Indy Game Developer Mistakes
I Love Indy Developed Games
I know there is a lot of controversy here, however I think a lot of it is not necessary. Indy game developers bring a lot to the table. They have changed game development for the better, just look at some of the mods available for certain games, they can be bigger than the original game, or make a few minor changes that make you think… why didn’t the developers do this.
I Am No Expert
Just for the record, I am not a developer or an expert on indy games development. I am however very close to an expert on reviewing indy games and seeing them make the same mistakes time and time again. Having looked at 200-ish survival games in just the past 9 months alone, I can promise you there is a lot of improvement to be made here.
The List
I am going to do this in a list format so if the developers feel so inclined, they can print it off and use it for a check list. These are not in order or importance as missing any of them is a major mistake. I will explain my reasoning for each one in a separate section.
- You NEED at LEAST 10 photos for your steam profile slideshow AND they MUST include enemies.
- You NEED a trailer on YouTube
- Place your game on steam more then a few months (3-ish) before it can be released is NOT going to help you.
- You NEED a discord. This is not optional
- Once your game is listed on steam you NEED to give quarterly updates ON STEAM.
- Your Steam game tags NEED to be accurate.
- Your game NEEDS to have invert Y
- Your game NEEDS to have map-able keyboard controls
- Your game NEEDS to have separate sliders for music and game sounds
- Your game NEEDS to be beta tested or at least a Demo – BEFORE you go live on steam with a reviewable title.
- Your game NEEDS to have actual content for people to play.
- After reading your steam description I should understand what this game will be.
- STOP working on multiple games at the same time.
- Indy developers are not getting support due to many issues noted above.
Why do Indy Developers need to do these things?
1. You need at LEAST 10 photos for your steam profile slideshow AND they MUST include enemies. Why? Because this is pure laziness and lack of respect for your future community. I have reviewed many games where I cannot even find 3 interesting pictures to use for YOUR game on my website. How do you expect to garner interest for your game? If you cannot post a picture of enemies than your game is not yet ready for steam.
2. You need a trailer on YouTube. Why? Because people want to see a game-play trailer, when I see no trailer, I think the developer is lazy and again does not care about his community. If you think your game is worth putting on steam, then you can record 10 minutes of random game-play and piece it together, no one is expecting cinematic genius here, they just want to see the game in action.
3. Place your game on steam to early. Why? I literally have games on my steam wish list Today that have been on their since 2020. STILL. This does not get people interested in your game, it gets them interested in your game in 2020, and gets your game forgotten about in 2024. You are not a big game developer that is pumping out new footage on X once a week to maintain the hype. Wait until you are ready.
4. You need a discord. Why? Because any game developer that is not willing to have a discord has NO respect for his community. You want people to buy your half made game, but don’t care what they have to say about it, then you don’t care about your own games improvement. I am not saying you have to live on discord, But you need to interact with the community at least weekly, daily is far better. Set yourself a time, everyday at X I will get on discord for 15 minutes and answer questions.
5. Once your game is listed on Steam you need to give quarterly updates. Why? Because you respect your community enough to let them know what they heck is going on. They gave you money for a half baked game, they are hoping will be done before they retire, YOU OWE it to them. If you do not have a few hours a quarter to let your people who are supporting you, know what is going on then you are not ready to release your game on Steam. AND NO we are not going to discord to see what you are doing with a game, this is pure laziness on your part. YOU asked for money, give them an update on the same platform you collected it on.
6. Your Steam game tags need to be accurate. Why? Because people want to know what they are actually buying, because it can destroy your reputation, throwing false tags will not net you more sales, it will net you more refunded and poor review scores. Not Dying Does Not A Survival Game Make.
7. Your game needs to have invert Y. Why? Because this is standard for Americans playing games. We expect every game to have invert Y. Don’t believe me, take a look at a few games Steam reviews with invert Y missing and you will see they get hammered with negative reviews.
8. Your game needs to have map-able keyboard controls. Why? Because everyone uses their keyboard differently, what about left handed people you think they want to use WASD to move around your game?
9. Your game needs separate sliders for music and sound. Why? Because your music is not as great as you think it is and I don’t want to listen to it. Because even though your music is fantastic, I am streaming your game and my viewers don’t want to listen to it.
10. Your game needs to be beta tested. Why? You need to be giving your game out to at the very least a handful of people who are willing to beat the heck out of it and tell you everything they hate and love about the game. When developers are unwilling to do this, it takes place anyway, but instead of in a constructive place like discord where you can do something about it, it will take place on your steam reviews where you will be penalized for a very long time, possibly forever. When you only receive positive feedback, find more people who will be honest. I have yet to play an early access game where I couldn’t easily find things wrong, and I have played dozens.
11. Your game needs to have actual content for people to play. IF you are do step 10 this will take care of itself. I have paid and played “early access” games that literally had nothing but a couple boxes and trees. You know what happened, YES negative review on Steam.
12. After reading your Steam description I should understand what this game will be. Why? Really? I am consistently surprised by the half baked information available on a game, You want me to get excited to play a game that has been on my wish list for 2 years and after I read your game-play elements, I don’t even know if I will be fighting, aliens, zombies, or animals.
13. Stop working on multiple titles at the same time. Why? Because we want a finished game. It is not really that much to ask, but when we buy a game early to help with development we want it finished. When you break out a second game or are working on 2 at the same time, it is VERY VERY hard to take you seriously as a developer that is interested in providing something finished to the community. I have 52 games currently in my library that are in early access, many have been in early access for years, and very very few of them have developers working on multiple games at the same time. My point, is YOU DON’T HAVE TIME TO WORK ON MULTIPLE UNFINISHED GAMES.
14. Indy Developers are finding it harder and harder to get support. Why because of many of the things I have explained in detail. ALL of these things are seen as poor development, laziness, money grabbing tactics, and even if you are an honest Indy developer, you are still being punished from other developers who do these things.