Alora Fane

I've been looking into setting up a Discord server, and dusting off my old Patreon account, finally, in preparation for MARDEK's Steam release tomorrow!

I feel... reluctant about Discord, to put it mildly. I watched a video about how to set up a server, my response to which was "blech" because I felt like it's meant for the sorts of people I'm not (social gamers), and because I was reminded of all the community drama from the Fig Hunter days that I've absolutely no desire to repeat... It's exhausting enough actually building games; I don't want to have to deal with random troll tantrums all the time.

Perhaps things are different from the Flash days though. Maybe now that my games aren't free for whichever of the unwashed masses dimly stumble into them, now that there's a bit of a barrier to entry, it might put some of the worst ones off. I can but hope.

I've set up the server, but that's all. If any of you from here who have commented enough for me to recognise you are interested in being among the first to test it out, let me know somehow, like in an email or something. I can't promise I'll say yes to all of you right away since this is a stupid time to be doing this with MARDEK's release coming tomorrow (I've been procrastinating, like with an assignment that has a due date), but we'll need to start somewhere!

I've also revisited ∞ my Patreon page ∞, which I've talked about doing for ages but which I've not actually, you know, done. I didn't even look at it, because I was so worried I'd disappointed people by not working on Taming Dreams (which is what it was set up for) that it'd be full of angry comments about how deceptive or useless I was, and... well, things like that are tough to face. Someone a while back talked of 'toxic comments' being on there, which reinforced the fear.

I don't know what they were talking about though (maybe I misinterpreted), because I didn't see anything bad on the page at all! A huge relief. I was very surprised to see that 24 wonderful people were supporting me on there - for a total of $101 per month - despite essentially hiding the page away out of shame for years. I greatly appreciate that!!
The description was set up around Taming Dreams, though, and the tiers were only applicable to the Alora Fane community site I ran years ago. I've changed both the description and the tiers, though I still consider it a work in progress (I also need to make a proper banner image thing...), and I'm very open to suggestions. I know we've talked about this a few times now, just days ago, but it all felt abstract then, whereas now I've actually made at least some decisions about tier rewards so it's easier to edit that than come up with everything afresh. I should look over old comments to remind myself of what people said.

Usefully, when editing a tier, Patreon offers a list of standard reward types which creators typically offer, so narrowing the potential choices like that has been useful. I'm not sure what to do about the $6 tier though; currently it's set to just having your name included in my games' credits, but game releases are such an infrequent thing that it doesn't feel like a worthy perk to me.

One option is to limit Discord only to people who support this tier or greater. This would definitely assuage my biggest fears about running a community again, and I'd actually like being able to talk with a small group of deeply interested people like I do with comments on this blog... But I also feel that a more open Discord community might be necessary for the kind of growth I'd (annoyingly) need to make it as an indie dev in the long term.

So I don't know, there are still decisions to be made. But at least I'm doing something, after avoiding these things for so long! Obviously it's going to be a slow process, rather than doing everything at once. I suppose having the MARDEK release deadline helped though.

I still haven't posted on Reddit (due to procrastination more than fear), but I'll try to do that tomorrow, once MARDEK's actually buyable. I'll also upload the trailer to YouTube, where it might get a few hundred views and maybe a couple of conversions if I'm lucky.

The current wishlist count is 490. And I'm anxious. I want MARDEK to have life beyond Flash, though I also enjoy just creating in my little bubble, and I'm worried that bubble might burst and let all kinds of distractions in. Perhaps not; perhaps I'll just be 'disappointed' by how flaccid the response to MARDEK will be, and next week it'll just be back to the usual.

Will it beat Sindrel Song's whopping... 117 sales, at least?!? Who knows!!

I'll release MARDEK shortly after I wake up tomorrow, so it'll be around 8-9am GMT, which might be the early hours of the morning in the USA, maybe? Something like that! Timezones!

I also want to reply to some of the comments on the Divine Dreams post(s), though all this other stuff has got in the way. I'll likely also start a new game of MARDEK myself tomorrow, and I'll hope none of us experience any issues!

27 COMMENTS

Maniafig222~4Y

I'll probably send you a mail soonish about the server, I'd be curious to try it out.

One thing I'll say in advance is to disallow the /tts command and tags such as @everyone and @here. The former makes messages spoken out loud with a text-to-speech voice and the latter two send pinks to everybody in the server, both rather annoying!

I've been in two Discord servers related to games I've played, though one is much more of a general social server with lots of talk about politics and people sharing art and talking about other games they're playing and whatnot. It's a nice server and I do enjoy being in it! Apparently it has like hundreds of people in it, but like most are lurkers and much less regulars, similar to FH indeed.

There was also another server that was just a dedicated gaming server, much smaller in scope. It was for the game Dicey Dungeons.

I remember how initially the server didn't have any rules other than "be nice". That didn't really last very long when you got people disagreeing over what being nice is. Several heated arguments about the proper pronouns to use for the Jester Dice followed, and suddenly there needed to be more rules and whatnot. (For the record they are totally a they [LINK] )

I left not that long after, also in part because all the game discussion was very crunchy and I kinda just got tired of it eventually. I didn't really like the overall server atmosphere anyway. It's important to cultivate the right mood from the start, though I guess you've got the sorts of people you want in the server here in your comments section. And me, too!!

Discord might also be a good place for people to beta test your game, you could have like a beta tester role and a beta testing room. It'd allow the same sort of stream of consciousness, type thoughts as they occur style of feedback we used to do back when testing Miasmon and Taming Dreams.

Some of the people I know who are planning to buy MARDEK don't have it wishlisted! And 490 is still quite good, much more than the many stillborn games that never even get enough reviews to ever get off the ground. I should make sure to write a review too, tomorrow.

I'll probably send you a mail soonish about the server, I'd be curious to try it out.

One thing I'll say in advance is to disallow the /tts command and tags such as @everyone and @here. The former makes messages spoken out loud with a text-to-speech voice and the latter two send pinks to everybody in the server, both rather annoying!

I've been in two Discord servers related to games I've played, though one is much more of a general social server with lots of talk about politics and people sharing art and talking about other games they're playing and whatnot. It's a nice server and I do enjoy being in it! Apparently it has like hundreds of people in it, but like most are lurkers and much less regulars, similar to FH indeed.

There was also another server that was just a dedicated gaming server, much smaller in scope. It was for the game Dicey Dungeons.

I remember how initially the server didn't have any rules other than "be nice". That didn't really last very long when you got people disagreeing over what being nice is. Several heated arguments about the proper pronouns to use for the Jester Dice followed, and suddenly there needed to be more rules and whatnot. (For the record they are totally a they https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/diceydungeons/images/2/2b/Jester_select.png/revision/latest?cb=20200121035952 )

I left not that long after, also in part because all the game discussion was very crunchy and I kinda just got tired of it eventually. I didn't really like the overall server atmosphere anyway. It's important to cultivate the right mood from the start, though I guess you've got the sorts of people you want in the server here in your comments section. And me, too!!

Discord might also be a good place for people to beta test your game, you could have like a beta tester role and a beta testing room. It'd allow the same sort of stream of consciousness, type thoughts as they occur style of feedback we used to do back when testing Miasmon and Taming Dreams.

Some of the people I know who are planning to buy MARDEK don't have it wishlisted! And 490 is still quite good, much more than the many stillborn games that never even get enough reviews to ever get off the ground. I should make sure to write a review too, tomorrow.

Tobias 1115~4Y

I've replied to your email and sent you a link... hopefully nothing will go wrong. I feel so reluctant about having another community, but I suppose it's better to give it a try than to wonder, and I don't want to miss the opportunity that is MARDEK's Steam release...

I watched a video to do some of that basic configuration stuff, but hopefully I didn't miss anything obvious! It's annoying how having a bunch of rooms seems to be the norm and they all have a bunch of permissions you have to set up...

I was hoping I wouldn't have to go too much into detail about rules, but I remember from Fig Hunter how what seems obvious can be subjective and contested... I suppose we'll have to come up with some rules collectively.

Establishing the right kind of social environment is important, and I hope I can do it right this time... though it's also worrying to think that if I don't, it can't be undone and restarted??

purplerabbits148~4Y

For discord, I think a small private group is a good way of setting up the tone of the server. So that way once you find someone to be a good mod, you don't have to engage unless there's something major going down that the mod needs your input on. But other than that, you'd be able to engae on your own terms. And at that point, the server kinda runs itself.

I've seen it with the EBF guy where he only shows up on ocassion, but most issues are dealt with by the mods and Head mod.

On the Rusty Lake server, the people there are kinda self policing with normal people just informing others to move to the right rooms for specific things. (it is quite the thing to see that some people are that blind to miss 500 messages about the same thing about moving to the specific HELP AND WALKTHROUGH channel)

If there's any advice I can give, make sure to never give the mod status to people who ask straight up, that is gamble with astonomical odds in favor that the person will go mad with power in a future date.

Seeing how nervous you seem about the discord, normally most games have a discord link right on the game, but since yours is behind a paywall, that'll greatly decrease the amount of people, both nice and trolls. However most trolls I know are pretty broke so. I doubt you'd have many from the fig hunter days. and those trolls sound like prebubecent kids honestly, so I doubt they'd be able to pay for anything.

I've seen it with the EBF guy where he only shows up on ocassion, but most issues are dealt with by the mods and Head mod.

On the Rusty Lake server, the people there are kinda self policing with  normal people just informing others to move to the right rooms for specific things. (it is quite the thing to see that some people are that blind to miss 500 messages about the same thing about moving to the specific HELP AND WALKTHROUGH channel)

If there's any advice I can give, make sure to never give the mod status to people who ask straight up, that is gamble with astonomical odds in favor that the person will go mad with power in a future date.

Seeing how nervous you seem about the discord, normally most games have a discord link right on the game, but since yours is behind a paywall, that'll greatly decrease the amount of people, both nice and trolls. However most trolls I know are pretty broke so. I doubt you'd have many from the fig hunter days. and those trolls sound like prebubecent kids honestly, so I doubt they'd be able to pay for anything.

Tobias 1115~4Y

Interesting that Matt Roszak only shows up in his occasionally. I remember someone (maybe you, I forget!) linked to a post of his a while back, where he talked about the stresses of running a community. Maybe keeping distant is the best way to do it. I don't know if it's in my nature though... We'll see.

I feel reluctant to make even people I've known for years into mods, so I definitely won't be doing that for some stranger! Choosing people is going to be the hardest part, I think...

Alban12320~4Y

Tobias! I think it's amazing that you are updating your Patreon, can't wait to see your beautiful work.

I have a suggestion though, for your Patreon page, i think if you put content like for ex: showing people steps of how to make a game with Unity, or Blender or how to make rpg characters you know you can just record yourself when you model or something, i've seen that people love that and seeing that people love your games i'm sure they'd love to learn from you how to make 3D rpg games.

I've seen many people gain money just by telling people what they know, so what is unique about you? Is the way you make your games, and that's something only you can do, but what if you decide to use your knowledge for teaching people how to make 3D JRPG games like DD, i'm sure your Patreon page will be blown by supporters by donating to you monthly because they will not only enjoy your content but they will also be learning from you.

Tobias 1115~4Y

I noticed when researching other indie developers that a few of them had made tutorials, probably thinking something like this. But they received little to no attention for it. YouTube is full of better tutorials, and they take a lot of time to make and require talking into a microphone; I have neither a microphone or the time (or interest, honestly) to devote to such things.

Thanks for the suggestion, though, and I'm glad you feel my skills have that kind of value!

SilverShoelaces1~4Y

Wow! I've been out of touch for a while (just barely keeping up on Twitter), and a lot has gone on. MARDEK is coming out on Steam? (I just added it to my wishlist.) Your blog is different, and uses an AF login instead of Disqus. And AF is different, too! I seem to have lost my old account; I assume the entirety of the old site has been wiped?

I hadn't looked at your Patreon since I became a patron except for one time--when my credit card had to be replaced--but it's nice to see there are people other than me supporting you! Since your online community seems to be gone, as far as I can tell, I haven't been participatory or even paying attention anymore, but I certainly would look forward to joining a Discord you run.

I feel bad about dropping out of Sindrel Song testing so early on before its release; my computer (an eight year old laptop with no graphics card!) stopped working correctly, and was no longer able to run it. And by the time I figured out what was wrong and fixed it, the game was already out! I enjoyed what little I was able to play in beta enough that I bought the game, but I haven't touched it since, which is unfortunate.

Will MARDEK have a "buy 3 get 1" deal available? I've seen deals like that on some games that include multiplayer, and though this one doesn't, MARDEK is, I think, the type of game that might achieve the most popularity through word of mouth. Allowing people to get a discount in exchange for buying multiple copies (one of which must stay on their own account) could be a good way to gain visibility.

I hadn't looked at your Patreon since I became a patron except for one time--when my credit card had to be replaced--but it's nice to see there are people other than me supporting you!  Since your online community seems to be gone, as far as I can tell, I haven't been participatory or even paying attention anymore, but I certainly would look forward to joining a Discord you run.

I feel bad about dropping out of Sindrel Song testing so early on before its release; my computer (an eight year old laptop with no graphics card!) stopped working correctly, and was no longer able to run it.  And by the time I figured out what was wrong and fixed it, the game was already out!  I enjoyed what little I was able to play in beta enough that I bought the game, but I haven't touched it since, which is unfortunate.

Will MARDEK have a "buy 3 get 1" deal available?  I've seen deals like that on some games that include multiplayer, and though this one doesn't, MARDEK is, I think, the type of game that might achieve the most popularity through word of mouth.  Allowing people to get a discount in exchange for buying multiple copies (one of which must stay on their own account) could be a good way to gain visibility.

Tobias 1115~4Y

Welcome back! It must have been a while if the site's changed so much since your last visit! The old Alora Fane site is indeed gone; this is a fresh start.

Thanks for being one of the few who support me, I greatly appreciate it! Especially if you kept it up even through all the dark patches.

What do you mean by "buy 3 get 1"? Is that a typo, or like "get an extra thing if you get 3 others"? (Because '1 for the price of 3' doesn't sound like a great deal!) I've set up a 'Bundle' which is both MARDEK + OST & Extras with a discount for buying both together (I'll need to be sure to enable that before I press the Release button...), but that's only two things? I wouldn't want to bundle it with Sindrel Song though since I feel they're too dissimilar.

MontyCallay101~4Y

Some multiplayer games on Steam have options to buy "4-packs" where you get a discount and get 3 extra copies of the game to gift to your friends. Take this one for example: [LINK]
Usually that makes sense for games that you can then play with your friends, though having extra copies of MARDEK to give away could be fun too!

Tobias 1115~4Y

Interesting; I've never seen that before! I don't even know how I'd set it up. I think it'd work best for multiplayer games though, like that one; it'd feel weird to me seeing it on MARDEK, even if a few people would be willing to buy it.

MontyCallay101~4Y

Wow, things sure are moving fast! I tried updating my Patreon pledge, and I think the description you wrote for the page is spot-on! The part about Sindrel Song especially really illustrates where you're coming from with this. The only thing you might consider changing is the Thank You message and email, which still refers to the whole "Get a Bronze/Silver/Gold P by PMing me on Alora Fane" thing.

I'm appalled that Sindrel Song has barely gotten more than 100 sales after all this time! I suppose it goes to show the "multiplier" nature of promotion, as you mentioned before. But I'm hoping the release of MARDEK ends up going well for you! I'd expect it to do better than Sindrel Song, but that probably won't be very difficult! I think limiting the Discord Server to pledges of 6$ and more would probably defeat the point - that would probably not leave a lot of people eligible, as of now! Though hopefully that won't stay that way for long. I think you're right when you say that times have probably changed from the old days when you'd have people going out of their way to annoy you. It's fair to say most indie devs don't have to deal with that sort of thing nowadays! This should be the sort of community that will grow over time in a positive way, as opposed to being swarmed by kids who just found "MARDEK RPG" on CrazyMonkeyGames and have too much time on their hands. If this website's any indication, it'll be great!

The Steam version would be worth it for me based on the improved sound quality alone. I wishlisted the extras and will be buying those straight away to support you!

I'm appalled that Sindrel Song has barely gotten more than 100 sales after all this time! I suppose it goes to show the "multiplier" nature of promotion, as you mentioned before. But I'm hoping the release of MARDEK ends up going well for you! I'd expect it to do better than Sindrel Song, but that probably won't be very difficult! I think limiting the Discord Server to pledges of 6$ and more would probably defeat the point - that would probably not leave a lot of people eligible, as of now! Though hopefully that won't stay that way for long. I think you're right when you say that times have probably changed from the old days when you'd have people going out of their way to annoy you. It's fair to say most indie devs don't have to deal with that sort of thing nowadays! This should be the sort of community that will grow over time in a positive way, as opposed to being swarmed by kids who just found "MARDEK RPG" on CrazyMonkeyGames and have too much time on their hands. If this website's any indication, it'll be great!

The Steam version would be worth it for me based on the improved sound quality alone. I wishlisted the extras and will be buying those straight away to support you!

Tobias 1115~4Y

Thanks for pointing out the text issue when changing your pledge (and for doing that)! I wouldn't have caught it otherwise; it was hidden away in some "Advanced" drop-down menu thing. I've changed it now.

Sindrel Song certainly fell far short of my expectations... though from research I've done, most indie games are lucky to get 100 sales. It's so sad reading about developers who eagerly announce a game they've spent three years of their life on, only to get less than 10 sales... Must be crushing. I assume most people just expect anything on sale must be selling a lot - that's what I always thought - which is why I felt it valuable to be upfront about the actual stats in the Patreon description.

I'm expecting MARDEK to sell more, and I'm hoping for at least 1000 sales, so $10k - less than a salary, but not nothing - though I'll be curious to see whether it even breaches 200. I wonder how many who have it on their wishlist will buy it. Notably, though, I don't think I ever set a release discount for Sindrel Song? I've never done one, so the few hundred people who have it on their wishlist might only take the plunge once they can save a couple of dollars in the process (which is ridiculous since the savings are so small, but... psychology). I was going to put it on sale this week, but I'll do it next week instead.

I've sent you a link to the Discord! It seems best to start with just a handful of people who've known me for years, to make sure everything's working as intended, then to build slowly from there... Do you think limiting to $1 patrons would be just as restrictive? I've been seeing conflicting opinions about whether or not to limit access to patrons.

Thanks for your support!

Sindrel Song certainly fell far short of my expectations... though from research I've done, most indie games are lucky to get 100 sales. It's so sad reading about developers who eagerly announce a game they've spent three years of their life on, only to get less than 10 sales... Must be crushing. I assume most people just expect anything on sale must be selling a lot - that's what I always thought - which is why I felt it valuable to be upfront about the actual stats in the Patreon description.

I'm expecting MARDEK to sell more, and I'm hoping for at least 1000 sales, so $10k - less than a salary, but not nothing - though I'll be curious to see whether it even breaches 200. I wonder how many who have it on their wishlist will buy it. Notably, though, I don't think I ever set a release discount for Sindrel Song? I've never done one, so the few hundred people who have it on their wishlist might only take the plunge once they can save a couple of dollars in the process (which is ridiculous since the savings are so small, but... psychology). I was going to put it on sale this week, but I'll do it next week instead.

I've sent you a link to the Discord! It seems best to start with just a handful of people who've known me for years, to make sure everything's working as intended, then to build slowly from there... Do you think limiting to $1 patrons would be just as restrictive? I've been seeing conflicting opinions about whether or not to limit access to patrons.

Thanks for your support!

MontyCallay101~4Y

I think limiting it to $1 patrons is a good idea! That would help keeping out people who would just want to cause trouble. Discord access seems to be a common low-tier patron reward, from everything I've seen.

If you decide to set a discount for Sindrel Song, you should definitely take the time to promote it as well! The game is interesting enough that it deserves more success, I feel.

Tama_Yoshi82~4Y

I'd be interested in testing the discord server. I'm not much of a discord user, but I've started going on a moderately large discord server about a week ago. Interesting is that the admin is not very active on there (outside of tracing the guidelines for the server), and most everything is handled by a team of appointed mods. The guidelines are strict; the discord is political in nature, so it's necessary to preserve the atmosphere... but since I'm the target demographic, I really don't mind at all.

Their discord even has a partial-ban system (restricting them to specific rehab channels), where people with problematic behavior are sent into "rehab," where users can chat them up, mods can monitor their reactions, and if good faith compromises are possible, those people come "out of rehab." I've myself discussed with those people, and interesting conversations ensued (either ending in full bans or rehabilitation).

I really like this, because it's a way to give an actionable slap on the wrist without outright banning people out of consideration.

Their discord even has a partial-ban system (restricting them to specific rehab channels), where people with problematic behavior are sent into "rehab," where users can chat them up, mods can monitor their reactions, and if good faith compromises are possible, those people come "out of rehab." I've myself discussed with those people, and interesting conversations ensued (either ending in full bans or rehabilitation).

I really like this, because it's a way to give an actionable slap on the wrist without outright banning people out of consideration.

Tobias 1115~4Y

Did you send me an email regarding Discord access? I don't see it if you did! That's the best way to send the code.

Ideally I want to set up a community like that, where I don't actually need to do anything but people can talk amongst themselves. I'm hoping that the small number of regulars who've accumulated over the years might serve as a good starting point, and that some of them will want to be mods.

I prefer that 'rehabilition' thing to outright banning people, so I'll be keeping that in mind!

ALazyTotodile14~4Y

Here's hoping for a fruitful release day!!

Definitely looking forward to adding stuff to the old inventory--and when money is sliiiightly less tight, hopefully I can gift it to a friend or two ;)

I wish I could offer Discord insights hah, but I mostly just piddle around there and do group video chats for the occasional online game. (I wish I could offer ANY insights, but that's hardly the point~)

Anywho.

Ptyrell37~4Y

My main recommendation for the Discord is to pick some people whose judgement you trust to be the moderators. They can basically run everything. Doesn't make sense for you have to deal with that minutiae, especially if you don't want to.

phsc57~4Y

What happened on Fig Hunter? I tried to find out about it but I was not able to, you could add a search function to this website to make that easier? also, what does "and maybe a couple of conversions" mean? I cannot make sense of it.
About Discord, there is an excelent way you can do most of what you want, you can create a specific channel where only certain Patreon tiers can talk, while having the Discord server public, you could also have two Discord servers.
You can also create verification channels if there are people you think should not be able to join, where you or a possible moderation team can accept people by giving them roles, also the suggestions at the start of the comment made by Maniafig are very important.

Tobias 1115~4Y

Fig Hunter was my old website, years ago, which had over 10k accounts at its peak, I think? It's a long and complex story, but essentially the community was toxic overall - I'm largely to blame for implementing rules and systems I naively thought would help - and it was immensely stressful to run, so eventually I had to just get away. I don't want a repeat of that. I don't know if I've written about the details on this site before, though it seems most (all?) of the regulars found me during that period so they know what I'm talking about when I mention it. Maybe I should write about it at some point so then I have an explanation to link to for people who've found me more recently!

By 'conversions', I meant people who'd watch the YouTube video and then convert into paying customers. Maybe I should have worded it as 'sales' rather than 'conversions' for clarity!

phsc57~4Y

What made it toxic? I really have no idea of how a community that is built around your games would be or turn toxic considering the nature of your games, I actually found out about your works during that time, but I really did not have interest in joining a big community related to them, also if you have written about it, there is no "Fig Hunter" topic in your blog, I did try finding out about it.
Another take on the Discord thing, if you don't make it public, what about making it so only those who have bought your games can have access to it? with Patreon being access to a specific channel? I believe you can even make that an automatic process because Discord allows linking your account with Steam and I believe bots can check if someone has some game by you in their Steam account and automatically give them a role that gives them access.

mount201046~4Y

About Discord (I have previously sent you this link in an email - so pardon me if you have already seen it!), I like this article by Kitfox Games's community developer about designing kind communities: [LINK]

It covers a lot about the anthropological theory of how kind communities come about, and since you're into psychology, you may be interested in it!

I concur with the others that effective moderation goes a long way. Find mature and level-headed moderators to run the place. Having a paywall for the Discord server will help in this case, as people who are willing to pay are less likely to cause trouble.
I recommend talking to people with more experience with Discord, since there is a lot of fine-tuning that you may not be aware about! Bots, for example, can go a long way in assisting moderation.

Tobias 1115~4Y

I saw that the other day and meant to thank you for linking me to it, but I only got half way through and then got distracted! Seems useful though, and hopefully I can develop my community in that direction.

Thankfully I do have a small community of familiar regulars, which makes things easier than if I were starting completely from scratch. Hopefully some of them will want to be mods!

Dingding32167~4Y

I must admit that I'm one of the silly people who don't usually buy games unless they're on discount, especially since my time is usually so tight that I really have to narrow down which ones are worth spending the time and money on! Add that to the fact that I am still a student (why does vet school take so long???), my unwillingness to spend my parents' money and the unending nature of Patreon which trigger all my natural thriftiness...
But I'll make the effort for MARDEK! And you, obviously.

Only I just found out that the Steam re-release for MARDEK is only available for Windows and I only have access to a Macbook for day to day work... That might be why I didn't end up buying Sindrel Song yet (that and the lack of time to devote myself to it)!

I'll still buy MARDEK knowing it's worth way more than the listed price given how long I spent on it and enjoyed playing it before :) I'm sorry I'm such a hypocritical fan :/

LotBlind53~4Y

If Sindrel Song only sold that many copies, I certainly wasn't in the wrong to induce it into the Home of the Underdogs collection. There's always a medium-sized article to accompany if someone is interested:

[LINK]

Don't worry, you haven't suddenly gained leagues of visibility: the HotU following is fairly modest these days when there aren't any downloads and the Internet has grown so much.

kidupiscean37~4Y

Maybe you can get some inspiration of what you can do from their kickstarter campaign (although the scale of your games won't be as big as theirs)? [LINK]

Tobias 1115~4Y

Ha, if I could even get a fraction of what they've already raised with that campaign, so many of my problems would disappear! I think it's an understatement to say that my game and that aren't quite on the same scale, but I can at least look at it and see what they've chosen to focus on. Thanks for linking to it!

kidupiscean37~4Y

One of the things they do is to highlight others' kickstarter indie game projects, e.g. read the end of this post: [LINK]

While this promotion method comes with its own risks and cons, a good partner and a good implementation does help both games reach a wider range of potentially interested gamers - it's like cross-pollination.