Min-Maxing Your Steam Launch

This is a Game Dev Podcast with my guest Cory Darby, a indie games strategist / profissional min-maxer and the co-creator of Click & Conquer, a game that with just 400 hours of work managed to turn over 100K in profits. We talk about how to optimize your Steam launch for maximum visibility and where the indie games industry on Steam is going.

Links to my Guest

➤ No cost 30-Minute consultation: https://tidycal.com/ckdarby/biz-game-dev

➤ Cory on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThornityCo

➤ Click and Conquer on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3267900/Click_and_Conquer/

➤ Analytics page Cory mentioned for Steam Stats: https://www.gginsights.io/

Listen to the podcast on the go (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.):

➤ https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/

0:00 - Intro

1:11 - The 72-hour test: what the dataset shows

3:35 - Conversion is king: Steam’s fair-shot test and early thresholds

6:56 - Designing for conversion: page, trailer, and pricing

8:41 - Launch discounts and price psychology (40% for two weeks)

10:35 - The controversial post-launch price drop and “is it sleazy?”

13:38 - Pricing pitfalls: overpricing kills and you can’t A/B test

15:39 - Are prices trending down? Incremental economics

18:32 - When deep discounts backfire on perception

20:16 - Tags as targeting: choose the right seed audience

24:51 - Appeal and instant connection vs “just make a good game”

25:37 - Copy what works, add a twist (Cory’s approach)

28:47 - Picking a war theme via asset packs—and the backlash

31:57 - Mechanics and pacing by the numbers (Click & Conquer)

34:33 - Foot-pedal playtesting and auto-edited feedback

37:54 - Scaling with collaborations and purpose-built tools

44:58 - Riding trend waves: incrementals, co-op, and shop sims

48:42 - Co-op lineage (Lethal Company, etc.) and theme waves like trains

50:49 - Plotting by tags and where the data comes from

52:27 - Don’t be late: spot waves early (Gavin’s advice)

54:31 - Trend-chasing vs passion; blending genres and risk

58:28 - Building a 400-hour game: roles, hours, and timeline

01:00:37 - Why short projects lower risk and speed learning

01:04:31 - After the wave: adjacent bets and using reviews/AI

01:09:11 - Find genres with volume but mixed reviews; “Professional min/maxer”

01:13:55 - AI is already changing dev: agents as co-devs and toolbuilding

01:19:59 - Agents that use computers and play games; the inequality gap

01:29:04 - The upside: accessibility and the internet analogy

01:31:50 - Hot take: game dev shifts business-first; why AAA struggles

01:35:07 - A new model: many small AI-boosted teams (and acquisitions)

01:37:33 - Jonas’s stance: avoid AI art, use AI for code/tools; playtesting bottleneck

01:41:19 - AI as sounding board: design aid (color theory) and more

01:43:16 - “Soulless” vs soul: min-maxing as a creative pursuit

01:44:15 - Wrap-up

My game "Thronefall":

➤ Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/

➤ Discord: https://discord.gg/gVYctptyg8

➤ Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Thronefall-2669627.html#Overview

My game "Will You Snail":

➤ Play Will You Snail on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1115050/Will_You_Snail/

➤ Join the Will You Snail Discord: https://discord.gg/G3mRDrK

For the game developers among you:

➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ