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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

#91

How did you structure your work in the first year? Did you set specific goals or just follow what felt right? Where did your motivation and energy come from, and how did you keep momentum?

The game took one year to make and I am a severe workaholic, so, I found it easy to just put the pedal to the floor for exactly one year (and then simply die afterwards, lol)

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

#92
I love the animated stickman!

building myself html games myself[1] with my own game engine. Getting players is really hard. I was betting on SEO, but results will take a long time. do you think getting a publisher worth it? I was reluctant putting the game on steam too since I think the target players wont be there

Happy to hear recommendations!

https://pixelbrawlgames.com/game/blast

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

#93
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…

Related to this: is there any kind of contractual language that keeps Steam creators from saying how much money they made on the platform? Please note that I'm not asking how much you made on this game, that's none of my business! Just wondering if there's an NDA or something like that. I've been curious about it for a while.

I don't think there is such a legal obligation, because videos like this one exist where devs do share the exact financials of their Steam releases: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPMfcaUulYU

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

#97

What is your opinion about the top bad review on Steam? Have you addressed those issues or perhaps you disagree with them? Posted here for reference > Really fun game at first, and it has a lot of potential. Unfortunately you are very strongly incentivized to NOT UNLOCK ANYTHING (i.e. the meta-progression).... because after you unlock many additional items and get to the higher difficulties, the vast majority of runs…

It was intentional that the game got harder by broadening the pool of drafts. The design goal was that you need to develop your skill to build more flexible boards, that don't rely on just forcing a single synergy to materialize.

Unfortunately, I don't think the game communicates this goal well, AND prevailing design trends (rogueliTe, which this game is NOT) I think have trained players to expect that games should get artificially EASIER over time by increasing the player's power level.

It's a point of the design I'm willing to concede, so it's something I do hope to address. But not increasing the power level as in a roguelite, just by preserving the density of drafts and taming dilution a bit.

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

#99
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…

Or even better, he should just come over to your place, crash in your garage and spend his days teaching you how to make a game, right?
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