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Re:Building an AI game studio: what we've learned so far by password54321 on Tuesday May 21, 2024 @03:53PM (#40433041)
>There are a lot of games exactly like that, but haven't had the person with the viewerbase to boost them up. Nor will they ever.

Such as? Just name one so we can all know. This is your time to help them out no matter how little and there are "a lot" apparently so it shouldn't be hard.

Re:Building an AI game studio: what we've learned so far by kipchak on Tuesday May 21, 2024 @04:21PM (#40433385)
Shout out to All Day Dying. 76 reviews. Also both of Colorgrave's games. One way to look for interesting stuff is SteamDB > 50 reviews and over 80%. For example Wild Dogs, Downpurr and Vetrix look cool.
Re:Building an AI game studio: what we've learned so far by fzeroracer on Tuesday May 21, 2024 @05:36PM (#40434298)
I mean I already gave you two examples, so here's [1] [2] [3] [4] a few examples of games that haven't had the chance to become popular.

[1] https://store.steampowered.com/app/1727180/NeverAwake/

[2] https://store.steampowered.com/app/1372210/Dap/

[3] https://store.steampowered.com/app/1400910/Soundodger_2/

[4] https://store.steampowered.com/app/1084220/Cavity_Busters/

Re:Building an AI game studio: what we've learned so far by programd on Tuesday May 21, 2024 @06:43PM (#40434950)
Hex of Steel. Turn based hex wargame, very niche but with a fairly large worldwide community into such games. Only the solo developer is doing plays on youtube and twitch. The game has been seeing a slow upward sales trend as the niche wargame community realizes how good it is. If you've played SSI and Avalon Hill hex games as a kid you should get this.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1240630/Hex_of_Steel/

https://steamdb.info/app/1240630/charts/#max

Re:Building an AI game studio: what we've learned so far by Jensson on Tuesday May 21, 2024 @08:03PM (#40435801)
That is an indie success, almost 400 reviews for that price is good for a solo developer, he can live well on that as long as he continues to create and sell content for.

Failures are games with 50 or less reviews or a bit more if they have much lower price points, there aren't many gems at that level. Note that a large majority of indie game developers don't live in USA, indie gaming isn't dominated by American developers unlike the regular software industry.

Re:Building an AI game studio: what we've learned so far by reitzensteinm on Wednesday May 22, 2024 @05:35AM (#40439081)
Hardcore games are much more likely to convert plays to reviews. Many of the units would have shifted during the 50% sales.

The game is multiplayer which is a whole other layer of complexity.

Based on my experience in this market, I really doubt the author is happy with the outcome as anything other than a stepping stone to something more sustainable.

I think you're an order of magnitude too low setting the bar at 50 for professional developers where this is their full time job - even outside of the US.