I've finished my game... now what do I do?

Hi...

Well I started my first Unity game back in Nov 2014 and here we are today with it finished... there's not much I can add, I could endlessly chip away at my magnum-opus but I'm gonna say no... it's done, it's ready to eat... lets chow down and have some serious cake with the words 'finished?' written all over it...

Anyway what do I do now? I've been tapping away at my personal edition of Unity like a Japanese prisoner of war and now I'm quite.... whaaa what's word... panty-pooped at what's to come... so what do I do next? save for the pro licence and release a single PC version of my game? would the 'personal edition' Unity intro put people off? oh I dunno... It'll still work either way and if I can entertain for a moment or two then fine, would Steam green-light be an option? - Hey would you believe it, a few weeks back at a house-party in Brighton where I live I met this chap who said he worked for you guys at Unity... sure enough he sent an email from his phone and it game back with your domain name and he said to me to contact him to help me push my game to the next level... or whatever, he said he'd been in the game industry for years, Ben Greenfield I think his name is... I should contact him perhaps, anyway my game isn't anything amazing but it would be nice where to go next... I'll check out some articles and blogs etc, thanks

 

That personal edition or any other Unity splash will put some people off who had bad experiences with bad games people released (probably on mobile or web game portals) they never should have released. BUT... it's a tiny percentage of people. And then of course you deal with human nature. The game devs who are fan boys. So some tiny percentage of UE users will be less likely to get a game made in Unity. Some GMS users may pass on a Unity game. Etc. All together it may be 1 out of 150 or more people who will have some reservation about a game simply because it is made in Unity.

Well... where do you want "to go"? What do you mean by this? As in where to release the game? Or what your next project should be?

Basically you just create games. The really good games you release. The bad games you don't release so that you don't contribute to the bad impression some people have of Unity.

 

I think, "'personal edition' Unity intro" means nothing for the people. If they like your game, then all will be good

 

You should contact anyone whom you are able to contact who might be able to give you guidance. It all depends on what you're working with. If you've got a Honda Civic, then you're not going to want to enter into an American Muscle car show... especially if there's a sizable fee. Really depends on what you're working with. I would say, keep the editor running until after you've got a couple rounds of feedback. These days you can't just drop a game and walk away. People want feedback with the developer or they just lose interest and go someplace else.

Success can be predicted, to some degree, you just need an analytical mind.

 

Release it somewhere and celebrate. Be prepared to deal with bugfixing, though.

Nah. I wouldn't bother. If you earn 100k with it, then, sure, get pro license.

In my opinion, if you think your game is complete, there's no reason to contact anyone. Just release it.

 

How about show your game off and advertise? Posting screens and videos is a start.

 

Game finished? Now the real work starts. Exporting to as many platforms as you can handle, adapt controls to each, integrating different achievement systems and social platforms, advertising, finding places to publish, and so much more.

 

Start your next game.

 

First thing you must do after finishing a game, is show it to us.

Second, release it!

About Unity splash screen, you could leave it to chance this way: if you sell your game enough to afford Pro, go for it. Otherwise... you likely need to focus on more important things, such as letting more and more people know about your game.

 

I would be very cautious about upgrading to pro just for the splash screen. Many first games don't make back the cost of pro. The goal with a first game is not to make millions. It's just to get noticed.

 

Probably the first thing you should do is a promo video. I personally would then put it on itch.io ( which is free) and advertise it where you can. Then when you have made $100 for it, use that $100 to apply for Steam Greenlight. I would use itch.io kinda like a beta testers group, don´t charge them a lot, but use their feedback to improve the game while it is getting approved for greenlight.

Also, just some wisdom. Your game is never done until 100 people have played the heck out of it. It is very hard for an individual or even a small team to think of all the ways those 100 clowns will break your game. The number of times I have said ´ but why? Why would you even try that?". It is just a reality, there are always going to be a significant number of people who play your game in unexepected ( and often stupid) ways.

Edit - to weigh in on the Unity splash screen debate. If your game is decent, it will be treated decent. If your game is great it will be treated great... if your game is horrible, they will blame it on Unity