Add a Game

Research an indie game across all dimensions and produce a .yaml file to add it to this repository.

Research the dimensions, including the individuals responsible for the game's inception, its earliest origins, related projects or attempts those individuals participated in, and the historical, geographical, and socioeconomic context setting the scene for the inception of each game, the entire story leading up to its creation, the relative socioeconomic and social networking and social influencing positions of everyone involved, any financial or capital advantages, any nepotism, any differences in terms of the people involved having prior commercial experience, financial, or marketing, strokes of luck, or particular idiosyncrasies that were great decisions, to what extent they were a happy accident or a highly meticulous capturing of the total addressable market, the success of the game, the level and type of success, the channels in which they've succeeded and the longevity and scale, what revenue, if any, was generated, how many parties would have split the profits from that revenue, what the schedule of investment versus stakeholders recuperating just theoretically how much money they made, and whether anybody made money, categorize the product as either a fanciful, whimsical, artistic creation that didn't necessarily land commercially, or a highly intentional and successful commercial product.

Output format

YAML file template

Save to data/games/slug.yaml

# One game per file. Put standardized dimension slug-keys under values.
slug: ""       # lowerCamelCase, e.g. "killerQueen"
title: ""      # Display title, e.g. "Killer Queen"
rank: 1        # Integer display order (optional)
summary: |-
  [One paragraph: game title, year, developer, publisher, platform, price. Cite source URLs inline.]
values:
  principalInceptionFigures: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Principal inception figure(s)". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  immediateOriginStorySpark: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Immediate origin story / spark". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  earliestPlayableForm: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Earliest playable form". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  precursorProjectsExperiments: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Precursor projects / experiments". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  priorCommercialProfessionalExperience: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Prior commercial / professional experience". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  geographicBaseAndLocalScene: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Geographic base and local scene". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  socioeconomicContextAtInception: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Socioeconomic context at inception". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  socialCapitalNetworkAdvantages: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Social capital / network advantages". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  nepotismAssessment: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Nepotism assessment". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  originalDesignThesis: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Original design thesis". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  wasTheDesignAimedAtTamCapture: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Was the design aimed at TAM capture?". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  targetPayerCustomer: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Target payer / customer". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  distributionChannel: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Distribution channel". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  publisherManufacturingBusinessPartnerStructure: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Publisher / manufacturing / business partner structure". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  unitEconomicsVisiblePublicly: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Unit economics visible publicly". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  salesOwnershipProxy: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Sales / ownership proxy". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  revenueStreams: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Revenue streams". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  whoLikelySplitRevenue: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Who likely split revenue?". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  recoupmentLogic: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Recoupment logic". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  evidenceOfDemandCommunityPull: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Evidence of demand / community pull". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  criticalReceptionRatingsSignal: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Critical reception / ratings signal". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  networkEffectsAndLiquidity: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Network effects and liquidity". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  hardwarePhysicalityChoice: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Hardware / physicality choice". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  marketingStoryHook: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Marketing / story hook". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  luckHappyAccidentComponent: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Luck / happy accident component". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  meticulousDecisionsThatMattered: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Meticulous decisions that mattered". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  biggestCommercialWeakness: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Biggest commercial weakness". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  biggestCommercialStrength: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Biggest commercial strength". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  longevityPresentCondition: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Longevity / present condition". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  digitalDerivativeSequelAnalysis: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Digital derivative / sequel analysis". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  revenueMagnitudeConservativePublicRead: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Revenue magnitude: conservative public read". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  stakeholderRecuperationLikelihood: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Stakeholder recuperation likelihood". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  artisticVsCommercialClassification: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Artistic vs commercial classification". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  oneSentenceNeutralVerdict: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "One-sentence neutral verdict". Cite public source URLs inline.]
  confidenceMissingDataCaveats: |-
    [Sourced analysis paragraph for "Confidence / missing data caveats". Cite public source URLs inline.]

35 dimensions

Dimensions reference

Each slug must appear under values: in the output YAML

principalInceptionFigures

Principal inception figure(s)

immediateOriginStorySpark

Immediate origin story / spark

earliestPlayableForm

Earliest playable form

precursorProjectsExperiments

Precursor projects / experiments

priorCommercialProfessionalExperience

Prior commercial / professional experience

geographicBaseAndLocalScene

Geographic base and local scene

socioeconomicContextAtInception

Socioeconomic context at inception

socialCapitalNetworkAdvantages

Social capital / network advantages

nepotismAssessment

Nepotism assessment

originalDesignThesis

Original design thesis

wasTheDesignAimedAtTamCapture

Was the design aimed at TAM capture?

targetPayerCustomer

Target payer / customer

distributionChannel

Distribution channel

publisherManufacturingBusinessPartnerStructure

Publisher / manufacturing / business partner structure

unitEconomicsVisiblePublicly

Unit economics visible publicly

salesOwnershipProxy

Sales / ownership proxy

revenueStreams

Revenue streams

whoLikelySplitRevenue

Who likely split revenue?

recoupmentLogic

Recoupment logic

evidenceOfDemandCommunityPull

Evidence of demand / community pull

criticalReceptionRatingsSignal

Critical reception / ratings signal

networkEffectsAndLiquidity

Network effects and liquidity

hardwarePhysicalityChoice

Hardware / physicality choice

marketingStoryHook

Marketing / story hook

luckHappyAccidentComponent

Luck / happy accident component

meticulousDecisionsThatMattered

Meticulous decisions that mattered

biggestCommercialWeakness

Biggest commercial weakness

biggestCommercialStrength

Biggest commercial strength

longevityPresentCondition

Longevity / present condition

digitalDerivativeSequelAnalysis

Digital derivative / sequel analysis

revenueMagnitudeConservativePublicRead

Revenue magnitude: conservative public read

stakeholderRecuperationLikelihood

Stakeholder recuperation likelihood

artisticVsCommercialClassification

Artistic vs commercial classification

oneSentenceNeutralVerdict

One-sentence neutral verdict

confidenceMissingDataCaveats

Confidence / missing data caveats