[rib3ye]

Somehow audiences will respect effort vs resources as long as there is community outreach and the price makes sense.

There are a lot of 5/10 games that are successful on Steam because the devs set the right expectations for the experience.

Recently Vampire Survivors comes to mind. Definitely a 6/10, but something about the balance of no-effort art and masterful game tuning makes it VERY sticky.

[devilbunny]

Goat Simulator is not a good or deep game, but I definitely got my $3 or whatever I paid out of it. It’s just mindless fun.

[ndsipa_pomu]

> Vampire Survivors comes to mind. Definitely a 6/10

That's fighting talk round my way!

There's something they've got incredibly right between the no-thinking gameplay and the gradual progression through the various secrets and unlocks. I thought I'd grown tired of it after finishing the base game and not being bothered about gold farming, but I bought the DLC the other week and I was instantly hooked again.

[leviathant]

Everything about Vampire Survivors made sense to me upon learning that it was developed by an Italian guy who used to work on slot machines. It also reinforced that I've been right to avoid casinos my whole life.

I get that the art was a no-effort import, but everything else about that damn game is a good illustration of something that only seems simple because it's exceedingly well done.

[riffruff24]

Same thing with Dead Cells and Slay the Spire. Many similar games but very few of them managed to imitate the delicate balance of carrot and stick.

[jimbob45]

no-effort art

In fairness, isn't is specifically meant to look like a ported Italian game with laughably incorrect translations?