Outpost Simulator (Demo) · published
The game is currently still in development. As a solo developer, I can’t give a clear date yet. There is enough content to release a demo, however I’m currently focused on bug fixing and finding issues. In the past, I’ve seen that even successful demos received very negative feedback if they were buggy or poorly polished. That’s why I’m trying to avoid making mistakes while preparing a demo for you. However, as you can see, bugs can still occur during development ːsteamhappyː
Aside from bug fixing and cleaning, I can say I’m working on overall improvements.
I’m trying to improve the hit feeling as much as possible, there won’t be a bad weapon experience.
Environment revisions, by that I mean performance optimization.
I’m working on increasing interactions with customers and their reactions.
I added many sound options in the settings menu, this will allow you to adjust in-game sounds as you wish.
Reducing size, in short texture optimization.
Increasing the amount of added content.
What is the Gameplay Loop like?
When I first started the game, I chose these mechanics by looking for answers to simple questions. Our first question was: you are building a base, but why? My answer was: this base should be for survivors. This is a good answer, but it wasn’t enough to sustain the game, so I needed more. That’s why I thought of a failure condition: enemies attacking in waves and damaging the base and the survivors.
In simulator games, the money earned should be spent, otherwise the game becomes meaningless. That’s why many features in the game will be purchasable. For example, the number of slots in your bag or the features of the grappling gun. There are many more details that can be purchased. Additionally, some purchasable items must be found by exploring the map; they will be locked in the shop. Exploring means fighting enemies.
Below is the editor interface of the enemy attack system and it is still being developed. In short, I designed enemies similar to a tower defense game: coming from multiple directions, appearing during day or night, attacking randomly, and capable of challenging the player.
It has been about six months since I opened the game’s page and I am still looking for a publisher. I would like to say that developing a game alone is difficult, and dealing with the marketing side makes it even harder. I received offers from many publishers, but I still haven’t found one that meets my criteria. Some ask for very high percentages, while those who ask for lower percentages do not meet my expectations.
Unfortunately, I receive responses from some big companies about a month and a half later, and those are usually just one-sentence negative replies.
In short, my advice is this: if possible, secure a publisher before opening your store page. With their experience and power, you can have a much stronger start. Steam supports you in the first month, but after that you may see a sudden drop in your graph.
I added a popularity bar to the game (bottom right in the image). The goal is to make this "Outpost" more attractive with every service you provide and increase the number of customers. Of course, the opposite is also possible: if customers take damage, your popularity decreases.