Bonelords - Devlog #6 - Shadows of a Fallen Age
Write intro to devlog here - do some kind of fun intro - also don't refer to your playerbase as your "chudlings", even though you think it's really really funny.
Soundtrack Release
The game's soundtrack is set to release later this month! It contains all the music from Bonelords, all of it! You also get all the music from Slime Dice, and some other unreleased tracks. They all fit together, all made by me, so might as well give all of them!
It'll be like $5. Feel free to use the music in projects or youtube videos or whatever. It's mainly a way to support the game more - that's how most people buy soundtracks on steam. I had to buy another game's soundtrack to even test it and see how other people set theirs up, haha.
New Unlockables
I am slowly adding new unlockables to the game. It seems there is a sizable group of people who play a single run and then stop playing. The point of these unlockables is to inspire them to keep going! I need to add a pop-up at the end of a run to let you know once you've got it too, so there's for sure more to work on, but that will help add variety and keep players motivated to play the game for a longer while. My goal is to give players atleast 7 hours of entertainment with this game, and while some people are happy with whats there, some aren't. Heck, even if I added all these items in normally, they would still be dissatisfied! They want to GET new things, to PROGRESS, not just have a wide pool of things available!
So yes! The Curitosity is a new sniper rifle - type weapon, unlocked for beating Lunatic mode. The new Mintflash weapon is a giga death blade that can be thrown like a boomerang, for beating the game in normal mode. And next I plan on adding the Houfnice - a new type of cannon tile - for players to shoot out at the enemies! (no turrets yet, I have plans for those in a future update, trust me!)
Finances
So, how has the game been selling? I am proud to announce that, to date, this game has made me:
-$204 USD!
Negative $204! Yeeepppp, that's right, this game here is a loss leader, without the leader part. Mechanically, the game is awesome and above par for most indie games, I hold firm on that. When people complain about imbalance, it's usually about different things, which means it's imbalanced, but everything has it's ups and downs, which is how a game should be. (Sidenote: I have a few ideas on how to address this issue, especially for building, it's more an issue of convenience than of actual balance.)
The problem is the graphics is not enticing for most people. And I get it! I barely did pixel art before this, and even then it's only been mid within the last year or so, with some older sprites. Particularly the backgrounds, since those take up most the screen, need work. I think the flatness of the ground also gets some people, making it seem "flat" and I am not quite sure how to address it yet, if to generate some terrain, or make very foreground art.
But hey, the ads break even! And, for most games, that is NOT true, most of them have what I call a "thermite" strategy, where you market all at once to generate hype, and then from network effects, it become very effective, while your ads drain revenue. This kind of game development, where you are continually growing and don't really have a "big release" is not common.
So yes, expect graphical effects, new sprites, backgrounds, Steam art, and so on.
I think that will do it for this month's devlog. Didn't post one last month. You know what I say, "I make the rules, but I don't enforce them". Kachow.