I released the build-a-wizard demo 5 days ago. So far, 91 people have viewed the page, with 19 people downloading it. I know most of the traffic comes from friends and family; such demographic has given me positive reviews + improvement feedback.

For all the mental preparation, I'd still been feeling disappointed in my results. I hadn't gotten feedback from strangers, and for some reason my social posts re: the demo did worse than most dev diary posts. It didn't put me off making games altogether, but it made me realize I was hoping for an immediate success that is not reasonable.

A couple of things made me change my mind: this is common. More prolific devs with more games still see slow growth in player base for their new games. Marketing consultants pose this as an opportunity: you've now got a product and you're out there in the market. Most importantly, the people close to me I made this game for (hi mom) loved it.

All these reasons have encouraged me to see this as a bit of a success. If I wanted to make money fast of have immediate success with a game, I'd've gone to work for a corporation. But I didn't. I'm doing this because I'm having so much fun making games. Even if it's only for a couple hours a week. As long as there's fun, there's no rush.

I'll take a break from this demo for some weeks, maybe do something else in the meanwhile. But I'll come back, for sure! :)