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How A Text-Only Game Became A Steam Hit
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This is a Game Dev Podcast with my guest Huw Millward the creator of Warsim: The Realm of Aslona, an entirely text based asci kingdom simulation game (that was written to a single code file with 700K lines of code).
Links to my Guest
➤ Play Warsim on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/659540/Warsim_The_Realm_of_Aslona/
➤ Dim Parcio (Band): https://www.instagram.com/dimparcioband/
Listen to the podcast on the go (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.):
➤ https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/
0:00 - Intro
0:56 - Why WARSIM worked
1:52 - From tiny sales to quitting the day job
3:09 - Sticking with a "failed" game
5:06 - Obsessive Updates
10:10 - Procedural Generation and Emergent Stories
12:17 - The Throne Room’s Birth
17:11 - Roleplaying a ruler: many playstyles
20:59 - A 700k-line monolith
26:56 - Follow-the-fun workflow, 500 co-designers
31:16 - Moving beyond ASCII: new studio, higher stakes
33:12 - Text games: should you make them?
37:59 - Marketing a game with no graphics
42:42 - Word-of-mouth and biggest wins
46:39 - Slumbox reveal: city vs wasteland
50:18 - Choosing GameMaker over Unity
51:46 - Timeline, team, delegation, funding paths
55:56 - Life outside dev: band, GDC adventures, merging music and games
58:11 - Becoming a “real” game dev and balancing identities
01:00:10 - Advice for devs: persistence, build what you love, design smart, community
01:04:02 - Proc-gen principles and writing tips
01:10:09 - Jonas’ advice for Slumbox
01:12:01 - Jonas’ next project and goodbye
My game "Thronefall":
➤ Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/
➤ Discord: https://discord.gg/gVYctptyg8
➤ Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Thronefall-2669627.html#Overview
My game "Will You Snail":
➤ Play Will You Snail on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1115050/Will_You_Snail/
➤ Join the Will You Snail Discord: https://discord.gg/G3mRDrK
For the game developers among you:
➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ
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