Launching the Bot

Launching a game is tiring. Launching a game where the launch doesn’t really work is exhausting, especially when those who actually play the game seem to really like it.

I’m currently at my desk with a pile of work to do on Particulars (you’ll hear more about that next week!), but i’m constantly checking Facebook and Twitter for new mentions, checking our analytics for new plays, and googling ‘unstoppabot’ for new press. I keep getting that feeling that ‘I can do more’, but I know that in the end, certain things (like some of the press) will simply take a few days to take hold. Right now, I’ve gotta go design the UI for our next project, but instead I feel the need to write about this moment. Because once Unstoppabot starts doing better (and I’m fairly confident that it will), I’ll likely forget what I’m feeling now. And if we go through this on another game, I would like to remember that this is just a part of the process.

We’ll be doing a post-mortem on Unstoppabot in the next few weeks, and you’ll be sure to hear more about the launch, what went wrong, and what you should look out for if you’re launching your own game. I’m also going to write something about the procedures we’re putting in place to ensure that the development of Particulars is a much smoother ride than this bot that just won’t stop… unless it does and then you launch it (or something).

I’d like to take the time to thank everyone who’s shared the game so far: we had 127 download of the game and over 20 reviews in the first day, which was pretty damned awesome considering that the vast majority of the downloads were from social networks (we didn’t show up as ‘new’ for anyone, but more on that later…). If you haven’t played the game yet, please do! If you haven’t rated/reviewed it, please do that as well – it’s one of the most important things for the game at the moment, and our best hope for getting it to break through.

In saying all this, I don’t want to give the impression that this game has failed. We’re a little down, but definitely not out, and we’ve got some plans that could really turn this ‘never stop unicycle’ around.