Games › Dynamic Narration › Dynamic Narration + Puzzle Platformer
Should I ship a Dynamic Narration Puzzle Platformer?
Dynamic Narration + Puzzle Platformer
Only 17 developers shipped a Dynamic Narration Puzzle 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, HAMSTERMIND, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 33 more are announced, ×3.7 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 3 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $720, ×1.5 the market's $480 for a 3 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $150; 1 in 20 cleared $28k, ×60 the market median. Revenue is down 80% on the market; 33 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $150 (exactly $150) |
|---|---|
| Median | $718 (exactly $718) |
| Top 25% | $2.4k (exactly $2,399) |
| Top 5% | $28k (exactly $28,448) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 17 |
| Released games | 52 |
| Announced | 33 |
| Effort | 3 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | High |
| Typical price | $4.99 |
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 80% on the market, supply 15% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 10%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is high: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Dynamic Narration
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
- Puzzle Platformer
- effort 3 / 10 · high · effort 3 sits in the high band
What it takes
- Effort
- 3 / 10 · small 2D action, light systems
- Systems
- Dynamic Narration, Puzzle Platformer; 5 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Puzzle, Choices Matter
- Price point
- $4.99 typical · top 25% priced $12.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with 3D, Colorful, Funny
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $12.99 or above; the middle game at $4.99.
The top 10 games average 94% positive over 193 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $150. All of the 8 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 33 games are announced against 9 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.7 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Dynamic Narration with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + SportsStrong odds
- + IncrementalFair
- + IdlerFair
- + ModernFair
- + TacticalFair
- + LGBTQ+Poor odds
- + RoguelikePoor odds
- + RoguelitePoor odds
- + Word GamePoor odds
- + Dating SimPoor odds
- + RomancePoor odds
- + ManagementPoor odds
Comparable games
Songs for a Hero - Definitive Edition 2016 · $1.1M 
Lakeview Cabin Collection 2015 · $479k 
Lightmatter 2020 · $414k 
Letters - a written adventure 2022 · $103k 
The Library of Babel 2023 · $35k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Songs for a Hero - Definitive Edition | older | $14.99 | 2,414 96% | 72k | $1.1M (exactly $1,085,576) | Dumativa, Castro Brothers |
| | Lakeview Cabin Collection | older | $9.99 | 1,599 94% | 48k | $479k (exactly $479,220) | Roope Tamminen |
| | Lightmatter | older | $19.99 | 691 94% | 21k | $414k (exactly $414,393) | Tunnel Vision Games |
| | Letters - a written adventure | older | $14.99 | 230 90% | 6.9k | $103k (exactly $103,431) | 5am Games GmbH |
| | The Library of Babel | older | $18.99 | 61 70% | 1.8k | $35k (exactly $34,752) | Tanuki Game Studio |
 | HAMSTERMIND | $12.99 | 73 97% | 2.2k | $28k (exactly $28,448) | Righteous Tree | |
 | Cartonfall | older | $7.99 | 115 89% | 3.5k | $28k (exactly $27,566) | kuklam studios |
 | Into A Dream | older | $11.99 | 55 89% | 1.7k | $20k (exactly $19,784) | Filipe F. Thomaz |
 | VINE | older | $14.99 | 40 82% | 1.2k | $18k (exactly $17,988) | FrogParty |
 | Rain City | older | $3.99 | 127 56% | 3.8k | $15k (exactly $15,202) | big pineapple |
 | Upstream | $7.99 | 18 100% | 540 | $4.3k (exactly $4,315) | Gllama Games | |
 | KunSpace | $2.10 | 58 96% | 1.7k | $3.7k (exactly $3,654) | DeadManLi | |
 | Nazar | $9.99 | 12 75% | 360 | $3.6k (exactly $3,596) | Eray Dinc Studio, Recontact Games | |
 | Denbora | $19.99 | 4 100% | 120 | $2.4k (exactly $2,399) | Bionic Ape | |
 | Knight of the Lions | $5.99 | 12 83% | 360 | $2.2k (exactly $2,156) | Eugene Zubko | |
 | Screwball | $12.99 | 5 80% | 150 | $1.9k (exactly $1,948) | Scott Tipton | |
 | A Father's Tale | $9.99 | 3 100% | 90 | $899 (exactly $899) | Deep Cave Studios | |
 | Exit, Seriously? | $3.99 | 6 83% | 180 | $718 (exactly $718) | Forbidden | |
 | The Unshared | $4.99 | 2 100% | 60 | $299 (exactly $299) | SQUIDA |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
Your address goes to Buttondown, which sends the letter, and nowhere else. Every issue has an unsubscribe link. No tracking beyond the open count Buttondown keeps.