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0 pointscousin_it7y ago0 comments

Don't start by trying to test your idea. That's already getting ahead of yourself. Instead, start by identifying and checking the assumptions behind your idea.

For example, let's say you want to make a retro platformer. The assumption is that many people would be interested in a new retro platformer. That's easy to check: browse through Steam's new releases, find the 10 newest retro platformers, and see how much interest they get. Heck, even imagining that exercise could be enough to make you change course.

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clarry7y ago

And yet Shovel Knight is doing so so great. Cuphead too. Turns out retro platformers can do great. But way too many indie retro platformers are just trash with nothing to save them.

I don't think you can gauge success by looking at existing titles. It's like asking if there's a market for scifi novels. What do you find? People like scifi novels, and there are lots of scifi novels that suck and nobody reads them. Do people like metal music? There's tons of successful metal bands, and there's an ocean of trash.

Every work is unique.

cousin_itOP7y ago

> And yet Shovel Knight is doing so so great. Cuphead too.

These outliers don't refute the rule that different markets have different odds of success.

Mortiffer7y ago

This makes alot of sense and now i wish there was something like open data from steam sales but for SAAS products !

I guess if you go deeper you can get a qualitative idea by judging how good a game is before including it as a data point

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