The Iterative Digest #86
Pricing for Steam Sales, Summer Games Done Quick 2022, more From Software titles and much more!
Hello and welcome to issue #86 of the Digest! This week we discuss how to price your games during Steam sales, Summer Games Done Quick 2022, more From Software titles, and much more!
So without further ado, sit back, relax, and enjoy this week’s latest - curated by yours truly! If you like what you see, don’t forget to share and subscribe; your support means a lot to us. Have a great week!
Summer Games Done Quick 2022 returned as an in-person event for the first time since Awesome Games Done Quick in 2020. The event included titles such as Elden Ring, Control, and Pokemon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl will run until July 3rd and will benefit Doctors Without Borders.
Hidetaka Miyazaki, the director behind Elden Ring has claimed that the next From Software game is nearing the end of development. The developer is also working on multiple new projects, according to its latest recruitment drive.
Hideo Kojima has recently claimed he shelved a project he’s been considering for a long time due to its similarity to the Amazon series the Boys. Speaking on Twitter, he said that he had “put it on hold because the concept was similar (different settings and tricks) to the popular show.
DICE’s new general manager Rebecka Coutaz confirmed that the studio has no time to pursue non Battlefield projects as it looks to establish itself as a leading dev in the FPS market. DICE had previously developed other games such as Mirror’s Edge and Star Wars Battlefront.
Forza Horizon 5’s latest update added co-op support for its story missions and a new selection of cars as it gets ready for its official Hot Wheels expansion coming in July. The new co-op support for Horizon Stories will support up to 6 players and the highest score earned in the group is applied to all players.
The revamped PlayStation Plus has now launched in Europe and a number of classic PS1 games in their 50Hz PAL versions have confirmed to be getting an option to switch to 60Hz down the line. Generally speaking, PAL games tend to run 20% slower than NTSC games, and can only reach a maximum of 50FPS.
With the Signal State 30% off for the Steam Summer sale we thought it would be a great time to explore the link between pricing and discounts as well as everything you should take into account when you decide how much your game is worth on Steam!
Some top tips include the following:
When pricing your game, your price should be probably higher than you think!
If nothing else, price (reasonable but) high so you can bring down the cost during sales but still make money.
Research your competitors to find the sweet spot with pricing.
Know which pricing tier you belong in.
Have a clearly defined business model.
Consider localized prices.
As far as the sales themselves, this Gamesindustry.biz article suggests relying on more than just seasonal sales, implementing progressive discounts, aiming to get featured, timing your discounts earlier in the month, and timing your updates around sales, as well as considering bundling.
29th June
The Legend of Bum-bo is a puzzle-based deckbuilding roguelike by Edmund McMillen (The Binding of Issac, Super Meat Boy ) and Jame Interactive, where players collect hordes of items that can be modified, upgraded, and combined with others in many interesting ways. P.S it’s also a prequel to Binding of Issac and is coming to PlayStation, Xbox and Switch.
30th June
The much-anticipated update to Cuphead - The Delicious Last Course features Ms. Chalice as a brand new playable character with a modified moveset and new abilities. Traverse a new Inkwell Isle with new bosses, new weapons, and new charms on a brand new adventure! The DLC is coming to Switch, Xbox One, PS4, and Windows!
The Jackbox Party Starter features three updated titles: Quiplash 3, Trivia Murder Party 2, and Tee K.O. With up to 8 players and up to 10,000 audience members these games are sure to entertain for hours! The game is dropping on Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X, PS4/PS5, Switch, and PC.
Kelsey - Agile Game Development: Build, Play, Repeat by Clinton Keith
What is the best game development process? Of course, there’s no one right answer, but many believe it’s "Agile Game Development," more specifically the version called SCRUM. It's way too complicated to explain fully in a newsletter, but essentially, you plan your game concept out in terms of "dependencies." A game writer and game writing instructor, David Kuelz, explains it pretty clearly: “For example, how many attack animations do our animators need to make? Well, that DEPENDS on how many weapons the game has. How many weapons do we have? Well, that DEPENDS on how many we can afford, etc.” With that information, you put everything down on a list called a "product backlog" in order of dependencies. Kuelz continues, “if any item on the list DEPENDS on something, then that means it needs to go LOWER on the list. Anything that you aren't yet sure about (like, say, whether you want to have a customizable main character—it'd be nice, but how important is it really?) also goes towards the bottom of the list. The things that you can—and should—do first naturally float to the top.” With this outline, you then begin, well, at the beginning, working your way down from the top and rearranging the list as you learn new things, cut features, develop new ones, etc.
A great book that goes into depth about the process is Agile Game Development: Build, Play Repeat by Clinton Keith.
Kelsey - Mini Motorways
I'm always in the market for a good management sim. From Banished to Sim City, Prison Architect, Oxygen Not Included, and everything in between, I'm always ready to strap in and start strategizing the most minute details. I recently came across Mini Motorways on Steam, and knew immediately it was for me. The game's a little tough to describe without making it sound less interesting than it is, but it has overwhelmingly positive reviews in the Steam store and its early game was described by one person in a review as "the relaxing calm before an avalanche." You start out very simply. You have a single house and a single destination, and they need to be connected. Soon, you have more houses, then more destinations. And oh, new colors! The blue houses need access the blue destinations, the pink to the pink, and so on. What started out simple and straightforward quickly becomes a pile of spaghetti on your screen as you crisscross motorways and pray for more bridges and roundabouts with each in-game week's reward screen. There are several fun levels with cool challenges, including ones that change daily and weekly, and you can see your rankings compared to all players or compare yourself to just your friends.
Out in May of 2022, Mini Motorways a sequel to Mini Metro, which, yes, I did pick up as well after playing Motorways for a while. Motorways feels like a big improvement over Metro, with nicer art and more features, though they're both a ton of fun and available on PC, mobile Nintendo, and Playstation. If you have Apple Arcade, both games are available there for free at the time of this posting as well. Happy gaming!
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