Why do I make short horror games?

Horror games are very popular on the platform like Steam. There are a lot of players who love to play short 2D as well as 3D horror games. There is a huge demand of such titles and if you can create a good quality 2D horror games with engaging gameplay and puzzles it will sell well. However, the price point should be on the lower side to make it work. It depends hugely on the quality of the game itself.

One of my successful horror games on Steam called "The Chills" shows that there is a demand of short 2D indie horror games and if the game is good enough you will receive good reviews. There are plenty of other horror games that are selling well on Steam and it works for me too.

Why do I make short 2D horror indie games?

1. There is a huge demand of horror games on Steam. Even mediocre quality horror games sell well at low price point.

2. I charge around a $1 or $2 so that I can distribute the games to a large audience.

3. There are many horror games on Steam. Your game must be good enough to stand out of the crowd. Search the Steam store, and go to the drop down menu and click on "Lowest Price" and you will see how many horror games are available at that price point. Make sure you check horror tags to list only horror themed games.

4. I have got some successes with some of my horror games in the past and still sells really well.

5. I am pretty good at making horror games and I have seen my horror games get a lot of positive reviews and for some reason, "I am good at it."

6. I focus on creating horror games without copying anybody. I create them on my own and focus mostly on the story and the puzzles. I also add weird stuff in my games which the players seem to enjoy. In other words, creating horror games are right up my alley.

7. It takes less time to finish a horror game.

I will continue to make more horror games as long as people buy them. The reason I create games is to distribute them to a larger audience. So, more people buy them the more happy I am.

 

Thanks for reading! If you are into horror genres may be you should try creating one and see how it works for you. Good luck!

Why do 99 cents games sell more copies on Steam? - Focusing on Word of Mouth Marketing

 In the previous post I had discussed why you should price your game higher. But this time I will be discussing about how 99 cents games build a loyal fan base on Steam even without the paid marketing. 

This might contradict my previous post but consider this as a secondary outcome. There are several reasons why the $0.99 games sell more copies on Steam. When you have zero marketing budget giving away your game at a lower price makes much more sense. Here is why!

- $0.99 price point with a launch discount lowers the barrier to entry. People are more likely to buy the game if the quality of the game is good enough. This price point also falls under "Impulse purchase" category where customer don't even think twice before buying the product.

- The price point gives the customers a sense of value for the money they are spending.

- As your game continues to sell, the algorithm on Steam recommends your game even more to the relevant customers. If they convert into buyers at a greater rate your game will get favored by the algorithm more.

 

Now, I will discuss the consequences of using $0.99 price point for your games.

As a developer myself, I had success with this price point in the past. So, I know it works. 

Advantages:

1. You get more user base faster since the barrier to entry is low.

2. The people have low expectation. You get good reviews given that your game is fun. It will sell more copies if the quality of your game is good. Mediocre quality games will also be benefited by this.

3. You get a lot of feedback and customer support which will give you an idea of what to improve in your game.

4. Give you more visibility and sales.

5. Less refunds as per my experience.

Disadvantages:

1. The people will question the quality of your game and will avoid who expects to play so called high quality games. However, there are a lot of customers who buy cheap games for collection and achievements. Your game might also cater to that section of audience on Steam along with those who genuinely want to buy your game.

2. Your long tail may not be as good as you think. The only exception is if you can get over 10 reviews on Steam. It will help convert more players.

 

That's all. Don't think too much about it. If you think you have zero marketing budget you can price it lower and go higher later when your game gets more traction and content.

Your focus should be to get at least 10 reviews as soon as possible. It might take years but it is worth it! No, DON'T use review buying service to get reviews unethically. You will get banned for review manipulation.

Don't price your game lower ever again - Indie Game Developer Rant

No, don't charge lower prices like $0.99 for your game, here is why. I used to be a developer who launched platform and horror games for $0.99 in the past. From 2018- 2022, this price tag used to work for me and I sold 100s of copies of the games thereby, making me a lot of money in just a week.

In 2023, due to changes in Steam algorithm and increase in new releases, things have started to fall. The first time I have realized it when I launched Ayako's Mission on Steam in June, 2023. It sold around 70 copies in the first week. When I launched a shoot'em up title in 2019, it sold around 180 in the first week. So, there is a deficiency of 110 units. That was the wake up call.

I thought genre might be the problem. Because I used to sell 100s of copies of horror games at launch at this price point. So, I tried with my latest release, Charles Haunted Mansion. It sold like crap, not even 50 copies in the first week.

There are two possibilities of this outcome. Either the quality of the game wasn't good enough or people are avoiding $0.99 games as most crappy asset flip games cost this much.

I have failed this time as well. So, judging by the sales numbers I have decided to charge higher from now on. I will no longer bet on $1 price tag as it is not working anymore.

If you are developing a game and you think your game is worth $2 and not more than that then keep it at $2. Again, if your game is worth $5, keep it at $5. Sure, your launch week might suck. You might sell a few units at higher price but you will make more in the long run given that your game is good. Make sure you use a launch discount when launching on Steam because the players are already conditioned to buy games with discounts.

I will say that again, go for the higher price! I am not saying to rip people off and charge a ridiculous price. Charge what you think your game is really worth. That's your price tag. But stay away from $0.99. People avoid this price tag altogether.

Another thing I would like to add here is that you need to find a sweet spot in correlation with the quality of your product. Nobody knows your game well than you do. So, be honest about what value it provides to customers and charge whatever works the best for you in the long run. Ask yourself, will you pay $X.XX for the game you are selling? Pricing a game can be challenging sometimes.  

Note: If $1 price tag is working for you, then it's all good if you are seeing good results.

Now, the question is, will I be able to make Charles Haunted Mansion profitable at $1 price point? Only time will tell.

That's all for today!

Defining the success of Charles Haunted Mansion A 2D Survival Horror Game

 

 

Charles Haunted Mansion is an experimental horror game, which is $0.99, launched on Steam on 15th September, 2023. The price is now raised to $1.99 to test something new.

I. LONG TERM GOALS: Here are my goals. I will update the data from time to time. I will strike through them as soon as I reach my goals. Success is different for different people but for me my goal is realistic. My goals can be further divided into four categories.

a) Making A Living: The goal is to make a living creating video games. It is very much possible because I am from a country(IN) with a low cost of living. I basically need $200 a month to survive. It does not have to be from one game but from multiple titles.

b) Marketing: No, I am not going to invest money in marketing. I might do some free marketing here and there. I want to see how many copies it sells with $0 marketing budget. The strategic discounting can be an incredible way to increase sales and revenue.

Why are you charging such a low price? Is it profitable?

First off, I was expecting to sell more copies at $0.99 but things have changed a lot. However, my game is still selling at a full price $0.99. So, that's good. I want to see what happens in the future when I will use discount strategy. I hope the numbers would rise really fast which will reflect the progress bar below.

According to my experience it is easier to sell more copies at lower price especially when you have $0 marketing budget.

I am not sure yet if it is profitable, if it makes over $100, then yes, it is profitable.

 

II. Milestones: 

Review milestone:

- Got First review!

- Got 5 reviews!

- Got 10 reviews!

- Got 20 reviews!

Anything above that is anomaly.

 

 

 

Net Revenue milestone:

- Made $50 in sales

- Made $300 in sales

- Made $500 in sales

- Made $1000 in sales

- Made $1600 in sales.

Anything above that is anomaly.

Also, I will get back Steam direct fee which I paid after my game makes $1000 in net revenue. That should be my target for now.

 

Defining the success of The Chills - A 2D indie horror game created by a solo dev!

 

The Chills is one of my so-called Successful game which I have ever created. I know many will call it a failure but I am happy that it has got around 19 reviews,at the time of writing the post, given that I did not do any marketing to begin with. How cool is that! It happened on its own organically.

GOALS: Here are my goals. I will update the data from time to time. I will strike through them as soon as I reach my goals. Success is different for different people but for me my goal is realistic and it is quite achievable at a price point of $0.99 because it has already got so many positive reviews which actually increased sales. 

a) Making A Living: The goal is to make a living creating video games. It is very much possible because I am from a country(IN) with a low cost of living. I basically need $200 a month to survive. It does not have to be from one game but from multiple titles.

b) Marketing: No, I am not going to invest in marketing. I might do some free marketing here and there. I want to see how many copies it sells with $0 marketing budget.

Milestones: 

Review milestone:

- Got First review!

- Got 5 reviews!

- Got 10 reviews!

- Got 20 reviews!

Anything above that is anomaly.

 

 

 

Net Revenue milestone:

- Made $50 in sales

- Made $300 in sales

- Made $500 in sales

- Made $1000 in sales

- Made $1600 in sales.

Anything above that is anomaly.

Also, I will get back Steam direct fee which I paid after my game makes $1000 in net revenue. That should be my target for now.

 

Defining the success of Gregor Hills Haunted Hospital Horror Game

 

 

I. How to market:

I am not sure! I have no marketing budget but I know how to sell games if you know what I mean. It seems people love to buy cheap games on Steam. So, if you put a good game out on Steam at $0.99 it tends to sell on its own. Also, refund rate for low priced games are lower. Weird, isn't it?

GOALS: Here are my goals. I will update the data from time to time. I will strike through them as soon as I reach my goals. Success is different for different people but for me my goal is realistic and it is quite achievable at this price point. Developers might say that you need to price higher. Trust me, it will only work if you have higher marketing budget and skills.

a) Making A Living: The goal is to make a living creating video games. It is very much possible because I am from a country(IN) with a low cost of living. I basically need $200 a month to survive. It does not have to be from one game but from multiple titles.

b) Marketing: No, I am not going to invest in marketing. I might do some free marketing here and there. I want to see how many copies it sells with $0 marketing budget.

Milestones: 

Review milestone:

- Got First review!

- Got 5 reviews!

- Got 10 reviews!

- Got 20 reviews!

Anything above that is anomaly.

 

 

 

Net Revenue milestone:

- Made $50 in sales

- Made $300 in sales

- Made $500 in sales

- Made $1000 in sales

- Made $1600 in sales.

Anything above that is anomaly.

Also, I will get back Steam direct fee which I paid after my game makes $1000 in net revenue. That should be my target for now.

I share a few sales data from time to time and share if I have reached my goals. I will do this for $0.99 games only because it is hard to reach with higher price points unless it's a 3D game or something. 

 

Defining Success of Shelley's Haunted House Game A Horror Game

 

 

Shelley's Haunted House was launched on 5th May, 2023 at $4.99. It did not reach in the hands of required number of users. That's not what I wanted. In order to reach more users and get feedback I have decided to lower the price to $0.99! This will be a whole new thing for me now that I lost the initial launch traffic. This will be very challenging to reach the targets. This might be a good example of how turning failure into a success.

Then, I thought I was devaluing my game so I raised the price again to $3.99. Why Higher Price is better? Read the article here.

I. How to market:

I am not sure! I have no marketing budget but I know how to sell games if you know what I mean. It seems people love to buy cheap games on Steam. $3.99 is not so cheap but a good price point suggested by my publisher. Refunds happen from time to time but not everyone asks for refund. So, with every sale I make, I earn a bit more money than what I usually earn at lower price point. Also, consider the Steam platform fee, taxes etc. I have learned a lesson this year. It seems that I make more money when I set higher price.

GOALS: Here are my goals. I will update the data from time to time. I will strike through them as soon as I reach my goals. Success is different for different people but for me my goal is realistic and it is quite achievable at this price point. Developers might say that you need to price higher. Trust me, it will only work if you have higher marketing budget and skills.

Setting small goals is much more preferable for me.

a) Making A Living: The goal is to make a living creating video games. It is very much possible because I am from a country(IN) with a low cost of living. I basically need $200 a month to survive. It does not have to be from one game but from multiple titles.

b) Marketing: No, I am not going to invest in marketing. I might do some free marketing here and there. I want to see how many copies it sells with $0 marketing budget.

 

Milestones: 

Review milestone:

- Got First review!

- Got 5 reviews!

- Got 10 reviews!

- Got 20 reviews!

Anything above that is anomaly.

 

 

 

Net Revenue milestone:

- Made $50 in sales

- Made $300 in sales

- Made $500 in sales

- Made $1000 in sales

- Made $1600 in sales.

Anything above that is anomaly.

Also, I will get back Steam direct fee which I paid after my game makes $1000 in net revenue. That should be my target for now.

I share a few sales data from time to time and share if I have reached my goals. I will do this for $0.99 games only because it is hard to reach with higher price points unless it's a 3D game or something. 

 

Ayako's Mission Steam Launch Numbers so far - Sales Figure

Name: Ayako's Mission

Launch Date: 22nd June, 2023

Price: $0.99

Launch Discount: 40%

 Copies Sold: 73

Gross Revenue: $39

Wishlists: 140+

RESULTS: FAILED LAUNCH!

My Thoughts:

The fact that this game sold even a single copy with zero marketing budget is quite astonishing. This game has sold over 50 copies so that's good. Since it is still below $40 gross revenue, it is still considered a failed launch. Things have changed within a year. It's no longer working it seems. I won't give up though.

You can check out "Defining success of Ayako's Mission" to see my goals with this project.

Defining the success of Ayakos Mission game - a solo developed project

 

In 2023, it has been pretty hard to stand out of the crowd when it comes to releasing games on Steam. Ayako's Mission is an experimental shoot'em up project which I released on Steam at $0.99. There has been almost 50% down in sales even at 40% discount compared to the last year August $0.99 game launch. It was a bit shock for me realizing how things have changed for indies within just a year. It may be possible that the recent changes(increment) in regional prices might be the cause for less sales. It is unfair to compare apple with orange because two of the titles are of different genres. It was a horror title which according to Chris Zukowski, is doing well on Steam while this one is a Shoot'em up game which usually falls under "low selling titles" bracket in most of the cases.

First lesson for me here is to not make a game on impulse. I know how much you want to create platformers or shoot'em ups but they don't work. 

 

As per his advice, I have to get at least 10 reviews to start receiving traffic. I do have a horror game which have managed to get 19 user reviews and gets more traffic and sales during discounting sessions. So, I know it works when you have more reviews on games. It is extremely hard to accomplish at higher price point with $0 marketing budget.  

So, for Ayako's Mission, I have managed to sell around 70-ish copies during the launch month and got 1 user review. It really does not matter if I get positive or negative reviews. I just have to get 10 reviews for the titles.

I. What I have done so far?

1. Nothing special. I've set $0.99 price tag because I am pretty good at selling more copies at this price point. It works even if you have a half-decent game.

2. I've set 40% launch discount because in the past having 20% discount reduces sales numbers. Here, I want to get as many sales as possible which increases the chance of getting more user reviews.

II. Next steps:

I am not sure! I have no marketing budget but I know how to sell games if you know what I mean. Weird, isn't it?

GOALS: Here are my goals. I will update the data from time to time. I will strike through them as soon as I reach my goals. Success is different for different people but for me my goal is realistic and it is quite achievable at this price point. Developers might say that you need to price higher. Trust me, it will only work if you have higher marketing budget and skills.

a) Making A Living: The goal is to make a living creating video games. It is very much possible because I am from a country(IN) with a low cost of living. I basically need $200 a month to survive. It does not have to be from one game but from multiple titles.

b) Marketing: No, I am not going to invest in marketing. I might do some free marketing here and there. I want to see how many copies it sells with $0 marketing budget.

Milestones: 

Review milestone:

- Got First review!

- Got 5 reviews!

- Got 10 reviews!

- Got 20 reviews!

Anything above that is anomaly.

 

 

 

Net Revenue milestone:

- Made $50 in sales

- Made $300 in sales

- Made $500 in sales

- Made $1000 in sales

- Made $1600 in sales.

Anything above that is anomaly.

Also, I will get back Steam direct fee which I paid after my game makes $1000 in net revenue. That should be my target for now.

I share a few sales data from time to time and share if I have reached my goals. I will do this for $0.99 games only because it is hard to reach with higher price points unless it's a 3D game or something. 

 

Emiko's Pledge 3 Game Launch Week Revenue Numbers

Name: Emiko's Pledge 3

Launch Date: 12th May, 2023

Price: $4.99

Launch Discount: 40%

 Copies Sold: 16

Gross Revenue: $30

Wishlists Addition: 61

RESULTS: FAILED LAUNCH!

Proof:

 

My Thoughts:

The fact that this game sold even a single copy with zero marketing budget is quite astonishing. This game has done slightly better than the horror game at that price tag. Since it is still below $50 gross revenue, it is still considered a failed launch. These games do sell better at $0.99 or $1.99.

Shelleys Haunted House Game Launch Week Revenue Numbers

Name: Shelley's Haunted House

Launch Date: 5th May, 2023

Price: $4.99

Launch Discount: 30%

 Copies Sold: 10

Gross Revenue: $17

Wishlists Addition: 64

RESULTS: FAILED LAUNCH!

Proof:

 

My Thoughts:

The fact that this game sold even a single copy with zero marketing budget is quite astonishing. I have released horror games at $0.99 in the past and they usually perform better. Higher price tag might be the reason why this game did not sell many copies. Next time, I will go with $0.99 and see what happens.