How little do you think is too little?

General
1

Helloooooo!

This has been really weighing on my mind recently.

I dont want to get into specifics for reasons, but how little content can a game have before it becomes too little and you’re annoyed you spent your time/money on it (50 cents)?

My game is very storybased. In the first half of the first chapter, it doesn’t have much gameplay. It doesnt really have collectables that arent related to the main tasks either. I understand I have to finish it first and then have people playtest it to see what works and what doesn’t, but still, ive been having doubts that i have too little content. In reality, objectively, i know i am going to have a lot of stuff and its just the fact i havent even finished the whole first chapter yet thats weighing me down, but i still feel insecure that its not enough, you know?

(i know im referring to them as chapters but its not a visual novel if anyones confused :3)

Maybe this is just my looking at it in its very unfinished state and thinking way too far into the future, but i would rather plan too far ahead than not plan at all, you know?

TLDR: How little content can a game have before you start to get annoyed you spent time/money on it?

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2

IMHO, to spend time on a game, I would say 1 hour of content is the real minimum.
And to spend money on it, this would be 2-3 hours.

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3

Hellooooooooooo,

if a 50 cents game has 1 hour playtime and is fun and not filled with boring things, like doing 1 thing over and over again I’m happy.
But I guess everybody thinks differently about this. I mean there are people that won’t spent more than 5 bucks for an amazing tripple A game that has 12 hour of story.

Sometimes I see on the steam store 1$ games where the developers write things like:

  • short game about…
  • 1-2 hour gameplay..
    etc.
    Personally I like these kind of information, as they keep my expectations real and I appreaciate the honesty.
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4

There isn’t a specific answer, because people’s standards are different.

But by all accounts, if the game is free, then there is no such thing as too little content. The standards are zero, because the price is zero.

This is going to change MASSIVELY the moment your game has a price tag. Prices shape customer expectations. Meaning, the higher the price, the higher expectation of quality.

If you’re worried about how much content you have for your visual novel, I recommend making the first chapter free to gauge interest and get as much feedback as possible.

Then, after you have your mojo back and have a bigger game, then you can charge the price to what you think the game is worth.

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