CD3 Update

 Just a brief update...

Yesterday I coded the very final sequence that happens in Captain Disaster and the Two Worlds of Riskara. Obviously that's a pretty nice milestone, but it doesn't mean the work is done. Far from it.

In fact, I've decided to put the release date back to next year (aiming for early in the year if possible.) The reason for this is that I'm really not confident of delivering the game by the end of the year without taking short-cuts.

I would much rather release the game later if that means I can make sure it's as good as I can make it, and that it's been tested as thoroughly as possible. I hope everyone will feel it was worth the wait, once the game does come out.

Anyway, that's my update for today.

If you haven't already wishlisted the game, you can find it here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2242270/Captain_Disaster_and_The_Two_Worlds_of_Riskara/

We truly appreciate all wishlists, reposts and any spreading the word, since our wishlist count has been growing extremely slowly!

Flow Problem released

 

I had been working on a sort of follow-up to Snow Problem, but this time based on water dynamics rather than snow. It's about as finished as I'm going to get it, with real-life and devving Captain Disaster and the Two Worlds of Riskara I don't really have time to dedicate to it, so I've decided to release it for free. It's minimalistic but I think puzzle game fans should get a bit of a kick out of working out how to complete all the levels. 

Other pros: 

- very small download size!

- it's FREE (unless you really, really want to give me money for it, in which case I guess I won't stop you :-p)

Captain Disaster 3 demo nominated in the AGS Awards!

The demo for Captain Disaster and the Two Worlds of Riskara has been nominated in - guess - the Best Demo category of the AGS Awards 2023. Obviously we are very happy about this, and would love it if you voted for us on the (again, guess...) voting page.

However, whilst this makes me very happy, I would like to focus on something else instead. My artist for this game, Lorenzo, has been nominated in almost every category at this awards for his game Stranger in Utopia (available for free on Itch) - a first-person, futuristic detective mystery that was made for a game jam. I'd really love to see him win an award this time (not just for Captain Disaster, although that would also be cool) since he's been nominated multiple times in the last few years for other excellent games, but never been a winner.

Captain Disaster and the Two Worlds of Riskara demo - Steam Deck compatibility confirmed

Since I don't own one myself I have to rely on reports from other people to know that this and the previous Captain Disaster games are compatible with the Steam Deck. One of the test team for Riskara has kindly created a video showing the demo being played on it.

Apparently the Steam Deck did show a message saying that the game might not be playable, so I don't really know what that's about, but it then worked. I'm not sure if the warning message is in relation to certain redistributables possibly not being available.

Anyway enough waffle from me, see the video below! With thanks to Ramon.

Captain Disaster featured in upcoming adventure game lists

Captain Disaster and the Two Worlds of Riskara was featured in Iago Lake's report "The 50 most promising Graphic Adventures of 2024". (Native language Spanish but Google does a decent job of translating it.)

The game was also featured in Adventure Game Hotspot's video "Upcoming Adventure Games 2024...And Beyond!"

It was especially nice to be featured by AdventureGameGeek, who’s built a strong reputation as one of the genre’s most enthusiastic champions. His coverage is rooted in a genuine love of adventure games, old and new alike, and that makes this sort of spotlight particularly appreciated for indie projects trying to find their audience. 

What's even nicer is that he's actually a tester and voice actor for my forthercoming game, Captain Disaster and the Two Worlds of Riskara!

We've joined the one thousand club!!

Very happy that Captain Disaster and the Two Worlds of Riskara has reached a thousand wishlists on Steam. Obviously this is nowhere near our final target but it's an extremely important milestone along the way.

Reaching 1,000 wishlists felt like a worthwhile milestone, even if it was never going to put Stomping Boots into blockbuster territory. There is no single official definition of what counts as “good” for a small indie game, and Valve itself says there is no minimum wishlist number required before a game starts being shown to users. Even so, wishlists do matter: Steam notes that they can affect placement in areas such as Popular Upcoming, and wishlisters can receive notifications when a game launches or goes on sale. Current market analysis also suggests that the majority of Steam releases still launch with under 10,000 wishlists, so 1,000 is at least evidence of genuine pre-release interest rather than just background noise.

The often-repeated figure of around 7,000 wishlists is best understood as industry rule-of-thumb rather than an official Steam requirement. In indie marketing circles, that sort of number is commonly cited as the point where a game has a realistic chance of appearing in Popular Upcoming, which in turn can help create the stronger launch burst Steam tends to reward. Valve does not publish a formal threshold, though, so it is safer to think of 7,000 not as a magic pass mark, but as one widely discussed benchmark for giving a small commercial indie a better shot at visibility.