jack1974
Jan 30, 2016
It's just a week after PSCD release so not much time. I compared the sales of PSCD with SOTW, and SOTW sold 3 times more than PSCD (though is also $25 vs $20, so that matters).
It's a good result though, because I did PSCD much faster than SOTW (well 3 months vs 10 months... haha). I think it's worth talking about this in a blog post.
In general the recent trend in indie games is that are going to be really TOUGH times. Players expect cheap games, AND with a lot of content. I see most other narrative based games that are proud when they have 100k words of content, while my recent games all have over 150k words (many over 200k).
I am fine, but I think I need to adjust a bit for the future games
Regarding card games, I think beside Undead Lily I will try to do a few more for sure since I liked doing PSCD and players seems to like its gameplay
DarkWolf
Jan 30, 2016
When you talk about future card games and Undead Lily I was wondering if you plan to reuse the same card battle system/rules just improved or do you plan on making a completely different rules? (Eather way is fine with me as I liked card game in PSCD but also wouldn't mind seeing something new, so I am just curious)
jack1974
Jan 30, 2016
For Undead Lily surely will be different, the biggest difference is just 1 resource (soul/mana). I also might adopt Hearthstone rule "each turn increase resource by +1" thing. I also plan to do other experiments. In the past I never reused the same system for more than one game, so...
Franka
Jan 30, 2016
Regarding card games, I think beside Undead Lily I will try to do a few more for sure since I liked doing PSCD and players seems to like its gameplay
Well, you've got one guaranteed sale for each card game you make. As long as there are a good number of cards and the artwork is nice. I'm fine with the variant artwork used in PSCD to make different cards.
jack1974
Jan 30, 2016
The number of cards might be a problem, not for UL though (there are 5 elements, and 12 creatures each, plus spells). Since each drawing cost (I like to have nice drawings on each card). Anyways, maybe I can use tricks like recoloring/using variants of cards like did for PSCD.
Katicflis
Jan 30, 2016
For what its worth, I think PSCD will do well on steam. I think a lot of people that got sotw were japanime-loving fans that bled over from Loren, whereas PSCD's predecessor wasn't quite as strong and also has a different art-style to it. PSCD isn't going to have that kind of initial 'Oh it looks/plays just like Loren!' carry-over sales -- but that doesnt mean it won't prosper in the long-run or will eventually develop a fan-following.
jack1974
Jan 31, 2016
Could be, though I have no clue honestly. Recently Steam is like a lottery
ValHallen
Jan 31, 2016
Could be, though I have no clue honestly. Recently Steam is like a lottery
Is there a date for it to be released on Steam? And if I buy there, can I have the non-Steam version?
jack1974
Feb 01, 2016
A fixed date not yet, but yes of course if you buy here you get the normal version from my site plus you can redeem the Steam key later when it's available
ValHallen
Feb 01, 2016
A fixed date not yet, but yes of course if you buy here you get the normal version from my site plus you can redeem the Steam key later when it's available
But if I buy on Steam, will I get the normal version?
jack1974
Feb 01, 2016
What you mean "normal version"? The one on my site? I have no ways to know if people bought it on Steam or not, so I cannot guarantee this. But in any case if you're thinking about waiting to get it less expensive, in future I'm going to match Steam with my site prices, including discounts. Of course depends where you live since Steam has regional prices so for example in Mexico will be cheaper (I cannot set regional price with my site vendor)
kadakithis
Feb 01, 2016
I love your stuff so much I try to always buy it full price when it first comes out but I rarely buy stuff for myself and can afford it.
ValHallen
Feb 01, 2016
What you mean "normal version"? The one on my site? I have no ways to know if people bought it on Steam or not, so I cannot guarantee this. But in any case if you're thinking about waiting to get it less expensive, in future I'm going to match Steam with my site prices, including discounts. Of course depends where you live since Steam has regional prices so for example in Mexico will be cheaper (I cannot set regional price with my site vendor)
The dollar in my country has skyrocketed, so if I buy your game now that cost $25 (like the special version of SotW) instead of paying $52 of local currency, I would play more than $100 of the local currency. While I really like your games, I cant really pay it on a game in a financial crysis.
So I'm wanting for Steam, because of the regional prices. I just wanted to know if I could get the version of your site if I brought on Steam.
jack1974
Feb 01, 2016
Yes in such situations I understand completely. Well, I think that if you buy on Steam and run it once, it should "unlock" also the version on my site. But for this particular game there won't be any difference (same content, since it's not sexy enough to be censored by Steam!).
ValHallen
Feb 01, 2016
Yes in such situations I understand completely. Well, I think that if you buy on Steam and run it once, it should "unlock" also the version on my site. But for this particular game there won't be any difference (same content, since it's not sexy enough to be censored by Steam!).
No problem, I just dont like using Steam. I'm only using it now because I have no other way.
jack1974
Feb 03, 2016
Haha I think the price needs to match the effort (time, money, etc) you spent on the game, and match the genre. A roguelite for $20 for example would be hard to sell from my experience.
I would have no problems selling a game for $9.99 but... it should have contents for $9.99
when my games always have more than 150k+ words and a lot of art, original soundtrack, etc... selling at anything less than $19.99 is a suicide.
That of course are the standard prices for US/EU area. I understand that some people like ValHallen living in other places cannot afford games at full price, and that's where Steam regional pricing comes handy
Troyen
Feb 03, 2016
I'm kind of curious, since you're based in Italy, does a strong (expensive) US dollar help or hurt you more? On one hand, you'd get more Euros from all the US sales. On the other hand, I'd imagine the high prices negatively affect your non-US sales.
jack1974
Feb 03, 2016
It's honestly hard to know for me. On Steam / direct most of sales comes from USA, but for example on mobile I never checked
I think in general more expensive US dollar is better, at least right now.
jack1974
Mar 03, 2016
Well after about 45 days (game was out the 22nd January) I still haven't recovered the game costs (which means I still haven't earned anything from it). And Miakoda was even VERY generous for her pay. Unfortunately it didn't keep selling as the first two weeks, it rapidly dropped...
The main problem I think is the amount of art needed to make a card game. The various 120+ cards, etc.
However, it's also true that is a new kind of game for my users. When I did Planet Stronghold, initially didn't sell much. Then after did Loren, I had two RPGs, and was better. So there's also that to consider. Also, in the costs I also include the art/writing for the PSCD DLC, which is not out yet. So it might not be so bad
I will surely make Undead Lily card game, then I'll see how it goes. I still have to do the PSCD Steam launch of course, that might change things even if recently Steam won't make a big splash as it used to do
