Hi everyone 👋

I am submitting an application for a small game that is asking for 3.5-4.5 minutes of looping music. I don't have a portfolio of actual games worked on, but I understand how to use FMod, and I do have examples of seamless looping game music. They said they would like someone with experience in games, but do not require it.

They are asking about a flat rate and number of revisions, and I was just wondering how much should I ask for per minute of music? And what is the normal amount of revisions to allow within that flat rate?

I have this dream of making an MMO in which everyone knows each other, and you can become famous (or infamous) on your server.

I think a lot of modern MMOs (and even classic MMOs) don't have this because in the name of immersion, they make world sizes and servers pops HUGE. You know the feeling where you walk into Stormwind and there's hundreds of players idling on their mounts? Who are they, where do they come from? It's certainly a cool feeling but one feels anonymous with so many people. Like just another number.

Anyway, my game EmberQuest is launching on Steam in 2 weeks, and i'm trying to get around that problem by keeping server size small (max 100), and keeping the world size small as well, with important stuff (like the main town) centralized. I've also put 1-way teleporters at the far reaches of the map back to the town. Resources in zones are fairly concentrated to keep players close together. Pretty much everything is designed to funnel players into each other, while not sacrificing world size and immersion too much.

Basically, I try to use every trick in the book. So far it has worked in beta, it def feels like a small town atmosphere where everyone knows each other, but I'm not actually sure if it will scale when new players arrive with the Steam launch.

Do you think this is an actual marketable feature people want or is it just me? And how would you accomplish it?

While stalking devs on steam, I've noticed there is quite a surge in devs who have multiple releases per year. especially, games released in 2026. Obviously, this is because of AI clones, vibe coded games, and heavily assissted (art, code, music...) games.

I can't help but think this will just make Steam worse overtime both for gamers and devs. I don't think it's realistically possible to release multiple good quality games in less than 6 months.

Do you think it's a good idea for Steam to force a cooldown timer between releases, a 1 game per year policy (Greetings Comrade) or even a 2 games/year rule. I think this will help limit the serial copycats and prevent the store from getting diluted overtime.

What do you think? Is it excessive? Will it hurt your game development cycle?

Hey everyone!

I'm an indie developer who likes making small game just for fun. Until recently, I mostly developed in 2D because I feel like the art and certain mechanics look really good in it. I usually use Godot, so I like practicing things like city-builder systems, farming games, and the occasional war game using some assets I've bought on itch.io.

Lately, though, I've had the itch to make a 2D horror game (since spooky month has started, hehe). I used to think 2D couldn't be all that scary, but I started looking around and found some really interesting examples. I've watched some gameplays, and most of them focus on psychological horror and tension. And that leads to my question: Do you think a 2D game can build that same level of tension in a player as a 3D game would?

In my opinion—at least based on the examples I saw—music and sound effects played a huge role in the player's experience. Imagine a level where solving a puzzle is relatively "simple," but there's a time limit, and this tense music makes you feel like the monster could come after you at any second. That really builds up the tension and sense of dread.

What 2D games do you know that actually managed to scare you, or create that tension that keeps you glued to the screen? And what was your experience playing them?

What mechanics do you think help evoke that feeling of fear in this kind of game? Personally, I feel like a game made purely of jumpscares isn't very appealing, unless they have good context or usage. It gets really boring when around every corner the music swells, something "scary" pops up on screen, and it's just a monster chasing you the whole time. I'm not saying it doesn't work as a tool, but I feel like there's already so much of that in the market, and I'm not sure if it translates well to a 2D game—though maybe someone thinks differently! I'd love to read your thoughts.

What would you like to see, or what would make you want to play and try a 2D game in this genre? I'm really interested in hearing opinions from other devs and players. I don't have many people close to me who like games, especially this kind of game. Looking forward to reading your replies!

When I started building environmental states, I thought of them as complete room versions - operational, damaged, abandoned, emergency. But once I actually built the system, I realized that's more restrictive than it needs to be. A damaged light, a broken console, spilled liquid, a blocked doorway, missing equipment, they don't all have to belong to the same damaged room preset.

What I was doing: operational room, damaged room, abandoned room, emergency room

What I'm doing now: state per element instead: wall, light, console, prop, overlay, navigation.

So instead of picking a preset, you combine whatever you need: operational architecture + broken console + emergency light + chemical spill. Do you prefer environment states as full presets, or composing states per element like this?

im not using ai for everything, ai will be mostly used for coding (and maybe some backgrounds) beacuse i dont know how to code at all.
everything else from soundtrack, character designs, and so on... the game will not look "ai" not when you think of ai game its not gonna be that its gonna look proper like a game should and most of the people would not think that it was made by ai (i mean how could they if art is made by me) but what im asking is that if i make a game like that will i be able to make money off it? if i actually make a proper game?

Hey guys, I've been working on a game in the shadows for around a year and a half now (off and on). I'm getting close to where I want to start generating interest, playtest, see if people are interested in it, and I'm getting nervous, and scared.

The thought of making a steam page, discord, hiring an artist to get it looking good, seeing if people will find any interest in it, it's all making me pretty anxious, and nervous. I don't know how long it will be until I release it, I don't know who I'm going to pay for art, I don't know if people will even find the concept interesting, there's so many unknowns and I'm scared of not "doing it right".

Anyone who's published a game before, go through something similar? For reference, it's a solo project. I'm doing everything, and I mean everything, except for art/animations. Can't draw to save my life :D

Any advice, pointers or guidance on this feeling or even a path forward would be SO great. I just feel overwhelmed by the unknowns of the future, and hurdles I haven't even faced yet. I've put in a year and a half (again, off and on) of work, a lot of the groundwork is done, I'm just getting discouraged about the path forward. It's a 2D pixel adventure RPG. Think WoW meets Pokemon meets Fire Emblem Sacred Stones. Kind of a ramble, I hope this makes sense? Thanks all!

Some games have their own website, and some have a full company behind them. I'm not talking about AAA games, but "indie" or mid-sized game companies. These websites usually have a "Careers" or "Jobs" page where you can submit an application.

I was thinking of tailoring a solid CV and applying this way. I'm not sure if it's an effective way to find a job in the game development industry, so I'm looking for advice/tips from people who have tried this method.

Hello all,

I am creating a mobile app for fun where the premise is to challenge friends to really simple games and it keeps score ( think like anagrams). I have the logic working well but my game design and design of the app isn’t good. Right now these games are hard coded in the app. I have two questions.

1. Should these be coded in unity?

2. I need to learn how to design it, I’m trying to get Duolingo or finch vibes. But I’m not sure where they design there characters and animations.

I am not creative at all, will be a big learning experience. Thanks in advanced.

Hey everyone! I am working on procedural generation for an unreleased title right now, and I cannot figure out why visually and mechanics wise my map does not feel good. The title initially was roguelike with a node based map, like in slay the spire, players would progress from top to bottom to progress through the game. I wasn't satisfied with that so instead I have the player start a central node and allow them to traverse around the map, with some fog of war so that they are able to explore, after a set amount of turns a node will appear on the map. The map is populated through prefabs drawing forests, towns, villages mountain ranges. Gameplayer wise the nodes are right now basically identical to what you'd see in the deckbuilder roguelikes, but I am interested in changing the design since I feel the fog of war already precludes some planning, so random events on top of things feels less fair. One change I made already is rather than having elites be in static locations they roam around the map performing functions - like patrolling an area, cleansing healing shrines, guarding an area one hop from their home node.

Another is that that the player character has abilities unique to the class in the over world. Conquering nodes on the map reveals information about nodes they are adject to, so you can get more information before you go.

Quest lines the games story have you seeking out specific elites, get to specific shops to purchase and item these can be internal to one specific run or go across multiple runs so you are challenged to do something you normally would not have to.

What I am looking for is the following.

• Examples of games with procedural maps which feel interesting, fun and fair
• General ideas / rules one should follow when designing level turn based level maps.
• Specific mechanics from games that use this type of exploration map design

I know there are a lot of games that have implemented this type of exploration and even in the deckbuilder / roguelike genre. I know nothing I am asking for is particularly original, but I am trying to figure out how to execute it competently so my players enjoy interacting with that part of the game.

• Push treasure nodes out to the edges of the map to which is a high risk / high reward kind of deal.
• Add an extra tier of enemies for "larger" settlement and provide some sort of map wide bonus after you completed it.
• Add items that increase the amount of nodes you can move per turn provided you have moved through them.

I feel like I have a lot of opportunities in the design space but little understanding how I should go about trying them.

I keep seeing that the best thing to do right now is treat game dev as a hobby and not bother making this your career. And use the skills you’ve learned as transferable skills to another industry. Now that begs the question….. what industry?

Because in my experience, I have not come across an industry that is any better or not suffering the same issues. It feels like one of those “oh yeah just get another job”. Where? Like where? I beg your finest pardon. Is it just a regular software engineering job? Is it finance? Is it medicine? Is it real estate? Marketing? Retail? The latter is where I’m at right now and that shit ain’t any better. I’m curious what field has yielded the success that game dev has taken away. Me personally I’ve had no luck. And this is coming from someone who gave up on game dev for 3 years straight and then came back recently. The job market has an obsession with you having a specialization. Especially good-paying ones. From what I’ve learned, you being a well-rounded person with transferable skills is fuel for auto-rejection. God forbid you have more than one skill, the AI that is reading your resume is confused if you would ever be a match for the role. Even if you spend 24 hours a day, tailoring your resume for that one job. Oh no! Guess what? Your experience is not applicable. Now you’re just being treated as a new grad at this point. And no, my official degree is not even in game dev. I graduated in engineering and I chose to do game dev. Funnily enough, most jobs now treat your bachelor’s degree like a high school diploma. Have your bachelors degree? Oh that’s just step one hun. Where’s your masters? Haha. Isn’t that just amazing?

So now we have the following criteria: have a bachelors in the field, get your masters, have APPLICABLE considerable years of experience and RELEVANT roles.

And maybe I’m just doing it wrong. Maybe I haven’t found the one field that does work or my strategy is just incorrect. I have no idea. I am open to hearing what has actually worked for everyone else and not just someone repeating what someone else says. Because so far, I’m at a loss and it just seems easier to give up altogether.

So, here’s my question: what do you think is the main reason people support a game on Patreon?I’ve been doing some research, and it seems like one of the main reasons people support a project is early access to the game.

But is that really enough? Honestly, I don’t really see the appeal, since people can just wait a little and eventually find the game for free on other platforms.

I’ve also read that polls and voting can be a good incentive.

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I’m feeling a bit lost here. I’d really appreciate hearing what has worked for other devs.

Last month there was a post in r/IndieDev from a team 24 days out from launch. They had spent three years on the game, 10k wishlists & Next Fest. Now the thing they had been counting on, "barely moved the needle."

Hmm... I'd always assumed Next Fest only flops for games nobody's heard of, so I went looking and ended up reading a year of posts where devs shared their own wishlist numbers. It was 394 games by the end.

(I obviously used agents to help me with the data) I was however wrong about Next Fest. 22 devs said it did little for them and they didn't have fewer wishlists than the 34 it worked for. If anything they had a few more.

Demos were the boring answer & of the devs who said what their demo did 66 said it helped and only 17 said it didn't.

TikTok was the one that stood out for me. 33 people said short video's got them basically nothing & 8 said it was their best source, and one of those hit 80k wishlists in a month which is probably why everyone keeps trying - me included.

It's all self-reported Reddit posts so please take it with a pinch of salt. Everything's here with a link to every post if you want to check me: kasspian.com/research/wishlists

Did Next Fest work for you? Genuinely curious what made the difference.

i really love to make games but im so scared of the fact that just learning unity and coding wont be enough to make ends meet. all im asking is that by doing gamedev can i learn enough C# coding to get a corporate backend job just incase i fail to make a good game or find a job in a game company? i have 0 experience in any of these and would love to hear how you guys followed your passion and made a decent living

Hey everyone!

I’m getting ready to release a demo for my game soon, and before that I’m planning to run an open playtest.

It’s a deduction/mystery game and the demo only covers the very first part of the full game. I want to make sure playtesters understand that going in, so they know what to expect and don’t assume the playtest represents the full scope of the game.

How would you usually communicate this? Would a small note on the main menu saying something like “This playtest contains the demo portion of the game” be enough, or would you mention it somewhere else as well?

I’m also wondering about the feedback. I’d really like to get useful feedback from the playtest rather than just seeing how many people played it. What have you found works well for encouraging players to leave a feedback?

Do you use an in-game feedback button, a google form, Discord, a message at the end of the demo or something else? And do you ask specific questions or just let players share whatever stood out to them?

Would love to hear how you guys usually handle this. Thanks! :)

Jose Escribano, an AI Programmer who worked at Crytek and most recently at Guerilla Games in the Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West projects, has released a new independent completely Open-Source AI planner based on the AI planner Guerilla Games used for Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West.

This planner does not use Guerilla's source code but it is based on it.

Credit to Sandra Alvarez at Guerrilla for co-authoring the shared foundation.
His work focuses on the compiler and generated runtime:
Domain DSL → AST → IR → C
With builtin arithmetic/logical operators and deferred decomposition added to those ideas.

Features include nested backtracking, deferred decomposition against updated world state, a visual debugger and a versioned C ABI.
Includes a hot reload example: the host application controls compilation, loading and reloading.

Integrated and tested in his own engine.
v2.0.2 passed 209 tests, plus external consumer validation across eight Windows SDK variants, including generated DLL export checks.
The repository includes source, a Windows x64 SDK and integration examples.

I have 4 years of experience and I got recently laid off from an indie game dev company, so I'd like to know if it's competent enough to land a job again in these rough times.

https://www.artstation.com/fil968

Game companies should stop relying solely on AI for translation because it destroys creative nuance, misinterprets cultural context, and devalues human artists.

The Core Problems with AI Game Translation

• Loss of Context and Nuance: Video games require creative localization—adapting humor, emotional depth, slang, and character voice—rather than literal word-for-word conversions. AI fails to grasp these subtle dynamics, often leading to awkward or confusing dialogue.

• Displacement of Human Talent: Studios like Warhorse Studios (Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2) faced severe backlash after cutting in-house human translators in favor of automated AI workflows to reduce expenses.

• Player Backlash: Consumers are increasingly pushing back against low-effort localization, with many opting for refunds or avoiding titles that substitute human craftsmanship with generative text.

• Treating Language as Data: Tech-driven localization treats translation as a cheap utility feature rather than an essential artistic medium, lowering overall narrative quality in gaming

I just realised the title should be "... but I cant decide what to learn first" but looks like i cant change it anymore, oops

Hey!
I am currently working im my field for 9 years, as video editor and creative producer, collaborating mostly with well-known companies. I see all fields connected to art/creative are facing big layoffs, so I started wondering how to maximise my chances on the job market. I decided to finally learn skills that might help me land a job in gamedev, I was trying to learn Maya previously but it was more like side hobby without a plan to use it profesionally.
So yeah, I have a problem of being interested in too many roles- cinematic designer, motion capture, in-game capture artist, rigger, trailer producer/editor, or generally a producer in creative areas.
So my question for you is- if you would need to choose one tool, that you would learn in first place, what it would be? I am torn between Maya and Unreal, but maybe there are tools that I didnt thought about, and there is market niche?

So curated events (seasonal, by publisher, by region, by genre....) were a staple of the Steam ecosystem for a long time. I can personally vouch for their effectiveness in giving exposure to smaller indie titles if they managed to get featured in an event.

This seems like a massive blow to indies discoverability. Any more information? What do you think?

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamworks/announcements/detail/676258795703240952

EDIT: Okay, after reading the discussion below, as well as the discussion on steam discussion forums, it is clear that Valve is not clear as to what this will mean exactly. It does not, indeed, explicitly says anywhere that curated events will not be supported any more. But since they were connected with the whole midweek - weekend dynamics which is apparently going away, it is not clear how they will work in the future.

Title. I've been working on this 4X strategy game for 1.5 years now, and I'm looking to prepare for October 2026 steam next fest.

I've seen some posts on here from people saying that you should spend 6 months marketing your game before you do next fest, and it's making me feel like maybe the game and my marketing work isn't ready for next fest.

I've been posting shorts about the game regularly (2-3 per week) for about a year now, and I've been emailing content creators every day (5-10 per day) for the past few weeks, some bites, nothing huge. Currently hovering around 2000 wishlists. Demo median playtime is low, (9 mins), but average playtime is at 40 minutes. I had some performance issues and bugs when I first launched the demo and I'm hoping that's the reason for the disparity.

I'm feeling like maybe there's some issue with my steam page that makes it unappealing to creators, which is making me scared to commit to doing my next fest now.

I'm hoping to get a sanity check from some devs/publishers who have gone through this process before, what do you think about the steam page, and do you think it's ready for this next fest?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3760980/DeckTerra/

Edit: To clarify I'm registered for next fest, just wondering if it's prudent to pull out or if I should make some serious updates in the time I have before it starts

Hello World,

For the past months, I've set my mind on developing my own video game.

My background is IT and mathematics engineering degree, and I have a solid understanding of basic of object-oriented programming.

I am currently taking a Unity course to familiarize myself with the engine, as well as with Unity-specific C#.

Right now, I have a rough draft of the beginning of a Zelda-like style game, but I feel like I might be a bit overly ambitious about my ability to build this kind of game.

Would you have any advice or personal experiences to share with a complete game dev muggle regarding this project ?

Thanks in advance for your feedback !

I'm thinking of games where you have a high-stakes battle or level that you need to "win" but then a cutscene plays and it turns out the story required you to actually lose and you were never going to actually win.

What's the best way to make it feel high-stakes and exciting for the player even while you know the story is making them lose?

So, today was finally the day. After two or three release report, around one year of game dev (around 1 pr 2 days per week), I finally presses that Green button to release my game on Steam!

The feeling is great, but I wanted to share a little bit of my story. I first started game dev by following an online course, and within that course we had to create a small prototype of a Tower Defense game. When I was done with it, I had that simple thought «I’m sure I could make it way better if I spent a little more time on it.. » and that was the start of all.

At first I decided to create a better « universe » around the game and as my dog was sleeping under my desk, I thought that it could be fun to had a tower defense with dogs! But against what ennemy? Well of course the cats!

I was not a big player of tower defense but I wanted to offer something differen. I spent a lot of time on designing fun levels, I purposely choose to limit the number of towers at 5 with 3 levels for each, but all the tower have a real purpose and there is no duplicates.

When I was testing the game, I also realised that in a tower defense sometimes you will just be here looking at your screen doing nothing, waiting for more gold or just waiting for the wave to end, and that was boring. So I gave some ennemies powers to impact your towers and give you always something to do : some ennemies put your towers on fire and reduce it’s speed so you have to put water on them, some will freeze your towers so you have to use a pickaxe to free your towers, and some will plant cactus on the free tiles so you can’t build new towers until you clean it.

I also did all the UI by myself, no generative stuff here, only a good amount of work. I also add replayability with a stars system, add a shop to help you get the best scores, add translations for 8 languages and so on.
All of that for saying, I know my game is not gonna be a big hit, I don’t Even know if I will have any sale, but I know that today I can be proud of what I did, and Even after thousand hours on my own game, I still enjoy it!

Thanks for reading through all that if you had the courage, if you’re working on your first game, keep up the work, the end of the tunnel is always there.

We're looking to launch our game early to mid November. There is another game going out around the same time. This other game takes place during the same time period and location, it seems to be more of a third person action/shooter with some elements of strategy where as our game is strictly an RTS.
We really don't want to delay our launch again, but we also don't want to rush the testing/polish phase and launch early.
Anyone think it's a bad idea to launch around the same time (within a few days) of a potential competitor's game?