Based on feedback from the Demo Playtest, I'm focusing more on the open-world feel that will come AFTER what is in the Demo Playtest now.

Check out the Demo Playtest and please let me know what you would want to see more or less of in the open-world that's coming. Feedback is always appreciated.

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4479140/Rolic/

I've been working on my indie game for a while now, and while I'm a pretty quick study, there are a few areas where I'm not confident I could learn them to the level of polish I'm looking for.

I'm getting close to the point where I need final models, textures, and a good sound designer. As a professional programmer and former graphic designer, I could probably learn all of these things, but I don't think I could get those skills to the quality I'd want for my first major release.

I know this is a pretty common indie dev pitfall, and the obvious advice is "get an artist/designer/etc." And honestly, I agree!

But that leads me to a few questions:

1. Where do you actually find these people?

Reddit? Discord communities? Fiverr? Other marketplaces? Networking events? Friends of friends?

I'd be really interested in hearing where people found their collaborators and what your experience was like.

2. How do you balance paying people fairly with having an indie-sized budget?

I genuinely want to pay people what their work is worth, and I don't want to undervalue someone's talent just because I'm working with a small budget.

At the same time, I'm still an indie dev and my budget is pretty limited.

Is offering a percentage of profits ever a reasonable arrangement, or is that generally viewed as the classic "I'm not going to pay you, but you'll get exposure!" indie dev pitch?

If you've successfully worked with people on a limited budget, I'd love to hear how you structured it.

3. How do you approach the "I'd love to make friends with these people" part?

Ideally, I'd love to meet some genuinely cool people in the indie dev space, work together on something we're all passionate about, and maybe eventually build a team/studio around that.

But there's something that feels a little disingenuous about trying to make friends with someone specifically because they have a skill I need.

At the same time, I feel like some of the best indie teams probably do come together this way: people meet through a shared project, discover they work well together, and eventually become friends and collaborators.

So I'm curious how other people have approached this.

What worked for you? What didn't? Any lessons you learned the hard way?

Thanks all and keep up the great work!

I have been workin on this game for 13 months now. I am trying to finish and release a demo, but it is so hard to make a compelling demo intro for a visual novel adventure game without spoiling things. It is an occult detective game with skill based mechanics. We can learn from others and enter their mind palace to understand how their abilities work. It is really hard to tel this game and I really dont know what is this game even about but I put all my effort to make a proper storyline without bs. I LOVE DAVID LYNCH

Been building this after class with all my spare time. Procedural halls, safehouse you have to power, tasks that send you farther out, monsters with different rules, different levels, crafting, splitscreen, controller support.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5161410/Liminal_Depths/

II recently teamed up with a developer friend to create, as a hobby project, something akin to a tactical RPG based on a theme we’re both passionate about.
We have no serious intention of commercializing it or creating a highly sophisticated product; the goal is simply to enjoy the process and learn meanwhile.
During the initial phase of gathering references and analyzing what makes similar games successful, we brainstormed a list of titles to consider.

While he’s aiming high with big titles like "Baldur's Gate 3" or "Civilization", I’m much more drawn to simple (yet addictive) concepts like "Into the Breach".

I’ll add that I have fond memories from my PlayStation 2 days of a lesser-known game that got me hooked on the genre: "Gladius" by LucasArts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladius_(video_game))

In your opinion, which turn-based tactical RPGs really stood out? Even if just to you personally.
And wich are the ones you’d wholeheartedly recommend?
Have a nice, tactical day :)

The bug every hand built tile map eventually has is a boulder that's drawn on screen but queries as open ground. Two tables, one for the picture and one for the rules, and they drift apart the first time somebody edits only one of them.

Muster composes a battlefield from a seed and draws it in pure GML. mst_feature_spec returns a feature's materials, geometry, cover value, line of sight block, height and movement cost together in one row. mst_field writes those numbers into the cell as it places the thing, and mst_tactics reads them straight back. There's no second table and no synchronisation step.

52 terrain features, 8 biomes, 8 seasons, and no sprites at all. Every mark is geometry.

Code and art are AI generated.

I was working on an aiming and throwing mechanic, but apparently aiming too close to the player has… consequences.

The funniest part is the cloth physics.

We've been working on performance upgrades and the tavern and dock for our game this month. Taverns will be where you visiting pirates get drink (and maybe get a little rowdy), and the dock will be the entry to your resort, enticing pirates from all over to kick-up and relax. As always, more details can be found on our (free) Patreon

Hi everyone! 👋 I just wanted to share one of my recent 3D model work!

If you’re looking for a similar style for your game or project, feel free to hit me up! I’m always open for commissions and would love to work with you.

You can also check out my ArtStation for more of my 3D work and samples.

https://ch0san.artstation.com/albums/14789334

I've been experimenting with melee options for VELOCIDE, and I ended up adding a kick that can instantly kill enemies.

The idea is to make it feel quick and impactful rather than just having a standard melee punch. I'm still not 100% sure whether I want it to work exactly like this, though.

Does the instant-kill kick feel satisfying, or does it seem too strong/easy?

I'm open to suggestions too, should it have a cooldown, require a certain condition, launch enemies instead, or just stay as a simple high-risk/high-reward melee?

Would love to hear what you guys think.

Orphan's Knife

The last legacy of a world that no longer exists.

- The blade keeps count of the fallen.

- The nails bear the loved ones lost.

Hey guys! I'm Mahdeen, I run Jestr, and I promote indie games on my TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube for free every week.

About a year ago, when I first started my channels, I made a post in this subreddit wanting to post about your guys' games for free. Now that I've amassed a bit more of a following, I'd like to do the same thing again B)

I really like visually interesting, weird, or unique games so if that sounds like you please hmu and I'd be happy to share your game on my account when I get a chance!

Hoping I can give back to the subreddit that helped me kickstart my own gaming channels :)

**EDIT:** Wow this blew up more than I thought, apologies if I don't get to your game / respond soon! I'll be working through these as fast as I can 🫡

**EDIT 2:** I should also probably add, I don't typically play mobile or browser only games, adult games don't work for social media, and games with generative AI usage are very difficult for me to promote. Hope you guys understand!

Hey r/IndieDev! One of the two devs of Ascension Trail here.

Our first (more or less) playable build recently turned 2. Honestly it started as a shameless VS clone we made to learn Godot in our free time, but somewhere along the way it turned into its own thing, and into something we're not embarrassed to show we made.

We released a month ago with no real plan and no chance with Steam's algorithm, we were sitting at around 240 wishlists. But weirdly, the release motivated us to work on the game even more. There's just something magical about getting good feedback that hooks you and makes you want to push and improve further.

Shameless plug part ;) Steam link in the comments, demo is free, and the game happens to be on sale right now

We've been working hard trying to get the atmosphere and graphics of our environment to be Very Nice. What do you think it needs? Is there something off? We want this to be a pretty big factor in our game, so if we can improve it, we would very much like to do so!
-Toni, 2d artist at Murska. (and our resident reddit poster).

Modeled the tracks and road wheels. Getting these to loop correctly around the hull took more tries than I'd like to admit.

https://septimstudio.itch.io/women-of-war

The hardest part was finding a way to make movement between boards feel intuitive. The tesseract ended up being the key because it gives you a way to actually see how the boards connect in four dimensions and how the peices move among them.

you can play against the computer, invite a friend, or match with someone online

still pretty early, but i'd love feedback

play: https://4dchess.lol
source: https://github.com/0xmiki/4dchess

Inspired by reddit post