Releasing a Game

[Aki]

What's something you learned from releasing a game?
I didn't want the thread title to be so heckin long people wouldn't click on it

Since the game jam was over, I'm wondering if anyone picked up some new development tips or just personal anecdotes they'd like to share about releasing a game or working with a team and a deadline.

---

​

For me, I got to learn first hand why having a shared Dropbox folder would've been so valuable. With multiple people editing the game files, a lot of time gets wasted in zipping the game, uploading it somewhere, and then downloading the game, unzipping again...Even when I just quickly shared 1 map's data and a character sheet I'd made, it didn't transfer perfectly because my teammate didn't know what I'd named the character sheet in my version of the game.

After playing some jam games and seeing what people did, I also think I've learned what kinds of tutorials/resources would be useful to submit. :3c​

 

[Rhyden]

I learned that you should definitely have someone play through your whole game before you post it. For the most part you'll be testing in debug mode and when someone's playing off of the executable file things won't always work the same way they did in debug mode. My game was actually unbeatable before it was play-tested the first time because of this. Imagine if I had turned that version in :S

 

[Dragonite]

This was surprisingly helpful (although it still didn't stop me from forgetting a few critical game files the first time I posted it, that was rather embarassing >_> )

 

[doof]

After about two years and a couple of game releases, I've had to learn quite a bit about releasing a game. I've had to learn how to properly set up the game to be uploaded - encrypting and all that - and have to had struggle to get that right. And as it turns out, the way you compress your game is important. I recall using something a little different to make it easier for me to upload, but in turn some other people couldn't download and extract it. Optimizing your filesize is also another thing I picked up after a while - especially music files - I'm not fond of having an hour long demo that's 600+ MBs. I also learned that you can't bug-test enough, because there's always going to be that one game-crashing bug that you miss.

All in all, developing a game is a process, but so is getting it out into the world.

 

[aiyinsi]

This one may be obvious for the more experienced members here but I'll post it anyways:
I learned that relic members are great playtesters. Like you won't know whether your design choises work or not without having lots of people play it. It's very interesting to see how some things are criticised often and some not so often. That way you can polish your game. I feel that before creating a great adventure and everything polishing the gameplay and esthetics should be prioritised. Because this is what people judge your game by. This is what I really learned from this jam.

 

[Deo]

Learn better time management. Got a good grasp on time management already? Get better at it. Time management is seriously an underrated thing in fan game development. Especially in that last week where things are likely going to take more time than you're estimating.

And aside from game jams or other competitions: don't give out release dates. Don't cause yourself that extra stress. Set goals internally for a date if you have to, but definitely not publicly.

 

[Mr. Gela]

Set goals for yourself such as:
- Mapping the player's home
- Mocking-up a new battle scene
- Touching up the PBS files (if it's a short game and you need to adjust learnable moves, for example)
- Completing a preemptive Dex spreadsheet

If you've got goals, you can a) call it a day when you're done, no pressure and b) feel accomplished and excited when done.

I'm very self-sufficient when designing UI and coding it, but I suck at sitting down to map a simple house. Making sure I'm not directionless (= "doing whatever I feel like", which is just UI and other minor edits) helps me get stuff done.

 

[Aki]

Oh I remembered a thing I've been doing.
Keeping a changelog included with the game and changing the version number on the title screen. Both keep the player informed so they can double check if they've downloaded the latest version. The changelog is mostly for me though, as a record of the what I accomplished each time, even when it says silly stuff like

#===============================================================================
Update 2
#===============================================================================
Fixed the doors again. If they still cause problems for anyone, you have my permission to personally toss me out with the trash.
#===============================================================================
Update 3
#===============================================================================
Aki was thrown out with the trash
FIXED THE DOORS FOR THE UMPTEENTH TIME D:
re-did the tileset to simplify it to 1 door event per house