So we’re nearing over 1,000 submissions to this jam, which is incredible, but it’s also kind of daunting since we still need to figure out the lineup for the bundle(s) we’re creating.

At this point, we’ll likely create a few bundles since we have a wide range of submissions over different content types.

I’m making this thread here to collect ideas from anyone on how we should go about selecting the final lineup.

We don’t intend to turn this into a single mega bundle (eg. a bundle with 1,000 games). We are trying to give each developer a reasonable unit price per sale. In charity bundles you may have previously purchased here, we were only concerned about the amount raised, so adding in as many games as possible was purely positive. In this case, adding another game to the bundle will bring down the unit price, unless we also increase the total bundle price. The bundle itself should probably be around $10 to $20 if people are actually going to buy it.

My original plan was to come up with some kind of algorithm to shuffle through the results and generate bundle candidates. The parameters of the bundles that can be adjusted:

• Bundle size - how many projects included
• Price - how much the bundle costs
  • The “unit price” is then calculated by size / price
• Desirability of projects - possibly looking at the aggregate rating, or prioritizing projects that have been purchased before

Given these parameters, the collection of games selected also needs to satisfy the requirement that the final unit price is above the minimum unit price specified by the developer (which was provided with “Max discount”).

Hypothetically speaking, if I wanted to calculate every combination of 5 games from 1,000 submissions, that would be 8250291250200 different sets! (and that’s not even going through combinations of different number of games). It would be computationally too expensive to try to list out every combination and rank the ones that are the most interesting, so I have to be more clever about it.

When looking through some of the candidates within a certain group, e.g., video games, I see that there are different content types that might not normally sell well together. (eg. a romance visual novel and a horror game). So I think a naive approach to picking bundles may not be ideal.

In any case, these are my thoughts so far, we still have 5 more days of submissions until I need to come up with a solution!

If you have any ideas about how we should use this collection of games that people have submitting I’d be glad to hear it!

I think you might be onto something in grouping games by types. As you pointed out, genre type would be good (horror vs romance), and maybe type of play (visual novel vs platform shooter vs exploration?), but also I think video game vs analogue game. I've known quite a few customers who specifically look for that difference in their bundles. The trick might ultimately be to see what groupings you get depending on how you divide things up.

Trying to think of this as a consumer even more than as a creator ^.^;; Hope it helps at least a bit.

I'd like to see some games picked that are not normally in the Popular/New/Top featured categories, or have not been featured on the front page. I'd also like to see some games that aren't available or featured on other storefronts (itch exclusives). Agreed with having at least 1 physical/TTRPG per bundle too.

It is Spring Bundle... So, choose games related to spring, flowers, garden ... which in short means: choose ours :-)

i think it would be cool if the bundle would incldue like 20 games which is cool for 10  (20) dollar, (as from the itching for games bundle the people average paid price was 1.60 for 110 games) and the selection well propably it can only be done through "luck" some "raters" who select it by their personal choice with 1000 games there is proaply no other way to go, but it think it would be a bit unfair to selct them by popularity...rather random selected 20 gaems which get tested if they meet the aimed quality of the bundle they are in .... also i think it could be (maybe) be interesting ig all the 20 games are of a different genre which may seem not fitting at first but it could bring fans of one think to another if its kind of all around easter bunde :)

I would start by culling that thousand down to a more reasonable number, something like 100 games. I’d do this by evaluating the surface level quality of the game (does it have a video trailer, are people commenting / rating it, is the page well made, are there at least a few results on google for reviews / videos made by external creators)

I have really enjoyed the selection in past itch selects bundles, where there’d always been at least two games I was interested in, which justified the purchase, and I often ended up trying and enjoying a game I wouldn’t have expected. Personally, I’d be much less likely to buy a bundle with all visual novels or all horror games, as whilst I will occasionally play these, I don’t really want to play ten of them all at once.

I also feel that what made the itch selects bundle valuable was the curation of amazing games from across the site. There are already many other bundles in the sales tab which target specific genres / creators, but these almost all lack that special curation of hidden gems you may not have found otherwise.

Spring bundles is a great idea! Hopefully it would bring some traffic for me

Hi Leafo and Everyone!

Firstly, thank you for seeking our opinions on this matter.

The current situation is indeed interesting, with a significant number of applicants, likely due to the bundle allowing submissions for both games and assets. Both are broad and diverse categories individually, and the allure of the announcement itself is undeniable. Who wouldn't want to be a part of such an opportunity?

Here are my thoughts in a (coco)nutshell:
(TLDR Warning! :P)

In essence, there are two main categories:
1., The entertainment category, providing users with an "instant" experience (e.g., games),
2., And the creative category, from which further creations can emerge (e.g., assets).

If the decision were mine to make, and I had to make it now, here's how I would approach it:

I would definitely create at least one standalone game bundle and one asset bundle, in line with the original idea.
The game bundle is likely to be more popular because everyone enjoys entertainment, preferably cheap and available instantly.

Games
Given the large number of entries and the limited time, I would curate a high-quality package that primarily includes outstanding, quality items. It should be attractive and generate interest among people. I believe the diverse genres and styles are not a problem as long as they fall under a central theme or can be grouped together based on some guiding principle. In fact, this approach can capture a broader audience's interest, offering significant value for a small amount. Creating many separate bundles based on the same type of game or asset would require a lot of time and effort, especially now.

Assets
For the game asset package, I would also aim for diversity while ensuring quality. Graphics and audio content, everything useful for content creation, should be included. Depending on the internal tools available on the itch.io platform, I would categorically filter items based on popularity, ratings, downloads, feedback, collections, etc., making the process more manageable. Starting with a focus on games first and then introducing an asset bundle later could save time (I only submitted assets for the sale).

In my personal experience, both as a creator and a buyer, a price range of $10-20 is entirely reasonable, and going beyond may not attract much demand. The AI revolution has significantly changed the game asset market, allowing everyone to create their content. In a previous participation in a Humble Bundle (audio assets), the average purchase price was around $20, even though the total value of the bundle was close to $1000, starting with around 50 packages. While I don't know the total number of games/assets in this itch.io bundle, I agree that overwhelming the user with too much content is not advisable, as it becomes unmanageable. Also, since this is not a charity project, it influences people's attitudes towards the bundle.

Among the previous comments, I mostly align with JUSTCAMH.
I would provide an opportunity for smaller creators/projects on another occasion due to the current nature of the situation.

I hope my thoughts were helpful in some way. Thank you for reading! :)

Would be interesting to see it split into categories " Spring Sale of Top Down Games " or " Spring Sale of Sidescrollers " etc, though with this some awesome creators might feel left off as well as with assets and such alike.,@gamesupply brings out interesting points

I think it'd be easier to divide the content by media type first; as in, you have a bundle for all tabletop/physical games, a bundle for all sound assets, etc.
Then, after that's done, you divide each into smaller bundles that are more specialized, for example by genre (for example, horror TTRPG or one for shoot-em-ups), if the bundles are still too big. Ultimately, I was kind of surprised that you decided to make this bundle an open bundle deal, and I had a feeling that the logistics of it all was going to be difficult to manage - especially considering the revenue share you were proposing.

I have a feeling that you will need to crowdsource the sorting of the bundle to the community, although I don't know how that will be done either. I guess you could retrofit the game jam rating system to instead be used to flag content that would potentially not be appropriate for the bundles.

did i get something wrong isn i JUST one bundle wihtout any tier or co bunlde etc you all argue about

which means a mixed bundle is more then obvious

maybe you could do multiple bundles and different price points like $1,$5,$10,$15$20,$25 that way you can get as many games in them as possible 

Maybe try pair one or two popular with a couple of lesser popular games. That way smaller devs get a chance to grow a small audience.

PS: I would love to participate but the game I am working won't be ready for sale until at least 2025. Could I still participate?

if I were you i'd make as many bundles as possible given the large submissions range tbh. as a developer I want my game to go out even at a discount, I'm a new developer and wouldn't submit it otherwise. on the other hand it's *good* for the client as well who'll receive many games at reduced costs. i'd also group contents into varying bundles so that 1 game isn't just in 1 bundle but like 30.

A great idea would be to sell not only games but also music, art, assets and other things you have to help other devs and artists!

Just speaking as someone who buys way too many a robust selection of games pretty often:

I'd be less likely to buy the bundle if it was a mix of videogames and physical games or game assets.  I really only buy physical games, largely because I have the hand-eye coordination of an overcaffeinated warthog.  If there are videogames in a bundle I'm looking at, most of the time, I don't even download them.  Same with predominantly horror games -- it's a no-go unless there's some other compelling part of play.  (I'm still afraid there are demon clowns under my bed after seeing Poltergeist at age 12.  And I'm fifty-some-odd years old now, so...lasting impressions.)

I'm assuming* that other people are also either exclusionary to their format choices or have a few types that are their thing.  Separating the bundles into format (IF, video, physical, assets) would mean I could buy more of what I actually want, while being able to support creators making things I enjoy.  And hopefully putting a spotlight on creators I may not have found organically.

(* you know what they say about assuming, so maybe speculating is a better term. :D)

Yeah I would agree to separate based on format of the submission, if there are classifications, if there is too little of one format and an overflow, then take the little amount one and distribute it evenlly among the formats that have a lot of it.

Also, will we know in what way we will be contacted whether we are accepted or rejected from the bundle?