Was Steam Next Fest worth it as a game developer?

I want the 3 hour contract video

hey, zach here—thanks for the kind words! it's been a pleasure to work on the soundtrack and i'm excited for what's to come ◡̈

I would 100% love a 3 hour spin off about writing a legal contract

Mark, I am BEGGING you to make a video about writing up contracts for freelance artists working on a game. Also contractor fees. It’s something that desperately needs some good demystifying in the games space.

I absolutely want a spin-off video about the "...exhilarating fun of making a legal document."

One very minor suggestion for repetative sounds like the nuts and bolts hitting surfaces, you should randomize the pitch of each one a bit so they don't run together. If you are randomizing the pitch already, crank it higher, because it wasn't obvious. The nuts and bolts sounded like high pitched bubble wrap when they could sound almost musical. Bonus points if you actually make them musical by pitching them to the scale of the music.

"Better than it actually is" is very telling, Mark lol You wouldn't believe how boring and hokey some of your favorite movies seem with the music stripped out. Doesn't mean they're secretly bad movies getting away with something. The music is an integral part of the experience! You don't judge the merits of an audio visual work without the audio!

I mean, legal nonsense is important, and often not talked about, so absolutely do we want a video on that! Advice, pitfalls, feel, how to make it feel fair to yourself and whomever you're hiring.

I absolutely want a 3 hour video about legal contracts. That's part of the process, and just like marketing and money, will also be good for making sure burgeoning developers (and those who work for them) are behaving ethically.

As a Brazilian gamer & lawyer, I legitimately can't wait for that 3-hour-long breakdown of writing a dev contract.

dude when the nuts and bolts made sound i went "oooohhhh yes" thats such a small detail that will stick out to everyone who plays it when they look back on the game

The feedback about the nuts and bolts making sound is so spot on as one of those weird little things that does a lot. I love it when im playing a game and all the little bits and bobs make noise

i want a three hour spinoff video about the exhilarating fun of writing a legal document

At 19:00, as a seasoned Game Dev I have to say this is a very advanced way to handle and keep track of feedback. It's important to keep your own opinion on certain matters, even if we usually see how Gamedevs "refuse to listen to us players". Keep up the good work and congrats for getting so much attention on your game.

ok for my explanations why the water and nuts/bolts were a common issue: water - while rotational motion is generally unnoticed at low framerates, translational motion is very noticed, and often disliked at low framerates. you can actually see this in the door open animation, as the wheel turning seems smooth, but you can tell when each frame starts when the door slides open nuts/bolts - mass interactivity needs sfx associated, or else it breaks immersion. grass and leaves are a good, common example.

Product Owner here! Your spreadsheet for feedback and bug reports is actually EXACTLY how we track bugs and feedback during software launches and beta testing. The QA team uses a document very similar to yours to know what the Product team views as effective feedback and priority of fixing. We'll even hide lines so that the Dev team only works on certain priority levels. Great job!

I have say, the rejection messages from Valve are surprisingly helpful

Hey, Mark, I'm sure you've already heard this or found it out yourself, but you can test your Steam package before it is approved. It should already be in the library for your developer account. Once you're live, you can make a separate branch and do your testing from there. It's a really great way to make sure everything works before submitting to Steam or publishing for the world to see.

I'd offer a third explanation for the feedback on "trivial" background stuff: this kind of polish really makes a difference, especially in contrast to the polished, forefront stuff. sometimes it's better to not have these kinds of things unless they're as polished as possible. I think of a fancy meal: the presentation around the plate may not seem "meaningful", but it's better to not do it then to do it in a way that clutters and distracts. of course, you now made it nice and satisfying so it should totally stay. but I think we shouldn't underestimate the impact that "trivial" things have on the perception of a piece.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about this platform, it’s to never ask the audience if they’d watch a video idea unless you’re certain you’d be willing to make it, because no matter how niche or boring you think it is, your audience will absolutely, overwhelmingly agree to its development.