It’s been a few months now, but Dice’n Goblins is out, on multiple platforms. You can buy it now on Steam or Fanatical.

This was probably the hardest project I’ve ever done. It required thousands of hours of work and lived in my brain, for all the hours I was not working.

Was it worth it

It’s been 3 months and it generated a little bit of money. Enough to pay back production costs and pay for some expenses. I won’t hide that it’s not living money. But I’ve been gathering fan, honed my craft, and got some marketing capital now, so it’s not so bad. Next game gonna be easier. DnG might not be a bestseller, it’s a seller, and it’s already better than most of the competition. I will sell it, for the next years to come.

Making a big game

I’m proud of how rich Dice’n Goblins is. I’m proud of the scope of Dice’n Goblins. It’s a RPG!

About scope

There is this somewhat deceptive advice from Gamedevs Gurus that to make a big game you need to make a lot of small games first. You won’t be able to ship big games if you’re not able to ship small ones, that’s a fact. However, the scopes in a game don’t add up, they multiply. The more elements you have in a game, the more elements they have to interact with, from a programming standpoint, but also from a game design perspective.

As an example:

• You have an RPG with physical and magical attacks.
• You want to spice it up and have some attacks carry elemental properties
• As a result, you have physical elemental, magical elemental, physical neutral attacks, and magical neutral attacks.
• Now you need to add monsters to be able to exploit those attacks on!
• Now you need content to put those monsters in!

The scope of Dice’n Goblins

We have of course all of the assets, dozens of 3D models, most modelised by me or my partner, 60+ drawings of monsters and NPC, animated cutscenes, and of course a full story with over 12k words translated in TWELVE languages!

On top of this, we had to code a lot of systems:

• 3D Overworld
• Minimap
• Inventory System
• Skill System
• Combat
• Cutscenes and Dialogues
• Remapping, Screen Resolution and the classic game option you can think of.

During development, we worked with around 15 people from translator, contractors for art and community members (and friends). We did a lot of marketing, and discovered how ads work! Worked with a publisher, got a lawyer for a contract, canceled that contract after some months! Handled comments. I gave around 4 interviews about the game and it was reviewed in professional gaming magazines and by Steam reviewers alike.

Personal impact

I enjoy making games and getting lost in the process of making them. DnG is pretty personal, a piece of media, really rough and imperfect as it is. The world is not worse with it. I’m glad the game is out, however. The release left me pretty depressed for some reason, but I’m starting to live like a human being again. Developing the game was invading my personal life and my health.

Seeing people talk about the game, make fan-art of it, is a rare treat. I’ve always been more of a scientific type nerd. Studied Science, went for PhD and then worked with software. Now, my situation is closer to an artist and even though there is no issue to be perceived as such, my internal identity has to adjust. It’s a new journey.

Dark Clouds

The gaming industry right now is pretty cut-throat. People compete on Steam not only for money, but also for attention. A game requires you to sit down, and not go on your phone, watch a youtube video, or message someone on Discord. To reflect that, games have evolved into attention grabbers and dopamine generator more and more. It’s no mistake that the casino iconography appears more and more through games. 1) I don’t think Balatro is to blame. Balatro with its calm music and discrete sound effects is far less dopamine-inducing than most people say. It’s just a good game. To be honest it’s pretty bleak, but quite frankly, right now, what is not bleak?

The future

So now, we’re calmly porting the game on Switch. And thinking about the next game. I’m fighting with “Is this marketable?” and “Is this doable with the budget/time allotted” demons now. But I need to remember that without authenticity my game won’t sell. Wish me luck, and see you for the next game!