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AssimilateGame is the latest to be featured in our Member Spotlight, coming to us straight from Texas! Check out their story below, including how the Covid quarantine gave them the opportunity to work on their very own game…
GDM Username: AssimilateGame
Name or Nickname: Chris
Age: 33
Country: USA (Texas, specifically)
Developer, Asset Creator or are you a bit of both?
Developer (Though technically I’m the Game Designer and my friend is the real ‘developer’).
Full Time, Part Time or Hobby?
Hobby (but I would absolutely LOVE to make it Full Time), though we definitely have a long way to go though haha.
How long have you been doing this?
A little over a year. My team and I started at the beginning of Stay-At-Home Orders in March 2020 as a Quarantine Project. We knew we were going to have a lot of free time on our hands so decided to do something that we always talked about doing. I’m so glad we did!
What made you become a dev/artist?
I’ve always been a huge fan of video games and board games alike. I would regularly host game nights and I particularly loved the Social Deduction genre, but found that there weren’t that many social deduction video games that existed. So my friends and I set out to make one of our own!
Favourite software/tools to use?
Since I’m not the developer myself, I find Figma particularly useful for organizing what needs to get done and collaborating with the rest of the team. It’s been very, very helpful!
What’s one tip you would give to someone starting out?
Determine the simplest version of your game you can realistically produce that still accomplishes the essence of what your game ultimately aspires to be. Remember, you can always add more levels, maps, DLC, etc. in the future, but it’s SO EASY to add more & more to your game and, as a result, never finish. Do not let this happen! As soon as you have a logo, trailer, and screenshots, get a Steam Page up. As soon as you have a playable demo, release that as an Alpha or Beta test on Steam. Get feedback, and as soon as you use the feedback to confirm the game is in a steady state – publish! And there you have it, you’ll have a finished game before you know it! Bonus tip: you’ll quickly find that utilizing marketplaces like GameDev Market can, and will, drastically decrease the time it takes to get your demo up & running so don’t think you need to do it all by yourself either!
How do you promote your work (games or assets)?
We have primarily been focusing on working with Twitch and YouTube streamers. We try to make our game as “Streamer Friendly” as possible so we can best utilize that channel for marketing. You’ll find that working with streamers is not only a great way to get the word out about your game, but it’s also a phenomenal way of receiving player feedback. They’re really like focus groups in the sense that you have a recorded encounter of people playing your game so you can see what aspects they like, what they don’t like, and log bugs that occur along the way. In short, get your game out to the public as soon as possible (if even in a limited capacity) so you can start getting as much feedback as possible.
What project are you working on now?
Assimilate! (A Party Game) – a social deduction party game set in the 1950s about a cleverly disguised Robot sneaking into a “Humans Only” Sock hop.
Favourite game ever & why?
Halo: Combat Evolved. It was the first game I remember being beyond OBSESSED about. The artwork, story, gameplay, graphics, multiplayer experience, music, etc… it all blew me away!
You can connect with AssimilateGame here:
