Why are wishlists so important to indie devs? (w/ Chris Zukowski)

[@ranpergames]

you did great in convincing us to wishlist your game haha

[@kylebanks]

haha well thank you, they really do help

[@kylebanks]

Happy new year folks! Thanks again to Chris for taking the time to answer all my questions. I'll be back with a proper devlog soon, but it's been fun exploring some new topics in the meantime. Thanks for being patient with me if you're waiting for the next devlog

[@ardisaz]

Thank you for sharing the video; it provided profound insights into the subject matter. I'm curious about the notable surge in the wishlist data you mentioned, coinciding with Gamescom. Could this spike be attributed to your presence with a booth at the event, recognition on the official Gamescom Steam page, or perhaps a feature by Indie Arena on their Steam page during Gamescom?

[@AwkwardSpecimens]

Kyle + Chris = One super informative video. Thank you both!

[@MaxxKatarn]

Wow, so cool to have Chris in your video ! 🙂

[@SomeHumbleOnion]

Super insightful video Kyle and really awesome to see Chris in there! I appreciate the transparency with Farewell North's data and congrats on hitting that 30k mark that's awesome!! Wishlists are super important and it's great seeing devs like you shed some light on it for players or devs just starting out

[@kylebanks]

My pleasure!

[@harneetsingh9420]

Thanks a million ! :) I am feeling very relaxed after watching this video and extremely happy to see other fellow dev doing good with wishlist(I am not a dev but will be someday). I will go and wishlist your game straight away, again thanks for sharing the knowledge, much appreciated.

[@kylebanks]

I'm glad to hear it was helpful for you!

[@geoffalday]

Super insightful. Thanks, Kyle and Chris!

[@kylebanks]

Thanks Geoff, glad you enjoyed!

[@DavidWehleGames]

Amazing editing Kyle, you are certainly multi-talented!

[@kylebanks]

It's all the editing magic of @TheShelfman on this one actually!

[@SuchDesign]

I add and remove games from my wishlist all the time. I just like to keep the list to a certain limit, and I tend to go back after a while. It really is nothing to worry about. I'm sure I'm not the only one with wishlist ocd

[@DearMink_X]

I have it too...

[@AaronGwynaireGameDev]

Great video! I do love the steam analytics videos, and how wishlists convert etc. I currently have around 14.5k wishlists. Looking at having 20-30k on release! :D this has mainly been through social media posts, mostly Facebook, and Reddit has helped. Aiming for some cross promotion with other devs along the way to launch early next year :)

[@anbagames]

Thanks Kyle & Chris! Lots of valuable information, learned something!

[@TheShelfman]

My wishlist count is getting out of hand. But seriously, this video is incredibly useful

[@darkigg]

I have 1,800 games on my steam wishlist. I think I've wishlisted too many indies. I've also reached a point in which it'll take me longer than my entire lifespan to finish all these if I had them.

[@kylebanks]

Yea that's my concern, I suspect that on average wishlists are getting longer and longer

[@hiiambarney4489]

I highly doubt you couldn't finish 1.8k indie games in your lifetime. But acquiring them is another thing. Still, as someone working on a Game Solo, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you do for the community! I'm sure you made a tangible difference for a lot of these Devs! As a side tip though, if you are just doing it for the support and are worried you never get to see the games you really do wanna buy, get a second account just for "support" wishlisting... At least that's what I did.

[@ChillDragonGames]

Great watch! Thanks a lot for the insights! 😃

[@kylebanks]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Skeffles]

Great video! Really interesting to see how wishlists could effect a game. I think farewell north has some fantastic stats and when you release will do well!

[@kylebanks]

Aw thank you

[@SmartLearningAI]

It would be great if you could make a video to help Indie devs understand when their game is even ready enough for a Demo on Steam. Thanks.

[@danieldaconceicao8122]

Great! Thanks! I will wishlist your game :)

[@Tukenukemus]

Fighting tooth and nail for every single wishlist, and hearing "Bare minimum 7000!"... oof.

[@rorka1252]

10:46 name of website with Upcoming Events PLEASE? I'd be grateful.

[@thekaizenfr]

Greate video Kyle! Really enjoyed it 🙂

[@kylebanks]

Thanks Valentin!

[@climb-up-high]

Thanks for the great insight!

[@VEC7ORlt]

Interesting to see the other side. There is also that thing called semantic satiation - keep asking for likes/subscribes/wishlists and it just becomes annoying noise, to the point I'll do the opposite.

[@fourplenty]

I relate so much to the time spend on video's. When I started my channel I planned on doing a video every week, but it does really slow down the development by a lot. What amount of video's would you recommend uploading in a month if you want to spend more time working towards a demo of your game.

[@kylebanks]

I strive for one per month so I'm not too distracted from actual development, but it's a tricky balance for sure

[@fourplenty]

@@kylebanks thanks!

[@adibrahman9297]

Chris is like Soul Goodman 😅😅😅

[@jimmydork9206]

Very good video

[@marcapouli7805]

I have only 1 game in my whishlist, it is here for many years, I just wait the day I can afford it. I don't see the point in adding more games if I can't already buy the first one

[@dmitriyvasilyev6408]

Nice

[@celeritasgames]

Thanks for this help. What do you mean work the tiktok algorithm?

[@jam_wtoo]

Seems like I gotta claim the third :P

[@JustLansky]

Second? Im sorry😅 but nice video as always!

[@kylebanks]

thanks :)

[@1984ordep]

Aw my game Petey Pedro unBEETable adventure needs way more wishlist then 😢

[@waifu_enjoyer]

Add VR support and I’ll wish list your game. Even if it’s as basic as changing the game camera as a 6DOF camera with no motion support just basic controller stuff with flat anyway.

[@darkigg]

this is out of context

[@waifu_enjoyer]

@@darkigg Even still, add a VR tag and the VR upcoming is much smaller list watched by an enthusiast community. Only recently bought the Falconeer and Hellish Quart simply because of their recent VR support.

[@kylebanks]

I don't know the first thing about VR, but I suspect a bad port is likely to just end up in a number of negative reviews

[@waifu_enjoyer]

@@kylebanks This is true, but not difficult to add basic VR functionality. If your game is good enough someone might try and mod it into VR for you instead. As a third person game you only need to ensure the world scale looks good, the UI is at a nice distance, communicate control support clearly and is compatible with OpenXR/OpenVR/Oculus runtime. A used Quest 2, and you can test all of these things. When we mod unity(non IL2CPP) and UE games into VR can take many weeks and can break some of your shaders reverse engineering it. As a dev you can make the most polished experience first and foremost in less time and guarantee a spot on the special VR tab of Steam. Whenever you have a sale, you are on a special place in Steam, and the current PCVR competition is pretty woeful so most even half hearted efforts look good. Would suggest looking at Alba, recently got a fan made VR mod and a new jump in interest and sales. Though would agree if you don't play VR games and have no experience of what good and bad VR games are then stay away. Try playing Stray/FF7R/Elden Ring with a tiny world scale third person with the Luke Ross VR mod and you'll understand how powerful 6DOF can make the experience.

[@darkigg]

@@waifu_enjoyer this is not a game that would fit in a VR environment at all. Just making a lazy port would be unnecessary, bad, and would lead to negative reviews. This game wouldn't work well in VR in it's current form.

[@delarayon7328]

Arnold schwarznegger

[@kingbling7571]

First?

[@kylebanks]

confirmed 🥇