Oi people!
My name is Ariel, and I'm a solo developer from Poland. I've created a cute puzzler with great animations called Please Fix The Road. It has reached over 25,000 players on PC (Steam and GOG), and now it has also been released digitally a week ago on the Nintendo Switch, along with its console cousins Xbox and Playstation, with help from a publisher. I've always dreamed of having a game on consoles, and I still hope that one day I'll see a game I made in a physical box on a shelf.
A long time ago, I used to create Flash games for a little money. Recently, I had a strong urge to create a game again simply for fun, and the unexpected success made me reconsider a solo game development career. I'm hopeful of releasing the current game I'm working on next or this year.
I'm here to answer any questions you have about… well, anything! From gamedev, my experiences during it, the marketing I did, my cats, or my bald head. You may also be interested in a post mortem I wrote on the gamedev subreddit. Please, kindly AMA!
eShop: https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/please-fix-the-road-switch/
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1383250/Please_Fix_The_Road/
My original release trailer: https://youtu.be/JJq2q4DLrJg
Publisher's console trailer: https://youtu.be/f1S6G3hPEtQ
My website: https://arielek.com
My twitter: https://x.com/ArielJurkowski
I'll also send a couple of Switch and Steam codes to my favorite questions.
But before you ask any questions, please note that it's very important for you to watch this video of my Nintendo Switch Quality Assurance Team Lead first!
Posted by mr_ari
18 Comments
Game looks fun! Two questions: what’s your favorite puzzle game on the switch right now? And how many roads/sidewalks have you repaired in real life? Lol
What’s it like to see reviews come in? You must have experiences where one person says “I don’t like that _________, it’s too restrictive” and someone else says “what really makes these puzzles fun is the restrictions of ___________”
Do you have any favorite roads to drive on?
What do you believe is the key to designing a good puzzle?
This is such a cute game and a cute idea! How did you come up with it, and how did you refine it (if you did) to make sure it different from other similar puzzle games out there? I mean, did the concept change over time from your initial idea to what it ended up being? Were there any changes that sort of surprised you but ended up working out well?
Are you pretty much self taught? I dabbled in making flash games as well as a kid but I feel like unity is a different beast as far as teaching yourself goes
What’s it like to keep a game current and as big free as possible on multiple platforms. Seems like it’s a lot to keep straight
hi. I am always happy when small developers {if single, then better} manage to find success and are making a living with the game they worked so hard to create. I hope you’ll develop the next Stardew valley!
for questions now, I have two:
1. will my single-eyed cat enjoy your game on switch as much as yours?
2. returning to games developed for humans, would you consider that indies make more interesting games because they are handcrafting each puzzle level world etc? and would you think now that maybe this was the cause of your game becoming successful?
it seems to me that big AAA games tend to be very generic, to appeal to the masses, and their only intent is to break sales records, not to break new designs, or develop new creative ideas for gameplay.
3. continuing to the last question, what is the last big game from a big company that you enjoyed?
Hey, this looks pretty good, congrats on the release of your game! How would you convince me to play your game? I’m generally not a very big fan of puzzle games (other than Tetris), what would make me change my mind? Cheers!
This looks like a fun little puzzle game. Congrats on the release!
If you could develop any Nintendo IP, which one would you choose? What kind of game would you make?
How old were you when you started to make games for fun and doing it as a hobby?
I know this is how it starts out with game creators before they start releasing them to make money.
What do you do for a living, which they call a survival job or a side job?
I read through your postmortem in r/gamedev and saw that you used to be a webdev. I’m a web developer (with a background in Flash too actually) who has always been interested in game development. How was the transition to using Unity and what was the most difficult part of that? Were there any particularly good resources that you used to learn it?
Question!
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Is this like one of those old puzzle games where you have to fix plumbing so that slowly moving ooze can get from point A to point be? But this one has no time pressure?
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I think was something like Pipe Mania or Pipe Dream?
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipe_Mania](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipe_Mania)
You mentioned you have another game planned, any hints on what it might be about?
How do you balance the need to market while maintaining authenticity? Any tips? I read some of your responses and really appreciate how real you sound.
Random: What’s your favorite food dish?
i don’t have any questions but just wanted to say this looks so fun!
as an engineer who works a lot in roadway construction, this is how i WISH roads were fixed hahaha
Is it possible to get the eShop working in Singapore?
My friend wants to be able to access it but it says it’s not available in their region
Hi there! I love indie game dev stories like yours, so expect a sale on the Switch eShop. I like supporting games like this.
I have a question: how easy/accessible would you say the game is for an 8 year old who is struggling to get into video games due to the UI/control scheme learning curve?
Congrats. Just commented for a gift code lol
How difficult does this game get in later levels? (I like a challange)