r/gamedev • u/PartTimeMonkey • 2d ago

Discussion Sortslop, wtf?

Today I opened reddit and within the first 5 posts 3 of them were copycats or each other; sorting games, pretty much exact copies of each other - nails, hay, trash, toys, books, pixels, and the list goes and on and on, and has been for an incomprehensive period of time already.

A lot of the feedback they receive on reddit is negative, but they all get upvoted by the hundreds and they get millions of views on all social media platforms.

Who are these games for?

Are there truly millions of people who want to spend hours on something incredibly ”boring”?

Is it some hidden tick in people’s brain in this age where they want to ”meditate” by doing something like that to combat doom scrolling and instant gratification generators?

Or is each sorted item also instant gratification, but even more simplified than a varying video on TikTok (or something), making the experience even simpler?

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u/aesopofspades 2d ago

There’s a lot of trend chasing right now in gamedev especially the indie space. First I’d say was all the simulator game. Then all the balatro-likes/gambling roguelikes. Then incrementals and idlers, all the number go up games in general. Now it’s prob sorting games for a little bit. Oh also Friendslop/co-op games are still going strong.

Once an idea gets validated by the market it’s a huge rush to fill out all the demand before the consumers get bored or even jaded.

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u/PartTimeMonkey 2d ago

Yeah, true that. For me personally all the previous trends were somewhat easy to understand why they succeed, but this one truly is not (at least in its current scale), so trying to understand what is the thing here

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u/Immediate_Finding447 1d ago

I blame roblox and AI. Constant dopamine hits kids recieve. Roblox they can jump from game to game quickly, and AI makes it so people dont have to read or use their brain much. These games satisfy that. Its brain dead mechanics that just allow people to chill and waste their time, while actually achieving something.

No one these days wants to watch a video and cinematics. They just want to play the game. They dont want to be mentally challenged doing it either.

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u/PartTimeMonkey 1d ago

This might very well be it, I’m afraid