I released my first commercial game last week. In this blog I would like to share my thoughts regarding the release and how I felt afterward, going over both the positives and negatives.

What my game is about:

My game is called “Trials of Proelium”, a big open-world RPG developed by me with help of other people. It took me a year to develop it. I'm still in college with student loans and thus had all-time in the world for the project.
I had never used the engine of choice before, so going for such a big solo project was a big challenge both in terms of getting it done, but also things such as bug fixing, beta testing it, etc as well.

Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1749020/Trials_of_Proelium/

What has happened after release:

Releasing it has been exciting. It's like the first step towards my dream of being an independent game developer. Seeing that first review roll in, constructive criticism, and people joining my discord server just to let me know they like the game so far has been so awesome. I made new friends as well. Like, one of the voice actresses for the game is now my bestie :3.
But while it has been great in many ways, it has also been stressful as well.

I have checked sale stats and the store page oh so often, to the point where it's almost stressing me out. This has been a problem for me back in the day when I made mods, too. I get so curious to see what people think I end up refreshing the page at least once an hour. I think it's very important to realize that, while checking feedback and such is important, it's equally important to take breaks from it and focus on other things in your life, and that's definitely something I need to work on.

On top of that, my email has literally been bombarded with requests from “influencers” (I hate that word) asking me for anywhere from 2-10 keys for my game. At first, I thought it would be helpful and decided to try to send a few keys via Steam curator connect, but have since then realized that these influencers don't care, at all. It's all scripted emails they rarely respond to, not to mention how most of them are nowhere near qualified to offer me decent “exposure”, with very small followings and inactivity. Some twitch streamers even sent me requests claiming to stream weekly, but when actually checking out their channels, they haven't streamed or uploaded anything in years. Yes, years. Probably hoping I'm naive enough to just send them keys without doing research first.

They rarely respond as I mentioned, even if I actually show interest, ironically. One youtube with an actual large following of 2 million subs requested a key. Unlike most other so-called influencers, this one might actually be helpful, I thought. So, I asked this youtube if they are okay playing my game since it's English only (their entire channel and games they play were Japanese only) and also if they have a curator page, since sending a key directly via steam curator connect is a lot easier and faster. They never responded.

A single copy sold is worth more than any exposure. I can buy food for a day with a single sold copy. I can't buy anything with exposure. That, and these people are not required to actually review or stream the game either. I did send a few keys and none of them have, so far anyway, been bothered to do anything in return. Showing off my progress at various forums and writing blogs at places such as this has given me way more exposure than these people probably ever could, at least the small influencers, and my surprisingly alright sale and wishlist increase is evidence of that (surprisingly high compared to what I expected to get that is).

The last thing I want to mention is the empty hole during my evenings. I want to write a new story and a new concept as soon as possible because as of now, I have a couple of hours or so every day left at my disposal with nothing to do. Time I used to dedicate to my game I no longer need to work on. I miss working on projects already. I want to keep going. Keep improving and keep making fun content, both for myself and hopefully for others as well.