this post was submitted on 25 Dec 2024
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Discoverability is a huge problem on Steam because there's so many games releasing, you can't really keep up.
18,000 games is almost 50 per day on average. That's 50 titles fighting for your attention and wallet every single day.
If you don't get noticed because you didn't spend half of your development budget on marketing, or your game didn't pick up well with influencers or more traditional media like reviews, you're just kinda fucked. No matter how good your game might be.
Speaking about quality, how many of those 18k titles were uninspiring, asset flipping slop?
The Steam Next Fest is how I found most of the good indie games I've played. Making a good demo will put you above 99% of the cruft out there.
I have picked up the same habit. I'll download and test a couple of dozen demos every next fest, and then wishlist/buy the ones that are good. I played 108 demos this year, and some of my favorite games this year were demos like this: Kill Knight, Last Plague Blight, Karate Survivor, Empty Shell...
that and word of mouth or just cool gameplay vids. dude parrying an explosion got me to withlist va proxy
I remember that clip of the dude parrying a nuke, can't remember the game but it stuck with me.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2063390/VA_Proxy/
Still getting worked on, but does look sick.
It doesn't help that Steam store is a nightmare to navigate.
Releasing demos is a great way to succeed. It doesn't take me more than 5 minutes to decide if it's something I want to continue playing.
Putting videos of nothing but cut-scenes is a great way to ensure I keep scrolling but every title seems to take this approach.
I've always dreamed of a world where game demos were mandated by law. Some products can't be tested out easily, but just about any video game really can.
I use steam's two hour return window as a demo.