rapid production Archives

AppWizard

August 10, 2026

Steam Week in Review: Games about sorting 1000s of mundane objects onto shelves is the new craze sweeping PC gaming

A trend in the gaming industry has emerged, focusing on cleaning and organizing games, with titles like House Flipper, Power Wash Simulator, and Unpacking gaining popularity. This micro-genre traces back to the 1980s with the arcade game Bubbles. Recent games include Toy Shop Tidy Up, which debuted on August 7, and Cellar Keeper, also released on August 7, where players must sort 2,448 wine bottles. Librarian: Tidy Up the Arcane Library! has become the most successful sorting game, achieving a peak player count of 29,469 and over 17,000 positive reviews. Upcoming titles include Never Sort By Color, TV Archive: Tidy Up Together, and Cleaning Up The Puzzle Gallery. The rapid production of sorting simulators reflects the commercial success of games like Librarian.

AppWizard

November 29, 2025

Arc Raiders got a surprise cameo in South Park, and the devs learned about it just two days before the episode aired

The RPGs The Stick of Truth and The Fractured But Whole are based on the television series South Park. In a recent episode, a character made a cameo playing the extraction shooter Arc Raiders. Ashley St. Germain, the marketing lead at Embark, detailed the rapid production process for this cameo, stating that South Park inquired about it on a Monday, footage was provided on Tuesday, and it aired in the 'Turkey Trot' episode on Wednesday. The collaboration reflects South Park's commitment to engaging with contemporary gaming culture.

AppWizard

February 12, 2025

Designed in just a few weeks, this $5 indie game about digging a hole has journeyed to the centre of Steam’s top sellers chart

The game development timeline for new titles typically spans four to six years for big-budget projects, while indie developers usually take at least two years. German studio Cyberwave released "A Game About Digging a Hole," which received a "Very Positive" rating on Steam with over 3,000 reviews and became a top seller, surpassing titles like Dynasty Warriors: Origins. The game was created by artist Ben in just 14 days during his holiday, utilizing existing voxel terrain technology from another project, Solarpunk. The game features randomly spawning ores and upgradeable shovels, and was formally announced in December, quickly garnering over 100,000 wishlists. It was released on February 12 after three weeks of work. Cyberwave has not disclosed sales figures, but the game's popularity is reflected in its reviews and Steam chart position. The success is attributed to the use of pre-existing technology and an established fanbase from Solarpunk, which had over 400,000 wishlists by April of the previous year.