Games › Interactive Fiction › Interactive Fiction + Mechs
Should I ship a Mech Interactive Fiction?
Interactive Fiction + Mechs
Only 18 developers shipped a Mech Interactive Fiction 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, Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog, made about est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 11 more are announced.
Verdict: dead, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $0 in the last 2 years and $0 over 4, against a market of $630 for a 6 / 10 build. 10 developers shipped in the last year and 11 games are announced.
| Bottom 30% | $0 (exactly $0) |
|---|---|
| Median | $0 (exactly $0) |
| Top 25% | $300 (exactly $300) |
| Top 5% | $379k (exactly $379,097) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 18 |
| Released games | 32 |
| Announced | 11 |
| Effort | 6 / 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 25% more developers than the period before.
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
- Mechs
- effort 6 / 10 · medium · effort 6 sits in the medium band
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Interactive Fiction; 8 in 10 of the top 25% also carry RPG, Visual Novel, Dating Sim
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $14.99 or above
- Art
- 8 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Anime, First-Person, Story Rich
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $14.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 9 games average 89% positive over 880 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $50. 9 in 10 of the 10 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 11 games are announced against 10 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
Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog 2025 · $379k 
ALTDEUS: Beyond Chronos 2021 · $341k 
Heaven Will Be Mine 2018 · $319k 
Mecha Ace 2014 · $27k 
Battle Girls 2017 · $24k | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog | $14.99 | 843 90% | 25k | $379k (exactly $379,097) | Space Colony Studios | |
| | ALTDEUS: Beyond Chronos | older | $29.99 | 379 95% | 11k | $341k (exactly $340,986) | MyDearest Inc. |
| | Heaven Will Be Mine | older | $14.99 | 709 92% | 21k | $319k (exactly $318,837) | Pillow Fight, Worst Girls Games |
| | Mecha Ace | older | $5.99 | 151 86% | 4.5k | $27k (exactly $27,135) | Choice of Games |
| | Battle Girls | older | $9.99 | 80 85% | 2.4k | $24k (exactly $23,976) | Dharker Studios |
 | Sierra Ops - Space Strategy Visual Novel | older | $14.99 | 42 80% | 1.3k | $19k (exactly $18,887) | Innomen Team |
 | 彗星战团 | older | $2.99 | 185 86% | 5.6k | $17k (exactly $16,594) | 星火工造 |
 | Ironheart | older | $6.99 | 42 88% | 1.3k | $8.8k (exactly $8,807) | Choice of Games |
 | Cyberlinxxx | older | $12.99 | 20 75% | 600 | $7.8k (exactly $7,794) | Baka_energy_studios |
 | BROKEN God Awakening | $4.99 | 25 76% | 750 | $3.7k (exactly $3,742) | lamb of game | |
 | Professor mother-in-law begged me to get pregnant | $9.99 | 3 33% | 90 | $899 (exactly $899) | CHEN JIAWEI | |
 | Transforming my fiancée | $9.99 | 2 0% | 60 | $599 (exactly $599) | FSK20006 | |
 | OKeverything with 3000 beauties 2 | $9.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $300 (exactly $300) | XIOF FAN, S+TEAMBABA, XU TING | |
 | OKeverything with 3000 beauties 3 | $9.99 | 1 0% | 30 | $300 (exactly $300) | XIOF FAN, XU TING, S+TEAMBABA | |
 | My Kirin kidney and my beloved teachers | $9.99 | 1 0% | 30 | $300 (exactly $300) | OKEdragon | |
 | My Kirin kidney and my beloved teachers 2 | $9.99 | 1 100% | 30 | $300 (exactly $300) | OKEdragon | |
 | PLUS ULTRA | $2.99 | 3 100% | 90 | $269 (exactly $269) | zawascript | |
 | Luddite | $9.99 | 0 0% | 0 | $0 (exactly $0) | Joseph Adams, Madeleine Adams |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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