Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Kyle Schmitz @kyleschmitz.bsky.social · 11h

Nothing is a sure-fire way to get a hit. There's a lot that went in our favor (and a lot that didn't). But we can at least try to stack the odds a bit, and hope for a little luck along the way.

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Kyle Schmitz @kyleschmitz.bsky.social · 11h

6. Playtest playtest playtest

You simply have no way of knowing if what you're building is any good until you give it to someone else to play.

You can't big brain your way out of this. Do a playtest, get the uncomfortable feedback, fix it, and then playtest again.

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Kyle Schmitz @kyleschmitz.bsky.social · 11h

5. Set deadlines!

If you want to do this for a living, then run it like a business. Set a deadline, and hit it.

Don't tell yourself "It just needs this one last feature." That's your way of procrastinating. You'd be surprised how much stuff you think you need that can really be cut.

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Kyle Schmitz @kyleschmitz.bsky.social · 11h

4. Be weird!

You're indie! Why did you get into this field if you didn't want to do your own thing? Novelty is the superpower of indies. We get to do all the weird stuff that AAA won't touch, and there's no one to tell us no.

Being weird gives games character.

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Kyle Schmitz @kyleschmitz.bsky.social · 11h

3. Be clear on your audience

LRL was always meant to be a an introduction to automation games for the cozy crowd.

By saying what the game is, we are also saying what it isn't: a hardcore automation game. If we catered to that audience, we would have lost what is actually unique about the game.

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Kyle Schmitz @kyleschmitz.bsky.social · 11h

2. Develop a hook

Ryan Clark's (@braceyourselfok.bsky.social) video series on video game hooks was the spark for this entire game. Stardew Valley but with Factorio-style automation? That's just not something that existed when I started working on this game.

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Kyle Schmitz @kyleschmitz.bsky.social · 11h

1. Pick a viable genre

Chris Zukowski from How to Market a Game does a fantastic job of breaking down which genres are popular on Steam. It is not a coincidence that Little Rocket Lab is a simulation game and RPG, both of which rank high on median revenue, while low on number of games released.

A graph that shows number of games released by different genres, along with a curve showing the mediam revenue for each genre.

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Kyle Schmitz @kyleschmitz.bsky.social · 11h

My first title, Little Rocket Lab, has now been out for a week, and it's been huge for myself and @nomorerobots.io. We're at over 80,000 players, and a 93% positive rating on steam.

I wanted to share some of what guided Little Rocket Lab's development, so that maybe it could be helpful to others 🧵:

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Kyle Schmitz @kyleschmitz.bsky.social · 2d

Now these morons are suggesting that @nomorerobots.io *forced* me to put represention in the game. Bitch I came up with the characters myself! And Noor is a treasure!

A section of a Steam review that reads: "A Game Marred by External Decisions

This adventure is also, and most importantly, spoiled by the publisher, No More Robots. Their forced DEI, seemingly to collect more money, comes at the expense of narrative coherence and the original developer's vision. The inexplicable presence of a character wearing an Islamic headscarf in a universe where it doesn't fit is a glaring example that shatters immersion."

The developer response to the review that reads: Hello! It's me, the dev! Like the actual person that wrote the code, almost all 97,000 lines of it, as well as all the characters, dialog, cutscenes, and storyline. The publisher did in fact make a singular character suggestion to me. You know which character it was?

The dog.

The rest? All me! You are making up completely unfounded conspiracy theories.

Oh, and that "surveillance"? It's called a log file. Unity makes them by default. Scary stuff, I know.

Take a hike man.

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Kyle Schmitz @kyleschmitz.bsky.social · 2d

Noooo! I'm so sorry.

But also, not sorry.

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Kyle Schmitz @kyleschmitz.bsky.social · 2d

Why you gotta play me like that man. 😭

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Kyle Schmitz @kyleschmitz.bsky.social · 3d

Man I really gotta add a planning mode.

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Kyle Schmitz @kyleschmitz.bsky.social · 4d

This can't be emphasized enough. We launched the first playtest back in February this year, and have spent most of the time since addressing issues. There was so much critical feedback that we worked into the game, and we did over 4 full rounds of this kind of testing and improvement.

Mike Rose @mikerose.bsky.social · 4d

4. Tons of playtesting = highly rated

We have a 93% rating on Steam, which I'm hoping we can get to Overwhelming Positive in the coming months

We got there through months and months of extensive playtesting, building tons of QoL features for the game

Just so, so important for this launch

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Reposted by Kyle Schmitz

Mike Rose @mikerose.bsky.social · 4d

Somehow we had a successful game launch in 2025: A thread 🧵

We launched Little Rocket Lab this week, and it's been mega for us. Which is amazing, because well, the industry is bad right now!

So I wanna go through the things we did, in the hope that something here can be helpful to someone here

➡️➡️

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Reposted by Kyle Schmitz

Mike Rose @mikerose.bsky.social · 5d

Omg, someone made Toasty from Little Rocket Lab with Lego

First time someone has Legoed one of our games haha

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Reposted by Kyle Schmitz

Brandon Sheffield @brandon.insertcredit.com · 5d

One cool feature of Steam is they provide a Harassment Zone for each game you announce. It's a place for people who hate progress to come and crap all over games they haven't even played. No, they won't help you moderate it, but hey, at least you can't delete it!

Mike Rose @mikerose.bsky.social · 6d

Classic Steam forums

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Reposted by Kyle Schmitz

Wren @wrenpeixes.bsky.social · 5d

bought the game because of this lol

A Steam discussion post by myself that reads:

Title:
Heard the game reeks of DEI, so I just bought it

Body:
I've always bounced off Factorio-style games, but I've wanted to give the genre a solid go for a while. The story aspect of this might be just what I need!

Thankful to all the loud, oversensitive snowflakes that are afraid of women and POC and aren't afraid to openly cry in public about it. Their whining is a solid indicator of good games.

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Kyle Schmitz @kyleschmitz.bsky.social · 6d

One of my goals with this game was to promote girls and women in STEM. If the majority of the key characters in the game being women bothers some players, it means it's even more important for this game to exist.

Mike Rose @mikerose.bsky.social · 6d

Classic Steam forums

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Kyle Schmitz @kyleschmitz.bsky.social · 7d

Donovan's music so so beautiful in this game. I have been constantly floored how Donovan can take vague description of a mood and turn it into such an incredible score. You don't want to sleep on this, it's a stellar soundtrack from start to finish and deserves a listen.

Donovan [Megahammer Studios] @megahammerstudios.bsky.social · 7d

Also launching today.... the Little Rocket Lab OST!

Out Now on Bandcamp!

Sequenced as a continuous album, following Morgan's journey from the moment the train arrives in St. Ambroise.

With bonus tracks, high res art, and liner notes!

megahammerstudios.bandcamp.com/album/little...

Little Rocket Lab - Original Soundtrack, Collector's Edition (Full Album plus Starry Nights, Rainy Days), by Donovan Jonk [Megahammer Studios]

47 track album

megahammerstudios.bandcamp.com

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Kyle Schmitz @kyleschmitz.bsky.social · 7d

@underpalewater.bsky.social has done all the character design, key art, dialog portraits (over 200 of them!!!) and most of the illustrations in the game. There aren't enough words to describe how much her artwork has elevated the game and how much I owe to her for where the game is today.

Underpalewater @underpalewater.bsky.social · 8d

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Kyle Schmitz @kyleschmitz.bsky.social · 12d

And to think that it actually was started back at the end of 2020! Kind of surreal that it's launching next week!

Mike Rose @mikerose.bsky.social · 12d

I signed Little Rocket Lab back in November 2022!

Finally coming in 5 days, unbelievably excited to get it out there.

Such a long time coming, and it's *genuinely* one of the best games I've ever played

store.steampowered.com/app/2451100/...

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Reposted by Kyle Schmitz

Wholesome Games @wholesomegames.com · 22d

Little Rocket Lab now has a release date: October 7th! Featured in Wholesome Snack last year, transform your childhood home as you build brilliant factories and forge lifelong friendships. "Roll up your sleeves, it turns out that saving this town really IS rocket science!"

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Kyle Schmitz @kyleschmitz.bsky.social · Aug 25

Everyone really needs to experience the soundtrack for Little Rocket Lab. Donovan has done some fantastic work on it!

Donovan [Megahammer Studios] @megahammerstudios.bsky.social · Aug 25

🎶🎵🎶Working on the final round of mastering and sequencing for the #LittleRocketLab OST with the one and only @kyleschmitz.bsky.social! 🎶🎵🎶

This is turning into something very special. Can't wait to share it with you!

Morgan of "Little Rocket Lab" lying in the the grass, listening to some dope tunes

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Reposted by Kyle Schmitz

Donovan [Megahammer Studios] @megahammerstudios.bsky.social · Jul 8

Today is #PortfolioDay? Well here is my portfolio!
youtu.be/vafxLTNckzw?...

My name is Donovan/Megahammer Studios, and I'm a game composer and sound designer 🎶🔊🎮

To get in touch or check out more of my work, please visit my website www.megahammerstudios.com

Megahammer Studios | Game Audio Show Reel

YouTube video by Megahammer Studios

youtu.be

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Reposted by Kyle Schmitz

Flexy: your Local VTuber @flexyfive.bsky.social · Jun 17

I have done a terrible thing to myself.. I found a demo that is essentially Stawdew Valley meets Factorio...

Little Rocket Lab is going to destroy my free time

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