GregoryTice's Forum Posts

  • Getting down to the wire now. I've been tinkering with the Steam store page a bit and seeing if I can unearth any catastrophic bugs in the current build.

    Meanwhile I'm doing mental gymnastics to figure out how I'm going to reach 10 reviews. I don't even know 10 gamers! I did notice an uptick in traffic yesterday, probably due to the imminent release. Wishlist rate also went up a bit.

  • Are you planning on making another adventure game? You've definitely got a polished framework ready to go!

    I've been wondering if releasing adventure games in episodes is the way to go in the current environment. That way you could have people stream episode 1 to drum up interest without spoiling the whole game. Maybe that's how games like The Last Door managed to do so well.

  • We shall see. I might eat my words when the public clamors for a rewind feature!

    Do you think some of the frustration with the controls in your game go back to the origin? Was it Solomon's Key? I remember having some difficulty with the original lining up the shot toward the floor vs just walking off the ledge. I think because the range is so short. I'm not sure what the solution is...maybe have the tile the shot would hit automatically highlight as you move the player around?

    If it's the movement controls I'd say just remove all inertia from the player.

  • Mine doesn't have a step by step rewind feature either! I did tinker with the idea but couldn't get it working in a way that I was satisfied with.

    My compromise position was to add the progressive hint system. It has gotten positive feedback and it allows a player to really blow through the early game if they want, but the hints get more conservative in the mid to late game.

    The hint system might be sufficient for the likely audience. No one has asked for a rewind feature specifically so far. The other factor is that once you've figured out the solution the level can be completed in less than a minute so restarting after a wrong move doesn't feel quite as punishing as with a puzzle platformer. That and the controls are idiot proof: you just press which direction you want and the ship will travel to the next intersection in that direction. It's a lot smoother than grid based movement and prevents overshooting turns like pacman movement.

    I'm ambivalent about the concept thought. I understand why every "hard" game seems to add it these days but it seems to have a negative impact on the experience in my opinion. I play a lot of old Shmups and all the re-releases have added a rewind function. I'd prefer they just added more checkpoints to the level (I suck at shmups) instead. The rewind feature tends to turn the boss battles into a mess of rewinding and I never get better at the game.

  • Your secret is safe with me! The game looks great though. What were the issues with the released version and what are you planning for the update?

  • Well... I'm pretty sure a friend of mine from middle school will review it! That leaves the other 9!

    Have you looked into Steam visibility rounds? I've only read the official Steam documentation on them but I'm curious what developers think of them.

    What is the game you're updating? Unless you want to keep it under wraps until the update is complete.

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  • Many thanks for your encouragement! I love the graphic!

    For the next game I'll definitely get it out in the open sooner and focus on a design with more replay value. I've got a rough design rattling around in my head but I haven't started a prototype yet...just lots of coffee stained notes littered around my desk.

    Are you going to do the rework as an update to the existing game or launch it as its own game? I could see doing the same sort of thing in the future... Horace Hagfish VGA edition haha.

  • I was wondering what happened to you! I figured the launch went so well that you retired and moved to a luxurious dark tower or you got hit by an asteroid. I'm very glad to hear the launch went well.

    150 copies sold is a big accomplishment for a solo project! Do you have any plans on how to continue the momentum?

  • Puzzle games are indeed an odd niche these days. They aren't flashy and I'm not sure how much streamers like being on camera stumped by a puzzle. They're definitely a "try it and you'll see why it's good!" genre. So I think it will all just come down to word of mouth. If someone really enjoys a cheap puzzle game chances are they know someone else who'd like it too. It's an easy recommend since you aren't telling someone to drop $70 on a 40 hour game. You're saying "Hey, for the price of a coffee you can get a few hours of fun out of this and you can dive in for 10-20 minutes a session.".

    I've had the Steam store page up since mid October. My zero budget marketing doesn't seem to have a big impact on store traffic. I'm averaging about 3 wishlists per day and only have 82 wishlists total as of this morning. So the lofty heights of 10k are definitely out of reach.

    I've decided to move forward with the release since I don't think my efforts are going to increase traction and perhaps once released the game will popup in people's "more like this" queue if they've been shopping for similar types of puzzle games.

    The other reason is to eliminate all the anxiety and apprehension I have about the launch. I've had trouble shifting gears toward the next project and I'm pre-emptively depressed that my game is going to sink like a stone in the Steam sea.

  • Nice! I'm amazed at how well the lighting works. I was expecting it to impact performance in a bad way. Are you going to keep working on it now that the jam is finished?

  • At this point (a little over a week since the demo went up) my Steam traffic is pretty low. I must have dropped off some list of available demos or upcoming releases.

    On the flipside, I noticed video of my game popping up on Youtube, and maybe TikTok (I don't use TikTok) and this was all unsolicited. So at least there is some organic interest in streaming the game. Which is surprising to me since 2d puzzle games aren't very entertaining to watch!

    The stats on the demo have further solidified the love it or hate it response. Players either bounce off of it within a few minutes or the play the whole thing to completion. There seems to be almost no middle ground. That makes sense to me. Puzzles either click with you or they don't. I can play Dr. Mario until my hands bleed but I'm one of those odd people who gets bored with Tetris.

  • I just updated the demo here on the Construct 3 Arcade. It is identical to the version on Steam. It contains 10 levels, a more fleshed out tutorial at the start, an expanded hint system, and a few bug fixes.

  • Getting the game and demo up on Steam was more convoluted than I expected. If you make any errors, no matter how slight, you'll have to wait for Steam Support to notify you so you can fix the problems and resubmit your software and store-page content.

    I found the following tutorial very helpful:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwMPvEFFomE

    Another thing that I didn't anticipate is your capsule art needs to be designed so that the demo banner doesn't obscure your logo or text. Not an issue if you aren't hosting a demo, but something to keep in mind if you may want to make a demo available later.

    While I haven't heard of Steam pushing your visibility upon making a coming soon page, I did have a big spike in traffic the following day. A lot of this traffic was from within Steam.

    Considering I had my nose to the grindstone while making the game I didn't do much to raise awareness that it even existed. I have been accumulating wishlists over the past 5 days ranging from 3-12 per day. My "marketing" efforts have simply been posting here and in a few Reddit forums. Strangely, I currently have more wishlists than I do demo plays. I would have figured people willing to wishlist would try the demo to see if they did indeed like the game.

    As far as the demo goes, people tend to quit playing very quickly or keep going until they've likely completed all the included levels. There aren't many instances between those two extremes.

    How has everyone else's experience on Steam been?

  • Hello all,

    My game is finally "finished" and up on Steam. I haven't set a launch day yet but the latest build of the demo is available. It contains numerous tweaks and additional levels compared to the demo on the Construct Arcade.

    I'd greatly appreciate it if all you busy developers checked it out.

    https://store.steampowered.com/app/2600050/Horace_Hagfish/

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