Yes... the pitch seems confusing, and the game itself seems uninspired.
I'd try a demo because this is the sort of thing I might like but I see nothing there worth paying for up front.
I'd try a demo because this is the sort of thing I might like but I see nothing there worth paying for up front.
> I even released a small 5 level demo on itch (can't afford to pay steam's 100$ fee to get a free version up on the platform)
How much larger is Steam's market than itch's? I'm guessing the answer is "very". How many conversions do they need for the $100 to pay off? 20-30? Seems like a no-brainer to me, and not even being able to afford $100 for what would almost certainly be positive ROI marketing is a pretty big blocker. Heck, I'd even front the $100 myself if I can get some kind of commission on copies sold :)
It's like he went out of his way to do everything exactly wrong, knowing the chances of failure were against him even if he did everything right.
$100 dollars is nothing compared to dev costs. It should have been just counted as startup costs and the demo should have been up since day 1.