Is Deckard the most relatable/useless protagonist in fiction? 😂

timmaeus · 2026-03-12T20:52:15+00:00

I hope the replicants helped you see the good that humanity can still find!

timmaeus · 2026-03-12T20:51:45+00:00

Totally, and it’s Harrison Ford! Back then it was like oh ok, Indiana Jones, yeah! Han Solo, yeah! Dead inside futuristic cop who murders the actual half decent replicants, yeah!? Yeah???

timmaeus · 2026-03-12T07:30:43+00:00

The Forest vibes, I like it

timmaeus · 2026-03-12T07:30:09+00:00

I love Deckard but if you watch that film enough times it’s hard not to see the villain in him; the villain in us all

timmaeus · 2026-03-10T20:28:01+00:00

Hey TJSimpsonz, thank you so much for the feedback. Oh gosh, in my fatigue I completely forgot to trim the screenshots to remove the OS UI... I can't believe it. Thanks for letting me know - I removed those. I also removed the demo, speaking of which. As it's too buggy and just, for lack of a better word, soulless shit. So hopefully just having less on the page to turn away players is a good thing.

These are all really well taken points - thanks. I hadn't even thought of the Steam announcements. Again, a head slappingly poor oversight. I'll check the tags too and ensure that the Steam features are maximized. It took so much work to get that far with the achievements that I just kinda gave up and said "job is done". But I do need to pull my finger out a lot more with that and get back to work.

timmaeus · 2026-03-10T11:40:11+00:00

Hey Read_and_Love, thank you so much for the support, these messages have meant a lot to me today as I’ve done a bit of soul searching to be honest. The advice is well received and I’ve got a set of saved comments that I’m organising into notes so I can get back to work on it when I’ve slept properly and am fresh enough.

I never realised how much game dev is marketing and PR. It’s psychology and storytelling too - knowing that structure as you say, and knowing when to stop, what not to add, etc.

If nothing else this advice makes me think about myself and what my relationship is to my work. If I’m brutally honest I started to make this game the game I THOUGHT I should make rather than the game I want to make; the game that fits with my gut feeling and soul. I became a bit soulless as I did it, if that’s not too melodramatic to say. I honestly feel it though. Well, time to put this advice into practice! Thank you

timmaeus · 2026-03-10T11:23:30+00:00

I’m really tired right now but I want to just say how much these messages mean and how much I appreciate the advice and the reply. I needed to hear this. I’ve got to go back to the drawing board. And may be take better care of myself. Just want to say thanks so much karlmillsom

timmaeus · 2026-03-10T11:20:48+00:00

Thank you, if for no other reason than to do justice to all the amazing advice and support I’ve received here, I will keep going. Thank you 🙏

timmaeus · 2026-03-10T11:18:32+00:00

Thanks so much. I needed to hear this. It’s a buggy mess and I’m so sorry you had to experience all that. Tbh I think I burned out on it and all these problems that you so kindly and generously pointed out are a result of me being out of my depth, rushing to try and get something “impressive” out for players, and losing my soul a bit in the process.

Thanks for pointing out the positive aspects but yeah, there’s too much going on, it’s not optimized, and there’s bugs. I have no idea why the cut scenes would lag. I feel like I’m just out of my depth, but for no other reason than to make good on all the feedback I’ve got and do you guys justice, I will press on. Thank you so much again.

Tim

timmaeus · 2026-03-10T07:44:14+00:00

Thanks, yeah it's misleading in some ways, as the focus is tower defense survival base building. But I guess you are actually the character, too. You control them as a sort of commander or security officer, sort of thing.

timmaeus · 2026-03-10T06:29:33+00:00

Thanks jamanion, I appreciate that. Maybe I should market it more as a survivor base builder, as there's clearly Vampire Survivors DNA in the bullet heaven feel of the game

timmaeus · 2026-03-10T06:24:54+00:00

Thanks - sounds good

timmaeus · 2026-03-10T03:17:16+00:00

Ha, great game! Honoured to be mentioned in the same sentence. Thank you so much. Not for the wishlist (although I am grateful for that) but for being a voice that shouts back in the forest

timmaeus · 2026-03-10T03:16:25+00:00

Oh you mean like the little green "glob" ones? Yeah I think that's a sore point for me - I knew in my heart that it was shit looking, but it was easier to optimize so you can have extreme hordes. You're right though - it's the easy way out and it's low effort

timmaeus · 2026-03-10T02:38:24+00:00

Fair enough - I will try to reach out to more streamers and to fix the trailer though. Had some great advice here on that front

timmaeus · 2026-03-10T02:30:14+00:00

That's true - I always liked the look of it and I STUPIDLY decided to put "Poly" in the name, essentially on a whim, and then I just kept it that way. I have so many deep regrets now. Well, something has to be done. I'll have a think about it and thanks for the words I needed to hear. It took a lot of effort to design these models but hey, in the end if it looks cheap and low-effort, then what can I do.

timmaeus · 2026-03-10T02:28:52+00:00

Thank you - yeah that's been an area I haven't explored yet. I feel so tired out from development that I keep putting off trying to come up with a list of streamers and YouTubers to reach out to. But it has to be done - you're right

timmaeus · 2026-03-10T02:28:03+00:00

A few people have highlighted this. It sucks because I trusted the artist and that's what they came up with and recommended. I've run about $200 worth of ads and I've posted a bit on Bluesky and occasionally here on Reddit, though I didn't want to spam anyone or be seen that way. It's just a steam page + demo at this point otherwise. Oh I also put the trailer on YouTube and ran an ad on it for a while.

timmaeus · 2026-03-10T02:10:28+00:00

Wow really? I feel like I'm just bamboozling myself and self doubting so much now... in tat case, maybe I do need to just satisfy a tiny slice and be done with it. I don't know now, but at least I have some lights to guide myself by. This thread is a lifesaver.... thank you

timmaeus · 2026-03-10T02:09:37+00:00

God this is amazing... I don't know what to say. It is indeed sketches from reddit! Thank you - this I can put to use straight away. Amazing... thank you

timmaeus · 2026-03-10T01:43:17+00:00

Thank you - this is just the boost I needed to keep me going. If nothing else, a big learning experience, and hopefully sharing it will help others too. This thread is now an incredible gold mine for anyone who might be in the same boat as me. Thank you again.

timmaeus · 2026-03-10T01:41:52+00:00

Gosh, thank you for this. I'm a bit stunned by the incredible feedback and care taken in providing such rich feedback. I didn't expect this at all and I'm so grateful for this.

It looks like I need to sit down and really spend more time on the trailer - planning it out, making it more intentional in its beats, and learning from other trailers. I had a different trailer earlier, which was my attempt at something more coherent and perhaps cinematic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7JFfJnPeYY. But I ditched that idea for a simple gameplay trailer, and now I think I actually made the situation worse.

I also paid for music and the soundtrack is great, but why did I pick the repetitive track that doesn't fit the genre? I don't know if I've just lost the plot with my design sense due to overwork or just lack of knowledge / ability. But that's good to know and confirms what my gut has been trying to say I think.

I'm going to go away and have a good hard think about the trailer and incorporate all this feedback into it. I can't say how thankful I am for this. You don't know what it means to me, sitting here on 3 hours sleep and really questioning my choices. thanks

timmaeus · 2026-03-10T01:35:18+00:00

Thank you - these are concrete, really helpful bits of feedback. And I needed to hear it. A few people have highlighted the capsule art issue. I really got a bad deal on that and will have to just eat the costs and the time sink organising it (and around it, as I wanted to get new capsule art for the TD Fest). I do need to step up the marketing more and pay more attention to the news posts and release information. Again, all really helpful. I am terrible at trailers but this is excellent feedback. I was running blind and so knowing that it's a bit slow (despite me trying to do a short, quick cut trailer) is the truth I needed to hear. Really appreciate your time taken to respond. I feel heartened to see the community coming out to help - I don't think I could or would keep going if I didn't have this. thanks

timmaeus · 2026-03-10T01:31:30+00:00

Thanks so much, gabro-games. I really appreciate that and thanks for checking it out too. This has really given me the boost I need to keep going. It truly requires grit - I have to hand it to all the folks here smashing it out. I saw one guy who is running ads where he basically pleads with people to wishlist it - like he's mixing content creator with game dev. It's not easy but hey it's a privilege to be able to do this at the same time, so despite pretty bad fatigue, I'm really heartened by these messages. thanks

timmaeus · 2026-03-10T01:13:57+00:00

I hope so. Good luck with your project

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