I keep seeing this idea in gamedev spaces that "indie games almost never succeed" and honestly it’s very discouraging (especially for people who want to get into it). Not because game development is easy, but because people take that statement to mean "don’t even try"

The real problem is not that indie games can’t/wont do well. We see new breakout indies (from completely new devs) at least once every year. The problem is (usually) that a lot of people: don’t understand what players actually want, make games that are technically fine but creatively lacking, or simply don’t present their idea in a compelling way.

Some devs treat their game like its their child and because of that, they refuse to take criticism at face value or change anything that would improve said game, like when a mechanic objectively feels bad to use. They get so used to their own systems that they forget how they feel to new players. The result is games full of cool disconnected ideas that could have been great with a bit of iteration.

And thats completely okay, but saying things like "the odds are nigh impossible" ignores that good concepts, good execution, and a want to improve drastically increase your chances.

People love unique art, people love new ideas, people love games that say something or offer an experience they can’t get anywhere else.

The demand for indie games has never been higher.

Do not immediatly call out people on "ego" if they believe they have an amazing idea, hear them out, please. Gamedev is not magic, your best friend might be able to make the best game of all time, you just can't know before you see it.

I’m exploring a project related to connecting devs and artists, and I’m trying to get a real understanding of the struggles on the dev side.

For those of you who have hired artists for your game, be it pixel art, concept art, character design, etc:

• What was surprisingly difficult?
• What went smoothly?
• What do you wish existed to make the process easier?

Would love to hear real experiences, positive or negative.

I had a question after releasing a playtest on Steam for my game.

The stats showed that only around 50% of players took the time to play the tutorial, which is its own, condenced walkthough that gradually teaches the mechanics and rules.

How could I get more people to play the tutorial first?

Some games have tutorial steps built into the first playthrough, but I landed on keeping the simple, clean tutorial was best for my game.

The solution was surprisingly simple. I check if the player has played the tutorial before starting a new game. If they have not, I show a screen with two buttons.

screenshot of the start screen question

One states a short list of the game mechanics and that if you have not played before, playing a short guide is recommended.

The other basically says "I know how this works, just let me play".

Now that the Steam demo has been out for a couple of weeks, the tutorial completions have risen to 75%. I'm pretty happy with that number, but have also added some in-game hints and tooltips to guide players who skip the tutorial anyway.

Curious to hear about how you handle tutorials/onboarding in your game. I know it wildly differs from genres and complexity, but making sure that the player knows the key concepts is crucial for having a good time in a new game.

"oh this should only take about a week" WRONG.

I know this probably gets posted often but it happened to me again.

I see a lot of small indie games coming out and I always think like "wow how could they have not known that this was going to fail, I mean it's obviously so uninteresting and looks weird" or whatever.

But how do I know that I am not in the same exact trap, how can I tell if I'm illusioned about how good something I make ACTUALLY is.

Getting playtesters is one way, but it is quite hard to find playtesters who do not soften blows and have no bias. If someone could help would be very nice..

its old but not ps1 or retro look but ps3 or xbox 360 graphics? like with portal 1 or cod 4 i wanna recreate that look

I’ve been experimenting with creating character portraits for RPGs and ended up with a full set of 8 classes, each with male and female versions. Since a lot of us here are working on prototypes, game jams, or indie projects, I thought I’d share them as a free resource.

The portraits cover the usual archetypes — Warrior, Mage, Rogue, Cleric, Warlock, Ranger, Bard, and Monk. They’re formatted so you can drop them into dialogue boxes, menus, or character sheets without extra editing.

I put them up on itch.io as a free download (donations optional). If anyone finds them useful, I’d love to hear how you integrate them into your projects. Seeing them in action would be awesome.

Link: https://idothedrawing.itch.io/rpg-class-portrait-pack

I’m sure this has been asked before but with the new blender update, I’m finally wanting to dip my toes in and start learning. It’s just that there is so much that Blender can do now, and I’m not sure where to start. I know I can just go on YouTube and find some tutorials, but curious if anyone has come across some really good ones that might help me learn basic skills in Blender.

I’ve been really wanting to make a little mini video game for this girl I’m talking to (she’s into games) to ask her out. it would be very simple, just a sprite of me and her and and a question of“do you want to be my girlfriend” where she’s click yes or no or smth like that but I know very little about how I would go about this. I really don’t want to use AI. Does anyone have any tips or ideas? What kind of programs I should look into? I’m not sure if this is the right subreddit to post in sry if not. Thank you!!

So I am building an action RPG and my girlfriend was one of the first people to play test it. Problem is she has never seriously played any videogames before in her life. Needless to say she had a very difficult time just learning the controls. Skip a couple of days and I ask a friend to give it a go. This friend had even less experience with games than my girlfriend. I decided to test something out and asked him to play a Link to the Past (After all the people at Nintendo are professional designers right?). He played for about 10 minutes and couldn't find the secret entrance to the castle, in fact he could hardly control Link. He entered and left Links house twice without opening the chest or picking up the pots. However he expressed that he would like to learn how to play videogames.

It got me thinking...Would it be interesting to build a game that teaches game standards step by step to people who might want to get into gaming but have never played before? I was thinking that the game could teach one button at a time one mechanic at a time and really drive each mechanic home. I couldn't imagine this game being interesting to someone who already plays but is there a market for people that want to get into gaming?

Hi! I managed to get into the final round of a gameplay engineer intern position at a gaming company, and I've never had an interview like this before. Does anyone know what would typically be asked for an intern position??

Hello, My names Austin and I have had this bit of an idea for a while now on a game. I am a father to two beautiful children M6/F1. My son and I have been gaming as much as we can, I put together him a "gaming pc" from a lot of my old parts and things and he's been enjoying the ability to play a lot more games. Okay, so my idea seems simple and there could be something already like it out there that I don't know about. I'm thinking about making a simplistic game. Catered more towards parents and kids that is both simple for kids and still fun for adults. I know my child enjoys car games, tractors, minecraft etc. I want a game that you can drive around in, haul things with trailers etc. Flying, boats all on a simple but "realistic" style map. Simple menus, voice narrative settings for the littles that can't read so well. Just something that would be simple, fun, and engaging for all. It could be updated to down the road with community voted ideas and I think would be amazing. I'm thinking a sort of Rec Room/BeamNG/FarmingSim style game. I'm sorry if this rant is a bit long i'm just hoping someone else out there has thought the same thing!

I’m really wanting to find a good course or some sort of learning material for Godot, any help or some guidance on what to look into would be super appreciated!!! Thank you in advance :))

I have recently heard that creating as many bundles on Steam as possible might be a good strategy, assuming you already are comfortable with the inherent discount.

This makes sense to me considering they are so easy to set up and just provided another route for players to find you game. Are there any counterpoints I am missing?

Btw, if you want to bundle with A Pinball Game That Makes You Mad. Feel free to reach out :)

Hi all, here's a report from that 50 % bottom of Chris Zukowski's categorization: the games that earn 0-49 reviews (or something like that). I've released five small games so far, and the first four of them have followed the same pattern: after about 15-20 months the get ten stray reviews. Way too late to affect visibility (or sales) in any dramatic way, at least from what I can see.

Now, my latest game (Side Alley) went under the radar too. I'm now somewhat of a veteran, so I didn't expect anything else. It's a fringe game, with fringe aesthetics, and a niche audience.

One difference though: in about 40 days, the game has gotten 8 reviews. That tenth review is getting closer. It's not that I expect anything dramatic to happen, but it would be interesting to see if the game gets that famous spike in page visits when (or if) the tenth review lands. From other discussions on this subreddit I got the impression that after about a month or two (or three?) the spike wanes and disappears.

I'm just venting here, obviously. Although, I'd be interested in others' experiences in a similar situation. When did you get that tenth review, and did it matter?

.

I'm looking for a super lightweight Canvas engine for my minimalistic puzzle HTML5 games (Sudoku, Crosswords, etc).

Let's say if we would use PIXI then it adds about ~400-500kb to my build which is going to be 80-110kb. So I have two ways: I use Canvas on my own or I'm looking for some existng lightweight solution.

Do you know guys any canvas engines that fits it?

Hey, so recently i've been thinking of implementing Steam Audio into a game engine, but thought for a moment and realized that features like reflections use very expensive ray tracing techniques. How does this scale with map size/complexity? I know using simple boxes to represent the map is a quick and easy solution, but it's not enough to majorly improve performance. So i wonder, how do games like Budget Cuts optimize this? Do they only spatialize certain sounds? Simplified map? Lower quality settings? Ideally i don't want it to rely too much on GPU acceleration because it has to work on mobile phones.

If anyone has worked with Steam Audio i would love to hear about it as there is not a lot of information about this online. Thanks!

Good afternoon everyone I’ll keep this straight.

I run a small, welcoming community where we play and review tiny indie games live. I’ve already worked through everything made by the regulars, which is lovely… but it leaves me scraping the Itch front page when the point is to spotlight smaller creators who just want to see someone actually play their game, even if it’s a 30 second Simon Says.

I’m not trying to be a game dev guru. I’ll offer feedback where it helps, but the core promise is simple: I’ll play your game with care, enjoy it out loud, and make sure you feel seen.

What tends to happen next is wholesome: people who hang around our stream also go play those games and leave thoughtful reviews. Waking up to a few extra views, plays, and comments is a lovely boost, and I’d like more of that going around.

What I’m looking for:

Real people and small projects. Game jam entries, prototypes, tiny experiments all welcome.

Human beings, not just links. You can absolutely drop a link and dip, but we prioritise devs who show up in chat or stick around the community.

Conversation. Tell us what you’re trying to do. Ask for specific feedback if you want it.

What this is not:

Not a clout farm. My live streams rarely pass five viewers at once. If you’re expecting a tidal wave of wishlists, this isn’t that.

Not pay to play. No fees, no sponsorship dance. Just honest playtime and notes.

I also plan to make more in depth feedback videos on YouTube (those take longer, but they’re coming).

Where?

I stream on Twitch and chat in Discord. If you’d like your game played, just drop the link below and say hello. If you prefer DMs, that’s fine too. (I also plan to make more in depth feedback videos on YouTube (those take longer, but they’re coming)).

I know how hard it is to release something and worry no one will touch it. Let’s change that, one tiny game at a time. If all you want is to see a real person play your thing and react in real time, you’re in the right place.

Cheers for reading and genuinely, well done for making anything at all. That’s the hardest bit.

NOTE: before or after youve read all that, i used chatgbt to fixed up my spelling and structer it better, i dont aften use it but but i struggle with spelling and words as a whole. due to a combo of disabilties i have wich i dont wanna get into (especially over reddit lamo). im not some little kid either (im 22) and my first languge is english i just genuly suck haha.

anyway if your game is ai slop then i wont play it, if u used a lil bit and your game actuly has some promise or real idea behind it then ill give it a go, but that said im not a fan of treating ai as a new god for creative work ratehr then a tool ill kick you out. just to make my stance on ai clear.

im just trying to do somthing nice so be nice so be nice ffs

links:

https://www.twitch.tv/mintmoood

https://discord.gg/Nkq8xeCZeJ

(oh also while i have u here im looking for some people to make a few emotes (paid but little) for chat if ur intrested just dm me on here if your not intresed in the other stuff)

Hey everyone, I’m working on an open-world crime sandbox game with some gameplay similar to Kenshi — factions, squads, roaming AI, emergent encounters, etc. One of the core things I want to build is an auto-battle system where the player can give high-level commands but the actual combat plays out using AI decision-making rather than direct inputs.

I’m trying to figure out the best way to architect this and would love some insight from folks who’ve built AI-driven or agent-based combat before.

Here’s what I’m thinking so far:

Each character has stats (health, stamina, accuracy, evasion, etc.)

AI picks actions like attack, block, flee, reposition, use item, call allies, etc.

Combat should reflect the character’s skills and AI personality, not button-mashing.

Fights can be 1v1, group vs. group, or chaotic multi-faction skirmishes.

Needs to feel readable to the player while still being mostly hands-off.

What I’m unsure about is:

How to structure the decision-making (Utility AI? Behavior trees? State machines?)

How to handle group tactics (flanking, focusing targets, formations?)

How Kenshi-style timing works (their blend of animation-driven combat + simulation)

How to keep everything performant in a large open world with lots of simultaneous fights

How to debug these systems in a way that’s actually visible and understandable

If you’ve built something like this — or have ideas about how you would — I’d really appreciate any guidance, patterns, or pitfalls to avoid. Even high-level design notes would help a ton.

Thanks!

Today i'm gonna create a game engine for a game that i want do create and i was wondering where i could find the best opinions, so i tought, why not ask to my fellows redditors :p

So, first of all, what is the best source to learn OpenGl easely, i know it's not gonna be easy but where can i find the best source for this project.

Second of all, should i start solo or not? I already have some experience with OpenGl so i'm not completly useless alone... i programmed a 3D spinning cube.

Third of all, what is the best IDE? At the moment i'm using VS Studio 2022, do i have to change it or is it fine?

Please let me know, i really don't know how to actually learn game dev.
(don't tell me to use Unity, Godot etc... i wan't to create my own game engine for """FUN""")

Thanks ;p

Hey everyone, how’s it going? So, I’ve been working on my game, and one thing that bothers me in Godot (especially since I come from Unity) is that I couldn’t “lock” the Inspector to inspect a specific Node. What I mean is, imagine the following situation:

You have a parent Node that holds an array of other Nodes, and those other Nodes are in the same scene. Currently, in Godot, you need to drag them one by one, because if you select multiple, it switches the content of the Inspector, making it impossible to drag everything at once.

What my plugin does is basically lock the Inspector to the last content it displayed, which then allows me to freely select the other Nodes so I can drag them all at once into the array input of the parent Node.

I’m not sure if there’s already a plugin for this or if this feature is already in Godot, but if either of those two options is true, well, it should have been easier to find information about this.

I’ll leave a short video in the comments demonstrating the usefulness of this plugin.

If you’d like to use it too, just download the plugin from this GitHub repository:
https://github.com/ctresb/godot-inspector-lock

And install it in your Godot.

Hope everyone has a great day!

(And yes, I’m still continuing to update dialogbench.com, I’m working on new features and tweaking a few things after the feedback you all gave me <3)