2023 Survey Results & December Recap

We're listening to your feedback to make plans for 2024!

Happy Mystery Monday!

Mystery Gamedev Creator Spotlight

Every month, we round up the news from our creators and share them with you.

Take a look at what the creators in our community have been working on:

Artificial Selection demo comes back from hiatus with new content updates

Devil Spiδεr releases Flowchart Plug-in and Point n Click Plug-in for Ren’Py

HollowHeart announces survival death game The Determined Ones

Decide 4 God demo updates for Tier 3 Patreon subscribers

If you’re a dev and want to share your news here, join our Discord!

2023 Survey Results Summary

All results were submitted anonymously and will remain that way.

I’m only sharing the data that will help you understand my goals for improving the community in the near future, so some responses may be omitted from this article — but are still taken to heart just as much as everything else I’m sharing here.

Overall, we received a 10% response rate, which I think is pretty standard.

Half of respondents had game development experience, and half did not, so I feel pretty comfortable using these results to better shape the community for both sides.

Most readers of our newsletter had little interest in our articles on game development, instead preferring to read about demos/reviews and in-depth game analysis:

They also said the posts are just the right length, or could be longer:

Respondents were — for the most part — highly receptive to the various ideas we’ve had for future content:

Physical merchandise being so unpopular didn’t surprise me.

But I thought it was pretty ironic that — for so many fans of visual novels and narrative games — so few of them wanted to read books on how to make them!

Video lessons were, instead, much more popular.

Software tools were the most anticipated items, so it’s a good thing that I have years of experience as a software developer!

When asked more specifically about what they wanted on the upcoming website, they asked for a highly organized database, featuring interviews, reviews, walkthroughs, and showcasing community games, as well as opportunities to create them.

I am more than happy to implement all of those things — but it will take time!

The most enjoyable mystery game that respondents learned about from us was — interestingly enough — our community project, Reaplaced:

I was also pleasantly surprised to learn my Detective Butler series of games were voted runner-up!

…Until I ended up reading this, of course:

…Well, I can’t say I didn’t ask for brutally honest feedback!

Jokes aside, respondents overwhelmingly wanted more community projects, so we’ll definitely be making more games like Reaplaced in the future.

When asked “what do you think we’ve been doing right?” respondents agreed we’ve shined a spotlight on smaller indie mystery games, and gathered fans and developers of mystery games together in a positive way.

When asked “what do you think we can improve on?” respondents agreed we need more activities, including ways for developers and fans to interact together.

Going forward, we’re going to focus on helping members of our community make long-lasting friendships by creating an environment where you can feel comfortable honestly speaking your mind — in a respectful and positive way.

Truth and honesty have always been important to me, as I’m sure they are to any detective — and despite any of our individual differences in perspectives or opinions, our shared passion for the pursuit of truth is what brings us all together.

You’ll be able to share mystery games you’ve enjoyed, and find others who enjoy the same.

You’ll also be able to engage in deeper discussions with other fans and give constructive criticism to developers.

It’s a difficult balance to strike, but I’m determined to make it happen!

Plans for the year ahead

So, considering all of the above, here’s my to-do list for 2024:

• Building a new website, including a mystery game database

• Creating software tools and video content to help developers

• Organizing more community game-making events for devs

• Organizing interactive community events for non-devs, such as “game nights” and “developer commentary streams” where you can relax and have fun

• Developer interviews (to be released on Substack and YouTube)

• Playing all the mystery games created by our community members

• And maybe more!

Again, thank you all for a fantastic 2023 — and I look forward to an even better 2024!

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Thank you for reading!

Mystery Gamedev is a community for fans and developers of mystery-themed video games.

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