Yes of course but that works with all the games I have drawn my conclusions comparing ALL my other previous releases with this one. For comparison, SOTW in the first 24h did better than PSCD so far in almost a week. So the gap is quite big

Jack, I think you really need some steam reviews. As a core steam user I would never buy a game if it has only 1 review - it basically means nobody plays it, and it's a red flag. But if it has at least 10-20 reviews - it's a totally different story. Maybe you should personally ask some people that bought the game to review it or, I dunno, at least host a thread asking for steam reviews.

The game really needs some visibility too, since all the potential playes simply don't know about it. Probably too late to run some marketing campaigns now, but you can put some updates and run a steam sale. I also heard the steam dev page has a button that can put your game on the front page for a little while, although it might be more complicated than that.

By the way, was meaning to ask you - how do you market your games? Do you send press releases, post on outside forums or something? Or did you stop bothering at some point and decided to just stick to your fan audience on blog/forum? What do you think about indie marketing in general?

It's a long story, in summary I stopped bothering since the press has been ignoring me and my games for years (not ALL, but the most important / most sites). And I tried a lot. I was getting replies. People saying "ah interesting game, will try it". Or even "will do a review". Then inevitably nothing happened. After a while I gave up since I was wasting too much time for NOTHING

It's too early to do a Steam sale, I will do one at some point.



Haha sorry I need to calm myself and stop whining since you think this was a failure but it really wasn't - just expected more. But it's doing fine.

It's not like "boo hoo I'm bankrupt I'm not going to do DLC and any more card games ever!"

It's more like: all things considered I prefer to spend energy to finish all the current games in progress to clear "the queue" a bit, and maybe do a "proper" card game later without mixing it with unsuitable genres like VN/Dating sims. That's it.



Not like I don't appreciate your help/suggestions of course, thanks! But I probably gave the impression that this was a much bigger problem than really is

Haha, sorry, Jack, I probably also sounded more concerned than I was. As a beginning VN dev myself, I admit I'm afraid of losing good developers to "indieapocalypse despair", so seeing one being sad about the recent release does break my heart a little bit every time. I guess I'll try not too overreact anymore!

I actually have full confidence in your abilities and success - you're the longest player in this game, after all, somewhat a titan of endurance. So have a great time, and meanwhile I'll be sure to grab some of your games on the next steam sale I'll probably also pop up from time to time to criticize everything horribly and give very srs business advice, or maybe even ask for some myself.

Be seeing you!

Haha, sorry, Jack, I probably also sounded more concerned than I was. As a beginning VN dev myself, I admit I'm afraid of losing good developers to "indieapocalypse despair", so seeing one being sad about the recent release does break my heart a little bit every time. I guess I'll try not too overreact anymore!

Haha no no, it was surely my fault. Many fans and friends were worried. I blame the language barrier and my current situation (I'm going nuts managing all the games). But for sure it's much tougher now than ever

I actually have full confidence in your abilities and success - you're the longest player in this game, after all, somewhat a titan of endurance. So have a great time, and meanwhile I'll be sure to grab some of your games on the next steam sale I'll probably also pop up from time to time to criticize everything horribly and give very srs business advice, or maybe even ask for some myself.

Be seeing you!

Thanks! Your critiques (and purchases ) are always welcome

I just realized! You don't have trading cards yet up for PSCD, but you do have cards for all your other games. Perhaps that will help!

Most indie games on Steam come with a release sale, usually a pretty small discount (10-15%), but that green tag is an eye-catcher even if it's only a slight discount. I noticed PSCD didn't have one; maybe something to consider for the future?

I just realized! You don't have trading cards yet up for PSCD, but you do have cards for all your other games. Perhaps that will help!

Uh, no I have them! Weird if they don't show up, I need to ask Steam (I submitted them and published like before).

Most indie games on Steam come with a release sale, usually a pretty small discount (10-15%), but that green tag is an eye-catcher even if it's only a slight discount. I noticed PSCD didn't have one; maybe something to consider for the future?

I didn't want to put a launch discount for the people that bought direct, but maybe next time will do the same for direct buyers who preorder it

As far as the Steam Cards go, I did get 3 of them to drop for me.

I found out I forgot to set it active on the store page, even if in the game they should drop correctly already

I just realized! You don't have trading cards yet up for PSCD, but you do have cards for all your other games. Perhaps that will help!

Uh, no I have them! Weird if they don't show up, I need to ask Steam (I submitted them and published like before).

Most indie games on Steam come with a release sale, usually a pretty small discount (10-15%), but that green tag is an eye-catcher even if it's only a slight discount. I noticed PSCD didn't have one; maybe something to consider for the future?

I didn't want to put a launch discount for the people that bought direct, but maybe next time will do the same for direct buyers who preorder it

You could inflate the Steam price by 10-15% and go with a launch sale.



It's deceptive, but sadly it's what customers seem to respond to - at least in retail.

I just realized! You don't have trading cards yet up for PSCD, but you do have cards for all your other games. Perhaps that will help!

Uh, no I have them! Weird if they don't show up, I need to ask Steam (I submitted them and published like before).

Most indie games on Steam come with a release sale, usually a pretty small discount (10-15%), but that green tag is an eye-catcher even if it's only a slight discount. I noticed PSCD didn't have one; maybe something to consider for the future?

I didn't want to put a launch discount for the people that bought direct, but maybe next time will do the same for direct buyers who preorder it

You could inflate the Steam price by 10-15% and go with a launch sale.



It's deceptive, but sadly it's what customers seem to respond to - at least in retail.

Or he could do what many publishers do, and offer a discount to those that pre-order and do that on both direct sales and Steam, and then set the release date a week after he is ready to release on Steam and then if the pre-orders aren't great, he can extend that small discount into the actual release. Nothing shady, not a practice I like, but at least a legitimate business practice in today's gaming environment.

Yeah I would do a small discount direct and Steam for preorders, but I always thought was a bit silly since those who preorders are those interested in the game so would buy it anyway maybe things have changed though. A 10% preorder discount is not going to make me bankrupt anyway and if helps on Steam will be worth it.

Well anymore you have two options to get people to pre-order your game, either a discount or free goodies. I think the discount works better for pushing sales though, unless you are a big AAA company.



On a side note, did you hear about the pre-order offers Ubisoft is doing for the Assassin's Creed movie this coming winter.



http://blog.ubi.com/assassins-creed-movie-presale-begins-on-kernel/



I mean a literal effing crossbow, are you kidding me.

Haha lol insane. I don't think I would be able to provide such preorder bonuses

I got news from the scripter, he should be finished by end of month. To be honest sales recently picked up, still not enough to justify doing the full DLC (I also have so many other games to finish...!) but definitely the game didn't do as bad as I initially thought and with those extra romances added, I honestly think at just $20 will be a great deal (has more romances than Loren+DLC!).

Of course I'll announce here and on social networks when it's ready

Well I am sad you won't make the DLC, but its understandable. Reading some of your posts I can feel how dissapointed you were. The game seems like a perfect mix and the setting of planet stronghold is by far my favourite of all the games I have played of you.

You know what else you did wrong? Maybe you shouldn't have announced the DLC in the games trailer at all. If I know there is a DLC or an addon coming I normaly just wait till its released and then I buy the whole game to get the complete experience. (One execption is Crusader Kings II, I can't wait years for a finished game) Especially in this case since 60 new cards is like an 50% increase of cards to play with, which seemed significant to me. I know, if all people would do that we would never get any new games or DLCs but I am pretty sure I am not the only person that buys that way, especially with all the packed steam librarys that folks have. They can just wait you know, I haven't played through Bionic Heart 2 eventhough its sitting in my library for over a year and I enjoyed the first part of it.

But I want to say thank you for preparing the other romances and releasing them. I will just go and get the game and wait till they are patched in before I start playing.

/facepalm

I totally forgot I announced it in the trailer... UGH! Haha well on Steam I can always do it as DLC, just a free one

It might even be a better idea since doing it as DLC maybe the game will get a bit extra exposure.

What you say makes perfect sense, and indeed even if I have ideas for DLC of future games, I'm never going to announce them BEFORE the game release anymore ! It was another stupid mistake on my part. Thanks for pointing this out



By the way where you got the 60 new cards from ? The new cards would be 2 for each hero, so 2x10 plus 4 for the empire, so in total 24 new cards. OK some more enemies, but I guess they don't count since you can't use them (and still wouldn't reach 60, maybe 30 at best).

You know, you are right. I watched the trailer again and you didn't mention 60 new cards in it, just new cards. Maybe it was wishful thinking of me or I dreamed about it at night. I guess it would have been a bit much to balance anyway, but 24 also sounds pretty good. Do they exist only as vague ideas so far or are they allready halfway developed? Any hints what charlotte would get?

No problem, I am glad if it helped you understand. I know how frustrating it must be, take panzermadels for example it was released 2 months after your pscd and allready has 400 reviews. In my eyes I can't understand that too. Maybe you should dress all your characters in school girl uniforms for future trailers.

Like I said, most of the time I only play through a game once and I want all my toys to play with, so I wait especially if its allready in the trailer we will get a dlc soon. Until today I just visited the store page from time to time and looked if its finally there, before I decided to look on here for clues I was totally in the dark. Could be very well that some others have maybe added it to their wishlist and are also waiting (or have allready forgotten), especially if they haven't played the first game and thought maybe its a good idea to wait for it, the game will be complete and also have a few more reviews by then. But thats of course only speculative from my side.

Another thing that might have helped would have been a small discount at the release of the game, like others have said before. It would have made the game easier to notice for people that never have played a game of you before and are interested in scifi/vn. Games that are not well known or receive little attention at first often just tent to get drowned and forgotten. And if you went that route of upping the price together with a discount and then adjusting it afterwards I honestly could not blame you. But of course thats your decision, same goes for the dlc.

You know I am interested in it, but you have to think from a business point whats best for you like I think when I buy games. So I won't try to persuade you now to make it. Just if you decide to make it, think of a good time to release it. Not on the summer sale when it will get overlooked again or shortly after, when most have empty wallets and tons of new games. Maybe sometime before the summer sale would be good so its in the spotlight and fresh in minds. Some would maybe buy it right away whilst others would add it to their wishlist because they would hope for some form of discount at the sale.

Maybe also couple the dlc with a visit to your website, if thats somehow possible. Just to get people to know what other cool stuff you have planed way before the release. I for example find Roger Steel particulary interesting and wouldn't have known about it, if I didn't visit your site. If not possible maybe its an idea for future games, could be something simple and not game changing like an additional free (sexy) outfit for loren, where you have to snatch a code from winterwolves.net and type it in the game to unlock it or something similar. But those are just ideas, and maybe in the wrong thread.

Do they exist only as vague ideas so far or are they allready halfway developed? Any hints what charlotte would get?

No I had designed them and already commissioned the art

Doing extra missions would take too much time to balance, but maybe if there's enough time I could add the cards and do some sort of "free play" playing against random enemies or something. I need to check exactly how much work that would be

I know how frustrating it must be, take panzermadels for example it was released 2 months after your pscd and allready has 400 reviews. In my eyes I can't understand that too. Maybe you should dress all your characters in school girl uniforms for future trailers.

Haha sometimes it's luck. I was lucky too, for example one of my early games, Always Remember Me, was featured by a big youtuber (Dodger) and got a lot of promotion. I think the same happened to that game

But thats of course only speculative from my side.

Recently Valve has added a very cool Wishlist reporting (for developers). We can know how many wishlisted it, bought it, etc. So far after over a month 1600 people wishlisted it, but this DOESN'T MEAN that 1600 will buy it (eh, I wish!!! ).

It's interesting since when I do a sale I can see how many of those "convert" and so on. It's useful to determine why exactly people didn't get it. Like if was the price, or maybe just bad timing or something else.

But honestly, it's not a great result since C14 Dating out since just a week, has already 2200 wishlist... I really think the art style had a big impact on PSCD. Or even adding a story with romance. Maybe was better just story without romances and cheaper. Not sure. I'll need to make more tests, since I already know how with my usual games works, but this is uncharted territory for me! (games mostly focused on gameplay I mean)

But those are just ideas, and maybe in the wrong thread.

No are good ideas indeed. For the reasons above I don't really think will do the DLC. Will add the new romances for sure (they're already done) and maybe the new cards and some kind of free play. That should be easier to do than missions, which needs to be balanced.

I really enjoyed doing this game though, and honestly if I hadn't so many other games waiting to be done this year, I would probably have done the DLC even at loss, because I liked it !