Hi, so in 2022 I released two games:
They're also on itch.io, but have only sold 6 and 8 copies respectfully. I think by the end of the year I will crack $16,000 total. So after Steams cut, production costs, taxes, transfer fees, etc. I will have probably made about £7,500 (~6.5 months rent)
I should also acknowledge I am in a privileged position here, too. Neither of these games would have done as well without the amazing art and, outside of some same-face sprites and basic boxes, I did not do any of that. It was done by my industry friends at far below market rate.
Also, speaking of talented artists, here are Sam and my OC's I commissioned from まっさかさま to celebrate SOKOBOT shipping!

I am proud of both games, but admit they are kind of niche in their own way and could be improved. SOKOBOT has interface issues and the second area is really weak compared to the rest - which is where a lot of people stop.
It also had some launch issues, by which I mean when I hit the launch button, Steam deleted the store page and erased all trace of it and I was stuck waiting for support to fix it for 8 hours. (Probably launch your game during Valve office hours...)

Do I regret putting "survivors" in my game title? Yeah, a bit. It is just unsightly, isn't it? Uncouth. I did this for the reason you think I did, and the result is a lot of the more negative feedback is from the game not being Vampire Survivors enough, like lists of missing features for VS parity, when really the focus was more on a Touhou-themed arena shooter with a weird upgrade system. It also gives an expectation it will be full-time supported for a year, which I am not in a position to do, but I can't really complain about any of this because of the terrible thing I did.
Both games passing 1k units on Steam apparently puts them in some shockingly high percentile in terms of Steam success, and my indie buddies say I should consider this a big win for my first attempts.
I did spend part of this year with a full time job, do some consultancy work, and options I had at a previous company turned into money somehow (this is not my world). So, I'm not dying for my craft or anything. But it has made me question what I want to do in 2023, especially since some expensive things are happening!
Attempting to self-release games with <400 Twitter followers, and a strong distaste for posting stealth-adverts on reddit, gives me something of a discoverability problem. So maybe a publisher or publicist approach would be smarter if I do kick off something chunky in future.
To be honest, I am currently struggling to find my mojo, but we'll see how I feel after I take some time off and get back from visiting family over Christmas.
