Middle games are the opposite of your dream game, they are games that you make quickly but not poorly. The point of a middle game is not to become a millionaire but to get something public. They are more polished and complex than a game jam game, but much less than a 1-2 year big project.
These types of games used to be the norm during the flash and web game craze of the early 2000s but game developers somehow forgot how to make them.
The middle game sounds impossible but you can do it! Seriously! Today, I present the story of
Developer SuitNtie who rapidly made Merchant 64, a love letter to 32/64 bit console game aesthetics.
Merchant 64 sold about $20,000 and only took 4 months to make. It is a simplistic game. Now you might say FAILURE! It didn’t make $1,000,000+ diamond tier money! It’s simplistic and lacks more mechanics!
If you play it (and you should, it’s on discount for the Summer Sale) you can clearly see places where one could add more “meat” to make it a more complex game.
But that’s not the point. Today’s blog is about how developer SuitNtie has this kind of perfect sense to share his work early and in progress and get some amazing side benefits out of it. If you are early in your game dev journey, observe how this developer manages to get his work out faster, instead of spending years on a project that is never finished.
What is Merchant 64
SuitNtie was inspired by the turnip trading game in Animal Crossing: on day 1, you buy turnips for a low price, then chance it to sell them higher a few days later.
Similarly, in Merchant 64, you can buy 3 types of goods and the price for each changes every day. The challenge in the game is timing where you are and when you sell. You use profits to slowly upgrade your kit allowing you bigger trades to more distant markets.
One of the key hooks of the game is the graphics and vibes. Somehow SuitNtie is a master at getting Nintendo 64 vibes right. Just everything about it is perfect.
The 5000 wishlist trailer
Merchant 64 is a know-it-when-you-see-it-game. There is just something magic about all the little details he includes.
SuitNtie made his first trailer and uploaded it to his personal youtube channel.
A day later, Gamespot’s youtube channel picked it up unsolicited:
Between the two channels, there were 42,600 views and this virality brought in 5000 wishlists.
That is what a “beautiful game” looks like. 1000+ wishlists from a single piece of media that is picked up and spread without you doing anything.
So, how do you make a trailer go viral?
There is no secret trick here. Merchant 64 is just visually amazing. It just nails the vibe. It is compelling.
Also SuitNtie worked in marketable decisions into the very design of the game. One of his shop keepers was originally an old man. But then he realized if he made the shop keeper a cute (in a blocky sort of way) redhead, it would probably attract more attention.
Lesson: Your game and every decision in it IS your MARKETING, not just what you tweet.
Brilliantly SuitNtie understood his strengths: Merchant 64 looks good and can impress with a trailer. So he made 2 additional trailers throughout the game’s marketing campaign.
Launch
About three months later, he launched Merchant 64 with 7500 wishlists. He didn’t make a demo. Why the rush? Well,
“I needed money for rent 😅”
suitNtie
He didn’t notice if he got onto popular upcoming but looking at his following chart, it doesn’t seem like he did or did so for only part of a day.
But he shipped.
The game sold 2500 copies and about $13,000 worth.
The review score is mostly positive with most reviews saying it is pretty, sounds amazing, but lacks content.
So what?
Why did I dedicate a whole blog to a game that didn’t follow the typical “Steam marketing meta?” This game also didn’t make 1 MILLION DOLLARS, it did’nt even make it into real Steam either.
Did it “faaaaail” (as Reddit always likes to say when a game doesn’t make $1 million)?
It did not fail.
Merchant 64 is a middle game. It makes middle money. It was shipped fast, and didn’t overstay its welcome.
The whole point of Middle games is that you get them out quick. Middle games are not supposed to be profitable. The primary goal is to make something memorable, neat, and to build up your professional reputation, audience and your tech stack.
Middle games are primarily for first time developers. I truly think that for your first 3-5 games you should just ship fast and learn things. Don’t worry about 7k wishlists. It is better to get out there and make small games and expect to make $10,000. That is a win. Each game should build on the next. Eventually your tech stack and experience grows and you can spend more time going for a “full development” style game where you try to gather as many wishlists over a year or more.
The important thing is for you to understand what your goal is and what is your strategy? Are you a small time dev who has never shipped? Make middle games and ship in 4 months despite not getting 7,000 wishlists.
SuitNtie got the idea for this strategy from watching Xalavier Nelson Jr and his company Strange Scaffold. The Strange Scaffold strategy is to make lots of small, interesting projects with a clear hook, and release them quickly.
Are you an experienced dev which a team of employees? Then middle games aren’t the answer. You really put together a high-powered marketing plan and go for as many wishlists you can in as long as you can afford.
The benefits of not being too precious with your work
The real reason I find suitNtie so amazing is that he ships. The benefits of shipping can come fast and from unexpected locations.
Almost a year ago suitNtie created a series of low-poly Dragonball Z dating sim parodies on youtube. Here are a couple:
When he tweets about them, they go viral. This tweet got 80K+ views
Serendipitously, film producers from Hollywood found his videos and offered him the opportunity to design the low-poly 3D models for the Sonic the Hedgehog characters in the Sonic 3 end credit sequence.
SuitNtie’s 3D models were on the big screen! Here is a random video some fan shot in a theater (note the appearance of soda kid at 0:39). Those models are suitNtie’s!
You only get offers like this if you put yourself out there and show that you can do amazing work. You must ship. If you hold your art to your chest and go years without shipping, you will miss out. Opportunity cost is real.
If you want to see the full behind the scenes of how this played out, watch this
Even though Merchant 64 may look like a “failure,” I think it is much healthier long term for a creative to release many small projects and learn along the way. As long as he keeps up game development, and keeps shipping, I have no doubt that suitNtie will eventually have a hit. His art has that magic… something, he just needs to get his game development skills up to the same level, or partner with someone who has complimentary experience.
Other interesting tidbits
Day 3 of the Discovery Queue (DQ) tells all
All games that meet the launch thresholds get a shot in the Discovery Queue (I wrote about it here). Day 1 and 2 are the DQ just feeling out your game. By Day 3 you can see what the Steam algorithm thinks of your launch. If they give you more traffic on Day 3, they like you! Unfortunately Day 3 was a down day for Merchant 64.
Here is the DQ traffic graph. As you can see, April 2nd, was a drop that never recovered.
But DQ is still VERY important
Even though DQ traffic fell on Day 3, over 64% of the game’s launch window visits came from it.
Yes Merchant 64 is a “pretty game” that went viral on Youtube and Twitter, but those two platforms didn’t provide much visibility at launch.
Look at the external visit numbers for launch week.
- Reddit: 1061
- Youtube: 1217
- Twitter: 856
Total traffic from social media sites was 3.8%. Social media will always let you down even if you have a pretty game. Believe in the Discovery Queue.
I think social media can prime an audience but it doesn’t convert. Wishlists convert. So you use social media as a 2-phase approach. Your goal with social is to turn vitality into wishlists. Then when you launch you turn wishlists into money. You can’t go straight from social to money. You need wishlists and Steam to do the actual conversion.
Would a demo have helped?
No. For about 95% games I recommend you make a demo. It is the #1 way to get wishlists. However, don’t make a demo if your game is kind of a quick hit game where once they play it, they get the gist and players are satisfied. If you play Merchant 64, I will be honest, there isn’t as much depth as other management games. I think a lot of the interest in the game came from the amazing visuals and “vibes.” But once someone experiences them, they will probably be satisfied.
This is one of those 5% cases where a demo would hurt sales.
What if there was more depth to the game?
Yes, adding more depth would definitely helped. BUT real artists ship. suitNtie had rent to pay. I am impressed at how he was able to stand up against scope creep. There was no creeping here. If he had taken another month to add more features, I am positive it would have turned into 2 months, which would turn into another 3 months.
Before you know it, this would have turned into a 1 year development cycle and this is no longer a “middle game.”
My recommendation is I think he had a winning formula for a cozy management game set in a N64 style world. Continue the trend but build upon it. Perhaps make a game with deeper shop management and upgrades that are consistent with comparable management games. Ship in 6 months this time (assuming rent is covered).
Spot on N64 / PSX art styles are so hot
Merchant 64 got 5000 wishlists with a trailer because it nailed the art style. The 64-bit/32-bit graphic style is entering a period where kids who grew up playing these games are now old enough to be Steam players and have disposable income to blow on their nostalgia.
You have to nail the aesthetic though. It isn’t just “low poly.” You can’t just use Synty low poly and expect the wishlists to roll in. The 64bit aesthetic has a specific texture, model shape, and vibe that you have to get right. Here are some examples of recent games that hit it right:
- Pseudoregalia
- Crow Country
- Agent 64: Spies Never Die (pre-release but a boatload of wishlists)
Follow suitNtie
I truly believe suitNtie has really tapped into some underlying vibe of 64-bit games and the market has responded with interest. This is a very viable art style for games, if you can pull it off.
But, art isn’t enough though. It can attract attention but you need an engaging game to get people to buy and recommend the game to their friends.
I am confident suitNtie will figure it out with a future game (he is already working on his next one).