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Should I ship a Dragon Interactive Fiction?
Interactive Fiction + Dragons
Of 23 developers who shipped a Dragon Interactive Fiction 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.. 29 more are announced.
Verdict: dead, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $300 in the last 2 years and $390 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 5 / 10 build. 16 developers shipped in the last year and 29 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $0 (exactly $0) |
|---|---|
| Median | $299 (exactly $299) |
| Top 25% | $2.2k (exactly $2,246) |
| Top 5% | $39k (exactly $39,124) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 23 |
| Released games | 59 |
| Announced | 29 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
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 100% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 7%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Interactive Fiction
- effort 1 / 10 · high · prose plus a state machine
- Dragons
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Interactive Fiction; 6 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Visual Novel, Multiple Endings, Point & Click
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, 2D, Hand-drawn
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 91% positive over 761 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $50. 9 in 10 of the 9 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 29 games are announced against 16 developers who shipped in the last year.
Adjacent niches
Interactive Fiction with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + FMVFair
- + Match 3Fair
- + VampiresFair
- + SportsFair
- + IncrementalFair
- + PiratesFair
- + DrivingFair
- + DiplomacyFair
- + Perma DeathFair
- + Board GameFair
- + SnowFair
- + BuildingFair
Comparable games
Storyteller 2023 · $3.7M 
Amerzone - The Explorer's Legacy 2025 · $631k 
Eden's Ritter - Paladins of Ecstasy 2020 · $124k 
Six Legends 2025 · $39k 
ARISEN - Chronicles of Var'Nagal 2021 · EA · $32k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Storyteller | older | $14.99 | 8,169 88% | 245k | $3.7M (exactly $3,673,599) | Daniel Benmergui |
| | Amerzone - The Explorer's Legacy | $39.99 | 526 90% | 16k | $631k (exactly $631,042) | Microids Studio Paris | |
| | Eden's Ritter - Paladins of Ecstasy | older | $29.99 | 138 84% | 4.1k | $124k (exactly $124,159) | Waffle |
| | Six Legends | $14.99 | 87 100% | 2.6k | $39k (exactly $39,124) | Vincent Paquin | |
| | ARISEN - Chronicles of Var'Nagal | · EA older | $15.99 | 66 78% | 2.0k | $32k (exactly $31,660) | Maratus, Homecoming Studio |
 | The Mystery of Caketropolis | older | $9.99 | 94 95% | 2.8k | $28k (exactly $28,172) | Afiq Suradi |
 | Kaichu - The Kaiju Dating Sim | older | $9.99 | 87 88% | 2.6k | $26k (exactly $26,074) | Squiddershins |
 | Dragon Detective: A Friend from the Shadows | $9.99 | 49 97% | 1.5k | $15k (exactly $14,685) | Sungazer Software LLC | |
 | Dragon Audit | older | $9.99 | 44 97% | 1.3k | $13k (exactly $13,187) | Archive Entertainment |
 | The Tale of Doris and the Dragon - Episode 2 | older | $11.99 | 36 97% | 1.1k | $13k (exactly $12,949) | Arrogant Pixel LTD |
 | Specters of the Deep | $11.99 | 34 91% | 1.0k | $12k (exactly $12,230) | Choice of Games | |
 | Three Weeks On The Atlantic | $4.99 | 33 96% | 990 | $4.9k (exactly $4,940) | Crimson Dragon Studio | |
 | Party Quickie | $4.99 | 15 86% | 450 | $2.2k (exactly $2,246) | TheBigO Games | |
 | You Die Today | $7.99 | 7 71% | 210 | $1.7k (exactly $1,678) | Tabletale Games | |
 | Stronghold: Caverns of Sorcery | $6.99 | 6 33% | 180 | $1.3k (exactly $1,258) | Choice of Games | |
 | Professor mother-in-law begged me to get pregnant | $9.99 | 3 33% | 90 | $899 (exactly $899) | CHEN JIAWEI | |
 | Claire Darksage and the Accursed Objects Collector's Edition | $12.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $390 (exactly $390) | IKIGames |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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