The Case of the Golden Idol

How did we decide what prototype to make?

• We created visuals at first and then tried to figure out what kind of game could look like that.

• We brainstormed to find an interesting unsolved gamedesign problem.

• We chose our favorite genre and put a personal spin on it.

• We chose one indie top seller and figure out how to upgrade it.

Answer explanation

Would we do it again?

YES

How did we validate if our prototype was any good?

• We played it and tweaked internally until both of us had fun with it.

• We showed it to a lot of people and asked them if they enjoyed it.

• We showed it to people who enjoy puzzles and observed them.

• We sent it to publisher scouts to hear their professional feedback.

Answer explanation

Would we do it again?

YES

What important improvement we had to make to our demo after meeting a mentor?

• Add a super easy 5 minute intro scenario.

• Make it at least twice as long, so it there would be at least 2 hours of playtime.

• Showcase all the features of the game (we showed only 8 out of 10).

• Include as much as possible backstory, lore and impressive concept art.

Answer explanation

Would we do it again?

DEPENDS, BUT MOST LIKELY YES

The best way to attract audience to our Steam page turned out to be

• Share demo in Gamedeveloper discord and facebook communities

• Participate in various contests (e.g., Indiecup or Game Eurovision)

• Post in similar game subreddits

• Participate in Steam Next Fest

Answer explanation

Would we do it again?

MOST DEFINITELY

Which of these criteria was the most important for us when choosing a publisher?

• Successful game track record and limited yearly portfolio.

• The size of money they were ready to invest in the development of the project.

• Their focus on narrative games in terms of portfolio.

• The most favorable revenue share.

Answer explanation

Would we use the same criteria again?

YES

What really motivated our publisher Playstack to try out our game?

• A big streamer had picked up our demo version.

• We had prepared a very professional pitch deck with good financial estimates.

• Lucas Pope had made recommendation tweet about it.

• Our trailer really lured them in.

Answer explanation

Would we try to reach out to indie veterans and stars with a demo?

YES

Why did we have a very smooth development period?

• We aggressively overestimated our time requirements to have a big reserve.

• We had already built core gameplay, so estimating content production was easier.

• We had a super detailed gamedesign document which allowed us to estimate everything precicely.

• We did not have smooth development. Hello, this is gamedev after all!

Answer explanation

Would we do it again?

WOULD LOVE TO, IF POSSIBLE

After the launch the game gradually accrued huge critical success. Which of these do we think contributed the most?

• Our idea for game mechanics and the story was very original.

• People were influenced by journalists who loved the intellectual nature of the game.

• There was audience which craved such experience that we wanted to deliver.

• We spent around 30% of time playtesting and iterating on each scenario.

Answer explanation

Would we do it again?

DEPENDS ON THE GENRE AND FORMAT, BUT FUNDAMENTALLY, YES, 100%!