It is with a heavy heart that I have decided to withdraw from the Steam Next Fest for June 2024.
In all the doom and gloom I am looking at more of an upside, and believe that this is a good opportunity to discuss something many of us are afraid of, FAILUE.
Often we hear constantly about people's success and very little of the hardships and failures that they went through along the way. Often we forget that there are more failures then there are successes.
But as some ex-drug addict likes to say, "Those who try the most fail the most" and as the common phrase says, "you can't succeed if you don't try."
Admitting failure is hard and often we do just need to suck it up and move on.
When I moved countries, I was given the opportunity to do my masters degree with support from the government, I was 29 at the time and the cut off age was 30. My instinct was to take it. I needed to do some pre-requisites first to ensure that the education in my previous university matched that of the university I was to attend. English is not the main language of the country I moved to, and in a way I had hoped that I could learn the local language better by osmosis. Half way through the year I realized I was struggling and that I was not going to get through it. I had two choices
push on through
admit failure and move on.
I chose the later. In a way I am glad I did because it then drove me to focus on software development which in turn lead me to game development.
At a recent game developer meet up, I was demonstrating The Legends of Maui to fellow devs to try and get some feedback and bug hunting. It was a great success, and I encourage all developers to take the opportunity to do such a thing. Some devs took the time to look at my Steam store page and were brutally honest, they told me that on first impressions it looked bad. I knew they were 100% right and had planned on cleaning it up at a later date, but with Next Fest around the corner it could cost me.
The current click through rate is good, what you would typically expect of around 30%+, however the only wishlists were those of friends who I asked to do so.
I was left with two choices either;
Take the gamble and get the demo out in time for Next Fest
Drop out of Next Fest for June, get the store page up to par and spend more time fixing the game ready for October Next Fest.
I went with the later.
Was it a mistake to register for June Next Fest and not wait it out? No, it was the right decision at the time, and I encourage other devs to register whether you think you'll be ready or not. You can always drop out for the next one.
Did it hurt to hear from others that thing's looked bad? No, criticism is what helps drive us to be better, and I believe the more honest it is the better. Holding back to spare someone's feelings only sets them up for failure. I am lucky that I live in a country where honesty is a common thing and people want to hear it.
All in all, what this experience has reminded me is that there is no shame in admitting failure, failure is our greatest teacher and success only confirms what we already know. Don't be afraid of failing. because behind every success is a road pathed with failure, and anyone who says otherwise is lying.
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