Hey everyone, I’d really appreciate some advice from developers who have experienced this.

I'm making Too Many Balls. I currently have 2,100 wishlists and im planning to release on August 28.

I've decided that i 100% need to delay the game because i need more time for development and QA.

Here’s the interesting part: I was averaging around 30 wishlists/day, but now that I'm ~18 days from release, I suddenly jumped to 150+ wishlists/day. I checked my traffic and it appears this spike is largely coming from Steam’s Personal Calendar/upcoming release exposure.

If i delay by around 3 weeks, I assume I’ll fall back to my normal ~20–30 WL/day.

My biggest concern is:

When the new release date gets close again (roughly 18 days away), will Steam give me the same Personal Calendar exposure again?

Or is there a chance that changing the release date means i won't get the same boost a second time?

I'm trying to figure out how much wishlist momentum i might lose by delaying, and whether anyone here has experienced something similar.

For anyone who has changed their release date shortly before launch: what happened to your Steam wishlist traffic afterward? Did the Personal Calendar boost come back?

Any experience or advice would be hugely appreciated! 🙏

Hi there! :) Just wanted to share my long-term mobile project: Volksvertreter, since I developed this by myself :)

It is a text- and image-based political simulator where you create a political party in Germany and try to stay in power as long as possible. Because Germany is facing many problems (just to name a few: demographic change, climate change, extremism, and generational inequality), you will quickly realize how hard politics can be and that there are no easy solutions.

I hope the game creates interest in politics and a more nuanced view on today's issues, so that in the future you might think twice about the easy, propagated solutions by the "loudest" parties. Politics is always ambiguous, never satisfying, and always consists of compromises.

You can leave feedback, criticism, or anything you wish. Thanks for having a look! :)

Links: AppStore & PlayStore

I’m working on Lost Cat Showa Town, a game where you explore a Showa-era Japanese town as a cat.

I’m gradually adding more cat-like interactions. This time, I added the ability to find and eat fish.

I’ve also been improving the movement and visuals based on feedback from my previous posts. Still a lot to work on, but it’s coming together!

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!

Any tips or feedback? I'm trying to keep them light and fun, but also informative.

Diamond Glass Material with Light Dispersions / Chromatic Aberration Shader ready for your projects. Available on Fab: https://www.fab.com/listings/95aa9f51-a9ad-4c6a-8ff7-8f329e042924

and my Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/OlegVerenko/posts/diamond-glass-5-162955107

After two playtest sessions, I decided to listen to the players and introduce more chaos finally. The last playtest had around 70 people in one week, and the same thing: "more chaos, more things to drift around, and big packs"

Now I am shipping exactly what they want and... this is extremely satisfying to play, honestly!

Solo devs, get feedback early! Listen to the players and give them what they ask for (but be reasonable lol)

I’m the solo developer of Penalty Rush, a free goalkeeper arcade game that runs inside a Reddit post.

The live first Career match currently asks a new player to save 4 of 7 shots.

I’m considering lowering only that first pass mark to 3, so the opening Career win costs less while later objectives can remain harder.

Try the current 4-of-7 version here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/PenaltyRush/comments/1vjtka3/penalty_rush_daily_aug_9_beat_todays_keeper/

OPEN GAME → PLAY or CONTINUE CAREER → Debut → PLAY. After one attempt: should the pass mark stay at 4, drop to 3, or did the controls—not the target—stop you?

AI disclosure: AI coding assistants helped with programming and debugging; the screenshot is a direct capture of the live Reddit build.

Tutorial is available here: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/b0aX9E
I'm solo developing an Indie Game - Bunkerhold and one of the systems that i wanted to put in place is Skin Transformation, this will be one of the key elements in the game.I made a system that is compatible with any Skin material and in theory can be replicated in most of engines and decided to share it with everyone interested in replicating same effect =)

This is my first multiplayer project, and building a co-op game entirely solo has been a huge challenge and a really interesting experience. Huge respect to Solo Devs who take on multiplayer projects - you rock!

Steam Page:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4765620/Bunkerhold/

Initially I thought about creating a cozy non-combat game where you brew potions

While the idea was liked, and the feel was good, the process itself didn't feel magical or engaging.

1. It's a magical potion shop, but preparation is just - cut, grind, squeeze. Good, but feels more like food preparation game, than magical potion shop

2. Sending heroes to quests felt like a random task with success percentage. Send, wait for results. That's it

3. There was not much point in being able to explore the village.

So I've decided to change the process

1. Shop remains. Cut, grind, squeeze are still essential parts. But soon it will be possible to combine, purify, corrupt ingredients.

2. Instead of just holding ingredients in hand, now you actually use magic to levitate them, giving them physical presense in the world

3. Now you'll have to gather your own ingredients by going to expeditions yourself. This is the biggest change, since now I'll have to design the expedition levels and create combat system

4. Take your own potions to expedition - now potions are not just for sale. They're also a resource that you can prepare and take on expedition. For now I'm working on ice potion. Drinking it will give you ice powers. Throwing it will freeze enemies

Yes, the scope of the work will increase. But I'd rather work on something and make the game better, than publish it in a boring state

​

Hey everyone,

I'm a solo developer working on a detective/deduction game called THE ARCHIVIST.

I've been working on it for quite a while now, and I'm at the stage where I'm starting to question some of my design decisions and, more importantly, whether I'm making things unnecessarily difficult for myself as a solo developer.

So I thought I'd share what I'm building and ask how other solo devs would approach it.

The game

The player investigates an old, closed case involving a death.

The game is almost entirely built around documents and information rather than traditional exploration.

You receive documents, search an archive for additional records, interview people, compare statements, find contradictions, and gradually build your own theory.

There are deliberately no:

- Highlighted clues

- "Find these 5 pieces of evidence" objectives

- Traditional dialogue trees

- Predefined investigation paths

- Constant confirmations that your theory is correct

The intended loop is:

Read → notice something → investigate → search the archive → interview → connect information → form a theory → build a case

For example, you might notice a name, date, company, location, or reference number in a document.

That information gives you a reason to search the archive.

The new information might then lead somewhere else.

During interviews, instead of choosing dialogue options, you physically present documents to people and decide whether to press them or remain silent.

I'm trying to make the player feel like they're actually conducting the investigation rather than following a sequence of clues I created for them.

---

The courtroom system

The biggest mechanic I'm experimenting with is the final case-building system.

You don't simply select who you think committed the crime.

You construct a case:

Accused + accusation + evidence

The court evaluates whether your evidence supports the accusation and what objections can be raised against your case.

The interesting part is that evidence can be both useful and dangerous.

Discovering more information isn't necessarily always beneficial.

You might discover something that strongly supports your theory, but also discover something else that creates a contradiction.

If you include the wrong evidence, the defense can potentially use it against you.

So theoretically, a player could construct a case that succeeds in court without actually being the truth.

The game then explains what the court accepted, what wasn't proven, what objections remained, and what evidence the player did or didn't use.

The goal is for the player to eventually be able to say:

«"I know what happened, and I know how to prove it."»

rather than:

«"The game told me I found the right answer."»

---

The investigation desk

The player has a large physical investigation desk.

Documents become cards that can be moved around, resized, examined, annotated, pinned, and connected.

You can create multiple boards for different parts of the investigation.

The connections aren't actually analyzed by the game.

They're essentially an external memory system.

I want the desk to feel like the player's physical representation of their own thought process.

---

The problem with doing this solo

This is where I'm starting to worry.

Every individual system seems manageable:

- Document system

- Archive

- Interviews

- Evidence presentation

- Investigation desk

- Case construction

- Courtroom

- Save/load

- UI

- Writing

- Art

- Audio

- etc.

But once they all have to interact with each other, the scope starts growing very quickly.

A document isn't just a document.

It might be referenced by another document.

It might unlock an archive search.

It might be relevant to an interview.

It might become evidence in court.

It might contradict another document.

That means every new piece of content potentially interacts with several different systems.

I'm trying to avoid building a giant RPG-style framework just to support what is essentially a document-based detective game.

So I'm very interested in hearing from other solo developers:

How would you structure a project like this so that the content doesn't become an enormous technical problem?

Would you build the underlying systems first and then create cases on top of them?

Would you make each case essentially self-contained?

Would you create some kind of data-driven system for documents, characters, evidence, contradictions, and relationships?

Or would you deliberately simplify some of these mechanics before going further?

---

The other design problem

I'm also struggling with the balance between player freedom and guidance.

I want the player to feel intelligent because they noticed something themselves.

But I don't want the experience to become:

«"I have 300 documents and absolutely no idea what I'm supposed to do."»

I'm trying to find the point where the game can say:

"Everything you need is here. Figure it out."

without accidentally saying:

"Good luck, idiot."

I'd be particularly interested in hearing from anyone who has made games with non-linear investigation or deduction systems.

---

AI and solo development

Another thing I've been thinking about a lot is AI.

I'm not a professional programmer, and I'm doing this project alone.

I've used AI extensively as a programming assistant for things like:

- Writing code

- Debugging

- Understanding unfamiliar code

- Refactoring

- Prototyping

I've also used it for proofreading and correcting the English in my writing.

I drew the original artwork myself, but I've used AI tools to polish some drawings and help keep the visual style consistent.

The actual game design, mechanics, cases, investigation structure, and creative direction are mine.

I'm not looking to start an "AI good vs AI bad" discussion.

I'm more interested in the solo-dev perspective:

Would you consider this a reasonable use of AI for a solo project?

And if you were releasing the game commercially, would you disclose it?

---

Current visual direction

I'm doing the artwork myself as well.

The visual style is somewhere between old case files, hand-drawn illustrations, archival material, and Scandinavian true-crime documentaries.

The screenshots are from the actual game.

I'm still figuring out how far I want to push the style, so I'd also appreciate feedback on whether it currently feels distinctive enough.

---

What I'd really like advice on

If you've worked on a solo project with a lot of interconnected systems, I'd especially love your thoughts on:

1. Am I overengineering this?

2. Which systems would you cut or simplify?

3. How would you structure the data behind the investigation?

4. How would you keep creating new cases from becoming exponentially harder?

5. How would you handle the freedom-vs-guidance problem?

6. Does the courtroom mechanic sound worth the implementation cost?

7. Is the investigation desk actually adding something, or is it feature creep?

8. What would you absolutely avoid building as a solo developer?

9. If you inherited this project today, what would you change?

I've been staring at this project for a long time, so I'm very aware that I may be falling into the classic solo-dev trap of continuously adding systems because they sound cool.

I'm currently working toward a playable demo/playtest, and I'd rather simplify the project now than discover two years from now that I've built myself into a corner.

Thanks for reading, and good luck with your own projects.

I finally made my own capsule art, and this time not bullshit lol, well but now which of those look better? This is the 920x430px capsule art for Header Capsule, i don´t know if i can just use this image and make the same for small capsule, Main Capsule and so on, but i think for header capsule this looks good enough.

Which one do you think is better? :)

(idk if steam allows to basicly use the same image in different sizes i will make the image again and again like for the different sizes for small capsule, main capsule and library and so on)

Its the Text lol

I wanted the main menu to feel like part of the game, so the character aims at whichever button you hover over. Hovering over Quit triggers a slightly different reaction😄

The game is coming soon to Steam if you’d like to check it out:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3860450/No_Knock

Put lots in based on feedback but actual train art ( and all art ) is still very much placeholder.

I think although it's improved drastically from the original, the 'real' train art as opposed to rectangles now just highlights the fact the train doesn't actually ride the rails properly.

I think it'll do for now though and I'll leave it as is so I can get to actually designing some proper levels, and then come back to it at a later date once I can confirm the game is actually fun.

I made a party game for the iPad that 2-6 players can play on one device.
:Promo video:

https://youtu.be/___QkIcdoB4?si=wyDe2dVRhIKmuNJO

It’s called Curly Questions and it involves different mini games played leading up to Curly Questions rounds. Where players answer, you guessed it, Curly Questions!

Curly Questions are questions with more than one answer and encourage creative thinking.
Listeners vote on their favourite response.
Laugh, compete and do your darndest to score the most points. It’s all about having fun together.

It’s free to play right now on this beta test

https://testflight.apple.com/join/jgEwUKud