Weekly Overview of the Bundle For Ukraine | Gaming
Weekly Overview of the Bundle For Ukraine: Halfway Mark
Where has the time gone?
Time seemed to favour looking inwards this week, and so we’ll embark on a strange journey that involves a lot of percentiles, strange interpretations of numbers, and a whole lot of games.
It feels particularly strange looking back over the past few months, as normally this overview feels like a period of relief while reflecting on the numbers rather than their contents. It’s all about the graphs and the pretty colours, and not about how a game made me sad.
The big difference this time around, however, is that I’ve kinda been doing that already. With the format change to a weekly series rather than daily, I altered how I perceive my own work and how it is culminated. Rather than getting a blog out every day, I’m viewing the numbers on how to achieve victory for the week, which in turn makes it easier to observe my work as numbers on a grid. It’s not a bad nor a good thing, only different.
There’s also the issue of duplicates and how they are parsed within the series. While I skip over them in the weekly blogs to avoid slowing the series down, there are quite a few in the series that I still play to this day, or recommend constantly to people. To allow for a greater variance, I’m also going to talk about duplicates for the highlighted titles so that you get the full picture.
Now, as I’ve done in the past, we need to take a moment to highlight exactly why this bundle exists. The War in Ukraine still ravages the lands of Eastern Europe and still makes headlines around much of the Euro-centred world. Similarly to during the Racial Justice Bundle, while we as game developers cannot directly alter the course, we can support the fight with our voices, charity, and actions.
So without further ado, let’s get started.
Part 1: Data
Data is always an interesting aspect of any project, highlighting parts that may not be necessary when you’re in the thick of the information. Unfortunately, I cannot use the frameworks of reference that I used in my previous anniversary overviews, or at least not in their original forms. Those posts all utilized easy numbers to quantify thanks to the pages being grouped in base-10 digits, whereas I’m working with the number 17. After all, that is the halfway point of a 34 page bundle.
The other issue was highlighted above: duplicates. Easily the most interesting aspect that I’ve kept recorded, actually quantifying the number of duplicates into meaningful data was not as easy as I was hoping. There were extra variables and possibilities on how to translate the numbers, which in turn could lead to misleading information. For example, just looking at the average duplicate per page made it appear that there were somehow 25 per page, which is ridiculous.
So extra care was necessary, meaning that some of the automation I was working to implement got sidelined again. At this point I might just give up on automatic detection, but we’ll see. As always, I’ve linked the ‘cleaned up’ version of the data below so that you too can find the games you are looking for. This one also includes links back to the Racial Justice and Equality spreadsheet if you were wanting to look deeper into one of the duplicate games. In the future I may find a way to link them in a more streamlined way, but for now this is the system I’ve got running.
To the surprise of few, an indie bundle full of itch.io games is relatively dominated by video games, clocking in at 310 of the possible 509 (normally the total is 510, but an entry was deleted). This shouldn’t come as any surprise to those who also purchased the Racial Justice bundle, or anyone looking at itch.io as a platform. As of this date, there are over 800,000 games uploaded to itch.io (give or take depending on misclassification), as opposed to the ~37 000 games categorized as ‘physical games’, usually given to TTRPGs and the like.
This tidbit can be interpreted numerous ways, but let’s not get it twisted. While there are roughly 20x the video games than the next largest category (assets), this is more indicative of how people view the platform rather than a nonsensical ploy to push the idea that more ‘non video games’ get donated to causes on average. You could make the argument about the culture and spaces that TTRPGs curate and foster being more charitable, but that’s a research paper for someone else to create.
What I can surmise, however, is that this graph is looking mighty familiar to a certain chart I made for the final bundle for racial justice and equality. I had half expected that I would get a similar graph to my first ever blog post, where video games dominated the first twenty pages and suffocated out the rest. This time around it’s much more balanced, even equaling the average of 18 video games per page by the end. My current hypothesis is that this is due to the size of the bundle; the Racial Justice bundle was a 59 page monster, whereas the Ukrainian bundle is a ‘more moderate’ 34.
This implies that those trends I saw would occur much faster in this bundle, and the data appears to support me for now. What this doesn’t do, however, is give a clear indication on where the bundle will trend. It’s almost too perfect an average, and thanks to it aligning closely with my previous bundle data my biases make it hard to think that it will change.
There’s a lot going on with all of these titles, so I figured I would bring back one metric that I find the most handy in every situation: can I play the game with friends?
Short answer? No, not really. Of the 310 titles that you can play, only 29 of them are capable of multiplayer; 28 if you disregard the fact that one of them requires specific online connections that may not be supported anymore. That’s not even 10%, and if you are looking for a specific direction for the multiplayer then it gets even more dicey. Games centred around co-operative gameplay numbered at 14 (4.5%) while their competitive counterparts had a single entry more at 15 (4.9%).
Expecting this trend to continue is a bit unreliable, but not completely unsurprising. I highly doubt that we won’t see a slight uptick in multiplayer games, but to reach the previous bundles’ 12% the next batch would need to produce ~44 multiplayer entries, a 150% increase. Tall order, but possible.
Now, let’s take a closer look at just the Software, shall we?
DAMN.
No hyperbole, this is this highest a single group dominated a when it came to types of entries in both the Bundle for Ukraine and the Racial Justice and Equality bundle. The next closest was the 80% in the first 20 pages graph of the Racial Justice bundle. Not even during the height of the ‘software revolution’ during the second anniversary did tabletop games breach 80%, and yet here we are.
For those of you familiar with this series, the lack of a fifth category stings a bit; Game Engines seem to be gone. I can’t say I’m totally surprised, but I’m hoping that one might sneak its way in to the latter half.
Tabletop Games
Tabletop games attributed to 169 of this group out of the possible 509, but without video games the total of software is actually 199. This means that in the other four possible groupings for the bundle, there are only 30 spots.
I don’t really have a theory for why this has happened, outside of the usual statement that TTRPGs usually dominate the ‘non video game’ section of a bundle. They are the closest in line with a video game, while assets are either used to help create video games or are utilized in other settings.
As before, Tabletop Games is a massive category, with solo journaling games, LARPs, rituals, and more being included. Smaller systems outside of D&D and Pathfinder thrive down here in the TTRPG trenches, giving you all sorts of options — especially seeing as… well we’ll get to that.
Asset Packs
Asset Packs are anything that aren’t necessarily games themselves, and instead are used to make the games or enhance a gaming experience. This includes sprite packs for games, cardboard cutouts for physical games, etc. We didn’t see that many in the first half, with 11 entries equaling ~ 5.5% of the software-centred section or ~2% of the entire first half. There was a text editor that was quite handy to play around with and a GUI setup for Ren’py for all you visual novel enthusiasts. I honestly expect to see more of them as the bundle progresses, and wouldn’t be surprised to see the second half reach 3–5% based on the sheer number of asset packs out there and their likelihood for inclusion.
Reading Material
Including textbooks, zines, and all matter in-between, Reading Material showed up this first half (relatively speaking) as it amassed 13 entries to get ~6.5% (2.5% of total). It actually picked up in quantity as the bundle went on, with the majority of the novels and zines showing up in the later pages of the first half, so I can only assume that it will continue this trajectory. I don’t expect it to ever get above 3% of the total, but I’ve been wrong before.
Misc. Software
My favourite catch-all is back to give out 6 entries for the first half, totaling ~3% of the software (1% in total). It includes assistance software to help you work, soundtracks, and even a deck of cards. It’s the best group to find the most curious of entities, which is why I cannot speculate at all if it will grow or shrink in the pages to come.
This is all well and good, but you might be wondering where the star of the show is, the best part about having two data sets. Something that let’s me go into weird amounts of depth for absolutely no reason. So let’s dive into…
Part 1.5: Duplicates
Something I’ve been tracking since the beginning of the bundle, duplicates are entries in the Bundle For Ukraine that were present in my previous overview series. I decided not to rewrite my feelings on them, and instead reference my previous thoughts. This lead to some very intriguing data points, primarily surrounding the number of repeat donations to the bundle. Again, this could be interpreted in many ways, but the primary goal was to see which entries returned so that owners of both could focus solely on the entries that didn’t overlap.
So how does that look?
Now that’s what I like to see, something wild. When it came to totals, video games took top spot when it came to repeat donators. Clocking in at 145 of the total 310 (±1 deleted entry) of video games, roughly 47% of the time people saw a game they were likely looking at in a previous bundle. I do wish I had more references to other bundles, as it would be fascinating to see if this is more or less than previous ‘large scale’ bundles. There are resources I could explore, but without them tangibly on hand I feel like that is somewhat cheating for how I’ve been running the bundle thus far.
Nevertheless, the focus should mostly be on the sheer lack of duplicates found in the Tabletop Games section, with a staggering 151 ‘new’ entries to the measly 18. That’s only ~10.7% of the Tabletop entries, and 10.3% of the total amount of duplicates featured. It’s fascinating to see that while Tabletop/Physical games are only the third largest, there is somehow very little overlap thus far between the Racial Justice Bundle and this one. What this means is that any of you fans of TTRPGs are living the best life with both of these bundles.
The other three groups are a little too small to comment heavily on, with 33% of Misc. Software and ~23.1% of Reading Material being duplicates. Asset Packs are the only one worth highlighting as an anomaly, for there are more duplicates than less, with 6 out of the 11.
At face value, a lot of this can help uncover possible trajectory in the number of duplicates in the future. As seen in the chart above, The ‘new’ video games started in their largest amount but have begun tapering off into a happy medium. Duplicates were at a relatively solid number, fluctuating constantly, but the 17th page was the first time we have 0. It’s a little too early to speculate, but it wouldn’t be out of the question that duplicate entries for video games could continue on a sharp decline. With the sheer number of titles on the platform, I could easily see titles not added to the Racial Justice bundle show up.
The new software goes through massive growths and declines at seemingly random intervals — well, relatively random when looking at it without the video games, of course. While the new entries go through massive peaks and valleys, they never ever dip to the same realm where the duplicates are. Unlike with the above video games, duplicate software is rare to come by. Video games amassed 145 duplicates, while all of the other entries that I denoted as ‘software’ didn’t even make it passed 30, only having 29 entries. This is only ~17% of the duplicates, and only 5.6% of the total bundle.
I’ve already speculated as to why newer entries are favoured in terms of software, but I’d rather focus on the two groups of duplicates as a whole and what their numbers can tell us for the future. Page 17 gives us a clue as to how the bundle’s duplicates can and will disappear rapidly if video games aren’t the duplicated entries. Only 1 entry out of the possible 30 was a duplicate, and it was a software. This could be an anomaly, and more duplicates will show up in the second half, but using my previous knowledge of bundles and trends I am skeptical that it will rebound strongly.
Just take this chart I made for the Racial Justice and Equality bundle to highlight the differences in appearances between each ‘third’ of the bundle. After the second section saw a massive upswing in software, the third group only saw video games slightly recover to regain that 50%. The trend here is that newer, more ‘obscure’ titles would be added as we got deeper into the bundle, and many of these were software or physical games. It wouldn’t be surprising to assume that a similar trend would occur with this bundle, to the point that I could see numerous pages in a row without duplicates of any kind appearing between pages 25–34.
This is just a bit of the data I’ve collected on the games thus far, and I’m still working on sifting through more of the duplicate data. There’s a lot of graphs I’ve omitted simply because they don’t really say anything relevant yet, but I’m hopeful that when we reach the conclusion there will be some fun stuff.
Part 2: The Games, and Where They Are Now
I wracked my brain for days trying to figure out how to salvage this section. With the new format, the cat’s out of the bag when it comes to ‘my favourite’ games of the page so it doesn’t make sense to highlight them again.
What I’ve come up with is a bit of a ‘reminiscence’ of sorts. Rather than look at my favourites, below include games of both duplicates and ‘new’ titles alike that I’ve explored beyond the bundle. They might be titles that I still play to this day, titles I returned to afterwards with new feelings, and even possible ones that I changed my tune on. This format is extremely subject to change, but I think it’s always good to look back on what you’ve done and reflect.
To make it more fun, let’s add some categories too.
The Game I Kept Playing, But Didn’t ‘Recommend’
Nearly reaching 20 hours, Kingdom: Two Crowns is the strangest survival simulation I’ve ever played. You collect coins and explore the island and defend your base nightly from terrifying Greed hordes. It’s reminiscent of Terraria this way, but your daily activities feel more narrative/RPG centric rather than just digging and locating. There’s so many little things to look for, and Two Crowns contains all of the extra modes to give different time periods to explore.
The funny part? I didn’t even put it in my ‘recommended’. Not because I didn’t like it, but because of how many titles I thought were amazing on the first page that I thought I needed to have a ‘cut off’. Talk about irony.
The Game That’s Too Short
Lucifer Within Us was the game that got me the most excited for the bundle, and the one I’m still stupidly excited about after all these weeks of playing other games. There’s something so tactile about how you move throughout the world, putting together timelines and calling out lies after meticulously scrubbing through the statements. The world is beautiful and intricate, and I wanted to explore more.
Unfortunately, at only 3 cases total, it will bury into your mind as you yearn for more. But that’s the best kind of negative feedback, I’d say.
The Game(s) I Bring To Parties
Equally requiring multiple people to be at their peak fun, TowerFall and Moon Hunters are games I’ve seen and/or played before the bundle, and I will again. They’re lightweight, fit on nearly any USB stick, and all you need are controllers to set up 4 people total to have fun. TowerFall’s multiplayer is phenomenal and keeps you coming back, while Moon Hunters does a lovely job weaving a simple looping story to get your friends making weird choices and gaining personality traits.
The Game I Wish I Could Spoil
There are a lot of narrative titles in the bundle, as you migh expect, but none of them burrowed into my mind as badly as INMOST did. It scales three different stories, leaving clues as to how they connect as you slowly piece together what is going on in unsettling horror. It’s a game that you want to talk about how it ends, one that you desperately want to share — but if you do, the game doesn’t have the same impact. So I bite my tongue and wait.
Okay that’s a bit of a lie, I told a few people already, but still.
The Games To Lose Yourself In (The Metroidvanias™)
Are you longing to lose yourself in a world that wants you to also lose? Like, lose a lot? Then these are the two for you, and they are somehow polar opposites tonally.
Sundered is an eldritch terror of a game, having you go up against dozens of enemies while searching for an escape with a bizarre creature assisting your every move. The more you give in, the less you recognize yourself, but you can’t stop but find out what’s behind the next room.
Batbarian, on the other hand, is a hilarious romp through an underground cave network where you are a BARBARIAN who can only SHOUT words, hate mages, and love your best friend Pip the glowing bat. You’ll use your friend to solve puzzles, and use yourself to BEAT UP EVERYTHING.
The Game I Listen To More Than Play
I may not have mentioned this, but I like to collect OSTs from the games that I play for a massive playlist; it’s on in the background while I work, and is on right now. For many games in the bundle, these OSTs are locked away for the perfectly understandable reason that I didn’t buy them. However, some games give away special versions including their soundtrack, or just give them away for free.
Death & Taxes is such a game, and has been one of the mainstays of this playlist ever since I got it. It creates an atmosphere fitting for its world of bureaucratic desk work and death, while somehow introducing genres like Latin fusion to spice things up.
There haven’t been many OSTs that I’ve been able to identify in the bundle so far — either due to them not having a separate download or because I missed them by accident. Hence why I’ve used a duplicate for this final category, but don’t worry. I’ll find more in this bundle to add to my collection, I guarantee it.
Part 3: Afterwords
I wasn’t entirely sure I was going to do a writeup like this again — with how dense I’ve made my weekly blogs, it felt a bit extra. Yet it’s also a good way to unwind after playing all these indie games. Just look at some numbers, crunch some percentages, and fuss over how data is presented. Well at least, I felt like I was unwinding. Won’t get to do it again anytime soon, depending on a few factors. If I’m able to continue the current pace, a December finish is in the cards. If not, then we might be looking at a lovely introduction into 2024.
This little break also let’s me review how the new format has been treating me, which… is mixed; it’s been a blessing and a curse. On one hand, I’m able to customize my schedule much more so I can fit games in here and there without worry, and I can keep game blurbs shorter than I used to. On the other hand, some games can cause me to write way too much, extending the amount of time I take leading to a lot of last minute scrambling. There’s also the looming threat of if pages lack duplicates, because without them this format becomes very time constraining. I know the Friday deadline is self imposed, but I do enjoy having something finished to cap off the week.
No matter how it turns out, I’m grateful for The Ugly Monster for editing and publishing my little pet project turned monstrosity.
It’s been fun. See you next week.
