As game developers, there are a lot of things that we have to think about from the making of the game, to the very end. There are a lot of steps that need to be taken before you even start writing your first line of code and similarly, at the end there are quite a lot of steps that need to be done after you write your last line of code. The latter is something very often overlooked at by game developers as they're mostly impatient to get their game out to the public as fast as they can. I don't blame them, the most exciting part of making a game is knowing that other people are having a blast playing them.
What you have to think about when the game is done
Most of the things that will be mentioned are things that can be thought of from the beginning of the game, but can be fully thought of in the later stages of the game. Firstly, you'll need to know what is your target platform. That is usually something that you should know at the start of making it since a game for mobile should be designed slightly differently than a game for PC or console, but you can start with a general idea and be open to changing it down the line.
Once that decision is made, you'll need to know your target audience. That is very important because that's the precursor to the next thing you'll have to think about which is where you want to post it. Different people go to different places and get their games from different websites. Steam is one of the most popular ones because it's widely known as the marketplace/hub where you can buy any new games. Big studios have mostly all switched to being available on Steam because it gives access to a community and to visibility that you wouldn't necessarily get otherwise.
What are the alternatives?
Although Steam is very good, its user base gets overwhelmed with new games every day. That makes for very volatile players most of the time. Especially if you're a smaller studio publishing a game trying to stand out, you might end up with a few sales but the week or the month after, you're already old news. In that regard, player retention on Steam is very very competitive. So, instead, you could post on smaller platforms that have less visibility but may get you more of that player retention like itch.io or other independent platforms like this. We want to eventually open the games section up to the members to post their games so that other members get first-hand try on them and you could get a real feedback from the members of the community.
That being said, it's not impossible to have player retention on Steam, it's just harder. So is Steam the best place to publish your game, well it depends on what you aim to do and the approach you want to use. That's why our games are all and exclusively on here!
What you have to think about when the game is done
Most of the things that will be mentioned are things that can be thought of from the beginning of the game, but can be fully thought of in the later stages of the game. Firstly, you'll need to know what is your target platform. That is usually something that you should know at the start of making it since a game for mobile should be designed slightly differently than a game for PC or console, but you can start with a general idea and be open to changing it down the line.
Once that decision is made, you'll need to know your target audience. That is very important because that's the precursor to the next thing you'll have to think about which is where you want to post it. Different people go to different places and get their games from different websites. Steam is one of the most popular ones because it's widely known as the marketplace/hub where you can buy any new games. Big studios have mostly all switched to being available on Steam because it gives access to a community and to visibility that you wouldn't necessarily get otherwise.
What are the alternatives?
Although Steam is very good, its user base gets overwhelmed with new games every day. That makes for very volatile players most of the time. Especially if you're a smaller studio publishing a game trying to stand out, you might end up with a few sales but the week or the month after, you're already old news. In that regard, player retention on Steam is very very competitive. So, instead, you could post on smaller platforms that have less visibility but may get you more of that player retention like itch.io or other independent platforms like this. We want to eventually open the games section up to the members to post their games so that other members get first-hand try on them and you could get a real feedback from the members of the community.
That being said, it's not impossible to have player retention on Steam, it's just harder. So is Steam the best place to publish your game, well it depends on what you aim to do and the approach you want to use. That's why our games are all and exclusively on here!