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Should I ship a Transhumanist Interactive Fiction?
Interactive Fiction + Transhumanism
Of 34 developers who shipped a Transhumanist 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.. 46 more are announced, ×2.1 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 4 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $800, ×1.7 the market's $480 for a 4 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $21k, ×45 the market median. Revenue is up 100% on the market; 46 games are announced against 22 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $300 (exactly $300) |
|---|---|
| Median | $802 (exactly $802) |
| Top 25% | $5.2k (exactly $5,242) |
| Top 5% | $21k (exactly $21,279) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 34 |
| Released games | 71 |
| Announced | 46 |
| Effort | 4 / 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 up 100% on the market, supply 85% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 24%, 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
- Transhumanism
- 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
- Interactive Fiction; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Exploration, Choices Matter
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $15.99 or above
- Art
- 6 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Atmospheric, Lore-Rich, Story Rich
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $15.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 93% positive over 457 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 9 in 10 of the 16 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 46 games are announced against 22 developers who shipped in the last year, ×2.1 per shipper.
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
| Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Nobody Wants to Die | older | $24.99 | 5,818 83% | 175k | $4.4M (exactly $4,361,755) | Critical Hit Games |
| | State of Mind | older | $19.99 | 1,548 76% | 46k | $928k (exactly $928,336) | Daedalic Entertainment |
| | Lightracer Spark | older | $12.99 | 970 83% | 29k | $378k (exactly $378,009) | Smartmelon Games |
| | Ceiba | older | $6.99 | 255 94% | 7.7k | $53k (exactly $53,474) | Wirion, 7DOTS |
| | Mars Vice | $24.99 | 70 97% | 2.1k | $52k (exactly $52,479) | Rho Labyrinths GmbH | |
| | Vampire: The Masquerade — Sins of the Sires | older | $11.99 | 143 39% | 4.3k | $51k (exactly $51,437) | Choice of Games |
| | World for Two | older | $13.99 | 58 77% | 1.7k | $24k (exactly $24,343) | Seventh rank |
| | how to kill a fly [ H2KAF ] | $9.99 | 71 97% | 2.1k | $21k (exactly $21,279) | Radtel Collective | |
| | DATING OF THE FUTURE | $15.99 | 43 90% | 1.3k | $21k (exactly $20,627) | geoWaffle | |
| | Acolyte | older | $10.99 | 55 74% | 1.7k | $18k (exactly $18,134) | Superstring |
| | Veins Like Tapeworms | $19.99 | 20 95% | 600 | $12k (exactly $11,994) | AwesomeTrinket | |
| | The Queen of Phalli | $9.99 | 39 87% | 1.2k | $12k (exactly $11,688) | Labor of Love | |
| | Alter Evo | $14.99 | 23 95% | 690 | $10k (exactly $10,343) | Technical Fiction | |
| | Project Looking Glass | $4.99 | 47 100% | 1.4k | $7.0k (exactly $7,036) | MORPH | |
| | Imago Season | $9.50 | 19 89% | 570 | $5.4k (exactly $5,415) | Lunar Finch | |
| | Runway 66 | $6.99 | 25 88% | 750 | $5.2k (exactly $5,242) | NEBULA NOVA GAMES | |
| | 黄色猫片 | $0.99 | 100 91% | 3.0k | $3.0k (exactly $2,970) | Basement Games, 86岁按时吃饭 |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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