Hi guys!

I am currently developing a turn-based 4x game with one-hour matches.

We are getting closer to our demo and need to plan the rest of the project.

How important are Steam achievements for yourself? I like them, but of course it is some work you have to do as a game developer so I want to evaluate whether it's worth the amount of time or not :D

So please let me know if achievements are something that you need/like/dislike in a 4x game.

Cheers,
Eric

Hey! Thought I’d share some results from our first closed playtest in case it’s useful.

We’re working on a small turn-based 4X where a full match only takes ~1 hour, and everything (even military) is handled through building placement.

TL;DR

First playtest went great, but a technical issue skewed some metrics. Still learned a ton.

The Numbers

• 557 invites sent
• 78 via Steam friends feature (~14%)
• 228 unique players (~40% activation)
• +400 wishlists
• +50 followers
• avg. 31 daily active users

Playtime stats:

• median: 21 minutes
• BUT 16 players had 200+ minutes

The Big Issue

We had a D3D12-related bug that made the game barely playable for some users. That likely explains the low median playtime. Good news: already fixed for the next playtest.

What Surprised Us

• Challenge mode scores went WAY higher than expected → clearly some players already min-maxing hard
• Steam friends feature actually mattered (more than expected)
• Small but very engaged Discord growth (+12, but high quality users)

External Traffic

We got really lucky here:

• Nookrium streamed the game
• Writing Bull also played it on stream

They both turned the streams into YouTube videos, which helped sustain interest.

One Fun Detail

Our wishlist graph formed an “M” during the test.
We’re choosing to believe it stands for “Monarchs” xD

Final Thought

Even with a broken build for some players, the response was super encouraging. Next playtest isn’t far away, curious to see how things change with a stable version.

Happy to answer questions if you have any :)