Fishfat Development Retrospective

Apparently, I started development on Fishfat on February 4th 2024. Nearly 2 years ago now. It feels like just yesterday that I worried this project would never get finished. I have some thoughts about how it went.

Some Stats:

I'll be using statistics sourced from itch.io, as those numbers are the most readily available.
Fishfat was published to the site on February 23rd, 2025, with a suggested donation amount of $2.
Since then, it has been viewed over 12000 times, and downloaded 1774 times.
It was added to 107 collections, and has received 7 ratings with an average score of just over 4 stars.
The total revenue gained from donations is $0.00.

How did I do?

I believe that Fishfat has a single-digit number of enthusiastic fans. That is, people who have anticipated and enjoyed every update as they have come out. It is likely that I failed to hone in on the target audience that I should have. This game already deviated in fetish content from what my existing audience is used to, being focused on feral preds instead of anthro ones. There's also a low density of fetish content compared to most other vore games. Some enemies have vore attacks which result in a looping animation which plays during a minigame. Most other games would advertise all enemies being capable of playing vore scenes, each of which represents a bit of variety in content.

This is a relatively common thing for fetish artists to do, in my opinion. We decide to branch out into less explicitly sexual artistic expressions and even put in additional effort. We expect for that extra effort to pay out in either attention or money. Of course it doesn't, because we neglect what our audience wants in favor of what we want them to want. I've seen this happen before, but this is the first time it's happened to me.

I actually finished the game, which produces more complicated feelings in me than I expected. I think I can take some pride in finishing a project that I have been working on for 2 years, but I don't feel nearly as proud to have made Fishfat itself. I proved to myself that I can stick to something even when it becomes boring or discouraging, but given the reception the game has garnered, I'm not sure I can say the product was worth the time and effort.

While the feedback for Fishfat was mostly positive in a broad sense, many of the messages I received contained an element of frustration and disappointment. It was the most amount of negative feedback I had ever received for anything I'd done. I worry it could come off as petty, but I want to emphasize it. Even if Fishfat was started and completed in its current state within the blink of an eye, it would still be the project for which I have received the highest amount of negativity. 

I want to be clear that I don't blame my audience for this. Video games require an inherent time investment to play through and designing them is mostly a matter of theory. It's only natural that many or even most players would have specific feedback given with more enthusiasm than for other art forms.

Still, just because I harbor no resentment nor hostility towards people who have given such feedback, it doesn't mean it hasn't affected me.

How do I feel?

In the months leading up to the full release of Fishfat, I felt profoundly discouraged. Viewership and player count seemed to be going down with each major content update rather than up. I was struggling to get even my friends to play this game, let alone random strangers who might potentially have a passing interest. Most of the people who now express pride for my achievement haven't even played through the game. I put tremendous effort into getting the game done after that, because I didn't want it to loom over me for as long as it already had. I hope the end of the game doesn't feel rushed, but I also wouldn't be surprised if it does. 

When you work on a project for as long as I've worked on Fishfat, it becomes an anchor for your life that you only notice when it's gone. 2 years is a long time to live and it's an even longer time to pour into a single art project. I've made and lost friends in that time, had my whole perspective on my work shifted around, and ultimately forgot what life was like before working on Fishfat. I feel a little lost now that that's not a constant in my life.

When I first started Fishfat, I hoped and expected that it would be the crown jewel of my art gallery. Something that proved I had what it takes and that there was something about me worth appreciating. In this endeavor, I believe I have failed. Fishfat is not popular, failed to reach beyond my existing audience, and failed to captivate those already in my audience. I wish I could say conclusively that I'm in a better place now than when I started.

Finishing it felt like bleeding out on a snow-covered bench. I've already failed, but I can take comfort in knowing I never have to worry about it again.

What's next?

Unfortunately, I'm not sure I can be dissuaded by poor reception or a lack of attention. I'm certainly not excited to get back to work on stuff like this, but I sincerely hope this experience hasn't broken the part of me that sought to do it in the first place. I have more plans, but I do feel very little like I can achieve anything worth doing.

But! As negative as I've been during this reflection, I want to spotlight some facts which should not be overlooked. 1774 is more people than I've known in my entire life. Those people, you people, came here to enjoy something that I did. Not merely something I was included in, but a project I thought of and followed through on.

Truly, sincerely, thank you to everyone who played and enjoyed Fishfat, and especially those who read this little document I hope you can forgive me for writing.

Games only really exist when there's someone around to play them.

I hope to see some of you at MFF this year.
For now, I'm gonna go get wasted.