What happened? Why?
the best explanation I can give is I got very depressed thinking about how much time and effort I put into my work and how little response I got out of it that I wanted to tear everything down as a way of regaining some kind of agency. I have restored some of my games, I might put the rest of them back online. I just feel terrible right now
sometimes with media, the most unique, refreshing, thoughtful work doesn't seem to get as much traction as more derivative/broadly appealing/recognizable works. A lot of it is due to connections. After a break you could ask a wide range of YouTubers/streamers/TikTokers to cover your games? But within an industry, technicians' recognize & appreciate, look to another technicians' craft as inspiration. Savor that
I dunno my unsolicited advice to another stranger: join a team, join a supportive local or remote dev community, go to nearby conventions & showcases, focus on smaller/bigger projects, take breaks--try new hobbies.
Tbh most of the devs I follow on Itch are inspirational jam winners that I don't get around to trying many games. So I'd take any lack of attention with a grain of salt...so many more platforms are vying for ones attention...
I don't mean to be dismissive but I have kinda been at this for like 10 years, i worked on one game for 7 of those years, and I've been lucky that a few games got covered on Rock Paper Shotgun a few times. It really doesn't feel like that world exists anymore. Every game dev community I join feels like they want you to make the next derivative Skinner Box style crafting game. The game dev groups I was a part of didn't really respond to when I released this last project. it felt really discouraging to spend all that time and tell all my friends and then hear nothing.
I can understand that. It feels like the whole world is full of things, and so few of them are interesting, and the only way to tell what they are is to look at each of them individually.
It's something we're trying to combat at Set Side B, but we only have a limited amount of time and energy too. Sigh.