Releasing a Commercial ASCII Roguelike, a Post-Mortem

After seeing the demo, I felt like the Reddit commentator who wrote, "I've never gone so quickly from seeing something to buying it" [or wanting to!]. Unfortunately, the buy page is pretty complicated:

http://www.gridsagegames.com/cogmind/buy.html

The page has a lot of graphics and characters using strikethrough which confused me and looks somewhat unprofessional. I suspect the author might be losing conversions due to the complexity of this page. I would prefer a simpler buy page that put the actionable content right at the top. (I'm just looking for a regular commercial-type purchase of an early access game, not being a backer per se.)

I'm sharing this as constructive feedback in the hope the author might see it. A customer like me will appreciate a simpler, direct buy page that doesn't require a lot of thought from "oooo this looks fun" to making the purchase. Capitalize on impulse buys coming out of your demo.

Anyway, very polished and fun from the few minutes I've had to play it so far. Nice work!

This game is easily as polished as, or more polished than plenty of games on Steam Greenlight. Steam was the first place I looked for it, actually, after reading the article. A game like this should attract huge interest among the right audience if it's replayable. You have flashy and normal enough graphics with an easy-to-understand interface that regular gamers can enjoy it, and it also seems like it will appeal to the hardcore roguelike gamers. I'd highly recommend you try to get it on Steam as soon as you think it's ready (speaking as a person who makes a lot of video game purchases on Steam and not many outside it).

If one has to scroll down to see the buy button, all the impulse buyers are lost.

$30 leaves it out of the impulse buy category for me.

I'm both an impulse buy and also (I think) your primary audience, as someone who's played Nethack, Dungeons of Dredmor, DCSS, Darkest Dungeon, FTL, Dwarf Fortress, Project Zomboid, The Escapists, Atom Zombie Smasher, etc. (forgive me for assuming I know what your audience is - I'm guessing). What I mean by impulse purchase is that, having made the decision to purchase it, I want to go quickly from making that decision to having the game in my hands. This is one area of user experience where Steam really excels. This includes assessing the risk of making an alpha purchase. Once I figured out how to purchase, your system that emailed me a download link delivered. :-)

But yes, I understand what you mean about discouraging random people who stumble across it from not knowing what they're getting into. Early access games are a phenomenon these days from Steam however, so a lot of people are familiar with the idea and comfortable with the purchase being a gamble, especially when the developer is making an effort to engage with the community, and you have a sense that the game will continue to be improved over time. (I am really looking forward to Terraria 1.3 for example, and find it amazing and delightful that Re-Logic continues to add so much content. They've already secured my purchase of Terraria:OtherWorld.) I also understand that it wouldn't be fun to have a bunch of unsatisfied people harassing you and consuming your time with returns. Just sharing my thoughts as someone who saw the demo and thought "I want this NOW" :-)

The level of polish in the video, in overall slickness and animation and sound effects, gave me a good sense of what I was getting into, and I can say from the game's "loading" screen, first level, animation & sound effects, and interface polish (including item & effect descriptions) I am not at all disappointed. It's great!

I like the fact that you've put a lot of effort into making the game playable without a reference, with inline help. A lot of other games fall down there, including AAA titles.

I haven't played more than a few minutes, so I don't know if by unfinished you mean you need to add a lot of content, or you mean the game isn't playable from start to finish. If it's playable from start to finish then I'd say you're in good shape (if not, then that's understandable as an alpha, and I agree with keeping it away from the mainstream until then). If you mean you can finish the game, but there isn't as much content as you'd like, then I'm sure you will improve it! One thing I'll be interested to see is whether the item drops result in a character that plays in a way that "feels" different, e.g., legs vs. wheels. Movement taking different amounts of time is something that I can grasp as a roguelike player, but I think items will offer the most variety if they can "feel" different somehow (that's the best I can describe it). FTL teleporters and stealth are an example of items that drastically change the feel, leading to completely different gameplay. Project Zomboid melee weapons vs. firearms is another example. (With wheels, can I effectively roll up and melee things when I couldn't on legs? I would hope to find tactics like this.) It's the emergent gameplay that makes tactical games or games with sandbox elements so beautiful and interesting.

Thanks for posting! Good luck!

Been watching the development of this title for a while now - brilliant stuff. I'm so pleased the release has worked out well for you so far - even if only alpha.

When I have the spare funds I'll be sure to pick up a copy!