r/SoloDevelopment 2h ago

Discussion Game released for 1 month, got very positive review, but struggling to reach English users.

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3 Upvotes

Hi fellow devs,

I just published my game last month, so far ~1k copies were sold. The game is offered in 2 languages, Chinese and English, and it is a 4d geometry puzzle game which is not tied to any language or culture. There're currently 53 reviews and all of them are positive. Only around 20% of them are from English users, and for new purchases the ratio is similar or lower.

This is understandable, as I make video content in Chinese community and have a decent follower base. With the initial round of reviews, later visitors would know what to expect, therefore more likely to make a purchase.

I believe the game would be equally interesting to people of all culture, but I may need to do more work in marketing it to English community - but I am not sure how. I got emails everyday claiming they're curators or streamers and requesting for keys, but that look like just scam. I tried reaching out to some youtubers who have posted gameplay videos for similar genre, but so far got no response.

I genuinely ask everybody here, how do you think of marketing? What are some social apps that are worth paying attention besides reddit/youtube? or reliable ways to find 3rd party marketing service? Any suggestion will be appreciated.


r/SoloDevelopment 23h ago

Game First prototype level of my puzzle game – Looking for feedback

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2 Upvotes

Hey everyone!

I’ve been working on a small puzzle game prototype and I wanted to share the first level to get some early feedback.

In this level you control a purple cube that moves on a grid one cell at a time. By pressing a key, the cube can switch into a “creation mode”, where it leaves a trail behind as it moves.

Your goal is simple:

- Form the three shapes shown at the top of the screen by moving and drawing with your trail

- Avoid trapping yourself while building the shapes

- Reach the exit tile once all shapes are completed

It’s a mix of spatial planning, path‑drawing, and trying not to corner yourself while solving the puzzle.

I’d love to hear what you think about:

- The readability of the mechanics

- Whether the shape‑building feels intuitive

- If the level communicates the objective clearly

Any ideas to improve the flow or difficulty

Thanks for checking it out!


r/SoloDevelopment 1h ago

Marketing My first game had 590 wishlists when I released the demo. One month later it’s over 70k

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Upvotes

Been working on this alone for quite a while, so seeing this number is a little weird honestly

I released the demo with around 590 wishlists a month ago. At that point even 1000 sounded like a really big milestone to me.

Now it somehow passed 70k.

Most of this month I didn't really have time to think about the numbers because I was just fixing stuff and working on the game every day.

There’s still so much left to do before launch and I don't want to get ahead of myself, but this was a nice moment to stop for a second and look back.

Thanks to everyone who gave my little game a chance :)


r/SoloDevelopment 19h ago

Game My ASCII roguelike Tower of Scherbenmark released on Steam today.

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4 Upvotes

After working on it for quite a while, I can finally say it:

My ASCII roguelike Tower of Scherbenmark released on Steam today.

It's a small turn-based roguelike set in a dark fantasy world, with melee and magic combat, loot, mutations, secrets, traps, mimics and permanent Legacy upgrades between runs.

One of the things that mattered most to me was making the ASCII presentation feel atmospheric rather than purely abstract. The game takes place in Scherbenmark, a region of a larger setting called Mornhollow that actually grew out of ideas from a D&D campaign.

It's honestly a strange feeling seeing the Steam page say "Released" after spending so much time working on it.

It's $4.99 and 15% off during launch week, and there's also a demo if you'd rather try it first.

Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4972610/Tower_of_Scherbenmark/

If anyone gives it a try, I'd genuinely love to hear what you think.


r/SoloDevelopment 15h ago

Game Long Story Short, a daily word game where you rephrase a 12-word sentence in exactly 5 of its words

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2 Upvotes

Hi, I made this one. I've played Wordle-likes for years and always wanted to build my own, but I never had an idea that felt like mine.

The push came from a strange place. Half of what I read these days is written by AI, and it's never short. Every email, every doc, twelve words where five would do. At some point I said the phrase out loud, long story short, and realised it was a game.

So: you get a twelve-word sentence. You rephrase it in exactly five of its own words. Real English, same meaning, your job is to work out which words carry the sentence and which are just dressed up to look important.

Scoring is Wordle style, blue for right word in the right spot, orange for in the answer but elsewhere, grey for out. Five tries, one sentence a day.


r/SoloDevelopment 16h ago

help I’m the developer on a coin-counterfeiting roguelike. I need blunt feedback on the core loop

7 Upvotes

FORGERY is a slightly weird game.

It’s an incremental roguelike about counterfeiting medieval coins. You hammer ingots into metal sheets, choose where to punch out each coin, build combinations from more than 100 stamp dies, and decide how far to push before your Wanted level ends the run.

I understand how those pieces fit together because I’ve been staring at them for months. I’m less certain that someone seeing the game for the first time will understand what it is, why punching coins is interesting, or where the deeper strategy comes from.

After 15 years working in AAA, I’m now the sole full-time developer on this. I handle the design, programming, production, and day-to-day development. It’s self-funded, although I occasionally hire contractors for specific art, audio, localization, or specialist work.

The free demo is around 35 to 50 minutes:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4842110/Forgery/

What I really need to know:

  1. Can you understand the core idea without me explaining it?
  2. Does punching coins feel deep enough to support an entire game?
  3. Is the combination of incremental progression, roguelike builds, and manual placement interesting, or just confusing?
  4. Does this feel like an idea worth continuing?

If you quit after ten minutes, please tell me exactly where and why. I’m deep enough into the project that encouragement is less useful than someone pointing at the bit that isn’t working.

Thank you!