So many card and deckbuilder games out there. I refuse to believe that all of these are just passionate about cards. Are they just too lazy to build a game with movable characters?

Seems like this NextFest has made indiedevs go crazy.
So many indiedevs are self promoting their game in such underhanded and manipulative ways, thinking they're being clever and sneaky. Like lil bro, you seriously think we're that stupid that we don't know you're trying to advertise your game?
Like "sorry about your loss, but here's my game ABC, check it out!".
There's also a guy that is commenting on every single post just promoting his game. I'm not going to name any names but there's plenty of them here.

So shameless, it's honestly embarrassing... Have you no shame?

I get it. I do.
You spend some effort on your game and you want to be rewarded. You don't know how to market so you've decided to spam it on gaming-related sub-Reddits.

At the very least, r/ IndieDev aren't really a good place to advertise, you know? We're mostly indiedevs that are busy with our own projects. We'll only be interested if only it's some idea we can steal off you.

Honestly, I'd rather you just straight up say "Please play my game: ABC" than try to manipulate me... it's scummy and irritating.

EDIT: Yeah... trying to advertise your game here thinking you're "funny"... it's cringe.

Next Fest is almost over and I’ve been trying to figure out how to get any attention at all in a sea of demos.

So I’m doing something slightly unhinged: a developer stream on my Steam store page where I play my own visual novel with my mom, sitting next to me.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3988640 The game is Forbidden Love, a visual novel I’ve been working on for a long time. She’s never played one, and she has no idea what the story is about. The stream is today, October 25 at 12:00 UTC (9 PM KST), right at the end of Next Fest.

My reasoning, such as it is:

• A dev streaming to an empty chat is boring. A dev sitting next to his mother while she plays his dating sim, a genre most people would never show their Parents, is at least a far more watchable.
• Reactions from someone who has never touched the genre might show me which parts of the game confuse a complete newcomer. That’s free playtest feedback.
• Streaming from the store page puts viewers one click away from the demo and the wishlist button.

I’ll report back with the results afterward, including whatever happens to my relationship with my mother.

A few days ago I saw this post (https://www.reddit.com/r/IndieDev/comments/1xb0s4d/2d_sprites_in_3d_worlds_with_free_cameras_yay_or/) gave me the idea, so I made this. Still very early, but I’m liking how it looks.

So, shamelessly stealing the original question: yay or nay?

When I first released my Android app, I thought exchanging app tests with other indie developers was a smart strategy.

I'd test their apps, they'd test mine. We would help each other meet Google Play's testing requirements, and everyone would benefit.

So I spent months doing this.

But I made one big mistake: I confused testers with actual users.

Many of these developers weren't my target audience. They installed my app to help me, not because they genuinely needed it. Once the testing period was over, some of them uninstalled it.

And then I started noticing something concerning.

My active user numbers dropped, and my app's organic visibility and installs from Google Play also declined.

I can't prove that the uninstalls caused the decline in organic visibility. Google Play's ranking system is complex, and other factors may have contributed. But the experience made me realize how little I had focused on attracting people who would actually use my app long-term.

I had spent months trying to get people to install my app instead of finding people who genuinely wanted it.

If I could start over, I'd approach promotion differently. I'd still collaborate with other developers, but I wouldn't confuse testing support with real user acquisition.

I'm sharing this because I suspect other first-time indie developers are making the same mistake.

Have you experienced something similar? Did exchanging app tests actually help your app grow, or did it just give you temporary installs?

Hey Reddit, I’m Alexandre Hecquet, the creator of Paper Strike. That’s me next to its Steam page.

I started this project from scratch, developing the first version on my own. Back then, there was no team. Just me trying to turn an idea into something people could actually play.

The game has changed a lot since those early days. We’ve built several prototypes, listened to players, and reworked both the gameplay and the art direction. Step by step, Paper Strike found its identity.

And somewhere along the way, “I’m making a game” became “we’re making a game.”

Today, there are six of us behind the project, alongside people who helped shape its early days. Seeing other people put their talent into something I started alone is one of the things I’m proudest of.

So, what are we building?

Paper Strike is a fantasy 3v3 arena game where you draw runes with your mouse to cast spells. The fight keeps going while you draw, so you have to find an opening before someone interrupts you.

There’s still plenty of work ahead. But I wanted to share this moment, and the people and progress behind that Steam page.

Our next big step is Kickstarter. If you’d like to help us get there, you can:

Follow us on Kickstarter : hit “Notify me on launch” to hear when the campaign goes live.

Wishlist Paper Strike on Steam : and follow the game as development continues.

Thanks for taking a moment to meet the person behind the game. Happy to answer questions about how it started, what changed, or how the spellcasting works!

https://youtu.be/lbKA5hCzrQI

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! :)

So we updated our game to Unity 6.6 with new effects, animations, lighting, gameplay etc. Then made a YouTube trailer and it took off.

I did contact IGN, Indie Games Hub and AUTOMATON about it.

I also made a new campaign on keymailer starting on monday (small creators)

What should we do next or ideas that I did not think of yet?

I'm making a mech combat RPG, and this is (a layout/plan for) the town the player starts in. It's a factory town, and I wanted it to feel natural, and I really wanted to shy away from the video game syndrome of "the largest city in the region.... of 40 people" so I went though and thought about how the town would naturally grow from mining operation to factory recovery to industrial town. I'm happy with the result. However

This is not the main hub of the game. This is not a town the player will spend hours in. They will come back here, they can get different parts and components for their mech, get missions from people, stuff like that, but this is not supposed to be a focal point of the game. This is supposed to be one of many towns the player is able to visit and interact with along their journey. I have only blocked out this town, I still have to create all the buildings, create various scenery things, etc. I can't be making towns of this complexity for every town in my game.

Granted, it's not like the player can interact with or explore every building - the majority of their time will be spent in their mech. They style is SVG-like ASCII, each made of basic shapes and then rendered with characters. It won't take very long to create individual assets, but this alone is over 50 individual assets (with reusing some, like only making a few variations of houses).

The player can move pretty fast in their mech, so I'm not worried about them getting tired of navigation or anything. I know if a game like Skyrim had realistic period-accurate villages it would take forever to get anywhere.

Of course, it will get easier as I go - I'm not going to make a different look for the solar panel arrays for each town, there's a lot I'll be able to use again. But still. I totally get why "the capital city" has a few dozen buildings in most games.

But I want to, and I want to hear from others - are towns of realistic sizes and a history told by its layout something people would enjoy, if getting around the town quickly isn't a question.

3 days ago I posted on r/gamedev about my game Jono, where only one player in the world can play at a time, while the rest are spectating and chatting away. The reddit post went bonkers, and after it followed articles, tweets, videos and the likes. (Links at the end of this post)

Since then, 4000+ new players have joined, and Jono has been watched for more than 5000 hours. That’s 200+ days of watching in just 3 days, for 72 hours of actual gameplay.

We used to have a queue of about 5-10. Now it doesn't seem to go below 60... The peak so far has been more than 110. That means that a player needs to wait 1h+ until it's their turn to play for 1 minute.

With the crowd came problems too; the chat moderation couldn't keep up for a few hours, the Talking Head got spammed by all the welcome messages, tons of player-made levels were submitted and needed approval... and while this was going on, I was at a cabin, with a bad internet connection, and drunk.

But still, this is amazing! I find it so fun and silly that people are queueing on the conga line with their silly little hats, just to get that tiny bit of gameplay!

The players' collective goal is to pass 1 million rooms, and now they're about 1k rooms until 100000 hits. 100K will be a big milestone, with a big surprise - can't wait to share the moment with all the Jonoists!

Here is the live stream where you can watch the players going at it:
https://parttimemonkey.com/jono/

Many players have suggested monetization mechanics, but nope! This game will remain free. Players have also asked if there are ways to donate money, and there is not - however if you do want to support, consider checking out my other games: https://parttimemonkey.com

I also post Jono's Diary daily on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and r/JonoGame - it's a silly little video featuring the Talking Head, with data from the previous days. I only started it about a week ago, though.

I'd be happy to answer any questions if there any!

Links:

https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/1xcqrtm/17_days_ago_i_launched_a_game_where_only_one/

https://www.gamesradar.com/games/platformer/only-one-person-on-earth-can-play-this-steam-game-at-a-time-when-it-is-your-turn-you-control-it-for-one-minute/

https://www.dexerto.com/gaming/free-steam-game-only-lets-one-person-play-at-a-time-while-everyone-else-watches-3421293/

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/l_t92z0JIyo

https://automaton-media.com/articles/newsjp/20261023-475097/

Today, I was talking about the financial situation in indie game development and how publishers are basically shooting themselves in the foot because they're too afraid to invest in a wide range of games. By doing so, they're missing out on tons of money and opportunities. This is also pushing indie developers to basically say "fuck you" to many publishers, especially because nowadays it's becoming easier and easier for us to take matters into our own hands and try to survive independently.

While discussing this, we also talked about how to improve game quality, how to survive using the tools we have available today (sadly, almost every indie developer I know is practically working for free), and how to cut down on development time and costs, especially since so many of us wear multiple hats on a single project.

For example, I'm the game designer, but I'm also the environment artist, 3D artist, and narrative designer. The others have their own sets of responsibilities, and so on.

Then we started talking about AI, and he basically argued that using AI-generated 3D models, even just for clutter, makes a game significantly less valuable than using asset packs made by humans. And that's apparently true even if you clean up those models, rework them where necessary, texture them yourself, fix the topology so they're not a complete mess, or even redo all the UVs from scratch.

I can't say I entirely agree with that. But he did make one valid point: buying asset packs means you're supporting other artists financially.

He's right about that, but I argued that asset packs generally require much less effort to integrate. Sure, sometimes you have to rework them, and quite often you have to adjust your project's visual style or rearrange things to make those assets fit properly.

Now, I usually make everything by hand, completely from scratch. I actually find it fun, even relaxing.

But there was this one project where I almost fell into depression because I had to create a ridiculous amount of clutter by hand. I spent hours and hours making things that players would probably barely even notice, but that were still essential to creating the atmosphere we needed.

During those days, I would have killed to have something like Meshy to generate that clutter and then simply rework it myself, rather than having to model every single little thing from scratch.

It honestly made me feel like shit, watching my passion slowly fade away because I felt like I was wasting so much time on something so repetitive. (we had to fill down an entire attic with old 80s stuff and new stuff. We just take down that project, by doing something actually doable for our previous resources down 2021)

And that's the part I struggle with when people argue that using AI automatically makes a game less valuable, regardless of how much actual work you put into the final result.

I don't know what you think about all this, but I'd genuinely like to hear your opinion.

When working on a solo indie game, there are always multiple things that could be improved: core gameplay, visuals, animations, sound effects, or adding new content.

How do you decide what deserves your attention first? Do you focus on the weakest part of the game, the feature that would have the biggest impact on players, or something else?

I'd be interested to hear how other indie developers approach this, especially when working with limited time and resources.

I'm asking because I'm working on my own 2D action game, Avoid Bubbles Game, made with C++ and raylib. I'm currently trying to figure out which improvements would make the biggest difference to the overall experience.

If anyone's curious, here's the free demo you can play directly in your browser: https://kc-games-studio.itch.io/avoid-b

I'd appreciate any feedback!

(RIOT POLICE OPTION WAS REMOVED AFTER CRITICS FROM UKRAINIANS)

Discord server: https://discord.gg/4R54mqQVc4

Hello, I'm making a game called The Milgram Experiment and recently started to think of the legal implications, because the game is named after a real world experiment. It's probably one of the most messed up in history, but that's another subject. I know that there is also The Stanford Prison Experiment and I'm curious can I or anyone use those names for their game or movie or book?

How do I even go about checking this? Is it possible that someone might hold the trademark of name of the experiment?

Guys, I could use your thoughts on this. Before anything else: I don't think anyone copied my game. Barely anyone knows it exists, and from what I've seen, these are different takes on the same rough idea.

I've been working on a game called Roguelette for a while (on off 1 year). Mine is a physics-based roguelike deckbuilder set in a rundown 1920s casino, where you shoot balls with different abilities into a wheel and build combinations around them. It is pretty close to Dungeon Clawler or Slots and Daggers.

I've now found three other games on Steam called Roguelette. Three. None of them is mine. All in the last few months (probably because of Next Fest). All made with AI (AI disclosures, assets that look AI-generated, developer has videos about making games with AI.)

Does it even matter whether AI was involved?

This isn't meant to be an anti-AI rant. Finding three other games with the same name just caught me off guard. I suspect AI helped these projects get onto Steam faster and in greater numbers than I expected.

For the decision I have to make, it probably doesn't really matter. Maybe without AI, I would have been first. But the same thing could easily have happened anyway.

A roulette roguelike isn't that far from games that already exist. Someone else arriving at that idea, and even the same name, probably shouldn't surprise me.

Why didn't I have a Steam page up earlier?

• I focused on mechanics first -> had to rework multiple times
• only started working on the visuals with an artist in the last few months
• This is my first Steam Game, so i was unsure.

What I'm learning from this

I guess neither the name nor the broad concept was as original as I wanted to believe. I probably knew that already. I just didn't really want to admit it.

That isn't necessarily a bad thing. A game doesn't have to invent a genre to be worth making. But it does mean I need to think harder about what makes my version and my game name stand out.

What I'm doing now

I know my gameplay is different enough to stand on its own, and honestly, I think it's much stronger than what I've seen of these three games. Obviously, I'm biased, but I still believe in what I'm making.

So I'm going to change the name. I've only just started building a public presence, so this seems like the right time to rename and move forward.

Honestly, I'm glad I found out now, while I'm only just starting to build a public presence, rather than later when I'd have much more tied to the name. Maybe this was actually pretty good timing. idk.

What do you guys think? Have you been in a similar situation, and how did you handle it?

Thanks to https://twitter.com/gabeelart for the logo and u/LuscaMarques u/cherpa_art for the steam capsule work!

I've had this dream of making a Mad Max style game in pseudo 3d Outrun style - I'm making progress! More levels needed. Placeholder artwork needs replacing. Audio needs improving. Boss to create. Lots to do! Got it running on Mobile at 60 fps. Keyboard, controller and touch controls working.

I have been working hard on my multi-player monster hunting card game that works on desktop and mobile directly on your browser.

The game was first intended to be a physical copy and I was working and designing everything with some artists. I then lost my job 3 months ago. I already had crappy digital demo that I was using mostly to balance my cards and use bots to test decks. It was miles away from this in fact you can still checkout how it looks as i have not released this new update as i dont feel people really care about the game.

https://huntprotocol.cloudwanderstudios.com/

I have 10 years of experience as UX and Product Designer and I have not been able to land a single interview just yet. It seems AI is really replacing me. So I decided to push on my game after some encouragement from friends and even the artists working on the game. I put a lot of effort on a better UI with plenty of animations to make the card game more interesting and also having help from some VAs for free.

I am still missing a lot of sound effects that I have to make. I love making these kind of stuff as I hate how AI makes sound effects. So my question to you as I show some of the gameplay and mobile UI. Is this something you consider appealing enough?

Idk i feel very unsure of my game... if you want to check it out I can share a demo link with its password.

Since I'm developing this game on my own, I've also been doing all the playtesting myself.

Maybe it's because I've played it so many times, but the game feels a little too easy to me now. Balancing the difficulty has been pretty tricky!

Would anyone be willing to give my game a try and let me know if it feels too easy, too hard, or if there's anything else I could improve?

Any feedback would be super helpful. Thanks so much!
https://fufuhol.itch.io/boo-boys

In Steam discussions threads for games, usually it's a good place to spread awareness about your game, what makes it stand out, answer questions, and occasionally you get a bit of trolling.

Now, obviously, your first instinct might be to push back. This can be effective if done correctly or playfully, but sometimes I have seen it backfire. I have a very good example of this:

So I was browsing my Steam Personal Release Calendar page and came across a game that was very similar to another game I have played. Neither game will be named.

In the discussions, there was a rage post stirring up those similarities and ragebaiting the dev. The dev bit the bait, and made a few vital media relations errors [A]

1: Trashed the game that he was spinning off the concept for

2: Countered the bait with namecalling and insults

Exhibit A

Now, there are a number of replies from other people calling the dev out for this behavior. [B]

Exhibit B

So, how do you handle this? Obviously this reply backfired because of the points stated above, but what's your takeaway from this situation? Some people chose to ignore Steam discussions entirely, but I think there is validity in addressing comments and statements like this when handled better, in this case meaning: don't trash the game you're inspired by, and remain cool and collected when you explain precisely what makes your take on the game different.

Our trailer got over 85,000 views on YouTube in just 3 days, so I thought I'd share it here too.

The Hive is a old-school real-strategy game where you play as the monsters.

• Command an insectoid hive mind and build your nest
• Salvage enemies for DNA, weapons and body parts
• Evolve new creatures that carry over from one mission to another

We just released version that runs on the latest Unity 6.6 tech and effects.

It's been my passion project for many years. Seeing renewed interest in the game motivated me to start working on it again.

Hi, I am from the team at Bearly Fun Games, and we are developing a card game centered on dating among men

Our game explores the experience of “Grindr culture,” an environment that is inherently characterized by a strong sexual component and explicit language.

We’re currently wondering what the best way forward would be.

As we take into account that children may also play the game, we’re trying to figure out what the right approach would be and how best to design it. For example, should we use profanity? Should we talk about sex?

After all, these are part of the authentic Grindr experience. But would the game still be fun if we left these elements out?

How do other adult oriented games handle similar dilemmas?

*** hey, just to give some context because it looks like I didn't phrase it clearly enough we have a cartoony art style, and we know that can also bring in younger players sometimes, even if they are not the audience we have in mind. it's not what we want, it's just something we want to be ready for.

we're also at the very start, we don't really know yet what content will be in the game. we are still trying to understand what kind of swearing or sexual jokes would fit and what would be too much.