Look, indie game development is hard. Really, really hard. We get 0 visibility and they are very hard to make. So I am making a plea to all indie game developers who want to do this full time, please please please make at least 1 horror game. 

I know! I know! I have heard the excuses:

  • “I don’t like horror movies, I don’t like horror games.”
  • “I am an artist using my medium of games to unmask the inequities of the world. Horror is beneath me”
  • “I am squeamish” 

So why do I keep begging developers to make a horror game? Here are my reasons.

#1 Steam players LOVE horror games

In 2022 I looked at all the games that earned over 1000 reviews because I wanted to see what was breaking through to the Steam audience. I then categorized each game based on genre. So of all the games that were successful, the most popular genre was Horror.

Anytime I mention how many horror games are at the top of the charts, people always say “well it is because there are so many of them and they are ALL CRAPPY asset flips.”

Well let’s compare it too…oh…I don’t know… PLATFORMERS! Here are stats for all of 2022’s games with the “Platformer” tag (usually both 3D and 2D games are tagged with this) 

Comparing the games released in 2022

Games Tagged PlatformerGames Tagged Horror
# of total games released in 20221428 1,341
# of games in 2022 that got 1000+ reviews3288
% of games that got 1000+ reviews2.2%6.5%
Median revenue$467$1,200
Median revenue for >$9.99 games $5,810 (348 games)$13,271 (363 )
Stats for all the Platformers and Horror games that released in 2022

So there were more platformers released in 2022, their median revenue is about ⅓ of that of horror games, and only 2.2% made them to the top of Steam that year. “Too Many Games” never seemed to stop Platformer developers. Why should it stop you from making a horror game.

Steam players really really like horror games. Horror fans are voracious and they like to play a lot of them every year.

#2 Marketing a horror game on social media is easy mode

Since the dawn of humans, we have passed around creepy stories by word of mouth. That is why we have ghost stories. Social media is an extension of that same culture but covered in rocket fuel.

Four years ago, people on social media honestly thought this bird woman named “Momo” was instructing kids to kill themselves. 

But really it was just a sculpture by special effects artist Keisuke Aisawa and it was called Mother Bird. Learn the back story here.

Contemporary art rarely goes viral. But if that art is horror themed, it will become a sensation. 

The same goes for social media and indie games. For most games, social media posts rarely go viral unless the game is the most beautiful, most clever game being made that year. However, horror games have a much higher success rate because people love sharing scary things on social media.

In this post, I wrote about Paranormal Tales which was a horror game that got thousands of retweets.

In this post I wrote about how Choo Choo Charles went viral 2 years ago and earned over 90,000 wishlists in 2 weeks.

Horror games are much easier to go viral on social media as long as your horror game has an interesting hook and a spooky looking monster. If you want to go viral on social media for other genres your graphics have to be the top 1% of all games. It is very competitive for non horror games.

#3 Horror games spread by word of mouth 

I volunteer at my son’s school and get to eat lunch with him and his buddies. None of those kids are allowed to use social media or play scary games but all of them could tell me the deep lore behind Siren Head, Huggy Wuggy, Rainbow Friends, and Garten of Banban. 

Horror concepts and characters are so viral that kids can’t help telling them to each other on the playground. It is like the Iliad and the Odyssey. They spread by legend. 

#4 Horror games can be produced relatively quickly and there is a high tolerance for jank.

Horror has always a low-fi, crude, rough-around-the-edges medium. See Blair Witch.

See Paranormal Activity.

Unfortunately, modern game development has forced indies to ratchet up production value. But not for horror games.

Horror game production values can be relaxed as long as the scares are good. Fans care less about your game’s frame rate, and more about what your game can do to their heart rate.

#5 Making a capsule is SUPER easy and cheap

You should always hire a professional artist to illustrate your capsules (which will cost you in the range of $100 to $1000). But if you are making a horror game, it is actually better if you don’t hire a professional. For a horror game, the capsule design is super simple:

  1. Just take a screenshot of your monster staring straight into the camera (you don’t even need to hire an illustrator)
  2. Use a creepy, scratchy looking font to write out the title of the game in red or white
  3. Put the monster on the right, text on the left. You are good

Look at these hit horror games as proof:

#6 It’s an easier way to create a game that has a socially conscious message that a mainstream audience will actually play 

Horror film has always been about exploring deep social issues that are too uncomfortable to address directly. Film figured out long ago that you can fold socially provocative messaging into horror films. Examples:

  • Race: Nope, Night of the Living Dead
  • The Patriarchy: Midsommar
  • Paternalism: Eraserhead
  • Capitalism: Parasite

Here is the Director The Curse of Willow Song talking about how horror is not just about monsters:

 “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,” just with more reliance on subtext”

Karen Lam 

#7 You don’t need as much bespoke content

One of the reasons horror is so emotionally impactful is that it could happen in a world just like ours. For the most part, horror games occur in real-world locations such as abandoned houses, schools, hospitals, police stations. 

Because they are common areas, the audience doesn’t expect 100% unique world like fantasy or scifi games. You don’t need to hire a concept artist. You don’t need create a deep monster manual. Just download a bunch of basic props from the asset stores, splatter them with dirt and blood and your environment art is done. 

Similarly, horror games are all about trying to survive in an abandoned creepy place. It is you vs the monster. Being alone means no NPCs! That means no additional character dialog. That means you don’t have to do stupid NPC idle animation. It is better if nobody is around.

This low overhead means you can spend most of your art budget on the monster. So hire a good character artist. Animate the hell out of the beast. Attach lots of giggly slimy gross animation to it. Make this look good and you can scrimp on everything else.

#8 Horror fans like short play times

In my game benchmark surveys, I found that most successful game demos have very long median playtimes. Look at this graph.

Those magenta bars represent the games that earn millions of dollars. You can see that they typically have a DEMO median playtime above 50 minutes.

Love it or hate it, Steam gamers expect games to provide them HOURS and HOURS of content. That is why city builders, strategy games, simulation games are so popular. The games are highly replayable and fulfill those expectations. On the other hand, linear narrative games, puzzle games, and platformers from small indie teams often fail because it is too expensive to produce enough content to make players feel like they got something for their money. 

But this bias against short games isn’t true for horror games! People can only stand being scared for 30-60 minutes.

Look at these positive reviews for a horror game. Look at their play times (listed next to their user names). Short play sessions! The reviews even said that they could only take so much of the game before they quit and they are 100% totally ok about that and left a positive review.

Text: It was supposed to be like 40 mins but instead I spent 2.5 hours to finish this. yes im terrified (2.9hr playtime)
its free its fun its short 5 stars (0.7 hr playtime)
too scary, did not play past room with tall creature (0.2 hr playtime)

#9 The “competition’s” skill level is quite low

Horror games are mostly ignored, or at worst, looked down upon by the indie cool kids. This means the only people making them right now are true amateurs. So if you have a little bit of game dev skill you can stand out from the crowd!

Rainbow Friends is made in Roblox by some mysterious dude named RoyStanford. You can compete with this art quality, right?

On the other hand, if you are making a traditional indie-style 3D platformer, your competition is games like Stray, which had a team that included two former UBISOFT AAA-level ARTISTS! You cannot compete with this:

#10 It is one of the few genres that can generate real emotion

Indie game developers always say they want to create games that truly affect people’s emotions…man. 

Well, look at this emotion generated from just some polygons floating around:

This emotional impact is the reason streamers love to play horror games. These games make content creators act silly on stream and their fans LOVE to see it.

#11 You can try out a new engine

I don’t know why, but you might be thinking of trying out a new engine. A horror game is a great way to try developing in a new environment. 

Compared to other genres, horror game code requirements are pretty small. The gameplay programming is not too complex compared to something like an automation game. They also have quick production times so you can pop in, try a new engine, sell the game and use that revenue to pay for your little experiment. Paid R&D is always a good thing.

#12 It works for indie film

In film, horror has always been where new film makers learn the craft of film making in a low stakes environment. 

Read this quote form an article all about the famous directors who got their start making horror films:

Horror is a unique genre in filmmaking that lends itself to unabashed creativity that isn’t seen in many other genres. It acts as a kind of test lab for filmmakers to experiment with technology, story ideation and practical effects. The barrier to entry is low, which allows many independent or up-and-coming filmmakers to show off their talents without pressure from big production studios. Many of the famous directors you are familiar with today got their start in horror filmmaking, including Peter Jackson and Sam Raimi. Keep reading to find out about five famous filmmakers who got their start with horror movies.

LA Film EDU Blog post

This quote is basically the same argument I am making. You could literally swap out every instance of the word “film” with “game.”

#13 You can move on once your horror game is a hit

Just because you got your start making horror film or games does not mean you always have to.

  • Kathryn Bigelow’s second film was Near Dark
  • James Cameron’s first film is Piranha II
  • Sam Raimi made the Evil Dead series

You can move on too after you make a horror game. Just because you started by making horror films doesn’t mean you need to start wearing black eyeliner and listen to Fields of the Nephilim. The games you make are not your identity.

#14 You can practice rapid game development

Last week I wrote about why indies should be making more “Middle Games” that don’t take YEARS to make. Before you can really dedicate yourself to your “Dream game” you should practice making and releasing games by working on smaller projects. Horror games are an excellent self contained short game (provided you don’t try to make open-world horror).

I talked to Faris of the Euphoric Brothers who make the hit Garten of Banban series. Just look at these review counts:

Here is what he said about making these games

“The advice I’d give to anyone making games in general not just horror, is to not give up and keep making games. Before Garten of Banban, we have made around 20 games. All different types too like we’ve made games in different genres and different styles till we found something we like and good at. So just keep experimenting and keep making games! For horror games particularly, I’d say research the market thoroughly (multiple games not just 1 big one) beforehand as it’s a pretty unique one “ –

Faris of the Euphoric Brothers

Recommendations

So you are thinking….

“Maybe Chris IS right about Horror…I mean he was totally 100% correct way back at the start of 2022 that indies should make Vampire-Survivor-Style Games. That went well for many developers. So what should I do if I want to dip my toe into horror?

Step #1 Play some indie horror games

The funny thing is, if you follow the “Indie scene” on Twitter you will be familiar with games like Venba, Gunbrella, Card Shark, etc. But, you probably have never heard of Garten of Banban. But you should, because that game is a big deal. Collectively, the series has over 13,276 reviews. 

If you know someone under the age of 12, show them this image, I bet they can name him.

Other indie horror games to try

Truly learn what these games have in common. Understand why people like them. 

Step #2 Respect the genre and stick to the tropes

I don’t know why, maybe game design schools are to blame, or maybe too many GDC talks are to blame, but any time I say “The Horror genre is hot” I see game designers post replies that go something like “Ok. Huhuhu, I am going to make a Horror game but it is actually a turn-based tactical-card-battler where you have to use output randomness to try and date a zombie. Hu hu hu.”

Ugh! Stop it.

I don’t know why but I find game designers look down on Horror games and think they are dumb, cheap thrills, so they try to show off how much smarter they are than the genre by adopting this cynical attitude and try to over-design a game with stupid mechanics that don’t belong to prove that they are above the genre. 

The result of their overly-designed game is that it doesn’t actually address what players want out of the genre. Making a dog’s breakfast out of the genre is too clever by half and it usually leads to failure.

Horror fans don’t play these games because they want to see their expectations overturned about what games actually mean via your clever commentary on ludonarrative dissonance. They just want to be fucking grossed out and scared.

In conclusion:

  1. Humble yourself and don’t think you are smarter than the genre.
  2. Respect the genre tropes and their fans.
  3. Just make a goddamn scary game where it is dark and something bad is chasing you and there is blood and guts everywhere. Just make an actual horror game.

Step #3 Don’t make an open world horror game (at first)

For some reason a lot of developers try to make an “open world” horror game. Horror is supposed to be small and confined. Think cabin in the woods, Saw, PT, all haunted houses. The nature of horror is restriction, not freedom. 

Also, making a game “open world” means you have to add a WHOLE LOT more content. Remember, you are trying to get this game out fast to test the waters.

Yes I know Choo Choo Charles succeeded as an “open world” horror game, but that developer had made smaller horror games first like My Beautiful Paper Smile and Night in Riverager. 

After you have released 2 horror games, then you can make an open world horror game. For now, stick to a scary hallway and you can’t move.

Step #4 Take a break from your main game

If you have plowed years into some project that seems stuck in the mud, take a break, fire up a new project and make a horror game. Scope for a month or two. See what you can get out in a short period of time.

If it fails, who cares! You only wasted 2 months and you learned a lot and are now refreshed to go back to your main game or give it up and become a successful horror game creator. 

Halloween is a magic period because you can explore an alternative version of yourself to see how it feels. That is why Halloween costumes are so liberating for so many people. If you have always wanted to be a sexy lobster, Halloween is an excuse to try it out without penalty, or shame:

For this Halloween, try out a different version of yourself as a game maker. When you are done, put it away and get back to making more ludonarrative explorations about what games mean… man.

Step #5 Remember that this is all still a risk

Even though Horror is among the most popular genres on Steam, you still has a 6.5% chance to succeed. This industry is hard. Please, don’t use your life savings hoping to turn a profit here. This industry will break your heart. 

BUUUT, if you are able to release 1 horror game per month, you have a 72% chance to get a hit. It works that way right? (Don’t DM me).