In addition, Praise The Sun!

Conventional wisdom is that you should make your Steam store page live as soon as possible. That gives you more time to accumulate wishlists and followers.

You will get some traffic just by being on Steam. My page got about 200 visits per day and averaged about 3 wishlists per day. Not impressive numbers but they added up over time.

Is this a screenshot of your unpublished Steam page? I can't seem to find the game on Steam.

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.

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.

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.