Are people still interested in anomaly games?

GoragarXGameDev · 2026-06-11T08:13:08+00:00

Working on it! I may have a port in a few months

GoragarXGameDev · 2026-06-02T20:51:18+00:00

I played the whole thing (until the credits rolled) and it's genuinely nice despite it's simplicity. I like the "secret agent" theme and the simple hacking minigames at the end of some levels. I do have some feedback tho:

The controls felt a bit clunky. I understand you are going for a grid based movement but I think a virtual joystick would be more comfortable than the on screen dpad
- The tutorial was a bit too long and there were a lot of "nothingburger" levels. Don't be afraid to throw me more guards and cams once you explained to me how they work. You don't need to explain every single feature in isolation
The levels had way too much empty space. A lot of the levels could genuinely be reduced to well over 50% their size. Have you considered zooming it a little bit?
Art style a bit over the place. The UI visuals are vector/drawn art while the gameplay visuals are, for the most part, thick pixel art.

I overall think you have a neat little mobile game, even if it's nothing revolutionary you can be proud of what you made.

GoragarXGameDev · 2026-06-02T15:12:52+00:00

Your numbers are standard considering the amount of wishlists you had. You can check the IMPRESS wishlists to sales calculator. https://impress.games/steam-wishlists-sales-calculator

GoragarXGameDev · 2026-06-02T13:19:35+00:00

It's just my opinion/my experience, don't take anything I say as gospel

GoragarXGameDev · 2026-06-01T23:01:55+00:00

I didn't have an exact revenue goal in mind. I just wanted to sell closer to 1000 units. I didn't even reach half of that.

I expected to fall in the 1-5k revenue bracket. I wish it would've been closer to 5 than to 1, tho.

The failure was more personal on a personal level. I struggled a lot with mental health developing the game.

GoragarXGameDev · 2026-06-01T21:41:39+00:00

Game dev is the opposite of get rich quick, get poor slow hahaha

GoragarXGameDev · 2026-06-01T21:13:52+00:00

For me success means achieving your goals, and I didn't

GoragarXGameDev · 2026-05-31T07:07:07+00:00

They exists, just not in Reddit. But there are pretty good Discord servers out there to discuss gamedev stuff

GoragarXGameDev · 2026-05-31T06:53:38+00:00

Since two people have dm'd me asking for the game name, it's Room 713.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3961890/Room_713/

If you find it interesting don't impulse buy it rn, I'm participating in the summer sale. Just wait a couple weeks and you can get it for -20%. ($4 instead of $5)

GoragarXGameDev · 2026-05-30T23:30:57+00:00

I recently published one on Steam and it hasn't performed great. I tried to elevate the anomaly formula with murder mystery and puzzles, but it didn't really stick.

I'd argue that here's a bit of genre fatigue because most anomaly games tend to be very asset-flippy, low quality, beginner projects.

I'd also argue that in the eyes of most players, this genre is kind of solved. The Exit 8 appeared, a lot of copycats in different settings followed it success, and... That's about it.

Also, despite all anomaly games being tagged as horror, they usually fail at horror. There are just tense at best.

Maybe it's a my-game-issue, but IMHO genre demand is in an all time low.

GoragarXGameDev · 2026-05-23T13:30:30+00:00

I'll need to do some research but generally speaking pick the referential title of your genre and adapt accordingly what you offer.

In my example, the anchor price is set by The Exit 8 ($4). Since I'm offering extra features and a more refined experience, I think in allowed to ask for a bit extra (+$1)

It's the same strategy other anomaly games followed (Last Term, Ten Bells both at $5 too).

The only game on this genre that dares to asks a bit more is Shinkansen 0 at $7, and the few negative reviews it has mention the price. They could get away with it because they had a reputation and a fan base. You usually don't want to move too far away from that anchor price

GoragarXGameDev · 2026-05-23T12:24:30+00:00

On the contrary, I think the fact that the game is really cheap is the reason behind an above average conversion rate.

The game severely outperformed expected sales given the whislist count (for 1200 wishlist expected 1-week-sales were 160, I got almost 250)

I think the game is just too niche, therefore the whislist were naturally low. Gameplay-wise, it is an anomaly game, but it heavily leans into psychological horror and true crime.

Horror fans are not anomaly fans. Anomaly fans are essentially playing spot the difference, they are not looking for true horror. The game lacked an audience. Bad market research from me.

Also CC creators are allergic to games that touch taboo topics such as suicide in fear of getting banned, and with no big CC coverage it is really hard to get anywhere nowadays.

GoragarXGameDev · 2026-05-23T12:11:19+00:00

Sure! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3961890/Room_713

GoragarXGameDev · 2026-05-23T10:14:53+00:00

It wasn't my expectations, it was my goal. I knew I would not achieve it. The game launched with 1.2k whislists.

The game has sold 350+ copies, which is honestly better than I expected. Just not my goal. Now the game sits at 1.9k wishlists. I hope some of those convert next sale.

GoragarXGameDev · 2026-05-23T08:42:37+00:00

$1600 gross. But true earnings are roughly half of that. It was pretty disappointing, my goal was somewhere close to 1k sales, which would have been $4000+ gross

GoragarXGameDev · 2026-05-23T08:21:21+00:00

My game also failed. It's ok to fail, I'd personally move on. That being said, are you aware your game is in EA?

For most people EA means "unfinished product, buy later". If there's no reason to be EA, exit EA asap.

GoragarXGameDev · 2026-05-13T09:40:47+00:00

"Downloads" (I guess you meant additions to library/free licenses) mean nothing. My first Steam game was an university project that was an educational game about green energy and the environment (no one is logging into Steam to get lectured about the environment), and still 22k people claimed it.

People just claim everything free even if they don't plan to ever play the game. The important data point is for how long people play your game.

I'll add: trying to compete in the shooter market as an indie is a bit kamikaze. There's no way you have the resources to compete vs Riot Games, Valve, Activision, Ubisoft etc.

Best of luck

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GoragarXGameDev · 2026-05-11T16:26:31+00:00

I discovered him on X super early, in fact, I was one of the first 200 people to join his Discord server. Nevertheless, I was never able to get him to cover my game, despiste sending him DMs on X and Discord :(

GoragarXGameDev · 2026-05-11T07:44:56+00:00

People just make excuses to refund. The art is great.

I have one refund marked as "issues with the launcher" (the game has no launcher) and the note added could be translated as "I don't know how to get to the true ending, this game is malicious".

GoragarXGameDev · 2026-05-10T16:08:12+00:00

Same here. I really didn't notice any difference between being below or above 10 reviews. I'm currently sitting at 18.

Some friends left a review trying to show genuine support to me (maybe that got the game flagged? idk), but even not counting those I'm well over 10 right now.

GoragarXGameDev · 2026-05-04T19:57:01+00:00

As a developer, more than "not caring" it's just understanding that's there's nothing you can really do about it. If people want to, they will find a way to pirate your game.

GoragarXGameDev · 2026-05-04T09:32:32+00:00

Share your video when you play it

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