🤖 MECHASURVIVE

Mission Control Dashboard

📊 Project Status

Dev Progress

35%

Core Systems

60%

Content

20%

Revenue Target

$100K

✅ What's Built

✅ Player combat (melee, ranged, ultimate)
✅ 2 enemy types + boss
✅ ~30 upgrade cards
✅ 6 Arsenal abilities (2 slots)
✅ Wave system + room clear
✅ Elemental mods (Fire, Lightning)

❌ Critical Missing

❌ Gate system (room-to-room flow)
❌ 4 more room layouts
❌ Death screen + restart
❌ Frost + Corruption mods
❌ VFX/Audio polish

🎯 Week 4 Priority (Mar 1-7)

🔨 Implement 2 Arsenal slots (LB/RB, Q/F)
🔨 Remove drop pod system
🔨 Build gate unlock + death screen
🔨 Start Room 2 with level designer
🎯 DECIDE: Summer or Fall Next Fest

💡 Chris Zukowski Insight

"You need 10,000 wishlists BEFORE Next Fest"

Next Fest amplifies existing momentum—it doesn't create it. Demo needs to be live and growing wishlists WEEKS before the event.

📅 UPDATED Strategy: Demo → Grow → Next Fest

Phase 1: Build Demo (Mar-Apr)

Goal: Polished 15-20 min demo ready by early April
Content: 5-7 rooms, 2-3 Arsenals, mini-boss

Phase 2: Organic Growth (Apr-Sep)

Goal: 10,000+ wishlists BEFORE Next Fest
Strategy: Demo live in April → 24 weeks of marketing → 420 wishlists/week needed
Tactics: Reddit, Twitter/X (3-5x/wk), TikTok (2-3x/wk), streamer outreach

Phase 3: Fall Next Fest (Oct 7-14)

Baseline: 10K-15K wishlists going into event
Next Fest Boost: 3x multiplier = 30K-45K total wishlists
EA Launch: Dec 2026 / Jan 2027
Revenue: 6K-7.5K sales @ $14 net = $84K-$105K

🎯 Why Fall > Summer

❌ Summer (Too Rushed)

Only 10 weeks to get 10K wishlists
= 1,000 wishlists/week (very hard)
NPE conflict (summer busy)
No time to iterate on demo

✅ Fall (Strategic)

24 weeks to get 10K wishlists
= 420 wishlists/week (doable)
Better NPE timing (slow season)
Time for demo updates + iteration

📅 Critical Milestones

Mar 28: Demo feature-complete (5 rooms playable)

Apr 11: Steam page live + demo downloadable

Apr 18: 1,000+ wishlists from launch week

Oct 1: 10,000+ wishlists (Next Fest baseline)

Oct 7-14: Fall Next Fest (30K-45K wishlists)

Dec 2026 / Jan 2027: Early Access Launch ($100K)

📋 Week-by-Week Timeline

Week 4 (Mar 1-7) — Core Systems Sprint

🚨 Request Steam Playtest access (DO FIRST)
2 Arsenal slots (LB/RB, Q/F)
Gate unlock + death screen
Start Room 2
Lock in Fall Next Fest decision

Week 5-7 (Mar 8-28) — Alpha Build

Week 5: Rooms 2-3, Frost mod, VFX polish
Week 6: Rooms 4-5, Corruption mod, mini-boss, audio
Week 7: Tutorial, balance, bug fixes, 10+ alpha testers

Week 8-9 (Mar 29 - Apr 11) — Steam Prep

Week 8: Capsule art, screenshots, trailer recording, Steam copy
Week 9: Upload demo to Steam, finalize page, prepare Reddit posts

Week 10 (Apr 12-18) — DEMO LAUNCH 🚀

Steam page + demo go live
Reddit launch (r/roguelites, r/IndieDev)
Twitter/TikTok blitz
Email 5-10 streamers
Goal: 1,000-2,000 wishlists Week 1

Weeks 11-24 (Apr 19 - Oct 6) — Organic Growth

Weekly: 3-5 Twitter posts, 2-3 TikTok, 1 Reddit post
Monthly demo updates (new room/Arsenal/enemy)
Streamer outreach (2-3 new creators/week)
Goal: 420 wishlists/week = 10K-18K by Oct

Weeks 25-28 (Oct 7-14) — NEXT FEST 🚀

Daily updates, streamer coverage, community engagement
Goal: 3x baseline = 30K-45K total wishlists

Weeks 29-34 (Oct 15 - Jan) — EA Build + Launch

Expand to 15-20 rooms, meta-progression, polish
Closed beta (50-100 testers)
EA Launch: Dec 2026 / Jan 2027
Goal: 6K-7.5K sales @ $14 net = $84K-$105K

Full week-by-week timeline: memory/knowledge/projects/mechasurvive-week-by-week-timeline.md