The Importance of Genre on Steam - with Chris Zukowski

[@Vody_Sly5]

Such a great video, we indie game devs are lucky to have someone like Chris. Would be lost without him

[@ThomasChen-ur2gt]

awesome video! I really wish the slides weren't so blurry

[@marcsh_dev]

Uh oh. May need to rethink my plan. Ive been a multiplayer gamedev for ~20 years now, and so Im currently working on a prototype for a little (what would now be called a) roguelike twinstick shooter. The design is time tested. The mechanics are straight forward to implement. Its uniquely in my skillset, and rarely done because its a rare skillset. Interesting. Have to continue to plan. I can trivially pivot for a while, so Im not super worried, but it does give me some pause.

[@BruceOnder]

Mr. Rogers focused on being nice and understanding your emotions, not reading. But still a great image 😂😂😂

[@corriedotdev]

im watching all steam content as my demo is live on steam next fest on monday, swear ive done NOTHING for 4 months... lets see how i did.. i think i did ok so far, i just wish i had more time from 2 months part time pre-prod planning to 3-4 months development for VR.. intense

[@RizaBochiza]

I noticed that Visual Novels were in the 1% of genres that don't succeed, while also listed in the genres that Steam players like list

[@mmaa2894]

Hi! Where can I find the slides that Chris used?

[@GamecityHamburg]

Hi there! Chris` slides are not available as a download or something like that, but you can find a lot more info and ressources on the topics he covered here on his website howtomarketagame.com/

[@VBrinkV]

I think part of why platformers do so poorly on Steam is because the market has been saturated for decades. Nintendo makes the best platformers, and you're competing with Nintendo essentially. An unenviable position. Ironically, I think I've heard indie games like that tend to sell well on Nintendo platforms, because that is where the market that plays platformers goes to play.

[@justinbeam4233]

Is twin stick shooter really a genre? Im making a third person survival horror with a character controller thats twin stick or mouse & WASD. Should i dumb down the controller?

[@justinbeam4233]

Just got to part where he says steam player dont like controlling the character😅....monkey nuts!

[@Liforus1]

A gold with less than 5k views

[@dinhnghi3642]

Mainstream is boring, is it not?

[@rorka1252]

There must be balance in the market. So, shhh, don't tell anyone about these videos.

[@wormius51]

Is it possible the connection between genre and success is not entirely causal? Maybe developers with low budget and experience tend to make platformers and that's why platformers don't succeed? Maybe you already explored that statistic and saw it's not the case but I am just throwing it put there. Anyway, off to make my puzzle game...

[@CarlosGarcía-d3d]

Is this video new or reuploded? Sad to know there are no taco bell in hamburg

[@GamecityHamburg]

Hi! This is a recording of a live stream of our "Gamecity XP Boost" Event from April 16, 2024 with Chris Zukowski. While there are no Taco Bell in Hamburg, you can still visit the city and get lots of nice food everywhere! And of course find out more about our games industry here :)!

[@joantonio6331]

German sausage are better than any taco Bell

[@paulie-g]

Taco Bell is barely food. Hamburg will have a lot of kebabs.

[@joantonio6331]

@@paulie-g The best kebabs are in belgium (I ate kebab in the UK, Belgium, France and Canada)

[@marularch]

Overall a lot of valid points but you kinda lost me where you said Steam players don't like to control the main character. There are a lot of players that prefer a controller over mouse and keyboard, especially people who like to play on their SteamDecks. You are also saying janky controls are a problem while 5 seconds before that mentioning how Steam players are ok with jankiness. Also I think you are not doing statistics right, I believe the real reason there are a lot more successful games with existing genres than mixed ones is simply because most of the games that are produced aren't innovative. I believe if you looked at the success percentage of existing/mixed genre games you would end up with a much different result.

[@madaraainna]

Of course you know better with few minutes of experience and with your couch analysis.

[@BeepBoopMega]

Hes not saying he "knows better" dumbass. He's trying to bring up valid points which you, of course, fail to even acknowledge.

[@BeepBoopMega]

I guarantee he has more experience than you lmao

[@UltimatePerfection]

"Steam players don't like puzzle games" Portal. Portal 2. The Witness. Viewfinder. The Talos Principle.

[@calicow]

There are always going to be outliers in every genre. Those games had more going for them (outside of being good games) than most solo devs or small indie teams will be able to achieve with the average puzzle game. You could absolutely make a great puzzle game that Steam players love. But the data suggests it's going to be an uphill battle to get there, more than it might be for another genre.

[@minze202]

It's like you didn't watch the whole video. He even made a funny voice for those making the same argument as you.

[@UltimatePerfection]

@@minze202 It's like I don't agree with this blowhard.

[@rafaeljm3204]

Nice. You just mentioned 5 of the 20k+ puzzle games on steam :)

[@Randude14]

Portal 1 and 2 were made by Valve.....the others were dumb luck. Scroll through the endless puzzle games on steam you've never heard of.