jack1974
Jan 15, 2015
The game will be live on Steam later today. As always people who bought direct can redeem a key on this site:
http://bestanimegames.com/steam/
If you bought the deluxe version and want it on Steam too you have to email me directly and I'll send a key only for the "bonus content" (mp3+wallpapers). But you still can redeem the key for the base game on that site.
jack1974
Jan 15, 2015
The game is now officially out on Steam:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/333390/
If you can spread the word in any way, I'd appreciate it!
Also if you liked the game, please leave a positive review on Steam since it helps
thanks
ill_intent
Jan 15, 2015
Grats on getting another game up on Steam!
(now to wait for Loren 2 and Planet Stronghold 2 in the distant future to be completed ^^)
jack1974
Jan 15, 2015
Thanks, hopefully they won't take too long
jack1974
Jan 16, 2015
Loren did 15x times better than it. Loren was 1 year ago, when the game was visible in homepage for TEN DAYS. SOTW wasn't visible for more than 30minutes, then disappeared buried on the back pages
So isn't about the game itself, but this "new Steam layout" which is now quite close to appstores.
Add to this that none of the big journalists wants to review my games and in practice my game went unnoticed. Still direct is doing well so that's all matters to me. I pity the new indies thinking to make a lot of money from this Steam now
Franka
Jan 16, 2015
I see it in second place of "popular new releases" right now.
jack1974
Jan 16, 2015
Yep lol, 10-15 minutes after I posted it showed up. Some justice at least
(I don't mean to brag but I think the game should do at least half of what Loren did)
Taleweaver
Jan 16, 2015
I remember seeing Loren ads on jayisgames for at least a year or so. Since they strongly focus on the gameplay aspect, there's no reason why they wouldn't like SotW even better.
ill_intent
Jan 16, 2015
Part of the problem with the Steam release could be Steam's newer layout system. Now, depending on some people's settings, they may never see it on any list they have. It's like Facebook now. It's trying to filter your feed of games and tell you what you want (Annoys the hell out of me, to tell you the truth). But here's hoping it does well over-all.
jack1974
Jan 16, 2015
At least now is in the "popular new releases" list. I was quite shocked it wasn't there after the first 12h. Is doing slightly better now but sadly is already clear that won't be anywhere near Loren level of success. Anyway, not a problem, I survived before when I wasn't on Steam, will survive again
jack1974
Jan 17, 2015
Haha it's out of the popular already, but is clear why. Of the current top10 popular new releases:
3 are FREE (free to play)
1 is "full price" but under $9.99
all the other 6 are all discounted on launch.
The race to the bottom has started!!
Troyen
Jan 17, 2015
I honestly hate using Steam/AppStores because there's no price filter. Well, there is, but not in the direction I want. I'd be a lot happier if I could only show games >$10 because I know anything less than that is not engaging enough to be worth my time.
The race to the bottom is pretty stupid because it just trains other people to disvalue games. I remember spending $15-$20 on shareware games in 1999 and now people get upset at products in double-digits. Happens to ebooks too, was talking to someone today that says he only buys ebooks that are under $2 - even 100k word novels! (Which can take a full year to write and edit.)
I guess I'm a dying breed who would rather spend $60 on something that'll last ~100 hours than play something free-to-play that is enjoyable for maybe 30 minutes.
jack1974
Jan 17, 2015
I guess I'm a dying breed who would rather spend $60 on something that'll last ~100 hours than play something free-to-play that is enjoyable for maybe 30 minutes.
Haha sadly I think you're right!
Besides, with the bundle and promo sales (that I do too) if you wait 6-12 months you can still get the game discounted too, so I really don't see the benefit of starting with low priced games as well, since you'll be forced to make them shorter and less polished (you need to pay all the people working on it).
That said, I plan to do some smaller games too. For certain genre it could work, like roguelike or games based on gameplay mostly. For story based games is harder because writing/scripting and all the art takes lot of time/money (if you want to have certain quality standards like I do).
Taleweaver
Jan 17, 2015
That said, I plan to do some smaller games too. For certain genre it could work, like roguelike or games based on gameplay mostly. For story based games is harder because writing/scripting and all the art takes lot of time/money (if you want to have certain quality standards like I do).
You still keep That Dingirra Game in mind?
jack1974
Jan 17, 2015
Yep, and actually I'm planning to do a new framework this year for card-RPG games like Hearthstone that could even be used for that one
SOTW was hard because had an INSANE amount of custom battles (a lot of battles with specific setting/battle conditions), so was very time-consuming. Doing it in a clever way, with still a plot, and less battles or designed differently would be less of a pain.
Speaking with some reviewer he gave me an interesting opinion about pricing and I think he's sadly right:
People are so used to getting 10 games for $1 or whatever in a bundle that anything over $10 these days are astronomical to them.
Most of the comments I got (and which I'm not even going to bother to show on the review) is of the "This game cost half the price of GTA V" or "This game cost 10X the price
"of insert 0.99c mobile game" variety.
Anyway its a great game (Loren is still my favorite though) and anyone that gives the demo a shot will soon realize how much work and effort went into it.
SOTW is doing fine, but I think will be more like a marathon, so will be worth in the long run. Of course, I don't regret making it, and I'm doing the DLC now. Is just that for the future I need to be more careful about the RPG part to avoid getting burned
