Threads on NeoGaf and Resetera forums

jasonrohrer · 2018-06-16 16:00:30

Notice that I'm not linking to any threads in these forums... I wish I could.

Teleri · 2018-06-16 18:06:14

Why bring it up and not link?
We are all just going to google it ourselves now anyway.
Thanks for this awesome read!

jasonrohrer · 2018-06-16 18:42:01

Because no threads exist on NeoGaf or ResetEra....

Hint hint....

Uncle Gus · 2018-06-16 21:01:49

I don't even know what they are.

Valences42 · 2018-06-16 21:46:27

Are you wanting us to talk about/promote your game on these sites?

YAHG · 2018-06-17 02:18:52

It doesn't make any difference morally if you tell someone to do something vs. you hint-hint at people with the same intention.

If you think it is scummy/unethical to directly ask people to advertise on other sites hinting at it is the same.

Teleri · 2018-06-17 02:28:16

Oh, I thought the joke is those sites take dumps on games and stuff.
They have good reads lol
You could always set up your own as an alt account, right?

Edit:
But, now that you have me looking, I found some gems!

NEOgaf

RadioActiveLobster:
"Note to self, don't give Jason Rohrer any money.
Now instead of a possible purchase during a sale you now get a guaranteed no purchase."

Wickerbasket:
"If your game doesn't sell well until a sale then maybe it wasn't worth full price to begin with."

Archaix:
"None of his games have been a hit, and his last game was a direct order DS game where all the carts were shipped from his house."

Imperial Hot:
"It was cool and definitely art, but it wasn't a game.
It was a "hold the right button down" simulator."

Last edited by Teleri (2018-06-17 02:46:29)

Anshin · 2018-06-17 04:22:19

Wait, you have a DS game? Which one? I'll buy it!

FounderOne · 2018-06-17 12:32:47

What people write... I don't know the other games, but a game is also a form of art.
In Ohol I found a really awesome game, no other game before made so much fun.

Ohol is not for everyone, you need pacience to learn the game. And when you learned it you can see it shine.
Most people nowadays just play the
AAA games - repetitiv gameplay, just in another location - adjustable difficulty mode so everyone can feel like a Rambo to push the ego.
Ohol is just at the beginning, balancing is not easy, there is more time and more progress will be done untill it is in its final state.

LHO · 2018-06-17 13:10:16

Anshin wrote:

Wait, you have a DS game? Which one? I'll buy it!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Trust_of_London

jasonrohrer · 2018-06-18 17:05:35

Well, I'm not exactly telling you to post there.

However, some people here seem to like OHOL. People tend to post in these forums about games that they really like.

And there has never been an OT (original topic) thread on OHOL on either of these forums. And I'm assuming that there is some overlap---that someone active here also participates on NeoGaff or ResetEra.

I am forbidden from posting about my own game there, certainly.

There have been OT threads on Gaf about several of my previous games, and after the OT is posted, I was able to join in the discussion there, answer questions, etc. Good times.

I've had a really hard time getting coverage of any kind about OHOL, outside of YouTube and twitch.

Even though OHOL is by far my most popular game ever.

Times have really changed.

Turnipseed · 2018-06-18 19:16:30

Have sales dipped? Thats two topics that are quasi promotional recently. Thought about getting a banner ad somewhere?

Lum · 2018-06-18 19:17:05

We subconsciously don't want this little gem to be discovered.

Uncle Gus · 2018-06-18 20:55:43

There is some truth in that. When the game was booming, there was a huge influx of noobs and wankers. Noobs are okay, but it got tiring teaching everyone, and wankers are just wankers. The current player base is nice and comfy.

I'm not active on any kind of social media or forum apart from this forum and the discord for this game, so I can only preach to the choir. I might go and check out those other forum sites though, and see what they're about.

YAHG · 2018-06-18 21:43:06

I dislike social media. Mass communication isn't very fun. You get enough people talking and they kinda blur out and just act like patterns instead of human people, you spend enough time in it and you treat people like patterns and the patterns treat you the same.

Large sample sizes with limited repeatability of interactions between specific pairs tends towards poor behavior and devolution to getting juicy jabs at people and physical/moral preening.

jasonrohrer · 2018-06-18 21:54:48

Well, sales of any game generally follow a curve that looks like (1/t), where t is the time since the game was released.

So "dipped" isn't really a good way to describe it, but more like a gradual, slow decline.

I'm wearing every hat, so when sales decline to a low enough point, I start to think about how to promote the game again.

I'm concerned that the game isn't good enough yet, and that's the core problem. Really good games sell themselves.

But I'm also well aware that there has been almost no "official" or "usual" buzz about this game. Very few articles have been written about it. No thriving discussions about it anywhere.

YouTube has been above-and-beyond, but that's it.

Things have changed a lot over the years, of course, so it's hard to compare, but there was so much coverage of The Castle Doctrine and even an odd, fringe gambling game like Cordial Minuet, that it's hard not to be worried.

Turnipseed · 2018-06-18 23:13:40

I found the game on youtube. Have you tried sending free keys to more youtubers? Just in hopes they give it a plug.

jasonrohrer · 2018-06-18 23:39:52

Well, I've tried emailing a bunch of smaller youtubers, but never hear back from any of them.

MidgetMaker · 2018-06-18 23:45:41

Do you use reddit? That's where i heard about it. I've seen indie devs do AMA's on there to promote their games.

Uncle Gus · 2018-06-18 23:52:34

I found this game by quite the fluke. I was sort of in between games and looking for my next hit. I backed the System Shock remaster on kickstarter all those years ago, and there was that massive shitstorm about "oh no, we've run out of money and gone completely off the rails from the initial vision!" and I was looking for an update about that. I checked out Rock, Paper, Shotgun and was scrolling down through some articles and saw a screenshot of OHOL. I actually literally scrolled past it. Then scrolled back up and thought, "hmm, I might check it out." I went to Twitch to see if anyone was playing it. It was freaking launch day. How serrendipitous is that? I found one guy streaming it. I watched it. I decided right then that I would buy it and I've been in love with it ever since.

Sorry, a bit off topic but I've always wanted to share that story.

Turnipseed · 2018-06-18 23:58:51

Advertising is expensive.. theres a good reason for it too its not the easiest thing to do (especially in your situation where making the game is a full time job).

Word of mouth is a great option, but one that requires an exceptional amount of work on your part to make it so good people cannot contain their enthusiasm for the game.

I've really enjoyed the game, and i'll take the time to give it an honest plug it on those sites if you really want me too.

Uncle Gus · 2018-06-19 00:14:34

Well, after reading about NeoGaf on Wikipedia, I think I'll avoid anything to do with that steaming pile of shit, but I might sign up for ResetEra.

Valences42 · 2018-06-19 00:24:22

I found this game by watching a few videos by GrayStillPlays. He's an interesting smaller youtuber.

jasonrohrer · 2018-06-19 01:37:50

Well, the other thing is that most of those larger YouTubers have moved on and don't cover the game anymore. Not Gray or Drae or any of the others...

Actually had the lowest sales day in history today.... 25 units.

And this comes after two weeks of "major" updates that made people happy (farming and cooking).

The idea was always that this would be a long-haul game, with weekly updates making it better and better, and that it would eventually "take off" because it would get so good and big and exciting that no one would be able to ignore it.

Just keep my head down and keep making content, right?

So this has me now questioning a bunch of assumptions.

I feel like the game is good. For some people, it's a 500-hour game. There's a lot of depth and variety. It's unprecedented in a bunch of ways, and provides unique experiences that you can't get anywhere else.

It's also my biggest hit so far.... but just not a big enough hit given the time, energy, and effort that have I sunk into it and will continue to sink into it for the next few years.

Maybe it was a giant mistake to not launch on Steam after all....

Though given everything that has happened since launch, I can't imagine having done all of that on Steam. 3x the customers, maybe, but also 3x the heartache.

So the question now is what I should be working toward. Keeping my head down, churning out content, as the sales dwindle to 20/day and 10/day and eventually 5/day seems foolish, without any kind of plan.

So, should I be working toward a Steam release? And if so, how far in the future should that be, and when is the game "ready" for that? This has also been a very hard game to debug, given all of the moving parts, and difficulty of replicating behaviors. The "bouncing forever" bug has been public enemy #1 for over a month now with only tiny hints of progress toward finding it and isolating it.

I'm nervous about spending too much time chasing bugs, and not keeping up with the content stream, or even spending time preparing for Steam if it detracts from the size of the weekly updates.

But if sales dwindle to a low enough point, then weekly updates seem like the should make room for some other work, like preparing for Steam.

But also, maybe this has nothing to do with the size of the potential customer base, or exposure, and everything to do with the game just not being good enough yet.

Uncle Gus · 2018-06-19 01:57:06

I don't think more content is the answer. At least, not in a linear fashion of just chucking more stuff on the top of the tech tree. Your core experience thread has some good ideas, so I won't repeat what's been said there, but overall I think it needs a little more variety somehow.

One Hour One Life Forums

#1 2018-06-16 16:00:30

Threads on NeoGaf and Resetera forums

#2 2018-06-16 18:06:14

Re: Threads on NeoGaf and Resetera forums

#3 2018-06-16 18:42:01

Re: Threads on NeoGaf and Resetera forums

#4 2018-06-16 21:01:49

Re: Threads on NeoGaf and Resetera forums

#5 2018-06-16 21:46:27

Re: Threads on NeoGaf and Resetera forums

#6 2018-06-17 02:18:52

Re: Threads on NeoGaf and Resetera forums

#7 2018-06-17 02:28:16

Re: Threads on NeoGaf and Resetera forums

#8 2018-06-17 04:22:19

Re: Threads on NeoGaf and Resetera forums

#9 2018-06-17 12:32:47

Re: Threads on NeoGaf and Resetera forums

#10 2018-06-17 13:10:16

Re: Threads on NeoGaf and Resetera forums

#11 2018-06-18 17:05:35

Re: Threads on NeoGaf and Resetera forums

#12 2018-06-18 19:16:30

Re: Threads on NeoGaf and Resetera forums

#13 2018-06-18 19:17:05

Re: Threads on NeoGaf and Resetera forums

#14 2018-06-18 20:55:43

Re: Threads on NeoGaf and Resetera forums

#15 2018-06-18 21:43:06

Re: Threads on NeoGaf and Resetera forums

#16 2018-06-18 21:54:48

Re: Threads on NeoGaf and Resetera forums

#17 2018-06-18 23:13:40

Re: Threads on NeoGaf and Resetera forums

#18 2018-06-18 23:39:52

Re: Threads on NeoGaf and Resetera forums

#19 2018-06-18 23:45:41

Re: Threads on NeoGaf and Resetera forums

#20 2018-06-18 23:52:34

Re: Threads on NeoGaf and Resetera forums

#21 2018-06-18 23:58:51

Re: Threads on NeoGaf and Resetera forums

#22 2018-06-19 00:14:34

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#23 2018-06-19 00:24:22

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#24 2018-06-19 01:37:50

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#25 2018-06-19 01:57:06

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