Snowconesolid Productions - September 2020 Recap

Here is a full recap of everything from Snowconesolid Productions for the month of September 2020.

🟢 [Game Release] - The Debug™ Available now on itch.

https://snowconesolid.itch.io/thedebug

🟢 [Event] - The First Samer Direct was held.

http://snowconesolidwho.blogspot.com/2020/09/samer-direct-1-full-recap-samer-hills.html

🟢 [Announcement] - Samer Hills™ series revealed.

(See more information in the Samer Direct link)

🟢 [Announcement] - Samer Hills Toxic Turtle game revealed.

(See more information in the Samer Direct link or check out The Debug to learn more)

🟢 [Branding Update] - Classic logo gets a new and improved HD makeover.

http://snowconesolidwho.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-iconic-samer-smiling-face-logo-gets.html

And now, it's time to welcome "Spooky" season! My favorite time of the year. I'm really looking forward to the next coming months and excited to be working on games again. What will October bring? Keep checking back for more news & updates to find out!

Where am I?

Just getting started. Quality & Polish...

     This is something that I have talked about a few times here on the blog and I apologize if it sounds like I am constantly repeating myself throughout time. I have been making games for a while now. It has been nearly a decade since I embarked on this independent developer journey. I am constantly learning, improving and maturing as a game developer. This is something that I am honestly passionate about. It is something that I love for sure without a doubt.

     Although I have been doing this for years now, I feel like I am at that point where I am just now getting started in game development. I'm taking it more seriously. I understand the struggles of being an indie game developer. Making good games can be a real challenge. Lot's of hours of hard work goes into it. It takes a long time to see any results. Days go by. Sometimes you lose motivation. Then you get that motivation back and start hammering away. Then months go by and you lose motivation again and so on. However, I personally always find myself coming back because of my love for creation. It's like a hunger.

     Sorry for getting all poetic there for a second. Anyway, I just wanted to say that I really do care about the quality of my games. I mentioned this on my Twitter, but I constantly feel like I need to redeem myself for Potato Thriller. Don't get me wrong, I am very proud of all the work I did. I am proud I created Potato Thriller and put it out there. Releasing Potato Thriller on Steam is one of the biggest milestones I have ever reached as an indie game developer and I would never undo it if I could. Potato Thriller is definitely on my top 10 list of life accomplishments.  

     With that said, I am aware of all the issues Potato Thriller had as a game. I know the game seems very amateurish and I understand why someone wouldn't bother to play it just by looking at it's trailer or at screenshots of it. Although I am proud of my creation, I feel like it has stuck me with this image or a label that portrays me as an amateurish dev, who produces low quality games and that's all i'll ever make. 

   I don't want to be known as the guy who produces low quality games. I care about quality. I really do. I want to deliver unique and enjoyable game experiences. Memorable experiences. So, I am working hard to ensure that my next game and all my future games are the best that I can make them and super polished. This is a reason why I haven't released anything in a long time.

     With all that said, i'm going to be away for a while. Away from this blog, social media, just my online presence in general so that I can truly focus all my energy into my upcoming game. To everyone who has followed my work, played my games, checked out this blog and supported me as a developer, I thank you. You are all awesome. Next time I post an update here on the blog, it will be the announcement and official Steam page for my next game. Bye bye for now!

Some teasers

     Hello everyone. Going to keep this post quick and short. Here's some cool teaser screens and gifs of what I have been working on. Spoiler, it appears to be a Potato Thriller 2 or something like that.. More info + updates soon. Okay bye!

Potato Thriller 1 Year Anniversary!

This post is like an hour and a half late, but it is still technically the 22nd in some areas so I will post this anyway! (Even though the posting date says the 22nd, I am actually posting this on the 23rd from my end because I was always too lazy to set up the proper date in my time zone. Actually, all of the dates on my blog posts are off by one day. This isn't making me look very professional. ANYWAY! LETS GET INTO THE ACTUAL POST NOW)

Today marks the one year anniversary of Potato Thriller! On this exact day (almost exact day) last year (June 22, 2016) I released a special version of the game originally called "Potato Thriller Steamed Potato Edition" on the Steam store. As an independent game developer, this marked a major milestone for me personally. I know that this game isn't perfect and it definitely is not for everyone but, it is a project that is very special to me and it is something that I am very proud of. This game marked many first for me. For example, this is my first game on Steam, this is the first game that actually got me feedback and criticism from players, this was the first lengthy game I ever made and so on. The list goes on and on.

With that said, I think the biggest one for me was that this was the first game I made that was actually being seen by people and played. which means everything to me as a developer and it is the most awesome thing. And I want to clarify that I am not trying to make it sound like I am saying "oh a lot of people bought this game and I made a ton of money, look at me i'm a successful game developer har har har" - This isn't what I am trying to say at all. Honestly, I barely made anything off the game. But I don't want to get into that stuff. This post isn't about money or success or bragging rights or anything like that.

What I mean is that, as silly and stupid this game was, people actually gave it a chance. I created a game, I put it out there and it was given a chance to just be a thing in the world of video games. Or I guess I should say the indie game scene and for that I am so grateful. The game got a lot of love from many fans while at the same time received a ton of hate from just as many people. And I am grateful for that. I think it is every artist's dream not to have their work loved by everyone, but to have people notice their work, critique their work and so on. Potato Thriller was that project that did that for me.

Anyway, this is starting to become a messy blog post and just me rambling, but from the bottom of my heart I want to thank all of you out there who have supported me as a game developer, took interest in my work, sent me some feedback, gave me criticism and so on. I want to thank all the people who gave Potato Thriller a chance, all the players of Potato Thriller, all you YouTubers and Streamers who covered the game on your channels, game journalist who wrote reviews and articles, people who did fan art, the people who reached out to me with messages telling me how much they enjoyed the game and so on. I am truly grateful. You are all awesome and are the reason I stay motivated to continue creating games and other stuff. I appreciate each and every one of you.

To celebrate, Potato Thriller is currently 70% off on Steam as of this post. This sale is part of the Steam Summer sale which runs from June 22nd to July 5th. You can check out the Steam Page here if interested: http://store.steampowered.com/app/486650/Potato_Thriller/

Happy Birthday Potato Man!

I can't believe that it has been a full year since I released this game. Time really does fly by. It's funny because looking back at Potato Thriller a year later, I am starting to see the many flaws the game has and why many people hated it. I see some bits of the game and face palm at my own work and say to myself "I can't believe I did that" or "why did I think it would be a good idea to put this in the game?" Again, it wasn't the perfect game. I understand how it came across as amateurish and low quality to some people. I'm not disagreeing with anyone. However, it is still something I am proud of. It shows me as a developer from a certain point in time. I really did put in a lot of work and effort into the game and made it the best I could possibly with the skill set level I had.

With that said, I am truly passionate about creating games. It is something that I love doing and want to keep doing. I really do care about delivering unique memorable gaming experiences and I am constantly working hard to improve. Over the year I feel like I have really matured a lot as a game developer and really am starting to take creating games more seriously. That doesn't mean I won't make my games silly and stupid anymore, they can still be silly and stupid, but at the same time need to have a certain level of quality to them.

Looking to the future!
It has been a full year since Potato Thriller has been out on Steam and it has also been a full year of silence. I haven't published anything new at all after Potato Thriller. However, this doesn't mean I haven't been working on anything. I have been developing a couple of different projects actually and I look forward to sharing them sometime in the future. Thanks for reading and more updates soon!

Samer Hills Progress?

     Huh? What have we here? A cowboy uniform and another uniform that looks very very familiar...

Also, a farm setting?

Sorry. Not a very informative or content filled post. This is more of just a nod to confirm that I am still working on a game project. But yeah, overall I would say that I am making good progress on the project. I will have more updates and posts with more information soon. Okay bye!

Steam Direct, The Fee & Thoughts.

     It's funny because just yesterday in my latest post I mentioned Steam Direct and how the fee was still a mystery. Today, it is no longer a mystery and if you haven't already heard the news from Steam's blog or any other gaming news website already, then you probably are not a game developer who want's to publish a game to Steam. Or you just don't care.

     Anyway, today Valve officially announced that the Steam Direct fee will only be $100 per game. Also, this $100 fee is recoupable according to Valve.
Steam Blog: Link

     After weeks of indie developers stressing out and being on edge about the Direct price point and waiting for the news to come out, everyone can finally relax.

     At first, I was really surprised to see Valve's decision. Personally, I was expecting the fee to be between $300 and $500 myself actually. However, Valve decided to set the fee at the lowest price point possible so that smaller indies (me being a small indie as well) wouldn't get barred out and that is pretty awesome of them. I am really happy with this price point and I am sure many other indie developers are as well. This is a very fair and more than reasonable price to pay to have your game on the largest PC gaming store front in the world. I believe that this small fee gives every indie game developer the opportunity to shine and possibly become a success on Steam. Also, it just makes everything so much more simpler for everyone. No more running Greenlight campaigns, getting votes and waiting months to see if the game passes. Developers simply pay the fee, fill out some paper work (I think there will be paperwork), set up the game page and release on Steam.

     Of course at the same time this low price point might worry some people because now the Steam platform is available to publish on to anyone with $100. It brings up the argument that the platform could possibly become over flooded with low quality games, joke games, asset flips, etc. The argument that shady developers might abuse this new system and exploit it to set up cash farms just like they did with Greenlight. Developers worry that their games will just become buried under the hundreds of other games submitted making it hard to become visible to potential customers. And gamers worry that they will become overwhelmed with loads of games flooding the storefront pages making it more difficult to browse for games that they would be interested in.

     With a low price point of just $100 it is possible for any of these points that I brought up to happen however, no one knows for sure yet. With that said, the people over at Valve have also taken these potential possibilities into consideration. I have been keeping up with Valve's more recent blog post and it truly does sound like they are working hard to avoid any possible exploitation of the new system. Valve has already made changes to the trading card system, navigating the site, what content is recommended to which users depending on their interest and making changes to the sites algorithms to just make the entire platform the best it can be. Valve really does care about giving the end user an enjoyable store browsing experience and giving the developer the best platform to work on and it shows that they are working hard to constantly improve the site. And this is why in my opinion they are the best. Why they are the number one storefront in the world. With all that said, nothing is perfect and I am sure there will always be users complaining about something and users giving praise.

    Only time will tell how the Steam Direct system will perform so we just have to wait and see.
As for me, I will definitely be using Steam Direct to publish my upcoming future games. I am excited about it and am really looking forward to seeing the changes Valve continues to make. What are your thoughts about all of this? Tweet at me @snowconesolid

See you all on Direct!

Update: 6/6/2017

Steam Greenlight official retired. Steam Direct confirmed for June 13th, 2017

The status of "Samer Hills"

Hey Samer, whatever happened to that one game project you were working on? You know, the one you posted to Steam GreenLight over here? Hmmm... I believe it was called Samer Hills? Yeah, this one. 

That is a good question Samer (just play along with me). Let me tell you what is going on because I believe I haven't been really been clear about it's progress and to be honest, I have been a bit confusing because I tend to say something different each time. I recently posted this update over at the game's Steam Greenlight page (yes, as of this post Steam Greenlight is still up and is still a thing. I posted links to my game's Greenlight page exactly 5 times already in this post......) 

Anyway! as I was saying, I recently posted this update on the Steam Greenlight page because I felt it was important to keep the page... well, updated with news relating to the project. However, with Valve's upcoming Steam Direct system, Steam Greenlight can be taken down any day now and who knows if anyone will ever be able to visit those dead Greenlight game pages anymore. 

With that said, I think it is a good idea to simply re-post the update over here on my blog for future reference. Now, I will shamelessly copy paste and quote myself:

Status of the project:

"Just a quick and possibly final update I post here on this game's Greenlight page. Since I have been going back and forth between saying that the game is "temporarily shelved" and the "game is still in development."

So that there isn't any confusion, I want to clarify the current status of this project and my plans. I don't want to sound like I am repeating what I have said in previous announcements, but here is what's going on.

-The game is NOT canceled.

-The game is still set to release/finish development this year (2017)

-I am reworking the game to be something more than what I originally had planned. I have a completely different vision for what I want this game to be and I want to implement all of my ideas into it and tweak it until I feel it is the game I want to put out there. This will be a bigger game with more than originally planned. I want to create an immersive world with multiple characters and multiple story-lines occurring.

-I am planning on changing the game's name to something entirely different. It will no longer be called "Samer Hills". Therefore if the game gets greenlit on here in time before Direct comes out, this game will launch under a different name.

-If greenlight is eventually taken down and replaced with Direct and this game has not passed it's greenlight campaign then that is okay. I will finish the game and look into my options for releasing it. As of this update there still is no exact information on how Direct will work or how much the fee will be. So I can't promise a direct release at this time. But again, I will look into my options for publishing and see if I can work with Direct.

Anyway, thank you everyone once again for the support and interest in this project. Admittedly this greenlight page isn't really getting much views or visits. However, for those few followers I feel it is important that I continue to share updates and the status on the project here on the greenlight page. At least while it is still up.

Thanks everyone once again. I appreciate all of you!

-Samer Khatib (snowconesolid)"

Originally posted on "Samer Hills" Steam Greenlight page here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/updates/868133785/1496360496

On 6/1/2017. Original Page may be removed in future.

Anyway, that's all I wanted to share today. Also, I finally setup an indiedb page for Samer Hills. You can find it here: http://www.indiedb.com/games/samer-hills

More updates soon. 

Thanks for reading.

Never Give Up On Your Dreams.

So, recently (as of this post) I created this forest pond/swampy type scene in the Unity engine to accompany my "Frog" character. I created all the assets with Blender3D (of course I use Blender for all my 3d asset creation) Anyway, the final scene turned out so much better than how I thought it would turn out. It actually looks like a real forest type of setting. See:

I think this is one of the most beautiful scenes/levels I have ever created actually. The lighting, atmosphere, colors, placement of trees and other details etc. It all just turned out wonderful and I am really proud of it. Okay okay, chill out you professional environment artist, 3d artist and photographers. I know it is not perfect. I know many AAA and other indie games have done similar scenes better. And I know there is room for improvement. There is always room for improvement of course.

I know that what I am about to say is going to sound very egotistical of myself but, when I finished working on this scene and saw the final results I couldn't help but just sit back in my chair and stare at my pc screen for 20 minuets. This scene is awesome and I believe that most of my recent stuff is some of my best work yet! I mean look at this stuff! (I know that I have already posted most of these images on the blog in the past but JUST LOOK AT THEM!)

Looking back and comparing myself and my older work from 6 or 7 years ago, or even looking back at how much I have improved since Potato Thriller (one year ago as of this blog post) makes me realize that I have come such a long way and learned so much as a developer and artist since I began this wonderful journey (sorry for the long sentence). I never thought that I would ever be able to create anything even close to what I am able to create today. I never thought that I would be satisfied with my own work. However, I always knew from a young age that I just wanted to learn how to make games and how to create 3d content. This was something I have always been very passionate about. Being a game developer has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember and actually pursuing that dream has consumed nearly a decade of my life now. But it doesn't matter to me because it is just something that I love doing and I am still constantly learning and trying to improve myself as a game designer. I am really proud of how far I have come but mostly, I am really proud that I never gave up.

I know that this entire blog post is coming across as really narcissistic and makes me look like the dev who just likes bragging all the time because I am usually really bad at wording these kinds of topics. I even cringed at myself a few times as I typed this up.

What I am trying to say and the point I am trying to get across here is that you should always believe in yourself and never give up on your dreams. If you are passionate about something, always pursue it. When I started out I didn't know anything at all and it took me forever to understand even simple game development concepts. I wasn't able to go to school to learn game development so I had to teach myself. There was a lot of trial and error and still to this day there is. However, I think that if I can learn how to make games then anybody can. Keep working hard, keep trying and never give up.

Okay?

Anyway, this has been a very weak attempt of me trying to write up a motivational blog post but hopefully the message gets across. I truly do believe in all of you and you can accomplish anything that you set your mind on.