Game development diary: Launched, but far from finished

While the Steam launch of “Character Limit” isn’t the end of Malcolm’s game development journey, he still has to combat the oddities of promotions and scammers. That, and get the iOS release done.

The Character Limit launch on July 21 was a weird day for a number of reasons. For a start, that it actually happened at all.

When I last left off, I was in a predicament of waiting for Steam’s review process to approve the game on a second attempt, after the first failed on a technicality. Thankfully, instead of waiting for five days, Steam’s support approved the game on Monday, meaning I could release on Tuesday as originally intended.

The actual launch itself was a weird process, timing-wise. While you did have to confirm to Steam the date and time for your intended release and it would be locked in the system two weeks beforehand, it didn’t actually matter.

The system said that a launch could’ve happened earlier if the game was approved. The timing was also useless when it came to the actual launch, because it’s not automatically released.

Instead, the person in charge of the project has to tell SteamWorks multiple times that the game needs to be released. You had to click Release App, then click a second button to Release Right Now, then enter “Release My App” into a text box, followed by clicking “Release Now.”

There is undoubtedly a good reason or two for this process. Especially when a game could cost millions to produce and be especially harmful to the brand if shipped early with bugs.

To me, it felt like a dual-key missile launch on a submarine in a war film, but with much lower stakes.

I was expecting that seeing the game live and for sale in Steam would be an emotional moment. The culmination of all the work and releasing it to the public. Tears and all that.

There were no tears, no massive explosions, no ticker tape parade. It felt about as emotional as buying cat litter on Amazon.

You have to tell Steam four times to release a game.

It probably helped that it was the start of the working day for me here at AppleInsider. I had other things to think about for about eight hours after launch, which probably saved me from repeatedly refreshing the sales data screen.

It’s still the opening week, and for a small game with little typical promotion, there were no expectations of buying a Ferrari. Quite the opposite.

That said, I am glad that it did make some sales. It’s far from stellar, but it’s thankfully not zero either.

I did eventually celebrate the launch by taking Emma to KFC late at night and trying to find a Toblerone. The chicken was nice, but I couldn’t find the chocolate.

Hawking keys

If there was one thing working for AppleInsider has taught me, it’s that if you put something on the Internet, you’re going to get emails. It’s the same for releasing a game, but with a different quality of communication.

In the days just before and following the launch, emails have been coming in as one of three categories.

The first are people promoting their services to get the game in front of news outlets and influencers on YouTube and Twitch. These are paid services, and by the looks of a few of them, don’t really seem that legitimate.

I know that if I had funding for marketing, I would be talking to a few existing firms that can do just that. Well before the launch date too, not after.

The second category is for Steam Curators, that is someone in control of a group that people follow, just dealing with game recommendations. All of whom wanted a copy or four of the game so they could make a “curated review” for their subscribers.

An ancient Twitch account a scammer tried to get a free game key with.

Yes, I understand completely the parallels of publications like AppleInsider talking to companies about review products and so on. The irony is not lost on me.

I know there are probably legitimate curator groups on Steam, but some of the emails seem to be quite questionable in nature. It’s an area to explore in the coming week or so, but the messages asking for keys didn’t help.

The third, and adjacent to the curators, were people trying to get keys and claiming they were streamers. They said they’d stream the game on Twitch, if only they got a key.

The problem here is that I was warned beforehand of people claiming to be influencers doing this, and checked the supposed accounts. They hadn’t streamed on Twitch in ages, with one account’s last recording dated for nine years ago.

Sometimes, you get a feel for something not being right. Sometimes, it’s painfully obvious.

As with any software project, the end is never really the end. It’s a new beginning.

The release of Character Limit on Steam is only one release, as there’s still the work to be done to get it on iOS and iPadOS. I would say most of the work is done, but I still want to make sure it runs properly with TestFlight again before declaring that version live.

The plan for that is for the middle of August. I know that early September is going to be wall-to-wall iPhone coverage, and late August will be preparing for it, so I would want to launch before the circus begins.

At some point, I’ll also have to look at other platforms, as I’ve had queries about Linux and Android versions. I’ll spare the audience of an Apple-centric publication the trials and tribulations of that, but they’re now on the to-do list.

Speaking of to-do lists, I now have multiple to deal with. One is listing bugs to fix before the first update of the game comes out.

A second is a “would be nice to do” list of game improvements and other tasks that aren’t essential or urgent, but I would like to get to at some point. Think adding more languages, more background videos, a way for players to submit “missing” words, and new gameplay modes.

The last list is promotional, to get the game promoted and out in the world. That has included a press release and some social media posts so far, as well as lines for outreach to influencers and streamers.

I may be someone who sees many request emails and press releases in their line of work. It doesn’t mean that I’m any good at doing that sort of thing myself, but I’m going to try anyway.

As it stands, I’ve managed to release an actual game that I made, on Steam, a platform I am very familiar with from years of gaming. The 15-year-old version of me would be over the moon about this.

That same younger me just wouldn’t have understood that the work isn’t over by a long shot.