Hi everyone!
We just want to give a quick status update on episode 2 of Sir Stretchalot and just Apple Tart Games in general.
HOW DID EPISODE 1 GO?
We launched the first episode with no real following or marketing at all. We had 3 or so twitter followers and the game had under 50 Steam wishlists at the time.
We had never done anything to do with Hentai at all before, having only worked on normal, mainstream games. We didn't know what we were doing, if we'd done it right, and we had no clue if the first episode would be a success or not.
So we released the first episode and . . . it did really well!
We've sold just shy of 2.4k copies, and hardly anyone has refunded it which is nice. Within a day of release, a couple hundred people had wishlisted, and more keep adding it all the time. As of right now, 3.6k people have the first episode on their Steam wishlist. Our twitter following has only grown by 50 or so, but it's better than the 3 we had, and we haven't been active enough on their yet anyway.
So, the first episode did way better than we expected, all things considered.
We just want to say a massive THANK YOU to everyone who took a chance on our little game, and if you left a review, thanks for those as well. Money so we can keep making this stuff is obviously very good, but so is the motivation - and laughs - that comes from reading those reviews, 92% of which have been positive!
We wanted to wait a few weeks and see what sort of reception episode 1 of Sir Stretchalot received before we sunk time into episode 2. The first episode has now made enough that we feel confident going ahead with more games like this.
NOW FOR SOME BAD NEWS:
There's only 2 of us on the team, and the artist has decided to leave and pursue other things. There's enough profits for me to hire a new artist, which is what I'll be doing. I'm in talks with some incredibly talented artists already, and will decide on someone very soon. A close friend of mine will be coming on to help out in other areas as well.
For the art, I'm looking at to hire someone who uses a more styilized, cartoony style which I think will suit the pixel art and types of stories that I want to tell in Sir Stretchalot, so be prepared for a bit of a change of art from episode 2 onward. Later on, if things are going well and the profits are there to do so, I'll probably even make a separate version of episode 1 with re-done CG and bust artwork so it's all cohesive.
WHERE IS EPISODE 2, YOU ASK?
A for an ETA on episode 2, there isn't one yet. Sorry. With us waiting to see how things went + now having to find a new artist, I can't give a time-frame. That said, once things get rolling, it will get done very quick. The first episode really took less than a week or two once we sorted out a heap of stuff. A lot is already figured out now, which means they'll be so much quicker to create. I'm hoping to eventually be able to release 2-3 new episodes of a series per month.
Another thing: I read and save every single bit of feedback that you guys have given us about episode 1 on the forums and in your reviews. I hope to address everything - slightly too short, not enough character busts, too simple combat, and more - in future episodes. I played it really safe with episode 1, but I'll strive to keep making them more entertaining. I know I can do better next time around.
DISCORD AND PATREON
Also, there's no Apple Tart Games discord or Patreon set up as yet, but we plan to do that soon. I love the social side of game development, so chatting on discord with you guys would be great. With Patreon, I won't be setting that up until I'm absolutely sure we can deliver enough stuff to make it worthwhile. Maybe initially it will be just more for small tips for any one who wants to help support us a bit more. There'll be art sketches, and I'm also thinking we can have Patreon's names in the credits. Heck, maybe we can let you guys help name NPCs and stuff like that. Later on, maybe we could provide early releases and special episodes there as well. I'd also like to be able to have people vote on different things for upcoming episodes as well!
AND STUFF
A quick thing about the structure of Sir Stretchalot: it costs $100 USD to release a game on Steam, which they give back if you make over $1000. We thought we might just have to release new episodes as DLC to avoid this $100 fee each time. See, we weren't sure if it even would make $1000. As you can see from the numbers above, we did, so we'll likely release new eps as full games unless people really hate that.
It would be nice to have all the eps of a season under one game in your library, but then, for us it means we'll get no real exposure for each new episode on Steam. Only you guys that have episode 1 will really see the new eps as they're released and it'll make it hard for us to gain more of a following on Steam.
I think that's it for now. Sorry for really long write-up, heh. I'm a writer and I like to write, I guess + I'm also freaking excited about all this! Knowing I can make this thing actually work now thanks to you guys really makes me want to bring all these crazy ideas in my head to life!
Thanks again to everyone who bought episode 1 of Sir Stretchalot. I hope you'll be back for the next one, and many more afterwards!
Cheers!
- The Apple Tart Games team