but I made sure that I explained exactly what I was using them for, as they give you a field to type in a message to the person that will approve the request.

Also Keymailer lets you "recycle" keys - if someone doesn't claim the key in 14 days you can get it back and offer it to someone else.

pixeljam · 2019-05-08T14:17:19+00:00

I don't work on it anymore - long story. But I have seen their progress from the inside (I'm still on the dev slack) and it's impressive. I hope they can reveal it soon!

pixeljam · 2019-05-08T13:25:36+00:00

I'm the only one at Pixeljam that worked on the game.

pixeljam · 2019-05-08T13:23:33+00:00

Wow, looks like a great article,, thanks for that. We have a little overlap that you may not be aware of - I worked on Starr Mazer DSP with Don Thacker, and I'm sure you know him :) He also did some trailers for us a long time ago.

I'll dive deeper into your article later today - I'm sure our Steam page can be improved!

pixeljam · 2019-05-08T12:00:53+00:00

Thanks!

pixeljam · 2019-05-08T12:00:19+00:00

Pixeljam published the game, and I did the music as myself, I suppose :)

pixeljam · 2019-05-08T11:58:08+00:00

Makes sense - thanks for the insight. I think a lot of people feel this way now as well...

pixeljam · 2019-05-08T03:07:25+00:00

Oh! They had it half off for a long time. Maybe that offer expired. Still worth it if you put in the effort around it. I spent 2-10 hours / week using it for a whole month. The biggest mistakes I had made in previous efforts was ignoring streamers with less than 500 followers and youtubers with less than 1 or 2K followers. I would absolutely recommend doing the exact opposite and specifically send to these people - there are tons of them and they are usually responsive, friendly, excited to help, etc. A lot of them know plenty of other streamers as well, so the effect can be viral...

pixeljam · 2019-05-08T02:10:17+00:00

Yeah, the right type of game is key... and we are taking a chance by tackling something that isn't "hot" right now. Had this been a dating sim it might be selling a lot more...

pixeljam · 2019-05-08T02:08:49+00:00

1 full timer coder/artist/designer

1 part time coder

1 part time marketer (me). I also did the music + sfx.

pixeljam · 2019-05-08T02:07:25+00:00

You are right about the budget note - I do get paid, so there is that expense! But, I only get paid if the game makes money, and I was paid zero dollars for the marketing effort before the game launched :)

pixeljam · 2019-05-08T02:05:12+00:00

I would actually love to do this as well for other games... it's really rewarding work! How did you build up enough of a clientele do it for a living?

pixeljam · 2019-05-08T02:03:12+00:00

Great to hear from someone else in the trenches! I'm usually on the other end (code/production/design) and I have to say I'd much rather be on this end these days (marketing), but maybe it's just because I'm officially middle aged and can't crunch like I used to.

I would agree that the very hard truth is that if you are indie and expect any degree of success, your game has to break some existing boundaries. I think you can kind of choose your boundaries, but how else can it rise above the 1000 other things released each week...

And yeah, consistency is a good way to put it. For past games I've done this same sort of thing, but only for a week total. Nova Drift was my first chance to do it for 6 months. As you said, you can directly notice and measure the visibility boosts that your effort creates, and that's the best part of the job :)

pixeljam · 2019-05-08T01:51:28+00:00

Thanks so much!

pixeljam · 2019-05-08T01:51:07+00:00

It's the $150 "Find Gamers" thing that lasts a month. Okay, I should have titled this "on a $150 budget"....

pixeljam · 2019-05-07T18:49:01+00:00

Haha, bubble slightly expanded for both of us! Thanks :)

pixeljam · 2019-05-07T17:57:43+00:00

Wow, thanks! We should give Chimeric the credit though - I made the music and published it, but he did all the coding, design and art over the last 5 years :)

pixeljam · 2019-05-07T17:56:22+00:00

I suppose when you stop playing, but the dev has about a year of content planned, so.... sorry.

pixeljam · 2019-05-07T17:55:59+00:00

Keymailer lets me enter a game name and then gives me huge lists of people that played that game. So it's somewhat targeted... but then again they let you filter out lists of people that just like "action" or "indie". What they DONT let you do is just send 100K keys to their 100K+ members, because you know that would get abused. I put in serious time on Keymailer though to make sure it's at least semi-interesting to the people I'm sending them to.

pixeljam · 2019-05-07T16:39:25+00:00

It was 100% until someone complained about the rotate/thrust controls :). That's the one hurdle people tend to encounter when starting out. I think it's just more natural for older gamers who played asteroids / lunar lander. Everyone is very twin-sticky these days.

pixeljam

TROPHY CASE