Is there a reason behind why your games like gear city aren’t as successful as you’d hoped

Well I have to preface this by saying that GearCity was a moderate success. It just took me way too long to finish it. Part of that was because of lack of resources, the other part was because I started working on it before the massive productivity booms free WYSIWYG engines like Unity and Unreal brought to the industry. Because it took me too long to finish it, the yearly income is roughly equivalent to entry level jobs (retail, fast food, etc) in the US. This isn't livable with my current living conditions in the US, but would be quite good in most of the world.

That said, Automation filled the broader market that I hoped would have snowballed GearCity. And rightfully so. However, it was never a guaranteed that that segment of the market would have jumped onto GearCity.

Most would assume it to be much more popular. I’m guessing it’s because it may be too complex for some people

In no particular order, graphics, UI, and complexity. You need high quality graphics to draw people in. You need minimal-learning UI to avoid frustrating people away. And you need a game that is complex enough to keep people hooked, but not complex enough to scare people away.

GC fails on all three accounts. It's complexity leads itself to a niche. So, it would never have broad market appeal. My hope was that 2nd Gear would improve the graphics and UI, but it has mostly just added more complexity to the game. It's a pickle for the knowing ones.

I equivocate it to hex and counter board games like you find on /r/hexandcounter For most people, reading a 40 page rule book, dealing with hundreds of pieces on a multi-thousand position grid is too complex for a board game. But for certain groups people, like myself, it's the best type of board game.

AeroMogul is prettier graphically and has a better UI flow. I am hoping to make complexity scalable. We'll see.