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Check out the reviews of the game. https://store.steampowered.com/app/528930/Fruit_for_the_Village/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/528930/Fruit_for_the_Vil

Check out the reviews of the game. https://store.steampowered.com/app/528930/Fruit_for_the_Village/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/528930/Fruit_for_the_Vill... There are three reviews and they are all negative. Maybe the only reason he didn't make money is it's just not a good game.

SquareWheel 8y ago
If the reviews were positive, would it have made a difference? You may think so due to word of mouth. However the Steam store has hundreds of games with high reviews that still have no players. Discoverability goes beyond making a good game.
- uberswe 8y ago
  I try a lot of games with both good and bad reviews. I am more likely to try a game with good reviews. If you read the reviews for this specific game you will notice that they all point to very similar game breaking bugs which would make me even less likely to try the game. Why would I want to try a game that doesn't allow me to save more than once ever? I have 500+ games on steam, I buy games I never play and this game is giving me every signal not to buy it.
- dleslie 8y ago
  ... yes? A user perchance manages to discover this game's Steam Store page and sees that its reviews are Bad; I would certainly expect that they would remain incredulous to the prospect of playing. Whereas if the reviews were Very Good or better... Moreover, it's in Steam's interest to keep bad games from being discovered. They don't profit more by exposing their customers to a deluge of poor product. Reviews ought to influence discoverability.
  - SquareWheel 8y ago
    At present the game hasn't even received enough reviews to have an official review score.
dleslie 8y ago
It's a narrative game at that. They're incredibly niche even when they're not VR games.
- hesdeadjim 8y ago
  This x 100. There have been enough Steam data leaks to calculate that as a genre narrative games are extremely niche compared to the wider market. Then combine that with a VR market of 1% of gamers and good luck making any money at all.
- rwallace 8y ago
  I was about to express surprise at this, but then it occurs to me: are you using 'narrative game' in a different sense, to mean specifically a game where there is a voiced narration, like The Stanley Parable or Oxenfree?
  - dleslie 8y ago
    That would be a narrated game. ;) Narrative games are an old genre with its roots in text adventures that focuses on telling a story almost to the exclusion of other gameplay elements. If they do include other elements it will most likely come in the form of an environment puzzle, I find.
    - rwallace 8y ago
      Ah, so you are using 'narrative game' as I would use 'adventure game': one where the gameplay content is puzzles rather than combat or strategy? Okay, then I agree, that is quite niche these days.
- freeflight 8y ago
  No offense, but "it's a narrative game" seems to have become the new excuse for games that lack any interesting gameplay or actual content and thus have to play up the "artistic angle" by pretending to tell some amazing story. Looking at the Steam page for this its genre is listed as a clicker, a review points out there's literally no progression for the clicker gameplay part, that's a bad clicker right there because those are usually all about the progression. You can't make an oversight like that up with narrative, if the gameplay is driving away the player then you can have the most amazing narrative in the world, most people still won't experience it because they won't get past the bad gameplay.
rasz 8y ago
Even the movie that plays on Steam game page tells you this game sucks in first 20 seconds! : 'not glamorous, tiring, Lather, rinse, repeat, over and over, and it will suck'
- underwater 8y ago
  Wow, you weren't exaggerating. I can't imagine a worse possible voice-over for the trailer.

SquareWheel 8y ago

If the reviews were positive, would it have made a difference? You may think so due to word of mouth. However the Steam store has hundreds of games with high reviews that still have no players. Discoverability goes beyond making a good game.

uberswe 8y ago
I try a lot of games with both good and bad reviews. I am more likely to try a game with good reviews. If you read the reviews for this specific game you will notice that they all point to very similar game breaking bugs which would make me even less likely to try the game. Why would I want to try a game that doesn't allow me to save more than once ever? I have 500+ games on steam, I buy games I never play and this game is giving me every signal not to buy it.
dleslie 8y ago
... yes? A user perchance manages to discover this game's Steam Store page and sees that its reviews are Bad; I would certainly expect that they would remain incredulous to the prospect of playing. Whereas if the reviews were Very Good or better... Moreover, it's in Steam's interest to keep bad games from being discovered. They don't profit more by exposing their customers to a deluge of poor product. Reviews ought to influence discoverability.
- SquareWheel 8y ago
  At present the game hasn't even received enough reviews to have an official review score.

dleslie 8y ago

It's a narrative game at that. They're incredibly niche even when they're not VR games.

hesdeadjim 8y ago
This x 100. There have been enough Steam data leaks to calculate that as a genre narrative games are extremely niche compared to the wider market. Then combine that with a VR market of 1% of gamers and good luck making any money at all.
rwallace 8y ago
I was about to express surprise at this, but then it occurs to me: are you using 'narrative game' in a different sense, to mean specifically a game where there is a voiced narration, like The Stanley Parable or Oxenfree?
- dleslie 8y ago
  That would be a narrated game. ;) Narrative games are an old genre with its roots in text adventures that focuses on telling a story almost to the exclusion of other gameplay elements. If they do include other elements it will most likely come in the form of an environment puzzle, I find.
  - rwallace 8y ago
    Ah, so you are using 'narrative game' as I would use 'adventure game': one where the gameplay content is puzzles rather than combat or strategy? Okay, then I agree, that is quite niche these days.
freeflight 8y ago
No offense, but "it's a narrative game" seems to have become the new excuse for games that lack any interesting gameplay or actual content and thus have to play up the "artistic angle" by pretending to tell some amazing story. Looking at the Steam page for this its genre is listed as a clicker, a review points out there's literally no progression for the clicker gameplay part, that's a bad clicker right there because those are usually all about the progression. You can't make an oversight like that up with narrative, if the gameplay is driving away the player then you can have the most amazing narrative in the world, most people still won't experience it because they won't get past the bad gameplay.

rasz 8y ago

Even the movie that plays on Steam game page tells you this game sucks in first 20 seconds! : 'not glamorous, tiring, Lather, rinse, repeat, over and over, and it will suck'

underwater 8y ago
Wow, you weren't exaggerating. I can't imagine a worse possible voice-over for the trailer.