Tactical Breach Wizards dev log: how the demo launch went

Our demo's out! store.steampowered.com/app/10...
This is about how that went. This was recorded on the 6th so time-sensitive stuff is out of date.

[@zeedar412]

Depicted: Game developer who made an outstanding game trying to process that people like it.

[@milestryhard]

Tom just FYI I've had this wishlisted since day 1 and didn't get a notification from Steam to say a Demo was available. Not sure if I should have, but thought I'd let you know!

[@samchilds1099]

Yeah Steam doesn't notify for demos; wishlist only trigger debuts & sales. It does add announcements to that news ribbon at the top of your library, so a post saying there's a demo would get shown up there.

[@sneaky7410]

Same here, I also had the game as followed so I'm unsure if it's a steam issue or not

[@livl.3139]

Same here I saw this video and immediately went to download it.

[@sethbettwieser]

Same

[@exavian6]

Same. I saw this video and immediately went and played the demo.

[@NiksSofa]

1) Steam didn't notify me that a demo is available, even though the game is on my wishlist. 2) HOLY SHIT THIS IS GREAT I LOVE IT! Playing the demo now, and this is very promising. very glad you took your time. looks like it paid off.

[@uhhh1453]

Nearly 10 years ago, when I was about 14, Nerd Cubed recommended I watch your "Make A Game With No Experience" videos. I've since become a software engineer and still make games in my free time. Have always supported your projects since! Can't wait for this one too. Thanks for helping me find my passion

[@VexWerewolf]

I want to say that both the gameplay and the writing of your games has been an inspiration to me.

[@osohista]

Tom it was a genius move on your part to get cats so that whenever you have a chaotic bit of development to describe, they're there to illustrate that to us. Loving the demo, looking forward to the full game.

[@shivamib]

Old timey crate & crowbar listener and defenestration enthusiast over here: the game is looking, playing and sounding FANTASTIC, Tom! What a journey, man.

[@CloudeStrife123]

As a video editor, I appreciate you talking about how much harder it is than it seems. It's a mostly thankless profession. I'm excited for the game to come out, can't wait to play!

[@floatingpyro2050]

this video is how i learned the demo is out

[@P1EX]

Off topic but your grid cannon video got me into card game design and I was able to release my first card game with pretty good success considering its self published. These design talk videos are always appreciated!

Yo let's fucking go

[@alastairvanmaren5243]

Hey, congrats! :D Plug a link, please! I wanna see it! :D

[@P1EX]

@@alastairvanmaren5243 youtube wont let me link it but you can google Cursed!? by goblin hour games and it should pull up. Thanks for the interest!

[@P1EX]

@@alastairvanmaren5243 Wont let me link it but if you search for Cursed!? by goblin hour games it should pop up as the only results. Thanks for the interest!

[@TroyBrophy]

It's so funny...I had this game wishlisted on Steam for years. I think I saw it on an HBomberguy video and immediately added it. Two or three weeks ago I noticed it on my wishlist and thought it must have died in development so I took it off. Then I saw Splattercat reviewing it a few days ago and thought I must be going crazy. Looking forward to giving it a try!

[@kaldo2113]

I was following this for a long time and after trying the demo the other day... it's just so much better than I even dared hope for. Loved the humor and I had to stop playing before demo ended because it sold me already and I want to save it for the release! :D Hope the next few months go smoothly for you, congrats!

[@scienceinsanity6927]

Someone randomly posted this game in my discord, recommended i try it, and I'm so glad i did because my guy, you make amazing games. I'm retroactively going to go back and buy gunpoint to play that now while i wait for the full release.

[@TheMikester9]

First found your dev logs for this game from the Tabletop Simulator community ages ago, it's great to see the game all this time later launching a demo! I saw Splattercat's video about it, and that was a pleasant surprise!

[@SkoobasArt]

I just grabbed the demo awhile back and maaaan I loved it. This was one of the freshest/funnest things I've played in awhile. Every turn felt fun and satisfying and the writing is so quipy and good. Just every attention to detail in this was on point. Glad I found ya'll on here now too, following along.

[@lewiswhitling1351]

Just checked, and realised that I wish-listed it on 15/06/2020! So happy (almost) 4 year anniversary of that event. Congrats on the demo's success and best of luck on the remainder of the release!

[@RandomDumGuy]

I played the demo today and holy shit bro I'm officially hyped, I expected a fun strategic game sure but I was not ready for how unexpectedly funnu the dialogues were and the gameplay was better than I expected too, I can't wait for the full game

[@SuperLocrian]

Hey Now! Just wanted to say I played the demo and I absolutely love it! Wishlisted! Fwiw, I came to it completely organically playing through 30 odd NextFest demos. Don't know how many demos there were, I know hundreds... I heard a figure in the thousands. Out of all the ones I played, Tactical Breach Wizards is 1 of 3 that i plan on buying.(Shout out to Drill Core). The love is evident and shines throughout the demo/gameplay - I am excited for the release! Thank you and congratulations. 😁

[@tw1sted1nc]

Have it wishelisted after playing that amazing demo - just when I thought it was all over you chuck in even more preview levels, you absolute legend! Defenistration!!!

[@NiksSofa]

one piece of early feedback: i find it irritating that the icons of the player controled characters at the top change place when i slect one. I would prefer that the active one just is a bit larger/in color/whatever but stays in first/second/etc place in the row.

[@GrandHighGamer]

FYI: Probably best filling out the survey the game gives you the option of doing. Since otherwise there's no guarantee he'll see every last comment here.

[@NiksSofa]

@@GrandHighGamer Yes, did that after watching the video and finishing the demo, thanks.

[@daveinthemicrowave]

Was part of the act 2 testing group, only heard the demo is out now will give it a try shortly. Glad to see development is going well and i wish you the best since this is one of the very few games I've been looking forward to in the last few years.

[@eisbehr]

Didn't know there was a demo out, will be playing it after finishing this video! (despite having the game wishlisted)

[@aniforprez]

i've personally had it wishlisted but shoutout also to splattercatgaming whose video probably did introduce the game to a bunch of people. he mostly had very positive things to say about the game. same with nextlander

[@DavidMcBride]

If anyone's like me, it took players a day or three to play through the demo, and only wishlisted once they'd finished it. :)

[@TheoriginalBMT]

As a business owner. I totally feel all these hat wearing switches and taking care of gaps in the hats. Looking forward to this game coming out.

[@olninyo]

So happy for you guys and it's not even out.

[@nitpicker42]

Can't wait to try out the demo when I finish visiting my family and get back to my desktop!

[@BillyONeal]

I really like the story driven part; it's a part of Gunpoint that I really missed in Heat Signature. I get that it takes forever but it rocks

[@gaverion]

I wonder how much of it come from people finding it and recommending it to friends they think would like it too which compounds the amount of positivity. I know I shared it with a few people after enjoying the demo a lot! I think the whole demo was good, but I really liked the bit at the end where you get to play with some later game stuff. It really opens your imagination to things that can be which took it from an 8.5 to a 9.5 for me!

[@shaunfrench5057]

Just want to say this the demo has exceeded my enormous expectations. Way to go!

[@Reragi]

I didnt even know the demo was out man YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW LONG IVE WAITED FOR THIS

[@KorboQ]

I'd love to see (when you're done with the game, of course!) a video covering a little bit about your process of looking at feedback on individual levels and using it to make changes and some examples, if it's possible. Thanks for the update and best of luck on the last few months of development! Looking forward to release!

[@southbridgefur]

As one of the people who have had it wishlisted for the last 5 years I'm excited to play the demo! I also didn't get a notification on Steam for it but I'm glad I saw this video so I could try it out. I loved Gunpoint and Heat Signature and am excited to play Breach Wizards!

[@slipskip1898]

Mirroring the rest of the comments that this video just suddenly alerted me to there being a demo. As a fan of Xcom style games I got to play the Playtest when that first came to steam and it was an instant wishlist and eagerly waiting for the official release. :)

[@xotmatrix]

Excited for you, Tom! This is such a neat game.

[@TheUndergroundsonic]

tried it for an hour and it's amazing, can't wait for the full release!

[@VentrueMinis]

OMG DEMO'S OUT?????? So glad to hear it! Yeah, Steam didn't tell me shit. Glad I've been following this channel since the Gunpoint days.

[@SoFishtry]

massively enjoyed the demo, mate, thanks

[@raaritsgozilla]

Fantastic game, loved the test, and so good to see Retromation give it a try and some love!

[@user-zc5hu9ik9l]

The game is amazing, it is already clear from the trailers and demos. I really hope for dls and translations into other languages)

[@bigmclargehuge8219]

I somehow missed that there was a demo!! I'm definitely gonna have to give it a try, that's exciting!

[@normalguycap]

Writing is good so far and I like Into the Breach and Star Renegades type decision making so I like the game.

[@TheHopperUK]

Everyone I've heard talking about the demo has loved it!

[@Dsmky117]

congratulations!

[@shatterfox5198]

I don't know if you'll see this, but I really enjoyed the demo! I love how arguably the easiest way of killing anyone is simply throwing them out of a window. I was pleasantly surprised to see that you created Heat Signature, which I absolutely loved to kill time with a few years back! All the unique tools that you had access to were great, and I hope I'll get as much fun out of throwing cops and PMCs out of buildings as I did throwing space scavengers and space police out of spaceships!

[@MrDiscountNinja]

I've just finished playing the demo - I love it. Can't wait for the full game. Very much enjoying the humour, the characters are awesome, and very interested to see how the red-string-join-the-connections goes. Also, throwing people out of windows literally never gets old. (Struggling to get the optional objectives on the 3rd bonus Try It mission though.)

[@ravenwich5742]

That one took me a while! But it is possible. For me, I wasn’t using the block.

[@livl.3139]

Your justification for why some people gave 9's is entirely correct at least for my self. I plaied this in 2021 and the white and black image has been a background image on my pc ever since and I definitely have wanted to play the finished version for so long I was more critical than I would have otherwise been

[@ChrisSutcliffe21]

My personal theory on the reason that the demo had more 10s is that the playtest was presented as an incomplete, work-in-progress. The intention of playing and rating was to provide feedback to make the game better. A nine is a good way to communicate that you love the game, but there's still a small room to improve. The demo is just a demo of (presumably) the finished game, so there's no need to leave that little room for improvement.

[@Revacholiere]

I've had the game wishlisted and been a part of every closed beta test sent out via email, Steam still didn't notify me that a demo was released

[@montainproductions2871]

I didnt know the demo was out. Time to play a bunch of it.

[@SpuCodes]

Re: 13:35 - “I’d rather be loved by 10% than liked by 90%” is how I always approach creating stuff.

[@Davesoft]

27:18 So, a nice little city builder next, right? :D

I stumbled on the demo and I have had a blast so far. This is a little more akin to a puzzle game than the straight up "xcom-like" I was expecting, but it is still a fun game! There are many pushback abilities, which makes the game reminiscent of massive chalice .. except that so far TBW does not exhibit any of the problems of that title.

[@ScarfKat]

So I left a bug report that I now realize was actually false, I wanna clarify what brought me to that conclusion though since I think it's still important. So my bug report was regarding what I thought was a softlock at the end of the opening mission, where you have to foresee the 2 outcomes and then choose one. I thought the game wasn't letting me finish the objective to foresee the outcome from saving the hostage and letting Liv go. What I realized later is that the reason the objective wouldn't complete was because I was too far from the hostage, so I wouldn't have been able to reach them on the next turn like the game required. I found it kinda hard to tell how far a character could move in their next turn just generally across the game, but this was the one time it caused an issue that impeded progress. Maybe there is something that tells you how many tiles they move at a time, but I didn't see it unfortunately. Anywho sorry I left a bug report that wasn't accurate lol. I feel really bad about that, but at least it still points out another issue so it wasn't a waste I hope.

[@GrandHighGamer]

Played the alpha test, played the demo just now. Great stuff. Is it absolutely perfect or to the level of intensive polish that larger studios can do? Not really. But my quibbles are minor. The writing is sharp, the premise fun, and the gameplay a nice blend of strategy and logic-puzzle (since 'perfect' runs are a more practical possibility than other titles). It's taken... well... a *while*. But it's been worth the wait and what's present is better than ever.

[@DoGStarScream]

Tom, well done spinning so many plates at once! Your games have been incredible in my experience with them. Are you looking for staff or help? Not sure if you have a careers site? Thanks,

[@supershinigami1]

The demo was great. I loved it :) The only issues I had were issues with my laptop. That thing's 10 years old and not even indi games play properly on it. Will download Heat Signature again though.

[@EstrangedEstranged]

The trailer has turned out great. But in it, the words "operatives", "brink of war", "faith", and "rewind" are not audible because of the way they are mixed in with the loud music. "Faith" is the worst case.

[@claymoresteel]

HOOO YESSSS

[@runadumb]

I was thinking about you recently and wondering if you where still around. Your new game looks very good but considering I still haven't played invisible Inc which I bought many years ago, I don't know when I'll get to it

[@finnhaverkamp]

Was the delay because of people catching up on the PC Gaming Show?

[@ivlex_13th]

Already want DLC(s) exploring the loveable idiots' back stories. i mean, who wouldn't play for Liv Kennedy - she's so sexy and cool (and pretty tacticool) ! ;-)

[@mirrikybird]

Demo??? I didn't get anything from steam, and if you sent a newsletter email I didn't get that either. I'm going to have to give this a try this evening!

[@SmellsLikeRacing]

Isn't Gunpoint rated at 97% (almost 10k reviews)? This going to be a bigger success?

[@exavian6]

Yeah! Take that Tiny Glade! Definitely not gonna go download your demo right now!

[@mylittledarkworldjohn4289]

Wait, it didn't tell me it was demo released? Wtf

[@milliondollaquestion8777]

people might be inclined to rate it as 10 as long as they like it even somewhat, just to be nice. If you imagine it was just a "do you like the game: yes/no" who would really say no to you and crush your dreams

[@dudeglove]

cat

[@TheMikester9]

cat

[@adt4864]

cat

[@Kenionatus]

As is typical of humans, as soon as you give them a leaderbord they get into the me vs them mindset. XD

[@georgeparkes3863]

You misunderstand. All things belong to the cats. I presume there will the Tactical DLC where you can unlock the cats as witches familiars? You can have that one for free 😄🐈

[@LaShoju]

Your frustrations with management sound a lot like Tim Cain talking about running Troika. My immediate reaction is ‘why didn’t/don’t you hire a manager to manage?’ You’re both smart people so I assume that’s just naive and ignorant on my part, but/therefore I would be interested to hear an explanation as to why that isn’t a solution.

[@user-hc8oj8cv4f]

So, the only nitpick I have so far (and I am posting it here due to Steam is not accepting reviews right now, hope you're reading) is the Traffic Warlock's AI make him immediately steer clear off the suspiciously breakable windows right into the other end of the room. Although it is a sentiment you would be expecting of a sane person opposing the defenestrators, it is less so appreciated being expressed by a boss in a game you would want to defenestrate. P.S. please say that it is a skill issue on my behalf and that you can easily defenestrate the damn cop with hands growing off your shoulders. That would bring me a morsel of consolation.

[@hoteckkan]

Were you able to defenestrate him at all? It took me two turns to set him up on my first try and three on my second.

[@Nixitur]

@@hoteckkan It was in that mission that I realized, hey, Jen can just _push Zan,_ so that gave me the movement needed to have Zan move next to the warlock, have him push the warlock next to the window, then have Jen defenestrate the warlock with an extra action.

[@adt4864]

You can do it, but bosses are also programmed to avoid being 1-shot via defenestration

[@user-hc8oj8cv4f]

@@hoteckkan actually, on my second attempt and on a further attempt on a hard mode I managed to defenestrate him with no issue. Guess there was too much lollygagging the first time.

[@ArchaicAlibi]

I'm glad your demo ratings exceed your expectations. I do, however, hope you will consider the feedback that some of the lower ratings gave instead of assuming there is nothing left to improve in the game. TBW may be a good game for gameplay but there are some quality of life and quality of audience fit issues that very much rubbed me the wrong way. I gave constructive feedback on those issues. I hope they don't get swept under the rug.