Friday Rambles 2023-08-04

It's the first ramble of August 2023! And I'm late, once again. Sorry. I was busy. But who isn't these days?

Above: Steam Visual Novel Fest :)

The game I will never shut up about is in the Steam Visual Novel Fest! It's also on sale.

Above: By Grabthar's Hammer... What a savings

What does being part of a themed event really entail? Well, there's a big ol banner on the Steam front page that points you to a list of games that represent a certain theme (in this case: Visual Novels). To sweeten the deal for the everyday Steam shopper, there's also thing you can click once daily to get a fancy gift, generally a sticker you can use in Steam Chat or whatever. So you get all this extra traffic and visibility that you normally wouldn't get, as long as your game is within the top 10 most popular games. 

Above: Look! You can see my game featured... after you hit the "show more" button four times!

Well, anyway, I'm still hoping the discount entices the people who have my game currently wishlisted. Almost no one buys a game on Steam unless it's on sale, after all. Unless you're a super fan, like you!

(Also, I'm being a little unfair as a bit, I do appreciate the event and the opportunity to do some marketing guilt-free. And I am pretty darn proud that my game is still kind of discoverable.)

Above: This isn't canon, btw

I made a short trailer for the event within the Endless Monday game, because I didn't have enough time to make a comic, like I usually do when I'm trying to sell something. It seemed like a good way to show off some gameplay footage, anyway. You can see it here: https://twitter.com/hcnone/status/1688604526943809539 

There are a lot of cool games on sale, so I'm gonna load up as well. I've been really appreciating the existence of short indie story games. Especially ones I can finish in one or two sittings, like 2-3 hours or so.

Above: "Enjoy the Diner." I really enjoyed this game. I got it solely based on its aesthetic, and I didn't really have any idea about what it was. But I was really surprised by how invested I got. The story, art, music, it's all great. Super indie, too. Well worth full price.

Buy it here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2336980/Enjoy_the_Diner/ 

Wait. I was just talking about Visual Novel Fest, and this game isn't even in it! Well... I got it before the event! It didn't have a discount then, either! And the Visual Novel Fest started today! I haven't bought anything yet! Maybe I'll have more stuff to say about video games next week!

Above: "Epilogues" menu placeholder screen

I've been thinking about what's next for Endless Monday. I've switched gears a bit and am now going back to my original plan of making a free content update for Dreams and Deadlines. It'll be called "Epilogues" and be 4-5 short stories that take place after the True Ending, and I've written out the outlines for each one, so now it's a matter of writing them out and drawing any new sprites that are needed. I hope I can get it done and localized before the Autumn Sale. Better give myself a drop dead date for finishing the English portion of it. Uhh, how's the first of next month sound? Okay, it's in my calendar now.

I also kinda want to make issue 4 of the Endless Monday Monthly, as a sort of behind the scenes on "making video games." Like a Words Korner on what the game marketing blogs tell you to do for marketing your game and how I completely ignored everything they said for my own game's release. :-| Maybe someday. After my next game does well and I can take a break for a bit.

Boy howdy I'm tired

I was looking through my old personal journal entries and this thing I'm doing now is what I've been dreaming of doing for a really long time. I still kinda can't believe I went through with it. It's been a year and two months since I quit my job, and during that time I've made and released a game, something I've been talking about doing for years! And it's relatively successful! Once my second game is out I'll know if this is sustainable for the long term, but for now, I'm just gonna appreciate the moment and try my best. 

Above: Follow me on Bluesky, a social media platform I really enjoy posting on and care about

Okay, I don't really have much else to say. Thanks for your support, as always. See you next week!