So #DoYouCopy crossed 250k downloads today. This is wild for a little game jam game we made 3 years ago. I thought it could be cool to share some knowledge of why I think this did so well, and why the game jam we did after didn't. This will probably be a long thread.
So here is the latest quick stats for the past week. It's kind of insane seeing a minimum of 100 downloads a day. And this has been consistent for 3 years now. Why is that?

This was the 5th year of Asylum Jam and it was getting bigger. With each year, we kept getting better.
So we were voted pretty high up which helps with exposure. We also got some good Youtube coverage and comments of people really liking what we did.

People called it Horror Firewatch which is immediately attention grabbing and gives a reference of what people are getting into.
The design wasn't Horror Firewatch at all. We wanted to play with the idea of escape horror and flip it a bit. We came up with a core idea and mechanics and made sure that was the game.

One was being smart with content and making branching paths to extend playability.
We also decided to do full VO to really bring up the level of quality.

In the end it was pretty good. There were bugs, there was a missing story path, but the core was there. And people reacted strongly to it.

So we decided to take some time to finish it.
In February we added in the missing path, added a ton of polish, and added a tiny bit of new content to bring it all together. We didn't expand the game and get scope crazy, we just finished what we had and were proud of it.

Even still this took 4 months to finish this up.
We released it and updated people on the update, and that's when things got wild. A lot of Youtubers picked it up and the numbers started exploding.

It was amazing watching people play and seeing how they reacted. And realizing what really resonated with people.
1. It was familiar, but different.
2. It had a ton of mystery and allowed the player to piece it together.
3. It isn't an overtly scary game, but we built atmosphere to let players scare themselves.
4. The player character was silent, so players could be them and read it out loud
This boost pushed a different form of discoverability, and to this day, Do You Copy has been mostly within the top 5 of Gamejolt. It's constantly there when players on the site want to play horror games.

This made us want to make something more and bigger.
Trying to make a full game as a side project with a team is hard. Life just gets in the way when you have jobs and other life events and this isn't the primary focus.

We tried to keep a monthly schedule and scope moderate, but even though we did some good work, it was too much.
While the scope was pretty reasonable for a small game, the thing we missed, was it was reasonable for us if we were working on it full time. We tried to scope it down more and start again, but it's hard to pick up that momentum again.
So the following year we wanted to try and take our learnings and do another game jam. Unfortunately the Asylum Jam stopped that year, but we were ambitious and hosted the Fear Jam.

We didn't get a lot of participation and we didn't finish our game for a multitude of reasons.
So we finally finished Lenny Motts the following February and released it.

It was received well and people who loved Do You Copy were excited about it, but it didn't get picked up as much. We expected that, but we learned some things.
So we finally finished Lenny Motts the following February and released it. It was received well and people who loved Do You Copy were excited about it, but it didn't get picked up as much. We expected that, but we learned some things.
So we finally finished Lenny Motts the following February and released it. It was received well and people who loved Do You Copy were excited about it, but it didn't get picked up as much. We expected that, but we learned some things.
1. We didn't have as much of a discoverable mystery and lore as Do You Copy.
2. The hook wasn't as strong and unique.
3. There was no official jam attached to it.
Still we are proud of all the little games we made. Do You Copy was just the perfect storm that hit at the right time. While I think we could make another successful little game, it probably won't ever be as big, and that's ok. Maybe it will, but the good thing is the learning.
So we sit at 250k downloads, and by my best estimates, 40 million views on Youtube.

I really would like to take some of the ideas we had for a bigger version or sequel and make it someday. It's a lot of fun making different types of experiences from my day job.
I hope this thread was helpful with some insights and info. I am happy to answer any questions anyone has.

I've always been a big proponent of Game Jams and encourage anyone to join one.

Have a great day.
I want to add one final note. Follow the amazing people I had the pleasure of working on this with.

Shout out to Asher who was the writer and voice actor who isn't on twitter.

@Urban_Oxygen @Dralex789 @WilbertRoget @Jayce_Face @Rankopfpro @kazjin2612 @Brian__May @Han_Hunter3D
You can follow @Witdarkstar.
Tip: mention @twtextapp on a Twitter thread with the keyword “unroll” to get a link to it.

Latest Threads Unrolled:
Those who think consciousness raising & movement building are disconnected, or even a distraction from electoral politics have not paid attention to the history of social change.In this thread, we
Read more
The 2020s will be known as the Remote Work decadeA few predictions of what is likely to emerge[ a thread ] Third Space: Office and Working from Home will
Read more
1/29: Have you ever had a concept explained to you that helps frame complex issues you’ve been wrestling with and opens your eyes to new possibilities? A concept that I
Read more
By continuing to use the site, you are consenting to the use of cookies as explained in our Cookie Policy to improve your experience.