Infinitap Games

Well the day is finally here, arguably the most important time for any game. Release day. Within a few hours Neverending Nightmares shall finally be released into the wild, vast public market for everyone to purchase. So what are my feelings about today? Well if I’m honest I’d say it’s been pretty mixed.

Obviously the feeling is mostly positive! I mean it’s finally time to let the public play this wonderful game that everyone at Infinitap has been working hard on for the past year and a half. I can’t wait to see what everyone thinks of the game I’m just sat here eagerly awaiting the slew of reviews/lets play’s to come in so I can see how everyone reacts to this game. I’d anticipate that most of them will really enjoy it, as I have myself, with the odd negative opinion here or there (I mean hey I don’t think there’s any game that has been universally accepted as great so it’s to be expected hahaa). It’s not just positive experiences on the finished game itself however; it’s been a great journey all throughout.

When I first backed this game on Kickstarter, I never thought that much would come of it. I saw the alpha build perk and thought “Oh that’d be cool to try out”, I never really even considered the backer forum as part of the package at the time. However near the end of the campaign we had the infamous “Decimal Disaster” as it were hahaa. I remember being a part of that effort to get another backer out of trouble. It just gave me such a nice feeling of joy seeing so many people come together within this basically freshly built community and sure enough we got our friend Gabriel out of trouble. After the campaign had finished I’d figure that I’d give the forum thing a chance. I should stress that I’ve never been one for forums really, I’ve never really been a part of one before this because I felt that most large ones have a substantial barrier to entry and it’s kind of hard to get your voice heard amongst the rest you know hahaa. After joining this one however I slowly started to become more and more enveloped in the community and I’d like to think that I’ve become one of the main stays (Even though there are people with more posts than me hahaa). I’d just like to extend my appreciation for what a nice community we have built here. Sure it might be pretty miniscule compared to most others but I like to think that we all have an appreciation for each other here and for that I’m proud to be a part of it However there is the second half of my perk that I acquired during the Kickstarter and that’s the Alpha access.

Initially I was a little hesitant about doing it considering that I’d be playing in an unfinished state each time until eventually it was finally updated, fatigue might set in you know. But now, at the end of development however I’m so glad that I chose that perk hahaa. It’s been a really cool experience, having a hand in the development of the game. I never could have imagined that some of the ideas and thoughts I had on a game could influence the way that it was built. I hope that I’m not sounding narcissistic but I have a feeling that I had a hand in creating the game in some regard. I know it’s stupid considering that I haven’t technically done anything to the game but just seeing some of the ideas I’ve expressed come to fruition in some capacity within the game is something special, so for that I have to express my thanks to you Matt for allowing people to have such a close involvement in the game making process . Personally having such a close involvement with the game has automatically made it one of my favourites of the year easily. I mean the game itself it great obviously but that combined with the wonderful community we have here and the long process of testing the game on each build has just propelled it that much further in my eyes.

Now here’s the part where I have to commend you directly Matt. Since the start of the Kickstarter to where we are now, you’ve been one of the coolest developers that I’ve interacted with. I mean that probably doesn’t mean much considering that I’ve never really interacted with any developer but I still mean it hahaa . I mean for starters you’ve given constant updates on the games development on Kickstarter for the backing public (I mean 100+ updates damn! hahaa) which is great to see. Too often do we hear of Kickstarters failing to inform and communicate with their backers and end up releasing something that wasn’t what they were expecting. But with Neverending Nightmares you’ve really made sure to keep backers updated and assure them of what is currently going on with the games development, which in my eyes is really cool to see . Also your involvement on these forums has been fantastic. I know that you were often really busy working on the game but the fact that you’ve been on the forums responding and interacting with every post on here shows a huge level of commitment to your backers. I think I can speak for most people here when I say that having this direct involvement with you as a developer has made the whole experience of testing and such so much more worthwhile, so for that I have to send a great amount appreciation to you

So with all these positives you may be wondering, why did I say that I was having mixed feelings at the beginning? Well it’s just the fact that it’s all coming to an end. With the game finally done and everything there’s going to be no more builds to test, no more ideas to deliberate back and forth on and potentially not much activity on these forums anymore. I’ve had such a great time being a part of this game’s creation that I kind of don’t want it to end, it’s just been so much fun you know hahaa . But I understand that all good things must come to an end eventually and I really am excited to see how the game does in the public market. I just hope that it’s a success so that we can continue on these forums when the sequel is in development hahaa .

My final thoughts on everything are hugely positive. I’ve had such a blast on these forums talking to everyone and having direct involvement in the game making process, I don’t think I would ever turn down another chance to do it again! I think that everyone at Infinitap Games has created a great game here and so I’d like to send my congrats to all of the team for making such an effective horror game that offers something unique to the genre. Now let’s just hope that the majority of the public feels the same way I do about the game so that the team can finally have a financial success on their hands!

(Sorry about any grammatical errors or anything but this post is already like 1,252 words long so I don’t want to go through everything with a fine tooth comb hahaha)

I think Matt wins the most posts prize hands down

Wow, this is it! I'm excited and nervous for the game. It's weird to feel that way but like you said JPrice I feel in a strange way like I was a part of the development process, even though that's barely true. Thanks to Matt for putting up with me and kindly humoring all my dumb ideas, it's easy to throw out ideas but the real skill is being able to filter the feedback and turn it into something that works.

This Kickstarter project has really set itself apart from others in openness and community involvement. I also wasn't sure what to expect when I decided to back it, the alpha access sounded interesting but I didn't get my hopes up for more than some test rooms to try out model animation or something, but that last day funding comma issue prompted me to back it at this level and I'm so glad I did. I've backed projects larger and smaller than this, and this is the only one that's gotten me so interested in the actual process.

I tried to write something like this last night but the words escaped me. Bravo jprice on so eloquently wording this. I'm very nervous too. The game launches in two minutes and I'm at work. I hope Matt keeps us updated on it all.

I 100% d it last night and I loved every moment.

JPrice – It has been great to get ideas from you and other people on the forum. The game wouldn’t be the same without your input, so I really have to thank you guys!

It is my hope that the community we built here on the forums won’t just disappear now that the game is out in the wild. I still plan on doing developer diaries (maybe not QUITE as frequently) and engaging on the forums, so hopefully we can still chat about Neverending Nightmares and potentially future projects.

RightClickSaveAs – You were definitely part of the development! I think your ideas were quite good.
I’m glad you all enjoyed being part of the process! I enjoyed having you all involved!

So far, the numbers haven’t been amazing, but hopefully things will pick up if we can get big Streamers to play the game. At least I hope so. At the very least, the numbers are better than Retro/Grade, but that’s not saying much… :-/

That surprises me about the numbers, Matt. It's listed as a top seller on Steam.

Did you read the post mortem for " Cook Serve Delicious"?

It gives a real insight into how a Steam sale later on can totally change a games fortune. Day one is becoming less significant I imagine. Several ppl have commented the game looks great but their backlog is too big to justify full price.

Here, here!

Well, it's interesting because I feel a lot better about the numbers today than yesterday. Sales haven't picked up - but they haven't slowed down. I was thinking that we'd have a lot of day one sales, and it's trickled off, but the sales have been pretty constant. Hopefully we can keep it there.

Steam sales are super important, but I don't think you can get the really great promotional opportunities unless you sell above a certain threshold. I'm not sure what that threshold is. I'm not sure anyone knows - but for Retro/Grade we would have killed for a real Steam promotion, but they said our numbers were too low.

At the very least, we've grossed more money already than we did on the Steam version of Retro/Grade life to date, but that was amazingly low.

So I guess everyone - keep your fingers crossed that the game continues to sell at the rate or around that - hopefully at least until Halloween.