While we are working every day, we still get the occasional #mondayblues. So we switch up our routine and work on something else.
Or drink #coffee. Lots of coffee.

#gamedev

We tried to find where the 100+ subscribers came from, but since there was no findable marketing campaign, we cannot say anything for certain. We apologize to those waiting.

When we tell people we are on #bluesky, people are often confused. Seems like not wanting to be part of hate, extrem advertisements and monetization isn't a good reason.
As game studio, this also means we will always have #nomicrotransactions.

Why are you on bluesky?

#gamedev

We came back to #silksong a while ago and suddenly couldn't put it down. Now we are close to the 100% finish. After acquiring the last abilities, the mechanies truly shined.
Did anyone else have a similar experience with this or another game?

#metroidvania #design #gamedev #hollowknight

We played less and less #silksong over time. Not because we finished, but because it became tedious. It's probably due to the level design. Anyone else share the feeling?

#metroidvania #hollowknight #leveldesign

Unfortunately, we suck at #silksong so we aren't too far into the game. Still, while exploration is definitely rewarded, we feel that the game is pretty linear in regards to the power up order. Hopefully, the game opens up a bit more later on. Ours sure will.

#gamedev #hollowknight #mechanics

As short update, the campaign we referenced is suddenly funded. It makes no sense to us because there has been no further visible marketing. There are a few more things we find unexpected, so we will investigate and come back with our learnings.
#gamedev #update #marketing #crowdfunding

That feeling when you unlock an ability in #silksong and it's the exact same one you implemented weeks ago is undescribable. And then you notice people will think you are a #copycat. Oops.

#gamedev #metroidvania #mechanics #oops #learningfromsuccess

A bit late to the party, but #silksong has finally released. Of course, we play it entirely for research purposes and not for our own pleasure, so it counts as work time, right? Right?

#gamedev #metroidvania #startup #work #hollowknight

During our Crowdfunding research we found one of the most amazing campaigns. Great, immersive trailer, good description, great artstyle and captivating images that supports the text. Unfortunately, it's shy over 60k because it has no marketing presence.
#marketing #required #crowdfunding #gamedev

Developing a game requires a lot of inspiration. While this cannot be forced, the muse always kisses me right before I fall asleep. Either I then write it down this waking up a little bit, or forget my idea. Stupid conundrum.

How do you get inspired?

Let us know and stay colourful (by sleeping).

If you haven't played Usurper yet and want to try a Metroidvania game, we recommend to check it out.
Do any of you have other recommendations for hidden gems or other sub 100k games?

Let us know until our next post. Stay colourful!

#games #gamedev #steam #analysis #metroidvania #platformer

One game we want to highlight is "Skautfold: Usurper". While the UI seems copy pasted from somewhere, it's actually quite good as a Metroidvania. We also learned that it's part of a series of games with very differing genres. It is surprising that it is relatively unknown.

- Another part of sub 100k games were adult games with cheap 3d graphics
- That leaves the sub 100k games that look like a good game, quack like a good game, but haven't quiet hit the revenue jackpot. Those are the ones we can learn the most from.

- Almost all sub 100k games were unknown to us.
- Most of the sub 100k are visually appalling. A few had CD-i graphics. Their steam pages also were barebones which makes sense for such niche graphics

We have been a little bit on hiatus since we were diving into the data a bit too hard. So let's review some learnings:
- About 12% of all games on Steam earned more than $100k.
- Depending on the genre, this percentage increases. For example, "Metroidvania", "Platformer" are at about 23%

We will continue to look at failed an successful games as well as share our journey building a games company in Germany.

Until then, what would you say defines a game as successful?

Stay colourful.

And 90% of all games on Steam didn't even manage to make that.

It's hard to pinpoint exact reasons why some games didn't get bigger. Maybe the target audience was missing, the art style sucked, the mechanics didn't fit or there was no marketing.

Since we want to develop a second game sometime, we want to take out about 20k so we have enough funds for assets and specials. This leaves us with about 40k. So that's about 20k profit per year since typical game development takes 1.5-2 years. In our case, that's 10k per team member. A year.

Then, we have to pay taxes on profits in Germany. We can lessen the taxes by deducting expenses, so let's reduce the usual 19% tax to 15%. That leaves us with 59.5k profit.

It's finally data wednesday, so let's talk about numbers. Just 10% of all Steam games made over 100k revenue. 100k sounds like a lot, but it's really not. First, we have to remove 30% for Steam's cut, so that's 70k.

The hardest part of a game project, or any project really, is finishing.

Put so much time into a thing it’s no longer interesting or exciting. Ignoring that ‘move on’ to something new feeling can be so difficult.

#IndieGame #IndieGameDev #gamedev #ADHD #DontGiveUp #LastPush

To develop a video game you need to review games. So, we've been looking at Steam's data. We will share a few insights we gained in the coming days, especially about low revenue games.

On that topic, what's your pet peeve in video games?

#gamedevelopment #games #reviews #steam #data #analysis