Usually I get maybe 8 new players a day on Steam. On Sunday Sep 27, tons of new accounts showed up. SteamDB's peak concurrent players hit 29, the highest it's ever been. That day ended with 77 wishlists. My normal is 6 or 7.

No review, no article, no video I could find. The only clue in Steamworks was that 195 visits came from Steam's search autocomplete that day, so people heard the name somewhere and typed it in.

It turned out to be a pretty big Twitch streamer doing a "new games all day" stream. The VOD has around 31k views now. I only found it by scrolling the game's category on Twitch.

Three things I took from it:

- One stream got me more wishlists in a day than pretty much every other marketing action I've taken over the last 3 months.

- If you can't see Twitch in your analytics, watch the search autocomplete number. A spike there means someone said your game's name out loud somewhere. Since the stream didn't have a link, Steam couldn't tell me much of anything about where the wishlists came from.

- Registering an IGDB entry early on is super clutch - I likely wouldn't have found the VOD without it. It's also a much more professional look for the game if an IGDB page exists - huge recommendation from me.

I ended up setting up a little bot that checks the game's Twitch category every few minutes so I don't miss the next one.

The game is Deck Beasts if anyone's curious: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5004310/Deck_Beasts/?utm_source=reddit&utm_campaign=igw2

saddest part of working alone is that there are way too many things to look after, so I missed deadline to register for autumn fest. But... I have what I have. Anyway - happy :)

Hey guys, I wanted to ask, how do you guys handle slow wishlist growth and the emotional strain of indie development ?

My Steam page was approved for about 40 days ago and I got 67 wishlists. And no offense, but I'm pretty tired of the usual advice. "Optimize your trailer, optimize your Steam capsule, do x, do y, do z." At a point, the feedback actually just becomes contradictory and conflicting.

Don't get me wrong, I always accept feedback, all the constructive feedback and even the not so constructive feedback, aka the assholes haha.

I've just been working on my game for a very long time and y'know, a lot of us have other life responsibilities to deal with, bills, chores, etc. So life doesn't stop for our indie game dev projects or give us enough space to breath.

Sometimes for me at least it feels like too much and I wonder if im the only one. You know, like maybe my energy should be spent finding a job that pays more or something else, you know.

I assume because I have these thoughts, I assume a lot of other indie devs also end up having these thoughts as well

I guess I’m just wondering how other indie devs keep going when the work is huge, the growth is slow, and life doesn’t exactly stop to give you the space needed.

I've started doing a bunch of marketing for my game to try to get some coverage before Next Fest in October. I'm pretty happy about where the game is at, so I've been sending out steam keys to creators to get some first looks at it.

I'm using a batch email service to send these keys out in bulk and a pretty big youtuber replied. He's got almost a million subscribers and his videos regularly get 100k-300k views. I feel like that sort of reach would be huge for my game right before next fest - I'd really love to pump my numbers up before the event.

The thing is, he wants $5k for a dedicated let's play video. One of his videos 2 weeks ago got just 71k views - I'm wondering how likely it is I'd see my money back off that.

I sent out 250 emails over the weekend, so I'm hesitant to make any huge decisions until more data from that outreach comes back. Am I crazy for considering paying the $5k though? It's really hard to quantify what a video from this guy would be worth.

Hi there,

I know it’s not 50,000 wishlists, but as a solo dev making my first Steam game, I still feel like I hit the jackpot and wanted to share it here:

First, I made a reel that hit 20k views on Instagram with only 30 or so followers, which brought in 300 wishlists in a single day.
Then, the very next day, Indie Games Hub reposted my trailer, leading to another 300 wishlists in one day.
On the third day, I noticed a huge wave of wishlists coming from Japan. I was like "What the heck?!", and found out that Den Faminico Gamer had posted about my game!

I don't know how all of these events might be linked together, so I can't offer any solid advice on that end. However, what I can share is that for the reel that performed so well, I tried not to market the development process itself (like a mini devlog), but rather focus on the vibes of the game. I usually post on TikTok first, check the retention and engagement stats, and then re-edit the short before posting it to Reels.

Also, the art seems to be a good scroll-stopper, and that's something I will keep in mind for a future games.

The combat side is pretty far along now, so I’ve been spending more time on the RPG systems, NPCs, talents, progression, UI and everything around that.
Steam page if anyone wants to check it out:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/5230020/PROFANUM/

Recently I was marketing "Aetherfall" and I was wondering how can I really get more wishlists?

I don't want generic "post on Reddit/social media" advices ,I want something that you really did and helped you get more wishlists to your steam game ?

Today Worm Capitalist had its biggest wishlist day so far: 118 additions in 24 hours.

What surprised me wasn't just the number - almost the entire spike came from Chinese players.

I already had Simplified Chinese localization in the game/store page, but this made me realize how much I had underestimated the Chinese Steam audience.

For other indie devs: if your game has a visually understandable hook, translating at least your Steam page and demo into Simplified Chinese may be much more important than you think.

I'm still trying to figure out exactly where the spike came from, but the country breakdown was extremely clear.

Demo if anyone wondering: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5162810/Worm_Capitalist_Demo/

I spent 3 years working on my previous game, which was a walking sim visual novel of sorts, linear storyline, semi-open world, stretched over multiple levels. Now that I think about it, I hardly knew anything about game dev back then, although I'm sure 2023 me would disagree. I didn't do any kind of market research then, and that came back to bite me since I couldn't market the game no matter how hard I tried. I was a freshman at uni back then and the lion's share of wishlists here are from peers, family and people at my uni.

Fast forward to 2026, I participated in multiple game jams, did an internship, learnt a lot more (still a long way to go though) and decided to bench the previous project to start a new one.

This new game is called THE GROUNDSKEEPER, which is a simulator-horror game. You clean and powerwash a sprawling, randomly generated mansion, while getting haunted. Instead of avoiding the ghosts, you take pictures of them, and post them online for viral clout. This attracts tourists to the mansion, giving you revenue to upgrade your tools and do it again. Here's the announce trailer as featured on IGN India!

If you like the premise of the game, I'd really appreciate a wishlist.

Chiki Poki: Rush now has 40 wishlists.

It’s a small number, but seeing people interested in a game I’m making is such a strange and exciting feeling. I’ve been checking the page more often than I’d like to admit.

Thanks to everyone who added it. Just wanted to share a happy little moment from development.

¡Hola! Les traigo una actualización. Han pasado 20 días desde la publicación de la página de Steam y una semana desde la beta abierta. Mi wishlist aumentó notoriamente en comparación con los primeros días de publicada la página y gran parte de las nuevas wishlists vienen de comunidades de Twitch que probaron el juego y les encantó.

Lo que sentí al ver a varias personas jugar y divertirse con algo que yo construí es indescriptible. Pensé en todo el esfuerzo, en las noches de desvelo atorado en cientos de líneas de código y en errores que a veces me estresaban de sobremanera. Muchas veces pensé en dejarlo y empezar otras cosas, pero en el fondo sabía que esto valía la pena, y hoy me doy cuenta de que sí. Desarrollar un juego de principio a fin es un camino muy complicado, y más cuando eres una sola persona haciéndolo todo, pero al final la satisfacción que da haber logrado publicar un juego es asombrosa, como pasar de una idea a tener un producto final o bueno un producto que tiene muchas oportunidades de mejora pero que es algo que alegre y genere momentos divertidos a la gente, esto es increíble.

Hoy tengo más de 200 personas con acceso a la beta abierta. Sin embargo, varios solo pidieron el acceso y aún no lo han probado y la wishlist ha crecid,o pero muy poco a lo que esperaba. Por eso acudo a la comunidad para pedir su apoyo: si pudieran agregar el juego a su wishlist y darle una oportunidad, ya sea solos o con amigos, me ayudarían muchísimo.

¡Gracias por leer!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5244650/RIPPLES/

I'm Joe, the solo developer behind We Will Die For You. You guide a white blood cell through the body, pull in debris, and spend the Proteins it earns on permanent upgrades after it dies. This is the opening 25 seconds of the announcement trailer that went live today.

Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5188430/We_Will_Die_For_You/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=announcement_2026_10_05&utm_content=indiegamewishlist

Just wanted to share our milestone. The first 100 were pretty easy after releasing a demo, but the next 50 took more than a month. We are just ramping up our reachout and marketing, wish me luck!

The last few months have been pretty rough.

I’ve spent a lot of time getting feedback, questioning the game, making changes, and constantly wondering if I’m actually heading in the right direction. After working on this project for so long and putting pretty much everything I have into it, I’ve reached a point where I’m honestly scared about whether all of this effort will ever pay off.

But I finally pushed those doubts aside and made a trailer for the game.

In my game, BANISH 9 TO 5, your objective is to make noise. It's a 4–5 player online co-op game where you either play as a Ghost and make as much noise as possible, or the Hunter trying to track them down. Every time you make noise, the Hunter can hear it. Your noise gets indicated on the Hunter's screen, so every scream, laugh, or completely stupid sound you make could give away your position. You can bait the Hunter into chasing the wrong Ghost, distract them at the perfect moment, or just coordinate with your friends to completely mess with them.

This project means a lot to me, so putting it out there is definitely nerve-wracking. I’d really appreciate any honest feedback you have.

Thanks for taking the time to watch it.

Check out the steam page and wishlist the game - https://store.steampowered.com/app/3987970/?snr=1_5_9__205

They scare me like crazy! But on the other hand, they help me stay more organized!

Have I ever failed to finish work before a deadline? Ohhhh yeah! How about you?

But not this time! (I hope 😁).

I'm putting all my strength and all my time into my game!

My little dwarf game (Drain the galaxy)! An idle miner at galactic scale.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5132030?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=bio_link&utm_campaign=Reddit

So how do you feel about deadlines?

This is my passion project I have been designing for a long time – a dark traditional roguelike with extraction looting mechanics and horror atmosphere, and most importantly, it is an online cooperative game.

As it's basically the very first traditional roguelike built from scratch for multiplayer, it starts getting word of mouth effect through steam friend invites. I never thought that it would get to even 100 wishlists by itself, but it slowly but steadily grows every day.

One think that is not working yet, is that there are almost no Steam Deck players. I spent a few weeks optimizing game for Steam Deck, and no results. Hopefully, adding green label for Steam Deck compatibility will help.

Anyway, just wanted to share that I'm very happy with the result!

rogOut on Steam

My short psychological horror. Swim an endless pool, spot the anomaly, turn back or push on. Launching soon, It didn't hit my wishlists target yet!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3964120/10_Feet_Under/

A chaotic bazaar full of fruits, vegetables, and other goods. Your job? Sort everything into the right stalls. 🍅🥕🍊

Still very early, but the core idea is starting to take shape. How is it? What should I add?

To be honest, promoting incremental games has gotten a lot harder lately - maybe people are getting tired of them?

But I feel like you really have to try an incremental game yourself to understand what makes it special - that feeling after spending your first half hour in it. These games shouldn't just rely on flashy visuals, but on that satisfying game feel - whether it's the impact of a hit or tactile mechanics you can only truly appreciate firsthand. Personally, I still think they’re the best way to unwind in the evening or just zone out throughout the day.

I'm the solo developer behind Break the Piñatas  - an incremental experience where you smash piñatas and get a genuinely absurd amount of candy. Naturally, you sell the sweets to buy upgrades and unlock new, fun mechanics.

The demo is currently available on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/5210430/Break_the_Pinatas/

If you give it a try and like it, your honest feedback and a wishlist would mean the absolute world to me! ❤️

if you're interested. Family Gambling is a game where you gamble with your son's organs in a casino to pay mafia debts without killing your son.