Indie devs behind Animal Crossing-style management sim with 'Overwhelmingly Positive' Steam reviews get candid about future plans: "Will we milk this? No, we clearly don't want to do that"
Apr. 18, 2024Minami Lane has sold 50k copies in three months
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
The developers behind cozy management simMinami Lanehave gotten candid about indie game development and revealed they have no plans to “milk” their game despite its success.
In a post on the r/GameDevsubreddit, one-third of Minami Lane’s development team, ‘Doot’, shared a post-mortem of their game - giving an honest insight into what it takes to publish a successful indie game and telling fans of the management sim the team’s plans for the future. The post breaks down everything that happened before, during, and after Minami Lane’s development and delves into what the developer has learned throughout the process.
Unfortunately for those hoping for more Minami Lane, Doot and Blibloop have already decided that they’ve closed the chapter of the life sim. Under a section labeled ‘What’s next?’ Doot writes: “Will we milk this, do DLCs, a sequel, or other similar games? No, please no, we clearly don’t want to do that.” The developer continues: “Maybe this would be the logical option if what we were after was the biggest possible amount of money, but we are not.”
Instead, the pair say the success of Minami Lane, which has sold 50,000 copies since its release will allow them to start new projects. “The success [of Minami Lane] allows us to try things that would not have been possible otherwise, namely: localization and console ports,” Doot continues. “These both cost money and time, two things we now have, and these are facets of game dev I’m interested to try.”
Not only is the post a refreshing perspective into indie game development, and the benefits of prioritizing well-being over profit, but it’s also potentially helpful for those trying to get their games off the ground, as it features tips and tricks related to marketing, setting players' expectations, playtesting, and more.
You can play Minami Lane on PC now viaSteam.
Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
Find out what other hidden gems are on the way with ourupcoming indie gameslist.
After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training. My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I’m also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.
Stardew Valley 1.6 has brought a sense of excitement and discovery back to Pelican Town, and I’m losing myself to it all over again
Stardew Valley creator says he had his reasons to announce Haunted Chocolatier so early, and “if I don’t post for a while, it doesn’t mean I have abandoned the game”
How to complete the Indiana Jones Light Chamber puzzle
