Thread by @AdventureMtn

This week I presented my research about the trends on the Steam marketplace and the finding that surprised me the most was that I realized every game developer at some time in their career should make a horror game. Here is why ⬇️⬇️💀☠️

That graph shows that if you look at the top 500 games released in 2022, the genre with the most representation was Horror at 31. Steam players really like to be scared! And, good for us, as soon as they finish one, they buy another one, and another....

Horror is also a very divers genre aesthetically and gameplay wise. There is a whole sub genre of pixelart horror games that do very well. Here are just 4 of them: Lily’s Well
REFLEXIA Prototype ver.
At Home Alone Final
FAITH: The Unholy Trinity

Like making multiplayer games? Coop horror is big. People LOVE being scared with friends. Note these are not open lobby multiplayer games which typically go dead. These games are designed for 1-4 players. Check out: Inside the Backrooms, Project Playtime, Midnight Ghost Hunt.

Then there are childhood nightmare games where you basically take something that kinda scared you as a kid and you turn it into the monster that is chasing you through the game.

Horror also supports design elements that are usually dead on arrival on Steam. Puzzle games aren't very popular BUT players don't mind if you add them to horror games. In fact I almost think if you have a failed puzzle game, retheme it as horror and sell it as a separate game.

Also players are ok if horror games have shorter playtimes. They are fine if your game is just a 2 hour experience as long as you held up your end of the contract which was to scare the shit out of them.

Now if you are thinking "I don't have the passion for Horror" or "Making horror is a cash grab" consider the Shinning. Stanley Kubrick only made it after Barry Lyndon failed. He saw Rosemary's Baby and horror earned $$$. He just wanted a hit and knew horror was it.

If you want to work deeper themes into games consider this quote from horror director Karen Lam "When you look at something like zombie films, like when you look at Godzilla, that comes from a post-war Japanese terror, right? So the politics have always been there,"

So if you are burned out from a long project, or a game that didn't find an audience, make a horror game.

Oh and don't do that thing we indie designers do where you over-think it and try to make it a turn based horror or a roguelike+horror crossover. Just make a god damn game where a monster chases the player down a creepy hall and blood gets all over the screen.

If you want more insights like this one, I recorded my year-in-review lecture (here is a preview). I keep the 50% off discount up for 1 more day. You can get it with this link: progamemarketing.com/p/ideas?coupon…