If you’ve been following my ramblings on Twitter you probably already know that most of my time has been put into getting more games on Steam.
I’ve been lucky to have Gunslugs 2 on Steam since the game’s launch, moving through Greenlight in less than two months time. And Heroes of Loot pretty swiftly followed through Greenlight in about the same time. There have been many articles on sites like Gamasutra where happy developers share their insights into how their games got Greenlit.. I think they are mostly useless.
My simple explanation to why my games got through Greenlight so quickly was simply because in part of the fans, I already had, helping me by voting yes, but mostly because my games also already had internet-presence. I honestly believe the people behind Greenlight will look at games, but also see if those games are mentioned with a simple Google on their title. Or perhaps a simple check on Metacritic.
My games never reached the top-100 of Greenlight games, and all the talk about “hey it suddenly was at 70% near the top-100” is simply because a lot of the games above your game passed Greenlight making your game automatically jump up in rankings suddenly.
Anyway, enough about the Greenlight theory! How about Steam?
Moving against the Stream
I’ll be honest, I’ve been enjoying all this PC development and gaming lately. Mostly thanks to the excellent LibGDX library which allows me to have my games run on windows,mac and linux. A lot of developers are actually moving from PC to Mobile, but since I never really do what others do, I’m moving more and more towards PC games.
That doesn’t mean I’m exiting the mobile space, not at all, I still have a lot of people there who like my games, support my games, and enjoy my games. That includes myself!
It simply opens up a new area where my games could actually shine and make an impression. Playing with a physical controller, keyboard, and / or mouse simply fit well with my games. The audience on PC is also very much in tune with the types of games I make.
The last few weeks I had a lot of people saying “I know this game from Android, can’t wait to play it on Steam!” which really says it all. My audience, who play my games on mobile, for a bit part would love to play my games on PC with “more fitting” controls.
Even Aline has been playing my games a lot more in the last few weeks on her laptop, then she has ever done on mobile in the last 10 years! I can reach a new audience on-top of the current one, and I can improve the experience of my games for those that always enjoy them on mobile.. it’s a win-win for everyone! Just a lot more work for me ;)
So, let me introduce you to the first four games that will start Orangepixel’s move into the PC market.
The Steam four:
Gunslugs 2
So Gunslugs 2 is available on Steam right now.. it had some issues with controllers, and window/fullscreen swapping, and all of those issues have been fixed since the release. It was a bit messy and bumpy release, but it was my first proper PC release and I knew things would probably not be smooth and perfect. Gunslugs 2 is still an awesome game, and if you do launch on a new platform, do it with a great title to test the waters.
Heroes of Loot
I since have put a lot of time into Heroes of Loot. It already had a PC version, back when the game was first released on all platforms, but that was without controller support, and simply not fitted for what PC gamers expect. So I have added twin-stick support for controllers, and mouse-aim for the keyboard users. This adds a lot to the game which originally was only using an auto-aim. On top of that it now comes with leaderboards, achievements, Steam trading-cards/badges/icons/profiles and all the fixes I learned from releasing Gunslugs 2.
Heroes of Loot will launch next Tuesday, on the 26th (May 2015) and I hope it will find a nice little audience on Steam to enjoy this new version. I’ve actually been playing it daily trying to beat the high-score, and I hope you guys join me on those leaderboards!
Gunslugs 1
I’ve been lucky to also get Gunslugs 1 onto Steam, cause people asked for it, and that’s what you guys will get! Again, I put in a lot of time to get the game updated, fully supporting controllers, fixing some interface issues, and adding the full Steam complementary package: trading-cards/badges/icons/profiles, leaderboards and achievements. It’s a proper Steam release for PC gamers.
The launch date for Gunslugs 1 on Steam is set to June 2nd, a week after Heroes of Loot.. so busy times!
Space Grunts
And finally: Space Grunts ! It’s now approved to actually launch on Steam, so I just have to complete the game. I don’t have a release date for this one yet, but I am thinking about releasing it on Steam first, and other platforms later.
Before I get an angry-mobile-mob of gamers, the reason behind this is “business”. Right now my games are looked upon as “mobile game ported to PC”.. which they aren’t, and everyone who ever played any of my games on phones, tablets, or android consoles knows this. My games are best enjoyed with physical controls, and fit perfectly on consoles or PC.
However to, hopefully, break this idea towards bigger game media like game sites, youtube-streamers, etc. I have to shake something up. Releasing Space Grunts on PC first shows that it’s not a “mobile port” it’s a game designed with PC/Controller/mouse play in mind, just as much as the touch-controls.
I haven’t decided on this fully yet, but it’s a very high possibility.. however, don’t worry, with every step of development I also keep in mind the android, ios, ouya/androidtv versions.. that’s still where most of my income comes from, so it’s a market I don’t think about leaving just yet!
