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Show HN: I got laid off from Meta and created a minor hit on Steam

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Re: Show HN: I got laid off from Meta and created a minor hit on Steam

#41

Post by japhib »

Amazing work! Questions:

- How/why did you decide to talk to a publisher? When in the process did you feel like you had a good enough prototype to do that?

- What have been the pros/cons of working with a publisher? When, in your opinion, should someone do that vs. self-publishing?

- What was your confidence level throughout various stages of the project? Was there a point before releasing the game where you maybe got a glimpse of the success you were going to have? (I guess probably Steam wishlists?)

- What's next?

Congrats again on the hit!

Re: Show HN: I got laid off from Meta and created a minor hit on Steam

#42

Post by japhib »

sushidev wrote: post #33
echoangle wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Steam takes 30% and the publisher ( https://rawfury.com/developer-resources/ ) takes 50%, so the dev should end up with 35% of revenue (which then needs to be taxed etc.).

Who is the publisher? Isn’t it steam or the author itself?

If you look on the Steam page it's Raw Fury.

Steam is just the storefront. A game publisher's role varies a lot - sometimes they're just financing the project, usually they handle stuff like PR and marketing, and sometimes they help quite a bit more with the development of the game (sounds like the case in this case based on his other answers) as in programming/art/sfx/whatever else.

Re: Show HN: I got laid off from Meta and created a minor hit on Steam

#43

Post by teamonkey »

stickfigure wrote: post #30
echoangle wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Steam takes 30% and the publisher ( https://rawfury.com/developer-resources/ ) takes 50%, so the dev should end up with 35% of revenue (which then needs to be taxed etc.).

Maybe a dumb question but... in the age of Steam, what does the publisher do these days? Advance funding? What do those numbers look like?

Depends on the deal. Promotion and fronting of cash are the big ones (usually). They can usually also offer various development services (testing, translation, porting, getting special deals with platform holders). They can also act as a stakeholder for quality, advising on certain things that should be improved (as an editor would in book publishing).

Re: Show HN: I got laid off from Meta and created a minor hit on Steam

#45

Post by eftychis »

Congratulations!

This is a huge achievement and work -- although I do not know the space.

What is the stack used? Did you end up substantially switching things in the stack during your journey?

It would be great if you follow up later with experiences like the maintenance journey post-launch. Also, what do you feel the publisher provided besides the artist and guidance?

Re: Show HN: I got laid off from Meta and created a minor hit on Steam

#46

Post by japhib »

posnet wrote: post #11

I realise you can make games in any language/engine. But could you explain the language/system/engine you used? How did you go about validating the game is fun? Did you end up having an intuitive sense for it, or did you need external feedback to refine the mechanics? My steam deck might as well be a billionaire/balatro machine.

> I realise you can make games in any language/engine

It's actually a bit more constrained than people realize ... Well, for desktop, you can literally use anything. But for mobile it's a bit harder because of specific platform quirks, i.e. on iOS you can't make a language that relies on a JIT compiler, so for a Java/libGDX game the best option is https://github.com/MobiVM/robovm which compiles the JVM bytecode to LLVM IR and then to native machine code.

And then for consoles (switch/xbox/ps5) it's way worse because you're relying on commercial stuff, and the only support you get is from the engine makers themselves (Nintendo/Microsoft/Sony) so there's a lot less open source options. Basically you're stuck with C++ at that point (which Unity actually compiles your C# to under the hood for non-desktop platforms).

Not what you asked, but I found out this stuff a while back and find it interesting, hopefully it's interesting to you too :)

Re: Show HN: I got laid off from Meta and created a minor hit on Steam

#47

Post by neonsunset »

japhib wrote: post #46
posnet wrote: post #11

I realise you can make games in any language/engine. But could you explain the language/system/engine you used? How did you go about validating the game is fun? Did you end up having an intuitive sense for it, or did you need external feedback to refine the mechanics? My steam deck might as well be a billionaire/balatro machine.

> I realise you can make games in any language/engine It's actually a bit more constrained than people realize ... Well, for desktop, you can literally use anything. But for mobile it's a bit harder because of specific platform quirks, i.e. on iOS you can't make a language that relies on a JIT compiler, so for a Java/libGDX game the best option is https://github.com/MobiVM/robovm which compiles the JVM bytecode to LL…

Technically you can ship an FNA-based game with a commercial fork of .NET's NativeAOT that works on Nintendo Switch: https://viridiansoftware.com/blog/csharp-on-game-consoles Of course Xbox can just ship C#-written game normally AFAIK. So it's not like you're stuck with just C++ but yes, mobile platforms usually are highly constraining.

Re: Show HN: I got laid off from Meta and created a minor hit on Steam

#48

Post by zamalek »

qq99 wrote: post #39
newobj wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Between returns, taxes, and other stuff, I think you can model at ~55% of gross Steam sales. Then, whatever your split w/ your publisher is, on top of that. So I think it's easy for ppl to severely overestimate how much a dev is actually earning by just multiplying units times price :) I think in general the uptick of sales volume more than offsets the discount during a Steam sale. There's a reason Steam sales have a…

What factors made you choose to go with a publisher vs. self-publish?

One major benefit of publishers is a salary while the game is being developed. The other major benefit is marketing, the linked Steam page is titled:

> 200K Ballionaires!

> Where do you all keep coming from?!

A good portion of those came from the publisher's efforts.

Re: Show HN: I got laid off from Meta and created a minor hit on Steam

#49

Post by newobj »

switz wrote: post #4

200,000 units is a far cry from just a 'minor hit' - congratulations! During the project, what was the biggest instinct you had that was ultimately validated by its success, but still surprised you? What was a lesson you learned that you didn't expect? How was working with a publisher? What did they do right and what did they do wrong?

Honest answer? Dancing stick figure guy on the title screen. I did it very early in the project, in a fugue state at 3am. It lingered and lingered there, with ppl wondering "Is this real? Is this the actual title screen?" and luckily by the end I think everyone had drank enough psychedelic koolaid to agree - stick figure man stays. The artist made some better art for his hands/feet, and that was that. He's divisive, but everybody at least remembers him :)

Lesson learned that I didn't expect - hmm. Ah, one good one: I spent a LOT of time worrying about stuff being "OP" or degenerately good. Well, turns out, people like OP stuff, or degenerately good stuff, at least in single player score attack games. My biggest lesson learned on the project: people experience your game individually. If they find something broken, in their head, they are the one to have found something broken, and it feels good. You don't have to design for the entire community at once. Don't over-balance your game. Embrace the jank.

Re: Show HN: I got laid off from Meta and created a minor hit on Steam

#50

Post by newobj »

monideas wrote: post #8

You should make a youtube series or a long series of blog posts explaining your journey from a personal perspective, the emotional ups and downs on working on this instead of getting a new job, from a technical perspective, and from a business perspective. What types of skills did you have to learn, what were the technical challenges, what pieces of code are you particularly proud of. What was your marketing strategy…

Appreciate the thought but that's a full time job. I have to conserve whatever energy I have to actually work on the game.

(Seriously, I think a lot of devs distract themselves with this stuff. Just make your damn game.)

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