You can also check out Cardinal Descent (my first game) for comparison on Steam too:
store.steampowered.com/app/3114100/...

I'll be posting some more stuff I've learnt if people are interested, so feel free to follow for more. Also wishlist Factory 95 on Steam!
store.steampowered.com/app/3987250?...

5. We did alot of playtesting especially early on, this helped us iron out alot of gameplay stuff that people were struggling with.

4. I just knew how to market better, I had made alot of mistakes with Cardinal Descent that I learnt from with Factory 95. I knew how to email IGN, apply for festivals, make social media posts, plan and scope the game better, etc.

3. The Windows 95/Clippy theming gives people something to anchor to (this is similar to point 1 but more about having a spin on a familiar concept).

2. The premise of Factory 95 is really clear, it's a game about making PowerPoint factories. It's not hard to wrap your head around what the game is from a sentence or a screenshot. There's games that don't fit this that still do well, but it is something that's made Factory 95 easier to market.

1. Having a strong theme is so important. Both in the game design process and the marketing. I know this sounds obvious, but my first game Cardinal Descent did not have a clear theme. It was vaguely elements/magic themed but I never really had a clear vision for the overarching narrative or setting.

oh interesting, yeah we call it VGA 16 in the settings because that was what the colour palette I found was called, so the setting is more to select the palette rather than any specific visual setting

someone commented this on tiktok too it's super interesting and I guess makes sense because you're always showing some combo or RGB right

hahahah it wasnt even intentional i just suck at the game

oh awesome, yeah still working on your suggestion for more visible paths too

absolutely not

thanks so much for playing! really glad you liked the game

i implied nothing