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Should I ship a Time Manipulation Dungeon Crawler?
Dungeon Crawler + Time Manipulation
Only 16 developers shipped a Time Manipulation Dungeon Crawler 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, Titans of the Past, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 25 more are announced, ×2.3 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $2.7k, ×5.7 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $80k, ×170 the market median. Revenue is up 1705% on the market; 25 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $298 (exactly $298) |
|---|---|
| Median | $2.7k (exactly $2,726) |
| Top 25% | $17k (exactly $16,783) |
| Top 5% | $81k (exactly $80,968) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 16 |
| Released games | 34 |
| Announced | 25 |
| Effort | 4 / 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 1705% on the market, supply 120% 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.
- Dungeon Crawler
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
- Time Manipulation
- effort 4 / 10 · medium · effort 4 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 4 / 10 · mid 2D, writing-heavy, or simple 3D
- Systems
- Dungeon Crawler, Time Manipulation; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Action Roguelike, Procedural Generation
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $24.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Top-Down, 2D, Pixel Graphics
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $24.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 87% positive over 458 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 9 in 10 of the 7 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 25 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.3 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Dungeon Crawler with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Time ManagementFair
- + GamblingFair
- + DiceFair
- + Artificial IntelligenceFair
- + Local Co-OpFair
- + ZombiesFair
- + Word GameFair
- + ThrillerFair
- + Walking SimulatorFair
- + Score AttackFair
- + MMORPGPoor odds
- + DwarvesPoor odds
Comparable games
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | 灵墟 | older | $10.99 | 946 86% | 28k | $312k (exactly $311,896) | HappyTall Game |
| | Metro Simulator 2 | older | $14.99 | 674 65% | 20k | $303k (exactly $303,098) | KishMish Games |
| | Titans of the Past | $24.99 | 108 83% | 3.2k | $81k (exactly $80,968) | Devil's Dozen Games | |
| | Time Lock VR 2 | older | $12.99 | 170 88% | 5.1k | $66k (exactly $66,249) | WR-VRG |
| | Lord Ambermaze | $14.99 | 131 91% | 3.9k | $59k (exactly $58,911) | Potata Company | |
| | Magic Potion Explorer | older | $9.99 | 95 55% | 2.9k | $28k (exactly $28,472) | ARTIFACTS |
| | Time Snatcher Handy | $9.99 | 88 96% | 2.6k | $26k (exactly $26,374) | PulleyBun, ClockworkCats | |
| | Huge Jaws | older | $24.99 | 23 65% | 690 | $17k (exactly $17,243) | Piece Of Voxel |
| | Moon Watch | · EA | $9.99 | 56 57% | 1.7k | $17k (exactly $16,783) | Jaspel |
| | Ricave | $14.99 | 12 100% | 360 | $5.4k (exactly $5,396) | Rogueatic Games | |
| | miniquest | $4.99 | 24 100% | 720 | $3.6k (exactly $3,593) | Dennis Gallant | |
| | Grimslair | $9.99 | 10 100% | 300 | $3.0k (exactly $2,997) | ThunderRam Studios | |
| | Tower of Jank | $6.99 | 13 92% | 390 | $2.7k (exactly $2,726) | Matas Dragūnas | |
| | Depths of Providence | $2.99 | 14 100% | 420 | $1.3k (exactly $1,256) | Ryan Lutz | |
| | Layers of Bust | $8.99 | 2 50% | 60 | $539 (exactly $539) | CupCupMug |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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