How A Text-Only Game Became A Steam Hit

This is a Game Dev Podcast with my guest Huw Millward the creator of Warsim: The Realm of Aslona, an entirely text based asci kingdom simulation game (that was written to a single code file with 700K lines of code).

Links to my Guest

➤ Play Warsim on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/659540/Warsim_The_Realm_of_Aslona/

➤ Dim Parcio (Band): https://www.instagram.com/dimparcioband/

Listen to the podcast on the go (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.):

➤ https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/

0:00 - Intro

0:56 - Why WARSIM worked

1:52 - From tiny sales to quitting the day job

3:09 - Sticking with a "failed" game

5:06 - Obsessive Updates

10:10 - Procedural Generation and Emergent Stories

12:17 - The Throne Room’s Birth

17:11 - Roleplaying a ruler: many playstyles

20:59 - A 700k-line monolith

26:56 - Follow-the-fun workflow, 500 co-designers

31:16 - Moving beyond ASCII: new studio, higher stakes

33:12 - Text games: should you make them?

37:59 - Marketing a game with no graphics

42:42 - Word-of-mouth and biggest wins

46:39 - Slumbox reveal: city vs wasteland

50:18 - Choosing GameMaker over Unity

51:46 - Timeline, team, delegation, funding paths

55:56 - Life outside dev: band, GDC adventures, merging music and games

58:11 - Becoming a “real” game dev and balancing identities

01:00:10 - Advice for devs: persistence, build what you love, design smart, community

01:04:02 - Proc-gen principles and writing tips

01:10:09 - Jonas’ advice for Slumbox

01:12:01 - Jonas’ next project and goodbye

My game "Thronefall":

➤ Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/

➤ Discord: https://discord.gg/gVYctptyg8

➤ Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Thronefall-2669627.html#Overview

My game "Will You Snail":

➤ Play Will You Snail on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1115050/Will_You_Snail/

➤ Join the Will You Snail Discord: https://discord.gg/G3mRDrK

For the game developers among you:

➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ