Last week, I told you I had sold 117 copies of my game.
Well, things have changed since then. Most notably, a YouTuber with 815,000 subscribers made a video about the game.
It basically tripled my sales overnight.
With some other videos and reviews trinkling in during the week, I’ve now sold 503 copies of my game.
It’s pretty crazy to think about. I had more results in a week of marketing the game than in the first 6 months.
I also got pretty lucky that he made that video, even though I was fairly confident that he would.
(I’m a regular viewer of his so I knew what he liked)
With all that newfound attention, I also got some pretty interesting reviews…
Check this one out. I had to translate it from Russian using Google Translate:
“The game’s picture is miserable. It was as if some first-grader was drawing and then, having scanned his drawings, he recreated the game from them. Animations are the same.”
“Firstly, the game’s combat is miserable to disgrace; non-stop you take damage without the possibility of a dodge, here even speedraners and professionals in their videos noticeably get luli; the mechanics here are cheap and just crooked; you don’t walk through the rooms, you only go forward; variety zero”
Ouch. That must hurt my feelings, right?
…Not really.
Next to that, we have reviews like this:
“Overall Space Gladiators: Escaping Tartarus is an incredibly fun game and is definitely a gem. I can’t wait for more people to experience it and have a blast with this game and with future updates to come, this game has the potential to be one of the greats.
Verdict: 10/10”
“Awesome game! Unique runs, skill based, roguelike, tons of items, choose your path, etc. It has it all. Great art-style.”
“Literally all I have been doing is recommending this game to my friends.
Is it fun? Hell yes!
Is it challenging? Absolutely!
It’s like if Dark Souls, Dead Cells, The Binding of Isaac, and Castle Crashers had a weird baby and I love it.”
So what is it? Is it a miserable game or an awesome game?
Truth is, there’s always going to be some people that love what you do and some that hate it.
Maybe you’re afraid of getting haters yourself.
It might even stop you from getting started or from sharing your work with others.
But once you actually get some hate thrown at you…
…you realize it’s not that big of a deal.
You won’t feel bad. You won’t feel hurt.
And the more it happens, the less you’ll care.
As long as:
- You believe you’re doing good work,
- And there’s a group of people enjoying what you do, no matter how small…
Then you don’t have to worry about the haters. You don’t work for them.
The less attention you give them, the more you can give to the people who actually care.
Until next week,
Thomas Gervraud,
Developer of Space Gladiators: Escaping Tartarus