Shipped my first commercial game as a solo dev last week - here's what the launch actually looked like

Turdventure went out on Steam on 30 July. Comedy arcade game about dog walks that go very wrong.

A few things I learned the hard way and would tell past-me:

Build the demo earlier. Mine went up six days before launch and it's still the single best thing on the page - people try it, and the ones who like it buy without hesitating.

Your store page is doing more work than your trailer. I rewrote the short description three times and the third one is the only one that says what the game feels like instead of what it contains.

Marketing links break silently. I found out days after launch that a link I'd been sharing everywhere wasn't clickable at all on one platform - it just looked like one. Check what you post from a logged-out browser, not from your own account.

Reviews come far slower than wishlists. Ten reviews is a mountain when you're small, and no amount of posting speeds it up.

Game's here if you're curious, launch discount until 6 August: https://f.mtr.cool/XKKHSUMHPX

Ask me anything, I'll answer all of it.