As the title suggests we will be lining ourselves up for a steam release hopefully in time for release. So, in this micro blog I’m going to rough out the costs and expected profits for the title. Our method for advertisement will mostly be Twitter, Instagram, and the website. I’m trying to push more content onto Reddit and double down on the blog which is why I’ll be making a dev blog for game specific content. I really do enjoy writing in some fashion and in the last two weeks I’ve written, just in blogs, over 3000 words. Coding wise I’ve probably written over 4000 as well.
So, as it stands, we will need some splash page art, some in game shots, and I’d really like to do another video and edit it accordingly to show the new changes. Obviously, the demo is not the final product and we gained valuable feedback from it, which is paving the way for the changes to come. I still have to add shaders and particles to objects to get the feel I want and add in a simple AI. Then do it again with another two levels, which shouldn’t be too hard either. Given that Steam requires 14 days minimum before you can release, that means we have two weeks from today to finish and release if we want to get into the steam catalog for Christmas. Another two-week schedule, oh bother.
It’s been fun to watch the Twitter episode as it slowly implodes. Tons of users posting their Hive and Mastodon accounts in case the company flounders and they lose all their followers. Only for Twitter to continue day after day with little change. I’m fine with just one and if Twitter does implode then I’ll find an alternative and start again. I’m getting good at getting followers. In roughly a week we came close to 50 followers, and in a single day we climbed to 200, and now we’re hovering around there. The people who follow then unfollow (I’m guilty of it at first) continue to amuse me, simply because they actually track that stuff religiously and unfollow anyone who unfollows them. I guess it goes the same way with most follow4follow accounts. I just like to return the follow count since it helps drive growth on both sides. I was going to aim for 1000 followers by Christmas but with the threat of collapse I don’t think I could make it unless I resort to mass following the entire twitter verse, however I’d rather it happen organically.
Recently I’ve been poking around in the back end of the website and decided we should put the demo on our page. I’m also building a forum page, getting ready to allow members to sign up for email campaigns, and eventually set up a page for merchandise. With winter coming there’s a possibility of merchandise coming through the pipeline. I’d like to have something to give to Patreon members: shirts, hoodies, some 3D models of our characters like one of the blobs from Monster Factory eating a car or building. I could easily get my hands a 3D printer for that, or know someone who does. Secondly there is a new item floating around called the Cricut, which is a personalized merch maker. There’s a number of devices but the one I’m interested in would be for clothing and maybe hats. They also have a cup decal printer, some other random bits, and bobs, and maybe even stickers. I’ll have to wait until after Christmas to decide that.
Our Patreon page has been online for a few weeks with little to no attention paid. Fiverr seems to be in the same boat, where I guess I don’t have enough to offer anyone interested. I’ll have to revisit that after Christmas as well. Being a broke game developer is not ideal right before Christmas, nor at any time I suppose. If you could donate anything to the cause please find a link on our home page to both Patreon and PayPal. If that’s not possible be sure to follow us on social media as we rely on your support to keep going! As mentioned, we will have merch soon, and a few offerings for our game in the near future.
Post Script
If you have any issues, questions, or comments about this post please let me know, you can reach me at mitchell@slothfulmedia.com and I'd be happy to engage in a conversation with you about any of the above. Your time is appreciated!
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