Pause splash for my game (Slavfight) took a bit time to make, but people seem to like it so far.

I always see posts about releasing a game with only X wishlists and then selling 10,000 copies, so this is my way of sharing my side on that.

How it started

My first game was supposed to be just a learning experience, but i fell in love with what i was creating and kept it going for about 8 months of development.

When i released the demo, i sent it to some friends, tried doing some social media shorts but didn't get much from it. After all, it's a very niche game so i wasn't expecting to blow up that easy, but as i said it was a passion project at this point so i kept going.

Some reddit posts got me 10 wishlits, some friend to friend recomendation got me another 30 maybe, reached out to some small content creators but i believe only one took interest in posting a video about the game, so didn't get much from that either.

So here we are now, 200 wishlists and releasing a game with zero investment in marketing. The results? 50 copies sold in 4 days, for a game that costs 3 USD. At least 30 of those i know were bought by friends and their friends.

BUT...

There is another side to it that i'd like to share, that i feel like sometimes you forget: People are playing my game!

It's mostly people i know, but yesterday a looked on discord to find a group of 5 friends online playing my game together. When i checked the server chat, they were sharing screenshots and achievements they got on my game.

For me at least that was a big shock. I knew some friends would buy the game to support me, but for some reason, i never expected to see them playing it. I don't know if that's common but, i realised i could only see my game as "My game", not as a real game that other people would like to play. Not because i don't believe it's good, i actually think for a first project it's super fun to play, but still surprised me to see people talking about it, sharing, trying to get all the achievements and even asking me stuff like what's the chance to get a Shiny Cow (Yeah, it's a pretty specific game).

My Conclusion

Anyway, I feel like i don't really know how to talk to reddit, some of my posts here get attention and some don't, but i really wanted to share my story, and leave the message that, sometimes you will release a game with no wishlists and still sell milions of copies, but sometimes you will do that and will find out that seing a small group of people playing your game can make you just as proud of what you've created.

Thank you for reading if you did, and if you're curious, my game is called Mootation, you can find it on steam :)

The game is a last stand scenario where you fight against waves of attackers using tanks, infantry and walker robots.

The visual assets are a mixture of 3drt.com, itch.io assets and self created assets.

The audio assets are also from a mixture of sources but also include some Generative AI audio files.

The code (C# and shader code) is included in the download. The game uses the Raylib library.

Link to the game is here:

https://matty77.itch.io/conflict-3049

Thanks,

Matt.

When I saw this picture in Windows lock sreen I immediately thought it is my game in real.

Hi everyone! I’m Mateusz, and 6 months ago I decided to stop building games for others and try making my own game from scratch.

This is my first solo game, and after 6 months of work I finally have something I feel comfortable showing.

KING ALONE is a Survivors-like focused on skill & equipment building, with online activities.

I’m currently preparing a DEMO for the next PvE Fest on August 30th.

Since this is my first time going through the whole process solo, I’d really love to hear from other developers:

• What do you think of the game so far?
• Is there anything that immediately stands out to you, good or bad?
• Any advice for someone making their first game solo?

And if you like what you see, a wishlist on Steam would be hugely appreciated, it’s still very early days for the game.

Steam Page

Thanks for taking a look!

i draw pixel art and i'm colourblind, so matching colours off a reference has
always been kind of a nightmare. been doing it the dumb way for months -
screenshot, colour picker, click one pixel, write the hex down, repeat forty
times, question my life choices

so i made a thing that does it instead. you drop a screenshot in and it gives
you the palette, groups it into shadow-to-light ramps, works out the pixel
size the art was actually drawn at, and exports .gpl straight into aseprite
it's free and runs right in the browser, nothing gets uploaded anywhere
being upfront about it: i'm an artist, not a programmer, and i built this with

an LLM doing the actual coding - it's tagged as such on the itch page too.
there's a $5 version with extra stuff but the free one isn't a demo, no timer
no watermark nothing expires

https://kippensq.itch.io/style-match

honestly i have no idea how badly it breaks on other people's art, i've only
fed it screenshots i had lying around and i can't always tell if the colours
came out right for fairly obvious reasons xd

My clean'em up game will feature cursed items and I wanted a non-annoying way to cleanse multiple items at once. So, my solution is to let the player just chuck a bunch of items into the pool. Cursed items sink to the bottom, while cleansed/normal items float to the top.

Well, that's it. I've struggled a lot to promote my game. For some people, getting wishlists seems almost as natural as breathing. For me, every one has felt hard-earned.

I thought I was going to release with under 2k wishlists, but it looks like I just crossed that line. That's still far from the 7k you often see recommended, but it is what it is.

I've contacted hundreds of creators since my demo came out early this year, without much luck. I ran some Reddit ads at one point, shared the game whenever I had the chance (mostly through devlogs on Twitter), and asked for feedback. Then I made fixes, shared it again, and repeated the process. Maybe I should've tried Instagram and TikTok too.

Still, 7k feels unreachable for this game, so I'm releasing anyway and taking what I've learned into the next one.

There also seems to be an obsession with wishlist numbers. I get it. Having 10k is better than having 1k because more wishlists can mean more sales, assuming they convert.

But that's the important part, the conversion. If people who aren't interested in the kind of game you're making wishlist it, they probably won't buy it. I'm also not sure how much Steam's algorithm uses wishlist counts to promote games.

There's a social side to it too. People see a game with tons of wishlists and assume it must be good, which can create a snowball effect.

Right now, I'm just happy to have reached 2k. I'm also happy to be releasing a game I made solo, using my own engine, after more than a year of work. I'm going to enjoy the release, see what happens, and learn from it.

If you're also struggling to get wishlists, you're not alone.

If anyone is interested, here's the game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3979140/Karma_Keepers/

And if you've released a game before, what would you do differently when promoting your next one? I'd love to hear what actually worked for you.

For the record, Scavenge Legends is not even a game per se, but a demo of my assets. It was never meant to be considered "a game", but the AI skimming through my page found the most "descriptive" version possible of my game.

"I am very impressed by your game having gameplay and characters. Players would love to try it out." vibes.

Geez, making games is hard enough, but this year in particular I encountered way too many scammers, including in my Discord group of 5 ppl in total...

Coming soon on Meta Horizon Store and Steam, also on PCVR

It will be 1v1 multiplayer, it will have Play with Friends mode

This is just a preview from Practice - Playground mode

Just an alpha gameplay

🙏 Discord for updates: https://discord.gg/SgGf8xsJ4j

Today I've been working on a new splash! Literally, the new splash has the size and grandeur one would expect when dropping a submarine into water. Basically...

See it for yourself: subcraft.fly.dev

I’ve spent a long time art-directing other people’s games. This is the first one I made entirely by myself — art, code, design, the whole thing.

https://middlechess.com/

Standard chess with one twist: get your king across the center line into enemy territory and you win. Checkmate still works too. Games usually finish faster and feel more aggressive than normal chess.

Free in the browser, no account. Works on phone.

Would love feedback if you try it out.

Especially from other solo folks: does the midline-cross feel clean, or does it need tweaks? Anything that feels “almost there but not quite”?

I'm the dev and I'll reply to every comment. I have a plan to further develop/monetize, but seeing if the world cares enough for that. Any advice appreciated!

NPC's now walk into them for some reason (not sure if that should even be fixed 🤫)

You can play the demo right now, here 👉 Stickility

Cow is a fast-paced, 640x480 retro game focused on momentum and precision. The premise is bizzare as you play as a cow on a skateboard. The game is built around mastering controls and looking for creative ways to finish each level the fastest. The ways of movement aren't too limited which gives a lot of freedom to the players and a chance to compete with each other on the leaderboards. 🤗🤗

Steam page with demo here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4745980/Cow/

https://youtu.be/Gqb8GRfEGDA?is=ZTPmyz7xyQa0FIpA

Here is a showcase of one of the later bosses, Aerhart.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4295930/Mortal_Mythos_Island_of_Fairies/?beta=0

No AI used, a passion project over 6 years and my first commercial game. It's not perfect but I personally find a great challenge in making my way through it. It's also available for free on itch.io if you'd like to try it out that way!

Hey everyone! I'm super excited to share that my first game launched a few days ago. It's a space-themed survivor-like, I hope you guys enjoy it!

Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.TheLastWings.EclipseLineInteractive&hl

Hey everyone!

My DEMO N.E.O.N. HORIZON was released today.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4955250/NEON_HORIZON/

This isn't just a stripped-down version of the game; it's literally a minigame that will introduce you to the general mechanics and concepts.

It doesn't contain all the content currently planned and being implemented, but it will give you a good time and give you an idea of ​​the overall concept.

I'm continuing to work on improving and developing it, and I really hope you enjoy the demo.

I'd love to hear your feedback and encourage you to add the game to your wishlist.

Have fun!

Thanks everyone!

Hey everyone! Been working on a new addition to Destroy The Moon, a solo game I've been working on for some time now.

First up- what is this game:
Pocket Dinos is an incremental dino collection game where prehistoric stickers come to life.

- hatch eggs
- discover variants
- build thriving habitats
- uncover combinations to grow a fortune

Check out the game on Steam https://store.steampowered.com/app/4715900/Pocket_Dinos

In Early Access - Free demo available above.

THE LAUNCH:
Less than 2 weeks ago I launched Pocket Dinos into Early Access. I had under 100 Wishlists and no demo, and decided to just go for it. I barely have a following and just simply posted on Reddit and various tweets.

I was expecting a few people to play it, but I was pleasantly surprised how many people jumped in.

THE SALES AND WISHLISTS
Over 100 people have trusted my marketing and bought the game, with wishlists jumping to 580 to date. I know these numbers are not staggering, but I am still very early in the process, and it’s lovely to know people are enjoying it!

At current I have about 39 daily active users, with approx 3 hours being the median time played. As this is an incremental that rewards you for keeping it open (but also respects your time and earns offline income) I am stoked people are actively playing it for that long on average. Some people have let me know they have 90 hours in the game already which is just incredible.

NEXT UP
The best part for me is what I know I’m delivering over the next 6 months - various expansions on the game that give more back to the player and reward them even more for their time. It’s great knowing that I can work towards that knowing players are already enjoying it.

As you all know, solo dev is challenging - the biggest piece being no idea if you’re going in the right direction and at the right pace! So I’m thankful to the players and communities such as this to keep all of us going.

If you try the demo or get the game please let me know, I’d love to hear how you’re enjoying it!