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A comment on Building an AI game studio: what we've learned so far. Parent comment

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

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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.

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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.

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