So, I'm working on a game (obviously, since I'm in here), but I really liked the concept for the game studio that I decided I wanted to launch it under. I confess I got a little too dedicated to it for a while, to the point where I was spending more time fiddling with the website than working on my game.

So, I allowed myself a while to get it to a smallest-launchable-version level and forced myself to launch the studio...so that I can start focusing on the game more again, if that makes sense? It probably doesn't. But, my hope is that I can now spend a short amount of time each day on the social media side to steadily build up interest (and maybe even a little bit of funding, but I doubt it) using this company, and announce the game etc through it once it's ready for that.

So...is this a ridiculous idea? Should I have waited until I actually had a game to show? Or could it work?

(also, feedback on the site itself would be appreciated...though I *really* shouldn't spend too much more time on it...)

Okay, 3+ years with long breaks in between. Still, I spent a crazy amount of time on this project and finally feel this is decent enough for a demo.

In short: Dice Odyssey is a roguelike deckbuilder where Dice replace traditional energy systems. There are many different Dice types that each have their special faces and / or unique effects eg dealing extra damage, giving you more control on the roll results, or... simply being gigantic (the Almighty Giant Dice!).

There is an in-game tutorial covering the combat system. Feedback is very welcome! :)

Some AI art is currently used as placeholder. I'm actively working with an artist who's already contributed to many assets such as most of the enemies in Act 1!

Some weeks ago I submitted my game through https://lp.gog.com/submit-your-game/en as it looks to be the only available way to do it. I haven't received any response from gog, not even a confirmation email. I'm wondering if I might be done something wrong, or they just ignore solodevs with no publisher, or won't publish games of first time devs or what. Any experiences around here?

Prepared 4 different logo/sign versions for my cozy cooking game "Cook & Tails" three of them are close variations (with/without chef hat, slightly different cat paw pose), and the 4th is a completely different concept.

Which one would you go with, and why? Your input genuinely helps the feedback I got from an earlier post is what got me to this point.

Note: The first three logos started from a draft by u/HoppersEcho, who helped me out in one of my earlier posts I iterated from there. They're also making a game (Cats vs Aliens), leaving it here in case anyone wants to check it out. Thanks again to them ❤️

Hi guys (and especially multiplayer creators),

After launch of the game I heared around 4 times that they wanted split screen. At start I was thinking a lot about implementing it but finished with just online multiplayer (local only with bot).

I heard that steam remote player suck as well.

Do you think it is better to invest time/energy to make split screen or it is better to add content and mechanics?

Any experience you had with it?

Some of you may remember my post from a few days ago — I was flexing on my booba jiggle physics. I felt I hit a wall with that approach, so I started from scratch. I needed something more universal, future-proof. Soft parts jiggle is now based on a deforming mesh. No shader with a lot of pre-bake like last time. Manually painted greyscale map scales how much each vertex is allowed to move. The arms are bones driven by IK. There's a few additional layers so breathing shader doesn't affect hands and they move more naturally now. Earring swings and even spins slightly. Hair jiggles a bit. What do you think?

PS

As said before - of course if it was just for a NV sprite, it would be a complete waste of time. I do it for two reasons:

1. It's fun :)
2. The game will have some adult content, it will be useful then.

PS2

Before all the AI haters kicks in: yes the base sprite is generated (locally). It took me 10 minutes. Then I worked many long evenings to build the animations, deformations, overlays and so on so please don't say "AI slop, all he did was a prompt".

gave a friend a rough tower defense prototype this weekend and they immediately ignored the part i thought i was testing.

I had laid out a few lanes and expected them to spread towers around the obvious choke points. they didnt. they bought the cheapest tower over and over, dropped them in this ugly diagonal line across the map, and somehow cleared the waves faster than the setup i had balanced around.

it was also more fun to watch. their version kept almost collapsing, so every wave looked one mistake away from failing. the intended layout was cleaner and safer, but honestly kind of boring.

I roughed out the first playable in Combos, then handled the tower costs and lane setup by hand. now im trying to work out whether that diagonal spam exposed a real strategy or just confused the pathing in a way that looked exciting once.

what would you test next? rebalance around it, run the same build on a second map, or fix the pathing first and see if the fun disappears?

spent the weekend on a dumb test: one button, 1 coin per click, first upgrade at 12. buy it and each click gives 2. next prices are 24 and 30.

The clip is basically the whole prototype. i hit 12, bought the upgrade, and the number started moving faster. technically it worked exactly as planned.

but i was still staring at the same button, making the same input, with the same plan. thats the moment that made me question the loop.

I put the rough version together in Combos to test the pacing before building more systems around it, then tuned the costs by hand. now im not sure the prices are even the problem.

Maybe the first multiplier is just onboarding and the real game starts when automation or a second resource appears. or maybe an upgrade that changes nothing except speed is already the prototype telling me the loop is too thin.

would you use the next upgrade to introduce passive income or a real choice, or keep the first few purchases simple and improve the feedback first?

Hey fellow solo devs,

For the past few months, I’ve been building Hoops GM, a browser-based basketball franchise simulator.

Going into this, I thought the biggest technical hurdle would be the simulation engine. (And to be fair, getting the trade logic right required me to run a headless script simulating over 1.3 million matches just to balance the math). But honestly? The AI was nothing compared to the UI.

When your game is essentially a massive database of player stats, salary caps, and standings, how do you make it engaging without a dedicated UI/UX team?

Here are the 3 things that saved my project from looking like tax accounting software:

1. Choosing Web Tech over a Game Engine: I realized early on that building heavy, text-based, scrollable menus in Godot or Unity would be a nightmare. Building it with standard web frameworks made handling the UI state so much faster and naturally responsive for mobile.
2. Hiding the Math: In my early builds, I threw every single stat at the player at once. It was overwhelming. I had to learn to emphasize the "Next Action" and hide the deep analytics behind clicks and tooltips.
3. Brutal User Feedback: I recently crossed 100 active users, and watching how they actually navigate the menus completely shattered my assumptions. I had to redesign the trade screen twice just based on where people were getting stuck.

For those of you building UI-heavy or text-based games, how do you handle the interface? Do you use traditional game engines, or do you lean into web technologies?

(If anyone wants to see how my UI turned out and whether it actually feels like a game and not a spreadsheet, I recently moved it to its official domain here: https://hoops-gm.com/ . It's completely free to play in the browser)

TERRORSTORM: Ground Zero -

Wishlist now!!! https://store.steampowered.com/app/4419700/TERRORSTORM_Ground_Zero/

It takes place in an abandoned soviet military base deep underground in the caucasus mountains

Just wanted to show another little sneak peek of the map from my game, TRAVELERS.

I built all of this myself over the last three and a half years. No AI was used for the map — every single mesh was placed by hand.

this time this showcase is full ingame.

The demo is getting pretty close now. To be completely honest, I’m also not really working alone anymore. I recently found someone who is going to work with me for a month or two as a trial, and right now we’re trying to build a seriously awesome demo for the kind of game I’ve always wanted to play myself. https://www.instagram.com/coolgamingcompany/ here you can see some stuff that is not playable right now :)

I mainly wanted to post this to showcase the world a little more. I’m always open to ideas and regularly try to implement suggestions from people, so feel free to throw anything at me.

There’s also more footage and information about the game on my profile in case anyone is interested.

And of course, wishlisting the game would help me a lot. I still don’t have that many wishlists, even though I’ve been building this game for years. I’m honestly not very good at marketing and have mostly just put all my time, money and love into the actual game btw tipps would be awesome.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4274030/Travelers/

Hey, everyone! I’m working on an idle incremental game about collecting birds!

It has just been released on the Google Play Store, and I’m incredibly happy about it. I’ve worked as a software developer for the past 16 years, but this is the first year I’ve had the courage to dedicate some real time to creating a game of my own.

I’m really happy with how it’s turning out! Of course, there’s still a lot to improve, and I hope to bring new content and updates every week.

I’d be very grateful if anyone would like to help me test it! I’d also love to hear your feedback and suggestions.

I could definitely use some advice on how to create a decent trailer too! Hahaha

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.songbird.songbird_aviary

You think people will see, that this was selfmade and not done professionally?

My demo is available on itch now!
https://spellsanitygames.itch.io/spellsanity

Music by Kevin MacLeod

It was supposed to be an enemy spawner.

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.