Dot Hop launched today on steam! It has some challenging grid puzzles that I think folks will find satisfying.

This game started as a puzzlescript game for the Fediverse Summer Jam hosted by the p.d community - I reimplemented it in Godot, added themes and many more puzzles, and finally released it last night/this morning.

The game’s source is available on github and it can be purchased on steam and on itch.io.

Hope you enjoy it, and let me know what you think!

  • russOPEnglish
    10•4 months ago

    Thanks! I’m hopeful it helps folks as an example godot game. Not that my way is the best, but it’s working for me, so feel free to borrow some patterns!

    • @[email protected]
      7•4 months ago

      This is exactly why I’m going to buy the game. Having the ability to play a game and follow the code will help me understand game development more! Cheers!

      • russOPEnglish
        4•4 months ago

        Excellent! Let me know if you have any questions!

        I’m working on some devlogs that will share parts of the implementation - I’m happy to dig into whatever directions are useful

    • Darkrai
      5•4 months ago

      I’m currently playing around with Godot so I really appreciate all the examples I can get. Thanks!

      • russOPEnglish
        4•4 months ago

        This template might also be useful: https://github.com/bitbrain/godot-gamejam - e.g. i read through the savegame stuff before implementing it in my own game.

        I saw another template the other day… and my last/next project “dino” is available as well, though it’s pretty crazy in there right now: https://github.com/russmatney/dino - i hope to whip this one into shape by june 1st!

        • @KissakiEnglish
          3•4 months ago

          Seeing that’s on Steam too, I am wondering, do you pay 100 USD to get listed on Steam? Are you hopeful you will be making that money back? Are you paying it for different reasons than monetization?

          • russOPEnglish
            4•4 months ago

            Another much shorter answer is, once you pay the steam fee, you can easily play your game on the Steam Deck, so it helps a ton for playtesting (both myself and putting the games in people’s hands).

            And otherwise, the Dino page is up now in the hopes of starting to collect wishlists sooner than later.

          • russOPEnglish
            2•4 months ago

            [edit: sorry, this whole answer I thought the question was asking about Dot Hop, not Dino! Re: Dino, I’d started the project much earlier, but paused development on it at the beginning of this year to pursue Dot Hop first (much smaller scope). I’m moving back to Dino now that Dot Hop is released, targeting a launch before June!]

            Yeah, Steam charges $100 per title - if you earn enough (some high number, maybe 1000?), they give that 100 back, but I’m not necessarily counting on that (not soon, anyway). My goal is make enough money to keep doing game dev full time - i’m hopeful to make it work across steam/itch/patreon/other stores. (Hopefully Dot Hop mobile/Switch releases later this year!). To me the dream is to make enough money to make the rent and make the next game.

            But! There are definitely other less-directly-monetary reasons for the release:

            • getting exposure and feedback from more people will help me improve as a game dev/designer (this might be the biggest reason, really - I don’t expect commercial success from my first game, so instead it’s about all the intrinsic value I can get out of it - experience, motivation, validation, learning all the annoying marketing/steam/etc overhead)
            • having a deadline and ‘proper’ release definitely motivated me to raise the quality bar of my work (before this I was submitting scrappy games to game jams)
            • regardless of the project’s monetary success, it’s now a useful portfolio piece for future game dev teams/interviews, which I might need if/when the solodev thing isn’t enough

            In general I’m intending to get multiple quality games into “stores” as soon as possible (hopefully this year), and then decide what to do next - I think the experience along the way is the best thing for my growth and will inform the next move (some larger game, find/build a team to work with, start applying for studios, etc)

            • @KissakiEnglish
              2•4 months ago

              I see, thank you for your insight :)

          • Darkrai
            1•4 months ago

            You have to buy a listing for your game on Steam? I thought you just had to get it greenlit

            • @KissakiEnglish
              4•4 months ago

              Steam Greenlight ended in 2017 and was replaced with “Steam Direct”, which introduced a 100 USD app fee.

              The app fee.

              There is now a $100 recoupable app fee for each application to release on Steam. Steamworks developers will pay this fee once as part of the initial paperwork, which will unlock the first appID. Once all the paperwork has been completed, and the developer is set up in Steamworks, additional appIDs may be purchased for $100 each. This fee for each appID is returned in the payment period after that game has at least $1,000 in Steam store or in-app purchases.