How to market your game 2022 article

eri0o · Tue 19/04/2022 13:19:50

https://howtomarketagame.com/2022/04/18/what-genres-are-popular-on-steam-in-2022/

I saw this article and thought it was interesting. Adventure point click or similar doesn't even make into the graphs!!! Also, I was surprised by how popular Visual Novels are. Perhaps we should see what could be done to accommodate those better in AGS. Anyway, any thoughts?

shaun9991 · Tue 19/04/2022 13:53:20

From what I've noticed over the years, visual novels are indeed a lot more popular than traditional point and clicks - both on PC and consoles. A template/plugin for AGS that emulated a Renpy/VN style structure might prove popular and bring more people to the engine.

eri0o · Tue 19/04/2022 13:59:58

I can think like, a module for nicer textboxes, for raising choice selection and making effects in the text like, assuming each letter is it's own overlay, you could do typed text, have text that shakes, words with different colors and so on...

But you mentioned structure. I am not familiar with Renpy, by structure you mean something about the story writing? Can you elaborate on structure?

shaun9991 · Tue 19/04/2022 14:08:32

Oh I meant just like the structure of a visual novel, pretty much exactly like the things you mentioned

Those would be incredible.

Renpy also allows for all previous text that has appeared, including player choices etc, to be displayed. Sort of like a "chat history". Not sure how that could be done in AGS, I guess it would be a case of adding each displayed line to a list box in some way.

heltenjon · Tue 19/04/2022 15:11:09

Are you sure point and clicks aren't included in some of the tags? "Story Rich" can be just about anything.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised. At jams, the forum questions often seem like they come from people (kids?) who ask what an adventure game is, and it seems they have no clue about it whatsoever.

Snarky · Tue 19/04/2022 15:36:46

Looking at Steam's best-seller list for Visual Novels with the content filters off, most of the top-selling games are porn (as Steam labels it, "Adult Only Sexual Content"), so that's probably a big part of the reason why it ranks so high, given that "Sexual Content" is the only category that beats it.

The list of VN bestsellers also includes the latest Syberia, the Walking Dead collection and The Darkside Detective, as well as a bunch of games that look more like JRPGs, so clearly the category tagging is not very strict or precise.

It might be worthwhile to set up a VN template in AGS (a long time ago I started implementing one for a game I was working on), but at the same timeâ€¦ if you're making a VN, there's really no good reason to use AGS to do so.

heltenjon · Tue 19/04/2022 16:21:33

Part of the analysis is self-explanatory. Match-3 games, for instance, are a dime a dozen on mobile platforms, and they're free. No wonder there's little money to be earned for an indie developer who makes that kind of game.

Sure, there's no reason to make a VN in AGS, but there's equally no reason to make racing games or board games or whatever this fine community comes up with...because it's there.

Marion's games are good examples of quality VN or VN/adventure hybrids made in AGS.

Ali · Tue 19/04/2022 23:24:49

Doesn't this graph show that visual novels and games with sexual content are relatively unpopular with gamers? Inasmuch as they make as much as Soulslike games, but loads more of them are released? Are some of the comments above mistaking the blue bar for earnings?

eri0o · Tue 19/04/2022 23:50:19

I was looking at this graph. Not sure if I understand what you mean, but I was looking at the leftmost axis.

Ali · Wed 20/04/2022 00:42:17

Ah, fair enough. I see the point that the article is making about VNs, that the average VN has a better chance than the average game in a more top-heavy genre. I was thinking about this one:
https://howtomarketagame.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Game-Genre-Median-Earnings-vs-Number-Released-since-2019-2.png

eri0o · Wed 20/04/2022 01:31:21

Oh, this graph changes the subject to we need to tackle party games.

Snarky · Wed 20/04/2022 05:53:41

Quote from: Ali on Tue 19/04/2022 23:24:49
Doesn't this graph show that visual novels and games with sexual content are relatively unpopular with gamers? Inasmuch as they make as much as Soulslike games, but loads more of them are released? Are some of the comments above mistaking the blue bar for earnings?

Indeed. I was skimming and assuming that the first graphs were showing the relative market share of the different genres.