Publisher here: so there are few key points. Length is important. Games shorter than 2 hours can be finished and returned on Steam. Probably not what You asked for but important. Also some players do decide looking at amount of hours they can spend playing. Replayability can help here, but there must be enough content.
On the other hand length is one of many factors - rarely crucial. Better to have shorter but great game and plan DLCs and updates than have a long boring title. Making big game is tough. Keeping players attention is more difficult with every hour.
Finally - we look at a lot of things, but try to build fair impression from the game. Time played is usually mentioned only when the game is just really short.
Food for thoughts. We had a game that was quite long and was developed for years. The problem presented itself when we were able to play whole game. Beginning was much worse because that part was developed in the beginning. Guys improved during the production and gain skills and exp. But game was created from the beginning to the final. So first impression was misleading. And we had a problem.
This one might be interesting- where the hell are everybody?
Well looks interesting - do You sell those?
Great read :) the way You dealt with this „curator” was a blast 💥
Well it’s true - it’s about that thing - hard to pinpoint and missing on the beginning
Game menu is overwhelmed by graphic elements. Also it stand out in a bad way - it’s ugly. You need to compose the whole set.
Omg - who hurt You so much?
Was the game on Next Fest? I remember it. 🎉
I wonder how it will resist humidity light and contact with soil
Wow so that how it looked in the rotten west countries… envy - well I was 3 at the time but still
It will create conflicts in the future. There are so many levels here… 1. as mentioned in other comment - they will work on beginning more but later and post launch much less. 2. Cut after steam (or any other platforms) cut? And taxes? And other needed costs? Not much details here - so many bad scenarios here… 3. it looks unbalanced - I don’t know details - but You need to think thru the whole life of the game. Who will update it, do marketing? Discounts, ports… it might not make sense and be enraging if it will fall on You and other team members will do much less and get more out of it…
I would suggest more balanced approach: all costs calculated agreed and updated weekly. All added.m and reimbursed after launch. And revshare set up more even. It will give the better chance to be finish and launch. 🚀
Airsoft weapon? can You share a link to smg that You print and it work?
That looks like Star Wars…
Btw - great reminder - going to buy :)
I remember this one! Insanely good idea! No wonder steam featured You. Well it doesn’t sound businesslike… but they also like to feature cool stuff :)
Yeah - would love to get stl
We never know is the game gone be a success. We try to mitigate risks and build on every chance. So if we cannot turn shortness of the game into smg marketable, we try to rule it out or avoid it.
Question to publisher friends: what's more appealing to you, shorter but better game or longer but with "filler" content?
gamedev