If you do it only for money, you are going to get frustrated really fast.
Games are art, and we should treat it like so… what I mean is that, even more in the indie, passion project space, it should be pursued in the same way a writer tries to write a novel, a musician or a band makes an album, etc. It should be financed the same way too!
Trying to follow trends in pursue of money will burn you out really fast, you have to AT LEAST like the trend, and appreciate its ups and downs, so you can finish a game. Finishing a game is already one of the hardest goals, and making the process a terrible chore is a sure way to fail at it. And we’re not talking about that a game takes at least 6 months, a year to be made, and that trend WILL NOT have the same shape by then. I’ve seen too much metroidvanias for example, been created while there’s a huge demand for them, and then launch 3 years later when people are only wanting for either crazy or excellent metroidvanias, realize they’re not that, and be forgotten and frustrated.
Also, the way you look at trends, from the video, I see it as very limiting. It makes it seem like there’s only one trend at a time, all the players are interested in one thing at a certain point in time, which is just not true at all. At the same time Mario was creating platformers, Nethack was going on, for example, expanding the Roguelike genre which would be incredibly influential 20 years later! Right now, there are niches and incredible stuff happening outside the Game Awards and the Brand Directs, and people are enjoying it.
I’d say, cut your costs as much as possible ethically, simplify, and try to make something someone is gonna like (a sure way to do that is a game for yourself, at least YOU are going to like it. If you are “following a trend” because you happen to like the current trend, so be it).
