Microlandia

"A 'brutally honest' city builder game that models realistic urban development challenges, now generating over $500/month after being published on itch.io and Steam."
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microlandia.city
Maker: phaser
$500+/mo (explicitly stated: 'This month it crossed the $500/month mark by far')

Marketing Channels

Primary

Hacker News Show HN

Posted multiple times in Show HN threads; the encouragement from the community motivated the creator to publish the game

Secondary

itch.io

First published on itch.io as a game distribution platform

Ongoing

Steam

Published on Steam, which is likely the main revenue driver given its larger audience for indie games

Growth Levers

  • Add community-requested features like adjustable zoning regulations and development policies to deepen gameplay
  • Leverage the 'brutally honest' positioning to differentiate from mainstream city builders like SimCity/Cities Skylines
  • Engage with urban planning enthusiast communities (Reddit, forums) who are interested in realistic city simulation
  • Pursue Steam visibility through wishlists, sales events, and user reviews to boost algorithmic recommendations
  • Create gameplay videos and tutorials to drive YouTube/Twitch discovery

First Customer Strategy

Leveraged the Hacker News community through multiple Show HN posts over the years. The positive feedback and encouragement from HN users gave the creator the motivation to polish the game and publish it first on itch.io, then on Steam. Community validation preceded commercial launch.

Pricing Insight

No specific price point mentioned in the thread. Revenue of $500+/month from Steam/itch.io sales suggests a typical indie game price point. The game took several years of sporadic development to reach a commercially viable state.

New Market Opportunities

  • Urban planning education Interest in modeling zoning regulations and development policies suggests the game could appeal to urban planning students and educators
  • Policy simulation enthusiasts Question about modeling regulatory burden indicates demand for more nuanced policy mechanics that could attract a niche audience interested in governance simulation

Key Takeaways

  • • Consistent community engagement (multiple Show HN posts) can provide the motivation and validation needed to ship a product
  • • Side projects with sporadic development can still reach commercial viability if you persist over years
  • • Niche positioning ('brutally honest city builder') creates differentiation in a genre dominated by large studios
  • • Publishing first on itch.io then graduating to Steam is a viable indie game launch strategy
  • • Community feedback often reveals adjacent market opportunities (e.g., educational/policy simulation use cases)

Sentiment Analysis

1 Pos

Notable Quotes

"I'm curious, what happens if you allow much more unlimited zoning to begin with in a city? Do you have ways to model decreasing regulatory burden for new development? — Schiendelman"

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