How our indie game has failed and why my studio shuts down

Hey there, I'm Artem, the head of a small game dev studio.

Just a couple of months back, we launched our narrative adventure that's been my baby for so long. It's wild – one moment you're in this whirlwind of coding and designing, and the next, it's out there for the world to see. Kind of like watching your kid go off to school for the first time, you know?

But hey, let me take you back to the start – way back.

[https://i.imgur.com/ws04ztX.jpeg](https://i.imgur.com/ws04ztX.jpeg) (a typical room with a computer from my childhood)

Picture this: I'm in middle school. Everyone's talking about what they want to be when they grow up, and there I am, dead set on making games. People would laugh it off, saying it's just a kid's dream. But man, it felt real to me.

So, I figured I'd start with programming – that's what makes games tick, isn't it? I snagged this programming book, thinking I'd crack the code to game-making. Spoiler alert: it wasn't for me. Lines of code felt like they were from another planet, and I was just a kid with a head full of worlds I wanted to build, not code.

Then, one day, I'm flipping through this gaming mag and bam – I discover 3D modeling. It sounded way cooler than writing code. I started hoarding books on the subject, spending nights on sites like [CGSociety.org](http://cgsociety.org), you know, trying to learn the craft.

But guess what? After a while, 3D started to lose its spark for me. Maybe I didn't stick with it long enough, or maybe I just wasn't feeling the stuff I was creating. That's when I stumbled into the world of hand drawing. My parents got me a Wacom Bamboo for my birthday, and dude, it was like a whole new universe opened up.

[https://i.imgur.com/7jA7nAL.jpeg](https://i.imgur.com/7jA7nAL.jpeg) (one of my first work)

Years flew by, and I was all in with 2D art. It's crazy how fast you learn stuff at that age. I was on every art forum you could think of, soaking up advice, posting my stuff, getting feedback. By 15, I had this little portfolio going, and I started picking up small gigs here and there.

Looking back now, it's like every twist and turn, every new thing I tried, was just paving the way to where I am today. It wasn't just about learning to draw or model; it was about figuring out who I was.

[https://i.imgur.com/HKy9hTG.jpeg](https://i.imgur.com/HKy9hTG.jpeg) (another picture of mine)

So, that's how I kinda figured out my path in the gaming world. Fast forward a couple of years, and it's summer break. I bump into this art director of a small team, and guess what? She invites me to join them to draw for casual games. Man, it was 2011, and social media games were just exploding everywhere. I was over the moon about this chance. That's where my real gamedev journey kicked off.

I only stuck around there for a few months, though. Juggling part-time work with my 11th-grade studies was tough. School kinda felt like just going through the motions, you know? My head was all in with graphics – drawing up a storm, cooking up plots, stories, all sorts of wild situations.

Then I hit 18. School's out, and I'm off to Moscow. Spent a few months job hunting, doing test after test. There were moments, dude, where I thought maybe I bit off more than I could chew, like maybe nobody wanted to gamble on some young hotshot.

But then, boom – the call I'd been waiting for. I got picked up by this big-deal company, at least big for back then, in the social and mobile game scene. I was stoked – heading to an office, rubbing elbows with industry vets, the whole nine yards.

The folks I met there? Absolute legends. But the longer I worked, the more I felt like I was in a box. Drawing stuff from my own brain was awesome, but just churning out someone else's ideas? Nah, it was time to make my own mark.

[https://i.imgur.com/UfEEx1V.png](https://i.imgur.com/UfEEx1V.png) (the screen of my first game)

Only problem? I still couldn't code. So, I started hunting for a partner. Didn’t take long – soon enough, I'm chatting with this guy, also itching to break into game creation. He had tons of prototypes but no finished stuff.

Things moved at lightning speed. We spent a couple of days hashing it out, picked the coolest of his ideas, and I whipped up the concept and all the graphics. Two weeks later, bam – our game hits the Appstore.

We didn't make a dime, but man, the experience was gold.

Of course, I wasn't dreaming of making just any games. I wanted to craft those story-driven ones that stick with you long after you’re done. Could I have started with those? Maybe. But looking back, I'd say start small. Otherwise, you're just that dreamer with a million ideas and nothing to show for it.

[https://i.imgur.com/UsG70qP.jpeg](https://i.imgur.com/UsG70qP.jpeg) (cards for my first story driven game)

Over the next few years, I dabbled in more small projects, got a taste of game design, even climbed up to PM and producer roles. Eventually, though, I hit a wall – total burnout. But you know what? I bounced back and ended up crafting a game (almost) all by myself.

Life wasn't just about leveling up my skills or climbing the career ladder. I mean, real life stuff – like starting a family and dealing with everyday responsibilities – started to pile up. And with that, this nagging thought kept creeping in: should I just pack up these dreams? You know, 'grow up' and fit into the regular life mold. Our grandest dreams often feel like they're in another league from our daily grind.

But as I was wrestling with these questions, fate played its hand. Through a buddy of mine, I met this guy who was super into the gaming scene. He was all about deep, narrative-driven games – a rare breed, considering everyone around him was chasing after metrics and ways to squeeze more bucks out of players. We clicked instantly; our game philosophies were like two peas in a pod.

A week later, I pitched him this game concept – just a small document, nothing fancy. He dug it and gave me the green light to put a team together. And that's how the journey of Torn Away began.

For the first time ever, I was inches away from that childhood dream – to create a game that would captivate not just me but also the kid I was back in school. But man, turning dreams into reality? Scary stuff. What if I flop? What if people play it and just shrug? What if I've got nothing worth saying after all?

[https://i.imgur.com/dxclEEq.mp4](https://i.imgur.com/dxclEEq.mp4) (short trailer of our studio's first child!)

We poured four years into this game, stumbled over every hurdle you could imagine, but...

[https://i.imgur.com/f9uPCyk.png](https://i.imgur.com/f9uPCyk.png) (first reviews of our game)

The world actually embraced our little game! Those first few days were surreal – we were glued to streams, soaking in every review, every comment. Players were genuinely moved by our story.

We were riding high, making big plans, getting interview calls, seeing our game in the media. Long-lost partners were suddenly hitting us up.

[https://i.imgur.com/nhBnIgb.png](https://i.imgur.com/nhBnIgb.png) (how many copies we sold by november 2023)

But then, the launch buzz fades, and reality hits – it's all about the sales. People keep asking: did the game make bank? Did it break even? We didn't rush to crunch the numbers. Maybe we were just scared to face the truth. And the truth in this biz is brutal – you can usually tell from the first week's sales if your game's a hit or a miss. No fairy tale ending for us.

At launch, we had 18,000 folks with our game on their Steam Wishlists.

Day one? We sold 504 copies.

And now? Sitting at 5,178 copies sold.

You know, when you launch a game, you've got all these stats and projections. Like, if you've got X number of folks wishlisting your game, you're supposed to sell 10-20% of that in the first week. We were looking at 1,800 to 3,600 sales just from our wishlist crowd. That would've catapulted us onto the trending pages in major countries, boosting our visibility like crazy. But our wishlist conversion? A measly 2-3%. We only made it to the popular new products lists in Eastern Europe.

Net conversion from our wishlist sits at just 3.6%.

Why? We're still scratching our heads.

// Just a heads-up for the solo devs out there: these numbers might not look too shabby for you. But for even a small studio, it's kind of a rough situation. Steam takes around 45% off the top with taxes included, and we also have to give a significant chunk to our publisher.

[https://i.imgur.com/xtZGwyp.jpeg](https://i.imgur.com/xtZGwyp.jpeg) (yeah, we got some awards and 85% at Metacritic)

Some might say, "Hey, maybe your game just wasn't good enough. Why look for other reasons?"

And maybe they're right, I don't know. But then I look at our Metacritic score – 85 points. Steam? 96% positive reviews. Solid ratings on Xbox, with folks eagerly waiting for our PlayStation and Switch releases.

That's as real as our sales figures.

We decided not to throw in the towel. We've got console releases coming up, more sales opportunities. There are contests, festivals, conferences to attend… Post-release is a grind, but we're ready for it.

And then, the hammer drops.

October 28th, I get this message from my partner and main investor – he's pulling out. Not because of Torn Away's sales, but due to the industry's overall climate. An interesting experiment, he says, but it's time to call it a day.

I was floored. Spent days holed up, trying to figure out a way to keep things afloat, barely talking to anyone. The fear was real – everything we'd built, it could all vanish. Sure, Torn Away would live on, but perelesoq was more than just a game; it was about the people.

[https://i.imgur.com/wbltLpl.jpeg](https://i.imgur.com/wbltLpl.jpeg) (our sad little office space)

Then, slowly, they start to chip in – asking questions, throwing around ideas, rallying together. Nobody's ready to call it quits. We're brainstorming, searching for a path forward.

It's unbelievable. I walked into that room feeling like the world had ended, but I walked out feeling the complete opposite.

I'm filled with this incredible sense of love and determination. We've got an amazing team, and there's so much worth fighting for.

Thanks for sticking with my story. I hope it's given you something to think about.

**Any support for me and my team would mean the world. Here's the game if anyone's got interested:** [**https://store.steampowered.com/app/1568970/Torn\_Away/**](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1568970/Torn_Away/)

Cheers!