Definitely. For us IF authors, this is probably always the main danger of making something commercial. It affected Leadlight Gamma. You’ll see there’s only one review of it and tons for the original.
Like all of these sites, money propels visibility. But with this kind of IF, I think the sales numbers involved are too small for us to make any mechanically meaningful movement.
I’ve said this in other topics at times, but I find discoverability on itch has dropped to almost zero for niche genres in any practical sense. If I search with tags to try and isolate games like Hadean Lands and Leadlight, I’m still wading through pages of other material first, and then pages more (I’m talking 10+ pages) after Hadean Lands before I even see LLG. This is when I did everything but name my own game outright. And this is all because there are now more than 700k items on itch.
Steam has a mere 100kish items. So in one sense, your chance of being randomly discovered on Steam is at least seven times as good as on itch! Steam’s library will also continue to increase more slowy than itch’s because of those bars to entry.
On a positive note, I do always think ‘you’ve gotta be in it to win it’. Having anything you make and value presented well, available by conventional means. You never know what can happen. If you’re in the pool, something quite cool can happens about 2% of the time, and something extraordinary might happen about 0.02% of the time. (I invented these numbers based on personal experience modified by gut feeling.)
Well, this is very helpful. I do think it’s good that with your own game you’re following the advice everyone else has (building an audience, having a patreon, etc.) so if I wanted to make a commercial game from the ground up, your game is the pattern I’d follow; of course neither of us knows how it will do but I’m glad you’re not neglecting anything of importance (that I know of).
Edit: speaking of which, have you posted about your game on this thread yet? I was going to go look at it but scrolling up I don’t see it mentioned anywhere. I think it’s pertinent to the discussion, but if it’s part of your strategy not to post on here that makes sense. But if not, I’d love to see a link here for your upcoming game.
Yes, @dfabulich gave me the initial kick to do a lot more on my Kickstarter when I floated it initially, starting with practical recommendations, and I certainly did.
One little thing. I don’t have a Patreon @Afterward Ryan Veeder is the most successful user I’m aware of of that model for his IF (https://www.patreon.com/rcveeder). I would be very happy getting that bit of money each month, but I know Patreon wouldn’t work for me because you need to have a desire to keep outputting things, even small things, and/or regaling Patrons regularly. I don’t do either of those things because they would get in the way of what I am doing.
I guess I haven’t, have I? Between the linked post and the Kickstarter PDF, you have naked access to all I did for the Kickstarter.
In terms of what the game will be like, I really value surprises, and like @kamineko I am cautious talking about the meaning of my work, which again limits my output while I am making the game. But I think almost all my Kickstarter updates on the game (38 to date) are public, so you can look at those to see how it’s going – I’m up to chapter 8. I’m sure you’ll find your own name or games mentioned amongst the posts, too:
