http://www.seaven-studio.com/indies-going-all-in-with-self-publishing-an-ethan-meteor-hunter-post-mortem/

Again, fascinating read. This time it is not a success story, though - 1 month after release (including here on GoG) it has sold a total of 127 units.

Might just add this here also, the Post-mortem of Race The Sun -http://flippfly.com/news/race-the-sun-a-month-after-launch-losing-steam/

Interesting. I was taken aback when you mentioned that it was here on Gog; I completely forgot that that game was a thing that exists. I know I saw it on the front page when it was released (I remember someone making one of those "oh, not another indie platformer" comments), but then everything about that game completely disappeared from my mind after that.

I wish I had a better explanation as to why I didn't buy it (or even wishlist it) other than "I'm just not interested...".

That's really strange - only yesterday's and today's releases are below Ethan on the GOG bestselling list...

Hmm, seeing it as the cause of not being on Steam and releasing at on the same time as GTA V and ignoring the fact that these type of indiegames have been oversaturating the market for a long time now doesn't speak of a lot of understanding.

This would have worked so much better:
Jordy Verrill: Meteor Hunter

Quite honestly, I doubt being on Steam or releasing at any other time than a year ago would have made much of a difference. They might have sold 400 units instead of 127 if they had been on Steam, but it's really a drop in the ocean by comparison to what they likely needed to break even.

If you want reasons why the vast majority of indie games fail upon release now, here's a quick bullet list that covers the vast majority of cases:

* Market saturation
* Genre saturation
* Indie bundles
* Sales.

Shame to hear that they are not doing well, but I can see why.
When the game was first released on GOG, I looked at it, thought "hey, that does not look half bad, I might pick it up if it ever gets on a major sale", and then forgot all about it. Most of the really successful indies seem to have one or two things that stands out about it, and that is clearly identifiable by just looking at it, and to be frank, Ethan: Meteor Hunter lacks this. Looking at the screenshots, it looks like another puzzle-platformer (not a bad one mind you), with decent but not outstanding art design. And as the game did not get a whole lot of press, most people who are interested in these kinds of games will probably do what I did.

My thoughts exactly, the attention it got on the greenlight pages should have been a good indication.

That is sad. I indeed totally forgot this game even existed (on gog or elsewhere). Is it because I have issues to 'sort' it in a given category ? Is it because it seems complicated to me (and that's not something I often say about a videogame, and I hardly mean it in a appealing way) ?
As for the 'likes' and greenlight top games, I think it doesn't mean much for games (side effect of facebook generation). I don't think the important thing is how many people you interest, but how much interest people have.

Edit : my thoughts match those of Afnord methinks.

Hm... I had seen that Meteor Hunter game on the front page, even clicked on the game card but didn't get as far as starting the video.
I just watched the video now and the game doesn't look fun to me. Maybe I'm wrong and I would actually enjoy it but reading + watching didn't spark enough interest in me to try.


Racing the Sun recently got Greenlit, let' s see what that does for them..
When it came to GOG I put it on my wishlist and I hope I'll play it one day but currently I'm happy with all the games I have, and pre-Christmas time isn't the time for me to by more stuff for myself anyway.

Yes, considering that they have a 50k€ budget on just publishing and marketing, means that they needed to sell 6667 units to just cover the publishing costs... Do bare in mind that this includes the PS3 publishing and it is not known how many units have sold there.

There's nothing unusual about that sentiment. I can explain it in two words - "average consumer".

Sadly, and despite the fictional dreamworld of artistic creators creating wonderful original games and generous patrons providing undying support that some people like to paint of the indie gaming sector, it all boils down to one simple fact - a gamer buying a game from a developer is a business transaction. That means the gamer is looking to get the best deal they can find. In many cases, this means that the gamer is willing to wait for the game to go on sale or enter an indie bundle, which, let's be honest, is an inevitability by this point.

Most people who buy indie games are usually the types to buy lots of games, i.e. they have often substantial backlogs. This means that to buy a game new, it really has to have some kind of special resonance.

I do like to support developers that release DRM-free for instance, so I'm more likely to buy a game that I'm on the fence about if it's DRM-free than if it has DRM. I bought The Chaos Engine on day one off GOG.com, but I would have waited for a sale if it had been Steam-only. But support for a principle does not mean that I or many other gamers will automatically pony up money simply to support that principle. If we did, we'd be in debt pretty quickly.

If I didn't have a major backlog already and we were gagging for good DRM-free games (and platformers), I might have bought this. As it stands, there are plenty of DRM-free games for sale, not to mention plenty that look much more appealing upon sight.

Ouch.. Never fun to see people failure..

I will read more carefully later, but if one member of their team comes here for feedback, to answer the last simple question, why didn't I buy your game..

- I dislike Puzzles.
- The art is not appealing to me, a rat.. Without much of a style to my eyes.. Sorry!
- From the trailer / teaser, Action seemed to be quite far and the character very little.. I like it more focused and a closer view.
- Again from trailer, Environment looked dull to me, same warm color tones in the background with the actual location grey, rocky caverns.. Meh!

10$ price point is OK though, but really not my kind of game to begin with, anyway here are my reasons not to buy it.. Anyway, all i can say is i wish you good and Best of luck to correct the stream, indie devs!!

No money with this time of the year, but you get my Greenlight vote!

I hope they'll learn from their mistakes and perhaps don't expect to do well in an supersaturated market with a bland entry. I guess they were tired of making the same horror survival game, but they really should've tried something else.