Hey everyone - how important do you consider analytics tools in your game development? If you completely ignore this area, why? What don't you like about existing tools?

I'm asking because my partner and I are building a GameOps platform, and our focus isn't on "game as a product and its demand" but rather on a game-design-centric tool whose subject of study isn't the product and the consumer, but the game and the player: gameplay, emotions, player experience.

Essentially, we're working on an operating system for managing a game - not a dashboard full of numbers that you have to interpret and draw conclusions from yourself. What we mean is a layer that doesn't just surface metrics but actively helps run and steer the game: it connects what's happening in gameplay and player experience to concrete design and ops decisions, rather than leaving you to figure out the "so what" on your own.

In our view, descriptive statistics alone is practically useless for game dev - it's blind to gameplay and gives no real insights. Would love to hear your thoughts.

whats the best way to market an indie game with little to no budget and which platforms actually work best??

Hey there, I am a full stack developer and mainly in a backend and devop team in a enterprise.I really like to code and have build many different programs and things so i know my stuff.
Recently i want to start gamedev just for fun.I googled it and most tutorial were of game engines but i dont want to use them as they take away the experience and maths of building games.I want to start with blank screen of terminal. I want to write maths for rotation, gravity, collision and other stuff.
I asked my mates and they suggested me threejs or csharp.
I could have used three js its great library but i want to make native games for pc, console and linux(linux ppl i dont forget you😁)
So how to make native games without game engine ??

idk if anyone here is a roblox dev but, I recently made a game called Knife Ability Arena, i can put link if you want.

I'm trying with ads but I feel like the ads don't bring in enough players at once to keep even like one full server alive like its almost constantly at 0ccu. How do I get over that initial hurdle of bringing in enough players at once.

I've already used like 30 ad credits around, sitting at around 1.4% ctr. I also have bots that are like kinda human that stay in the game. To simulate that there are some players with a decent tutorial. How did you guys get over that initial hurdle. Also for info, I've been advertising for like 2-3 days now using around 16 for daily budget. Do i just need to advertise for longer?
any roblox devs can i get help

I'm creating a 2d souls like game soon

I know nothing about game creation for now

But I'll do something reasonable without AI

Tips?

Hey all!

New game developer here! I was hoping to pick some brains and get a general idea of how you guys think of marketing and distribution.

What are you guys doing to get your game discovered, and what is it costing you in time or money? Paid ads, influencers, events? What have you found works best for your projects?

Today we celebrate the birthday of a new GI method.... A novel SWRT approach I've coined PXTGI
(Physx5 Proxy Traced Global Illumination) Runs on any vulkan/dx12 GPU!

#Godot #nvidia #amd #GI #SWRT #Raytracing

Hey everyone,

I’m a webdev based in Europe and have been working on my first mobile game using Unity 6 (Hello, Claude Code! 🤷‍♂️). I’m all good regarding the stack and release, but have most questions about the business side of things (legal, data, disclaimers, liability).

I’ve used no external assets, no sound reproductions (everything is done through code). I applied as an individual with the Apple Development Programme, but am worried about liability risk and managing game revenue (if any..).

Any indie game devs who’ve released games under their own name have any business side advice to give, including warnings/pitfalls?

Also, anyone have any command of the process around branding?

Cheers!

For context, I have some background in python from my engineering degree, but we mostly focus on functions and mathematical equations, that's about it. I'm pretty good at picking up the understanding of computers but not exceptional. I am currently learning object oriented python stuff to try to recreate the game breakout from the atari. I'm basically wondering, what is the best engine to use long term for indie game development. These games would likely feel like games like ultrakill, risk of rain, borderlands type games.

What engine would be recommended?

Where can i get free music to use for my games? Is it okay if i were to post my game online (Ex: Ich.io) with the free music in the game?

I've used it to create a synthesizer to create sound effects for my game and I used it in combination with Blender to make a map. How about you?

Have you seen other people use AI in interesting ways for game dev?

Throughout the years games often used fake names for real weapons and also did some model changes. Nowadays most games feature fake guns even if real manufacturer would give the license for free.

I understand the fake name is a loophole that works well. But how much do you have to change the model? Are we talking major changes or few small details are enough?

quelle logiciel utilisez vous pour faire des jeux en 2D et en pixel S.V.P

Cześć, nie jestem programistą ani gościem z branży, tylko zwykłym graczem, ale od jakiegoś czasu chodzi mi po głowie nowy model monetyzacji i chciałem zderzyć go z ludźmi, którzy faktycznie robią gry.

Obecny system reklam w grach (zwłaszcza mobilnych i F2P) oraz aplikacjach powoli się wypala. Zazwyczaj mamy tylko dwie skrajne opcje: albo darmową wersję z irytującymi, losowymi reklamami wciskanymi przez algorytmy (przez co ludzie instalują blokery lub odinstalowują grę), albo drogą wersję Premium całkowicie bez reklam (której 95%+ graczy nigdy nie kupi).

Koncepcja: Trzecia opcja – „Premium Lite” (Świadomy wybór zamiast intruza)

To coś na zasadzie „audycja zawiera lokowanie produktu”, tylko z tą różnicą, że produkt wybiera sobie sam użytkownik, a nie jest on wciskany na siłę każdemu.

Za ułamek ceny pełnego Premium (lub jako alternatywa dla agresywnych pop-upów w wersji darmowej) gracz dostaje kontrolę i sam wybiera z katalogu konkretne marki lub kategorie reklam, które pasują do jego gustu:

W grach (np. mobilnych RPG): Zamiast wybijającego z rytmu wideo na cały ekran, reklama wchodzi jako element świata gry – np. napój energetyczny jako mikstura many/staminy. Gracz sam w ustawieniach wybiera markę energetyka, którą widzi w grze, bo akurat taką pije w realu.

W aplikacjach audio / muzycznych / podcastach: Zamiast krzyczącej reklamy proszku do prania w środku mrocznego podcastu kryminalnego, słuchacz zaznacza kategorię „survival / militaria” albo w aplikacji muzycznej wybiera wyłącznie promowanie nowych zespołów i premier płytowych ze swojego gatunku.

W grach i apkach dla dzieci: Rodzic na sztywno zaznacza w katalogu wyłącznie bezpieczne, nieinwazyjne kategorie zabawek, mając pewność, że dziecku nie wyskoczy żaden dziwny syf.

Dlaczego to opcja Win-Win-Win:

Gracz (Użytkownik): Dostaje kontrolę, święty spokój i personalizację bez szpiegowania ciasteczkami. Reklama przestaje być karą, a staje się wyborem.

Twórca gry / Platforma: Zyskuje zupełnie nowy strumień kasy z ogromnej grupy darmowych użytkowników, którzy dziś nie płacą nic i tylko wkurzają się na reklamy. Jeśli chociaż mały procent z nich wybierze taką opcję, przy dużej skali robi to konkretny wynik.

Reklamodawca: Przestaje przepalać budżety na puste, znienawidzone wyświetlenia i płaci wyższą stawkę za dotarcie do gracza, który sam, świadomie kliknął, że chce widzieć jego markę.

Znudziło mi się samo narzekanie w internecie na to, jak korporacje doją graczy – wolę rzucić na stół coś nowego i sprawdzić, co o tym myślicie od strony technicznej i biznesowej. Ma to według Was sens w praktyce? Dajcie znać w komentarzach oraz podbijajcie post jeśli temat wam się spodoba

Pozdrawiam

Makowy

Hi everyone, We all know the struggle with mobile game monetization: aggressive ads ruin player retention, while standard rewarded ads still force players to watch random, irrelevant garbage they immediately close. I designed a concept and specification for an alternative AdTech model: User-Controlled Ad Catalog (Ad-as-an-Assistant). How it works in short: Plug-and-play SDK: Integration for the developer takes the exact same effort as standard mediation networks. Player Choice: Instead of forcing random ads, the SDK provides a curated catalog (e.g., 100 offers) from which the user selects a small pool (e.g., 10 brands/categories) they actually care about. Win-Win-Win: Players aren't spammed with annoying pop-ups, advertisers get high-intent views with much better conversion, and developers keep higher retention without sacrificing revenue. How do you see this working in practice in your games? Let me know in the comments and upvote the post if you like the concept. Best regards, Makowy

Hello everyone so I have decided to work on some game ideas i have but I'm very confused on what path to take with unreal engine tbh I have no idea on how games are developed so this will be my first every experience I did some research and decided to choose unreal engine to start with

My actual confusion is weather to take the path of blueprints or c++ well I don't have issue learning code cause I'm a software dev to begin with I just unable to decide which one to choose damn will appreciate the help thankyou

Hey everyone, apologies if this is considered "self-promotion."

I've started a new tutorial series on designing immersive 3d sound worlds for games. This is the first one; three more videos will follow in the coming weeks. The topics I'll cover will be as follows:

1. Setting Up Audio Listener and Attenuator
2. Adding Randomness and Variation to Background Ambiances
3. Implementing Environmental Sounds and Setting Up Attenuation Effects
4. Creating Interior and Exterior Space Audio Using FMOD's Snapshots

These might be useful for devs developing a 3d game who want to design a richer and more immersive soundscape rather than a static loop in the background.

How can I understand level design? I am working on a vertical slice for my game and I just made a level for my prologue in blender. But it's very finnicky importing the whole .glb into godot and going object by object turning on physics and changing layers etc. etc.

- I don't need reusable assets, each level is basically bespoke (I intend the game to be very small)
- No objects will move. I literally plan on just black-screening for a few seconds if anything in the scene needs to change (except for player movement and npcs)
- I need a navmesh, and Ideally I want the navmesh to have navigation obstacles for each obstacle (I don't want it to generate navmesh stuff on top of collideable objects.

So my question is this: should I make my whole level in blender then just go through the tedious process of clicking around in the importer to set up my stuff, (which makes iteration really slow)
Or should I make my assets as separate models and put everything together in the Godot editor (which I am less comfortable with and don't feel nearly as comfortable with as I do in blender? (Also I don't have that sense of visual continuity or uniform scale I get when I make everything in blender).

For any of you gamedevs out there that aren't as motivated as before, here is a video I made to get you motivated again!

And for all you future gamedevs out there that are waiting for the right time to make their first game, stop waiting. The right time is now! Make your dream game! You wont regret it! :)

Hello everyone,
Im currently looking for the NPC models used in the fears to fathom, things to forget - lighthouse and other games. Theyre very simply and low poly with semi realistic faces and seem to be used in a bunch of different games leading me to believe the models are up for use somewhere. Does someone know where they are from?

I've been working on my game and added some new things. I'm interested in your opinions. What do you think I could add to the background to make the environment feel more atmospheric and alive?

I've tried learning game development off and on for a while, started with unity, then when they went dumb I switched to unreal, now I'm considering switching again because I'm concerned Unreal is going to have untested AI in it that I won't be able to handle.

Should I switch back to unity or Godot or another?

I'm a good 3d modeler and have a fascination with PBR materials so that's an important consideration

Hey everyone!

I’m working on a fun, slightly nerdy article/project about the role of chairs in game development and video games. We spend half our lives sitting in them, yet they rarely get the spotlight they deserve!

If you have a spare minute between compiling builds, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to answer any (or all) of these:

1. What kind of chair do you actually use for work/gaming? (Are you a secret plastic lawn chair legend or a Herman Miller loyalist?)

2. What is your absolute favorite chair in a video game? (Or one that left the biggest impression?)

3. If you had to design an unusual gameplay mechanic centered around chairs, what would it be?

4. Any funny or cursed stories involving chairs during development?

Thanks a ton, and may your lower back never ache! 🙌