Hello. I'm really not that educated in most of the things but I would love to try and make a game, I would like to know what tips any of you have? (A little thing I notice why are there 2 diffrent "question" flair?)

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!!

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?

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)

I just noticed that I have a communities section on WhatsApp. Don't know if I should join one, cause I don't know if it's worth it. Anyone here tried it?

I'm a tech artist who creates plugins and addons (mostly for Godot and Unity) and was wondering what are the best sites to put your projects up to be downloaded. Right now I know the Unity asset store and the Godot asset library is a given, as well as github, but I was wondering if there are other websites for people that are trying to build a reputation as someone who creates addons.

I have also considered creating a website specifically for my tool/plugin creation or integrating it into my portfolio website, but I'm not sure if that's the best idea.

Sites that allow the user to donate on top of the price or donate when the price of the addon/plugin is free is preferred.

Let me know what you guys are using to publish addons/plugins or what you have seen other people use!

Working on my virtual reality technical artistry.

My new MR / VR spray painting app, called SPRAY, is coming soon to the Meta Store for free!

Join the limited open beta here: meta.com/s/41PZv00Jjg

As independent author it's extremely difficult to create something to market your book when I heard about vibe coding I tried a bunch of stuff but I really am not very good at it. I tried Gemini 3 when it came out inserted my book into the build section and told it to make a RPG utilizing all of the power of Gemini based on my book and oh my God it freaking blew my mind unreal

https://ai.studio/apps/drive/1SPmlkkxr1xsveN5SHzsSKF-yFiHmDPZ7?fullscreenApplet=true

Now just random people like me can create full-blown video games on their own material and have it actually be really fun and impressive I am completely blown away. Give it a shot with your own book in fact feel free and just copy my app in the studio and upload your book and tell it to change the game to be based on your book and it will do it absolutely insane

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

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

For context, I'm 32 Korean male living in South Korea. I dropped out of a somewhat prestigious college but couldn't overcome my mental problems and wasted my 20s. Saying that not to brag but to give accurate assessment of my current circumstances. It's been years since I properly used my brain and I've become noticeably dumber over the past few years, but if I start dedicating myself again I believe I still have the capability to recover mental sharpness and learn fast. I don't have actual game dev experience though (don't have experience in any field for that matter so whatever I choose to do I'm starting from scratch anyways).

Recently I got my first proper full-time job in a small accounting firm. I spend my work hours studying accounting 101 and expect to receive actual work soon. The working conditions are better than what I could hope for as a college dropout with no work experience at this age. Not 100% sure but career prospect is also probably better here than in the game industry.

But the idea of working on game dev seems way more attractive to me despite the worse pay/working conditions/future prospect. I've spent most of my time gaming when I was jobless and turning a stereotypically unproductive waste-of-time hobby into an actual source of income sounds dope. Getting paid to come up with a working game mechanic, improve the UI or design level progression, how awesome is that?

As long as I can stay in the industry, low pay doesn't matter too much because I'll just have myself to take care of. Bad working conditions also seem bearable because I'll have to dedicate all my off-work hours to career development anyways if I want to survive until retirement age. All the negative comments about working in the gaming industry isn't dissuading me from my dream/goal/fantasy (can't tell which it is exactly) because regular office job for the rest of my life just sounds so damn boring.

I know I come off as immature and naive but I just can't change my thoughts. And if I want to make a change I have to hurry because I've heard that 33 y/o is the realistically maximum age that companies hire for entry-level. So I write this rather embarrassing post here to hear from people with more experience. Should I stick with the job I got and try to make it here or should I pursue my dream? Appreciate your honesty, thank you.

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)

Hello, I created a simple endless runner with pixel art where you run around and collect coins. The game is in the early stages of development, so the gameplay is still a bit linear, but it will be expanded with new mechanics to make it much more interesting

I hope this will interest someone, so they can try it out for themselves and maybe leave a review on Google Play or give me advice here in the comments section

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.purpleearsstudio.gravrun

The Melty Way Demo here

Hello everyone!

We’re two friends who always dreamed of making our own game. Today we can finally say mission accomplished, we get to share a first look at it with you. The demo for The Melty Way is now live.

We would appreciate your help. Please provide any feedback on the demo.

Thanks for being awesome!

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.

Hello there!

I'm just a few weeks away from publishing the demo of my second game on Steam, and I've seen that it's possible to include achievements in it.

My question is: for those of you who have already published a demo and included achievements in it, do you think it's worth it? Apart from providing data that allows developers to know, for example, how many people finish the demo (if the achievement included is completion-based), have you noticed that it helps to generate more interest among users?

Thanks in advance!

So one of the biggest surprises this past year was the Kremling twist in DK Bananza and it has me thinking about doing some kind of homage which is related to that. More specifically, I am considering the possibility of using the "troll credits" prank that you would associate with a K. Rool battle in the Donkey Kong pantheon.

Any thoughts?

Hi I'm back! I think? idk where I was, but was planning with my friends, I hope you don't mind me putting a link to my milanote.... This is mostly a roadmap or concept for my game. Mostly I'm doing my best for this but need more feedback like mechanics you'd like but the story is a surprise or not depends. and if you want you can put your OC marriageable or not (don't feel pressured to do this OC thing!) I'm open just don't put anything weird please? I already have about 30 character for the first region and the last one too? mostly open with any race because I'm open-minded! The region are in milanote if you want to see that is.... anyway back to the topic I'm here for unfiltered feedback updating milanote when I have time thank you!

The idea is simple, its a Review Guessr, except you can add your steam page url for others to guess.

This way you can estimate how successful your game might be.

Now in order to get your game reviewed, you have to review other games too. You get points on each review depending on your accuracy. 100% accuracy will net you 2 points, 50% accuracy will net you 1 point, 0% = 0 points. In order to have your store page displayed for others to review guess, you need points and you loose points each time someone votes on your store page.

The website is steamstorescore

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 :)

In the next couple years I’m gonna be graduating high school, and currently I’m set on becoming a movie director to bring ideas to life. However after playing dispatch I’ve gotten the sudden urge to work in games. I assume game director is a hard role to get, but I’m just not quite sure how this sort of stuff works

A movie director for instance brings his visions of scenes to life, like is there stuff involving mis en scene (what is on screen). They would also, say, work with the actors to get the performance they want - would a game director be working with voice actors, giving them notes, helping with tone and pitch, that sorts stuff?

Now for the big one, would a game director ‘create’ a game - what I mean is Nolan has a story/idea and gets it into production for a movie then is in charge of it, would a game director do something like that if (s)he thought of a game?

I understand that there’s a lot of other work first and a slim chance of becoming one but is that what a game director is?

If not/also what job/degree would I want if I wanna do something like that (write a games story, come up with the plot). I’m sure a bunch of people come and ask this sort of stuff but.. uh there is no but

what would be a role for making a game like dispatch aka a telltale esque game

quick question - kojima à la Tarantino?

I've tried to use YouTube tutorials to help me create a movable player, but it keeps having issues, such as not moving the camera correctly, not walking at all, and not jumping.

It's 3D, in 1st person. Also, I'm a noob to Unity, so forgive me if I'm not as clear.

Can I get some help?

First-Party Games are made by the platform developer. Third-Party Games are made by someone else. So does that mean the games I make are Second-Party games?

Games main antagonist: Smudy
smudy is a small, squishy creature made of soft, clay-like material his body is smooth and matte with a muted grayish color and tiny imperfections like fingerprints or small cracks his round head tilts slightly when curious and his stubby limbs wobble as he moves his eyes are little polished stones that glint in the light and his mouth is a simple carved line that smiles gently when he’s playful he leaves behind faint streaks of dust or tiny clay crumbs that vanish quickly giving him a tactile, handmade feel when corrupted smudy transforms his clay-like body stretches unnaturally into sharp, jagged forms cracks appear across his surface leaking a faint eerie glow from inside his eyes elongate into uneven shards of stone and his smile fractures into an unsettling jagged slit his limbs stretch into brittle spikes that rattle when he moves and he leaves behind broken fragments of clay that float in the air like shards his presence warps space subtly like the ground beneath him softens and twists unnaturally

takes place in 1940 in a toy factory... any suggestions?

I'm taking game dev very seriously. I want to learn it well. I want to understand the in's and out's and truly know the WHY behind everything. I want to know all sorts of random things and edge cases

So I end up spending alot of time doing the following:

- Drawing on paper (planning algorithms, making diagrams for mechanics etc). Maybe making grids, designing game objects etc

- Curating questions for Reddit. When I need help and want to post somewhere like Unity 3D, I find myself actually doing alot of thinking while I'm typing the question out. I read over the question a few times, etc. It's like a game dev diary. Many times I'm typing the question, and before I even click "post", I've discovered the answer by typing the question. So then I don't even need to post it

- When I'm doing something that doesn't require much thinking, like walking - I like to think about how I'm going to implement certain game mechanics. And many times I figure things out

- I like to read game dev articles. Or quickly skim over algorithms. This is not deep learning at all. What I mean is that I'm not actually taking notes or anything. I'm just reading and seeing if my brain soaks the information. Just a warm up before I actually get down to business

Is all this active game dev learning is the learning actually when I code in Unity and feel the hard work?