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[Alain]

It is still incredible to me that you do all your art in Paint, that's insane! Did you ever think about leveraging that for marketing? I honestly think that this might work.

[oldblood]

Wait, you did the art for this in MS Paint?

[Ramos]

It is still incredible to me that you do all your art in Paint, that's insane! Did you ever think about leveraging that for marketing? I honestly think that this might work.

Thank you!
I used it a couple of times but very lightly, I did not want this to be the main selling point

Wait, you did the art for this in MS Paint?

Guilty   

[bryku]

I'd recommend Paint.NET over the regular Paint. The best reason is the existence of layers, which can be extremely helpful.

[Parsley]

I second paint.net, and am amazed the art was done without layers. What did you do when you wanted to try something but wasn't sure it would look good? Do you have multiples versions of the same sprite with small tweaks?
Btw, your comment about the game not supporting 4k had me furiously adding UI scaling to my own over the last few days

[Ramos]

I'd recommend Paint.NET over the regular Paint. The best reason is the existence of layers, which can be extremely helpful.

I tried it but I don't like using layers too much, maybe that is why I am happy with windows paint + I am old and having many buttons on my screen gets me to panic

I second paint.net, and am amazed the art was done without layers. What did you do when you wanted to try something but wasn't sure it would look good? Do you have multiples versions of the same sprite with small tweaks?
Btw, your comment about the game not supporting 4k had me furiously adding UI scaling to my own over the last few days

Yes I make many iterations + I also build my own templates and color palettes

Glad to hear my case study helpt in your decission to improve

[Ramos]

Update time.

The work on the first DLC is almost over.
It will be released in early May on Steam and because we had such a good reception from fans we decided to distribute it for free. I know it's not a profitable decision but it will help in branding and community support in the long term.

What will it contain?
New balance and a totally new inventory system aka we added a light crafting mechanics and weapon customization + new armor upgrade system.

Main game version of inventory(old one):





DLC expanded version of inventory(new one)




and

[irn]

The new inventory looks fancy.
Crafting sounds like a cool addition. People like crafting, customizations and upgrades. It adds whole new layer to games.

[Ramos]

The new inventory looks fancy.
Crafting sounds like a cool addition. People like crafting, customizations and upgrades. It adds whole new layer to games.

Thank you!
Yes, the main aim is the action-reward feel for the player to have.


SIDE UPDATE.
Just made a post about community management if anyone is interested.

https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=73292.0

[Alain]

Thanks for sharing your Discord management experience and good job on the new inventory!

[oldblood]

Updates are looking great! I think the decision to make the DLC free is a good one. Especially as the update includes enhancements to things like UI, which gets tricky if you're trying to sell it as paid DLC. I also know that my respect for games and developers goes up when I get free DLC updates from them--and I am more likely to buy paid DLC when they eventually offer that.

Battle Brothers is a great example of a game that has gotten better and better over the years, and about half of their updates or DLC's are free, and the other half have been paid and its help them turn an old game into a game that's perpetually growing and (I'm confident to say) is leading to a healthy pipeline of sales. I always end up playing the game again when free DLC comes and I am a day one buyer when paid DLC is released. So it can be an effective model and may end up helping your long-tail sales or future paid DLC.

[Beastboy]

Nice to see you are motivated even after the release

[vdapps]

I'm back after long time. First of all, big congrats for Steam release, and here take my money! Minus one game from my Steam wishlist, growing a bit your conversion rate.

And second, thanks for your high quality and useful post about Community management. You already provided some HQ posts (last time I read your article about communication with potential investors). This is very VERY useful for others in community and very appreciated.

Cheers and congrats one more time!

[vdapps]

And 148 reviews on Steam with VERY POSITIVE overall are very nice numbers for a small indie team!

[logophil]

Great to see that the game is doing so well after all your hard work, and that you succeeded in getting the DLC out - congratulations!

I'm curious though why you would make this a free DLC rather than just an update to the base game? Does it get more visibility on Steam that way do you think?

[Feardemic_Michal]

This looks really interesting and cool, great job!

[Ramos]

Thanks for sharing your Discord management experience and good job on the new inventory!

My pleasure, hope it helps

Updates are looking great! I think the decision to make the DLC free is a good one. Especially as the update includes enhancements to things like UI, which gets tricky if you're trying to sell it as paid DLC. I also know that my respect for games and developers goes up when I get free DLC updates from them--and I am more likely to buy paid DLC when they eventually offer that.

Battle Brothers is a great example of a game that has gotten better and better over the years, and about half of their updates or DLC's are free, and the other half have been paid and its help them turn an old game into a game that's perpetually growing and (I'm confident to say) is leading to a healthy pipeline of sales. I always end up playing the game again when free DLC comes and I am a day one buyer when paid DLC is released. So it can be an effective model and may end up helping your long-tail sales or future paid DLC.

Yes, that is exactly the goal

Nice to see you are motivated even after the release

The player reviews feed my motivation

I'm back after long time. First of all, big congrats for Steam release, and here take my money! Minus one game from my Steam wishlist, growing a bit your conversion rate.

And second, thanks for your high quality and useful post about Community management. You already provided some HQ posts (last time I read your article about communication with potential investors). This is very VERY useful for others in community and very appreciated.

Cheers and congrats one more time!

And 148 reviews on Steam with VERY POSITIVE overall are very nice numbers for a small indie team!

Thank you for the support vdapps! 
Means a lot to me!

Great to see that the game is doing so well after all your hard work, and that you succeeded in getting the DLC out - congratulations!

I'm curious though why you would make this a free DLC rather than just an update to the base game? Does it get more visibility on Steam that way do you think?

Thank you for the kind words logophil!

I made the first DLC free because I already reached my main financial target and I wanted to give something back to the community without being greedy + this will solidify my branding (you can read oldblood post for a better understanding)

This looks really interesting and cool, great job!

Thank you, glad to hear this!




-------------------------------


Thank you guys for all the kind words and support!

Also I am sorry for the lack of activity here, I am burnedout

Here is some extra news:

I recently was contacted by other devs to make a steam bundle so I did one with Scrapnauts and one with Lumencraft, the one with Scrapnauts only lasted 2 weeks because I saw very little activity there but the one with Lumencraft is still going.
There were more requests from other people but I had to turn them down since many of them were too old games, had different target audiences and some had very few reviews that make the bundle not worth it.

and ...

FREEDOME!

Starting today I no longer have a day job, I am full-time indie dev 

I will probably take a vacation for 1 month then I will be back in the market, I still have a lot of decisions to make regarding my future if I should go into marketing or make another game + future support and DLCs for Chromosome evil and so on


I salute you 

[Alain]

Starting today I no longer have a day job, I am full-time indie dev 

I will probably take a vacation for 1 month then I will be back in the market, I still have a lot of decisions to make regarding my future if I should go into marketing or make another game + future support and DLCs for Chromosome evil and so on

That is amazing, congratulations! I know how hard you have been working and it is just wonderful you could take that step. Do definitely take that month off and recharge your batteries. I am really happy for you!

[oldblood]

Enjoy that time off and congrats on going full-time!

[Ramos]

That is amazing, congratulations! I know how hard you have been working and it is just wonderful you could take that step. Do definitely take that month off and recharge your batteries. I am really happy for you!

Thank you Alain!
I keep saying I will have my vacation but always something else turns up

Enjoy that time off and congrats on going full-time!

Thank you oldblood!
I hope I will have a vacation soon or I will go berserk



--------------------------------------

So today we released the second DLC.

It contains a map editor, players can now create maps, play them and share them with friends.


https://store.steampowered.com/app/2022480/Chromosome_evil__Map_Editor/