What I fear the most as a game developer

I’m not scared of making a failed game. I’ll pick myself up and do it again. It has happened and it doesn’t bother me. I’m more scared of not making games.

Harvest Island is a story driven farming simulator. You milk cows, pet goats, shear sheep, plant crops, and pray to the gods in this cute, adventure, story-driven farming simulator. But don’t wander off too far from the comfort of your home. It’s safer to play around the farm than discovering the secrets and mysteries of this remote island.

Harvest Island is about two kids that lives on a remote island with their father. You give your harvest offerings to the gods by milking cows, petting goats, shearing sheep, fishing, eating good food, and planting crops to earn bless which are points to help upgrade your farm into a better farm. On this remote island, you can discover lots of hidden places. Caves behind water fall, or wild animals hiding in the forest. Even finding a randomly placed vending machine in a dark underground hidden room along the beach.

Harvest Island Core game mechanics is about exploration and discovering the island’s secrets. It’s very story driven and the farming mechanics comes secondary to help support the story line.

This game genre I would like to call my game is called a semi-farming simulator because it focuses on the story rather than the farm mechanics.

Almost a lot of the farming simulator is open ended, but my indie game has a linear story. It’s from start to finish with a clear ending. There’s farming mechanics in this indie game to help extend the gameplay and support the main story line. I developed my game to not be a stardew valley clone or follow other farming tropes. It really focuses on exploration and story telling. Finding hidden stuff and the exploring the mysteries of the island. That is why I say that Harvest Island is a semi-farming simulator because of it’s story telling with no dating or towns to visit. You can almost say that it’s an adventure game with farming mechanics in here.

Harvest Island has the same feelings like stardew valley and animal crossing. It’s inspired by harvest moon and rune factory. Some of the other indie games relating to a farming sim I’ve looked at has the same feeling as mine. Games like coral island, sunny side, little witch in the woods, kynseed, sun haven, spiritfarer, critter crops, no place like home, summer in mara, my time at portia, graveyard keeper, littlewood, farm folks, witchy life story, sakuna: of rice and ruin, dinkum, chef rpg, the garden path, everdream valley, harvestella, and snacko.

This is my 6th game I’ve made and I’ve spent a lot of time on on Harvest Island. It has gone through a lot of game revisions, a lot of game demo on steam, a lot of feedback from the gaming community and I’ve scaled it up from my original concept from those feedback.

I appreciate all of my fans that have been following me and waiting patiently for the release of Harvest Island. All I hear is crickets when I post something new of my game development progress. It’s a bit discouraging but for the handful of fans that actually speak up, you make me feel like I have a million followers. It’s nice to be appreciated for the work I’ve done. And I’ve put a lot of work into this. Especially marketing an indie game like this because I’ve tried a lot. Reddit, Facebook ads, instagram, tiktok, youtube, game reviews, game blogs, letsplay, and SEO.

It has been a really long journey for me and it feels like my game development is growing. I feel like once Harvest Island is published, I’ll just be really happy that I’ve finished. Working on this game since 2019 of April is a really long time. It’s like a marathon for indie game developers.

I also feel like once Harvest Island is published, I’ll have a low to moderate success. Pretty much enough money to start on my next game after this. I think I’ll be very happy with a moderate success as being too famous in one go would mean a big change in my life. I want a gradual change so that I can adapt to it. And not suddenly be bombarded by the press. Or watching everything I say. For now, it’s super fun being a nobody. I can make mistakes and no one will notice it. Like this youtube channel which I’m figuring out.

Keep saying nice things and show support. I’ll continue to make games as long as I hear from you.
Anyways, thanks for sticking around and reading my video game blog!

Be sure to wishlist Harvest Island on Steam! It really helps out a lot that you wishlist the game. It lets me know that you support my indie game journey and my game development! Oh and follow me on my socials too!

Harvest Island Store Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1292500/Harvest_Island/?utm_source=Youtube

Twitter: https://twitter.com/YobobGames
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