Hello, dear friends.
I'm happy to announce that Melody of Seasons is available now in Early Access! This has been a long journey for me and I'm beyond happy that I actually got to this point. I'm very excited to see what people think of the game and where it should go from here!
Overly long and personal story below:
Maybe this isn't professional but if I'm one thing, it's honest. I want to reveal more details about my game and its development because it's important to me. This isn't the entire story but it's a good outline. If you get to the end, I think you'll understand where this game is coming from.
Full transparency: my game does not have big numbers. The key metric here is Steam wishlists. My wishlists are low! I had been working on the game for years before I even set up a Steam page so when I saw how few wishlists I was getting per day I got demotivated and felt like I had wasted a lot of time. However, part of why my wishlist numbers are so low is because I didn't market the game. I even missed the last Steam Next Fest which probably would have helped my numbers. However, another key metric that I think is overlooked is median playtime. My median playtime is quite good. Especially for a demo. Some people played a lot which was really encouraging. There's a lot to do in the game and I actually haven't completed the game from start to finish myself. As a developer I basically use cheat codes to test everything out otherwise it would take way too long! Call me crazy, but I still believe my game is underrated. Since I basically did no marketing, I'm hoping for a slow burn rather than a big splash. I want my game to earn its audience on its own.
One reason I didn't really market the game is because it looks so similar to Stardew Valley. I am pretty sure if I try to post about my game anywhere, I'd just get flamed for copying Stardew. So on the one hand, looking like Stardew is good because people instantly have a good idea of what kind of game they're buying, but on the other hand, it's bad because people think it's a cheap clone. I pretty much agree that my game looks too similar to Stardew Valley, and I'd like to change that. The problem is I had been inspired by Stardew Valley and so I started down this path for years making something similar. I wanted to change the look of the game but I also deeply wanted to release the game. Changing the look of the entire game at this point would take me years so it was not an option for me. I am not an artist. I got better at making certain kinds of pixel art, but I would really love to team up with an artist at some point if possible.
Anyways, I had and still do have a lot of neat ideas for the game. I thought about taking inspiration from Maniac Mansion and Earthbound to create a goofy RPG where you could really change the outcome of the townsfolk and their lives (this is closest to where the game is headed at this point). I thought about making a mechanic where you could go back in time to change the present-day sort of like Zelda: A Link to the Past. I thought about making the characters have secret super powers that you could gain from them if you got to know them well enough. I thought about having a dream state phase where you could mess with the townsfolk in different ways than during the daytime. All these ideas still sound pretty neat to me, but I had already been working on the game for years and I didn't want to be a dreamer anymore. I wanted my dream to become a reality. Forget about the crazy ideas, it was clear I was struggling to release a game at all - as so many indie game developers do. I had fallen into the classic indie developer pitfall - my game was over-scoped. It was too much for a single person to handle.
Three years ago, after already having worked on the game on and off for three years. I was diagnosed with a type of cancer called Hodgkin's Lymphoma. I remember when I was diagnosed I was relieved it was a treatable form of cancer and not something worse. Some people even call it 'the good cancer'. Well, to make a long story short, it was by far the worst thing that I've ever experienced. The toll it took on me mentally and physically shook me forever. Nothing in my life even comes close to that experience. I am still worried about it coming back. They don't use the 'cure' word until 5 years out. But when I was going through treatment I just had this thought that I was going to die and not a single person was going to even play my game.
So I had to release my game. And now I did it. And if the cancer ever does come back, well at least I can say that I released this awesome game. And to anyone who has cancer, or survived cancer, I have endless sympathy for you and my heart goes out to you. It is an incredibly difficult thing to go through. After going through it, I just consider myself lucky to be here every day. I'm extremely lucky I get to press this button to release my game. I'll never take another day for granted again. I could have been wiped out by cancer or a million other things before getting to this point, but here I am. It's incredible.
So whether the game does good or bad doesn't really matter all that much. Of course, I want it to do okay so that I can continue to improve it or make a sequel or a spinoff, but it's not going to change my life. I've already made it. I'm alive and well, what more can I ask for?
So yes, maybe my game does look a bit too similar to Stardew but I will be forever proud of it. And if you decide to buy it, know that I am deeply grateful and I really hope you enjoy it. This is the first time I've ever asked for money for a game and I don't take it lightly. If you are at all dissatisfied with anything I hope you let me know in the forums and I will do everything I can to address any issues you may have. If you buy the game and simply decide it's not for you, I encourage you to take advantage of the refund policy on Steam. I want everyone to be happy with their purchase.
Now with all that said, I want to say thank you for taking the time to consider my game and I hope you have a great day wherever you are. Take care, my friends.