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Congrats on releasing a game! That's a huge step!

I'm not trying to be an asshole here, don't get me wrong. I tried your game, and its just not good. In my opinion it's a perfect example of somebody making a game that doesn't actually have much experience in playing games. I see this with lots of indie games. So please if you are making an indie game, make sure the "testers" are people who actually play games, not just once a month.

Congratulations on finishing your game! I've tried to get into the game dev plenty of times but I'd always give up after a few unfinished projects. Your motivation is comendable. I really like your final thoughts that as a solo indie dev it's much better to create a unique, engaging idea for a game and go with it, making it as polished as it can get. Indie developers don't have the time and resources to compete with big AAA studio hiring tens, hundreds of people. On the other hand indie devs have more freedom in decision-making as they're not limited by the management. Good luck with your future games! Can't wait to see what you'll create

Short but interesting post-mortem report, thanks for sharing! As someone who buys a lot of games, I'm pretty sure that the main reason why the game sold "only" a few hundred copies was the lack of a marketing campaign, as you already expected. I can say with 100% certainty that I would have bought the game if I had seen it (or heard about it) at release or during a sale. Metroidvanias are one of my favorite genres, I like especially the exploration aspect, and at a 40-60% discount off of a 5€ list price, it definitely falls into a price range where I'd buy it just to give it a chance to hook me. That said, I never saw or heard about your game until RUclips recommended this video to me (possibly because I'm watching a lot of GDC talks and similar content). I do check Steam as well as various deal trackers and price comparison sites on a daily basis, and I also watch lots of gaming news media, including channels with a focus on indie games. But, again - no channel, no news site, and no deal tracker ever made me aware of this game. Steam didn't present it to me either, even though Steam probably knows that I'm interested in indie metroidvanias. But there are just too many games coming out for a release without any marketing support to gain traction. Anyway, I wishlisted tha game and will probably grab it on the next sale. Best of luck for your future projects!

Just from a outsider looking in giving simple feedback. That genre of game has been over done and there are many that do that 2d sytle objectively better. Fun and simple go hand in hand, its just really finding somthing that people havent seen before, somthing to get excited about. Somthing new and fresh. Very hard with how many games are out there but totally doable. best of luck

Don't give up, pursue your dream and let your heart shape what you make. Don't let people's opinion shape your future. You are passionate and have ambition, continue your work and you will see the fruit if your labour.

So this is just a markeeting vid

I’m sorry but the art style is kinda ugly, just being honest. It looks like a weird flash game art style

Maybe it gets a late success 😅some games get exposure and attention years after the initial release

"If I don't release it now it will just rot away on my hard drive forever" Man... I know that feeling... Losing the muse sucks, and it can really blindside you.

you can give your game 2nd life by putting your game to bundles like Humble Bundle choice or some fanatical bundle

Imma be honest.. Most people don't like 2D

I wrote a novel and I couldn’t even get an agent to look it at. The most painful experience of my life, and those around you don’t really understand that kind of pain. You have to just suffer quietly and alone. At least you have this platform to process and get support

Also, you should really play the game Eternal Daughter to see how small indie platformer could work.

All in all the main reason for the failure of your game was character art - since it's really ugly to drive people in. Backgrounds are okay I guess but it still feel kinda flat. I think if you went for pixel graphics instead, you could have a lot more success. You either need good graphics or good gameplay/story and it feels like you game excels in neither. Stardew or Terraria should be your inspiration as they were also one man projects.

This looks like, and is priced as, exactly the sort of game I like to grab to mess about with on my SteamDeck. Has it been tried out on Deck? (I did look at the listing but couldn’t see anything).

only releasing on steam will actually hurt your sales numbers, because it limits people who can play it, i recommend always releasing on at least one of the two popular consoles the nintendo switch and or playstation along side steam, so yeah that will always ruin your game.

Oh god not another "artstyle that really stands out". Im so sick and tired of shitty 2D games BUT LOOK ITS ALL IN BLACK AND WHITE! If you truly want to stand out make a 3D game. Use the early 2000s graphics and style from games like Dungeon Siege or Battle Realms. But this would take effort....

Still bro… huge success and huge respect

you got the first one under your belt and out of the way. people who do things are the ones that become succesful

Are you using the Nvidia eye software that makes your eyes look creepy and always staring at the screen? I only ask because if I thought people wouldn't notice but they did, I'd want someone to tell me. It looks... odd lol

My guy I love you for your enthusiasm and one thing I always do is try to talk to indie devs over the AAA companies, especially now. Working with about five as they're starting the launching process of their games (most people have zero idea how long it takes to set it all up, to get deals, to push and market things) - so I get it.

how can you just give up on a game? the game is made, market it, why the hell aren't you emailing microsoft, why aren't you emailing Nintendo? you just give up? wtf

Game looks great man, keep going! Perseverance and hard work cannot fail, ever.

Goes gold in 2026 🎆

You need MARKETING. No one will try the game if no one knows it exists.

$300 isn't much, but it's more than $0! It's definitely an achievement just to release something!

In my opinion this game not looks that bad not great but looks decent and with some extra graphic improvements it could be a much better game. I personally not excelling at any, still learning the basics of making a game but I have some ideas at least.

Family of four new developers working on setting up our own studio here in Florida. Much love and respect for releasing your first and what looks like a well thought out 2D Game. Hang in there and you will level your RL developing, artistic and marketing skills, just like leveling characters in a game. Dominik the Dominator! Hybrid Leveler because you Soloed your first Quest and people are buying it. 😎👍👍👍👍👍 that makes you at least level 33, so level 50 is just around the corner.

Overall you made your steam money back so not a complete loss.

That is very beautiful game. So hear me out, have you thought of putting it on mobile? Maybe exposure there could bring people to it on steam. just saying. Given the kind of slop on the playstore this could be a refreshing cold drink of water in the desert

I can see two things as a customer: - art should be better, there are so many talented people out there, try to work with them - marketing should be better, even one post over the week about the game on twitter will make the difference - capsule image should be better to catch some attention of the players Also next game should be smaller. A lot smaller. Hopefully lessons learned will help you within the next game.

First of, massive respect for just making the game, finishing it and releasing it. Especially a game with enough content to last for about 10hrs as your first release. Second, I think it's great that you pushed through with one game, but still kept in mind that it would most probably not be super successful. And the fact that you take a lot of positive lessons out of it is fantastic.

please make sure the game is preserved. its art and a part of history.

Der größte Fehler ist in 9 von 10 Fällen ist in der Tat, dass man sich die Ziele zu hoch steckt. Ich hab 2003 angefangen Spiele zu basteln, 20 Projekte angefangen, viel gelernt, aber nie beendet. War auch nie mein Ziel. Ich wollte mich nur kreativ austoben. Dein Spiel ist wirklich hässlich, nicht böse gemeint, das ist eher verständlich. Man schafft nicht alles alleine; eine wichtige Sache die man verstehen muss. Ich bin gespannt was von dir kommt die nächsten Jahre. Du bist einer der Wenigen, die den "Publish" Button gedrück haben.

The reason it failed is because the graphics just aren't that pleasing

As a developer myself I can tell you your artstyle wasnt a failure point. It looks great and cohesive. What a lot of indie devs and hobbiest devs get hung up on is the art style and adding feature after feature. You were right in saying feature craw creepes up but the biggest issue with why your game wasnt as successful as it could have been was thebgame play itself. A game is about the gameplay experience graphics do not matter if they game is fun. Minecraft back in the early days was mostly programer art but its now the biggest game in the world by far. That is because fundamentally the game play was fun enough even in the alpha days that people spent hours upon hours playing it and exploring. One day cycle in MC is about 40min surviving your first night in the early days of Minecraft was pretty much the entire game loop and to do that took 40 minutes. Inheritly thats 40minutes of gameplay for every new player. Just based off that simple game loop. Your goal when making a game is nailing the gameplay and that gameplay loop before anything else. Visuals are superficial, extra features and content are pointless if they foundation of the game isnt solid. But all in all dont despair as thats part of the journey. Learning from iur mistakes is part of the fun of our journeys in my opinion so im keen to see what avenue your path forward takes as you carry without the new skill sets you aquired on your way

at least you didnt quit your job to create your "dream game" lol

Bought the game to take a good look at it, you're an inspiration! I've always dreamed of doing this myself.

never heard of this game, but from what im looking at, it seems theirs a couple of blaring issues from my perspective The first one is the name of the game, because theirs a popular streamer that uses that name, it'll cause issues and search engines will automatically output the streamer vs your game. You should've had a more unique name. I've barely seen any marketing in this game, barely any shorts, barely any trailers. It feels the marketing of this game is non-existent. Regarding the game, it could use a bit more detail. Look more into color theory in how to make your game pop. The snow is too blinding of a color which causes me to squint my eyes.Have the snow be shades of white. GrayWhite -> white should have been the range of the color of the snow. It looks too much like light theme in a program in my personal opinion when you enter caves and stuff, light should only be illuminated by other objects, to get the feel your in a cave. The cave system in your game, makes it feel like im still outside. What makes a game bland is really not the art style, but the art direction which deals with lighting and other stuff

A slow start is almost always an issue. I stopped playing Vampire Survivors, because of the Slow Start in every match. Normally you should start at the pace, power and enemy hordes of at least LVL10 when clicking new game/run. Having only 10 enemies on screen while waiting for the XP to build up by slaying those 10 critters spread across the area is mind-bogglingly numb.

i wonder if the popularity of this video helped with sales recently

Incredible will power. Great job.

Nice commercial for a game... many people prob. bought it. This Video was recommendet to me now for the 5th time.

Congrats on releasing your game! Looking forward to the next one.

I’ve picked it up, it looks like it’ll be fun. As others have commented getting as far as releasing a game on Steam is an achievement in itself. If you enjoyed making it and even a small number of players experienced and enjoyed it you should be proud.

Good job on your game! It is brutally hard out there as a game dev (for basically everyone) so it is good to hear that you are sticking with it.

All the organization and whatever isn't going to matter if you never come up with a good idea for a game (speaking to the world as a whole, not a specific person - I see lots of videos by people that learn how to do things, like dink with Unity to make games, and they have skills, but no real good ideas for games). Screwing around with Unity itself has become an expensive game I guess.

If you really approach it economically you probably even made a loss. Because then you'd need to include costs like rent, electricity and costs for the hardware/software used (proportionately) for example in the calculation. Not trying to drag you down. What you did is something many can only dream of! And be it as a hobby.

I like the idea of gamedev and being creative. If I had to do it for financial reasons I would go bald, crazy and mad. Problems are many, from the overall difficulty , to finding good teammates and publishers. Dealing with burnout and lack of motivation , dealing with feedback from people and all the negativity about making a 2D game (look at PC Game Show 2024 comments enough said..), having to do near perfect marketing and comepting for attention with the neverending stream of indie games and stardew valley clones. By the time you've made your first 1000$ I have already had made that and more in completely passive income from normie lazy 9-5 job. The worst of it is you can have a spent years working on a game and just not had the luck of being shown on frontpage on Steam for long enough because of some other releases. Games like Voidigo suffer from it. A small team worked hard on it for 5 years, streaming ,fixing patching. It's a damn well polished rouglike game, but estimated revenue is "only" net 500k and they still need to work and release content and implement netcode to help it stay relevant. Meanwhile look at Among Us and compare the project complexity to earnings. Sounds like completely misery to me. Me, personally, I like to Iknow what my time is worth.