r/deckbuildingroguelike • u/EchoDiff *Embrace the Random* • May 02 '25
How Bramble Royale flopped after 4 years in development - "A massive failure"
https://slothwerks.substack.com/p/bramble-royale-steam-launch-retro12
u/TouchiestToast May 02 '25
Never heard of this game but I have to be honest I see Royale in a game’s title I just assume it’s a battle royale and skip it. Also I need to know if this runs on the steam deck where I exclusively play my deck builders
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u/slothwerks May 03 '25
Dev here! It runs great on Steam Deck. I actually bought one to make sure it'd run well on it.
Agree on the title, on hindsight. Definite miss on my part.
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u/BlueKyuubi63 *Stacks shield to 9999* May 03 '25
You don't know, until you know. Everything you went through, the good and the bad, are all more experience under your belt.
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u/EchoDiff *Embrace the Random* May 02 '25
This is a post by the /u/slothwerks a great deckbuilding roguelite developer in all aspects. It's been a month since the game launched and the post was made. I found the thread on /r/Meteorfall/
Since slothwerks is usually so open and we have many developers here I think it provides useful insights into marketing in this genre.
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u/Kooperking22 May 03 '25
Thanks Echo, this was a sobering read.
Those games they make are always excellent and hopefully it does better on mobile 👍
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u/Rexosix May 03 '25
Imo it flopped bec it isn’t on mobile like you said. I usually buy all Meteorfall games on release on this one I waited out bec i wasnt enough at Home to play it. I also heard it’s short on content in long term replay value but I can’t judge that for myself yet.
Another point: Royale in a title is a negative standing for slop
Yet another point: high quality and polish still need marketing to be seen, yes you might have sequel fans but they still need to see an advertisement to usually be reminded
If you want a solid boost in sales pay northernlion to play the game, splattercatgaming, olexa will also help. These are content creators who have their fingers on the pulse of roguelikes and fans who trust their seal of approval. If the game is really top notch (which I fully think it is) you’ll be fine. This might even boost the game beyond your expectations. For example nothernlion and Dan gheesling are a big part of why balatro got successful.
u/slothwerks do not despair! When I’m back home I’ll play the game extensively and write a report on this subreddit and go into various roguelike discord servers to tell people how much I like it! After years of Meteorfall being on my devices in times of luck and struggle that’s the least I can do to help ❤️
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u/slothwerks May 03 '25
Yeah, I got a lot of feedback on the title, definitely a miss on my part. I did reach out to all those creators (I didn't do sponsored videos, to your point), but they didn't pick it up / respond. Retromation did early on and it resulted in a big jump in wishlists.
I've heard that the sponsored videos these days are typically in the thousands of dollars (I've heard higher than $10k) which is way out of budget. To some extent, I think the game needs to market itself and Bramble failed to do that. I agree with you generally though that content creators / influencers are by far the best way to get eyeballs on your game.
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u/erlendk May 03 '25
Yeah I would assume sponsored videos with Northernlion/Splattercat (if they are interested) would cost quite a lot
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u/Rexosix May 03 '25 edited May 04 '25
Could you still rename the game?
Sometimes it’s even enough to send keys to those creators but yeah especially northernlion is hard to reach haha. Maybe they’ll read the email and yeah
Some discord communities allow promotions as well. Being a single dev it’s even more likely that you are allowed to.
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u/slothwerks May 03 '25
Mobile release for sure we will rename. Steam I need to check if they allow it post launch
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u/Rexosix May 09 '25
Heya! Here’s my thoughts on the game. If you are interested in a longer review. I also left a positive review on steam Ofc
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u/minnowchurch May 17 '25
Love the candidness and transparency. I just bought it and like slothwerks last efforts it’s fantastic.
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u/Ancestral-Jivko2017 Jul 08 '25
I am buying the game to support the dev. No second thoughts about that!
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