Hey, all. It's been about a year and a half since I released the original drop of Trash Planet (September 2020), and over a year since I released the Trash Planet Update (the current version, December 2020). I think now is a good time for an update of where we are now, and some reflections on went well  in the development, and what could have been improved.

Where we are now: The game has been out since September of 2020. As of right now, between Itchio, Rpgmaker.net, and Gamejolt, the game has a total of 955 downloads. My goal was 1,000 in the first year, which obviously was not met. I think this could have been met through more advertising, as well as adding the game to Steam. I also released the game before Omori, which I think drew additional attention to RPG Maker games. It's possible that if I released an RPG Maker game of this caliber after Omori, the game might have got more attention. 

In terms of bundles and reviews, the game was added to, and had significant success with, the Shorter Games with Worse Graphics bundle. There haven't been very many formal reviews of the game, but the few that are out there are good, and the comments have generally been pretty positive. There have been a few playthroughs on youtube (Shoutout to Flareblitzed, who beat the entire game), but the game never got a significant following on twitch or youtube or anything like that. Although, that being said, the soundtrack was featured in a video about taxes (lol?) by popular history youtuber Mr. Beat, in a video which has roughly ~60,000 views. 

Overall, I'd say I'm decently happy with where the game got to so far, but it also hasn't seen any significant movement recently. Downloads have pretty much stopped, and I don't think a lot of new people at all are discovering the game. That's also because it's been a long time, and I'm not promoting it anymore. 

The game was also never "featured" on any of the websites it was hosted on, including RPGmaker.net or here on Itchio. I think that might have helped get more eyeballs on the game. The game won 2 awards on the "Indie Hell Zone" website, which can be found here: https://indiehellzone.com/2021/01/07/indie-hell-zone-2020-awards/. Other than that, I'm not aware of any other awards or allocades that the game got.  

Monetarily, I made just over $550 dollars on the game, which is higher than what I would have thought I would earn. A pretty good chunk of that money came from the Shorter Games w/ Worse Graphics bundle. At the current US minimum wage, $7.25, it would take someone 76 hours of work to earn that much money. I'm not sure how many hours of work I put into Trash Planet, but I can guarantee that it was more than 76. However, unlike minimum wage jobs that I've had in the past, working on Trash Planet was actually fun. 

What went well in development: I think I did a good job with the music, first and foremost. The music has actually been featured in History videos from the popular youtuber Mr. Beat, as referenced in the above section. Not only that, but I like what I was able to do: 100+ songs that all fit a pretty cohesive theme. 

I also think I did a good job with the characters. There are probably way too many player characters / characters on the party, but I think I did a pretty good job with all of them.

And, although the graphics are bad because I made them myself, I am also happy that I was able to make almost all (spoilers?) the graphics myself. I have no background in art, and in fact, I am a criminal defense attorney in my professional life. I don't have a lot of time to draw sprites, and I'm not very good at it; but I was able to make the entire game myself (except for the spoiler parts). 

What went poorly in development: There's only a couple big things I wish I did differently. One of them is the marketing; I wish I went more all-out in really pushing the game. I think I would have been able to get more downloads if I did that. The other thing is that I wish I would have explored more of the game mechanics. If the game had more thorough bonding sessions, a slightly better combat system, and a couple other perks to go along with the interesting premise + good characters + good music, I think that would have went a long way. 

One big thing I wish I would have done is put the game on Steam. I personally couldn't figure out how to do it. Maybe I'm just dumb with that kind of stuff? Haha. But, I think it's probably too late to put it on Steam now, at least at this point in time. 

Anyway, those are some thoughts I've had about Trash Planet recently. 

Hopefully you enjoyed the game. If you did enjoy the game / are reading this, please leave a comment telling me what you thought of the game. I don't get a lot of comments on my game, but most of them are positive, and I read all of them and appreciate them, a lot. 

Until next time (?),

Dominic Esquire