DR4X News

I wnat to summarize my thoughts on something and my thoughts on this experiance:
I made a few notable mistakes when I started out that I have learned from now:

• 1. DR4X is way too ambitious. If I want to finish it, it will take another 4 years at minimum, to be honest (and for some reason, I still want to do that, even though it's highly likely I won't finish it).
  
  
• 2. I released into Early Access too early. Everyone says to get your Steam page up ASAP, but no, actually, Early Access isn’t for prototypes or alpha games anymore. It's nearly complete, already compelling games that just need a few bug fixes nowadays—it isn't what it used to be. Feels like a trap.
  
  
• 3. Architecture.I just didn't design it to be extensible enough for it to stay easy to expand later (it's clear now that I still haven't finished Chapter 2 ewven though i think its perfectly doable).
  
  
• 4. The price was way too high for my first Steam game. I have now rectified this.
  
  
• 5. I put too much work into little things no one will ever run into, that kinda stuff only matters once your game has eyes on it. Because people can't see that atention to detail with a couple screenshots and an old trailer. This was clear when i got that refund note about the dog thing the other day that i reacted to.
  
  
• 6. It feels like the only real option for marketing is to have a big YouTube channel. You can see this with many of these indie devs now—they get visibility because they already have a YouTube audience.
  
  
• 7. No one is Tarn Adams; you can't do what he does.
  
  
• 8.I didnt let wishlists build up before releasing into EA
  

If I were a smart man, I wouldn't just lower the price, i would stop completely and focus on my new game. But I am not a smart man I am a foolish man who still wnats to finish this game for some reason.
So, this entire post is kind a pointless in the end.,

For transparency, here is my current Steam info:


This actually isn't bad for a first Steam game, especially one still in Early Access. But the sales were never really the goal. The goal was to make a good game (which I think I succeeded in) and to tell a story.

A story that only 0.4% of players have actually gotten to the end of, so that part was an epic fail, as you say, heh.

I also have about 400 copies sold on Itch, so in total, about a thousand copies sold.
This means that the game isn't really a flop, at least not for a first game on Steam. Even though I'm kind of doom and gloom about it, it's not like the end of the road or anything. Achieving these numbers as a first-time dev is a solid start, and there's still plenty of room for growth and improvement. So while it may not have reached everyone I hoped it would, it’s far from a total failure.

I also like i said, want to keep working on it even if my mental state is terrible heh i just wanted to share the lessons i have so far learned, so if you are striving to be a game dev, you can learn from me.

Anyway TTYL.

To encourage more people to experience DR4X, I've decided to lower the price. Personally, I believe it's worth the original $10, but since sales have mostly occurred during discounts, I've chosen to reduce it by 50%, likely until its out of early access. I'm not in this for the money, so this change doesn't bother me too much. Hopefully this allows for more players to enjoy the game!

My stressful work project is still ongoing, but after June 3rd, it should be all right and no longer as stressful. This means game development can pick up again!

I haven't been idle, though. I have loads of art ready for new achievements that I want to add. I plan to include an achievement for every campaign mission victory and unconventional victory to see how far folks get so i know what to iterate on. This is a challenge because pretty much no one is playing dr4x so i cant really see my changes have an effect in real time. Man, its almost like you should tell people this game exists and stuff. ;)


I can't afford to hire real playtesters, and I only have about four close friends who are all bored of DR4X at this point and way more interested in the side project. The pains of releasing on Steam too early—I certainly learned my lesson there. Everyone says, "get that Steam page up ASAP," but what they don't tell you is to wait until you have a real game before releasing into Early Access. You're competing with more fleshed-out games at that point. Early access on Steam is no longer for alpha games and proof of concepts; it's pretty much complete games that only need bug fixes.. so releasing what is essentially a prototype on Steam is absolutely not the way to go. If I had released DR4X in its current state, it would have been much better received.

Also, a reminder: I'm going on vacation from June 8th to the 17th, so there will be no development during that week. I apologize for the break, as I really want to get stuff done on this game, but my priorities have shifted in the last few weeks due to the work project and stress, along with some new inspiration that struck me.

So today, I'll make a pretty detailed devlog to hopefully make up for it!


-I gave up on players finding out how to get the good or bad endings without further tweaks, and so now, nearly every single sign in the game hints at what you need to do to push the story forward, most of that just means hinting at unconventional victories, though some of the unconventional victories aren't required to progress the story and so on those missions it hints on what you need to do to progress the unconventional route, this idea came from outer wilds, i realize that to most people signs are just lore, but in DR4X that is not the case, so now i have made it clear that every SIGN will hint at how to progress the story by making each sign hint at what you need to do.
(Outerwilds has been inspiring me a lot lately Click here to see my side project)

-Made it so the outlines arent quite as thick anymore

Yeah, that’s literally the only stuff I got done. I know it’s kinda sad. But no worries, dev will pick up after my (much-needed) vacation. In the meantime, I’m working on the way less difficult to work on side project, but I should get those achievements in this weekend.

Now for the fun part of the devlog!
The ramble on future plans!
We all love this section right?


You all like honesty, right? Here’s some honesty: DR4X is kinda burning me out at this point. The only thing keeping me working on this is that person (you know who you are) who leaves a comment on every devlog about how much they like the game. Kudos to you! I don’t want to say your Steam name, but you know who you are. And also all the positive reception to these recent devlogs!
Honestly its amazing how many people upvote the devlogs so its like "wow, there are people who like dr4x" aint that a thing heh (Or they just like reading my rambles lol)

I've had this problem before, around this same time last year! The vacation will absolutely help in that regard. But I’m wondering if what I should actually do is take the current version of DR4X, rework it a bit, make that into a "free demo," and get feedback that way. Meanwhile, I’ll lock all future content under the paid version. I'm also thinking about permanently reducing the price to 5 bucks until the full release, where I will make it 10 again.

How would people feel about that? The current version has a full game essentially, you can play through and get a good or bad ending to the first chapter of the campaign, so all i would really need to do is tweak those ending popups! And just kinda clean up the game in general for it, so it is more appealing and less messy, then take that version, and work from that cleaned up version for all future updates.

This is a similar plan to how i want to get my side project on steam.
Except in that case i would release it as a free game (the tech demo) than work from that "base" to make a proper game with a beginning and ending and a meaningful story.

So here’s my quest for you guys! Let me know in the thread below what your thoughts are on this plan. If I get a decent amount of comments in favor, I’ll make it happen. If I get no comments or more against it, than out of respect to current owners i'll come up with another plan. However, I should note that I might do the same thing but just cut out the skirmish content or something from the demo in that case.
Let me know!


In terms of DR4X development, the plans still haven't changed. Here's what's coming up:
-Those achievements should be in this weekend
-Popups for all the new liminal map artifacts
-More artifacts for "normal" maps
-Make game help you out a bit more
-Full steam ahead on Chapter 2 (which is tied to the new noderooms maps), as that is kinda the only thing that will keep me sane.
-There might also be some tweaking of techs. The techs feel kinda redundant after I've added the tile effects, and they are clunky, so I might work on improving that.
-Improving the UI more
-New trailer with all the new UI etc


I have set up a DR4X only youtube channel. Subscribe if you can and i'll be posting some video devlogs (Maybe!) there aswell as videos of me playing DR4X and other dr4x related shenagins!
https://www.youtube.com/@DR4XTheGame


Bella is doing a lot better, she seems to be mostly back to her old self, all she needed was some benadryl! (Vet said she has terible allergies!)


So thats whats up!
Thanks folks!

Join us in the sorta weekly art stream fellow humans.
https://www.twitch.tv/natch_evil

Hello folks, today I'd like to talk about something. I recently received this refund note.




Now, I know, I know, it's not common practice for devs to point out specific refund notes like this, but I think it's important to convey something here. And I'm not a normal dev.

To whoever made that note, this isn't making fun of you; it's about showing you how to save the dog. The dog can be saved. You just have to think "unconventionally" just like he told you.

The meta aspect of the game isn't common or expected, but it's crucial to the story. The whole campaign (with its unconventional routes) is about saving people by thinking "unconventionally".

I even made a guide on how to save the dog. The fact that you refunded right away is okay, but you might want to give it another shot.

I dont know if i should classify this as a massive spoiler. But I wanted to nip in in the bud.

That'll be all.

Trust me, I love dogs. I have my own, and she's the cutest, sweetest thing in the universe. Humans don't deserve dogs, to be honest.


The guide for saving the dog:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3193972003