Thank you to everyone who checked out the GameShop Simulator demo during Steam Next Fest! Now that the event is over, it's time to take down the demo, reflect on what we've learned, and start working on what comes next.
Across all the feedback we received during the demo period, there are two big topics that have stuck out:
Our game has a ton of potential, but...
It also still needs a lot of work
As we've pointed out before, this is our team's very first game. We expected a lot of bug reports and glitchy behavior; what we didn't expect was that so many of those reports came with a note to the effect of "this game will be awesome once they've cleaned it up." That's given us a ton of motivation to put even more effort into making GameShop Simulator the best it can be.
Getting this pre-alpha build of the game into your hands also helped us really nail down GameShop Sim's core identity. As a new studio, we're still learning how to identify what's going to resonate with players and what isn't. Bugs and glitches can be fixed. Knowing that we're on the right track conceptually is huge.
So what's next? Well, for now, the demo is going offline for a while as we work on fixing bugs, cleaning up the gameplay loop, and implementing suggestions and other new features. We'll be pushing our target date for Early Access back a bit more, but we hope to make it worth the wait.
We've got a LOT of ideas in mind for our next showing, and we hope to see you again next time GameShop Simulator opens its doors to the public. Keep your eyes peeled for more updates in the near future!