Another sneak-peek of Steam full release coming this Thursday. Dead Star! Play Dicetiny !
Dicetiny is finally launching fully on Steam! The launch will introduce more badass enemies, stages, and the final boss, ‘Dead Serious’! In celebration of the launch, we made a little video inspired by Lasse Gjertsen’s Hyperactive. Sit back and enjoy! (PS: This is not the official trailer.)
Are you ready to defeat Beerholder? The latest update is now live! Go play Dicetiny now, because that would be so awesome!
#screenshotsaturday#gamedev#steam#pc gaming#pcgaming#indiegames#dicetiny#steamupdate#steamsale#the lord of the rings#Dungeons and Dragons#tabletop gaming#board games#Board Game Geek#wow#wolrd of warcraft#parody#comedy#video gaming#pcmasterrace#brettspiel#monster#Game Art#screenshot#fantasy#Conan the Barbarian#beholder#hearthstone#magic the card game#magic the gathering
Work-In-Progress Stages
Just playing with different backgrounds for the new stages. Play Dicetiny now. (or later when it fully launches mid-July)
The Parade of Parody Characters
Middle Finger (that’s his name) is inspired by a smaller finger.
Inspired by some boxer from a fighting game
Agent something...
Master Yo.T (tentatively) He likes to ride a bike in his free time.
You will meet all these guys in our next major update coming soon, so stay tuned!
A Chat with the Master - The secrets behind the Subterrain's 94% Steam review score
As Master Yoda probably once said, "Learn from the master you should, nerdy one." With our Steam review score at risk, I had a chat with the master SaeHoon from Pixellore to borrow his wisdom.
DO IT. JUST DO IT. YOU WIMP.
Hey, long time no talk!
It's been almost six months since I last saw Saehoon at a small dinner gathering of Korean Steam developers held once a year if we’re lucky (unfortunately, no alcohol was involved...). It was my first time meeting him in person and I got to have a conversation with him... He seemed like a nice person and the next day we became Facebook friends. We didn’t talk much after that except for a few occasions when I saw him post from time to time in a small private Korean Steam developer community with only about twenty-five members. Yes, finding a Steam game developer is as hard as finding a Korean person who doesn't like Kimchi. Anyway, what made me break the silence was not because I wanted to ask him if he liked Kimchi. It was because I wanted to discuss his game. Well, a certain statistical aspect of it to be exact.
Don't get me wrong. His game is great. I'm not an online stalker, but I've been keeping an eye on his game for some time now. The zombie apocalyptic game recently released after being on Steam Early Access about seven months. I even gave it a shot, which says a lot about the game because nowadays it's very hard to find myself trying other indie games given the time available. I just loved that grim atmosphere that reminded me of Xbox 360's cult classic Dead Space. Man, I'm getting old...
Dr.West, not East, is the protagonist of Subterrain.
But this is not about Dead Space nor my age. This is about his game. Whenever I paid a visit to his game's Steam page, one thing always caught my eye. Something very blue... It was its insanely high Steam review score.
The game's name is Subterrain, and it currently holds 94% positive review score on Steam.
It will stay at 94% unless all the colonists on Earth mutate into monsters.
The Shock
We know good reviews don't always translate into good sales but it definitely helps. The first time I saw the Subterrain’s review score, with our game DICETINY currently hanging at 74~75% mark, I was overwhelmed with a mixed feeling of admiration and jealousy.
To me, the full launch seemed like a success, and I couldn't help but think the unbelievably high review score (at least to me) had to be one of the reasons that drove the successful launch.
Dear 94, will you hang out with me? Why not? Because you’re 75!
How? Surely the number of reviews must be very few. What?! 260?! Is that even possible? My head hurts....
After two minutes passed he answered my Facebook message with a happy “Hello!”... Without any icebreakers, I got right into the question. “What are the secrets behind your high Steam review score? 94%? Are you serious? TELL MEEEEE!!!”
As Master Yoda probably once said, "Learn from the master you should, nerdy one." That's advice you hear all the time, and something I always try to remind myself of whenever my ego is about to get the better of me. Today he's my master. It's obvious that your game has to be fun to get good reviews but often being fun is not enough, and it takes efforts to maintain that sweet blue color. So something told me there was more to it than the game itself, which was already quite good in any standard. With adrenaline rushing through my veins and my blood-shot eyes gazing at the monitor, I waited for his answer for what seemed like an eternity. And then...He finally began typing...
“We patched the game once or even twice a day”
The first sentence typed in the chat box shocked me the way I was shocked when Ronda Rousey was knocked out by Holly Holm. (Not a UFC fan, are you?) It's tough to do an update every two or three weeks but once or twice a day??? I didn't even believe such a thing was possible. Anyhow, I calmed myself down, tried to compose myself, and continue to read what came next in the message box.
"I literally spend all day fixing the bugs and applying changes based on user feedback." Pure sacrifice. Sacrifice is a word you hear a lot when someone's making something great, and it often comes along with game development. "Most of the times, I try to finish those fixes within a day." He added that he did a patch at least once or even twice a day sometimes. The fact that Pixellore is practically a one-man studio made his last comment very impressive, or some might even say...scary.
If I had a nickel for every time Subterrain did a patch, I wouldn’t be stuck in this dump making games... I’m just kidding! Of course not! I just LOVE making games, hahaha..ha..ha.........
So the lesson I learned from this was, listen to your fans and apply changes accordingly....fast! I know there's always this voice in the back of your head telling you your idea is the greatest in the world but things like bugs and other parts of the game that need polishing can be adjusted without affecting your core ideas.
"When you think about it. The fans are all I have. I thought to myself, if there was anyone who would help me make my game successful, that would be my fans. It will be the end of my road if they lose trust in me." This kind of thinking marked the beginning of the daily update routine.
He continued...
Demo is a filter?
"On top of the frequent updates, I definitely think introducing a demo had something to do with the high review score. Having a demo filtered out negative reviews. Because if someone buys a game after playing its demo, that means they liked it hence it's more likely that they will write a positive review." It totally made sense. However, he didn't forget to mention that there's a darker side of having a demo. "It made sales less dramatic as people can just play the demo instead on the spot without having to save their money for a later sale".
DR.WEST, YOU HAVE A TWIN BROTHER? Oh...it’s just your demo. My bad.
“Sure, suit yourself”
Seeing your review slowly turning into a bloody red number is any game developer's nightmare. It hasn't happened to our game, and I hope it never happens. But whenever that last digit goes down, our hearts sink, and it's time to go out for a drink.
My fingers still sweaty, mesmerized by his calming explanation, we finished our conversation talking about how ineffective conventional marketing activities such as a paid banner on a game website and other methods can be. We finally called it a day but luckily I was agile enough to ask my last question right before he disappears into the horizon. "Can I write about this on Gamasutra?" I had been looking for a topic to write on the game developer’s heaven ever since the dawn of my career in the gaming industry but kept failing to come up with one until today's chat. After one minute of silence, he finally began typing.
"Sure, suit yourself".
...and he disappeared into the horizon...............Actually, he just logged off.
So long, master! Don’t forget to reblog this! *SNIFF* *SNIFF* *SNIFF*
Written by Mike Lee, the apprentice, under the approval by Saehoon Lee, the master.
As of April 18th, 2016, the review score of Dicetiny stands at 75%. The review score of Subterrain stands at 94% and doesn't show any sign of going down. With Subetterain set to be showcased at Indie Megabooth in PAX Boston coming later this month, people suspect that that number may rise even higher. Mike Lee and SaeHoon Lee are still in contact, ready to fight zombies any time.
Introducing Dwarven Innkeeper!
The brand new storyline with the brand new characters! That's what we're working on right now, and this dwarf guy is one of those new characters. (Whether this guy will be playable or not will be decided in the future depending on his popularity.)
He looks like a nice fellow with whom I can have a drink or two at a pub or something. But looks can be deceiving...
Here are his animations.
And it all started from this...
Stay tuned for the later update to see him in the actual game!
And then there were six!
We started as ten(?) people team, but over the course of the development, some left to pursue different career missing this awesome opportunity to have their own....CARICATURE! This is the highlight of our career!.....Actually it’s not... We’re just saying that to feel better about ourselves. Please come back guys! I’m just joking. Seriously, these caricatures are awesome, and want to thank our artist for taking time to examine our oily faces!
No we are not going to PAX
So we didn't get the ticket to PAX. We were little bit bummed out but oh well there's always the next time. We still have a chance with Indie Cade so our fingers are crossed. Anyhow we'd like to congratulate the other indies who got selected, and hope they have a blast in PAX. We want to give a shoutout to them so here they are. - BlackWitchcraft - Racers : Dirt - SilverBullet - SubTerrain We are also bummed out that we are stuck in the office when GDC is going on right now. How great would it have been if GDC was held in Korea?? Come on GDC! (Judy kidding. It would be hugely unfair to the indies in other continents.