Games › Programming › Programming + 2D Platformer
Should I ship a Programming 2D Platformer?
Programming + 2D Platformer
Only 9 developers shipped a Programming 2D Platformer in the last 2 years, too few for firm odds: the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.; the top game by est. revenue, MainFrames, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 21 more are announced, ×3.0 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.2k, ×4.5 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $64k, ×136 the market median. Momentum is unreadable here, too few recent games; 21 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year.
not enough cohorts to draw
| Bottom 30% | $300 (exactly $300) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.2k (exactly $2,158) |
| Top 25% | $3.6k (exactly $3,598) |
| Top 5% | $65k (exactly $64,690) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 9 |
| Released games | 32 |
| Announced | 21 |
| Effort | 4 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $8.99 |
momentum: how a niche's revenue percentiles and developer count moved between two equal, adjacent periods, divided by the market's own move. See method., 12 months: revenue too few recent games to read momentum, supply 250% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 6%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Programming
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- 2D Platformer
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Programming, 2D Platformer
- Price point
- $8.99 typical
Why players buy here
Fewer than 10 games in the last 2 years; sentiment and price figures use the all window.
The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 90% positive over 4,755 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 21 games are announced against 7 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.0 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Programming with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Base BuildingFair
- + Auto BattlerFair
- + RogueliteFair
- + SandboxFair
- + Time ManagementFair
- + AutomationFair
- + Turn-Based TacticsFair
- + SimulationFair
- + RobotsFair
- + CrimeFair
- + Sci-fiFair
- + FuturisticFair
Comparable games
Braid, Anniversary Edition 2024 · $1.1M 
Game Dev Story 2022 · $390k 
Contraption Maker 2014 · $359k 
MainFrames 2025 · $65k 
Bots Are Stupid 2022 · $63k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Braid, Anniversary Edition | older | $19.99 | 1,761 92% | 53k | $1.1M (exactly $1,056,072) | Thekla, Inc. |
| | Game Dev Story | older | $8.99 | 1,445 89% | 43k | $390k (exactly $389,716) | Kairosoft Co.,Ltd |
| | Contraption Maker | older | $12.99 | 922 92% | 28k | $359k (exactly $359,303) | Kevin Ryan |
| | MainFrames | $12.99 | 166 88% | 5.0k | $65k (exactly $64,690) | Assoupi | |
| | Bots Are Stupid | older | $12.99 | 161 77% | 4.8k | $63k (exactly $62,742) | Leander Edler-Golla |
 | Electrogical | $7.99 | 87 93% | 2.6k | $21k (exactly $20,854) | kinjo | |
 | Super Markup Man | older | $4.99 | 120 81% | 3.6k | $18k (exactly $17,964) | Roppy Chop Studios |
 | Triple Take | older | $6.99 | 55 83% | 1.7k | $12k (exactly $11,534) | FlyAway Studios |
 | Unit 404 | older | $4.99 | 34 88% | 1.0k | $5.1k (exactly $5,090) | [OneManBand] |
 | Psyber | older | $29.99 | 4 75% | 120 | $3.6k (exactly $3,599) | Mixedware |
 | Bit ESC | $14.99 | 8 100% | 240 | $3.6k (exactly $3,598) | Essssam | |
 | Dash'n'Drops | · EA | $6.99 | 12 91% | 360 | $2.5k (exactly $2,516) | Le Moulin aux Bulles |
 | Programming Simulator | $8.99 | 8 75% | 240 | $2.2k (exactly $2,158) | Bunny Bit | |
 | H4CT0PL45M | $4.99 | 3 100% | 90 | $449 (exactly $449) | MetricBead | |
 | Malware City | $9.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $300 (exactly $300) | Ludos Forge | |
 | Auto Farm | $1.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | https://autofarm.giveme8.com/ | |
 | CTR | $9.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | Pisuke |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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