I hit 0 to 150 in 12 months The bar has been lowered

The indie games market is not a singular amorphous zero-sum blob. Critical Reflex gets it. Many other indies do not.

I’m now on a weekly essay schedule over on 9000 Dimensions. I dropped my latest one a few days early due to the holiday weekend. Paid subscribers are getting my hot takes on 3 of the most hyped upcoming indie games below the paywall. Don’t miss out.

Every successful indie game has a hidden cost

Some games design themselves

When 5 friends get up to sing Don’t Stop Believin at karaoke because none of them wants to sing it solo

Indie game developers should ignore the hype around big titles like Silksong. They aren’t your competition.

Cozy driving game Easy Delivery Co. has gained an estimated 200K wishlists in just 4 months

Increasingly feels like artists who opt out of the algorithm game and produce work that isn’t algo friendly are seen as posh / nepo / trust fund playing the algo game to survive is optically punk/honest

Many millennials are poisoned with the belief that money is evil and that true creativity requires something akin to a religious forfeiture of all earthly desires. Free yourself.

Look out, I’m fixing my follower ratio

These are in fact good questions that are worth asking. The idea that pure art must reject financial concerns is ridiculous. Some of the most critically acclaimed artists throughout history were highly financially motivated.

There are 175 new releases on Steam this week. 95 are tagged as indie (54%) and 23 of those indies have released a demo (13%). Just 5 of those indie games with a demo are launching with over 1,000 wishlists (3%). This is your competition.

I’ve unfollowed 500 of you to fix my ratio

Four books you should read about making games The Making of Prince of Persia Stripe Press Blood Sweat, and Pixels Spelunky Sid Meier’s Memoir!

Co-op detective horror game Shift at Midnight (est. 181K wishlists) is on track to be a big hit on launch. The demo is currently sitting at 195 reviews with 98% positive. It combines inspection mechanics reminiscent of No, I’m not a Human and Quarantine Zone: The Last Check

The co-op survival horror game Deathground is launching in early access this coming week with 303K est. wishlists. It was originally announced in 2020 with a clear premise: Alien Isolation except dinosaurs.

The cozy ASMR-inspired object cleaning sim Undusted: Letters from the Past is launching this week with an estimated 82K wishlists. Hyper focused and tactile gameplay paired with a heartfelt narrative continues be a proven formula within cozy games.

The most dramatic game I've recently played involves clicking one button to flip a coin 9000dimensions.com/p/games-that-p…