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Independent game developer and mum.

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Diving into the indie world I guess I knew that I don't know it all and that there will be a steep learning curve to follow. I think somewhere along the line I forgot that I'm still playing the tutorial, and that this is more Dark Souls than Pong. There may also have been some Kool Aid drinking along the way, giving something of a false sense of security.

First there was Glyph Quest

We knew that the gameplay for Glyph Quest was/is good. It's addictive, it's compelling and it's fun. And that wasn't just our opinion, it was the general consensus - from our friends and family testing the game to the press when we released and most importantly the gamers buying our game.

We really achieved more than we expected for just four months of development under some pretty difficult conditions. And we were by all accounts a success. Critically well received and made enough money for us to think we could keep doing this. So we did. People wanted more Glyph Quest and we wanted to make a better version of the game, so instead of making updates we decided to make the game we wanted to but had to cut back on. It was all a very good idea at the time.

Then there was Glyph Quest Asia

This is possibly where the Kool Aid drinking began. We started to believe in our own product, and that with a localized Asian version we could pull the same numbers there that we had worldwide. So we took our foot off the gas. Usually this is where people enjoy a well earned break, well we didn't do much in the way of game dev but we didn't exactly have a break. We spent quality time with our daughter and honestly I enjoyed every exhausting moment of it.

But Glyph Quest Asia didn't pull the same numbers as the rest of the world, and too late we realized that we were going to run out of time to finish our sequel.

Followed by Super Glyph Quest

Suddenly we were out of time. Developing with a small child demanding all of your time/attention is much, much harder than developing when you're big fat pregnant. Everything was taking longer. We wanted to release before the Hallowe'en/Thanksgiving/Xmas rush. We failed. And almost killed ourselves in doing so.

We've launched at a really busy time, not just in terms of apps being released and updated but in general in our industry. The new iPhone and iOS. All the controversy in the press. It's a nightmare time to try and be seen. Couple this with the devastating mistake of no in game screen shots on our app store description and no real feature and we are struggling.

We took a risky gamble and went on sale for Hallowe'en. In one respect this backfired horribly on us and the fans were angry for being loyal early adopters. In another respect it finally got us some much needed press coverage. After everything we tried, it required us to reach the bottom of the barrel before people took notice...

So What have we learned?

Take nothing for granted. Just because your first game was featured and covered well by the press will not guarantee the same for a sequel. Do not underestimate the differences between market places - and not just domestic and worldwide but between free and paid, Apple and Google. It is never too early to start marketing your game and it is crucial to build that dialogue. No matter what you do, you can not please everyone so either don't read the comments or understand that some people will always find issue with what you do.

The most important thing though? We have learned that we love doing this, working for ourselves making games we love and believe in. And that if we want to keep doing this we have to step up. It's time to leave the Asylum and venture forward to glory!

I blog therefore I am.

I blog therefore I am.

ikouyo Blog
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