What Went Wrong

1. By far, the biggest thing that went wrong with the game was lack of publicity. It’s very difficult for an indie developer to draw attention to their game, and given our tight development schedule, there was even less time to devote to marketing than normal.

2. Not only did we not get any pre-release buzz going, but also there wasn’t much post-release buzz either. The lack of pre-release press information meant that game reviewers weren’t even aware that the game had been released. That situation will come around and the game will get reviewed, but most of those reviews will be a month or more after release of the game or later.

3. Our initial decision on the demo of the game was not well received. We offer a fully playable, three-day demo, but there was no walkthrough, and some people who play a demo want a more guided path than we gave them—they wound up not being sure what to do in the game and never got fully immersed.

We did create a second demo with no time limit (although how far you can progress in the game is limited), but we still missed some potential sales because of the choices we made with the first demo.

4. We also had to leave a feature or two on the cutting room floor as well. They weren’t features we had announced, but we’d still hoped to get them into the game. Hopefully there will be enough interest in the title to continue its development, because the game world still has rich opportunities for expansion.

5. The biggest thing that went wrong is that we’re still an indie development company that nobody knows about. It’s very difficult to get noticed, and awareness only builds very slowly over time. It’s the same grind that every good indie developer is in.

Summary

I feel that Total Pro Golf 2 turned out to be the best game we’ve ever released. Interest in the game has picked up since it was released, and feedback has been consistently positive, particularly after the release of a bonus pack that included new features and two additional courses.

There are so many good games out there that never get noticed – it’s the nature of the beast I suppose – but that’s not going to stop me from doing something I love, which is making these games. Budget is important, but it’s not as important as vision.