Issue #39
FRONTLINE
A good idea doesn’t always win the first time.
Sometimes it needs to wait its turn.
Spellmasons launched half-built, homemade, and full of potential. Jordan gave it one push — then another. Then another. Until finally, something clicked.
This isn’t a game that screams for attention. It just sits there, flaws and all, surprising you with how much it still has left to give.
GOOD IDEAS ARE STUBBORN
Most indie games get one shot.
You launch, cross your fingers, hope a streamer bites, and pray the algorithm picks it up before the forums do. There’s a tiny window where everyone’s watching — and then silence. It’s why most games burn out in six months. A few hold on for a year. Fewer still get a second wind.
Spellmasons didn’t explode at launch. It launched light on content, built on a homemade JavaScript engine, with a buggy multiplayer mode and no roadmap. Jordan, the solo developer behind it, had spent two years building the game from scratch — including the tech under it. By the time it went live in 2023, he was burnt out.
He knew it wasn’t “complete.”
But he also knew it was good.
And that’s the difference.
I didn’t have a roadmap. I just knew the game I wanted people to experience — and I let the community help me get there.
That clarity of vision carried Spellmasons through a launch that, on paper, should’ve sunk it. Just 18 spells. Built in a custom JavaScript engine. No publisher. A tactical roguelike with depth, but needing polish.
And yet…
92% positive reviews on Steam.
Players didn’t see what was missing — they saw what was possible. They felt the systems underneath. The combinations waiting to be uncovered. They filled in the gaps.
“I wanted a game where you could combine spells in ways even I hadn’t imagined.
And I’ve definitely achieved that.
Players still surprise me with things I didn’t know were possible.”
So he kept building. New spells. New runes. New wizards with entirely different casting styles. Each update a new layer in a system designed to reward curiosity.
Some days, the game sold two or three copies. Not enough to live on — but enough to keep the idea alive.
Jordan took full-time jobs at big companies when he needed stability. And then, when he felt ready, he walked away — again and again — to return to Spellmasons. This wasn’t freelancing on the side. It was the fourth time he’d quit a well-paying, secure job to keep building the game he believed in.
No roadmap. No marketing team. Just a developer who knew what he was making — and why it mattered.
THE ALGORITHM SHOWED UP LATE
In late 2024, looking for more ways to promote the game, a friend challenged Jordan: “Make five YouTube shorts a week until Christmas.”
He had zero editing experience. No background in content creation. But he did it anyway.
TikToks. Reels. YouTube Shorts. The early ones flopped. The later ones didn’t.
“December became my biggest sales month ever. Bigger than launch week.”
No re-release. Just self-made videos from a dev who stepped outside his comfort zone — and kept at it.
Behind the scenes, he’d also overhauled his Steam page. Cleaner art, tighter copy, stronger pitch. So when the surge finally came, Spellmasons was ready for it.
Today, it’s sitting at over 30,000 wishlists — and counting.
“GOOD” ISN’T ENOUGH IF NO ONE KNOWS
I used to put 99% of my effort into making the game. But I realised there are three equally important buckets:
1. Making a good game
2. Making it look good
3. Making sure people know it exists
That insight didn’t just revive Spellmasons — it rewired how Jordan approaches game dev entirely.
He’s not chasing the next viral trend. He’s not spinning up Spellmasons 2. What he’s doing is building the next thing — with the same foundation:
Emergent design, deep systems, and player discovery that even the dev didn’t see coming.
Two and a half years on, he still drops major updates — not out of obligation, but because the game still has room to grow.
And because the community keeps surprising him.
“It’s the game I meant to make — flaws and all. And it still surprises me.”
BUILD LIKE THE MOMENT’S STILL COMING
If you’ve made something good, don’t assume the moment has passed.
Most developers think success is a launch week lottery. But Jordan’s story says otherwise. Sometimes, your game’s best month won’t be in its first year. It might come after two years of updates, TikToks, mistakes, dead-ends, and tiny wins that no one notices but you.
And when that moment does come — if you’ve kept showing up — you’ll be ready.
FOLLOW JORDAN AND WHAT HE’S CREATING:
The Indieformer Team
Thanks for reading — and if you ever want to chat games, marketing, or the weirdness of the indie grind, we’re always lurking on Threads, BlueSky and X. Come say hi.
We’ve also put together a few free guides to help indie devs get their projects in front of the right people. You can view them anytime: Steam Marketing Guide, Press Kit Guide.
