DevLog #2 

Hi everyone!!
So it has been 10 days since I launched DISORDER, and man! what a cool experience it has been so far. I thought I would take a moment to write about the experience I have had so far before and after launch, and also how I feel about the future of DISORDER.
I am fairly new to this whole expressing through a Devlog thing, but I will keep it real with you guys, whoever takes the time to read this haha

PRE-LAUNCH

So as I stated in the last Devlog, I have been working on DISORDER for just over 4 months, while also working on some really cool and exciting projects I cant talk about just yet.

The development has had its ups and downs, because I had initially chosen to build this for a game jam there was not a lot of planning in the beginning. I was more just acting on instinct throughout the development, adding things that just felt right or things that felt needed. I would discuss with my friends about the game and then all of a sudden "Oh wouldn't it be cool if a shotgun timer drops in" or I would get so bored of seeing the same death animations over and over, that I would burn another few days animating more in.

I put in some ridiculous hours, and at times it took a toll on me, but I love this shit so much, I just kept on grinding. It got to a point where I began to really doubt the idea, the whole concept of the game and also my work. I had been staring at the game so much, I was pretty hard on myself. Every single flaw would stand out so bright and I would think things like "Who the F is going to want to waste time on a word game!?" - "Why did I waste so much time on this!?" - "No one will play this game!". 
These feelings began to overwhelm me so I made the decision to get the game into a playable state from start to finish and put it out onto Itch,  just see where it lands. Buckshot Roulette did it, why can't I?

I would be scripting until my brain was fried, then put on some music and jump straight into modelling until my hands cramped. Then I would pull out the graphics tablet and texture or create the store banners until my wife forced me to sleep or it was time to take the kids to school haha 

The grind was real.

LAUNCH

I had made a trailer, the store page and all of the banners were ready. you can play the game from start to finish and chase score ratings. On the day I launched, I was not happy with the game, my friends were having fun with it but I continued to tweak it, plus I couldn't shake this feeling of 'I just have to get it right!' until it was getting late, I just uploaded a new build for my wife to test, honestly I was fried and so tired I just said to myself "Fuck it!" and hit the publish button. I was instantly hit with a wave of excitement, I played through a couple of celebratory elder scrolls dungeons with my wife and friends then went to bed, hoping for the best.

My morning alarm goes off, I instantly grab my phone, go to my itch page and..... nothing.... 
I had hardly any views on Itch, and my game has disappeared down the new release rabbit hole.
I had 0 views on my game trailer and shorts, this overwhelming feeling of disappointment just fell on me like a ton of bricks. My wife could tell I was disappointed straight away and just told me "its all good, be patient" So I decided to get outside and touch some grass haha
I spent the whole day catching up on tasks around the house and went to run some errands with the wife and kids. I really just wanted to get away from my PC for a while, but I couldn't stop checking on my phone... still nothing.

Its now getting pretty late and I stopped into my parents to help my Dad with some errands around his farm.
At this point im at war with myself, on one side I am reminding myself about how much I learned and regardless of whether anyone plays it or not, I still made something that looks pretty cool!! Then on the other side I am so pissed off with myself for burning all this time on a stupid word game no one is going to play. Its getting late, I  have a coffee with my parents and then as im leaving my Dad says "Its all good mate! be patient."

Finally I get to my desk and I boot up Elder scrolls, its time to run the daily dungeons with my clan.
While I am running through the dungeon, my phone begins to go off, I have had 2 sales on DISORDER! Then another comes through, and another. I was so confused, I had no ide how or why this was happening so I began looking through my sales and noticed they were all coming from youtube, so I went searching on youtube and my game popped up in the search results, a youtuber name ManlyBadassHero had just released a video on DISORDER and it already had 10k views! I couldn't believe it! I then start going through the comments and people are liking the game, it was such a cool and overwhelming feeling.

One of the coolest parts, was seeing people discover some of the easter eggs I placed in the game in real time, whether it was something I carved into the table or linking the questions/answers to a reference.

Thanks to all of the incoming sales and views on my page, my game quickly climbed the store list and more people were now seeing the game, then more people started making videos and sharing feedback. This is such a wild experience for me and what is even crazier is just under 24 hours earlier I experienced the lowest of low feelings followed up by the highest of highs.

The next few days were so cool, I spent most of my time conversing with people on my page or in youtube comments and also pushing out hot fixes for the game and I even had the creator of Buckshot Roulette, Mike Klubnika, drop an "Awesome!" onto my store page and follow me on twitter, that was a huge moment for me, it made me realize that I may just be onto something here, all that time wasn't for nothing. I feel so blessed to have experienced all of this.

10 DAYS AFTER LAUNCH

So now 10 days after launch, I feel pretty damn good about the whole thing, the games reach is starting to slow up in the last 2 days and thats cool with me. I didn't expect anyone to play the game after the initial launch and now I have sold nearly 400 copies of the game with majority of the people who have played it being quite positive about the game and the concept of the game.

I am hoping to see more people post videos of their gameplay as that has been the most fun thing for me from launch and having discussions about the game.

I have also setup my Steam developer account and registered DISORDER for steam :) I have so many cool plans for this game and now that I know the concept has landed with so many people I think it is worth the extra time in development to build a Steam release. 

The Steam release will include a fuller story/lore, deeper gameplay including lifelines to allow the player a chance to save their family from execution and assist them during rounds. there will be more game modes and also many more twists and turns to surprise the player. The family members themselves will also play a deeper role in the game and at times assist the play and also work against the player.

I hope to have the steam release out by the end of the year.

Conclusion

I apologize for the massive wall of text you just got through haha, It has been a hell of a grind man but it feels quite nice to lay it all out like this and unload a bit, the last 10 days have made it so worth it, I love this shit and cant wait to get stuck back into it.

Huge thank you to ManlyBadassHero for kickstarting all of this, to everyone who has taken a chance with DISORDER and has been posting videos and feedback, I greatly appreciate you!! 

Thanks to Mike Klubnika for the inspiration!

Thank you to all of my family and friends who helped test the game. Love you guys!

Let me know in the comments what you think of the game!! 

Now back to work haha!
Cheers.
Stonie.