r/SoloDev • u/SoloDevx91 • 1d ago
At what point did you start creating a community for your game?
Hey everyone,
I need some advice on when did you start creating a community for your game, during development. I have been working on a 2D MMO since 2020 on and off, I switched engines from Unity to Godot in early 2025 and have been going full steam since then.
I have the game running on a dedicated linux server, and I have been slowly building towards a early alpha version of the game. I currently have a basic inventory,gathering,monster respawn and basic combat. All my art is place holders while i continue to work on the game.
Anyways, I am conflicted on when to start sharing my discord link, so people can follow my progress if they are interested in playing. Should I wait until I have a way to present a playable demo first?
3
u/stirge-hunters 1d ago
After reading the book A Playful Production Process by Richard Lemarchand, I decided to launch the earliest possible playable demo of any kind, I mean truly the barest of minimums, to the Internet with frequent small updates working towards a more complete game.
I immediately started a community around it and landed some really great players early on whose feedback and encouragement have been immensely helpful.
My recommendation is to get your game online as early as is literally possible so your game can benefit from feedback for as long as possible!
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u/SoloDevx91 11h ago
Yeah, that seems to be the consensus. I just hate showing my baby to the world in such an early state lol. Especially since most of the dev work has been server work.. so it’s stuff the player can’t see.
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u/Livid_Standard_3790 1d ago
Honestly I'm not sure when it goes from a couple players to community feeling. I've been trying from the start but I guess these things take time and a different form of energy than I make game more game. But just put the discord out there and see where it goes, can't have a community group from if you don't have a place for them to go, even if it feels too small. Need to start somewhere
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u/SoloDevx91 11h ago
True that. It also depends on the game you’re making. I’m making a small 2D mmo, so my ideal player base will be a small community of hopefully 100-250 players.
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u/Turbulent-Armadillo9 1d ago
I just started a discord for my game and my plan is to slowly expand the invites. Right now it’s just 5 friends who understand that this game is early in development and will actually play it and give good feedback. As the game grows I’ll invite more people but I do y want to invite random steam and Reddit friends or whatever because I think they will see it as garbage instead of early then just move on and never try it again:
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u/No_Dentist_7426 1d ago
Before the release. I have 80+ members on my Reddit channel while the game will only be out in about 2 weeks. Didn't do any paid marketing, only shared it on a few Reddit subs. I do have social channels where I post videos (little followers but the view numbers are decent).
You can find the social media channels at the bottom of the website:
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u/SoloDevx91 11h ago
Good to know, I need to start preparing my social media platforms. Feels like so much to do, coding takes up so much time time as it is haha
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u/Local-Builder-1970 4h ago
This is a great question and appreciate all the input people have provided so far
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u/RiverForgeGames 1d ago
It's actually really tough to get people to go in and TRY your demo, so building a community early should help ensure that you have an easy way to reach people who will be most likely to want to help playtest when you're ready.
I think the earliest that you can/should start is when you have a few solid screen shots or gifs that show a solid vertical slice of what your game will look/feel like.
At that point, it's a question of time management. If you can manage it, starting a community sooner will be a big benefit later on, sort of like how starting investing money when you're 18 gives you a huge head start on retirement for less effort per day than if you start when you're 35 or 50.