Why Remake a Failed Game? What to Do with a Bad Game

Going in to this remake of Santa's Present Run, I fully realized that even on its first release, back in 2014, as my first ever release, it really was not that great of a game. I think that the artist and musician I hired did great work and were fun to work with, but I accept full responsibility for the game being a dud.

But the important thing for me then, as now, is that the game is a step in the learning process. I know that most developers do not have a hit game on the first try. I think a lot of people might think of Stardew Valley as a first game that really had outstanding success (I know I did...basically, the developer, ConcernedApe, is pretty much who I want to be like when I grow up!). I didn't even realize until recently that he made a game before Stardew Valley, that he said was pretty embarrassing now, looking back.

This game did not do well when I released it, and I don't expect it to really take off all of a sudden now, either. I made a lot of bad choices when I first made the game, which I wrote about in my postmortem for the game. It's not even the type of game I really play myself. Ultimately, I want to make RPGs and adventure games, but those take time, so I wanted to use the first game to at least start learning more about the game development and business process, on a limited schedule due to other commitments.

So what are my reasons for remaking the game in a new engine and putting it back out for people to play? And what can you do if you release a bad game?

People Asked About My First Game

I do a lot of teaching, and a few of my students have asked about my games. I thought this would be a good way to let them see my first game, without them having to download anything. Not everyone has an Android or Windows PC (besides, the game is not on Google Play at the moment, the old game file does not comply with the store requirements).

I always tell them that no, I guarantee you have not heard of the game, and no, it really is not good. But as an instructor, if I cannot use it as a good example, I can at least use it as a horrible warning, as that old quote goes.

Learning Experience

As I mentioned before, even with a bad game, you can still learn from it. After the initial release, I did a postmortem to really examine what went wrong, and what went right, so that I could get better next time. One of my biggest lessons was that I really should have had someone else play and test the game and gotten feedback before I put so much time and so many resources into developing it for release. Then someone could have told me that it just isn't a fun game.

I did learn, and I reskinned the game to have a non-holiday theme. After taking it to several game dev conventions, where hundreds of people could playtest it, I even had little kids tell me they didn't want to play it. So that was a significant warning sign that I should have gotten early on in the development process.

The next game that I took to conventions, Brain Bouncer, got a lot more positive feedback, and I even had people come back to my convention table to try and beat all the levels. That's the kind of feedback you want. As a side note, I am working on expanding that game, I just got a bit burnt out with handling work and some other things, so I really do need to get back on that game.

For this Christmas game remake, I used this as an opportunity to learn some new skills in the GDevelop engine. It was easier to focus on getting better at the engine when I already had art and sound, as well as an existing design and blueprint for the game. Now I can use the new skills for my next games, and I'm also more prepared if I decide to use GDevelop to teach my students in the future.

So, even if you release a game that stinks and no one likes, you can still learn from it!

Feedback and Possible Improvement

I have emphasized that the game is not fun, and I am not expecting that it will have some miraculous turnaround and become a smash hit. That said, one of the things I like about GDevelop is that if you release games on their site, they have a feature that allows players to leave feedback for your game. If there are people who actually enjoy the game, or who might find it later, there's always a chance that I can learn from feedback and make the game better, so that it might actually become a decent game. And let me just say, thanks to the people who have left feedback.

If you're not releasing your game on GDevelops's site (which is gd.games), you can still get feedback in other ways. Like I mentioned, I've taken my games to live events and watched people play them, and gotten feedback in person. Even if the players don't say anything to you, watching them play can give you some idea of what they like, what parts of the game might drive them away, where they're struggling, how long they play, and so on.

You can also a Google form or other survey if you playtest the game online or in person. That way players can also leave you anonymous feedback, and you have a way to collect and preserve the information you gather. At live events, you might even bring paper surveys, and maybe give players some candy or some treat to thank them for their feedback.

So that's why I always say I'm open to feedback. Lucky for me, this game isn't a multimillion dollar fail, because there have been some big games and major studio releases that bombed on release. Some of the developers were able to eventually get the games back on track, while others weren't so fortunate. And we're lucky that in this digital age, your players can download updates. When I was a kid, if you bought a Nintendo or Atari game or something that was bad, you were stuck with what was on the cartridge or disk. And that's how you got copies of games that ended up buried in bulk in a landfill somewhere in the desert.

Of course, the ideal is to put out a good game upon the initial release, rather than putting out a bomb and then expecting your disappointed players to check back later for updates, but everyone makes mistakes, right? Maybe you can still set things right. I'm not guaranteeing that will happen for this game, maybe the whole game concept is flawed, but there's no harm in trying, right?

So those are some reasons why I did this game remake, and some tips that might help you if you find yourself in a position where you have a dud of a game on your hands.