Bramble Royale is an excellent game you should be proud of - I'm so sorry that has not converted into monetary remuneration! It's a well done labour of love that's clear to see. It really seems like luck is what catapults you into the zeitgeist - I hope the tail of BR is better or that your next effort manages that. Many thanks for sharing your thoughts and process.
Fingers crossed! Still proud of the game either way. It's by far the most ambitious game I've ever developed and I know that putting something out there is a huge personal accomplishment, regardless of how it's received.
Thanks for sharing this, the transparency is a huge benefit to the indie dev community. Hope your next launch makes back it's money plus some! I for one will not be banking on mine to do so, just making sure to have fun while making it.
Appreciate that! That's exactly why I wrote this case study. I benefited a lot in the lead-up to the first Meteorfall game from the lessons of other indie developers, and I see this as my opportunity to help give back to that community.
I came across Bramble Royale through your postmortem, which was shared in The GameDiscoverCo newsletter.
Thank you for being so honest and open in reflecting on the journey. It’s rare to hear such a vulnerable and insightful breakdown of the indie dev experience. It’s a privilege to learn from someone so willing to share both the wins and the hard moments.
Even if the launch didn’t hit expectations, a strong update strategy can turn things around. Steam rewards developers who improve and engage actively. Without that, visibility fades fast—and then it’s truly tough.
The way you’ve set up your business, tracked data, and approached development shows a lot about your mindset and commitment. It’s clear you’re in this for the long game.
I’m really rooting for Bramble Royale to find its audience. You’ve built something with heart and intention—and that often matters more than first-week numbers. Thanks again for being so generous with your lessons. I’ll be following closely.
I won’t pretend to know everything you’ve been through—but I’ve heard similar stories from other indie devs navigating rocky launches. The gap between wishlists and launch sales is frustrating—and you're definitely not alone in that.
I’d love to hear your take on what happened between Steam Fest and launch day. That window is often where momentum gets lost, and I think that’s where more support is needed.
I write behind the scenes with indie teams to help bridge that gap—turning wishlist energy into launch-day action.
I pulled together some thoughts on what can actually keep momentum going—based on what I’ve seen, heard, and worked on: [Ultimate Steam Guide]
If you're in the middle of it, or still unpacking the recent launch, maybe it helps. And if anything in it hits—or misses—I’d love to hear what you think. I’m always learning from devs who’ve been through it for real.
Always so good to see transparency and be able to learn from others in the space. Thank you for this! Being able to ship three titles is no small feat in and of itself. You can take pride in showing that you can continually shipping high quality games regardless of commercial success. I think it's also fair to give yourself a little grace, it's never a straight journey to succes.
There are a lot of great insights here already, and I wonder if you had any thoughts when comparing the median playtime of both games, especially both games demos?
Good question re: playtime. Median demo playtime for Bramble is 25 min vs 21 min for Krumit. Krumit's median playtime is higher: 3.5 hours vs just under 3 hours for Bramble.
Not really any major difference there from my perspective. On both games, I think the playtime is obviously lower than I'd like given that you need to do several runs to experience everything, but I'm not sure what the industry average is for games like StS, Wildfrost, Mosnter Train etc.
I'm really sorry to hear about this. I've never heard of your games, but now I've got to play them for sure. Don't be discouraged - You've made something beautiful over years of labor, and I'm sure you'll make many more games to be proud of, in the years to come!
Sorry to hear that the first week went so poorly sales wise. Really looking forward to giving the game a try! I hope the Mobile release sees a much more substantial response. The mobile market seems like it's sometimes surprising that way. Thanks for continuing to make games and for making the sort of games that YOU love, not just what's "marketable" or whatever. There's obviously a throughline between audience desire and following the muse, but if you lose track of the muse you're much more screwed (in my opinion) than if you just fail to catch people's attention with something shiny and flashy enough. As an artist you get to look back at this project and know you made something you're proud of. And when that's the case, there's often room for random surges of new popularity in the future when the right people discover the game in addition to knowing that that a niche group that's going to get the game will deeply appreciate all the love and passion that went into it regardless of its commercial success. As an artist, being appreciated on that level is pretty important to me too.
I just put out a project with a fairly disappointing commercial release as well, but I'm very happy with what I created. (feel free to give it a listen if you have time some time -- https://open.spotify.com/album/6etmeLC4ASQe38IOiKcm1t )
Good luck as you keep making games! And congrats on the release :)
Thanks a lot for all the kind words! Totally agree. A lot of people ask me why I never tried the full-time indie developer path, and it's partly because it changes your motivations. Out of necessity, you have to chase marketability even if it's not something you love. Of course, I want to make something I love *and* that's marketable, but I can see how I might start to hate game development if I depended on the success to pay the bills.
And congrats to you on your album release, will definitely take a listen! I know how hard it is to just put something out there: the act of getting it wrapped up and over the finish line, as well as the dread of public judgement - honestly it's sometimes a miracle that anything gets created!
This was a great retro, I really appreciate the candid perspective. Normally I hate asking questions online, but this is eating at me. Did you ever get any feedback or inclination that the name is part of the marketing issue? It might just be me since no one else seems to comment on it, but any game with "Royale" in the title I immediately categorize as massively multiplayer. Quick searches on steam and gamalytic reinforce this categorization. If I saw any youtube videos with this name in the title, I would never in my life think the game is a deckbuilder. I would assume it's a battle royale.
It wasn't something that occurred when I originally wrote this. But when shared this to /r/indiegaming, the top-upvoted comment (with almost 1k upvotes) was basically exactly what you said.
I'm very aware of battle royale as a genre, but there are *other* 'Royale' games (like Clash Royale) which are not that. I mostly thought it was a cool word and it does somewhat fit the game - you're basically battling to the the last team standing in a tournament. My thought was that yeah, some peoople may think that but the game is clearly not that in the screenshots.
What I vastly underestimated was just how strong this connotation was for people. I think if the game had managed to break through the noise, we wouldn't even be talking about the name. However, when you're a small game trying to stand out in a crowded field, you need every advantage you can get, and 'Royale' is not doing the game any favors.
One thing I'm seriously considering is rebranding the game before mobile release: ditching the 'Royale' title and leaning more into the original series title 'Meteorfall'
Hey Eric, thanks for the writeup! I'm a big fan of your other games. Absolutely love the art. Just a personal note - I actually remember seeing Bramble Royale on Steam and completely skipped it because I associate the "Royale" name with the massively prevalent type of cash grab games on mobile. There are probably hundreds or thousands of them that I know Supercell has already tried to patent the word "Royale" at some point. I assume a lot of players are like me on Steam. In any case, I've wishlisted Bramble Royale and will pick it up as soon as I can. Good luck in your future endeavors and may you have better experience on your next one!
1. "People are just really fatigued on card / deck builder games." That might be true but also there are simply a LOT of these types of games. Whenever I watch a trailer collection of upcoming indie games it feels like half of them feature a screen where the player picks from a selection or 2 or 3 cards presented onscreen.
A lot of these games also have more or less the same gameplay - you have a guy with a stick and he swings his stick at enemy guys. If you're looking to play a new deckbuilding swing-your-stick-at-a-guy game there are hundreds to choose from and at a high level they all look pretty similar. As opposed to something like Blue Prince, which has elements of card / roguelike stuff but is more distinct. Even if people aren't tired of this genre it's just extremely saturated.
2. As far as wishlist to sales conversions, I expect this ratio to keep going down. There's a bit of observer-effect happening here. Developers realize that wishlists covert to sales at X%, so they try to juice wishlist numbers and are more aggressive about cajoling users to wishlist, which leads to "low quality" wishlists, which hurts the conversion ratio.
It's extremely common to see developers essentially begging for wishlists - please wishlist our game because wishlists not only convert to sales but also impact new and trending sections, influence which games Valve will promote, etc. Now that developers have realized that wishlists are important they're becoming less important. A similar effect played out much faster with "prologue" versions of games. It worked and became something a lot of developers did which made it not work as well. (Valve also made some changes which undercut prologues IIRC, but they were already losing effectiveness)
Bramble Royale is an excellent game you should be proud of - I'm so sorry that has not converted into monetary remuneration! It's a well done labour of love that's clear to see. It really seems like luck is what catapults you into the zeitgeist - I hope the tail of BR is better or that your next effort manages that. Many thanks for sharing your thoughts and process.
Fingers crossed! Still proud of the game either way. It's by far the most ambitious game I've ever developed and I know that putting something out there is a huge personal accomplishment, regardless of how it's received.
Thanks for sharing this, the transparency is a huge benefit to the indie dev community. Hope your next launch makes back it's money plus some! I for one will not be banking on mine to do so, just making sure to have fun while making it.
Appreciate that! That's exactly why I wrote this case study. I benefited a lot in the lead-up to the first Meteorfall game from the lessons of other indie developers, and I see this as my opportunity to help give back to that community.
Hey Eric,
I came across Bramble Royale through your postmortem, which was shared in The GameDiscoverCo newsletter.
Thank you for being so honest and open in reflecting on the journey. It’s rare to hear such a vulnerable and insightful breakdown of the indie dev experience. It’s a privilege to learn from someone so willing to share both the wins and the hard moments.
Even if the launch didn’t hit expectations, a strong update strategy can turn things around. Steam rewards developers who improve and engage actively. Without that, visibility fades fast—and then it’s truly tough.
The way you’ve set up your business, tracked data, and approached development shows a lot about your mindset and commitment. It’s clear you’re in this for the long game.
I’m really rooting for Bramble Royale to find its audience. You’ve built something with heart and intention—and that often matters more than first-week numbers. Thanks again for being so generous with your lessons. I’ll be following closely.
Appreciate the kind words! I do have some more content updates planned despite the initial reception, so fingers crossed!
I won’t pretend to know everything you’ve been through—but I’ve heard similar stories from other indie devs navigating rocky launches. The gap between wishlists and launch sales is frustrating—and you're definitely not alone in that.
I’d love to hear your take on what happened between Steam Fest and launch day. That window is often where momentum gets lost, and I think that’s where more support is needed.
I write behind the scenes with indie teams to help bridge that gap—turning wishlist energy into launch-day action.
I pulled together some thoughts on what can actually keep momentum going—based on what I’ve seen, heard, and worked on: [Ultimate Steam Guide]
https://subtlezungle.substack.com/p/the-ultimate-beginner-guide-to-launching?utm_source=substack&utm_content=feed%3Arecommended%3Acopy_link
If you're in the middle of it, or still unpacking the recent launch, maybe it helps. And if anything in it hits—or misses—I’d love to hear what you think. I’m always learning from devs who’ve been through it for real.
Always so good to see transparency and be able to learn from others in the space. Thank you for this! Being able to ship three titles is no small feat in and of itself. You can take pride in showing that you can continually shipping high quality games regardless of commercial success. I think it's also fair to give yourself a little grace, it's never a straight journey to succes.
There are a lot of great insights here already, and I wonder if you had any thoughts when comparing the median playtime of both games, especially both games demos?
Thanks for the encouragement!
Good question re: playtime. Median demo playtime for Bramble is 25 min vs 21 min for Krumit. Krumit's median playtime is higher: 3.5 hours vs just under 3 hours for Bramble.
Not really any major difference there from my perspective. On both games, I think the playtime is obviously lower than I'd like given that you need to do several runs to experience everything, but I'm not sure what the industry average is for games like StS, Wildfrost, Mosnter Train etc.
I'm really sorry to hear about this. I've never heard of your games, but now I've got to play them for sure. Don't be discouraged - You've made something beautiful over years of labor, and I'm sure you'll make many more games to be proud of, in the years to come!
Game looks pretty cool!
Sorry to hear that the first week went so poorly sales wise. Really looking forward to giving the game a try! I hope the Mobile release sees a much more substantial response. The mobile market seems like it's sometimes surprising that way. Thanks for continuing to make games and for making the sort of games that YOU love, not just what's "marketable" or whatever. There's obviously a throughline between audience desire and following the muse, but if you lose track of the muse you're much more screwed (in my opinion) than if you just fail to catch people's attention with something shiny and flashy enough. As an artist you get to look back at this project and know you made something you're proud of. And when that's the case, there's often room for random surges of new popularity in the future when the right people discover the game in addition to knowing that that a niche group that's going to get the game will deeply appreciate all the love and passion that went into it regardless of its commercial success. As an artist, being appreciated on that level is pretty important to me too.
I just put out a project with a fairly disappointing commercial release as well, but I'm very happy with what I created. (feel free to give it a listen if you have time some time -- https://open.spotify.com/album/6etmeLC4ASQe38IOiKcm1t )
Good luck as you keep making games! And congrats on the release :)
Thanks a lot for all the kind words! Totally agree. A lot of people ask me why I never tried the full-time indie developer path, and it's partly because it changes your motivations. Out of necessity, you have to chase marketability even if it's not something you love. Of course, I want to make something I love *and* that's marketable, but I can see how I might start to hate game development if I depended on the success to pay the bills.
And congrats to you on your album release, will definitely take a listen! I know how hard it is to just put something out there: the act of getting it wrapped up and over the finish line, as well as the dread of public judgement - honestly it's sometimes a miracle that anything gets created!
This was a great retro, I really appreciate the candid perspective. Normally I hate asking questions online, but this is eating at me. Did you ever get any feedback or inclination that the name is part of the marketing issue? It might just be me since no one else seems to comment on it, but any game with "Royale" in the title I immediately categorize as massively multiplayer. Quick searches on steam and gamalytic reinforce this categorization. If I saw any youtube videos with this name in the title, I would never in my life think the game is a deckbuilder. I would assume it's a battle royale.
It wasn't something that occurred when I originally wrote this. But when shared this to /r/indiegaming, the top-upvoted comment (with almost 1k upvotes) was basically exactly what you said.
I'm very aware of battle royale as a genre, but there are *other* 'Royale' games (like Clash Royale) which are not that. I mostly thought it was a cool word and it does somewhat fit the game - you're basically battling to the the last team standing in a tournament. My thought was that yeah, some peoople may think that but the game is clearly not that in the screenshots.
What I vastly underestimated was just how strong this connotation was for people. I think if the game had managed to break through the noise, we wouldn't even be talking about the name. However, when you're a small game trying to stand out in a crowded field, you need every advantage you can get, and 'Royale' is not doing the game any favors.
One thing I'm seriously considering is rebranding the game before mobile release: ditching the 'Royale' title and leaning more into the original series title 'Meteorfall'
Hey Eric, thanks for the writeup! I'm a big fan of your other games. Absolutely love the art. Just a personal note - I actually remember seeing Bramble Royale on Steam and completely skipped it because I associate the "Royale" name with the massively prevalent type of cash grab games on mobile. There are probably hundreds or thousands of them that I know Supercell has already tried to patent the word "Royale" at some point. I assume a lot of players are like me on Steam. In any case, I've wishlisted Bramble Royale and will pick it up as soon as I can. Good luck in your future endeavors and may you have better experience on your next one!
Two points:
1. "People are just really fatigued on card / deck builder games." That might be true but also there are simply a LOT of these types of games. Whenever I watch a trailer collection of upcoming indie games it feels like half of them feature a screen where the player picks from a selection or 2 or 3 cards presented onscreen.
A lot of these games also have more or less the same gameplay - you have a guy with a stick and he swings his stick at enemy guys. If you're looking to play a new deckbuilding swing-your-stick-at-a-guy game there are hundreds to choose from and at a high level they all look pretty similar. As opposed to something like Blue Prince, which has elements of card / roguelike stuff but is more distinct. Even if people aren't tired of this genre it's just extremely saturated.
2. As far as wishlist to sales conversions, I expect this ratio to keep going down. There's a bit of observer-effect happening here. Developers realize that wishlists covert to sales at X%, so they try to juice wishlist numbers and are more aggressive about cajoling users to wishlist, which leads to "low quality" wishlists, which hurts the conversion ratio.
It's extremely common to see developers essentially begging for wishlists - please wishlist our game because wishlists not only convert to sales but also impact new and trending sections, influence which games Valve will promote, etc. Now that developers have realized that wishlists are important they're becoming less important. A similar effect played out much faster with "prologue" versions of games. It worked and became something a lot of developers did which made it not work as well. (Valve also made some changes which undercut prologues IIRC, but they were already losing effectiveness)
Anyway good luck!