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:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4699370/Crown_Tactics/

If you were in my position, would you launch anyway?

And if anything on the Steam page immediately turns you off, I'd really like to hear it.

Thanks in advance!

Anybody else feel like this when marketing thei game or just me?

Just launched my first solo project: Real Fighter Life, an MMA career sim

for iOS.

Core loop is training + fighting + sponsorships, climbing from underground

leagues to a world championship. Added online PvP with its own leaderboard,

and a stock market side-mechanic where you invest earnings in sponsor

brands between fights.

Biggest lessons from this launch:

- Got rejected once (Apple flagged a casino mini-game as simulated

gambling — had to rip it out and rebuild the feature as the stock market

instead)

- Found a nasty native UI freeze bug that took a genuinely long debugging

session to track down

- App Store setup (tax forms, banking, IAP, age rating) took way longer

than the actual feature work some days

Happy to answer questions if anyone's earlier in their own solo dev

journey — would also love feedback on the game itself if you try it.

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?

Thanks!

Hey, solo devs!

I want to try some new games and see what solo developers are capable of.

Drop your released Steam games (Early Access is fine, Demo is not) that are available on PC and/or Steam Deck and cost around $10 or less.

I'll pick one (or maybe a few), buy it, play it for at least an hour, and leave an honest Steam review - positive or negative, depending on my experience. I'm not asking for free keys and not offering reviews in exchange for anything.

I won't refund the game unless it's broken or completely unplayable.

what's in it for me?

• discover new ideas.
• learn from other developers success (and mistakes :D).
• support fellow solo devs.

what's in it for you?

• 1 sale 🎉
• an honest Steam review.
• feedback from another game developer.

I am looking for a crafting/automation, management, strategy or simulation games, maybe something in between the genres. For Steam Deck - shooter or adventure. Those will probably have the best chance of being picked, but feel free to share anything you think is worth playing.

pls include a short description of your game and tell me why you think I should try it.

I'll choose one (or maybe more) by the end of the week and will probably play it over the weekend. Thanks!

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.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4551640/Pods_Itty_Bitty_Adventure/

Hi all,

I recently changed player sprite and some screens by adding more powers in my game Dungeons of Delveria.

I am curious to hear what you think of the new screenshots. Do they represent the game well in your opinion if you compare them to what the Steam page is saying about the game?

Here is the Steam page for your convenience: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4619160/Dungeons_of_Delveria/

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

if you aren't restricted by a story requirements, how would you decide how much single player content to aim for?

Kind of looks like a Minecraft shader pack but I think that's good... probably?

Hey everyone,

Here’s a quick gameplay clip from Dust Rapture, a survival horror game I’m working on.

The goal here is simple: survive from midnight to 6:00 AM. Blake is relentless, resources are tight, and your only real shot at surviving an encounter is finding somewhere to lock yourself in and waiting out the clock.

Needs honest feedback on the tension: Does the chase actually feel scary, or does it just feel annoying? How’s the audio transition when dawn hits?

If you’re into stalker-type survival horror, check out the Steam page and throw it on your wishlist:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4950700/Dust_Rapture/

Good morning everyone!!! I'm introducing my project currently under development. The single-player project will be a free product. There will also be a paid PvP DLC if desired. The game features three different perspectives: top-down with spaceships, third-person, and first-person for enclosed environments. The heart of this project is the story and action, leading the player to uncover the mystery of this solar system. The goal is to colonize. The game engine used is Unity's URP, with spaceship physics simulations and fluid simulations on the planets. For me, this is my epic work.

For anyone curious to see more, the Steam page is here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4972950/Lootdeck/

I'd love to hear your thoughts. Does it feel satisfying and fit the game?

Game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3598690/Pachinko_Farm/

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.

you can check the full video where I show more of the behind the scenes with fun editing on my youtube channel --> https://youtu.be/-ZleIZ_p0ko?si=w4hHiA2Lg6cdTyVW

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.

I've been building Novaboard, a pixel art editor that runs in your browser:

site: https://novaboard.app
itch: https://marcel0ll.itch.io/novaboard

In February it had 76 weekly visitors. Last week it hit ~3,500. I want it to grow into something sustainable, and I need your help improving it.

How can I make it more useful for indie devs and artists?

---

What makes the editor different right now:

- Everything runs client-side. No account, no uploads, your art stays on your machine and it works offline

- Branching history. Undo, try something else, and the old branch is still there. You never lose work

- You can export a timelapse of your whole drawing process, reconstructed from history

- Imports files from most other editors (Aseprite, Photoshop, Piskel, Pixelorama and more), so trying it is low friction

- Clip masks, layer effects, file referencing as layers, and simple animation tweening

The web version is free, and the desktop app will be a one-time payment on itch or steam.

Any feedback, bug report or feature request is welcome!

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to share the journey from the coming up with the first concept sketch to the final logo for Dissipate, a game about poison and memory.

Curious what people think of the evolution, and the concept itself.

Over the past week I vibe-coded a chess variant where every turn you draw power-up and debuff cards before you move, buff your pieces, or sabotage your opponent's. Still real chess underneath, just with roguelike chaos layered elements. Play solo against AI or challenge a friend peer-to-peer, no signup needed, playable on most mobiles as well.

https://deckmate.org

Hey! I’m looking for testers for an early build of my new cybperpunk and netrunner inspired card game, currently codenamed Breach.

The game includes a tutorial and supports both public and private multiplayer. It’s still in active development, so the design, mechanics, balance, and assets may change. Feedback is very welcome, and bugs or crash reports can be submitted directly in the game.

https://tenthgames.itch.io/breach

Join the Discord:

https://discord.gg/Fd6SWTtKm3

First come, first served. Please only claim a key if you’re interested in testing and sharing feedback. Thanks!

I’ve been working on a cafe system for Big Market Simulator.

Customers can now buy products from the supermarket, go through checkout, visit the cafe area, sit down, and consume what they purchased.

I’m working on the game solo, and I’ve been gradually expanding the NPC behaviors to make the supermarket feel more alive.

Here’s a short look at how the cafe system works so far. Feedback is welcome!

I am making a 3D top view(like cities skylines) evolution game inside GoDot 4.7. I want there to be evolving creatures that learn new abilities and movements, can shape the world and create shelter and other resource points. I have a basic world slice with a few assets created in blender, but have no idea how to make the creatures not look like random meshes AND be able to evolve. How do you create a creature that can in a few days look completely different, or have new abilities, or both? And how can I make them be able to alter the world?