The Dumbest Thing I Did This Year: I Lost Day One of Next Fest

I spent weeks polishing my demo for Steam Next Fest.
Right before launch, I thought it would look cleaner if I renamed the build — just added “Demo” at the end of the product name.

I didn’t realize that broke the executable path on Steam.
So the game literally couldn’t launch.

I was doom-refreshing the stats, wondering if I’m just not cut out for this.
Zero plays during Next Fest? Must be the algorithm, right?
Reality check: the build wasn’t launching at all.

I fixed it now, but losing that crucial first day really hurts.
Still, lesson learned the hard way: always test the live Steam build, even if it feels “obvious.”