to make find the key it took me about a month .. in hours there are about 150, but I had to redo some things several times to perfect the method otherwise it would be maybe half, but it is very simple as a type of game, the thing it requires more time is debugging ..
do all the tests etc, then I am also a bit of a perfectionist so I waste a lot of time doing things well that even if done badly would make no difference .. but I also spent a couple of years studying the engine and doing tests / prototypes before this,
perhaps to say that it is the first game is not entirely correct because I have made much more advanced prototypes of this type of game, it is more correct to say the first official game ..
but I had no strategy, I was thinking about steam from the beginning, putting it on itch was a last minute thing .. my reasoning is that steam is a multibillion dollar company with millions of active users per day, which has all the interest in recommending your game to the right people at the right time, so I just thought I'd put it there when finished ..
this is why when I put the game here it was already finished and no updates are planned, unless someone tells me that there is a bug or something to fix, as soon as the game is available on steam I will increase the price here too to 1 for consistency so we will do the package certainly,
putting a game for free on steam makes no sense, because you pay the initial fee in the first place and then because "free game" on steam for people means that it has microtransitions, so they are not even considered .. obviously there are exceptions here too , but then steam I don't think he would worry about promoting it if he doesn't earn his 30%, always if he promotes the paid ones .. I still don't know,
I think the best updates strategy for itch is to start keeping the dev log right away, so maybe every day or week you say what you did, maybe a screenshot, a video, your thoughts, problems you encountered etc ... the point is involve people in the project from the very beginning ..
I would not recommend starting with an RPG at all, it is certainly the most difficult genre a developer can do, choosing a 2D platformer to start is certainly the best.
generally the easier something is to do, the more competition you will have, precisely 2d platformers I think is the category with more games, but I think the important point in any genre is to do something that has a personality of its own, something that stands out from the others ,
do what you like and what you are able to do, then you will improve over time and eventually you will make the game of your dreams,
I like horror games, psychological or survival (silent hill, layer of fear resident evil, last of us etc), not so much those with jumpscare or where you escape from the monster with the candle in hand which are very popular nowadays,
making a horror that is really scary is very difficult .. I am not able to do it right now, so I do things that I enjoy doing , I improve along the way, maybe I hope to earn too some money in the meantime but the important point for me is just to have fun and do it well :)