STATUS

I don't know if I can give you answers, but here's my take on things. It's a very selfish perspective and may not apply to anyone else, but this is how things have been for me.

I think that the drive to make games, or any creative work, is strongest when it stays independent from measured success or popularity. When you wake up and want to make things for yourself, because you want those things to exist. When there is joy in the creation. It's not always easy, in fact it can still be so frustratingly difficult. But you still feel fulfillment from making what you're making.

This may sound hypocritical coming from me, as I've been pretty successful getting my games seen here on RMN. But the truth of the matter is that I've been making games and other creative media for over 25 years.

For years, I made games that no one but close friends even saw. I didn't release them anywhere, for reasons I'm not even sure of today. Was it cowardice? Did I not think they were good enough? Or did I just not care? But I made them because I wanted them to exist.

I didn't actually start putting things online until much later, but didn't find much success in anything I did (in terms of it getting noticed) for years and years.

Now I'm on RMN, making games, which get seen and played sometimes. That's an awesome feeling, and it really does make me happy to hear from people who have played. And, I am still disappointed when I put out something that very few people actually play.

But I think all those years of not sharing my work, or working with no success, have made me the creator I am today. "No one played those games, no one read those stories, no one saw those drawings." But I did. And I grew making them.

If you really enjoy making stuff, I encourage you to keep going. It doesn't even have to be games. If there's something that brings you joy, then keep making it.

Then again, if the lack of success is bothering you too much, that's understandable, too. It's important to realize what your motivations are. Popularity and quality aren't as linked as we would like, and it hurts to pour hours and hours into something and have it be ignored.

Just don't discount something you made as useless. No matter what the rest of the world thinks of it (or doesn't think of it), it's something you made. If you're able to appreciate it, it's still made an impact, it's still made a difference.

That's my thoughts on it, anyway.

Mostly it's a question of, "Is this worth it to me if I don't make it big?"

The reality is that most creative projects of any sort languish in obscurity, and the ones that most people ever hear about are astronomically lucky. (And, on the high end, are helped by people whose job it is to make sure that everyone knows a thing exists.)

If, on some level, it's still fun or rewarding for you to mak gam, even with the idea that only a few people will play, then keep it up!

If you don't think that's the case, then take a break from the hobby for a while. Maybe you'll feel the itch to get back into it. Maybe you won't and you'll decide it's just not really for you. That's also cool and good, because it means you won't be wasting time and energy on it. That's time and energy you could be putting into something you really love!

So, if you just really like making games, and you'd be OK with being stuck at double digit downloads if some of those downloads liked it a lot, then keep it up! If it doesn't feel like the work is worth the payoff, then don't do the work, and look for something else that you do really like.

Good luck!

I'll try to make this post as short and non boring as possible, but basically from my experience I am what I am today because I was a kid who had the common dream of "making a videogame" and that everybody would love it and my classmates would know me as the "guy who can make videogames" and i'd get all the money and all the girls.

Over time as I grew up, had a few slaps of reality, made my first games and had the epiphany that in the end nobody would ever give a shit, my interests started going towards what actually felt really rewarding for me: The resource-y side of game development.

Nowadays I'm using making games as a way of understanding how graphics and sound work in certain engines, because to be honest what's become the most attractive (and profitable) part of game development for me became the artistic side. This bizarre self defeatist declaration of preemptive gamedev failure and redirection of priorities now allows me to make the games I want to make the way I want to make them.

Ironically, more people "like" my games now than ever before even though that's not saying much considering I'm indeed within the double download digits, I want to believe this small rise in interest came because my games stopped trying to be a cry for attention and more of a simple method of expression.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, check your priorities. If there's a way to satisfy these needs with game development, whether it's by creating the games or involving yourself in one branching aspect of gamedev, like resource making, then go for it.

But if by the end of the day everything you do is unsatisfying and sucky, just get a different hobby. No point in sodomizing yourself without any of the benefits of it.

author=Sgt M
People have always called me weird for this, but nowadays I go into a project with a "B" attitude. I'm not someone who shoots for the top: If I aim for an "A", I can never exceed my own expectations.

Yeah, for me it's a combo of "make it Good Enough" and "have some fun with it."

author=Mirak
No point in sodomizing yourself without any of the benefits of it.

This is funnier than it ought to be.

I was going to say some things, but most of it has already been said. I agree with everyone else.

But I want to empathize. Because I understand what you’re going through. Making a game can have such a big emotional investment. And the bigger the investment, the riskier it is in terms of frustration. I honestly don’t think it’s possible to put a lot of energy into making a game without caring about what other people will think. I agree we should make games we want to exist, but there is a huge social aspect in game making. A bad reception can be devastating. I feel that your negative depressive tone is completely rational (though in truth I’m not familiar with your game and it’s reception).

So, basically, yeah, it sucks big time. And the worst part of it is that there’s a huge luck factor in a game’s popularity. Some games blow up because some famous youtube played it, and they’re not even that good. Some games just don’t get a shot at the light.

My advice? Two options. One, mourn it, and eventually get over it. Life sucks sometimes, and it’s not healthy to deny it.
Two, advertise it even more until you feel like you got good feedback. But don’t aim for numbers. I feel like nice detailed feedback is always more rewarding than download count and stuff.