The Shape of the Future

April 26, 2026 | Author: HDIAndrew

As opposed to many theorists who like discussing video games, Scott Steinberg actually spent his time in the trenches, working on game dev and publishing, before moving more firmly into writing about the future. That might help explain why I have been enjoying his “The Shape of the Future” (written with Aric Dromi Jankov) and its insights on planning for uncertainty.

I found one of their quotes especially applicable to what the Emperor of the Fading Suns Enhanced team and its mod community have been doing to make this 30-year-old-game relevant to modern gamers:

Read more »
Posted in Fading Suns, Game Development | Leave a Comment

Twitchy Steam Key Vendors

April 10, 2026 | Author: HDIAndrew

I meant to write about this when we launched Emperor of the Fading Suns Enhanced last year, but releasing Machiavelli the Prince Enhanced last week reminded me of it – all the people who claim defunct Twitch accounts to use them for their own skeezy purposes.

Right after launch, we received AI-generated emails from people claiming to have Twitch accounts and wanting to stream the game. At first glance, these look pretty good – several thousand followers. Dig a little deeper and you quickly see that they have not streamed in three or four years.

Read more »
Posted in Developer Diary, Game Development | Leave a Comment

Selling Games on Steam

October 28, 2025 | Author: HDIAndrew

This article, about how many games do not turn a profit on Steam, has been making the rounds. The problem it highlights is legitimate, though it does not take into account how many of these are student projects, in early access, etc.

Even with these issues, and having sold games in physical stores, on mobile, on consoles, and in the modern online stores (Steam, GOG, Zoom Platform), I much prefer the last category (though seeing your game in a box at Target is a thrill). Yes, HOLISTIC DESIGN, INC. games face A LOT of competition on them every day, but these channels also give us sales year after year, as well as the chance to improve our games and find their audience.

We rereleased Emperor of the Fading Suns on GOG.com about five years ago, and it sold all right. When we released the Enhanced version in 2022, sales on GOG jumped. When we released the (even more) Enhanced version on Steam this year, sales on both platforms jumped again. There is no way we could have done this through any of the other sales channels, especially considering our near $0 marketing budget.

Read more »
Posted in Game Development, HDI | Leave a Comment