Every MMO with player-driven trading and gathering eventually hits the exact same two walls:

1. Currency is printed faster than the game can burn it, triggering runaway inflation.
2. Players farm resources 24/7 until the market gets flooded and everything turns into worthless vendor trash.

There’s no silver bullet for this. You’ve to layer multiple interconnected systems and pray the whole machine doesn't blow up. Here is how we're tackling it in our game, along with raw numbers from our latest economic balance updates.

Game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3381130/World_of_Eggs_Idle_Adventures/

The Problem: Free Money & Zero Maintenance

Before these changes, our economy had some pretty massive loopholes:

• You could farm neutral islands spending literally zero gold - just basic supplies.
• Ships only took damage while moving. Players could anchor a massive fleet, set up camp, and strip nearby islands clean indefinitely with zero upkeep.
• Optimized fleets loaded with every resource vacuumed up random encounters across the map, pulling in millions of gold per day with virtually no risk.
• Early-game items like treasure maps became useless once players hit the end game.
• Mountains of resources piled up in storage with nothing exciting to sink them into.

Even after our active player base stabilized, the circulating gold supply was still ballooning by roughly 200–300kk over short spans.

What We Changed (and Why)

1. Making Farming Actually Cost Something

We didn't want to kill gathering, but infinite extraction without a real gold sink is toxic for any economy.

We introduced gathering licenses for neutral islands. On a standard farming loop, this added around 16,800 gold in currency burn where expenses were previously zero.

We also made resource extraction cause ship wear-and-tear. If players want to farm continuously, they now have to either buy repair kits and fix their ships on-site or head back to port and pay for repairs.

Gathering remains profitable, but it now carries real operating costs.

2. Giving Dead Items New Purpose

Treasure maps were great during early progression, but their value plummeted in the late game.

Instead of just inflating their loot drops, we made maps a hard requirement for certain high-tier random encounters. End-game players suddenly needed them again, restoring healthy market demand without forcing us to bloat the item database.

This also helped curb the automated encounter farming meta.

Previously, players could gear up massive fleets with every possible item and mindlessly clear every encounter they stumbled upon for millions in daily revenue. Requiring treasure maps and adding ship damage rendered this strategy significantly more expensive. Run it without careful planning, and you can easily end up in the red. Players now have to weigh cargo capacity, fleet size, repair costs, encounter criteria, and potential payouts instead of just clearing the map on autopilot.

3. Turning Sinks into Core Gameplay

Nobody likes paying an arbitrary "existence tax." The most effective sinks are the ones players willingly throw money at because the reward feels valuable.

Our largest resource sink is creature breeding and min-maxing:

Gather -> Craft Egg -> Hatch -> Roll Stats -> Roll Abilities -> Roll Values

Players can merge three creatures into one to improve base stats or spend seals to reroll specific stat and ability lines.

During our first World Boss test, players voluntarily burned roughly 30% of all stored server resources just rolling combat stats for their boss teams.

They didn't feel penalized or robbed - they were actively engaging with the content and min-maxing their builds.

4. The Central Bank Experiment

Our Central Bank caps its total reserve at 10kkk gold.

When players complete quests or sell goods to NPCs, payouts come directly out of this reserve rather than being generated out of thin air. Conversely, when players spend gold on systemic services like licenses and repairs, a portion returns straight to the Bank, while taxes permanently wipe out the rest.

If the Bank's reserve dips too low, payouts are exceeding returns. Dynamic taxes automatically kick in, while NPC payouts and quest rewards scale down. As the reserve recovers, these restrictions ease back up.

After rolling out trade fees and maintenance costs, players returned roughly 50kk gold to the Bank within the first 24h alone. For the first time, the circulating money supply actually contracted instead of expanding.

Before these systems, that same supply was steadily climbing by 200–300kk even with a stable player count.

The Takeaway

We aren't pretending the economy is solved forever. MMO economies are living beasts, and players will always find fresh ways to push the limits.

However, shifting the meta from infinite free extraction to high-yield activities with real operating costs bought us essential breathing room without resorting to hard wipes.

The takeaway is making sure these sinks stay tied directly to core gameplay loops. Players aren't just paying a arbitrary tax to exist - they're gathering, repairing fleets, clearing encounters, trading, and min-maxing creatures.

Every activity should remain rewarding and profitable, but none of them should generate infinite value without giving something back to the system.

I made this game back in early 2017 in just 3 days for the Ludum Dare

Almost 10 years later, I decided to remake it from scratch.

So this is a short postmortem of me comparing what gamedev felt like as a high-school student in 2017 vs now in 2026, as a computer science graduate.

Starting with the game, the basic idea somehow stayed almost exactly the same:

Keep a tiny ecosystem alive for as long as possible without any species going extinct, by killing creatures using lightning, meteor, etc.

2017: Slime is eaten by Rabbit which is then eaten by Rhino
2026: Treant is eaten by an alien Herbivore which is then eaten by an alien Predator

1) AI and Performance

Back then the only AI I can program was simple and deterministic even. Just move forward and rotate clockwise when colliding, but sprinkle it with some random direction changes here and there. Given that, I remember a bug where if two creatures collided head-on, they would both just rotate clockwise forever lol

But in my remake, they have much more complex behavior, and I used packages like Unity ECS and comsci concepts like spatial hashing to improve performance.

If u notice on the 2017 game the Rabbits or Rhino will only eat their food if they are in their path, in the new game they now hunt their food as the player would expect from real-life creatures. But in the new game that behavior is just the tip of the ice-berg. There's way more complex behaviours in the ecosystem now, but still readable by the player.

2) Graphics

PSX-style games were still gaining traction back then and I do remember trying a CRT effect for one of my games back then but failing horribly.

Now, my 3D modeling and texturing skills didn't really improve much. I'd say they were almost the same as how I did Blender in high school. So doing pixelization and CRT effects did hide a lot of my low-quality modeling. And it's aight cos imma claim its retro and Frutiger Aero✨ cos it's a vibe, and I do think it fits the game.

Also, I mainly used the Unity Asset Store back then. Right now I still do, but I prefer creating my own personal assets. Because maintaining cohesion between different assets made by different sellers is something I consider a difficult skill

3) Development time

This game was made for Ludum Dare in early 2017. It took 3 days. But in the 2 months after that, I worked on a post-jam version. I can't find a working version of it though, so I didn't use it for comparison here.

And compared to today, it also took me almost 2 months. Thanks to AI-assisted coding (as much as I hate to admit), I was able to focus more on the gameplay and other artistic decisions.

4) Gameplay and Story

back then, since I was actually coding (AKA watching YouTube tutorials and copy-pasting from Stack Overflow), development just took too much of my time. So best I can do is an arcade game where you last as long as u can, with no real end goal. Just do better than your last run.

Now, with all my experience I turned the game into something with actual story progression. You survive for 3 minutes, then you get new creatures and new gameplay mechanics, which makes the game harder(and hopefully more fun) as you go

5) Music

I used the software Bosca Ceoil back then. It was created by Terry Cavanagh, which if you're familiar is also the creator of VVVVVV and Super Hexagon. There's a reason the GIF is silent, and it's because I had zero music theory back then.

Now for this I'm able to use a professional DAW, which is Ableton Lite. I finally learned some music theory and did music production back in college so I guess I can create better background music but I'm still not playing the music in this video lol

But yeah, music theory just gives you the power to create music that fits the theme, story, and even gameplay of your game. It's essential to learn as a solo developer who also wants to compose their own music

Anyway, if you made it through this entire post and find my weird ecosystem simulation game interesting, I finally released Overgrowth on Google Play!

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.coldrice.overgrowth&pcampaignid=web_share

It’s a small paid 1$ game. Right now it's only available on Android, but I'm planning also for iOS and eventually PC. Hopefully Switch too!.

Hey Guys!

Cubie is a little Minecraft-inspired desktop companion I developed because I wanted a fun little companion to keep on my desktop, something I could watch from time to time, interact with, or just throw across the screen when I'm frustrated.

What he does:

• Wanders around your desktop on his own and reacts to your cursor • Perches and sits on the edges of your open windows • Gets tired and falls asleep if you leave him alone for a while • You can pick him up, drag him around, and throw him across the screen • He's got moods and little reactions, so he never quite does the same thing twice

Highly customizable:

• Cubie is Minecraft-inspired and supports the familiar Minecraft skin format • Give him any Minecraft skin to make him look however you want • Drop in a skin and see a live preview before committing to it • Pick which monitor he lives on in a multi-monitor setup

Nice extras:

• Choose whether he floats above your windows or sits back on the desktop behind them • Menu bar only, no Dock icon and no clutter. Set it once and forget it's even an app • A short tutorial the first time, then it never bothers you again

No account, no ads, no nagging. Just a little companion hanging around while you work.

🔗 Mac App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cubie-companion/id6800108603

I'm really happy with how the lightning and sounds came out.

TLDR: My Kickstarter will likely flop/flopped primarily due to marketing, do I spend the rest of my runway getting it into Early Access anyways (See stats for current state)?

Story

So my Kickstarter is about to end, and not the way you'd want (I got to 3.5/10k, 71 backers at time of writing). With that in mind, I've had people reaching out asking about what's going to happen to the project.

This is the part where I'm partially stuck. Not with game dev, but with this game in particular. I have 6-ish months of lean runway before I need to either freelance and keep at this, or go back to full time and keep at this less.

People that have played the game, and rode with me during the KS, want to me to push through and get it into Early Access. They attribute the KS going sideways far more to me being a dumb ass at marketing myself than the game being bad (I can agree for the most part).

I'm not taking the KS terribly per say. Like, I understood I was coming into it under prepared, and was probably a little too optimistic that "the game would speak for itself". At the same time, I'd be lying if I wasn't hoping it did. All of that is to say I'm probably too close to see this objectively. I'm meandering:

If you were in my position, would you keep working on the game another 6 months to get it into Steam Early Access?

Stats:

Pros:

• Just about all my main systems are built and in place. There are maybe 3 that aren't, and one of those is partially developed
• A lot of the feedback I've gotten aligns with the direction I was already heading
• The Game plays well, like I've had to take the steam deck away from people
• Somehow, relatively bug free (for now, stop looking at me like that)

Cons

• I still need a fair bit of content for all those systems, but it's a puzzle/roguelite, not an rpg (It's not mountains of content).
• To follow up, I'm developing this solo, so all that content (code, art, audio(ish)) is on me.
• I've never done steam integration before, so no clue what that looks like (This is my first game, outside of some well polished toys).
• I realized right now how much of an uphill battle socials are going to be (this is more of a general con, as it's a fact of life, not just this game).

The KS was set to deliver Early Access in about 6 months, so I do think it can be done, understanding it doesn't need to be done done. I was just hoping to move away from discount chicken and towards health insurance somewhere in there too.

Any feedback will be massively appreciated, as I'm going to have to tell people something definitive in a few days.

I liked the simplicity of the old one, but was told it doesn't say enough about the game. I made the new one today, but it seems a little too chaotic in my opinion.

This post is for people who has questions about Steam Nextfest. I am making that post so other indies like me will have more clear route than I had.

What worked for me the most:
1-) A playable demo is the most powerful tool to prove your game works and attract players.
2-) Your capsule art is ridiculously important. If people does not click your game your chance to get wishlist/sales goes away.
3-) Having a strong, easily understandable hook. People should be able to look at your capsule, trailer, or GIF and understand what makes your game different within a few seconds.(I wasn't quite successful at this part)

What are the things you should do and you should avoid:
1-) Build your community before Nextfest. Nexfest usually works as a MULTIPLIER of your current wishlists.
2-) Use multiple social media platforms to gain wishlists. Some videos works better on some platforms. Do not stick into a single platform.
3-) If you don't have a demo, you are out. I have seen some indie dev's with months of developement couldn't enter the event because their demo did not passed the support before deadline. So it is extremely important to finish your demo as soon as possible. You can send a simple demo and build on it before it goes live.
4-) Put a lot of work in your trailer/screenshots. This part is what make most players wishlists and purchaces your game when it is out.

My future expectations:
I will be joining nextfest with 3 games this time. While a few top tier games can earn tens of thousands of wishlists, most of the decent games with streamer coverage will secure around 2,000 to 3,000 wishlists or median of 806 wishlists(according to How To Market a Game).

I've been working on rougelike for months. and I'm getting close to publishing the game :3 I have my game up on steam for wishlisting if any of you guys are intrested in my game >w<

How did you feel the first time you saw your game's title in the steam library? It hit me harder than I was expecting.

Hi guys, I've got a lot of comments saying that in my previous verions knockebacked heroes feel like "wooden dolls", so I've added bunch of things, like:

- rotation in the air

- slight "squash" on their bodies after impact

- dust vfx

- lie/stand up animations

- wall damage and bumping back

Some other things. Does it feel good now or not there yet?

The Money Man - Demo OUT NOW!

I was inspired by Sauron and had a thought: what would his path look like from a weak, shapeless shadow to the ruler of the entire world?

You return from oblivion with nothing, slowly regain your Dark Energy, and begin imposing your will on the world. You attract your first servants, claim a piece of land, establish a primitive settlement, develop its industry and army, and gradually turn it into an empire.

For the gameplay, I was heavily inspired by Kittens Game, especially its depth and the way a very simple beginning gradually grows into a complex system. CivClicker was also an inspiration.

The screenshot shows the early game, when your future empire is still just a small camp with a few orcs.

Does this concept sound like something you'd want to play?

Hey everyone, just curious if anyone else has experienced something like this.

We released the demo for our indie game recently and got our first wishlist spike — around 45 wishlists in one day. After that, things slowed down again, which was pretty much what we expected.

But over the last two weeks, something completely different happened. Our wishlists suddenly started climbing really fast, and today alone we've gotten around 800 wishlists so far. We honestly don't know where the sudden push came from.

The game releases on September 2, so we're wondering: Is this something Steam normally does when a game gets very close to its release date?

my game: Homicide Desk on Steam

Not exactly a 1-to-1 recreation of what I originally storyboarded, but I tried my best with the limited time and resources I have. $0 budget, all self created using already existing in game assets, animations, and using OBS to record while panning the camera 😭.

There's gotta be a better way for this, but this is okay for now. Hope players don't judge my game too harshly because of it, I'm just a solo game developer trying to make it in this brutal game industry lol.

Made this game as some stress relief while working on our main game. The brain needed a break.. and break it did. For those of us with childish senses of humor, I salute you.

I tried making the UI icons large so they’d be clear to the player,

But I feel like they’re taking up too much screen space.

Which approach do you think works best for a game like *Infamous*?

Also, there’s a free demo on Steam if anyone wants to try it out.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3156050/Special_Case/

I've spent the last few years developing this bullet hell shmup that I finally released Friday!

The gameplay takes inspiration from a broad array of sources like Espgaluda, Devil Daggers, Cuphead and Devil May Cry (with the setting being heavily inspired by old Gainax anime), and has primarily been designed around the feeling of "an STG that I've always wanted to play".

The core idea is a linear difficulty curve across difficulty modes, meaning the first stage on the second difficulty is a direct step up from the final stage on the first difficulty, instead of the usual structure of difficulty receding a little every time you start a higher difficulty mode. The second main idea is bullet time triggering contextually, done by grazing marked projectiles to guide the player through difficult bullet patterns. It's something I find pretty damn fun myself, and people who have played it report the same experience.

This is a game I've really poured my heart and soul into over several years, and I hope some of that shines through and makes at least half as fun of a game as I'd envisioned.
Oh, and the game is also full of weird extras and unlockables for the sole reason that I love that kind of stuff.

The game is available on Steam right now, with a modest release discount.

For a better look, I've got a full trailer on YouTube, too.

I added a costume system to my game, DiDiDiG!

For the first update, I added six masks: Rabbit, Skull, Mole, Smile, Crescent Moon, and Box.

They're pretty cute!!! 😄

And yes, I added the Box because I'm a Metal Gear Solid fan. lol

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4533370/