Hello! MDDigital here,
After finishing the Act 3 demo I previously posted here, I got to work on ironing out some of the sound effects/music tracks for the game and implemented them in this next patch!
Please keep in mind the game isn’t finished and things shown in this demo are subject to change, removal or addition. Any criticism, ideas and support are super welcome!
I noticed over my last few posts that my project has gotten little to no attention and no downloads. This leaves me pretty exhausted, but I’d like to mention right here in this post that the final part of the game, Act 4, is in development and is almost finished, so expect the game’s full release soon!
Like always, any criticism, ideas or questions are welcome.
If you’re looking for attention with your game, here’s three steps.
Step 1: Playtesting. Get a few people to check the game out and give you feedback. That’s what you’re doing on the forums. Find what works and what doesn’t, what’s interesting to players and what isn’t.
Step 2: Itch marketing. Until your game is fully ready, your Itch page should be private/hidden. I made this big mistake with my last game, and I got waves of users before the game was ready, leading to the game flopping because the promotion came too soon. Fully polish the game and the Itch page, then release it.
Step 3: Social media marketing. Itch isn’t very strong in terms of discoverability for most games, so making videos about your game can help drive the first few users until it gets picked up. As your game is a PSX horror game, there should be lots to show off on social media.
These steps should help you get your game marketed once it’s ready. Can’t wait for that full release!
To pitch in, I also think sharing a bit more might trigger people to click and try the game. All we currently see (In this post) is a thumbnail and your description, but it doesn’t convey what the game is about, why you’re making it and what makes it unique. Which is what would trigger me personally to give it a try. Add some screenshots, a video, some things your proud of, make it personal.
This might be different for different people, but that’s what would get me invested.
In general agreed with your points @ComicallyUnfunny except for these remarks:
I believe in a premise that “perfect is the enemy of good”, so advising someone to fully polish their game before releasing a demo might be the final nail in the coffin for them not ever releasing a game. You should rather find a point of “good enough” and then release it. Especially if we’re talking about just a demo and not the final product - this could be even after a week or two of development, not years. You can then continue to work on the polish and final touches later and along with the feedback you get from first players.
@MDDigital, as others have mentioned, you definitely need to work on better convincing people to play your game. Make a short captivating description of the game, take a couple cool screenshots and ideally record a short gameplay video.
Take a look at some AAA game’s Steam pages. These are full with visuals, there’s barely any text there. People don’t like reading, people like shiny cool stuff. Your posts are currently the opposite of that 
. You won’t be able to reach this level of visuals of course, but at least that should give you the idea of what sells well.