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[ScottFarRoad]

I've been keeping my eye on this game for a little while and it looks like it's shaping up pretty well! The social issues dimension of the game is pretty novel for a city builder and while I have a habit of never buying games when they are in an early stage I will totally think about picking this up when it is near completion.

Just wanted to say that as a trans person I think it is super cool that you are putting trans people in your game! But I also wanted to give you a grammar tip: the word transgender is an adjective so saying "transgendered survivors" is the equivalent of saying "gayed" or "lesbianed" survivors. Transgender survivors or just trans survivors is more grammatically correct. Also the most recent statistical study pins the prevalence of transgenderismat 0.6% of the population, just thought that might help you keep things realistic! Good luck with the development!

Thanks! Nobody on the team is trans so I knew I was bound to mess up in the language somewhere, hence these dev blogs to get feedback. I'll try to keep the grammar correct in the game (though grammar is my nemesis no matter what the topic is). People can always (and will always) correct me when it's available to play.

There might be slightly more than 0.6% of survivors who are trans in AS, as we can't quite match the range of variety in actual reality so we need players to actually see this happening, but thanks for the stat. I want this issue to be rare, especially given the setting, but not so rare it never occurs. I think post-apocalyptic trans people is just a cool story unto itself.

[ScottFarRoad]

An old British TV-show "Survivors" (nothing to do with the later reality show) had an interesting take in showing the difference between loot-based and production-based post-apocalyptic societies. In the series, the world population is destroyed by a terrible virus, which is suggested in the intro to have been spread around the globe on purpose. This is never handled in the series though, which concentrate on showing how various survivors in Britain handle the post-apocalyptic situation. First by just surviving, then by forming enclaves for survival and mutual protection.

Basically, the societies seem to divide between those who start working for the new and those who concentrate on hoarding what is left of the old. The hoarders are much better at start, they - for example - occupy massive supermarket distribution storages filled with food and drink. Meanwhile, others who have to learn from scratch how to farm without technology, are really struggling. As time goes on, things go exactly the opposite. Those who invested heavily in grabbing everything they could in the beginning start to run out of gasoline, power, food - you name it. Those who started immediately adopting to the new low technology situation start to thrive. The enclaves that were based on occupying storages and scrounging then implode. Some turn into refugees, some try to desperately learn stuff, others degenerate into raiding.

Anyway, my point is that early after the apocalypse there would surely be a lot of stuff available. The real problem would be fixing broken stuff and making new stuff. I've yet to see this portrayed in an interesting way in any game.

Yes, the old quote that if World War 3 did occur we'd be back to sticks and stones is not actually true, as we'd just be living on the ruins of advanced technology. We wouldn't forget how to use it all overnight.

[ScottFarRoad]

-snip

Best marketing would always be social media. Youtubers would be interested in showing off your game if there is enough content, if you got an alpha with about 1-2 hours of gameplay that would be enough to pique some talk about your game. As for publishers, I don't think it will be needed, you guys are already on Steam with a store page on standby. Thats already millions of potential sales there. And if you think you are ready try sending review copies to gaming sites like rockpapershotgun. They do reviews on alot of early access games.

Thanks for the tips. Our pre-alpha (which has about 2-3 hours content) has generated some YT coverage but I haven't actually promoted it anywhere (they came to us). Our marketing is limited to these dev blogs so far. I have a long list of Youtubers who want to cover the game. Not sure when to give them access. Maybe when we hit Steam?

As for the publisher gamble, we'll have to see. They have strongly suggested that I'll need them. I'm not convinced yet it makes financial sense. We'll see I guess when the game hits Steam next year. 

[Mephansteras]

I'd say get youtubers up and running just a bit before the game goes live. Give them some time to get into LPs of the game a bit and give their audience a taste for the game and a desire to play it themselves without making them wait to long to get a hold of it themselves.

[Madman198237]

This looks pretty neat. I doubt if I'll play it (Don't usually get city-builders. And I'm sorry, but after purchasing a certain Steam early-access game called Kinetic Void, I don't buy EA at all.), but I wish you good luck.

Anyways, as far as marketing, I'm no expert, nor have I done any of this myself, but I'd not ever use a publisher. You're on Steam, which is instant publicity even if a lot of people don't like the system Valve uses. Like what was mentioned above, just send your game out slightly early (1-3 days, I'd guess) to Youtubers who are willing to do LP's and such. And send it to review websites. This you can do yourself. Especially, from what it sounds, as a first indy game, you're probably better off keeping the profits and not taking the added risk of loss associated with losing X% of revenues to a publisher.

[ScottFarRoad]

This looks pretty neat. I doubt if I'll play it (Don't usually get city-builders. And I'm sorry, but after purchasing a certain Steam early-access game called Kinetic Void, I don't buy EA at all.), but I wish you good luck.

Anyways, as far as marketing, I'm no expert, nor have I done any of this myself, but I'd not ever use a publisher. You're on Steam, which is instant publicity even if a lot of people don't like the system Valve uses. Like what was mentioned above, just send your game out slightly early (1-3 days, I'd guess) to Youtubers who are willing to do LP's and such. And send it to review websites. This you can do yourself. Especially, from what it sounds, as a first indy game, you're probably better off keeping the profits and not taking the added risk of loss associated with losing X% of revenues to a publisher.

Yep, that's my plan too. We're playing the tortoise vs the hare game by rejecting all forms of publicity until the game is further along and more fun, but still letting people play it now if they're really, really keen. Not sure if that is wise but we shall find out!

[Madman198237]

If you keep up development, it's a fine plan. But if you drop out early, stop developing it, you aren't going to make as much money as if you pulled a Steam Early Access steal.

Somehow I don't think you're going to pull one of those ridiculous development-abandoning things. So you should be fine. If revenues start to far too fall, then you might kick up the publicity.

[ScottFarRoad]

New dev blog time! 

Dev Blog #22: New version out, stress, design changes, and crystal ball peering...

Version 0.0.7 Released!
 
It turned out the game needed six weeks of intensive tweaking and bug-fixing to finish the new update! But we did it and I'm pleased to say 0.0.7 is now available for those who enjoy seeing the game grow up step by step.
 
For those who haven’t seen what’s new yet, here’s a quick glance at some of the changes:

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* 5 new social issues added: Settlements can now be home to drug users, slavers (and slaves), and people who are transgender, vegetarian or suicidal. Set laws for these issues as you see fit.

* You can now Encourage any social issue you want and attract more migrants who want to do it.

* 4 new major buildings added: An Info Station to educate citizens on what you want encouraged. A Chemist that requires herbs grown at your Greenhouse and converts them into medicine. A Giant Storehouse that takes up a lot of space but can solve your storage woes. And a Repair Shack which is very important as buildings can now collapse and kill those inside!

* In addition to the above, a new decorative building (planted tree) and a new ruined missile silo have made their way into the game.

* The sprawling desert map Dunes has been added.

* New story elements have been added, hidden skeletons with journals now lurk in each map, and now all citizens have a randomly generated biography.

* Tons of UI improvements, such as a scrolling news feed to show you what’s going on, a clearer stats screen, and a new windowed mode.

* Lots of gameplay tweaks: Decorative buildings give random buffs, unemployed people getting into trouble more often, criminals sentenced to short prison sentences coming out wanting revenge, etc.

* And of course lots of technical improvements as well, such as letting you use the menus when the game is paused, sound effects, new music, and more.

---

It’s a pretty big patch so you can read the full patch notes for it here if you like.

Version 0.0.7 certainly doesn't make the game feel like a finished product yet, so don't expect that. It is, however, the next big step on the journey.

Under (Release) Pressure

​Now that version is out - and a quick hotfix patch we quickly released to stop all citizens spawning as female - I’m able to unwind a little.

I get so stressed in the run-up to release. Being a perfectionist and releasing a pre-alpha makes for a bad brain combo. I must have proof-read the tutorial 50 times for example and still managed to miss a serious typo!
​
It reminds me of when I used to do a bit of acting, that pre-show tension, when you're waiting for the curtain to go up before a paying audience. You're as prepared as you can be, but you have to get it right because people have expectations. It's even worse when you know that Youtubers could be streaming your update to thousands!
 
Adding to the tension, we still had a serious crash in the game with less than 24 hours to go until I'd definitively told people the version would be out. It was a crash that occurred when saving, destroying people's towns. Over many hours we pinpointed the problem to cops arresting themselves for being slavers and doctors euthanizing themselves! Fortunately, coder Nick, powered by pure caffeine, came to the rescue and was able to sort it out in the nick (get it?!) of time.
 
And then, feeling immensely excited and stressed, I released the new build and... It was all quite anticlimactic. You're so hyped and you've worked so hard, but most of the world doesn't even know the game exists yet. It can take days or weeks even for the news to spread. But that's a different marketing problem...

Smaller and Faster Updates From Now On
 
Because of this stress, and because most of the big core tasks in Atomic Society are more or less done (just about 700 medium-sized tasks left to do), we should be able to release more frequent updates from now on. This will be good for players, who get fixes and new things to tinker with more regularly, and good for us as they'll be less to test and fix each time.
 
So rather than 10 features per version over 3 months, I’m hoping for about 3-4 features every 6 weeks roughly. I wasn’t keen on this approach initially, as I thought smaller versions would be less exciting, and more hassle, but I might be changing my views.

We’ll see how it goes with the upcoming version 0.0.8 and whether it proves beneficial for the game and getting noticed.

​

Design Philosophy Ver. 240
 
Smaller versions will also fit neatly with the latest patch to my game design philosophy.

Basically, I’m now forcing myself not to plan ahead. I have dev scars now, I know how much work new features are. I can't make others work on something that isn't 100% what the game needs.

And you only know what the game needs when a new version is finished and you can actually play it without bugs or missing bits for the first time. Then you find out something I was certain the game needed a month ago might not be required anymore.
 
So from now on, rather than adding 10 new things to a version and hoping they’ll still be what the game needs in 3 months, I’m designing just 2-3 at a time, then we'll release and review. Only then do I decide what to add next.

This is a scary method for me. I like to plan and know where we’re headed. Now I don’t know where we're going beyond the imminent future. Now the game is dictating to me what it needs.

Where will it end up? How will I know when Atomic Society is “finished”? It reminds me of the old quote that “a poem is never finished, it is only abandoned”. Perhaps even the best games, that have years of work poured into them, are forced out into the world. One day you just have to move on.
 
For now, I think my satisfaction levels with AS, and the pressing need of not going broke, will be our judge, not any plans I invent. Right now I'm probably 28% satisfied with Atomic Society. I would like to get that figure to 40% before we even hit Steam.
 
If it’s taken us 2.5 years to get to 28% satisfaction, there's still a (far) road ahead...

Plotting Version 0.0.8
 
What I am sure about, and player comments seem to be confirming, is that the next version must be getting things we've already added to work more reliably.

​Therefore, 0.0.8 is primarily going to be a bug-fixing version. Not the most exciting thing to announce, but it should make a huge difference as all those little glitches add up and I'm tired of seeing players frustrated by the same few things.

The core focus will therefore be path-finding, the routes and paths the AI takes. It needs a big overhaul that we've been putting off for ages. The second focus will be squashing some long-standing bugs, like not being able to build where you want to. And thirdly, we’ll do something about scavengers, as people want more control over what loot is coming in.
 
We've known about these problems forever, but only now does it feel we've got some breathing space to address them. As soon as that’s all done, we’ll release and then I'll play the game and work out where we go next...  


​The End of Summer Madness
 
The spark of interest the game received back in May, when a dozen random Youtubers examined it out of the blue, took about 3 months to die down and even now sales are a better than they used to be. The game has been publicly available for about 15 months, and 70% of all copies sold were in the last 3 months!
 
You can imagine what hope that gave us. Hope holds us together as a (mostly) unpaid team, as is the case no doubt for a lot of indie devs. Hope gets us through long days in our day jobs and long nights on AS. This summer helped a lot.
 
The problem with even a little sniff of success can be addictive. It's tempting to start to working for sales figures, not for yourself. It's never enough. Sales increased by 10%. That's becomes the new baseline to feel "good". Keep feeding the numbers. It's the same with social media. If I wanted to work for the bottom line, there are much better jobs to get than making games, so I'm trying my best to ignore it all.

Other Bits

Patch notes for the 0.0.7b hotfix we've just released.

My post on how salvaging has changed in 0.0.7.
 

Future Prediction Time
 
I know I said I need to stop planning ahead, but it's okay to make mistakes in a dev blog!

​At the end of the last blog I guessed that by the time I wrote this one, we’d all be exhausted after working overtime on version 0.0.7, and waiting to see if the version engaged the public. Aside from the fact we were delayed by 3 weeks getting the version out, that’s proven to be perfectly accurate.
 
So, by the time September’s blog is out, I won’t be insane enough to guess version 0.0.8 will be ready... But I’d like it to be about 70% finished, which would be nice. I'm looking forward to being able to polish stuff rather than invent new stuff for a change.
 
Anyway, thanks to all the readers of these blogs. They seem to get a pretty good reception.

​Hope you enjoy version 0.0.7 if you try it out this early and I’ll see you in the next edition…