Don't Panic: How to Save Your Game from a Buggy Launch

What the talk is about

Buddy Sola explains how he, as community manager at the publisher Akupara Games, helped rescue the platformer Spinch after a buggy launch. First, the tone toward players should be conversational, empathetic and decisive, and staying active on Steam, Discord and email helps stop negativity from spiralling between players. Second, bugs are prioritised by how much they interrupt play, and a harmful bug can be softened with a workaround, as with the FPS issue. Third, he describes a public task board in plain language, patch notes with a headline topic plus quick "low-hanging fruit" fixes, and delivering bad news with both reasoning and relief for players. He also covers tracking new issues over the long term and staying calm and organised instead of panicking. Useful for community managers, producers and developers preparing for a difficult release.