From Mechanic to Fantasy: The Streamer-Oriented Development Process of SOS: Silence or Sight
- aizomongames
- 6 days ago
- 6 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
A prototype experiment that began from a Fantasy Hook and validated around streamers as the core audience — using a small-scope, observable, and iterative process to create a game that can be streamed, understood, and shared.
Table of Contents
Origin: From Mechanic to Fantasy-First Thinking
When people talk about indie games, they often think of the romantic story of “making your dream game.”
I was no different. Ever since my first Steam release, Phantom Recall (originally Project Yo-Yo),I thought:
“A hundred dollars for the Steam listing fee? Worth it for the dream!”
After my second and third games received some external feedback, I started to realize:if I wanted to connect with my target market more effectively,shouldn’t I start aligning with my audience as early as the concept phase?
That realization led to SOS: Silence or Sight —my first prototype experiment deliberately designed with streamers in mind from day one.
Rethinking the “Hook”: Mechanic Hook vs. Fantasy Hook
My creative habit had always been mechanic-first.But mechanic-driven games have a few innate marketing challenges:
Highly abstract, hard to communicate instantly.
High explanation cost — a huge disadvantage in the era of short attention spans.
Unclear audience segmentation — difficult to find a precise target group.
The third issue is especially deadly for solo developers during playtest stages.Even if your friends or teammates fit the target demographic, the pool is too small to sustain meaningful testing.
Jonas Tyroller once said that successful games balance four elements:
Fun・Appeal・Scope・Monetization
I gradually came to understand:in an age of scarce attention, Appeal almost determines Marketability.
A phrase like “a platformer with inverted gravity” will never grab attention as fast as “you play as a drug lord.”
The latter doesn’t describe a mechanic — it triggers an entire imaginative world.
That’s when I realized:
Pererhaps a prototype shouldn’t just validate mechanics, but also test whether a fantasy sparks immediate curiosity.
The Turning Point: From Cosmic Junker
During Ludum Dare 57, I created Cosmic Junker —a meditative survival game about “scavenging through endless space.”
It was my first attempt to build a game around a situation rather than a mechanic —to explore emotions like loneliness, serenity, and immersion, and define them on my own terms.
The benefits of this starting point were obvious:
Clear design guidelines with strong intuition.
Less risk of getting lost in “mechanics searching for a feeling.”
Easier marketing communication.
The new challenge became:
“How can I express the strongest possible experience using the fewest possible mechanics?”
The prototype and showcase of Cosmic Junker unexpectedly received great feedback from Swedish players and publishers.
That experience transformed me —from a mechanic believer into a designer who embraces situations and fantasies.
Related reading: Cosmic Junker
Focus Strategy: Designing for Streamers
With that lesson in mind, I asked myself:
If “Fantasy” can create the first spark of marketing resonance, what if I design directly for a clearly defined group — say, horror streamers?
That shift solved two long-standing pain points:
Clear marketing target — I no longer needed to shotgun ads; I could design what they want to play and stream.
Built-in playtesting — streamers naturally become external testers and promotion nodes.
So I chose the horror genre as the starting point:low entry barrier, well-established community, and full of natural tension, reaction, and shareable moments —a perfect match for streaming virality.
Prototype Validation and Development Process
When I led a 3–4-person team to develop a co-op action-adventure prototype,I developed a habit of documenting every step of the process.That practice helped me:
Revisit design decisions at any time.
Keep focus on high-level design (Core Loop, One-liner).
Prepare materials for future postmortems.
🎬 Early Research
Target Experience: Escaping mutants in an apartment building and building safe routes for survival.
Core Mechanics:
Flashlight reveals “shadows” — they can only hear sounds.
Player can pick up and throw objects to make noise.
Encounter “Screamers” who shriek and charge when eye contact is made.
Locked doors form a network of Safe Rooms.
Asset & Template Choices:
Unreal Marketplace First Person Horror Template (includes flashlight and lockable doors).
Apartment asset pack for test environment.
Re-used “pick up & throw” system from Cosmic Junker.
✅ Feasibility Testing
After gathering all templates and assets,I quickly integrated and tested to ensure compatibility before prototyping the core mechanics.
Built a “Shadow” prototype to test visibility and AI patrol.
Prototyped the “Screamer” enemy — tracking, shrieking, charging, path drifting.
🧭 Establishing High-Level Design
Defined two design pillars:
Easy to Understand — rules should be graspable at a glance.
Tension Communicated Both Ways — both player and audience should feel the pressure.
Then drafted the core loop and one-liner concept.
🎮 Gameplay Validation: Light & Sound Interaction
Throwing objects to lure shadows.
Throwing objects to toggle lights remotely and reduce noise risk.
“Screamer” shriek attracts shadows.
Randomized doors and lights to enhance replayability.
🔄 Core Loop Iteration
The early loop (collect water → build safe network → survive the night)was simplified to:
Find the radio → send SOS → escape.
The radio mechanic was inspired by Midnight Ghost Hunt’s “midnight reversal.”
Noise attracts shadows, creating a natural rhythm shift:Calm → Tense → Chaotic → Release.
✨ Polishing: Readability & Viewer Experience
Improved Screamer behavior and animation: only screams when light hits the eyes.
Added hurt/death feedback and sound effects.
Edited a trailer to test viewer comprehension.
At this stage, nearly every change was guided by one metric:
“Can the audience understand what’s happening?”
🧠 More Testing & Balancing
Reduced Screamer size for better dodging.
Fixed spawn points to reduce randomness.
Starting without flashlight was too punishing → gave default flashlight with limited battery.
Tuned final rooftop battle difficulty and ending sequence for stronger climax contrast.
Finalized high concept and core loop:
What Went Right: Itch.io Paid Prototype + Mutually Beneficial Playtesting
I released the prototype on Itch.io for $1.99 USD.
Two reasons:
Validate before investing — no need to pay Steam listing fees before proof.
Mutual benefit — small streamers are more willing to showcase something that feels like a real release.
The result: this model generated authentic feedback and established organic reciprocity for marketing.Even “a cup of coffee” worth of revenue can meaningfully sustain indie motivation.
What Went Wrong: Genre × Mode Mismatch
The biggest issue wasn’t mechanics — it was audience expectation misalignment.
I combined horror-game audiences (usually casual, reaction-focused)with extraction-style progression (learning-based, strategy-oriented).
The result:
Right audience, wrong mode.
Horror streamers prefer short, high-intensity, clip-worthy moments.Extraction gameplay requires patience, learning, and risk management.
So while tension and pressure succeeded, completion and virality failed miserably.
Later I revisited Dr. Joe Baxter-Webb’s “Game Genre Pyramid”:
Core Mechanics define Genre
Progression Mechanics define Mode
By nailing the genre but mismatching the mode, I’d built an inherently unbalanced experience.
It taught me:
Before designing, study how they actually play —not how you imagine they play.
Reflections
I should have studied more streamer gameplay videos to fully grasp market expectations for each sub-genre.
In the future, I’ll stick to a three-stage validation funnel: Itch.io → Creator Keys → Steam Release.
Conclusion: Small Scope, Big Lessons
SOS: Silence or Sight taught me that a prototype isn’t just for testing gameplay —it’s for testing market connection points.
This “situation-first, streamer-driven” validation pathhelped me not only make a game,but also build a sustainable development process that unites design and marketing.
For me, it opened a new possibility:enabling small developers to start talking to the world right from the validation stage.
🎮 Want to experience it yourself? → SOS: Silence or Sight on Itch.io
📢 Join the Discord community to discuss indie game development! → https://discord.gg/tAaTdVmxDN
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