Infinite Lives

Infinite Lives

Share this post

Infinite Lives
Infinite Lives
Inside Conscript, Australia’s latest shot at solo developer success story
Analysis

Inside Conscript, Australia’s latest shot at solo developer success story

It’s nominated for six awards and is critically acclaimed, but creator Jordan Mochi is left wondering why his game isn’t flying off the shelf.

Harrison Polites's avatar
Harrison Polites
Oct 02, 2024
∙ Paid
11

Share this post

Infinite Lives
Infinite Lives
Inside Conscript, Australia’s latest shot at solo developer success story
2
6
Share
One of the game’s iconic moments, when you storm No Man’s Land. Source: Catchweight Studio

Jordan Mochi is perplexed. The history student turned solo game developer ticked all the boxes.

His survival horror war game Conscript had a healthy wish list of over 165,000 users on Steam — meaning that many gamers intended to buy the title on release. A successful Kickstarter, dozens of global press reviews — all largely positive. That's been mirrored by hundreds of positive user reviews on Steam. The game is also up for six separate awards at the Australian Game Developer Awards next week, competing against much larger studios.

Yet, since its launch in July, its sales have fallen slightly short of expectations. Critically, Conscript is a success by all measures. Commercially, however, a couple of months out from launch and there's room for improvement. "It's difficult to comprehend," Mochi says.

Conscript is one of the Australian game industry's latest bets at staking its own claim in the solo d…

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to Infinite Lives to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 Harrison Polites
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share