Solo developer Mateo Covic, best known for co-op rage game Paddle Paddle Paddle, received a lot of attention online following his arguments against Valve's Steam refund policy, which he called exploitable after seeing players refund his game even after beating it and, sometimes, leaving a positive review (in some cases, bragging in their review about pulling off the refund). Covic told us that he's staunchly "100% pro refund" and is very happy with how his game's performed overall, and we also discussed the unique pressures that may face short games purely as a function of how Steam works.
If your game can be beaten in under two hours, which is Steam's default refund window, it's at much greater risk of this sort of refund abuse (which is, to be clear, banned under Valve's own rules, though those won't stop everyone). Many people told Covic that he should simply make a longer or more replayable game to dodge the two-hour window. While he's open to massaging other parts of Steam refunds, agrees that Valve's policy is good for players, and acknowledges that a pretty small percentage of players actually abuse refunds this way, he rejects this stance on game development outright.
"A game is ready when it's ready, and I don't even think about the playtime during development," he explains. "I want to develop small, fun and affordable games and so far no one had a problem with that. Paddle Paddle Paddle had fantastic reviews, streamers loved it, and I was super happy how the game turned out.
"I will never stretch out a game with more content just to avoid refunds. I will shut up and take the refunds in the future and this tweet showed me that Steam is a hard market but I'm not willing to change my development approach!"
Covic says he actually tried expanding one of his earlier games, Makis Adventure, with extra content. He ultimately found that, even with positive Steam reviews, those extra sections were the weakest link in the chain. Makis Adventure did see longer average playtimes, but Paddle Paddle Paddle performed incomparably better.
Short games absolutely have an audience. Covic highlights A Short Hike, which he beat in about an hour and a half and calls "probably one of the best evenings I had with a game," as one example. He also likes the Fears to Fathom series. Covic says this is the type of game he most enjoys making right now, and won't allow whatever nebulous market pressure to dissuade him.
These are some of the best short games you can spend an afternoon on.
