On the 24th of March a lone developer by the name of Tyler (TVGS) launched a viral hit of a game.
Something he thought would’ve been a meme of a launch right off the bat…
As of yesterday the peak all time player count was sitting around 414,166.
(And this might not interest you but it’s simulator game where you need to build up your drug empire)
It wasn’t a serious thing he stated but he has now promised to keep updating it for years to come because it’s garnered an almost over night cult-like fan base.
Imagine almost shelving their game the week before launch to have missed out on this.
“Who wants to manage imaginary production timelines?” was a quote taken from him…
Just over 72 hours later, it became the #1 strategy game on Steam.
And the lesson here is that it isn’t about luck.
It’s about the 40 prototypes they built first. The 236 playtests they ran. The daily 5 AM coding sessions they honoured even when progress felt invisible.
There’s a strong lesson learnt from Tyler and his launch:
You can’t predict hits. You can only build momentum.
“Good enough” shipped beats “perfect” abandoned.
Every “failed” iteration is market research in disguise.
The work you’re hesitating to release? The project collecting dust in your “maybe someday” folder? That’s your Schedule 1 waiting to happen.
This week’s challenge:
Pick one thing you’ve overthought.
Share it with any human by Friday.
Let the market. Not your inner critic, decide its value…
Worst case? You’ll get real feedback. Best case? You might accidentally build something people can’t stop talking about.
Now if you excuse me I’m gonna go build a meth lab…
Stephen Walker
P.S. Go check it out here https://store.steampowered.com/app/3164500/Schedule_I/