u/GlidingKnight

Hello r/gamedev,

I've put myself into a difficult situation where there aren't any good answers. I'm not happy about having to come to reddit looking for advice on this, but I could really use some feedback from people with a different perspective than my own.

I've been working on a game as a full-time solo developer for over 2 years now, and the harsh reality of the situation is that it's just not picking up traction. I was hoping the Steam deckbuilders fest could provide an opportunity to change things, so I prepared a new trailer, 4 new shorts, and a promotional blitz on reddit. The end result: basically nothing. The game picked up ~20 wishlists. It now sits close to 350 wishlists. The game is probably ~2 months from completion, but if I were to release the game as is it probably wouldn't even hit the 10 review threshold for a visibility boost, and just disappear into the void of the Steam catalog.

At this point I don't think there's anything I can do to meaningfully increase that wishlist count before release. I've already contacted ~100 content creators asking them to give the game a try, including all the big ones that could meaningfully impact the wishlist numbers. But nobody with a following large enough to make a difference has played. I've had no luck convincing channels like IGN to host the trailer. And I've already participated in next fest, so that lifeline is gone too.

For most developers, I think the way forward would be obvious: Release the game and even if it doesn't do well, so what? It's still a major accomplishment.

But my situation is a little more complicated for 2 reasons. First, I will be moving to a new state soon. This means in order to ship the game, I will have to move the business. Given the game's low wishlist count, moving the business will likely cost more than the game will make in sales.

Second, although I'm currently promoting the games as a PvE roguelike deckbuilder, the backend of the game also fully supports PvP multiplayer. At this point I don't think it's likely I will ever have a playerbase large enough to support multiplayer, so I've removed mentions of it from the game's marketing material. But I do find myself attached to this feature. It's perhaps the main reason I wanted to make this game in the first place, and a considerable amount of effort has gone into its development. Shipping the game as is would mean permanently acknowledging the loss of this PvP feature.

I've considered reaching out to publishers, given the potential to monetize the PvP component of this game as a GaaS. But I'm not sure how much sense it makes to do that for a game that I could ship myself within a few months without financial backing.

The way I see it, I have 3 options.

1. Cancel the game and move on with my life

2. Seek out a publisher

3. Publish the game myself with no multiplayer, and hope a content creator picks it up on release so I can at least recoup the startup expenses.

So all that said, what would you do in my situation?

Sincerely,

Just another overambitious solo dev

For context, this is the game I'm working on:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3432200/Top_Check/

I love stuff like this. What other cool actions and abilities can you think of?

The game is Top Check and it's on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3432200/Top_Check/

The demo is available now on Steam.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3531910/Top_Check_Demo/

The game just got a big update for Steam's Deckbuilders Fest. It now features fully colored card art and a smoother difficulty curve, and as the dev I'm psyched to show off the game's progress. But there's always room for improvement, so any feedback would be greatly appreciated!