Escape the Dark Tower - Now on Steam!

Looks very cool. Immediately reminds me of Shadowgate on the NES.

Thank you! I've never played Shadowgate on the NES myself, but I've read about it several times. Glad to hear my game gives off a similar feel! =)

I personally enjoy the Gameboy Color port of Shadowgate the best.

That said, I agree your game gives off so me Shadowgate vibes. That is a good thing according to me and lots of other old people.

When are you hoping to release the game on Steam? In addition, how are you going about promoting the game prior to release?

Thank you. Sounds like I should check out Shadowgate! I've read about it in a book about Point-and-Click games and have seen it posted on social media a few times, but I've never played it myself.

I just announced that my game will be released on October 9, and I'm excited! It's my first time publishing anything on Steam.

As for promotion, I've advertised as extensively as I could on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram (I have a decent audience there) without feeling like I was spamming. The results have been underwhelming, though. I'm not sure if it's the genre, the way I presented the game, or if it just doesn't look fun, but in two months of marketing, I couldn't even reach 300 Wishlists. Anyway, for now, I'm happy enough to have something shipped and to have a chance to learn from the experience. Hopefully, I'll do better next time!

I just put it on my wishlist. I'm looking forward to it!

Have you decided on a price?

I obviously don't know the secret of marketing indie games. I was hoping maybe you had discovered it!

First person point and click adventures are probably considered niche. But I think there is a demand for them beyond simply revisiting the classics. Have you reached out to any streamers? I think the genre actually lends itself well to streaming.

Congratulations on completing the game as well! How long did it take and what were the surprising pitfalls during development? Will you be doing another adventure game next or are you going to jump to a different genre?

Thank you so much! I appreciate the support, and I hope you'll like it.

It's a simple and short game, so I've set a $4 price point.

As for marketing, I recently discovered Chris Zukowski (howtomarketagame.com), who is a big believer in mailing lists. Of course, it takes time and lots of effort to build one and to keep it going, so it was too late for my game, but I'll definitely look into that in the future. If you don't know the guy, I'd recommend you look at some of his videos, as he gives plenty of useful hints and information.

I thought about streamers, but I'm not sure if I'll reach out to them. I have the feeling that, since the game is short and puzzle-based, they might actually harm the sales.

Thank you! It took me something like a year and a half to get it done, but I could never work on it full-time, and kinda dropped it at some point and picked it up a few months later, so it's hard to say!

The toughest part was mid-development, when the excitement of working on the "new project" was gone, and the end was still so far away. Making to-do lists on Trello and the small satisfaction of checking checkboxes is what kept me going, I think.

I'm debating on what to do next. My heart says I should make another adventure game, but I also know it would take me a long time and I'm not sure it's a good decision at the moment. So I'm still evaluating other ideas.

By the way, I saw your Horace Hagfish demo! It's such a cool concept, and the pixel art is top-notch! I really loved it! Do you have a social media account or something where I can follow the development?

I will look up Chris Zukowski.

I'm sure it is far too late for me to get much out of mailing lists. I dropped off the social media radar years ago. At the moment I have the Horace Hagfish demo up here and on itch.io. Occasionally I comment on reddit and leave a link to the demo if it is relevant to the discussion. This doesn't lead to a lot of traffic as you'd imagine!

Horace is actually finished. I'm currently wrestling with making my steam page and a video (I have zero video editing experience). I also have a lot of anxiety about launching and being "officially finished" even though I'm eager to work on the next project.

In total the game has 50 levels with a pretty smooth difficulty ramp and new puzzle elements introduced every few levels.

I think I had slightly different roadblocks than you. For me the jump from design to production was very stressful. Then I ended up redesigning most of the puzzle elements halfway through as I felt I wasn't capitalizing on the color mixing core.

Developing another adventure game might go a lot faster a second time around. You've got the experience and I'm sure a lot of your code is reusable.

Itch.io is fine. I followed you there!

I hear what you say about the anxiety of shipping the product. I'm experiencing the same thing. I'm excited about launching the game, but I also can't wait to put everything behind me and start working on something new!

Yeah, mechanics and level design for your game must have been tricky. You have to add more challenges and vary things a bit at every stage in a somewhat limited space to keep things interesting. I don't think I could do it. But from what I saw in the Demo you handled that well!

Speaking of limited space, how did you handle choosing what to depict in each of your scenes? Obviously anything related to the puzzles must be included, but how do you decide what to include that is simply there for atmosphere and visual storytelling?

For the most part, I started with the puzzle and then designed the room around it (as in many escape room games, the setting is not exactly realistic, so that helps a lot). But for a few rooms, I did start from the kind of room that I had in mind and that could help with the atmosphere - like a dungeon cell, an armory, or a telescope room - and then tried to fit the puzzle to that context.

The whole game was kind of an excuse for me to practice and learn puzzle design. I'm not too sure how well I handled that, so I'm both looking forward and anxious to get some feedback!

I just purchased it. I'll give it a go as soon as I get back from walking the dogs... They find the appeal of computer games mystifying!

Let us know how the Steam launch plays out!

Did you send out any download keys for curators and reviewers?

I'm really enjoying the game! I do have a technical question. How did you manage to get the game to launch in fullscreen?

Sorry I haven't responded for so long. Unfortunately, some personal problems arose around the same time as the game launch, and I've missed much of the initial feedback and interaction. I really appreciate your support and am so glad to hear that you've enjoyed the game!

Even though I was barely able to keep up with it, the launch turned out decently enough. Considering this is my first published game and it’s quite short, I wasn't sure what to expect. However, the game sold 150 copies and tripled its wishlists in the first month. It's definitely not time to quit my day job yet, but I’m really happy with these results. Most importantly, I'm receiving some very positive feedback, which is incredibly encouraging!

About curators and reviewers, due to being pretty much absent during the launch, I only managed to send out keys to a few curators who showed interest in the game. I missed a few chances there, but it's something I'll definitely work on for next time.

Regarding your question about the fullscreen mode - you've probably figured it out by now - but I exported the game as a NW.js and then simply selected the Kiosk mode from the export options.

Anyways, I noticed that Horace Hagfish finally has a Steam page – congrats on that! I've already wishlisted and followed it. Just curious, isn't the launch date a bit close? Generally, people and even Valve suggest keeping a game on Steam for at least 3 to 6 months to build up the wishlists before launching. Did you decide to go for a shorter timeframe? How are your wishlists looking so far? Regardless, it's a big step to have your first game on Steam. Best of luck with it!