Development of Pyrene and look back at the demo

In this post I wanted to give you an update on the development of Pyrene, the feedback we’ve received and share some statistics with you.

A look back at the demo

The first demo on Steam has been very well received. In addition to the videos and streams, the feedback has been very positive and that’s been very good for our mood. I think the release of the demo was a relief, because it confirmed that we were heading in the right direction. It gave us a lot of motivation. However, the demo had a lot of bugs and, above all, balancing issues, which made the game very easy to ‘break’. With hindsight, I don’t think that was a bad thing, as it allowed people to see the depth of the game and have some fun.

I’ve updated the demo on Steam, which I’ve also uploaded to itch, to fix that. In particular, I’ve decided to introduce a major change, with the concept of Votive Shards. The idea is to shorten the time spent in a zone while retaining the greed system already in place. I think it’s working quite well, and the feedback has been positive, so I’m going to keep this system. However, this feature, which reduces the resources you can get in a room, has introduced a reverse balancing problem: the game is now too difficult, because good cards and relics are too rare.

I’m working on rebalancing all that. And Marion plans to organise a lot of playtests, so I’m confident we’ll find the right balance.

Another important feedback was to add diversity to the gameplay. So I decided to add weather effects (which give passive effects in rooms), new passive monster effects, more varied rooms, etc. All these things will be unlocked as the village is rebuilt. I’ve also rethought the character mechanics I already had in mind to make them even more unique.

Further development

Jeanne, Marion and I are continuing to work on the game every day and it’s coming along really well! We’re really pleased with the progress.

Everyone is working in their own speciality:

• Jeanne (game artist) created a new introduction cinematic, over 20 new cards (121 in total), new relics (163 in total) and new rooms. They’re also doing a lot of marketing.
• Marion (narrative designer) continues to write the quest dialogues as well as social media posts.
• And I (developer) have been coding the mechanics for the new characters, biomes and weather effects. I’m currently creating a new room to upgrade the cards.

Statistics

On Steam, the game currently has 9,000 wishlists (8,977 to be exact). At its normal rate (not during game events for example), the game is gaining an average of 43 wishlists per day.

5217 unique people have played the demo on Steam. And 2454 downloads on itch (which I think is a lot!).

Finally, one statistic I’m really pleased with is the length of sessions on the demo: 57 minutes on average. On Forward: Escape the Fold (my previous game), it was much less (I’d say 3 times less). This stat has reassured me a lot.