I Drained My Bank Account To Release My Game

Many stories of game dev don't go over the hard times, but this video shows the highs and lows of our journey to make Below the Stone.
PLAY DEMO & BUY THE GAME!!: store.steampowered.com/app/11...
Active Discord: / discord
Support us on Patreon: / strollart
THANK YOU to Fairlii for editing and being part of our gamedev journey
Fairlii's channel: www.youtube.com/@Fairlii/videos

[@Fairlii]

Editing this video was very fun

[@ScottHost]

Watching it was a hoot on my 3rd watch

[@SundercoreDev]

I was so confused why I recognized the voice

[@rubenrios7847]

Good job brother

[@SkrapProductionsLLC]

I love the comeback part of the story with the Kickstarter. Great video!

[@belowthestoneofficial1476]

thank you! Its a story we thought others might need to hear. A "fail" is only a fail if you end up giving up after it, but if you learn from it, it becomes a success story!

[@WaveParadigm]

I'm shocked this video only has 552 views - the editing, story, and info shared are fantastic! I hope the algorithm sees this comment as positive engagement and pushes the video more lol

[@LetsTryGG]

Getting to see this background makes an already awesome game even more compelling, can't wait to see what future updates bring!

[@CozyCabinStudios]

Such a well made video & an awesome comeback story! Great job guys! :)

[@belowthestoneofficial1476]

Thank you! Awesome seeing you reply

[@Artindi]

Nice! I remember back the first time this was on Kickstarter, good to see you never gave up. You didn't fail! :)

[@belowthestoneofficial1476]

failing is when you give up, success is when you keep trying and trying. That is the biggest lesson we learned

[@Horatiusthedwarf]

Fell in love with this project years ago and i will continue to support it. A great video game with so much heart put in. Cheers to you guys, cheers to BELOW THE STONE!

[@KotieDev]

Awesome to see the behind the scenes :D

[@gamingwithcola]

I love Making videos for this game :) you guys are AWESOME!!!!

[@belowthestoneofficial1476]

The most chill cola is gamingwithcola

[@auesip]

Your journey reminds me of my game, no design document, just some ideas, likings and fleshing out in your mind but the evolution and learnings from your failures, going from what most would consider the point to end it all, to evolving and coming up with how to improve and get traction is incredible, your teams ability of evolving and hitting what you strive for is incredible and really inspirational! As a solo dev, seeing how teams like yous learn really help to understand whats most important when making a game, enjoying the process! I will be picking up the game soon to play! P.s Keep up the great work!

[@belowthestoneofficial1476]

That's exactly why we made this video, we wanted to put it out there because we know there's a lot of folks like us out there. We also wanted to show people who might feel alone that they aren't so alone after all.

[@auesip]

@@belowthestoneofficial1476 and that yous have succeeded! It is really motivational ^-^

[@GoatForceGaming]

Love hearing this story... Good work, guys!

[@dmangamesSTUDIO]

I remember playing this game at Seattle PAX in 2021! Awesome to see it come such a long way and I'm gonna try out the demo for sure!

[@belowthestoneofficial1476]

Let us know what you think! if you got a chance, join our discord too, it's in the description

[@marybethbassett1036]

Awesome video ❤ so proud of all your hard work 💕

[@ashenforge2723]

That was a amazing video!!

[@Joaoggo]

Can we say "Here before it blows up" yet?

[@jamesbochanski6209]

This game looks so awesome! Wishlisting this bearded tamale ASAP!

[@possumkidd3857]

Yay fairlie likes dwarves!

[@molehorde]

So inspiring! Great work guys!!

[@Pocket-Monster-Zep]

"The strongest steel is forged in the hottest fire." - Some dwarf, I think.

[@belowthestoneofficial1476]

Dang right ❤

[@demonicsdomain]

I've been following for a long time, I liked the idea of dwarf fortress but I love how y'all made it way more interactive and the graphics look just right for the type of game it is. I wasn't sure if it was going to be released before, but now I have something to look forward to when I get paid.

[@LoaderGaming1]

Dude this is awesome ima make sure to check this out

[@asig396]

I want it full now!!! It's super amazing the demo!!! 🤩

[@HectorDart]

Congrats for your succes guys!

[@Mysda_]

I was happy to follow this project!

[@Rujum]

A full hero's journey ! well done!

[@belowthestoneofficial1476]

Thank you! Not quite fully done yet, we still got to get to finish Early Access. 😂 Hahaha

[@belowthestoneofficial1476]

Thank you for 11k views!

[@ScottHost]

Yep

[@DaysOfFunder]

Nup

[@ScottHost]

@@DaysOfFunder Yep Nup thats USA for Yeah Nah

[@grublord6215]

Watching this shows alot of what I am trying to capture with my game, I am a bit envious but honestly, this looks great and serves for good inspiration, is there any place for a Q&A? I have some questions1! :)

[@belowthestoneofficial1476]

Our Discord is the best place! discord.com/invite/MW72QReXKh

[@colbyboucher6391]

Gotta spend it to make it, as scary as that is.

[@belowthestoneofficial1476]

VERY true. It's scary sometimes how much it takes, too

[@lucidmedia387]

That was epic.

[@LookFor42]

Been following this title for so long and am so hyped for full release. Any concrete date for a console release?

[@belowthestoneofficial1476]

No concrete release dates yet, but we're looking at doing console release when we hit 1.0 on steam. Just makes the porting process more manageable.

[@Mattstov]

Blow the Stone

[@belowthestoneofficial1476]

yes

[@RandomDutchGinger]

😂😂😂

[@ScottHost]

Below the Kidney Stone

[@Andrew90046zero]

For any new viewers. Please follow us on Twitch if you wanna watch dev streams of us working on the game from time to time. www.twitch.tv/belowthestonedev

[@pieter913]

I want to buy the game now, and I will

[@belowthestoneofficial1476]

Thank you. If you do buy it, let us know what you'd want to see us work on next!

[@HinkHall]

Congratulations

[@belowthestoneofficial1476]

Thank you . Still a long way to go, but making it happen!

[@Andrew90046zero]

12th

[@bloggy6465]

i feel like i saw a video on a different channel about this game a few years back, im not sure if it is this game tho can you confirm it was like a 40 min long video talking about some code errors with the cracks on the walls, plesae respond if you can i'm just wondering on if that was you or someone else

[@bloggy6465]

i looked trough my history and yes i saw that it was andrews video, sorry for bothering, all the best!

[@kkrup5395]

Title "I drained my wallet to release my game" suggest the story is about a solo dev that risks his financial safety for his passion. But instead we get the the story about a team backed up with a publisher that does so well they even have a person to make content for them. You think you know how to write catchy titles but I'd rarther watch and support something authentic

[@ScottHost]

u mad bro?

[@Fairlii]

Nobody would click on “authentic dev makes a game that is a game” Gotta make it fun and add some drama! You weren’t lied to and you watched a cool video, it’s a double win❤

[@kkrup5395]

@@Fairlii we were lied to. 1. Nobody "drained" their wallet. The company does really good, they got a deal with damn publisher, they are set. Of course they spent money on release, but was those money personal savings of one person like "I drained my bank account" suggests? Surely not. 2. From the very beginning the game was created by 2 people, so from whose perceptive can this title be? Who's one person that calls the game "MY" instead of "our". Nobody, the content guy just named it so it seems like a story is about a solo dev. The thing is there are many devs that are making great games and do drain their personal accounts, and for some reason this company decided to compete with them rather than with other companies on their real level. It's just a bad look.

[@kkrup5395]

@@ScottHost just a little, thanks for asking

[@ScottHost]

@@kkrup5395 why

[@ScottHost]

yet no mention of the water shader system :(

[@jamesconlin5099]

I cant find it on the playstion store

[@belowthestoneofficial1476]

It will be on PlayStation for 1.0, right now it is in early Access on Steam

[@DaysOfFunder]

Does this have elves in it?

[@belowthestoneofficial1476]

NO🚫🚫🚫🧝🧝‍♂🧝‍♀🚫🚫🚫

[@DaysOfFunder]

I demand elves. I will dig until I find one. ​@@belowthestoneofficial1476

[@Mochio-dx9ts]

yay wat a fon gome

[@belowthestoneofficial1476]

gnome

[@supertank_]

w video

[@kauannobre8138]

do you have

[@belowthestoneofficial1476]

Yes

[@kauannobre8138]

@@belowthestoneofficial1476thanke

[@Drakuba]

im sure its abit late now, but making a kickstarter WITHOUT THE DEMO! isa bad move already, if you are starting indie im not gonna believe your pinkie promise based on few gifs and a short video :D You need that demo/prototype as part of your campaign, tho prove you are competent in making the thing

[@belowthestoneofficial1476]

We personally didn't have a demo either time. We found out from a few people that did kickstarters that not a lot of users actually click on the demo links. I think I remember one person who had like 600 backers only had like a dozen people click the link to access their demo. Not that I disagree with a demo proving competency.

[@Drakuba]

thats new for me, tho i never did a research into kickstarter since it spawned many disappointments over the years and i kinda lost faith in kickstarter games. But ye, if a video/presentation of an idea what game is supposed to be had a demo where i can make sure myself vs "trust me bro" But im not your standart model of a gamer anyway, what do i know what masses want ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But i have seen Splattercat play your game andthats how i discovered you guys

[@ViRusSTaR4]

Hey I know these guys!

[@belowthestoneofficial1476]

I KNOW YOU!

[@ViRusSTaR4]

@@belowthestoneofficial1476 going to awesomecon?

[@skatsplat7002]

can i play this game?

[@belowthestoneofficial1476]

Yes! We have a demo on Steam. Its in Early Access, so let us know what ideas you might have! store.steampowered.com/app/1170230/Below_the_Stone/

[@skatsplat7002]

@@belowthestoneofficial1476just played it ABSOLUTE BANGER!!!!!!!! I LOVE IT SO MUCH

[@monkeeboy830]

dwarf

[@belowthestoneofficial1476]

dwarf

[@ScottHost]

GIGI hi

[@ytmiva2]

You literally didn't say anything about how the developer drained their bank account to release a game. It's just an ad for a game.

[@Fairlii]

Idk if you caught on or not but the devs spent all of their money to make a kickstarter, go to conventions, and develop their game for it to release. Also, this is THEIR channel lol

[@ytmiva2]

@@Fairlii I'd love to hear about that so I won't make the same mistakes. That would have been an interesting topic and should have been included in a video with this title. I'm sure the maker of the video will learn from this and choose better titles in the future.

[@Fairlii]

@@ytmiva2 you act like the video was bad

[@ytmiva2]

@@Fairlii the video itself was good, I just had different expectations.

[@belowthestoneofficial1476]

You obviously understand that indie games have a hard time from the other replies, you personally experienced it yourself, and its admirable that you were willing to share your side of things that happened. I'll copy paste my response from the other spot, just so people reading this comment don't miss it the context, and get a better idea at the story we've been through. We really did put this video out to help people starting their journey. It was hard for us to put the full story in an 8 minute video, but yes we did have to lose a lot of money before releasing a game. Publishers don't just give you free money to work on your game, they give a loan much like a bank that needs to be paid back. It's debt that we needed to pay back.

[@Ralse0001]

game still bad and I mean really bad

[@belowthestoneofficial1476]

explain your thesis

[@Ralse0001]

@@belowthestoneofficial1476 1. Enemies DMG is unbalanced (Doing a melee on a funguy kills you in 4 hits which discourages the player to use melee) 2. The well is too hard to find, due to no hint being indicated and the map being randomly generated, it takes up to 30 minutes to 3 hours to find the next stage. Which is absolutely ridiculous and there should be a way to find it instantly if you have already gotten to the last stage of Ore in this area (Lead Iron) 3. The minimap is too small. Due to you not being able to view the full map, it makes backtracking to find a certain location extremely difficult and discourages the player to not quit and return to the lobby for better RNG 4. Movement is EXTREMELY limited. No dash, no sprint no nothing. And since most enemies are the same speed as you or double the speed, you often feel overwhelm by enemies and can get cornered by them. 5. Death is too punishing. Making you basically lose all progress since you lose your tools and equipement. If you didn't have a spare pickaxe or weapon, you have to start the game over. (It would feel more fair if it was just your Gold or if there was a set of difficulty when dying (Easy mode, Normal Mode, Hardmode)) 6. Game price is too high for a game that when bought, just feels like less than the demo. 7. Only one set of music, it even stays the same in the lobby. Would be far better if there was a music per zone 8. Refunded

[@belowthestoneofficial1476]

@@Ralse0001 this helps us a lot more than "game bad". Now we have a list of things we can address and help improve the game, appreciate it.

[@BrodySchuman]

Well, too bad the game isn't very good.

[@belowthestoneofficial1476]

If you got a chance, join the discord. We take notes of people's suggestions from there and are very proactive at try to address people's ideas/criticism at improving the game. Its still very Early Access, but the team ends up talking about a lot of this stuff in our meetings each week.

[@vegillito]

Awsome seeing this ❤ gives me hope for being indie 🫡