u/GladiatorCommand

Ever since I played Football Manager 2014, I always thought.. this would be amazing but with gladiators.

I also grew up playing Sword and Sandals, so eventually I decided to make my own game called Gladiator Command.

You run a Roman gladiator school where every fighter can permanently die. Recruit gladiators, train them, build your ludus, survive league fights, and try not to get attached to anyone because the arena usually solves that problem for you.

Started as a small Android idea, then moved to Itch, and now somehow ended up on Steam. Been working on it part-time and updating it constantly based on player feedback. Honestly still surreal seeing people actually enjoy something I made in Godot as my first PC game.

Gladiator Command on Steam

I launched my game into Early Access on March 5th with just under 2,000 wishlists. For those who are interested in first month can view here.

In terms of sales there has been a slight increase compared to last month. I hit my goal of 50+ reviews which has been great, now aiming for 100 although that might take a couple of months.

I recommend posting your first sale on subreddits like SteamDeals and GameDeals. I got a lot of views and engagement and I’d estimate that one post brought in a couple hundred in sales.

As a solo dev my biggest enemy is time management. Marketing takes time away from updates, and short form content is a skill I would need to invest a lot of time into learning it. I came to the conclusion that I will focus mostly on developing the game, pushing regular updates, and posting on Reddit when I can.

I still send outreach emails, especially around updates. Even micro streamers are extremely valuable. Hearing someone talk through the game in real time has been one of the biggest factors in increasing median playtime and lowering refund rates.

I looked into mid-sized creators and the pricing is honestly too high for this stage. Even with a good conversion rate I do not think it would be worth it, so for now everything is organic. If someone doesn’t respond, I just take it as the game not being strong enough yet.

I hit my first roadblock with payments. There was an issue using SWIFT via Wise so the payout failed. I’ve switched to USD ACH which should work, but there’s still some uncertainty as you only get one payout attempt per month. If you’re releasing, double check your banking setup early. I tried to get clarification from Valve, but they recommended checking with my peers. I have a Revolut USD account, so that might be a safer option, if anyone has experience with this? I am in the UK btw.

Most of my traffic is coming from Steam itself, so I’m focusing on development and not rushing marketing. As long as reviews and median playtime go up and refunds go down, I feel like I’m on the right track.

The best part now is my community. It’s no longer a lonely process. Before release there were some really tough moments, but getting through that has been worth it, and my players give me great ideas. Sometimes it’s a bit intimidating because I can tell a lot of them are smarter than me lol.

I’ve been working on a management game where instead of building a city, you build a gladiator school. You recruit fighters, manage resources, upgrade your roster, and send them into real-time battles. There’s no traditional building grid, but the progression and decision-making loop feels similar. Curious if this fits the genre or not.

Can view here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3845450/Gladiator_Command/

A gladiator management sim where you recruit, train, equip, and send fighters into real-time arena battles. Every decision matters because death is permanent, and one bad call can wipe out your best gladiator. Build your roster, manage finances, develop traits, and see if your school survives long enough to dominate the arena. Game started on Itch and gave me a real foundation, you can still find it today. Also if you want to check the latest:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3845450/Gladiator_Command/