I just wanted to share something that happened with a game I am developing, that both excited me and astounished me at the same time. Sorry if this isn't the sub to talk about this, but given the constant negative news about the industry, about AAA devs making slop games and layoffs, I feel like this personal piece of news could bring a positive outcome to it, like it did for me. That, and my game is as pc-focused as it can be, with a very unique control scheme focused around the mouse, so I feel like a story like that would be of special interest to this sub =)
Some context: First, I am developing Sepulchron, a game that blends a lot of ideas to make a unique puzzle game: It is an immersive sim that allows you to break and progress through the game using multiple means, it is a game that adopts the design philosophy, mainly for puzzles, from old point and click games, and it is very much a knowledge-based progression a la Outer Wilds( or Void Stranger, for ones like me who played and loved that game).
Basically, the game is meant to be "broken" for you to progress quicker and to find hidden ways to progress through the game. It is meant to be obtuse, the mechanics are meant to be learn through practice. Its a game you need to "study", basically.
Second, this is our first game. As such, we made a bunch of rookie mistakes. In this case, we didn't have a place to test our mechanics. So we kinda tested them on the main game itself, setting the puzzles and mechanics and stuff around it. And when we had to make the demo, we just removed the stuff that wasn't meant to be in the demo area, but for the "out of bounds" stuff, we kept it there. After all, players can't reach them. What the eyes don't see, the heart can't feel.
The comes this maniac, and somehow he breaks the game and access areas he wasn't meant to access. That mana lamp he mentioned? It was freaking hidden, and while we left a hidden passegeway in the demo we forgot to remove, there was nothing to indicate it was there. It is literally invisible the passage lol. But fine, lets say he got lucky.
Later he says he crafted two bombs. There is a light crafting mechanic in the game, but there is ZERO indication of how to craft these bombs in the demo, which is not simple by the way. How the hell did this… lunatic managed to find that out????? No really, there is NO indication of how to do that. No hints. Nothing.
And its not like he is lying, everything he says that wasn't meant to be in the demo is really there. The Train, the crafting, the plates and symbols. Just madness. I don't know how many hours he spent figuring this all out with zero hints.
I just wanted to share this story to show other devs, ones like me that make games because we love them and want to play more games like the ones we played when we were kids, but sometimes feels like its impossible to reach others and make them play and enjoy what we create: If you make something out of love, and really do try to make the best game you can, there is a very high chance that at least someone, some lunatic out there, will resonate with what you create, and spend hours upon hours having fun with it.
And for the people that aren't devs: It sucks how bad the industry is at this moment, with all the layoffs and AIs and this constant push for live service and "mainstream" games, in spite the devs specialty not being that. But this one event made me remember a simple truth: The demand for weird and fun games will always be there, and thus indie devs will always fill the hole that AAA devs leave hollow.