I’m not saying it isn’t insanely hard (actually I mentioned that fact twice), I’m just trying to point out that Steam gives developers more tools for visibility than any storefront that exists, with most storefronts giving no tools whatsoever. Any game with no marketing budget selling enough to support a multiple-person development team, when they have to compete directly with AAA games, is impressive for both the developer and the platform.
If you want to advocate for improvements and change, you can’t just ignore the positive things that already exist.
~Also you clearly didn’t read the page about the update visibility rounds, because those have nothing to do with popularity and are completely randomized regarding who among the recently-updated games gets a spot on the front page. In fact, your game gets rotated off that spot once you’ve gotten 1 million impressions.~
Blatantly untrue, as update visibility rounds are one of several marketing tools Steam gives you that can put your game on the front page for free, regardless of popularity.
Kitfox Games has published a guide (one among many you can find on the internet) on how to successfully market a game with no advertising budget. While their existing audience definitely helped, and as they mention, it takes a significant amount of time and effort, they do not spend actual money on sponsorships or advertising. This would not be a viable strategy on any other storefront, save maybe Epic, though Epic still gives fewer tools than Steam.
Steam has been coasting on the fact that everyone shoots themselves in the foot, sure, but you should look into the unparalleled level of “free” (30% cut) marketing support Steam gives to developers. On no other platform could developers end up with the visibility they achieve on Steam with nothing more than very strategic timing and good social media presence. It’s still insanely hard, but the fact that it’s even possible to compete with zero marketing budget against AAA companies speaks volumes.
It is a little insane how many games release on any given day. On July 15, 2025, 150 “titles” (of which 78 are actual games, not demos or DLC) were added to the Steam store. I would guess that their data includes all titles, but even just 78 real games on what should be a slower-than-average random Tuesday could totally contribute to 34,000 games released in a year.
Your intro does not make it clear - is it not all bad?? Why claim “propaganda” just because the US does it too? Fair enough if you want to spread awareness of all forced labor equally, but your response makes seems to me like you think it’s not actually happening in China, only in the US (which if true a source on that would be nice, not just sources about it happening in the US).
Here, though there isn’t anything super concrete.
I would guess you’re doing a much larger range of motion relative to each joint, squatting “ass to grass” but doing calf raises just from standing. Your ankles don’t move as far generally as your knees, but if you want to maximize calf gains, do them off a ledge so you raise from the bottom of the range of motion to flat-footed.
You’ve both mentioned the same “Israel has a right to defend itself” quote. I’d be curious to know when/where he said that.
You’re either purposely trying to turn people against Sanders or willfully ignorant. He’s been speaking against Israel forever.
I dropped KCD 1 after ~30 hours for the same reason as you, but at least KCD has some justification - the whole point of the game is to be an ultra-realistic simulation of medieval life, a roleplaying game in the truest sense of the word.
Your character starts out not even knowing how to read, even though you, the player, obviously do to interact with the GUI. He’s the son of a blacksmith who never would have learned anything else, so he, the character, has to spend time learning basically everything, even if you, the player, already have it figured out.
You and I think that design is unfun. Clearly, though, there’s an audience for it, as KCD 2 sold something like a million copies on launch day and instantly recouped their development costs.
I thought that didn’t work?
Skin color is directly related to latitude. Darker skin means more melanin, which absorbs more light and protects against sunburns and thus skin cancer.
Eye color factors are less confidently known, but darker eyes generally have a better time in bright daylight.
Regarding those two, it’s also worth mentioning that the Inuit people don’t follow those patterns, as while they have less sunlight, they also have to deal with reflected light off the snow.
Hair texture is like eye color in that we’re only mostly confident, but tight curls also probably protect from the sun.
It’s also been posited that epicanthic folds might help against freezing winds, but there’s no real evidence for that.
I’ve found that 99.99% of my spam comes from emails with weird extensions - .xyz, .world, .shop, .best, etc. - so I’ve gotten a significant amount of relief in getting a mail client that lets me block entire domain extensions (BlueMail mobile).
I found one for NieR: Automata at a used bookstore that has maps, a ton of concept art, and a short story.