Phew! It's been a bit since our last update. Since then - a few pretty cool things have happened:

• We participated in the Steam Game Festival Autumn and got just over 2000 activations and 70 unique users
• Demo also brought in about 100 more wishlists
• Development has entered the Beta phase

Let's break some stuff down and then I'll jump into the release announcements.

Game Festival

This was my first time ever getting a game ready for Steam, let along participating in an event to promote it. All in all, given that, things were successful. It brought some attention and got some eyes on the project, but it is incredibly unclear how much that momentum will carry over to conversions once we launch.

Given the niche nature of the game, it sort of fell by the wayside in the general Game Festival listings but showed up consistently in the Casual and Puzzle categories. With that, I think it's safe to assume there will be some good organic attention at launch within those categories.

However, sub 1000 wishlists is a sign of launching DOA. Ideally, I'd like to see somewhere around 2000 - 5000 wishlists before launch - something I'll address later in the blog.

Entering Beta

Off the launch of the Game Fest demo the game entered the Beta phase of development. This means a couple things:

• Finalizing graphics and visual effects
• Finalizing audio and music
• Building out launch level packs
• Polishing UI and adding launch settings

Now, given all that - IGEO DX is going to be delayed until February 2021.

While a great experience, the Game Fest demo was also humbling and a good benchmark for what still needs to be done to more successfully market the game. With the added 2 months of development time I can ensure things are balanced and bug-free with another round of testing in an Open Beta.

It will also give me additional time to rally the marketing efforts and work on getting some good press behind the game for launch. As development has ramped up and life has taken hold, marketing was the first to get left behind. We need updated promotional graphics, videos, and marketing language across all platforms - something that is daunting, to say the least.

The focus here will be on driving Steam Wishlists - which, as I mentioned above, are currently dismal. So, that will make December 21 (the original launch date) the date of the Open Beta, which will release on Itch and Steam.

I hate to flip flop on the release (especially since cutting features last month), but I want to ensure IGEO DX can launch as successfully as possible given my time and budget constraints. The extra time will help ensure that - so thank you for being patient!

I will now get back to work!