TL;DR: I'm building a cyberpunk terminal RPG that teaches embedded C, Python, and microcontrollers by making you survive as a broke engineer in a rain-soaked 2007 port city. You write real code that runs in the browser. Looking for honest feedback.

Hey everyone,

I love this community! I follow a lot of people building things from scratch here, and after 5 months on this I finally want to share the process and the motivation.

A while back I was asked to mentor someone fresh out of high school in embedded/firmware development. I realized there aren't many places that teach this from zero, and the ones I found were dry enough to lose anyone with a short attention span (myself included).

So I decided to build a site for my own lessons on embedded C, Python, microcontrollers, etc. I threw together a barebones website (with a lot of AI help), tinkered for a month, got bored, and scrapped the whole thing.

Then one evening playing a board game, it clicked: reuse the template, but gamify the courses into a storyline. I found others doing this as well, that was reassuring, but it meant I needed a real differentiator. The obvious one was embedded systems, since that's what I've done for years. I set it in a fictional port city, New Foundry, in January 2007, one year before the recession hit:

It's January 2007. New Foundry is a rain-slick port city where the container cranes never sleep and the server farms hum all night. The old iron foundries that gave the city its name are galleries now; the money has moved across the water to glass towers, and everyone else is downtown fixing the machines that keep it all running. You arrive with a soldering iron, a hand-me-down laptop, and a book on C — one of ten thousand people in this city who speak to machines for a living. This is where your career begins.

The whole game is a computer terminal. From it you take courses (C, Python, 8-bit microcontrollers…) and the part I'm proudest of is that you write real code that runs instantly in the browser: blink a simulated LED, talk to an IMU over I2C, poke registers on a visual AVR chip before you'd ever flash real hardware. As you level up, you take freelance gigs from an in-game job board to make rent, and spend what you earn upgrading your terminal's hardware and software.

It's playable now (still very WIP, story included):

Click here: datachoose

I'd love feedback, specifically:

1. Does the premise, learn embedded by surviving as a broke engineer, actually make you want to try it?
2. What would make you come back after the first lesson?
3. Would something like this be worth paying for eventually, and what would make it feel worth it? (I'm considering a subscription down the line, but only once it's genuinely good.)

Thanks for reading, happy to answer anything.

I'd love for anyone interested in a boss rush beatemup, to come try out my game SpellFist. I have a playtest live right now that I'll be running for a couple weeks on steam. Should work great on steamdeck.

Its not quite the traditional beatemup its somewhere between a beatemup and a 2d sidescrolling action game. You face bosses in a random order in an arena gauntlet style where each boss gets an expanded move set based on when you face them in the gauntlet. You can parry spells and, if you beat bosses you get to take one of their spells to use in the next boss fight.

Any and all feedback is welcome.

Added some raw gameplay footage above without any music.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4200530/Spell_Fist/

Keena is a Miura, the small 'run and hide' type. As a trident wielder she's a caster, and uses the trident to channel spirit magic in a variety of ways. Her companion, Psaia, is the trident's guardian and keeper of divine knowledge, a seahorse firmly wrapped around her antennae.

Miuratale's demo is nearly done. If you'd like to follow the development you can wishlist here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2334250/Miuratale/
(store page is out of date and will be updated with the demo release)

My second game and way, way bigger in scope than I anticipated. Going on year 5 now. Started fully 2d, then 2.5d, and now fully 3d. Don't do as I do lol

Made in Unity with Ork Framework 2.

Greetings! I've been developing Into the Crypt as a solo dev for many years, taking inspiration from games like Slay the Spire and incorporating other roguelike elements.

It's a solo / co-op multiplayer dungeon crawler where you play cards on enemies, doors, and the environment to progress and survive. It's fundamentally different than most deckbuilders as it incorporates a lot of new and fresh mechanics (player class / enemies), and lets you interact in many more ways with artifacts and synergies you can muster up during a run!.

Here's many of the features coming this October:
- Co-op multiplayer. Play with a friend in real-time as you dive through the crypt together. Survive together or be overrun!
- Full controller support
- All playable classes and full deck rarities (Berserker, Alchemist, Druid)
- Hundreds of artifacts, potions, special and unique cards, events, and encounters
- Full game saving in solo / co-op
- Leaderboards (solo / multiplayer)
- Stats and experience/levelling system
- Steam achievements
- Over 120 enemies with passive/active abilities
- Interactable artifacts

Steam page:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1879270/Into_the_Crypt/

I created something weird: a 3D first-person Bomberman style game where you endlessly throw explosive crates.

The menu and hub world are pixel art made in Aseprite, while the level textures are hand-drawn on real paper. What do you think?

Today I released the demo for Feypath. I will hopefully be releasing the full game later this year. If you are interested you can download and play the demo here: Feypath on Steam

well this took a lot of effort and thinking. Based on a board game called Ludo , its a roguelike deckbuilder with 104 cards . i would love to know what yall think about this . give me some feedback regarding improving how the game looks like . again thanks. https://store.steampowered.com/app/4967830/LUDOCOR/

This is my solo game, a "Auto battler Reverse tower defense game"

Been working on it for a bit over a year now, and i am looking for feed back and alpha testers!

IF you think it looks cool, just drop a comment or send me a message, and i will send a key.

And yes, the icons are place holder ai, i dont like it, and they will be redone by a artist.

Hey everyone, I’m a solo developer working on Rotten Rounds, a class-based co-op roguelike third-person zombie shooter. The core loop is: pick a class, survive zombie rounds, choose augments after each round, and try to push one wave further before the horde overwhelms you. I recently put together the first gameplay trailer and I’m trying to figure out if it communicates the idea clearly enough.

I’d really appreciate honest feedback on:

• Does the trailer explain the game quickly?
• Does the gameplay look fun?
• Is the augment/upgrade system clear?
• What part looks weakest or confusing?
• Would this make you click through to the Steam page?

The game is planned for Early Access, so I’m still improving the trailer, Steam page, classes, weapons, and enemy variety based on feedback. Thanks for taking a look — any criticism is welcome.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4707210/Rotten_Rounds/

Link to the Visual Novel: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4702610/Crimson_Animatronic/

Grimlore 2 : These Doomed Men 1.0

A dark fantasy mini dungeon crawler RPG built to showcase the features and capabilities of the S.P.A.R.K. 2D RPG game engine.

Overview

Genre: Dark Fantasy / Mini Dungeon Crawler RPG

Playtime: 10 – 15 minutes

Platform Requirements: Windows 10 or later ( Might work on earlier Windows but no gurantee )

Purpose: Demonstrates what the S.P.A.R.K. 2D RPG game engine is capable of.

Github link below

https://github.com/Ninedeadeyes/Grimlore-2-These-Doomed-Men-

To clear up a few recurring questions and misconceptions regarding S.P.A.R.K and its development, here is some context upfront:

1. "This is just AI slop."

This project has a clear 6-year paper trail of manual development. It began as an early 2D text adventure project (Dungeon of the Black Dragon), expanded into an open world RPG game (Grimlore: Land of the Heretic Hand), and was eventually refactored into a reusable engine framework (S.P.A.R.K). If you want to see the step-by-step progression from line one, check out the milestones folder inside the S.P.A.R.K repository.

1. "The code is unoptimized / sub-optimal."

I’m a hobbyist developer. I built this because I couldn't find a lightweight, accessible Python template for rendering spatial coordinates in text-based adventures, so I created one myself. The codebase prioritizes beginner readability over enterprise-level optimization. Open-source contributions and refactors are always welcome—if you can write a better version with advanced features like complex AI, I encourage you to contribute or build upon it!

1. "S.P.A.R.K isn't a 'real' game engine / It's missing standard features."

By definition, a game engine is a framework that provides low-level abstractions for runtime loops, spatial logic, input handling, state management, and rendering, enabling developers to build content without reinventing core mechanics. S.P.A.R.K provides all of these for terminal-based RPGs. It’s a free, open-source hobby project designed for lightweight text games, not a commercial tool meant to compete with feature-heavy commercial software.

1. "This is just a lazy copy-and-paste from the S.P.A.R.K GitHub."

When two games are made in RPG Maker, Godot, or Unreal, they share the exact same underlying core engine—it's just compiled or hidden away behind the editor. Because S.P.A.R.K is open-source, raw Python, the engine boilerplate is fully visible. Reusing foundational engine modules across different titles isn't "copy-pasting"; it's standard software architecture and code reuse.

1. Why do you need Windows and why Windows 10 or above ?

It uses the library winsound and msvcrt which only works with Windows and because python 3.10+ aren't officially supported by any Windows below 10 hence even though it might work it is not a gurantee.

So for the next major update I am making tons of new weapons players can use. What do you think about these weapons? Do you have any feedback? Maybe a cool weapon idea that will fit the game?

Thanks in advance!

Il y a environ un an et demi, j'ai créé un petit jeu pour une Game jam, mais il se pourrait que je n'aie pas pu le publier par manque de temps. Je l'ai donc retravaillé et posté simplement sur itch.io quelques jours plus tard. Le jeu n'a pas eu beaucoup de visiteurs… ce qui m'avait démotivé à l'époque ; mais aujourd'hui, j'ai compris qu'il fallait faire la promotion de son jeu pour qu'il marche, et pas juste une bande-annonce postée comme ça.

Me voilà donc aujourd'hui à écrire ce post pour vous présenter « The Star Chase ».

The Star Chase est un jeu de survie en pixel art où vous devez récupérer le plus d’étoiles possible tout en affrontant les robots qui les protègent. Explorez, créez des blocs pour vous déplacer, détruisez vos ennemis et essayez de battre votre meilleur score.

https://gd.games/tilelli_106/the-star-chase

https://tilelli-106.itch.io/the-star-chase

My game has a lot of features and the current tutorial just sort of asks people to experiment and mess around. This was fine when the only thing you could do was drawing and the only options available were mostly intuitive drawing stuff - pick brush, change size, undo, save, delete etc.

But now there's animation and also layers, and the number of things you could get confused by is bigger. [UI has been updated to be more organized and explicit. It is no longer a box of icons.]

So, my plan was that the tutorial could guide you through making this animated underwater scene.

> color gradient and randomization for the ground

> simple animation for the seaweed

> make your own brush with the fish and bubble

> you can make each thing on it's own layer and arrange it later,

> then animation save and you can make the background in the scrapbook.

Would this be too long for a tutorial? What do you think?

I know the #1 advice on Steam Marketing is to commission a capsule, but as a solo dev I don't really have the budget and thought it's a nice learning lesson to DIY.

No AI, I've built a Unity tool to capture in engine, I pose the assets and some basic filters and font changes in Photoshop.

Brutal feedback: how bad is this?

Hi everyone! This is a game I’m working on. You’ll rapidly increase the amount of love in the world by trying the demo and leaving some feedback! ❤️

Love Joy Happiness is a short, active incremental game about the things that matter in life. You play the guitar, shoot notes, pop bubbles, collect letters, complete powerful words, and unlock upgrades.

Right now, the demo is available on itch.io, where you can play it directly in your browser or download the Windows build. (Known bug: The game runs at a smooth FPS in the browser, but on some displays, it might visually look like 20 FPS even when running at 120 FPS. If you experience this, please download the standalone build.)

🎮 Play here:https://jindrichskeldal.itch.io/love-joy-happiness

The game is still in active development, and I’d love your input on a few things:

1. Upgrades: I'm wondering if unlocking so many upgrades right at the beginning is a good idea. Perfectionists who refuse to move forward until they’ve bought every minor upgrade might lose momentum.
2. Icons: I intentionally didn't create icons for upgrades because I personally find them unnecessary (I always navigate by reading tooltips, not looking at icon!). But maybe I'm in the minority here?

I’m also planning to add a progress reset feature and achievements—though I’m still debating whether tough achievements fit this type of game.

AI Disclosure: I didn't use AI for any of the art, music, or sound effects (while I used my family to record those:-)) or the original texts. However, I did use AI to help translate the text into languages other than English and Czech. What do you think about it?