• “We began contemplating the creation of a new mid-core project and decided to venture into a niche with low competition but high demand”
• “Almost all hypotheses were confirmed allowing us to occupy a niche that would be difficult to re-enter”

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From hypercasual to hybridcasual to mid-core, each game on the market is trying to find a space that has yet to be filled. Within those spaces are niche audiences, but knowing exactly how to engage with them means identifying who these players are and what needs they have.

In this guest post, Azur Games producer Tatiana Vinogradova shares how to approach pre-production for a mid-core audience and the importance of finding the niche within your player base.

A couple of years ago, we began contemplating the creation of a new mid-core project and decided to venture into a niche with low competition but high demand.

Our primary goal was to meet the expectations and needs of the audience as much as possible, thereby securing a strong position in the chosen niche. To achieve this, we focused heavily on pre-production. We studied the audience, formed hypotheses, and tested them using a variety of tools, from simple surveys to in-depth CustDev interviews.

Spoiler alert: Almost all hypotheses were confirmed, allowing us to occupy a niche that would be difficult to re-enter.

Choosing a niche and creating an audience profile

We aimed to identify a new niche for ourselves based on two criteria:

• Low competition, with the potential to excel in terms of gameplay and content.

• Potential earnings of $1 million monthly to avoid unprofitable prokects and street clear or highly competitive niches aiming for super profits.

Upon analysing the market, we found several such niches. Predominantly, these were games catering to the hobbies of a largely male audience aged 35+ – hunting, fishing, various simulators, etc. Each niche had a leader with at least $1 million monthly revenue, commanding the entire audience.

Out of the many themes we could choose, a railroad setting is what we stopped on. We picked it for two main reasons:

1. A game that focuses on management mechanics could attract a broader audience, including fans of farms, tycoons, and strategies.
2. Railroad modelling is an expensive hobby, with the average price of a locomotive model being $300-500 and train sets and collectable models reaching four-digit figures. Hobbyists often spend significant amounts on their railroad layouts, with costs reaching $200-300k over the years of their passion.

This means the following:

• Railroad enthusiasts are willing to invest substantially in their hobby. The game could provide another way to indulge in their passion.

• Many people desire this hobby but lack the financial resources or space for it. A well-crafted game could offer them a viable alternative.

After selecting the niche, we conducted a deeper analysis of our target audience using all product development methods that could be applied to gamedev.

We started by creating detailed audience profiles for different segments. We identified their demographics, professions, mindsets, purchasing behaviors, as well as the specific needs that our game aims to fulfil. We also pinpointed features that are common for all players in the niche to define their key needs.

The choice of the US railroad history as our setting was driven by several reasons.

Firstly, in many countries, including the US, railroads played a crucial role in the 19th-century industrial revolution. Due to this fact, railroads are of special interest to the residents of these countries. 

Secondly, the history of US railroads is deep and extensive. In the early days of railroad development, the struggle for trade dominance was colossal. The number of companies, events, and famous figures that have left their mark on history is so great that this stage of the country’s evolution can be discussed for many years.

Thirdly, as we all know, the US market is one of the most desirable for developers. And a story about pivotal events in this country is sure to resonate with Americans.

Hypotheses and tests

With audience profiles in hand, we established several principles that laid a foundation for our project.

Our audience consists of men with a technical mindset, such as engineers or factory workers. They’re pragmatic, and many of them view the world as a system. The industrial aesthetics feel native to these people because it’s their common work environment, a big part of their lives. Thus, a clear, logical structure and realism were crucial for the game.

Based on this, our key principles included:

1. The visual style should be realistic with an industrial twist. Stylisation or cartoonish elements would be off-putting, as would sci-fi. Retro elements are acceptable since the game starts in the 19th century.
2. The game should avoid dissonance in mechanics and elements. The game is good when players don’t have to question its logic. It should be predictable and easy to understand. So, building houses out of apples and cows is not on the board.
3. Historical accuracy is essential. Our audience has extensive knowledge on the topic, so we have to keep up. Putting a German locomotive on the American map or straying away from real geography would be enough of a reason for them to quit the game.

The next step was to validate our hypotheses and ensure our understanding of players, their goals, and their needs was accurate.

To do this, we used surveys and CustDev interviews.

Surveys provided us with statistical data from a broad sample, while interviews gave us deeper insights into the audience’s needs.

Surveys

Online surveys helped us verify audience profiles, visual preferences, and locomotive era preferences. 

The respondents for our surveys were acquired through third-party services and ad campaigns.

The results confirmed our target audience: mainly men aged 30-50+ with technical backgrounds. They came from many different fields but had one thing in common: they were all working with complex systems. 

Our realism hypothesis was validated as well. To evaluate the visual, we used fake shots, a ranking system, and a written justification of the choice. The fake shot with realistic graphics won by a large margin, while stylisation consistently took the last spots.

In terms of eras, players prefer modern and art deco locomotives, showing the least interest in electric ones.

This information, as well as the selection of locomotive models, informed the visual style of our game.

Interestingly, over half (60.6%) of our audience had played old PC railroad tycoon games like Railroad Tycoon I-III, which we took into account to try and recreate a similar atmosphere.

CustDev

CustDev interviews with the audience were also an important tool. However, the challenge was finding people from our target audience and, even more difficult, getting them interested in an in-person interview.

Since this was an early pre-production stage, we did not have any game prototypes. Instead, we created a video in the desired setting, a landing page with an invitation to an interview, and launched a targeted ad campaign.

To increase conversion for the interview, we offered players a promo code for a unique locomotive after the game’s release.

The application form included a brief questionnaire to immediately filter out those who did not fit the target audience parameters.

After selecting the most promising applicants, we sent out invitations for interviews.

The effectiveness of CustDev interviews hinges on how well the questions are formulated. Questions should be as open-ended as possible, avoiding any wording that might lead respondents toward a particular answer.

You’d better not ask a question such as, “Would you like the game to include this specific mechanic?”. Some respondents might agree just to be polite, while others might express interest in the mechanic, but it’s not particularly important for them. This can result in misleading data, where it appears that 90% of players want a particular feature, but in reality, it’s not a key factor for most of them.

Instead, questions should be as broad as possible, such as “What do you like about trains?” This way, respondents are less likely to give pre-formulated answers, and the information you gather will be more authentic and reliable.

This approach proved very effective, as it confirmed most of our hypotheses.

All interview participants had played mobile projects in a railroad setting. Many had stopped because they couldn’t find a suitable project, but all of them had tried to find one at some point. This confirmed our hypothesis that there is demand in this niche, but no product currently satisfies it.

In addition to gathering information about which game mechanics and elements attract players, we also tried to understand why they might quit the game.

The study confirmed the hypotheses and principles we had developed. For example, players quit games because of cartoonish visuals, a lack of logic, and inconsistencies between locomotives and countries. Even players of complex PC strategies are content with simple mechanics and linear progression, but the lack of realism is a deal-breaker for them.

We considered all requests and tried to incorporate them into the game. Quick example: Most respondents were interested in the history of US railroad development because of the high competition between companies in the early decades. We used this idea as the basis for a major feature that is planned for release in a few months.

Release and first metrics

Having confirmed the initial hypotheses, we proceeded to develop the game. The concept was straightforward: one map – one well-known railway company.

We compiled a list of key railroad companies from the 19th and 20th centuries and meticulously studied their history and the regions where they operated. We investigated the locomotives they developed and used, the key cities involved in their operations, the geography, resources, and regional development.

All events in our game are factual. The locomotives, characters, and objects have really existed or even exist to this day. All cities and mines correspond to their geographical locations, albeit adjusted for scale.

This accuracy was crucial, as railroads and their development are a major hobby for our target audience. It was essential to communicate with them on the same level.

Our artists did a tremendous job delivering realistic graphics on mobile devices. This required special attention to optimisation – texture atlases and their compression, animation refinement, use of SRP Batcher, and so on.

We even dedicated considerable time and resources to creating realistic water. While not a core gameplay element, it enhances the environment. We ensured that riverbeds flowed into each other realistically, with glare on the waves and foam forming in the right places.

These details significantly impact the sense of realism in the game almost as much as the historical accuracy of the locomotives. There were no shortcuts since our study has shown that for our players, a realistic visual is one of the main criteria when choosing a project.

The first version of Railroad Empire was put together in six months. The initial release had 2.5 hours of gameplay. After release, the project immediately showed promising metrics in Tier-1 countries:

R1 – 43,3%

R7 – 11%

R30 – 1,8%

This confirmed that we are on the right track. We then focused on expanding the content. The release of the second map also yielded excellent results, increasing R7 to nearly 17% and R30 to almost 7%. 

Currently, the game features three maps, with new content in development. Several big meta-features are about to be released, and after that, we’re planning to make some significant changes in the core mechanics.

We have a long way to go until we reach the ultimate goal of becoming the perfect game for our players, but the current results indicate a bright future is very much in the books for this project.

Even at this point, making a game that will beat Railroad Empire quality-wise is no easy feat, and we keep improving the project with every release.

Final thoughts

When we envisioned this project, we deliberately chose to take an unconventional path. Rather than chasing global trends, we focused on a niche audience whose need for a high-quality product had yet to be met.

Our decision to target a narrow niche proved to be a winning strategy. We’ve cultivated a super-loyal audience – 50% of our DAU are long-term players with a lifetime of 21+ days – and the metrics are promising. Despite a relatively small amount of content, players remain engaged for years, and even after completing all the maps, they continue to log in, eagerly awaiting new releases.

When a niche is filled with a quality product featuring complex and well-thought-out content, it becomes difficult for other projects to displace it. By continuing in this direction, we have the potential to create a project that will delight its users for many years to come.

                                                                           Edited by Paige Cook