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Should I ship an Interactive Fiction Creature Collector?
Creature Collector + Interactive Fiction
Only 18 developers shipped an Interactive Fiction Creature Collector 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, JASON, Coming of Age, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 29 more are announced, ×3.2 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $1.1k, ×1.7 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $450; 1 in 20 cleared $540k, ×869 the market median. Revenue is down 35% on the market; 29 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $449 (exactly $449) |
|---|---|
| Median | $1.1k (exactly $1,078) |
| Top 25% | $4.8k (exactly $4,798) |
| Top 5% | $545k (exactly $545,486) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 18 |
| Released games | 42 |
| Announced | 29 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $7.99 |
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 down 35% on the market, supply as many developers as the period before.
Free games: 10%, excluded from money figures.
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
- Interactive Fiction
- effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Creature Collector, Interactive Fiction; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Choices Matter, Exploration
- Price point
- $7.99 typical · top 25% priced $16.99 or above
- Art
- 8 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Colorful, Cute, Funny
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $16.99 or above; the middle game at $7.99.
The top 10 games average 85% positive over 1,509 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $450. All of the 14 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 29 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.2 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Creature Collector with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Perma DeathFair
- + Bullet HellFair
- + CapitalismFair
- + LootFair
- + IdlerFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + Action RoguelikeFair
- + SpaceFair
- + ZombiesFair
- + ArcadeFair
- + Co-opPoor odds
- + Dating SimPoor odds
Comparable games
JASON, Coming of Age 2025 · $545k 
My Lovely Wife 2022 · $308k 
Athenian Rhapsody 2024 · $144k 
Bonnie Bear Saves Frogtime 2026 · $73k 
Kaichu - The Kaiju Dating Sim 2022 · $26k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | JASON, Coming of Age | $14.99 | 1,213 83% | 36k | $545k (exactly $545,486) | Coeur de cochon | |
| | My Lovely Wife | older | $14.99 | 685 74% | 21k | $308k (exactly $308,044) | GameChanger Studio, Toge Productions |
| | Athenian Rhapsody | older | $14.99 | 320 91% | 9.6k | $144k (exactly $143,904) | Nico Papalia |
| | Bonnie Bear Saves Frogtime | $16.99 | 143 98% | 4.3k | $73k (exactly $72,887) | Bonte Avond | |
| | Kaichu - The Kaiju Dating Sim | older | $9.99 | 87 88% | 2.6k | $26k (exactly $26,074) | Squiddershins |
 | The Wide Open Sky is Running out of Catfish | $14.99 | 57 100% | 1.7k | $26k (exactly $25,633) | ZIPIT! Games | |
 | World for Two | older | $13.99 | 58 77% | 1.7k | $24k (exactly $24,343) | Seventh rank |
 | Damsels in Distress | $8.99 | 36 83% | 1.1k | $9.7k (exactly $9,709) | Anime Mania | |
 | Cat city | older | $1.99 | 90 71% | 2.7k | $5.4k (exactly $5,373) | Laush Dmitriy Sergeevich |
 | Girl Next Door | older | $9.99 | 17 47% | 510 | $5.1k (exactly $5,095) | SinVR |
 | MonGirl Conquest | · EA | $19.99 | 8 75% | 240 | $4.8k (exactly $4,798) | Yeehaw Games |
 | Tribal Ritual | $4.99 | 16 75% | 480 | $2.4k (exactly $2,395) | TheBigO Games | |
 | Egyptian Punishment | $4.99 | 15 86% | 450 | $2.2k (exactly $2,246) | TheBigO Games | |
 | Cauldron Caution | $9.99 | 5 100% | 150 | $1.5k (exactly $1,498) | Poisheesh | |
 | Melting Encyclopedia | $4.99 | 10 90% | 300 | $1.5k (exactly $1,497) | Ivanka Wolpman | |
 | Mind Garden | $5.99 | 6 100% | 180 | $1.1k (exactly $1,078) | Joseph Smithberger |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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