5 ms·

I assume part of his problem is the Steam description - some of it reads like nonsense (the twist/USP makes no sense, “fervent goddess,” “20 levels of pure mish

I assume part of his problem is the Steam description - some of it reads like nonsense (the twist/USP makes no sense, “fervent goddess,” “20 levels of pure mishap”) and the rest is actually discouraging, describing it as “back-to-basics” (read: not many features) and literally has a section entitled “why you might not like this game”. Overall the concept is confusing. It’s a “coffee-break game” but also a really difficult roguelike with permadeath? Why? People don’t like to experience frustration in their coffee breaks, in my experience!

krapp 9y ago
Yes... the pitch seems confusing, and the game itself seems uninspired. I'd try a demo because this is the sort of thing I might like but I see nothing there worth paying for up front.
- oneeyedpigeon 9y ago
  The first thing that rang alarm bells, for me, reading through this article was: > I even released a small 5 level demo on itch (can't afford to pay steam's 100$ fee to get a free version up on the platform) How much larger is Steam's market than itch's? I'm guessing the answer is "very". How many conversions do they need for the $100 to pay off? 20-30? Seems like a no-brainer to me, and not even being able to afford $100 for what would almost certainly be positive ROI marketing is a pretty big blocker. Heck, I'd even front the $100 myself if I can get some kind of commission on copies sold :)
  - krapp 9y ago
    Also it seems he quit a job in gamedev to pursue this. He was already a professional in the industry, getting paid, and he was warned but jumped anyway. It's like he went out of his way to do everything exactly wrong, knowing the chances of failure were against him even if he did everything right.
  - albinofrenchy 9y ago
    I am moderately familiar with video games but have no idea what itch is. I have a largish steam library though. $100 dollars is nothing compared to dev costs. It should have been just counted as startup costs and the demo should have been up since day 1.
eps 9y ago
It's not even the description, it's the screenshots. They look like a half-baked demo of a Wolfenstein clone. There's no video of the gameplay either, so it'd be pretty damn hard to convince a random person to sink any time into this even if it were free. I bet he's losing 99% of the audience at the first image. http://store.steampowered.com/app/725040/Ebony_Spire_Heresy/ http://store.steampowered.com/app/725040/Ebony_Spire_Heresy/ EDIT - There's a video now, not sure why it wasn't showing up before. The first image was just of two stone walls around a flat looking inset door. It looked as unexciting as it gets.
danpalmer 9y ago
Even things like referring to the player as “him” – it seems small but it adds up and people notice it.

krapp 9y ago

Yes... the pitch seems confusing, and the game itself seems uninspired. I'd try a demo because this is the sort of thing I might like but I see nothing there worth paying for up front.

oneeyedpigeon 9y ago
The first thing that rang alarm bells, for me, reading through this article was: > I even released a small 5 level demo on itch (can't afford to pay steam's 100$ fee to get a free version up on the platform) How much larger is Steam's market than itch's? I'm guessing the answer is "very". How many conversions do they need for the $100 to pay off? 20-30? Seems like a no-brainer to me, and not even being able to afford $100 for what would almost certainly be positive ROI marketing is a pretty big blocker. Heck, I'd even front the $100 myself if I can get some kind of commission on copies sold :)
- krapp 9y ago
  Also it seems he quit a job in gamedev to pursue this. He was already a professional in the industry, getting paid, and he was warned but jumped anyway. It's like he went out of his way to do everything exactly wrong, knowing the chances of failure were against him even if he did everything right.
- albinofrenchy 9y ago
  I am moderately familiar with video games but have no idea what itch is. I have a largish steam library though. $100 dollars is nothing compared to dev costs. It should have been just counted as startup costs and the demo should have been up since day 1.

eps 9y ago

It's not even the description, it's the screenshots. They look like a half-baked demo of a Wolfenstein clone. There's no video of the gameplay either, so it'd be pretty damn hard to convince a random person to sink any time into this even if it were free. I bet he's losing 99% of the audience at the first image. http://store.steampowered.com/app/725040/Ebony_Spire_Heresy/ http://store.steampowered.com/app/725040/Ebony_Spire_Heresy/ EDIT - There's a video now, not sure why it wasn't showing up before. The first image was just of two stone walls around a flat looking inset door. It looked as unexciting as it gets.

danpalmer 9y ago

Even things like referring to the player as “him” – it seems small but it adds up and people notice it.