r/itchio • u/ryn_fisher • 1h ago
Publisher rejected. Game went viral.
Hey, I'm Ryn. I'm making a roguelike deckbuilder with a slot machine and a revolver. Yeah, it's weird. But this post isn't really about the game.
I've wanted to make games for years, but never had the time or money. I worked in IT, freelanced, and made tiny jam games by literally taking vacation days. I had one day off a week, and making games after work meant sacrificing sleep. Eventually I saved enough to survive for six months. Then I got laid off, and immediately started working on an old jam idea that had been stuck in my head.
After posting my first gameplay GIFs, a small publisher reached out just to say they'd keep an eye on the project. No offer, nothing. But for a nobody like me, that was enough encouragement to go all in.
I went completely insane. Posted videos on five platforms every day, begged developers to record their playthroughs, messaged Twitch streamers, and even traded localization, art, and music for honest feedback. I needed reality checks because working on your own game makes you blind to its problems.
I watched over 50 hours of people playing my game. Sometimes it was absolutely painful, sometimes I nearly cried from happiness. Worst TV show of my life.
Two months later, I had a solid prototype, a tutorial, metaprogression, and an art direction I loved. But most importantly, people were actually helping me make it. Art, music, ideas, feedback. I even added quests, secrets, and metaprogression specifically for about TEN regular testers, just to keep them entertained while testing everything else :):):)
But savings don't last forever. So I started pitching. Jesus Christ, I think I've spent as much time on my pitch deck as on the game itself.
I wanted a small publisher that would appreciate the weird PSX-meets-Scooby-Doo vibe. Instead, my first batch of emails got one serious response, from a pretty big publisher I won't name.
Their first email said several people on the team loved the prototype. We exchanged messages, had a call, and planned to talk again after vacations, Gamescom, and all that. But during the call I felt almost no confidence in me or the game. Honestly, I wondered why they'd invited me at all.
And here's where I fucked up. Instead of trusting what I'd built, I started cutting mechanics, simplifying everything, trying to make the game less risky for them. I kept sending updated builds while we discussed budgets and timelines.
I asked for $25k to finish the game in seven months. I'd checked the timeline with an experienced developer who'd shipped a Steam hit, arranged the scope with freelance artists, and planned around Steam Next Fest. But somehow we spent ages discussing dates around their vacations and schedules.
And the terms? 100% recoup, then 60% to the publisher, 40% to me, plus shared IP ownership. I'm not joking.
Still, I was exhausted from pitching instead of making games. I just wanted to get back to work, so I kept waiting, sending updates, discussing details.
Eventually I had no money left for food, and my rent was overdue. I finally asked when we could sign the contract so I could start working full-time again.
I got a generic rejection.
I knew something was wrong long before that. I just couldn't understand what the hell we'd been doing all this time, or why I'd spent so much effort changing my game for someone who hadn't even agreed to publish it.
My mistake, I guess. First-time developer experience.
But on that exact same day, my game appeared in the popular roguelikes section and others tags on itch.io.
And from this point on, I have no words.
Gambleborn on itch.
