Home
Creators
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

"How a Genre Becomes Shovelware" [Early Access, Uncut] (Patreon)

Published:
2026-09-09 15:38:45
Imported:
2026-09

Content

Hey folks. Here are some thoughts I've been collected on the last run of indie genres to be identified as "easy to make, easy to sell" and how this generally leads to, well, you can tell from the title. I'm uploading this here early so you can get the jist of it in terms of information/argumentation early, but it'll be snipped down a bit for YouTube and have more game footage incorporated. Thanks for your support!

Files

How A Genre Becomes Shovelware [Early, Uncut Patron Only]

Comments

Alexis Pautrot

Interesting topic. I believe most of the pro indie devs must secretly think "OMG I have do one of those games, I need to hurry before the trend is over".

SporeBloom

That last game.....yeah looks like zero fun! The separation of commerce and creative pursuits is creating the 'Good/CheapFast' Venn diagram, isn't it? This is being pushed in order to make everyone into some super indie...and the most frequent real life argument I hear is for studio 'sustainability'; make some $ with less investment, and then move onto things you actually want to make. I wonder if people could continue an adjacent career in order to earn said money if they know they don't have something meaningful to contribute to a) the genre/design b) cultural inspiration. If one is fulfilled copying other formula, does that equate to not being ready for self expression or deeper inspiration?

Indie Game Clinic

I’ve never thought about how this relates to the Iron Triangle! Wicked insight

Daniel Mclaughlan

Excellent video, really well articulated and paced, even as a rough cut. I thought the analogy of opening a restaurant was particularly helpful - and so obvious once said out loud - but it’s clear these shovelware devs are seeing the popularity rather than over saturation. I personally didn’t see the appeal of that tidy up Librarian game: the sheer number of things to tidy up looks overwhelming, even as someone who likes the sorting and categorising of tidying up IRL. However, that slight puzzle element sounds more interesting than what these other games are doing. I saw a clip of a wine cellar one that had a similar bit of problem solving to figuring out where things go. Chasing this trend sounds like the next evolution from an asset flip to “we’re not even going to spend time crafting the experience, we’ve just dumped our assets in a room and you need to move them over there”. I hope this video does reach a wider audience beyond game devs so that people recognise they should be more discerning. Thanks for sharing.

Patrick Pilmeyer

I think I needed to hear this, I am in a situation of: I need to make money so I should do something small, but, the truth is, my skills reside in making complex stuff, and trying to find a magic cheap to do but fitting my skills when they are opposite is driving me crazy

SporeBloom

ah good name for it. Thanks for seeing through the typos as well.

SporeBloom

I can certainly relate to this as well. Perhaps....just maybe you have more than one idea brewing, and one of those ideas is suitable to some proper guard rails of a smaller scope? Forcing yourself to compartmentalize at least one project into a strict size could be a neat experience?

Václav Sobotka

Oh man I really love your content. But why is it as YouTube video? I can’t just go on a walk and listen to it. I need to either pay YouTube premium for that to work, or I need to leave the phone unlocked so it plays.

Indie Game Clinic

I stopped uploading them directly to Patreon because the majority of people at the time said they would rather have the Patreon posts as links to YouTube videos rather than direct uploads on here. Apologies. I'm not really in a position to both (yet) but if the channel picks up enough for me to have a production team then I will work out how to do both. It makes sense to prioritise the you tube-first way given that this is predominantly a YouTube channel, but I'll keep your issue in mind and consider doing something about it when it won't cause too much additional workload which I'm not currently equipped to handle on my own.