FULLSCREEN MODE: A lot of players have missed it and mentioned this, so I wanted to let everyone know that there is a fullscreen mode in the game. When you pull up the menu, you'll see a list of key commands on the right, and F is the command to switch to Full screen mode.

If anyone needs to contact me, currently the best way is through Twitter @SolarEchoesRPG

Follow and then DM me, and I'll probably get back to you within less than a day. I apologize to anyone that has asked me questions here about the game and I've failed to respond quickly. I don't spend a lot of time on itch.io, sorry!

I'm so sorry I missed this post! Yes, the Chiraktis Queen is difficult, but one thing to keep in mind is that you may have succeeded and not known it with her. She is arrogant and won't let on that you've convinced her, and will send you away. But if you play it out past that, you may find out that you succeeded. I'll give you a hint...if you end up leaving  in the next scene with Rakchitek, you've actually done well. If it's one of her guards, though...that will eventually end up in a Game Over, though there's a little surprise at the end you may want to witness before reloading. It's not over until it's over :)

One other tip with the Chiraktis Queen is to forget everything you've learned with the other leaders. She obviously doesn't respond to the same arguments. Sometimes making threats and taking a strong stance is the only way to reason with a bully. ;)

Thanks for your thoughts, WalrusWilram, very good points! Yes, I think it's very easy to get discouraged initially when things seem to be dying down, and you do generate more energy and interest for a title when you put effort into keeping it going. You gave good examples and I like your suggestions to tweak thumbnails, cover images, and titles.

One thing I'd like to add is trying a rotation on social media channels. You have to do this anyway on reddit, since many subreddits have strict posting policies when it comes to self-advertising. But get in the habit of putting up new ads in different places. One thing I'm trying to do is create some new ads in photoshop for banner ads, and then rotate those out every few weeks.

Thanks for your feedback! Actually, I barely spent anything on the trailer--only the cost of the voice actress. I did everything else myself in a couple weeks, using the assets I already had from the game. But I do agree that it is boring without the music I wrote for it. The trouble with trailers for visual novels is that there isn't a lot of action to show, and most of the onscreen movement comes from slow zooms of the backgrounds and characters, with maybe a few clips of the text. Thankfully in my game, there are a lot of cinematic/animated moments, but back when I made this trailer, I had only programmed the first 45 minutes of the game (which is the demo) so I had to fabricate a few of the later scenes I was planning. I do think I should probably make a second, shorter demo for it that uses a lot more of the animated battle scenes.

You are definitely right that different types of advertising is needed for different places online. I plan to experiment with your idea of using gifs and I may try to put together a shorter trailer with more of the animated parts of the game on display. 

I'm glad you brought this up, I noticed the same thing on Itch! I had lots of initial interest when first posting the game page, and just like you, a few donations for the free demo, lots of positive comments, etc.  However,  on release, very few views. A wishlist button would be great--they really should do this. I have my game on Steam as well, and so far have over 600 people that have wishlisted it (I think they're waiting for a sale, or maybe more reviews? Hard to say.) But at least I know people are interested and have noticed it. I feel like getting noticed on Itch is difficult after posting in new releases.

Interesting that you tried it the other way with your Balloonys adventure game. It does feel like timing is key. I think Thursdays-through Saturdays are great for game releases. The rest of the week--not so much.

I like your suggested for animated gifs on Twitter. I definitely need to do more with animation. I've tried linking youtube videos there, but somehow, mine never play, they just show up as links. I've seen people posting on twitter with high-quality videos that loop in their post. I still haven't figured out how to do that.

I liked your trailer, and felt like you got into the gameplay quickly, but I do see what you mean about a small delay before it really gets going. Good point about a video being instantly eye catching. The problem with my trailer is that the audio voice over begins with a static star background, and the "action" doesn't start until after she finishes her first sentence:

Awesome, this is really helpful, thanks for the ideas! This is what I was hoping people would add on here, nice work!

You're welcome, I hope it was helpful and you found some ideas that were useful :)

The Star Legation

Thanks, I appreciate that. I do think of this as supplemental/bonus income, and I'm certainly not looking to make a living off of this alone right now. That would be nice, though...we can all hope to become professional, full-time game designers as a career, and doing this is where we might find our beginnings!

As a new indie developer, I've been reading about and talking with other indiedevs facing the same problem: it's hard to be noticed. The ease of self-publishing your own game online today (especially at itch.io, which is far easier to publish through than Steam) means that new developers have a chance. But the double edged sword is that it's also easy to be lost in the crowd.

I'm writing this thread for those of us who are struggling with marketing. I know I am. I'll start with some things I've been doing that have maybe helped a little, but I'm still trying to spread the word about my scifi visual novel.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

• Follow lots of people with similar interests on social media. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. They might follow you back, so they might see your posts, and even if they don't, if you have similar interests, chances are they are searching for the hashtags you're already using.
• Use #hashtags! I know there is a dispute about whether they really matter on Twitter or not, and you shouldn't overuse them there, but find your target audience and maybe figure out what some bots like to retweet to your target audience. Things like #indiedev and #gamedev work well.
• Use lots of images in your posts. Most of us scroll through social media quickly until something catches our eye. So make sure you're putting out content that is eye-catching, instead of text-only.
• Get on Discord. I'm horrible at this. I don't like to spend my time chatting online, and I find it difficult to create an engaging discord--I'm too busy with my other projects. I wish I knew someone that was good at it that might help in discord with their own presence, but, that likely costs money (and since we're indiedevs, we probably poured all of that into our projects, right?) But you can find other Discords related to your game genre, in addition to a lot of indiedev Discords that are available. I'm not sure if their "self-promotion" channels are actually read by anyone other than indiedevs posting their own self-promotion, but...it's worth a shot.
• Use Reddit. This is tricky, because some subreddits are extremely strict. Since my game is a visual novel, I found a great visual novel reddit, but any mention of my game got me flagged by the moderators, so I learned quickly that you have to be careful about self-promotion. Still, there are opportunities there in the indiedev subreddits. Sometimes people are looking for a certain type of game, and if that's yours, don't hesitate to let them know--you can talk about your game easily if you're not the one making the post.

BUILT-IN FANS:

These are things that can be done online without cost. There are a few other things I've done to build up a small fan base (that I'm still trying to grow). I've mentioned my scifi VN in other products of mine, and advertised to people that have supported those products. For instance, my VN was inspired by a scifi tabletop RPG I created, and over the years (pre-pandemic) I played my game at conventions. A lot of the fans from those conventions gave me their emails, so I let them know about my scifi VN release.

KICKSTARTER

If you've run a Kickstarter, whether it was successful or not, you have a built-in fanbase from people who supported you there. So make sure to use the "Update" section on your Kickstarter page. I ran a Kickstarter over a year ago that failed (I made it to 67% of my goal), but I still use it to send updates to my fans there. Through a Kickstarter update, I let them know my VN released and suddenly I had an increase in sales.

USER PROMOTION:

Friends and family are helpful, but you need people who have played your game and are excited about it. If someone lets you know how much they enjoyed your game, tell them that you'd love it if they could help by telling others how much they enjoyed it, maybe through a review or just posting about it in their social media. Sadly, it seems that people who write reviews more often are those that have something negative to say, but hopefully you can get some positive reviews from fans--just don't be afraid to ask them.

ADS:

If you have extra $ for marketing, ads can be helpful, but keep in mind that a typical marketing outlook is that less than 1% of those who see your ads will actually follow through and purchase.  This is why AAA games have huge marketing budgets of millions of dollars to market to millions of people. We indiedevs obviously don't have that kind of $ to work with, so keep that in mind when paying $100 for an ad on Facebook. It might help, though?

Yes, it can be depressing--after spending months or years on your game, you might be hoping it will go viral. That's like figuring out where lightning is going to strike, though, it's very random. You may also think that your product speaks for itself because it's so awesome, and while it may be just as awesome as you think it is, it's buried under everyone else's awesome games--the insane number of releases makes it nearly impossible for most of us to stand out. My advice (that I'm trying to take myself, too) is to go out there and try to reach the people that you know will like it--your target audience. My target audience includes anyone interested in adventure, choice-driven stories, science fiction (aliens, starships, new worlds, space), tabletop RPG's, science/astronomy, comic art, and techno music. Your audience might be completely different. But make sure you can list the types of people who will like your game, and then...go tell them about it. You just want them to be aware that your game exists and it's something they might be interested in checking out. 

If you have other marketing tips and experiences to share, please mention them in this thread. I'm definitely looking for more ideas and I'm sure a lot of other indiedevs are, too.

-Andy

Corefun Studios

Hi MasterPug!

Would you consider reviewing my choice-driven visual novel, The Star Legation? Customize the protagonist's skills and journey through space with an alien crew. Visit new worlds, negotiate with powerful alien leaders, and survive many challenges on your mission, including your own crew!

https://corefunstudios.itch.io/the-star-legation

The Star Legation visual novel: https://corefunstudios.itch.io/the-star-legation

Thanks Triority! I'm glad you liked artist John Fell's character art and enjoyed the game, thanks for playing!

After 3 years of solo-development, I've finally finished The Star Legation visual novel!

Find it for PC here on itchio.

ABOUT

Solar Echoes: The Star Legation is a Sci-Fi Visual Novel game with RPG elements, full of intriguing alien characters, bizarre foreign cultures, and interstellar conflict. Journey through space to gather and manage an alien crew, visit new worlds, negotiate with alien leaders, and even risk romance across the stars! Survival and success depends upon your choices and the reputation you've built among your alien crewmates. Can your diplomatic efforts with alien leaders lead to a peaceful alliance between all the races, or will you incite a massive interstellar war? Will your words bring unity, or chaos?

FEATURES

• The Star Legation’s beautifully authentic style blends realism with a cel-shaded, anime touch. Design, art, and audio create a unique space-opera atmosphere.
• 100's of decisions to make in this epic, choice-driven branching story where your decisions really matter!
• Experience an engaging narrative filled with intrigue, humor, science, treachery, and heart.
• RPG elements with 8 different character design skill choices to make
• 32 possible endings (including 5 main endings)
• Immersive and realistic dialogue: some character sprites have over 100 different expressions!
• Optional Romance story routes with 2 human characters
• Detailed background art, cinematic camera work, expressive character sprites, and animated sequences make this visual novel a dynamic experience!
• Build relationships with memorable characters and develop reputations with each that will alter the course of the story!
• Over 12 hours of gameplay, with additional hours in alternate routes and endings
• Awesome SciFi soundtrack by composer Andy Mitchell, featuring over 90 minutes of original music!
• 15+ High Res CG's to unlock, designed by the talented artist, Aeghite!
• Hidden skill-related choices based on your character design that unlock extra routes and content
• Kinetic Combat (auto-play/auto-win), or Challenge Mode
• All 5 main endings each voice acted by 3 different voice actors

RE4 Otome was constructed by stringing together brief animated scenes of gameplay from the actual video game itself, mixed seamlessly with extra asides designed by the team at Shimmersoft. Gameplay involved clicking to advance the scenes and read the narrative text and dialogue associated with each scene. Some of the choices revealed more detail about the background of the story, often divulged through conversation. Many of the choices offered in the game seem to be intended as moments to highlight the personality of the heroine, Ashley, rather than to change the actual course of the game, though there were a few choices in the game that could result in dead ends and auto-restarted to continue from the same decision juncture. Most of the game felt like a kinetic visual novel rather than a choice-driven one, so go into it expecting a fun ride without many opportunities to change the outcome.

The sarcasm and wit in this game is neverending, and keeps every moment absolutely entertaining. Unexpected comments and the hilarious random musings of the slightly ditzy heroine, Ashley, painted the normally grim circumstances of Resident Evil in comedic hues. I seriously laughed out loud when the hero, Leon, started breaking a barrel to get a healing leaf. Ashley's resulting confusion and speculation about his anti-barrel obsession was even funnier. This visual novel makes fun of ridiculous video game conventions and how absurdly convenient some of them are, never straying far from the context of the story viewed through Ashley's innocent an naïve eyes.

Overall, this is a very fun and hilarious take on the dark events in Resident Evil 4, and the shift in perspective to the heroine, Ashley, made this feel like a totally different game, even though I'd played through the original Capcom game before. Many of Ashley's thoughts about Leon were absolutely hilarious and memorable, suggesting this game could become a cult classic (haha) with fans endlessly quoting it to each other. If you're looking for a humorous take on the Resident Evil series viewed from the heroine's perspective, and if you don't mind the endless stream of humor, this is an enjoyable way to relive the original RE4 experience!

The extra polish that went into the design of Paws and Effect was evident from the opening title through every scene once this light-hearted game had begun. As the game advertises, the main plot really begins when the protagonist's two pet dogs suddenly transform into human versions of themselves. I enjoyed the humor and perspective of the two dogs, observing the world in human form still from a dog-like perspective. I enjoyed the writing because it was obvious the writer was having fun with the concept and knew it was funny without trying too hard to make it so.

I felt like there was a balance between choices in the game that altered events and choices that had only a few different sentences ascribed to them. I played through different situations several times, picking different choices. Sometimes only a few references were made briefly to my choices, yet in other situations, an entire sequence with new characters occurred. There are 3 possible endings, which each have their own separate outcome, and I liked the menu options to restart from different branches and change previous elements so I could try everything.

I found the game very enjoyable and light-hearted, with a contrast between the realism of every-day life and the supernatural. This made the game relatable and intriguing, because I wanted not only to see how the protagonist would handle the dog people and their antics, I also wanted to know why it all happened in the first place. I'm glad the answer didn't feel like an afterthought. Paws and Effect had great presentation, style, flow, and just the right amount of comedic seasoning to make it fun to play through on a lazy afternoon. Thanks, Shimmersoft!

Thanks magma-rager! For now, I dropped reference to this being based on the Solar Echoes RPG, since I think it might discourage some people away because they're not familiar with the TTRPG. The Star Legation can be played without any prior knowledge of the game universe, since it is essentially a pre-history/introduction to that universe. I do have a brief mention of the TTRPG at the very end of the game after it's solved, so hopefully that will encourage people to look further. Thanks for your suggestion, and be sure to leave a review if you try The Star Legation, I'd love to hear what you thought of the story and the characters!

Best, Andy

Hello magma-rager, yeah, it's hard to find it on Google because 2 years after I designed Solar Echoes, "Nigel" put out a music album with the same name, and now that's all we see on google.

Go to www.SolarEchoes.com for more details on the Solar Echoes universe, or check out my company website at www.CorefunStudios.com to see more Solar Echoes related products. Originally, I designed Solar Echoes as a tabletop RPG, but I've expanded it since then, including The Star Legation game.

Thanks for your interest!

-Andy

The Star Legation is finished (for PC)!

It's been a long journey, but it is finally complete! The Star Legation is going to release for PC on February 4 in less than 2 weeks. The game will be available for $14.99.

That's the good news!

No Mac version, yet...

The bad news is that I have had to delay the release of the Mac version, indefinitely, while I work to solve issues with the export. The short explanation is that the game engine I used to build the game was updated and it now has an export issue for the Mac. I can't roll back to the previous version of the engine because that version wouldn't export games as large as The Star Legation.  I'm currently trying things with a work-around, using the Japanese version of the program (which is in Japanese). A colleague is helping me with this process because it all has to be done with a Mac, and I don't own one. So far, the game has been successfully exported, but there are errors. Some re-coding has been done and we are currently trying the new version out with a Mac beta tester. Until I am confident that no further errors exist in this export, I'm not unwilling to release the Mac version. This process may take some time, since I cannot test and confirm things myself. The Mac version will be released if a bug-free, stable build can be confirmed.

Full Original Soundtrack will be available on release day!

I have put together for you a 99-minute OST (original soundtrack) with 40 unique tracks of scifi music that I've composed for The Star Legation game. Included with this soundtrack are 9 pages of composer notes and the cover art for the album. The music is synthesized techno with some classical elements, and includes a variety of moods such as: 

* rave-like techno rock

* emotional, pensive and melodic

* bizarre, intense atmospheric

* cultural, rhythmic and brooding

* mysterious, dark and foreboding

The OST will be sold alongside the game for a price of $9.99.

Thanks Triority! I'm glad you thought the demo was interesting and enjoyed the animation and graphics. I'm still hard at work making this and am excited to finish it for everyone!

Hi Rikka,

I'm so glad you like the micro-expression idea! Hopefully that will add to the game--I didn't want to include a reputation tracker because I'm going for realism and immersion. I'm so glad you noticed my minimalist approach to the message bar, too!

Regarding the sound options menu, I still don't think we're talking about the same icon. There are 2 in the lower right of the screen, but one is hidden, and that's the sound settings icon. You have to mouse over the area to the left of the planet icon (in the right corner of the screen.) I've included a photo showing what happens when you move your cursor there:

I realize that not everyone is going to read the README (and it might even be hard to imagine what I'm talking about without seeing this photo?) So, if you have any suggestions about ways I can let the player know about this better, please feel free to share. I could leave it visible, but I really prefer it remain hidden if possible.

Interesting that the highlights around the items weren't noticeable--that's probably my attempt to keep things subtle again. One reviewer commented that they liked that function, but hoped to do more of that in the demo and only saw it once. I'm considering adding more point-and-click into the game, especially for battle scenes.

I just double checked the weapons scene to make sure the mouse turns into a hand when in that area, and it does, but only over the weapons. Maybe that's why you didn't notice it? Once you mouse past the weapons you'll see it change. But I do understand that if you don't know to do that, it could be a little counter-intuitive.

Thanks so much for the encouraging words, I really, really appreciate it! I've been disappointed that the Kickstarter for voice acting hasn't been moving very quickly, but when people that play the demo say such nice things about it, it's an encouraging reminder that this is going in the right direction. Thanks for adding The Star Legation to your wishlist, I'm really excited to finish the game someday and to hear what you think about the full experience. It's so hard to contain myself and avoid sharing some of the major events that happen in the story!

Best,

Andy

UPDATE: the full version of the game now has a tutorial at the beginning which details where the hidden sound-options button is: it's hidden underneath the menu icon that is persistent through the game. Just move your mouse pointer under the icon during the game and you'll see the sound options icon appear. You can adjust your sound settings any time during the game.

Hi Rikka,

Thank you so much for the wonderful review! I'm so glad you enjoyed the characters, story, animation, sound effects, and music! It's really rewarding to hear you respond to the characters like you did. I'm also really happy you noticed the expressions and felt they added to the game. I do hope voice acting will work out through the Kickstarter, but even if it doesn't, I'm trying my best to make the characters dynamic through their expressions. I even have some very subtle "micro-expressions," for moments with the human ladies when Trey says something that affects their reputation score with him. Behind the scenes, there are variables tracking his choices with every character, and the reputation he has with each affects how the story will play out at the end. The female characters have brief little expressions that--if you watch closely--indicate whether Trey's comment was a positive or negative adjustment to the relationship.

I appreciate your constructive criticism of some of the little game details. One thing that I will try to emphasize more somehow is the information in the README file that comes with the game: there is a way into the options from the game, anytime you like--if you mouse to the left of the icon in the lower right of the screen, you'll see the options icon appear, and you can go in and adjust things easily. The game engine I'm using to build this game doesn't allow for options to be accessed from the game menu once you've started (weird, I know), so this was my work-around. I could make the options icon visible, but I prefer to minimize UI options on the screen to keep things more immersive.

Sorry that the Flirt option felt off to you, I noted that. Trey can be played several ways, and I know outright having the option to flirt might have seemed off, but there was an opportunity in the dialogue at that point that I think some  people would have tried to take advantage of if they were feeling interested in Sarah. But rest assured, in the rest of the game, the "flirtation" feels more organic. I might re-examine that moment and see if there is another way I could write something on that choice button that would feel obviously like a flirt, but still be short enough to fit on the button.

I did see one other person get a little confused with the weapon-choice-by-mouse moment at the beginning, so I'd added those highlights in there. The mouse does change to a hand when you move over those areas, but that's the best I can do--several months ago I looked into changing the mouse during that part of the game, and the limitations of my game engine make changing that problematic. (I'm not much of a programmer, unfortunately.) Maybe I'll make those highlights brighter, or even flashing, to be more obvious.

Thanks again for leaving such a nice review and for sharing your experience with my game. I'm so excited to finish it and share the entire story! It's also on Steam, if you wanted to wishlist it there to be notified of the exact release, but I'm hoping to complete the game by summer 2021. If you'd like to play more before then, there is a "Special Access" award on the Kickstarter that will allow backers to play an extended demo, with roughly another hour of content.  

It really made my day to hear your thoughts, thanks for playing my demo!

Best,

Andy

Corefun Studios, LLC

Thanks for trying out the demo, Raytoons! I am planning to release a browser version of the finished game, as well as Android and iOS versions.

Thanks for mentioning that. In the future, I'll see if I can convert the file to Linux, but the best I can do right now--other than PC and Mac--is make a browser version.