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.