I used to think the hardest part of making an indie game was just getting it built. Pulling all-nighters, squashing bugs, wrestling with the engine — get through that and you've won.

Then I actually finished one, and realized shipping it is just the ticket in.

Last year I holed up for a few months and threw my first game up (I won't say which platform, but let's just say it wasn't one of the giants). I was pretty pleased with myself, figured at least the gameplay wasn't trash. First week: single-digit downloads. I stared at those few numbers in the dashboard for a while and honestly couldn't keep it together.

Then a player said offhandedly: scrolling past your thumbnail in the list, you can't even tell what it is — it just blends in with all the other pixel-art stuff.

That stung more than the bad sales. Not that nobody bought it, but that nobody would even click in to take a look.

So I'm curious: where did your first players actually come from? Jams, communities, or pure luck? Anyone got an "if I'd only known back then..." lesson that, looking back, makes you want to slap yourself?

Just chatting, not selling anything — fellow devs blowing off steam 😂

Firstly, I would suggest putting your game here. I am curious on what website you used for publishing. Certain website don't even give your game a chance.

Ex: Pay for visibility, 100 plays before indexing, only indexed for  5 days ...

Indexed means that you can find the game without the link.

my views come from itch.io and mastodon

I  publish mostly assets besides games, my games are not really good, but when i publish a game i share links in other webpages. For example, since i use the engine coppercube i can share in a dedicates section they have in their forums.  Also if i use or upload the game's art in opengameart, then i am allowed to publish an announcement in a dedicated threat in their forums. And a YT trailer sometimes help a bit. 

scrolling past your thumbnail in the list, you can't even tell what it is — it just blends in with all the other pixel-art stuff.

Oof! That's the pain a lot of independent small developers face, it seems. There are a LOT of games out there that use pixel art, so the game just... blends in and looks the same as everyone else's.

It's kinda like how most of us just wear t-shirts and jeans and blend into a crowd. I've lost my own family at a mall after coming out from the washroom... and they were just standing two meters in front of me. 😂 They asked if I needed glasses, but man, I tell ya, that ain't it.

On my end I make Visual Novels, so art style tends to be a huge part of what draws people in, and being in a game jam helps a lot. I got most of my initial views from a game jam I had joined. Lately they seem to be coming in from other VNs and games on Itch Io (Itch Io may have added some on-site advertising to help old, unknown games).

Some of my older VNs are still getting views from game jams I had joined years ago - people seem to browse past game jams to try stuff out too, especially those that are hosted annually and have links to the ones held the previous years.

Anyway, if it helps, have you considered using a mascot for your game, instead of just pixel art? For example, here's a mock of a farm game I modded quickly with my own sprite:

(Credits: Sample Pixel Farm from https://maevedevs.itch.io/farm-rpg)

Won't say it's the best, but maaaaaaaaaaaaybe it might help stand out from the sea of pixel art cover art? 🤔 Angry alpacas help too, but I'm just biased.

Reddit can generate a lot of traffic, but it's hard to post there because self promotion is usually not welcome, especially when you haven't been an active part of the specific community in the past.

I've gotten 135 downloads for my first game here in the first month, it's been 35 days now. 

My players come from Reddit, YouTube, Discord and Itch.