Do I ship it?

Games › Creature Collector › Creature Collector + Bullet Hell

Specimen · observed

Should I ship a Bullet Hell Creature Collector?

Creature Collector + Bullet Hell

Of 24 developers who shipped a Bullet Hell Creature Collector in the last 2 years: 3 in 10 made under est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., 1 in 4 cleared est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., 1 in 20 cleared est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 33 more are announced.

Verdict: fair, for a 5 / 10 build.

The middle developer here made $3.4k, ×5.5 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, with 3 in 10 under $1.2k. Revenue is up 1870% on the market; 33 games are announced against 21 developers who shipped in the last year.

Deciding numbers: median 5.5 times the market baseline, revenue up 1870% on the market, 33 announced, ×1.6 per developer who shipped in the last year.
Nobody has said they are building this yet.
Creature Collector + Bullet Hell
Fig. 1 · this niche among 16,100
Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr n = 24
Median est. gross by half-year cohort, 2023 H1 to 2026 H2: $3.4k → $6.0k (still earning) → $1.2k (still earning)
The last cohort is still earning.
Outcomes for Creature Collector + Bullet Hell: Plate 1 · outcomes, 2 yr, n = 24
Bottom 30% $1.2k (exactly $1,198)
Median $3.4k (exactly $3,443)
Top 25% $44k (exactly $44,356)
Top 5% $248k (exactly $248,234)
Developers, 2 yr 24
Released games 44
Announced 33
Effort 5 / 10
AI-buildability Medium
Typical price $6.99

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 up 1870% on the market, supply 600% more developers than the period before.

Free games: 7%, excluded from money figures.

See every window in the explorer →

Plate 2 · systems and tooling

Can AI deliver it?

AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.

Creature Collector
effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
Bullet Hell
effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band

How the rubric works →

Plate 3 · the cost side

What it takes

Effort
5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
Systems
Creature Collector, Bullet Hell; all of the top 25% also carry Action, Action Roguelike, Roguelike
Price point
$6.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
Art
4 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 2D, 3D, Anime
Plate 4 · demand

Why players buy here

The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.

The top 10 games average 78% positive over 4,441 reviews.

Plate 5 · the loss side

What kills games here

Developer outcomes in the last 2 years by share: 3 in 10 under $1.2k, median $3.4k, 1 in 4 over $44k, 1 in 20 over $240k.

3 in 10 developers made under $1.2k. 8 in 10 of the 5 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 33 games are announced against 21 developers who shipped in the last year.

Plate 6 · same mechanic, other settings

Adjacent niches

Creature Collector with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.

  1. + Perma DeathFair30 devs · median $5.3k · 33 announced
  2. + CapitalismFair38 devs · median $3.2k · 38 announced
  3. + LootFair51 devs · median $2.9k · 67 announced
  4. + IdlerFair248 devs · median $2.1k · 260 announced
  5. + IncrementalFair177 devs · median $1.9k · 191 announced
  6. + Action RoguelikeFair39 devs · median $1.8k · 54 announced
  7. + SpaceFair30 devs · median $1.5k · 39 announced
  8. + ZombiesFair14 devs · median $1.5k · 10 announced
  9. + ArcadeFair73 devs · median $629 · 85 announced
  10. + Co-opPoor odds31 devs · median $28k · 82 announced
  11. + Dating SimPoor odds14 devs · median $23k · 43 announced
  12. + MusicPoor odds12 devs · median $16k · 11 announced

All 133 pairs on the Creature Collector page

Plate 7 · comparable specimens, by est. revenue

Comparable games

Temtem: Swarm 2026 · $969k Patch Quest 2023 · $925k Morsels 2025 · $248k DreamEcho 2026 · $133k Shard Squad 2025 · $107k
Capsule Game Released Price Reviews Est. copies Est. revenue Developer
Temtem: Swarm $12.99 2,487 77% 75k $969k (exactly $969,184) Crema, GGTech Studios
Patch Quest older $14.99 2,058 94% 62k $925k (exactly $925,483) Lychee Game Labs
Morsels $14.99 552 75% 17k $248k (exactly $248,234) Furcula
DreamEcho $11.99 369 79% 11k $133k (exactly $132,729) HotWaterStudio
Shard Squad $6.99 512 82% 15k $107k (exactly $107,366) The Root Studios
Garlant: My Story older $10.99 234 84% 7.0k $77k (exactly $77,150) Flt Studio
最后的仙门 The last Practice Sect older $3.99 504 53% 15k $60k (exactly $60,329) 栖鸾工作室
Flock of the Seraphim $9.99 162 85% 4.9k $49k (exactly $48,551) GuuchanDev
Identifile: Desktop Dungeon · EA $9.99 148 91% 4.4k $44k (exactly $44,356) Gearbyte Games
Wildkeepers Rising $9.99 110 79% 3.3k $33k (exactly $32,967) Lioncode Games
Divinity Vassals $11.99 36 75% 1.1k $13k (exactly $12,949) Yi
Fire at Campsite $5.99 45 82% 1.4k $8.1k (exactly $8,086) Salvador Palma
Never Ending Beyond $9.99 20 80% 600 $6.0k (exactly $5,994) One More Dream Studios

Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.