How it started and... how it's going If you want to make money, you have to think about the paying customer. A year ago, I knew I wanted to make a game, but I couldn’t settle on an idea.
In this update1
Full notes
Full Aisle Survive update
Read the full published notes in a cleaner layout. The original post stays linked below.
What changed
0 fixes0 additions4 changes0 removals
Store
Events
Security
Balance
changedHow it started and... how it's goingA year ago, I knew I wanted to make a game, but I couldn’t settle on an idea. Ultimately, I looked to my housemates. In my case, my housemates are 17 teenage boys, because I live in a boarding school. I pitched two ideas: a wacky football game, and a stressful shop game. Unanimously, the kids voted for the wacky shop game, and the rest is history.
changedHow it started and... how it's goingAisle Survive , therefore, is unashamedly tough, so the biggest challenge for myself and Jack Longmore (the programmer) is balancing that ‘toughness.’ These days, it’s not something I can be wholly objective about, as I’ve been playing the game constantly for about six months and I’ve actually gotten quite good at it.
changedHow it started and... how it's goingAgain, I look to the kids: My school has given me permission to hold play-testing sessions, and I’m fascinated to see what happens when I let this rather unique QA team loose on the demo build. Some of the boys in my boarding house have already tested the game across its various iterations – in fact, a small handful of them have been playing Aisle Survive since its earliest build, when the main character was nothing but a block on the screen, and the shop was a simple grid. They found a few bugs, and a few exploits. I worked with Jack to move things around and adapt some of the mechanics based on their feedback.
changedHow it started and... how it's goingIn my eyes, this is the best approach: Keep bringing it back to the player and see how they respond. The player is the paying customer, after all. This is where we pivot from the purity of artistic creation towards the optimisation of a commercial product, and I’m happy to pivot in the case of Aisle Survive ; I want the game to be fun, and I want to give it a fighting chance of making its money back.
Aisle Survive changes
changedA year ago, I knew I wanted to make a game, but I couldn’t settle on an idea. Ultimately, I looked to my housemates. In my case, my housemates are 17 teenage boys, because I live in a boarding school. I pitched two ideas: a wacky football game, and a stressful shop game. Unanimously, the kids voted for the wacky shop game, and the rest is history.
changedAisle Survive , therefore, is unashamedly tough, so the biggest challenge for myself and Jack Longmore (the programmer) is balancing that ‘toughness.’ These days, it’s not something I can be wholly objective about, as I’ve been playing the game constantly for about six months and I’ve actually gotten quite good at it.
changedAgain, I look to the kids: My school has given me permission to hold play-testing sessions, and I’m fascinated to see what happens when I let this rather unique QA team loose on the demo build. Some of the boys in my boarding house have already tested the game across its various iterations – in fact, a small handful of them have been playing Aisle Survive since its earliest build, when the main character was nothing but a block on the screen, and the shop was a simple grid. They found a few bugs, and a few exploits. I worked with Jack to move things around and adapt some of the mechanics based on their feedback.
changedIn my eyes, this is the best approach: Keep bringing it back to the player and see how they respond. The player is the paying customer, after all. This is where we pivot from the purity of artistic creation towards the optimisation of a commercial product, and I’m happy to pivot in the case of Aisle Survive ; I want the game to be fun, and I want to give it a fighting chance of making its money back.
How it started and... how it's going
If you want to make money, you have to think about the paying customer.
A year ago, I knew I wanted to make a game, but I couldn’t settle on an idea. Ultimately, I looked to my housemates. In my case, my housemates are 17 teenage boys, because I live in a boarding school. I pitched two ideas: a wacky football game, and a stressful shop game. Unanimously, the kids voted for the wacky shop game, and the rest is history.
Over the last nine months, I’ve strived to develop a game that my ‘housemates’ would enjoy playing. In our house, particular favourites include EA Sports FC, Hollow Knight, Five Nights at Freddy’s and Geometry Dash. More recently, the boys have gotten into Enter the Gungeon, at my recommendation. What surprises me is how intently some of them gravitate towards difficult titles, undeterred by the thought of having to play the same sections over and over again until they crack them. They sink most of their time into the Pantheon bosses of Hollow Knight, and relentless runs of Enter theGungeon.
Aisle Survive, therefore, is unashamedly tough, so the biggest challenge for myself and Jack Longmore (the programmer) is balancing that ‘toughness.’ These days, it’s not something I can be wholly objective about, as I’ve been playing the game constantly for about six months and I’ve actually gotten quite good at it.
Again, I look to the kids: My school has given me permission to hold play-testing sessions, and I’m fascinated to see what happens when I let this rather unique QA team loose on the demo build. Some of the boys in my boarding house have already tested the game across its various iterations – in fact, a small handful of them have been playing Aisle Survive since its earliest build, when the main character was nothing but a block on the screen, and the shop was a simple grid. They found a few bugs, and a few exploits. I worked with Jack to move things around and adapt some of the mechanics based on their feedback.
In my eyes, this is the best approach: Keep bringing it back to the player and see how they respond. The player is the paying customer, after all. This is where we pivot from the purity of artistic creation towards the optimisation of a commercial product, and I’m happy to pivot in the case of Aisle Survive; I want the game to be fun, and I want to give it a fighting chance of making its money back.
So when people ask me who the game is for, and who the target audience is, that’s my answer: the boys, my housemates. I’m trying to make a game they’ll enjoy. Then we cast the net wider, because I want girls and adults and other members of the human race to enjoy the game too(!) so we’re moving towards an early access build of the ‘full’ game to garner yet more feedback.
But yes, on a day-to-day basis, the kids in my immediate vicinity are my reference point when it comes to making important creative decisions. Let’s see if I got it right.
