#fanskeepusrunning
Like other independent content creators we love what we do. Otherwise, we couldn’t put in the hours after work or school into our projects. Still, creating any kind of project – whether it’s games or a piece of art – can be very isolating at times. We’ll spend hours crafting our code, blog post or video to the point where sometimes we even ignore our loved ones (sorry). While our desire to see the project finished is a great motivator, another one is you – our fans.
When we worked on Once Upon a Runner we did a lot of internal testing, fixing some obvious bugs and cleaning up the menu. It wasn’t until we got the game in front of actual people that we were able to get real feedback. After playing the game for so long we didn’t realize certain obstacles were difficult to see and the background was too distracting. Thanks to all of the constructive criticism we received, we have implemented changes to make the gaming experience more enjoyable. And it’s all because of you!
But you help us in other ways too. Something as simple as a comment on our Twitter or Facebook can help push us through some lulls in our motivation. Just knowing that there are people who are showing an interest in our game and company can give us enough energy to put in an extra hour or two of work on our projects. You might be thinking that all of this sounds very Hallmark-y, but it’s the truth. Knowing that there are people out there who care and are as excited about our projects as we are helps keep us running.
That’s why we’re starting this hashtag #fanskeepusrunning. Thanks to a discussion a bunch of us indie developers had over on a Facebook group, we realized that all of us developers wanted to show some fan appreciation and let you know that we really do care. Your feedback matters to us so please feel free to let us know what you think whether it’s on our blog posts, Facebook updates or Tweets. And don’t worry. We’ll respond to you as quickly as we can. We know how frustrating it can be to leave a comment and not hear anything back – communication is a two-way street after all!
So, yeah. It might sound kind of weird, but we just want you to know, we’re really grateful. And if you’re a creator of any kind, show your appreciation to your fans by using the hashtag: