making games is hard (how many times have you heard this one today )
finishing games is even harder
publishing games on a “professional platform” is even harder
making, finishing and publishing games that sell is…even harder
So we watch youtube videos about making good games, about game marketing, “how this dev did x”, “what to avoid when making games”, picking the right idea, how to conduct playtests, etc… We inflict upon ourselves a downpour of information, advice and guides so we can feel prepared, knowledgeable.
Eventually, when you actually try to make the game you’re reminded that the difference between information and knowledge is not a mere nuance. Reminded that in order to understand —in order to gain true insights— you must do the thing. The whole thing. You must think and plan, design and test, try and make, finish and publish and you must fail and succeed before you can try to apprehend the true depth of what you don’t know.
That was a long and grim intro for a first blog post so let’s get to the point now shall we.
After three month of work I’m about to release Sweepminer on Steam, and I was feeling the need to put into words why I’m even making this game.
Earlier this year I had a sudden realization. At that point I’ve been teaching myself game developement for about three years. I left many projects unfinished and published a number of small ones on itch.io. But the goal has always been Steam…right ? I know I can finish games. I’m more or less capable of scoping them well enough so that I can finish them. But somehow I’ve yet to cross that line, because there is always a better project, a better idea for my first steam game. There’s always a new information for me consider. There’s always an excuse.
So after this moment of clarity I wondered: how do make myself go there ? The answer I picked was simple, I’ll do what I’ve been doing to achieve anything gamedev related: To turn the thing into a project of its own, with only one goal. Doing the thing.
Knowing myself, it was clear that making everything it takes to create a game all while being preoccupied with marketability, reception and all of the other things that one should have in mind when developping commercial projects was a recipe for personal failure. Hell just opening the steam page is difficult. And I’m not even talking about the fee. So I’m really glad I went through the whole process for the first time without being overwhelmed by all the rest.
Don’t get me wrong Sweepminer is not shovelware or low effort. It could even be a somewhat good game (even though I doubt it). More importantly it looks like me. Or at least it’s an expression of who I am today and I’m genuinely proud of it.
The thing is that the big goal was never steam. It was never to release a game on this specific platform. The goal is to be a game maker. I live to create games, really. Nothing else has meaning now (in terms of occupation, work). It’s time I start really aiming for my games to allow me live. Steam is just a milestone, that I’ll have to come back to over and over again. I had simply forgotten to treat it as such.
So, Sweepminer is a collection of 7 very imperfect microgames inspired by Minesweeper that releases next tuesday. I can’t wait to discover what my second steam game will be. :)
Thank you for reading. <3
11/28/25 Etienne