My solo game dev journey

Game dev dreams.

My Game "Shattered Stories is available to wishlist on Steam now. Shattered Stories on Steam
There is also a free demo on itch.io. Shattered Stories on Itch.io

Platforms decisions It's been weeks since I first had the idea to start making a game. My initial thoughts revolved around which platform would be the best place to launch. Steam has the largest market share and is easy to get approved on, as anyone can pay the fee to be listed. However, this also means any game I make might be lost in a flood of other new releases. Epic is kind of the opposite of Steam: it has a smaller user base and a curated store, making it harder to get a game approved. The flip side is that you're less likely to be lost among a massive number of other releases. Epic also has no fee if your game is approved and takes a smaller revenue cut, which is a nice bonus. They also offer exclusive deals where they take a smaller cut, or even no fee, if you agree to be exclusive for a certain period. This may or may not be worth the reduced sales I might get from the smaller user base. Epic may also pay an upfront guarantee for a certain amount of sales as part of an exclusive deal—a guaranteed payout would be hard to ignore. They also have the "Free with Epic" deals where they give games away every week, which would likely include an upfront payout and significantly increase my game's visibility. With an Epic exclusive, I would, of course, be unable to promote a Steam page until after the exclusive period ends. These are all things to consider. Other Platforms A console release for a first time solo indie developer is not a realistic option right now. However, Xbox does offer a Dev Mode you can enable on retail consoles (which Microsoft recently made free), so I might try to get my game running on my personal Xbox console as a first step. Microsoft PC Store seems straightforward to get on, but it has an even smaller user base. The upside is that if I get some sales there and have my game running successfully on my Dev Mode Xbox, it might pave an easier path toward a full Xbox console release. All this time, I keep talking about "my game." My game is, at the moment, extremely basic. Right now, it’s just a modified version of the starter template Epic provides but everyone has to start somewhere, right? Itch.io seems like the best platform for first time indie developers. There’s no fee to release, and it seems to be the norm to have games on there while they are being actively developed. They let you choose your revenue cut, and you can offer games using a "pay what you want" model or for a set fee. I can release the first few levels on Itch as a technical demo using the "pay what you want" option to gather feedback and perhaps make a sale or two, then plan for a full release on Steam or Epic later. While getting a large payout from Epic for an exclusive would be nice, it’s not a realistic expectation for my first game. The Launch Plan Time to set up a Steam page and an Itch.io page. [Steam and Itch pages are now live!] Wishlist on Steam now Or try the free demo on Itch Final Question Obviously, I should just release on all the stores, right? What do you think?