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oldblood
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« Reply #340 on: September 15, 2015, 05:14:33 AM » |
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DEVLOG 75.
The Beta II continues. Still in the process of collecting feedback (thanks to everyone who has contributed thus far with testing and feedback). Overall, there are some bugs including a few painful ones but I havent hit too many serious game breakers yet. Keeping the fingers crossed there... Although there are plenty of areas where polish is needed...
Hopefully, we can wrap up testing and feedback through next week which will give me some time to wrap up polish/fixes and still have some time to focus on the boring things like press releases, working on my contact list, press pages etc. Good times...
*** Primarily, today I want to write about Steam Trading Cards. Talk a bit about the designs I'm doing in Masochisia and why I think you (other developers) should be doing trading cards if you haven't already... For those not familiar, Steam gives you the option to create trading cards (and other "meta" things) that can periodically drop into players Steam Inventory when they play your game.
Once the player collects a full set of the game's trading cards, they earn: A badge (level 1), some profile backgrounds, some emoticons they can use in chat, sometimes some coupons and of course- steam "XP" for their profile. It's a cool little way to get some cool digital items from a game you're playing and people love to level things up... even if it's just a Steam profile page. Of course, the player can only get half of the trading cards in a set from playing the game. The rest must be unlocked by trading with friends or other players and/or purchasing the trading cards from the market.
Once they complete the set and get their badge & items, they're a Level 1. Now they get to do it all over again for 5 levels! The game also periodically drops rare "foil" cards which can be collected to create a special "foil" badge.
 Regular trading cards in Blue, rare "Foil" cards in Gray... All-in-all, you need to create around:
(1.) 5-8 Trading Cards
(2.) 6 Profile Badges (Levels 1-5 & "Foil")
(3.) 5-6 Emoticons
(4.) 3+ Profile Backgrounds
You can use a lot of existing art here, which will save you a tremendous amount of time. Or you can create special/custom images if you have more time. Overall, you may spend 8-10 hours creating images, uploading, testing etc. But that's basically one full day's worth of work and it can really help increase the value of your game to potential players. It's worth the effort...
Level 1-5 + Foil Badge Emoticons (Some are more rare than others...) Both Emotions & Profile Backgrounds are given to players who complete a trading card set as either "Common" (drops the most), "Uncommon" (drops the 2nd most) and "Rare" (drops very rarely). This helps create more value to different items that are unlocked for the player and gives them more reason to keep collecting trading cards and leveling up...
I modified some of the marketing images I created previously ("Honor Thy Father", "Let Your Beast Run" etc) to become Steam Profile backgrounds. They turned out surprisingly good, I felt. My biggest concern though was: Will Valve approve me creating profile images with violent images (blood etc) and text?
The answer? Kind of.
These are low-res samples so some details are lost...
Valve did approve the backgrounds, but told me I had to remove the text... As such, the final versions will not include any text... So why do all this?
(1.) There is a segment of gamers on Steam who rabidly collect trading cards. They will buy your game just to "farm" cards.
(2.) Adds value to the player as some like to try and sell items (sometimes for more than the cost of the game).
(3.) Fans of the game get cool digital items to put up on their profile which in-turn, promotes your game organically.
(4.) You get $.01 from every transaction (trading card, emoticon, background etc.) that occurs from your game items.
If you sell, several thousand copies- that means you could make hundreds of dollars in transactions fees. If your game sells tens of thousands, you can make thousands of dollars. If your game sell hundreds of thousands? Well, you get the idea...
Besides from helping you sell copies of your game (and organically promote it), you can actually make your money back for any time you invest in just transaction fees. The only downside to Steam trading cards is the investment of time. And all-in-all, it's really not much of it...
In short, if you're planning to release your game on Steam-- allocate some time for Steam Trading Cards...
[/end wall of text]
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nnyei
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« Reply #341 on: September 15, 2015, 12:36:14 PM » |
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I think the addition of the trading cards is a really good call. I personally always like to see it because I like selling stuff at the market (I accrued something like 4€ just from selling cards). I didn't know the developer actually got a small cut from the transactions as well (nice!).
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oahda
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« Reply #343 on: September 17, 2015, 03:09:22 AM » |
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I don't like cards and achievements myself, but...  Others do, and you will indeed probably have more sales because of that sort of stuff. Sorry for not replying to the testing mail, BTW. I don't really have time or mental capacity ATM so we'll have to see if I can make it. But hopefully you've got enough people anyhow. |
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oldblood
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« Reply #344 on: September 17, 2015, 05:37:33 AM » |
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I think the addition of the trading cards is a really good call. I personally always like to see it because I like selling stuff at the market (I accrued something like 4€ just from selling cards). I didn't know the developer actually got a small cut from the transactions as well (nice!). I don't think you're alone in that mindset. I think a lot of players dont necessarily collect them for the XP and items and mostly view cards as items to sell off slowly and gradually build up a steam credit to buy another game. Which is great. Even if you're not big on the idea of them, they have a draw for the player...
I saw this on twitter and didn't understand what you were talking about. I had no idea this kind of thing existed. I'll definitely make some for my game! Thanks for the heads up!   
I don't like cards and achievements myself, but... Others do, and you will indeed probably have more sales because of that sort of stuff. Sorry for not replying to the testing mail, BTW. I don't really have time or mental capacity ATM so we'll have to see if I can make it. But hopefully you've got enough people anyhow.
Understand that you're busy! No worries if you can't get any feedback in by next week but I'd love any feedback that you'd like to share, you provide great insights.
On the topic of achievements, I've actually decided against having ANY achievements in the game. I like the idea of achievements but I felt like the idea of rewarding players for doing the things you do in Masochisia sort of goes against my goals for the game so I've decided to just avoid the achievements for this game...
*** On the topic of testing... Only heard back from around 5 of the 50 testers so far. But the feedback I've been receiving is excellent so far. Will probably extend the "feedback collection" period through the end of next week to give testers more time to play and submit feedback.
This is a good reason to always try to get more testers than you think is necessary as people's schedules can change and it's not uncommon for people to get busy, and that's perfectly fine. So padding the number of testers you have available is usually a great way to insure you're still getting enough feedback. You can never have too much.
Outside of Beta II testers, I discovered a pretty significant issue that I'm now focusing on for the next few days. While the game gets really good frame-rates throughout (despite loading a lot of large 2k textures and lots of post-processing) and seems to play well for people, even those with low-end GPU's. HOWEVER- I discovered when recording HD video at 60FPS (via Fraps etc) that the frame-rate would drop pretty dramatically... Down to unplayable 10-15fps ranges at 1080p/60fps. Perspective, without recording- I get 60fps at 2k resolution.
This is a pretty significant issue...
For 90% of players, it's not important. They will get good frame-rates when they play and most people don't record video of themselves playing games- but for YouTubers/Lets Play, it's obviously an issue. And utilizing YouTubers can be a great way to promote your game.
Made a lot of head-way on it yesterday and am slowly seeing the FPS rise back up when recording hd video. Will spend another day or two focusing on trying to clean things up more and slowly edge the frames back up to something respectable. Currently, have 1080p/30fps recording now working great but want to see if this can be pushed further.
It's definitely a good reminder for developers who're interested in using YouTubers to be sure to periodically test your game with recording software as you play to insure that your game is optimized for recording... |
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Greipur
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« Reply #345 on: September 17, 2015, 06:59:03 AM » |
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I agree with that it will clash with your theme to include achievements. We're avoiding them for Crest as well, but perhaps for other reasons.
I hope it's going well with trying to fix everything until October!
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oldblood
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« Reply #346 on: September 17, 2015, 10:29:16 AM » |
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DEVLOG 76.
I have an official launch date for Steam...
...Whatever "official" really means...
October 9th, 2015 I don't forsee the Press jumping all over the news of my launch date, so I'm not too concerned about the potential for fate/circumstances getting in the way and forcing me to delay the release. If I need more time, I will simply take it.
But-- this date should be pretty solid. Gives me just a little over 3 weeks to continue to: (1.) Continue to collect Beta II feedback (2.) Make fixes, improvements, adjustments (3.) Optimize & (4.) Some time to set aside for attempting to promote.
Kinda scary/relieving to know that it will all be over in a few more weeks. I can't tell which feeling I'm leaning towards at the moment.
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« Last Edit: September 18, 2015, 04:37:30 AM by oldblood »
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Sunburned Games
Level 1
We are working on The Great Whale Road.
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« Reply #347 on: September 18, 2015, 02:30:39 AM » |
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American date format! Luckily the 10th of September is already in the past, so my confusion only lasted for a minute or two. I am slow today.  Good luck! Joachim |
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Fenrir
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« Reply #348 on: September 18, 2015, 03:18:38 AM » |
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American date format! Luckily the 10th of September is already in the past, so my confusion only lasted for a minute or two. I am slow today. Hehe same here...  Good luck for the release! I hope you won't wait too long to start a new project as I'll miss your devlogs (even if I'm quite confident that you'll bring us some interesting data post-release, hehe) ! |
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oldblood
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« Reply #349 on: September 18, 2015, 04:42:12 AM » |
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Yeah I thought about that after I posted, but forgot to modify. Corrected now.
Good luck for the release! I hope you won't wait too long to start a new project as I'll miss your devlogs (even if I'm quite confident that you'll bring us some interesting data post-release, hehe) !
And yes, even if the numbers are embarrassing (and I imagine they will be), I will be sharing my feedback on the launch. I've been very transparent thus far, I don't imagine that's going to change...
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oldblood
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« Reply #350 on: September 21, 2015, 06:06:15 AM » |
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DEVLOG 77.Indie developers absolutely love to complain about the lack of transparency in games sales data... yet come launch time, they all disappear...
We really only get true "sales data" from indie developers when they're successful. Everyone's happy to write about their experiences when they sell 100,000 copies in the first month. But what happens when they sell 100 copies?
Embarrassed? Sure. You're human. We all want to be successful. Doesn't mean others can't learn from the data you have... If Masochisia sells 10 copies on launch day, you will know about it. Because transparency is important. Masochisia will be commercially successful or a commercial failure. One way or another. But regardless of the end-result, I want developers to be able to learn from the data I have.
Before I begin: I'd be lying if I said I expected this "game" to do well. If I'm being fully transparent, "breaking even" may even be a best case scenario. You can track back to the early devlog to see that this was never designed to be commercial. As such, it was never really actively promoted. It began as an exploration of narrative in games and experimenting with themes generally untouched in gaming...
If your game is actively being promoted, is getting press or generally has a more viable commercial aspect to it- your data will likely be much better than mine. The data I'm sharing here is entirely organic data simply from being listed on Steam's "Coming Soon" tab.
*** The Masochisia Steam page went live on September 8th. By the October 9th launch date, it will have been on the "Coming Soon" tab for almost exactly 1 month. I will likely do a follow up to this closer to launch with a 2nd look to see if the data has changed.
Views on your storefront will be primarily driven by:
(1.) The Coming Soon List
(2.) Your Game Page
(3.) Search Results
(4.) External Websites & Valve Website
Eventually "Home Page" & "Recommendations" will also be factors contributing to the number of views and clicks you're getting on your Storefront.
The data I have available is from a 12-day window from Sep. 8th - 20th. During that window, the game had 176,366 impressions. To clarify, impressions are not views on the game's page- they're simply the number of times players had the opportunity to click the link to view the Masochisia page. That's approximately 14,697 impressions per day. The "Coming Soon" list made up the majority of impressions (66.56%).
Of those impressions: 2,736 actual page views were made (direct links or clicking). While this number seems fairly low compared to the total number of impressions, this is actually pretty close to the global average for click-through rate on Steam. This is more important than impressions as these are people who actually reviewed the page, watched the trailer etc. This means that on average, 228 players are organically visiting the game's store page every day. After the initial large bump, it seems to be averaging closer to 140 total views per day, but the overall average is 228. As I said, I imagine these numbers could be dramatically higher with press coverage.
 A Helpful Graph Of the 2,736 people who visited the game page, about 18-19% of them added the game to their Wishlist for a grand total of 510 Wishlists. This is an average of approximately 40 players per day. This is probably the single most important statistic as these are people who appear to have an active interest in purchasing the game. A lot of people view Wishlists as a good way to predict your early game sales. HOWEVER- In my own (limited) experiences though, I've found only about 35-45% of players who've added a game to their Wishlist actually buy the game- and not always at launch. A good portion typically wait, expecting the game to be discounted later in the year in a Steam Sale. As such- I think it's important to not read too deeply into Wishlist data...
I will likely do a follow-up to this devlog at (or near) launch. Primarily, to notate if the average number of views, clicks etc goes up (or down) as you get closer to launch.
Disclaimer: These numbers are actually about 25-30% of the numbers I've seen in years past on Steam. This could be due to: (1.) The nature of Masochisia as a game or (2.) Changes in views/clicks on Steam due to the larger number of games to view on the "Coming Soon" tab.
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blekdar
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« Reply #351 on: September 21, 2015, 12:06:29 PM » |
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Steam is a bit of a confusing beast, and this gives me some really neat information for when I decide to get Blitz on there. Honestly, I'd say your best bet of promotion would be streamers. This is the kind of game that would explode through them (similar to Five Nights at Freddies), so I think that should be your main push promotion wise. A well placed video or two could get this game on a lot of people's wishlist. I would expect this to be one of those games that builds steam over time, yet not initially (sorry), but that could be me being a mix of cynical/positive at the same time. I am rooting for you though, and do plan on purchasing Masochisia (even if my backlog is already huge) Embarrassed? Sure. You're human. We all want to be successful. Doesn't mean others can't learn from the data you have... If Masochisia sells 10 copies on launch day, you will know about it. Because transparency is important. Masochisia will be commercially successful or a commercial failure. One way or another. But regardless of the end-result, I want developers to be able to learn from the data I have. This is a super awesome attitude to have. I don't know if you read the postmortem for Airscape: Fall of Gravity, but it comes off as rather entitled , and seeing someone who understands how finicky the market can be is always nice to see. Anyways I'm rambling a bit, looking forward to launch and info and all that and good luck! |
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oldblood
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« Reply #352 on: September 21, 2015, 01:00:21 PM » |
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Thanks blekdar. I definitely agree with it not being the type of game that generates a lot of buzz at launch. I'm a cynic/pessimist by nature so I'm definitely not going in with any grand delusions or expectations...
As you said, Streamers and YouTubers are likely the best bet for the game but I don't see it having the same fun-factor/draw as a game like Five Nights which is designed to replayed and is incredibly clean (language, gore, content) which makes it suitable for a hugely diverse audience. But again, I knew that going into this game. Maybe my next game will be a little more forward-thinking in terms of it's commercial aspirations... That being said, I will be sending out Steam keys to LP'ers as well as press prior to launch.
And yes, I did read the Post Mortem for Airscape. I'm certainly glad they wrote it (and it was a great business move on their part), as it generated a lot of discussion on the topic of expectations and the current market. I think it helps when you're developing a game that's personal to you... verses attempting to pay the bills or strike it rich with your game... You have very different expectations on the commercial aspect.
Not saying I want to lose money on Masochisia, but if I do- I do. I still made the game I wanted to make.
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MaartnBoot
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« Reply #353 on: September 22, 2015, 03:20:07 PM » |
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This sounds/looks very interesting. Feels a bit like an underground horror movie, but then, you know, a game. Yeh.
Curious how it will be when finished. Keep it up!
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Greipur
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« Reply #354 on: September 23, 2015, 12:36:40 AM » |
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As you said, Streamers and YouTubers are likely the best bet for the game but I don't see it having the same fun-factor/draw as a game like Five Nights which is designed to replayed and is incredibly clean (language, gore, content) which makes it suitable for a hugely diverse audience. But again, I knew that going into this game. Yeah, I can already imagine a jump scare channel starting the game up being all cheerful and after 10 minutes going "Oh wow... this is depressing. *sob*". And I'm glad you made that decision to make creeping horror with a message. I've seen that Soma has gotten some flack for being more creepy and philosophical instead of jump-scary and it feels like that's what the mainstream horror market wants; "Scare me shitless with cheap thrills or give me my money back!". That's okay too, but let's have some variety! Maybe I'm a dirty game hipster, but "intelligent horror" who tries to be a little personal in games is something I crave. Personally I would recommend to look at it that you're building a brand, if you're financially and emotionally stable (we should all know the stress involved here, haha) you can keep on trucking. Next time you're coming back you can show the world that you've finished a polished commercial game, and that has to count for something. |
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« Last Edit: September 23, 2015, 04:26:04 AM by Greipur »
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oldblood
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« Reply #355 on: September 23, 2015, 05:25:09 AM » |
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@MaartnBoot: Thanks so much!
@Greipur: Heh, I think you nailed what I assume will be most YouTubers reaction to it. I also think that's probably a great outlook to have on it. Viewing the game as completing something personal that I wanted to achieve and hopefully a foundation/brand for whatever future work I do. Thanks for the feedback and encouragement.
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StrayCatRock
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« Reply #356 on: September 23, 2015, 07:19:16 AM » |
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As you said, Streamers and YouTubers are likely the best bet for the game but I don't see it having the same fun-factor/draw as a game like Five Nights which is designed to replayed and is incredibly clean (language, gore, content) which makes it suitable for a hugely diverse audience. But again, I knew that going into this game. Maybe my next game will be a little more forward-thinking in terms of it's commercial aspirations... That being said, I will be sending out Steam keys to LP'ers as well as press prior to launch.
I haven't played your game and vaguely know it by name (good choice of title) and some screens but looking at the steam page (and trailer) reminded me of "The Cat Lady" in terms of vibe/feelings. I think you should target in priority the people who covered/streamed "The Cat Lady" as it really wasn't a "crowd pleaser" in its time (dialog-heavy, dark mood, not jump-scary). Of course, it was out 2 years ago which is a loooong time in Internet timescale but I think it's a good starting point. |
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oldblood
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« Reply #357 on: September 24, 2015, 07:26:21 AM » |
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DEVLOG 78.
I haven't played your game and vaguely know it by name (good choice of title) and some screens but looking at the steam page (and trailer) reminded me of "The Cat Lady" in terms of vibe/feelings.
I think you should target in priority the people who covered/streamed "The Cat Lady" as it really wasn't a "crowd pleaser" in its time (dialog-heavy, dark mood, not jump-scary). Of course, it was out 2 years ago which is a loooong time in Internet timescale but I think it's a good starting point.
That's great feedback.
I've never actually played the Cat Lady, but its apparently used as the "success story" for super-dark 2D games because of how successful it was (selling over 100,000 copies). I am familiar with it though though I haven't played it. I also get some comparisons to Year Walk due to the style of the game (although the games themselves are very unique from each other) so I have been trying to use people who played or enjoyed either of those two games as targets to reach out to. But... as you said, the Steam market (and YouTube market) 2 years ago is pretty dramatically different... So I'm not sure how successful that will be.
*** Work on bug fixing, patching, tweaking and adjusting continues as the Beta II wraps up. Of the 50(ish) people who signed up for the Beta II testing, I've heard back from approximately half. This is pretty much to be expected. If you want people to test your game and you think you need 10 testers, its better to ask 20 people...
It's nothing against the testers. They're not getting paid to QA your game. And life gets in the way a LOT. You will also get varying levels of feedback from different users so trying to find more testers is always a good thing...
Of course, if you're doing public testing that's different. Just put the game out there and wait for the feedback to roll in. But in terms of "closed testing", I would always recommend that you double whatever the number of testers you think you need to insure you get adequate feedback.
The things that are hardest for me during late-testing like this are:
1.) Realizing that (because of my skills or the way the feature is designed) that I may not be able to make everything as perfect as I want it to be. Knowing that some parts are held together with duct-tape.
2.) Realizing that some people are going to like this, and others will not.
On that 2nd point, I got two back-to-back emails from testers in a 30 minute window the other day. One user said they really didn't enjoy the ending of the game at all. That email was immediately followed by someone who said they enjoyed the ending immensely... Hard to determine the feedback on cases like that... Some people also enjoyed the fact the game was very narrative-heavy and more of an experience, others complained that there was not enough "gamey elements" to the game...
Also means I should probably expect mixed user or site reviews on the game because frankly, I think players will either "get" the game, or they won't. I dont expect there to be much middle-ground.
I'm very curious about what kind of reception the game is going to get because I simply have no idea what to expect based on the feedback I've received...
My schedule till launch is:
1.) I will be accepting Beta II feedback through Saturday the 26th, then I will be shifting focus to attempting to polish, fix and tweak whatever else is left on my schedule between the 26th and Oct. 2nd.
2.) Ideally, the game will be in a stable position at that point and I will likely start sending out Steam keys to press & youtubers around the 2nd or 3rd of October.
3.) October 2nd - 8th will be the frantic last week of more tweaks, fixes and polish while attempting to do what I can to promote the game.
4.) Launch on October 9th... 2 weeks, 1 day and 1 hour away from this exact moment...
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Zizka
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« Reply #358 on: September 25, 2015, 06:19:10 AM » |
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I appreciate your transparency. I too want to follow that path.
Got to set up my steam account then I'll give that beta a go.
P.S.: Just one thing though, I don't know if the cards are finished but they look a bit rusher imho at the moment. Might want to polish those a bit further.
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oldblood
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« Reply #359 on: September 30, 2015, 06:57:58 AM » |
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DEVLOG 79.
I realize I've been a bit quiet the past week with the devlog. There isn't a ton to "report" at this stage. I've wrapped up collecting feedback on the demo last week and am just working through my list of items that need fixing, polishing, tweaking etc.
The process in these final weeks is really just a matter of fixing or tweaking as many things as I can and then re-testing to see if my "fixes" broke anything else (which seems to happen about 20% of the time). Frankly, you get pretty tired of testing the game over and over again but it's just a part of the process...
I'm really ready for a break at this point... But the end is near...
My schedule through launch is:
● Spend the next couple days getting the game as "stable" as possible...
● Start sending out Steam Keys to press sites & reviewers on Friday 09/02
● Start sending out Steam Keys to YouTube "Lets Play" people on Saturday & Sunday 09/03 & 09/04
● Spend the 5th - the 8th polishing & tweaking while attempting to not break anything in the game
● Game officially launches on the 9th
● Be mentally prepared for a hot-fix patch of some sort (hopefully not) on the 9th or 10th
● Begin recovery...
I do plan on doing a couple more devlogs on Masochisia, so expect a few more posts from me over the next few weeks. Some of the topics I will likely cover are:
● Follow-Up on Organic Views & Storefront Data up to Launch
● "Final Thoughts" the day before release, likely a long/rambling post filled with doubt and self-loathing
● Post-Mortem on what went right/wrong at least a week after launch
● A few intermittent posts from me on launch day, and good or bad reactions I get...
If you have any topics you want me to talk about, just let me know and I will see what I can do. Will be sad to see this devlog wrap up in the next few weeks. Been basically my diary through a few dark times and through the entire development...
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Community
