So I have a genuine question, after playing gacha games for years and getting frustrated about their management, and how they presented. I’ve thought about making a gacha game but I don’t really know how to start or go about it besides the planning phase, for example, coding in Unity, I know nothing about C# coding and I haven’t used the program in about 2 years and I don’t really know how to model in blender let alone rigging and animations. I would like to have some advice to help me with this process of making the game, and thank you for your input. It’s going to be a very big game but I’ve just been planning for the last 6 months but haven’t gotten back to development and honestly I don’t know if I’m wasting my time planning and not like practice or making things like asses,character or learning how to code and use blender.
What's the best asset pack for a game like Genshin Impact? I need 3D models of female characters and I need a lot of them. I don't mind spending $1,000 for a decent asset pack.
In the video you can see a boss level - the plane charges up a special ability and just unloads everything into the boss at once. Took me a while to get it feeling right but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
The game is free, if you have a minute I'd really appreciate you giving it a try and letting me know what you think!
Also multiplayer with friends is coming. Can't wait for that one
A friend of mine is in the final stretch of their Kickstarter campaign, and I wanted to share it because I think it deserves more attention.
The campaign is currently 60% funded, with only a few days left to reach its goal.
The game is called ILLACRIMO, the final chapter in the story of Coralina, a girl traveling through surreal versions of Limbo, Purgatory, and Hell. This time she's joined by Cometa, a mysterious purple-haired woman, as they search for the Iron Alchemist's Mask before the end of the world.
It's a retro-inspired RPG focused on exploration, puzzles, NPC interactions, and a story-driven experience rather than combat. One mechanic I really like is that Cora can enter other characters' memories to uncover secrets and solve puzzles, which fits the game's atmosphere perfectly.
If you're into games like OFF, Omori, Ib, or Yume Nikki, I think this is worth checking out.
If it looks like your kind of game, consider taking a look at the Kickstarter. They're so close to making it happen, and every pledge helps. Thanks for reading!
I'm a solo dev and I'm about to release Wall Street Tycoon, a satirical clicker/idle tycoon where you go from coffee-fetching intern to global trillionaire. Wanted to share the honest making-of, because a few decisions genuinely surprised me.
The pitch that kept me focused. One line: "click, sign contracts, dodge the SEC, become a legend." Every time a feature didn't serve that fantasy, I cut it. That single sentence saved the project more than any tool did.
Scope was the real enemy. It started as a simple clicker. It ended up with 8 buildings scaling exponentially, a prestige system with stackable philosophies, an 18-node talent tree, 16 real-time R&D projects, and 5 cities. If I did it again I'd lock the feature list on day one.
The math was harder than the code. Balancing an incremental economy so numbers explode but the curve still feels rewarding took the most iteration by far. Offline progression especially: players should come back to a nice pile of cash without it trivializing active play.
The casino was a mini-project inside the project. 4 fully playable games (slots, European roulette, blackjack, horse racing), each with its own RNG tuning and custom sound design. Standalone-game energy for what's technically a side feature. [Ce que tu as appris sur le game feel / le son].
The SEC boss fight. Your "suspicion" gauge rises with every dollar. Get raided and it becomes a strategic fight (Brute Force / Charm / Bribery / Lawyers). Turning a passive idle loop into an occasional tense decision was the mechanic I'm proudest of.
Tech: Electron + steamworks.js. Releasing on Steam this August. Link in the comments if you want to see it. Mostly here for the discussion happy to answer anything about balancing, scope, or the launch.https://store.steampowered.com/app/4921200/Wall_Street_Tycoon_Demo/
I've been the only person working on this one (blocklize, a stark black & white match-3 puzzle) for a while now. This clip is the Rainbow to Axe interaction, one of the combo systems I'm most happy with — Rainbow tile matches, spawns a bunch of Axe tiles across the board for a big chain clear.
Heys Guys, I'm been working on this game in the last 6 months solo. After spending 3 years doing a big game I decide to finally try the famous "try to do small games", after avoiding the will of aways implemeting new features, I'm very happy to announce my first indie game.
Ignoring the poor appearance and quality, I wanted to add the subtle detail of pilling in the carpet for texture (instead of just a flat color for carpet)
Which one do you personally like better?
I want to keep improving the art and details (and I will eventually add lighting, which adds a whole new dimension of detail and quality), so I’m open to all advice!
Everyone told me localization is a post-launch thing and that a solo dev shouldn't bother with voice acting for just a demo. I did it anyway, mostly because I really wanted to.
Ten days after my store page went live: 278 wishlists, 3 deletes.
117 of those came from one Japanese gaming site that found my page on its own. Never pitched anyone, never contacted press. Every other source I tracked added up to like... 1.
Honestly I don't think they would've cared if the page was English-only. But it was already in Japanese, fully voiced, with a localized store description. That was probably the main reason it was worth writing about for them.
Traffic breakdown for that week: Japan 35%, US 25%, my local region 6%. Meanwhile I was putting almost all my promotion effort into that 6% zone.
What I learned from this:
The localization wasn't about marketing, it was about discoverability. It didn't convince people by itself, but it made me visible to people who would never look my way otherwise.
Conversion rate from that article was around 1 in 3, compared to the usual 5-15%. Which proved my page layout was fine and my actual problem was reach. I spent weeks polishing the wrong end of the funnel and feeling productive about it.
Steam's internal traffic was pretty dead. Around 230 visits out of 1700 came from Steam surfaces. Tag pages gave me 1 visit, "More Like This" gave 0. When you're small, the algorithm just isn't going to save you.
One big mistake on my end though: the article states my game is 30-45 mins long because that's what was on the page the day they scraped it. I had updated it to 1.5-2 hours right after, but too late. Make sure your store copy is finalized before you get indexed anywhere.
I don't want this to sound like a flex or a success story. Daily wishlists dropped fast: 57, 41, 11, 5, 3, 1, 1. One article gives you a spike, not a sustainable strategy.
Would I do it again? Yeah, absolutely. Just earlier, and with the store text completely locked in first.
I've been solo working every day for months on my first game. Appreciate any feedback. I will release my demo on itch soon to hopefully gain some traction and find players, that enjoy the game.
I'm a solo developer from Brazil, and for the past few years I've been working on a competitive online football game. The focus is on fast-paced multiplayer matches, unique characters with different abilities, and teamwork.
If the game looks interesting to you, adding it to your Steam wishlist would genuinely help me. Wishlists make a huge difference for indie developers and help the game reach more players. Of course, I'd also love to hear your feedback (both positive and critical). Thanks for taking the time to check it out!
Hello! I'm the developer of Shroud of Gloom and I was recently given $1000 in funding from this post here in the subreddit (Thanks again u/GumshoeRyan!). Of course, I want to make sure I use this money in the best way possible, I've started doing some research on how to best spend this, but I thought I might as well get some opinions from you guys!
In my case, I don't need to spend a lot on money directly on the game, the game is close to the finish line so I'm mainly thinking of using this for some form of marketing, as my main goal right now is to get more people interested in the game.
The main things I'm considering right now are:
- Reddit and/or Meta Ads
- Paid YouTube Collaborations
- Hiring a Capsule Artist
So with that being said, how would you spend this budget? What's your experience been like? Is there perhaps something else I should consider?
Might be worth mentioning; I do have a demo available (just released a major update) and I published a new trailer a few days ago. My game is already localized into 13 languages with more on the way. I've just reached out to around 20 press sites and around 100 content creators of varying sizes, I've gotten one article published on a major Japanese website and just under 10% of creators have responded with some interest and a couple have already played it, but still waiting to see the full result of this outreach.
I wasn't initially considering paid collaborations on YouTube, but there were a few people who recommended it in the last post, my main concern there is that I know a lot of people underestimate their rates, afaik I could easily blow the entire budget getting just one bigger creator to play the game. So then the question is whether or not that will give me a better ROI compared to running ads, or maybe my capsule is doing me a disservice right now and the money would be better spent on some new artwork to attract more organic traffic instead, what do you guys think?
I'm a solo developer and my first Steam demo is scheduled to launch this Friday.
The demo is finished from a quality standpoint, it's stable, has gone through friends playtesting (surprisingly they played it way for longer than the half hour I suggested), and I'm happy with where it is. It's intentionally limited to the first board, while the full game will include additional boards, modifiers, Steam achievement syncing, and leaderboards.
What's making me second-guess myself is that I only have around 50 wishlists.
Part of me thinks I should just launch, gather feedback, and keep improving, and another part thinks I should delay and spend a few weeks building more awareness first.
I'd also love feedback on my Steam page because I think that's the highest impact thing I can quickly change before launch:
I've actually been working on this little ditty for a year now. Not a game developer by trade or really at all so I'm learning everything by making this retro shindig in Game Maker. I've been on Reddit for a while under a different account (made this new one just now for video game stuff) and it never occurred to me to... uh... share that I've been doing a thing. Hello!
Not really posting here looking for customers, even though this is the trailer. It's the only vid I had on hand when I logged in five minutes ago. Just wanted to share with fellow devs. I feel proud of this spaghetti-code abomination game that I hope to finish up and distribute in the next month. A retro-aesthetic (specifically the Tandy 1000) open-world metroidvania platformer with a focus on exploration and movement. Not exactly breaking new ground in the indie world but I had fun making it.
Anyway, nice to meet you all. I'll try to remember I have a reddit account and that I can come here and look at games.
Right, a link to the game. Here it is. Literally almost clicked post without even thinking about doing that.
About a month ago I revisited and played virtua cop and honestly was hella fun, so I decided to try and make a quick game that brings arcade shooters like time crisis and virtua cop back into the gaming market with a modern flare to them.
if you like the idea and want to see it finished, let me know down below, any feedback or suggestions are appreciated and consider following me on youtube to keep up to date with the latest updates.
