My First ‘Steam’ Project — Zen Blocks
I have been working on mobile games since 2013; releasing over a dozen titles. However, it would take until the end of 2017 before I would take-the-plunge and release a title on Steam for PC & Mac. This was due to the fact that Steam had a Green-lighting Process, which required a lot of hype-hacking and marketing behind the scenes in order to gain any significant traction, and pass the process to be green-lit. That really didn’t appeal to me and put me off for a long time. But then, Steam decided to remove Green-light; thus opening the platform up, and allowing more varied projects a chance to get in front of eyeballs.
I saw this as an opportunity to get a project on Steam, at long last! But, before I go and make many mistakes (bound to happen), I would need a ‘dummy’ or test project to use as a training tool to help me get up-to-speed with Steam, and with the ins-and-outs of the whole process; including marketing and pricing, etc.
As soon as the gates of Steam opened — a lot of content came flooding through. Okay, some projects that got through were just rubbish with a fancy banner graphic, some were scams, some were buggy as hell — but at least now there would more variety and choice.
And that could only be a good thing, overall. I like a good game; however, I am not a fan of AAA games or highly produced games that require the user to churn and repeat. The exceptions are the Red Dead series, which I love.
I was a little wary of Steam turning into a PC version of the Playstore; where sifting through the gunk was a common daily activity.
I like games that are fun to play, and ones that leave you with an experience. I like quirky indie titles. I like old-school mechanics. I like some, but not all, narrative-driven games — they really need to have a genuine story with great characters to draw you in. Otherwise, they can get boring and you fall out of them. But, I also like Puzzle games.
I decided to convert a mobile puzzle game I had made for Android, into a PC game for Steam — this would be my way of testing the platform and learning the process before committing to do a bigger PC project.
Initially, I thought , easy-peasy — I would export and tweak, then upload and release! Job Done!
Hell NO! What started out as a simple chuck-up-and-see project, resulted in me building a far better version of the game than the mobile version ever was. Also, I had to re-think the menus and the game controls —the feedback from my testers was quick and cutting! Having initially considered that the mouse was king for this type of game — I soon learned that I ‘wasn’t in Kansas anymore’ and I needed to get out of the mobile-mentality of touch controls, and embrace my inner controller-guru.
I will never forget the feeling I had when I played Zen Blocks with an XBOX controller setup for the very first time. Eureka!
It was pure.
The control options I chose for game-play were deliberately kept simple, and did not involve any controller buttons — just the analogue sticks.
The first analog stick would be used to cycle through “white-box” targeting system along each axis — up or down: moves your white boxes through left and right purple points (launch positions) vertically; right and left: moves through top and bottom horizontally.
The second analog stick would fire (or release the given color block — as denoted below the main boxed area, i.e. purple) across the board area in the direction selected; launching from the opposing white box.
The new control system was faster and better; it was logical and easily grasped within less than 1 minute of play. The player would quickly become more and more dexterous over time. Creating the perfect conditions to allow players to enter the ‘zone’ — the optimum mindset for seamless, flowing game-play between user and machine.
This clean approach benefited the game no-end. Entering that relaxed ‘zen’ playing state was very easy; but being a game, first and foremost, I had to provide some level of difficulty to provide some challenges along the way.
This was all coming along quite well; and so I decided to forgo the chuck-up-and-see approach and instead invest more time and care into the game — treating it now as a serious release. And so, weeks now became months!
For my new serious puzzle game project, I chose colors that reminded me of Far Eastern Buddhist temples — cool blues; very zen-like. Also, I wanted the player to experience aspects of the Seasons and of time passing; and so, I then added rain and snowstorm effects, as ‘events’ during game-play. Adding more atmosphere, without disturbing the player too much.
The rain was meant to symbolize cleansing of the mind and spirit, and at the end, the blocks drain off and receive a visual sparkle or shine for the player to see.
The snowstorm was a gusty breeze of thick snowflakes; that cling to the sides of the blocks and provide a short lingering reminder that a block was once here; sitting within the frame of the snowflake structure. Over time the snowflakes dissipate, until eventually there is no trace of snow. Again, this is all in the name of mindful relaxation while playing a colorful board-game.
For the music, I turned to a composer who had worked with me on a past game-jam. Craig Barnes was building a name for himself in indie game music circles and wanted to get involved in as many projects as possible — giving over 100% to each. 🙂
Craig created a gorgeous ethereal music track which fit the games visuals and added perfectly to the mood. I worked on producing the in-game sound effects myself.
Since then, Craig has worked on tons of other projects, including the fabulous Streets of Rogue indie title for PC.
In order to provide more bang-for-buck, I wanted to include alternative play modes for users to enjoy the game in different ways.
As well as the standard relaxing level progression mode, I added a ‘timed’ mode. This would add a ticking clock countdown to the game, and mean that the user was now racing against the block. See what I did there? Sorry for the pun!
The next mode to add was ‘arcade’ mode — this was meant to be a fast paced and involved a timing aspect as well — but this time the board would start filling up with extra blocks in random locations.
All of these modes, and how well a user progressed, would contribute to your overall ‘zen grading’.
I needed to add a rewards feature — as a score board was not ideal or in keeping with the feel for the game. I looked into various types and even into martial arts belt color grading. However, in the end I went with the ranking system for Zen Buddhist monks. Perfect!
The way it works is, as you get better and attain more and more ‘Zen’ throughout the game, your grading rank increases. But, this depends on reaching a good level on all of the game modes and not just the default level progression mode.
Beginner: SANTO KYOSHI (White)
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…
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Master: ROSHI (Black)
I am quite technical, but even I ran into problems navigating the screens and menus of the Steam platform.
So many options, and you could be literally driven mad trying to remember where to change the bloody pricing!
So, many assets to produce and upload; all of which need to be of good quality and set at the right dimensions. Time and more time…
Then there’s the steamcmd utility — wow! when you know what to do it works like-a-dream…but finding out takes a bit of trial and error. Once you got it sussed, you can automate using batch text files (per platform build).
Only recently has Steam looked into, and incorporated, a zipped ‘in-browser upload’ facility for build updates — and that itself is limited to builds less than 256MB — still, much more user-friendly for smaller not-so-tech-savvy indies, who might be dabbling with a test project of their own.
It is really nice to discover that curators with a combined mass of 100k+ followers have recommended your game. Their recommendations gets more eyeballs on your title and helps to gather interest from players who like what they see.
However, you need to keep grounded — the sales coming from such recommendations are not directly proportional to the followers of the curators themselves — the main driver is, how many of those followers are fans of the Puzzle game genre overall. That is the key — getting curators known for their love of puzzle games (even if their followers are lower) is better than grabbing the attention of really big curators. At least, it is in my experience.
Building an email list for possible interested players for your release is also a good way to get more early sales. It’s old-school, but email % success rates are still top when it comes to direct marketing.
It was indeed a learning experience, and I will be taking it all into my next Steam project — which, I am hoping will be larger in scale and scope. The hardest part of the next project is choosing from the several or so possible different game prototypes I have built, and going with the right one.
Many players have bought Zen Blocks over the last year or so, I just hope they also get to play it 🙂
Steam sale buying is now a like a collecting activity for a lot of well-meaning players — who are buying with every intent of firing up a title to try it; at some future date.
Let’s hope they do.
My First ‘Steam’ Project — Zen Blocks
Research & References of My First ‘Steam’ Project — Zen Blocks|A&C Accounting And Tax Services
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