One Week After Demo Release: Impressions - Devlog #7

Current game word count: 25,807 (+ 2907 since last devlog)

Let me begin by saying this: Meanwhile in Riva is my first game, and the demo release last Sunday was my first upload. I don't have any prior network of contacts or hype to help the game's market visibility at all. What I've been doing so far is tweet every other day and talk to my fellow game developers on Discord. So all in all I was hoping for maybe, uh, 5 downloads? 

And don't worry, this isn't some smug way of leading you down a path that will result in some sudden out-of-nowhere success - the numbers I'm about to reveal are modest, but to me personally, they're huge.

Let's take a look!

In one week, the demo for Meanwhile in Riva has received:

- 200 views (which is four times more than my profile had in total up to the point of release)
- 37 downloads
- 4 ratings (all 5/5 - thank you so much!)
- 6 collection adds (which is three times the amount I had in total up to the point of release)
- 3 very positive reviews
- 14 new followers

For me, expecting 5 downloads at best, this has been such a great week. The only reason why I'm making this game is because I have a vision that I want to make real, and every creative decision I do comes from that place. In other words, I'm completely disregarding trends or other things that might influence my game's direction (although I of course take into consideration the feedback I get and make changes if it makes the game more polished and accessible from a technical point of view). 

This game is entirely a passion project. But, a passion project that I want to make as good as I possibly can. So the feedback I've gotten so far has been really helpful, and I'm looking forward to introducing new features in the next release, as well as of course continuing the story.

Please keep playing the game, and keep the feedback coming! :)

Going forward in terms of marketing

A Steam page is about to launch for the game, where I'll post the demo as well as the new trailer that launched earlier this week. I'm currently in a bit of a "research mode", trying to figure out the best course of action. There are so many great games out there, and I often feel like there's no chance anyone will find, or better yet like, mine. But this week proved me wrong, as a handful of people already loves the game, and that only fuels my ambition to keep it up! :) 

I hope you'll consider putting the game on your Steam wishlists once it launches!

In addition, there's a great way of thinking that I keep coming back to. I don't know the exact quote, or if it even is a quote, but it's something along the likes of: "Would you still do it even if nobody saw it?". For example, would I still keep working on this game even if no one ever played it? And the answer is, hell yes I would. So here we are. :) And I'm having more fun than I ever thought I would.

So once again, thank you so much for playing, and please, if you haven't... try the game! And share it with your friends! :)

Wishing you a Riva-tastic day!

/Tymedust