I was about to participate with my open world farming game's demo in Dec '23 Steam Next fest, luckily I was approached by a Publisher and he stopped me for the same exact reason that my release date is so far away from this Next Fest (it is Q2 '25). Also, the demo wasn't polished and one more tiny thing, YOU CAN ONLY PARTICIPATE ONCE PER GAME. I am glad you have been so transparent with the data, your devlogs are very engaging and your sub count is amazing, trust me, your game and career is bound to explode. All the best!
Thank you for beeing so bold to talk about the wrong steps and ways to avoid some pitfalls, it was really heplful!!!! :) You have a new wishlist, keep it going, the game looks very charming!
Ours is also hard to categorize. which makes it harder to market. Also, controller support is always good. I usually won't play games with out it, I know I'm just one person, but I also know that there are more like me.
Ah man im sorry to hear steam next fest didnt go as well as you had hoped for. I dropped out of that one the night before because i felt so unsure about where our demo was and now im very glad i did. I think you are right. Your game should prob be ready for release to maxmimize what you can from the festival. I definitley learned a lot hust in preparation to showcase our game in steam next fest. Something else that stood out to me is that steam will choose from the games that have opted in at the end of the submission time. So your steam page and game really should look great when you opt in for steam next fest so you have a chance to be selected. Best of luck to you and your game ❤
Your raw gameDev talent & ability to clearly communicate in a captivating manner easily make up for the nextFest shortfall. Adore your game & your vision! \o/
Thanks for sharing the details of your Next Fest experience. Your game looks really cool. I’m curious if I’d enjoy playing it, but I have a Mac. I have yet to set up a Steam page myself. Keep up the good work!
If you do add controller support to the game, make sure to somehow advertise right in the face of the player that the demo doesn't include it, if you can't include it. Even like that I'm sure many people will miss it and complain. People are like that... Though yes, probably it's best only feature controller when the game is ready or if you can add it to the demo, because people like to complain about nothings.
Thanks for sharing your Next Fest experience! I had some similar thoughts about my game's NF performance too but I don't think timing matters too much. Maybe it does? I guess we'll have to wait to hear back from more indie devs.
(subbed). There seemed to be a *lot* of games in the Next Fest, I'm still spotting people talking about games I never encountered! So, yeah, having more wishlists would push a game higher on that list, at least. You did still get a nice bump in wishlists. Comparing with stats from other devs is always tricky - some games are more niche than others, different target audiences etc.
Gotta say I loved the demo, but controller support would have been a lot nicer. That being said, the current demo build I feel like would do amazingly as a mobile game. Really feels like it would do well with touchscreen controls and something I can pop open and play on the go. I understand that’s not your current plans for the game but maybe food for thought.
@@dejungelinafrika It’s true that putting the game on mobile would likely require you charge less for the game, however it could be just be that the game would do much better in a mobile ecosystem than a PC one.
I'm also not that experienced but these are my 5 cents: 1. Any game that is turn based is a strategy game. 2. Controller support is important mainly because of Steam Deck. Unless your game is dependent on mouse controls you should definitely implement controller support, you can make controller support work somehow even when your primary controller is mouse. Thanks for the video and good luck with the release.
the slime should look at the character. also it should look back and forth then look in the direction before it jumps, so more experienced players dont have to wait for the danger tiles
Okay so a couple things. First, it's awesome to hear a dev talk about the experience of being in something like Nest Fest! Second, I played the Penumbra Tower demo during Next Fest and really enjoyed it! I felt like it had a really clear gameplay loop, and really tight tactical play. It was one of my favorite demos from the event, by far!
seems like a lot of new indie devs underestimate the next fest. Like you said though, most successful ones wait until the last moment to enter it, when the game is actually almost ready to ship, and I think that's a key point.. not only is it more polished and defined, but also the wishlist will more easily translate into a sale and not just collect dust on an endless pile of games we list for possible future buy or something. Glad you learnt a lot though, and good luck with your game!
Since the steam deck came out i feel like controller support is a must for all games really, especially smaller indie titles. Not sure how that effects your demo but it's probably worth reuploading the demo to reflect the new control scheme (gives you something to post about on your games page too). Best of luck with your game.
- I don't think you need an identity crisis. You game looks a lot lime Pawnbarian but with more content and mechanics. And Pawnbarian did well with only having the Roguelike tag. - Don't feel pressured by steams 5 genres and try to do your own thing. We don't expect another of this or another of that from an Indie Title, but rather something new and an artistic vision. And your game seems to have that :) - Maybe this next fest didn't meet your expectations, but you still got +200 wishlists right? - Controller support will be nice. If your demo doesn't have it yet it's fine. Just communicate it somewhere in the demo or on the store page. I'm gonna wishlist you now! Keep it going! ❤
When I'm looking at nextfest I'll deliberately filter out tags like roguelite because I want to see if anyone is doing anything different to stand out from the herd, and really I was a very early supporter of the genre.
It's kind of interesting to hear you say that you will be "incorporating more traditional roguelike elements", considering that you already tick most of those boxes. In particular, turn-based and grid-based gameplay are probably the most significant ones at that.
My game Behold Battle had 3500 wishlist going into this steam next fest, and got only about 150 wishlists in total during the fest, which was disappointing. I think the low wishlists was partly because it simply wasn't in too many of the categories.
Honestly, when checking for a new game, I don't care at all for a on screen demonstration of different controllers. If I feel like I want to try the game with the one I have (instead mouse+keyboard) I just check the game info on the side.
I just gave the demo a play. The UI and the artwork are super clean. The color palette feels solid. The music feels okay, but I pretty much always mute music in games. The spike traps I thought were a poison trap, as the green + droplets look like poison.
Thanks for sharing your experience! A lot of good insight. I want to say that I personally I really dig your art style, however I’m not that in to the look of your player character. I think your cute CZcams display picture is a much better looking version than the angry frog you’re working with. I think it’s a bit more charming and would give the character a more crafty & roguish personality suitable for a turn based puzzler than the battletoad action persona.
You had very similar numbers to me. I started next fest with 318 and ended with 590. I never streamed once though(I have terrible internet) I've had my demo up for months and didnt release a new demo or new content for the next fest. But I fit into categories a little easier(I call mine a zelda game with cats so adventure is my main) Wishlists are so hard to build and I really dont have the money to put into advertising....
Im going to download the demo and give it a go, but from the video im loving art style and it lookz unique. Ans i agree with the other guy, turn-based action rougelite seema like the best description
Your Next-fest video ended up in my algorithm so I checked out the game. You really shouldn't be surprised that this demo didn't do well, this is a barebones half-baked idea of something that could one day actually be a game if a lot of work goes into it. I don't want to be discouraging, your final project may be great, but even if that's true, you released this to the public way too early. Good luck.
Very good and informative video. I have a question and hope you can answer it for me. Can you create a steam page for the your game to start collecting wishlists and still participate in the Steam Next Fest?
You need to have a steam page published before nextfest, you also need to opt into the nextfest event a month before it starts I think. You will also need a demo to take part in the event although you can publish the demo anytime before the event starts. It is beneficial to get a store page up early to start collecting wishlists
For controller support I'd say: mention it in an announcement for the direction you are taking the game, and only update the store with support when you actually have it in. Otherwise folks might try the demo thinking you have support, and then find out you don't yet and bail.
You should only add controller support to your steam page when you demo has it as well. it could be considered false marketing if your demo does not supported.
I *mostly* agree. I know controller support is important to people that use custom controllers for physical disabilities as they use special software to map whatever controller they use to a standard xbox/ps controller. As someone who’s played console my whole life, even though I have a solid PC now, I still prefer controller. If I were you, I’d add something to the page (an announcement or dev note or something, kinda like early access devs do) thanking everyone for playing the demo and noting the feedback you FOR SURE will implement, like controller support and sound design fixes. This’ll appear in the library feed of everyone who downloaded it and will show future demo installers that you do have plans for certain features.
If your game plays well with a controller I would definitely go for it. So many people enjoy using a controller way more than mouse and keyboard - even if I don't understand why... Can't you update the demo on Steam once you integrated controller input?
I definitely won't wishlist something if i know it's coming out in a year or worse, TBD. Because i sure know i won't remember the game i just wishlisted a year ago.
Controller support means you have a higher potential customer base. Some people only play games with controllers and some people need a control because of a physical disability.
Next fest wasnt great for us either. I expected a lot more out of such an "event' but it just doesn't really seem worth it for smaller games IMO. As you noted it's whishlist based, we got buried buy every other team that actually has a polished product and unless people are really digging or already aware of smaller games, they are harder to find or straight up just don't rise. It's sad because being a multiplayer game ours had a very steady concurrent players of 200-400 over the entire festival (which I thought was good) but steam just cares about wishlists, not anything like player retention it seems.. (I could be wrong, I'm biased with my own game hahaha) We were told previous event's have been "shuffled" so lower games have a chance of exposure, while our nextfest and beyond seem to be the typical wishlist based approach wich is depressing to say the least. Seeing a dozen *h3nt4i* games above ours was very saddening. We had ~16,000 wishlists pre-nextfest and ended with ~18,000 which is also a LOT less than I expected or wanted for what I perceived to be a big event, never once were we anywhere CLOSE to being on the first few pages - you make a good point about most top games being "done" and polished, we treated ours really like a demo with not great VFX, Sound design etc which I don't think leads to great public perception. No matter if it's a demo or not, people expect everything to be top-notch if it's available on steam in any format. I wish we noticed what you did too, that games up the top are all releasing very soon after the festival, considering each game can only ever participate in 1 nexfest... Anyways nice video! Your game looks awesome, and I am jealous of how clean your art and UI look!
I think you should had controller support. I would definalty wait to add that you have controller support on the steam page before you acutally have it in the game. Many players are going to get mad if they install the demo and it doesn't have controller support.
Controller missing from demo might lead gamers to thinking your game is buggy or poorly designed (can't find controller options?) or otherwise skeptical the full game's controller support actually exists and is playable.
Yeah controller matters. I want to see what it’ll be like to play the full game my preferred way. As a steam deck owner, I couldn’t, even though this looks interesting
Dude I almost view Next fest as a religious holiday and try to play at least a 100 demos during them. Didn't even see your game - I don't believe it's your fault, there simply are too many new demos. Over a thousand this time, I heard. Looks cool though, reminds me of Sproggiwood, which is awesome.
I know you probably hear this a lot but i keep hearing breed able and i wanna know if you thought the two words sounded similar, and also whats even the reason for naming yourself something so similar? Haha
Do NOT list your game with controller support if it doesn't have it. I made an offhanded comment about adding controller support one time in one devlog, and had numerous people asking where the controller configuration was in the game demo. People own steam deks. People use bluetooth controllers with phones and tablets. Heck I play most platformers with a controller on my PC. If you say it has controller support, it better have it.
I think in terms of marketing you should stop worrying about what term most defines it the most and try to maximise the number of genres you can say it could fit into. You want your game on as many genre lists as possible to maximise the number of people finding it.
Learn how to lose, 1 more month, release the game and start a new one, no one cares if the project be perfect, also, if the game is bad people has the option to refund so no harm in releasing a bad game, learn to cut your loses
You biggest mistake so far imo is that you do not know your audience because you are lacking a lot of critical information. 1. A "grid based roguelike" is not a new thing, it's just a roguelike (or traditional roguelike). You know, like the game rogue that came out in 1980? A genre that has hundreds of hardcore fans? With hundreds of games released? 2. Your game is part of a sub-genre for traditional roguelikes, called Broughlike (named after game designer Michael Brough, although its very niche, so I wouldn't use this as a marketing term!) 3. You're mixing up roguelikes and roguelites. (I hope you now understand why a lot of people want to keep these terms seperated) If you want to look at similiar (modern) games, have a look at **Rift Wizard**, Tangledeep, Jupiter Hell, Shiren The Wanderer, or maybe even Caves of QUD. Then find out where the audience of these games hang out (r/roguelike for example, or some community dicords) and then shill your game there.
Her is your solution for the identity crisis: Penumbra Tower is a Turnbased action roquelike where you can get every ability of your enemies!
So turn based Kirby :D I kid. it looks fun
Don't know about your game, but this video has been pushed in my recomended
Thanks for sharing - it's really great story to analyse for future me)
The demo has it's own functionalities options so you can just make the Demo without controllers whilst your game has controllers
Thanks for the awesome tips! Since you can only join a Next Fest once, I think that's why most games are almost finished in the Fest~
I was about to participate with my open world farming game's demo in Dec '23 Steam Next fest, luckily I was approached by a Publisher and he stopped me for the same exact reason that my release date is so far away from this Next Fest (it is Q2 '25). Also, the demo wasn't polished and one more tiny thing, YOU CAN ONLY PARTICIPATE ONCE PER GAME.
I am glad you have been so transparent with the data, your devlogs are very engaging and your sub count is amazing, trust me, your game and career is bound to explode. All the best!
Thanks for this video, it's always helpful to know how was Next Fest for other devs! Wish you the best!
Thank you for sharing your experience & lessons learned!
Thank you for beeing so bold to talk about the wrong steps and ways to avoid some pitfalls, it was really heplful!!!! :) You have a new wishlist, keep it going, the game looks very charming!
Ours is also hard to categorize. which makes it harder to market. Also, controller support is always good. I usually won't play games with out it, I know I'm just one person, but I also know that there are more like me.
i agree, i think adding it to the steam page could help expand the potential audience
Ah man im sorry to hear steam next fest didnt go as well as you had hoped for. I dropped out of that one the night before because i felt so unsure about where our demo was and now im very glad i did. I think you are right. Your game should prob be ready for release to maxmimize what you can from the festival. I definitley learned a lot hust in preparation to showcase our game in steam next fest. Something else that stood out to me is that steam will choose from the games that have opted in at the end of the submission time. So your steam page and game really should look great when you opt in for steam next fest so you have a chance to be selected. Best of luck to you and your game ❤
Your raw gameDev talent & ability to clearly communicate in a captivating manner easily make up for the nextFest shortfall. Adore your game & your vision! \o/
Loved playing your game! I'm excited to see more towards release!
Thanks for sharing the details of your Next Fest experience. Your game looks really cool. I’m curious if I’d enjoy playing it, but I have a Mac.
I have yet to set up a Steam page myself. Keep up the good work!
If you do add controller support to the game, make sure to somehow advertise right in the face of the player that the demo doesn't include it, if you can't include it. Even like that I'm sure many people will miss it and complain. People are like that... Though yes, probably it's best only feature controller when the game is ready or if you can add it to the demo, because people like to complain about nothings.
To the question: I think Controller Support would be great, but I guess then it should also be in the Demo. Informative Video, thank you 🤘🏼
Thanks for sharing! I had similar experiences with steam next fest. But atleast I will be smarter with my next game!
I actually downloaded your demo for next fest and had planned to stream it then I got the flu and didn't get to. Looks neat though
hope you feel better!
Thanks for sharing your Next Fest experience! I had some similar thoughts about my game's NF performance too but I don't think timing matters too much. Maybe it does? I guess we'll have to wait to hear back from more indie devs.
New subscriber. I'm just starting on my journey. I really appreciate these videos.
(subbed). There seemed to be a *lot* of games in the Next Fest, I'm still spotting people talking about games I never encountered! So, yeah, having more wishlists would push a game higher on that list, at least. You did still get a nice bump in wishlists. Comparing with stats from other devs is always tricky - some games are more niche than others, different target audiences etc.
Ending cut off early?
I think that was irony
Gotta say I loved the demo, but controller support would have been a lot nicer.
That being said, the current demo build I feel like would do amazingly as a mobile game. Really feels like it would do well with touchscreen controls and something I can pop open and play on the go. I understand that’s not your current plans for the game but maybe food for thought.
I believe making a steam game on mobile does devalue the game a lot!
@@dejungelinafrika It’s true that putting the game on mobile would likely require you charge less for the game, however it could be just be that the game would do much better in a mobile ecosystem than a PC one.
Oh, it looks great! I wishlisted.
I'm also not that experienced but these are my 5 cents:
1. Any game that is turn based is a strategy game.
2. Controller support is important mainly because of Steam Deck. Unless your game is dependent on mouse controls you should definitely implement controller support, you can make controller support work somehow even when your primary controller is mouse.
Thanks for the video and good luck with the release.
the slime should look at the character. also it should look back and forth then look in the direction before it jumps, so more experienced players dont have to wait for the danger tiles
I wonder if there's higher wishlist numbers to be gained from the autumn nextfest. This video has so much valuable info, thank you for sharing
maybe, I've also been hearing that the overall numbers for this nextfest were lower than previous years
Okay so a couple things. First, it's awesome to hear a dev talk about the experience of being in something like Nest Fest! Second, I played the Penumbra Tower demo during Next Fest and really enjoyed it! I felt like it had a really clear gameplay loop, and really tight tactical play. It was one of my favorite demos from the event, by far!
seems like a lot of new indie devs underestimate the next fest. Like you said though, most successful ones wait until the last moment to enter it, when the game is actually almost ready to ship, and I think that's a key point.. not only is it more polished and defined, but also the wishlist will more easily translate into a sale and not just collect dust on an endless pile of games we list for possible future buy or something.
Glad you learnt a lot though, and good luck with your game!
Since the steam deck came out i feel like controller support is a must for all games really, especially smaller indie titles. Not sure how that effects your demo but it's probably worth reuploading the demo to reflect the new control scheme (gives you something to post about on your games page too). Best of luck with your game.
- I don't think you need an identity crisis. You game looks a lot lime Pawnbarian but with more content and mechanics. And Pawnbarian did well with only having the Roguelike tag.
- Don't feel pressured by steams 5 genres and try to do your own thing. We don't expect another of this or another of that from an Indie Title, but rather something new and an artistic vision. And your game seems to have that :)
- Maybe this next fest didn't meet your expectations, but you still got +200 wishlists right?
- Controller support will be nice. If your demo doesn't have it yet it's fine. Just communicate it somewhere in the demo or on the store page.
I'm gonna wishlist you now! Keep it going! ❤
When I'm looking at nextfest I'll deliberately filter out tags like roguelite because I want to see if anyone is doing anything different to stand out from the herd, and really I was a very early supporter of the genre.
It's kind of interesting to hear you say that you will be "incorporating more traditional roguelike elements", considering that you already tick most of those boxes. In particular, turn-based and grid-based gameplay are probably the most significant ones at that.
Great analysis and insight. Thanks for sharing! Also your video cuts off your last sentence lol
Your game looks cool
thanks, i enjoy your videos!
My game Behold Battle had 3500 wishlist going into this steam next fest, and got only about 150 wishlists in total during the fest, which was disappointing. I think the low wishlists was partly because it simply wasn't in too many of the categories.
That's interesting, what sort of marketing were you doing previously?
Honestly, when checking for a new game, I don't care at all for a on screen demonstration of different controllers. If I feel like I want to try the game with the one I have (instead mouse+keyboard) I just check the game info on the side.
Nice
I just gave the demo a play. The UI and the artwork are super clean. The color palette feels solid. The music feels okay, but I pretty much always mute music in games. The spike traps I thought were a poison trap, as the green + droplets look like poison.
Thanks for sharing your experience! A lot of good insight.
I want to say that I personally I really dig your art style, however I’m not that in to the look of your player character. I think your cute CZcams display picture is a much better looking version than the angry frog you’re working with. I think it’s a bit more charming and would give the character a more crafty & roguish personality suitable for a turn based puzzler than the battletoad action persona.
I appreciate it! Also I'm planning on adding a whole bunch of different playable characters in the future
You had very similar numbers to me. I started next fest with 318 and ended with 590. I never streamed once though(I have terrible internet) I've had my demo up for months and didnt release a new demo or new content for the next fest. But I fit into categories a little easier(I call mine a zelda game with cats so adventure is my main)
Wishlists are so hard to build and I really dont have the money to put into advertising....
Im going to download the demo and give it a go, but from the video im loving art style and it lookz unique. Ans i agree with the other guy, turn-based action rougelite seema like the best description
And when you add controller support having Xbox and PlayStation glyph options would be great!
a pure frog sport, value it
Your Next-fest video ended up in my algorithm so I checked out the game. You really shouldn't be surprised that this demo didn't do well, this is a barebones half-baked idea of something that could one day actually be a game if a lot of work goes into it. I don't want to be discouraging, your final project may be great, but even if that's true, you released this to the public way too early. Good luck.
Definitely drop the "indie" and "casual" tags from your steam page and replace them with something more game specific
3:42 ...looping recorded streams... that's honestly so screwed feels like.
Very good and informative video.
I have a question and hope you can answer it for me. Can you create a steam page for the your game to start collecting wishlists and still participate in the Steam Next Fest?
You need to have a steam page published before nextfest, you also need to opt into the nextfest event a month before it starts I think. You will also need a demo to take part in the event although you can publish the demo anytime before the event starts. It is beneficial to get a store page up early to start collecting wishlists
For controller support I'd say: mention it in an announcement for the direction you are taking the game, and only update the store with support when you actually have it in. Otherwise folks might try the demo thinking you have support, and then find out you don't yet and bail.
You should only add controller support to your steam page when you demo has it as well.
it could be considered false marketing if your demo does not supported.
yeah, that's what i was worried about
I *mostly* agree. I know controller support is important to people that use custom controllers for physical disabilities as they use special software to map whatever controller they use to a standard xbox/ps controller. As someone who’s played console my whole life, even though I have a solid PC now, I still prefer controller.
If I were you, I’d add something to the page (an announcement or dev note or something, kinda like early access devs do) thanking everyone for playing the demo and noting the feedback you FOR SURE will implement, like controller support and sound design fixes. This’ll appear in the library feed of everyone who downloaded it and will show future demo installers that you do have plans for certain features.
If your game plays well with a controller I would definitely go for it. So many people enjoy using a controller way more than mouse and keyboard - even if I don't understand why... Can't you update the demo on Steam once you integrated controller input?
When adding controller support also think about steamdeck support.
I definitely won't wishlist something if i know it's coming out in a year or worse, TBD.
Because i sure know i won't remember the game i just wishlisted a year ago.
What does looping the dev stream entail? Is that something steam does?
No you would need to create a video source inside obs and leave it running sadly
Controller support means you have a higher potential customer base. Some people only play games with controllers and some people need a control because of a physical disability.
your game is a rhythm based roguelike in the vain of crypt of the necrodancer! You should lean even more into the rhythm aspect imo
I've thought about it, and I've definitely been looking at crypt of the necrodancer!
Great video, but No controller? what! you need to add controller support for sure and many languages.
Next fest wasnt great for us either. I expected a lot more out of such an "event' but it just doesn't really seem worth it for smaller games IMO. As you noted it's whishlist based, we got buried buy every other team that actually has a polished product and unless people are really digging or already aware of smaller games, they are harder to find or straight up just don't rise. It's sad because being a multiplayer game ours had a very steady concurrent players of 200-400 over the entire festival (which I thought was good) but steam just cares about wishlists, not anything like player retention it seems.. (I could be wrong, I'm biased with my own game hahaha)
We were told previous event's have been "shuffled" so lower games have a chance of exposure, while our nextfest and beyond seem to be the typical wishlist based approach wich is depressing to say the least. Seeing a dozen *h3nt4i* games above ours was very saddening. We had ~16,000 wishlists pre-nextfest and ended with ~18,000 which is also a LOT less than I expected or wanted for what I perceived to be a big event, never once were we anywhere CLOSE to being on the first few pages - you make a good point about most top games being "done" and polished, we treated ours really like a demo with not great VFX, Sound design etc which I don't think leads to great public perception. No matter if it's a demo or not, people expect everything to be top-notch if it's available on steam in any format. I wish we noticed what you did too, that games up the top are all releasing very soon after the festival, considering each game can only ever participate in 1 nexfest...
Anyways nice video! Your game looks awesome, and I am jealous of how clean your art and UI look!
I think you should had controller support. I would definalty wait to add that you have controller support on the steam page before you acutally have it in the game. Many players are going to get mad if they install the demo and it doesn't have controller support.
I never watch the stream once I see its a loop
Controller missing from demo might lead gamers to thinking your game is buggy or poorly designed (can't find controller options?) or otherwise skeptical the full game's controller support actually exists and is playable.
Yeah controller matters. I want to see what it’ll be like to play the full game my preferred way. As a steam deck owner, I couldn’t, even though this looks interesting
Tasty
If the page says I can use a controller and I can’t I might think it’s bugged and uninstall it. Would be frustrating for me
Dude I almost view Next fest as a religious holiday and try to play at least a 100 demos during them. Didn't even see your game - I don't believe it's your fault, there simply are too many new demos. Over a thousand this time, I heard.
Looks cool though, reminds me of Sproggiwood, which is awesome.
interesting, ill have to check it out!
Hi, i had a question for your, are you full time developer or not?
no, i only work on this in my free time
How about making a game thats actually fun
I know you probably hear this a lot but i keep hearing breed able and i wanna know if you thought the two words sounded similar, and also whats even the reason for naming yourself something so similar? Haha
Huh?
(comment for engagement)
Do NOT list your game with controller support if it doesn't have it. I made an offhanded comment about adding controller support one time in one devlog, and had numerous people asking where the controller configuration was in the game demo. People own steam deks. People use bluetooth controllers with phones and tablets. Heck I play most platformers with a controller on my PC. If you say it has controller support, it better have it.
I think in terms of marketing you should stop worrying about what term most defines it the most and try to maximise the number of genres you can say it could fit into. You want your game on as many genre lists as possible to maximise the number of people finding it.
BUT WHAT! :p
You live you learn, as you said I don't think it hurt your game at all participating, quite the opposite.
Learn how to lose, 1 more month, release the game and start a new one, no one cares if the project be perfect, also, if the game is bad people has the option to refund so no harm in releasing a bad game, learn to cut your loses
You biggest mistake so far imo is that you do not know your audience because you are lacking a lot of critical information.
1. A "grid based roguelike" is not a new thing, it's just a roguelike (or traditional roguelike). You know, like the game rogue that came out in 1980? A genre that has hundreds of hardcore fans? With hundreds of games released?
2. Your game is part of a sub-genre for traditional roguelikes, called Broughlike (named after game designer Michael Brough, although its very niche, so I wouldn't use this as a marketing term!)
3. You're mixing up roguelikes and roguelites. (I hope you now understand why a lot of people want to keep these terms seperated)
If you want to look at similiar (modern) games, have a look at **Rift Wizard**, Tangledeep, Jupiter Hell, Shiren The Wanderer, or maybe even Caves of QUD.
Then find out where the audience of these games hang out (r/roguelike for example, or some community dicords) and then shill your game there.
I'm so sick of rogue likes man...