I have gotten so much value out of that one game over the years. if he decided to just cut a new expansion pack of new content for an extra fee, I'd happily drop money for it
I love that game, I got it on my PC and handheld. I believe he is still supporting it with updates (Content updates too, not only fixes).
I think there's quite a few amateur video documentaries about how it was a super-iterative process - the first sprites in the game looked janky and simplistic, and everything - the gameplay, music and art got better over time. I find it really inspiring.
It's not really possible. Eric Barone was an unemployed bum working on the game full time while his girlfriend worked double shifts to support both of them financially, that alone means what took him years to finish, would take you a decade. Another thing is that during the time SV released, there were maybe around 50-80 of releases weekly on Steam, now it's in the upper hundreds - there's no organic discoverability anymore, what matters is having a good marketing campaign that requires high budget. And last but not least, with each passing year, the content requirement for games keeps going up - what could pass as a fully featured game a decade ago, would be called a boring game with no content today. All other games that blew up was mostly through sheer luck (look at Among Us being a <4k people game for 2 years before becoming one of the biggest games).
Statistically, you're right. But still, party-game-focused games have a chance of succeeding. In other words, it feels like the trend cycle has gotten faster than the "super jackpot" works. Rather than impossible, you could say it's become harder... and in fact, games themselves are statistically few... but even so, everyone wants a miracle.
Everything is luck and timing. Look at a game like Mecha Chameleon. That game is a vibe coding game, but it's very fun, isn't it? What about Vampire Survivors?
I think a lot of every success and failure depends on luck. But separately from that, I want to become the developer of some great project.
Right now I mainly deliver programs that go into factories, but someday I have a small dream of making a project that everyone can recall when they hear my name.
In that sense, I envy ConcernedApe.
With my talent and ability, it's probably hard, but life is long.
I have gotten so much value out of that one game over the years. if he decided to just cut a new expansion pack of new content for an extra fee, I'd happily drop money for it
I love that game, I got it on my PC and handheld. I believe he is still supporting it with updates (Content updates too, not only fixes).
I think there's quite a few amateur video documentaries about how it was a super-iterative process - the first sprites in the game looked janky and simplistic, and everything - the gameplay, music and art got better over time. I find it really inspiring.
I want to have a project like that someday too.
It's not really possible. Eric Barone was an unemployed bum working on the game full time while his girlfriend worked double shifts to support both of them financially, that alone means what took him years to finish, would take you a decade. Another thing is that during the time SV released, there were maybe around 50-80 of releases weekly on Steam, now it's in the upper hundreds - there's no organic discoverability anymore, what matters is having a good marketing campaign that requires high budget. And last but not least, with each passing year, the content requirement for games keeps going up - what could pass as a fully featured game a decade ago, would be called a boring game with no content today. All other games that blew up was mostly through sheer luck (look at Among Us being a <4k people game for 2 years before becoming one of the biggest games).
Statistically, you're right. But still, party-game-focused games have a chance of succeeding. In other words, it feels like the trend cycle has gotten faster than the "super jackpot" works. Rather than impossible, you could say it's become harder... and in fact, games themselves are statistically few... but even so, everyone wants a miracle.
I think achieving that specific kind and level of success had only been possible during that specific period of time.
Everything is luck and timing. Look at a game like Mecha Chameleon. That game is a vibe coding game, but it's very fun, isn't it? What about Vampire Survivors? I think a lot of every success and failure depends on luck. But separately from that, I want to become the developer of some great project. Right now I mainly deliver programs that go into factories, but someday I have a small dream of making a project that everyone can recall when they hear my name. In that sense, I envy ConcernedApe. With my talent and ability, it's probably hard, but life is long.