In my previous post, I talked about how I released my zombie action driving game, “Diminishing Light,” on itch.io. The idea was to release a basic demo and then get player feedback to help shape the game and release it on Steam.
My demo has been on Itch for a little under a month, and I have had 115 views and 22 downloads. Unfortunately, I didn’t receive any feedback on the game, despite making it easy to provide feedback by integrating the Easy Feedback Form by Aesthetician Labs. This form integrates with Trello and allows the user to create a Trello card by pressing f12 during the game and filling out a form enabling users to report bugs or provide feedback. The best thing is that it was super easy to integrate and will be an asset I will use for any future games I work on.
Without feedback, I decided to take a different approach. I have been following BiteMeGames on YouTube and Patreon. They are a small indie game development team that documents their journey and shares helpful information about what they learn along the way.
I noticed Marnix Wyns(from Bite Me Games) offered game dev coaching, where he provides feedback on games, store pages, etc. This is exactly what I needed, and for $60 for an hour, it was worth a try.
I scheduled a WebEx session with Marnix the following week and provided links to my demo, store page, and Game Design document, along with a short description of what I expected with the coaching call.
The meeting with Marnix went well, and he gave me valuable feedback. Here is a condensed list of some of the improvements he suggested.
Improve overall look & feel
- Lighting & Postprocessing
- Custom Shaders to spice things up
- Use more Particle Fx
- Fog
- Add grass and shrubs for open areas
- Make trees destructible
UI Improvement
- Indicator for equipped Weapon and Ammo
- Show Keyboard/controller controls on the first mission start
- Ultrawide support
Upgrade system improvements
- Handling – didn’t seem to impact driving
- Balance mission rewards and cost of upgrades
Strategy
- Improve/polish the demo before expanding the game world and adding missions. Finish the demo by Sept 16 so I can enter the Steam Festival Planes, Trains, and Automobiles Fest.
- Full launch for Next Fest October
- Create a web version of the demo for itch.io
- Put demo on crazy games
- Develop a 20 -45-second trailer
- Update the Steam store page with the latest images and trailer
Marnix felt that the gameplay was solid and fun but emphasized that improving the overall look and feel and fixing bugs was essential to transitioning from an itch.io game to a Steam-ready title.
Social Media Insights
We also discussed the importance of indie devs not getting caught in a social media bubble. While it’s good to participate in events like Screenshot Saturday on Twitter, don’t expect significant wishlists from those posts. The best approach is to join Steam festivals and present a polished demo.
Conclusion
Overall, the coaching session with Marnix was an invaluable experience. His insights have given me a clear roadmap to improve “Diminishing Light” and prepare it for a successful Steam launch. A big thanks to Marnix for his help! Now, it’s time to get to work on improving the demo.
Stay tuned for more updates on my game development journey!
Want to see how Diminishing Light shapes up? Head over to the itch.io page here or download the demo below and leave some feedback in the comments!
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