How do you separate a weak prototype from weak discoverability? My game numbers after 19 days
I recently published the first public prototype of my first game on itch, and I’m trying to decide whether it is worth developing into a larger game.
It’s a mining and kingdom-management game. You start with a small dwarven settlement, automate miners, construct buildings, place soldiers, explore the mountain, and uncover hostile encounters and relics.
The purpose of the demo was to validate whether this core loop was fun.
The demo has been public for 19 days. So far, the itch analytics show:
| Views | Downloads | Browser Plays | Ratings | Collections | Comments | 7d Imp. | CTR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6,603 | 22 | 4,834 | 11 | 26 | 20 | 2,331 | 1.16% |
The views and browser plays are declining a lot, in the last 7 days I got less than 300 plays.
Marketing so far has consisted of Devlogs and some posts on X. I’ve also posted on incrementaldb and my numbers are 53 upvotes and 18 downvotes.
What I’m struggling with is interpreting these numbers. A low number of plays could mean the game is not attractive, but it could also mean that hardly anyone in its intended audience has seen it.
For developers out there, how would you interpret these numbers? Should I move on to the next project? Try to market the game on other platforms?
I want to know how other developers interpret their numbers and how they validate their demo/prototypes.
Thanks!