icemann on 19/1/2019 at 03:36
And RPS loved the game, by the look of it. Good work :).
henke on 19/1/2019 at 18:03
Seeing how poorly the RPS team was playing gave me a strange urge to buy this just so I could play it PROPERLY. Went ahead and picked it up and ended up spending an hour and half with it on my first go, it really sucked me in. Managed to do the first 5-6 levels with only a single enemy slipping through on most of them, and a couple I did perfectly. It was first when the armored skeletons showed up and fucking
breezed through my entire death-maze that I had to switch up my tactics and invest in some wall-maces.
Inline Image:
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/954102094045763038/6854962A235FC857E0087F8040E13746DF22D0D2/?imw=1024&imh=576&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=truesmallfry, you done good! :thumb: This is a joy to play and the only possible improvement I can think of is that you should make the mouse-cursor more in the pixel art style as well.
edit: Made it to Act 2!
icemann on 20/1/2019 at 03:41
Half tempted to get this game myself, as I'm a sucker for these types of tower defense games. The wife loves them too. She's always playing Cursed Treasure, Kingdom Rush and Plants vs Zombies 1 (and never the sequel).
The price point, makes me re-think what I've been charging for my games. Must go higher next time.
PigLick on 20/1/2019 at 07:09
tbh I think the price point is too high
henke on 20/1/2019 at 08:12
Quote Posted by icemann
The price point, makes me re-think what I've been charging for my games. Must go higher next time.
Indeed. Sales and bundles have devalued games to the point where it's difficult for an indie dev to actually make a living off games. Here's a really good video about it:
[video=youtube;WycVOCbeKqQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WycVOCbeKqQ[/video]
Some pretty startling numbers. 850 games released on Steam in February 2018. 82% of those did not even make minimum wage, for a single person.
PigLick on 20/1/2019 at 09:07
thats interesting, but not unusual in creative fields. For example there is no way I could make a living purely out of playing music live.
henke on 20/1/2019 at 12:04
Back to Rats Bats N Bones, I'm 4 hours in. Was getting perfect scores on the first 3 levels of act 2, but the Mines and Inn levels are kicking my ass.
edit: Yeah no Mines and Inn are freakin impossible. I've gone back and started grinding the earlier levels on Hard to get more silver instead.
icemann on 20/1/2019 at 14:32
Quote Posted by PigLick
tbh I think the price point is too high
TBH, that was my initial reaction as well. I'd always thought solo indie dev games, especially those of the 2D 8-bit style kind would be generally around $5 - $10 range. But people are paying, and really enjoying the game, so in the end it's up to the dev to decide.
With Bipolar and CrossTrix, I went in with the thinking of "low price point = far greater sales potential", but then that's not been the case. Well Bipolar did alright, though Steam used to put newly released games on the front page (as I saw done for Bipolar), but not with CrossTrix. So I'm thinking that, with the removal of the Greenlight Program that that was a change as well. Far easier to be lost in the sea of games now. FAR more important to really advertise advertise and then advertise some more + hope for good word of mouth on your game.
Quote Posted by PigLick
thats interesting, but not unusual in creative fields. For example there is no way I could make a living purely out of playing music live.
To give a comparison, I make wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy more money out of my Ebay side business than I ever have from games dev (and even that amount isn't enough to live off, though with continued investment it may be someday). Though I do games dev more as making games is something I'd always wanted to be able to do. So even if the sales aren't good, that wont deter me from making the next one and so on. Plus it got me my job teaching at university, so if you factor that then sure it's made me quite a bit of money. Just not directly.
[edit]
That video was really interesting. So by pricing a game at a low range, your far more likely to not be noticed. Interesting. And the logic of, well if my games at a higher price point, then when I discount it, it's a bigger deal, is definitely a sound one. Might up the price of my games. Underselling myself otherwise.
henke on 21/1/2019 at 16:13
Smallfry put the AMAZING SOUNDTRACK on Spotify or Soundcloud or at least Steam's internal musicplayerthing PLZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Also how about displaying the level's enemy-types on the weapon-selection screen? I always forget what enemies are in a level by the time I have to pick out appropriate weapons. :|
smallfry on 21/1/2019 at 18:10
Thanks for playing and giving feedback, henke! I couldn't believe how bad the RPS folks were at playing but they at least had some fun.
About the pricing: I struggled with this for a long time. In a perfect world I would just give it away for free. With what I've earned so far, it's as if I have been working for about 80 cents an hour. If I was selling the game for $5 or $10, would that change much? I just don't know. But hey, why not put it on your wishlist and wait for the next Steam sale?? :)