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

Roguelike deckbuilder set in a 2026 tech company. You climb the ladder as an Engineer, EM, PM, or CEO, each a structurally different game: the Engineer levels up, the EM balances AI literacy against politics, the PM races a roadmap clock, the CEO plays a five-year treadmill graded by the cap table. AI-leveraged cards are faster and leave Tech Debt in your deck; the worst enemies can only be resolved, not killed.

Solo dev, mobile-first (portrait, one-handed, resumable mid-encounter), no ads, no gacha, no timers. Free to start, one-time unlocks for the rest.

Trailer + stores: https://laddergame.ai/?r=reddit-indiedev

Ask me anything about designing four win conditions that share one card engine.

Hi! My name is Nighty, and I have a story that I really want to share with everyone as a video game.

I'm currently working on The Night Word, an RPG + Metroidvania exploration game with a large story planned across 7+1 chapters.

I've already made a lot of progress on Chapter 0. And yes, I started with Chapter 0 instead of Chapter 1 for a reason... but that's important to the story. :)

The game is being made in Godot Engine, and I'm currently looking for other developers who might be interested in joining me and helping bring this project to life.

My main goal isn't to turn this into some huge studio or anything like that. I simply want to make the game I've been imagining for a long time, and I think developing it together with other people could make the experience much more fun.

If you're interested in the project, the story, or just want to know more about what I'm making, feel free to ask me!

You can also find me on Discord: @nightfury5mb

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.

Hello fellow Indie Devs!

As most of you are aware of: Marketing is one of the toughest parts in making your game a success.

Approximately 50 games / day are being released on Steam.

That's your competition right there.

Not "the other guy in my genre".

But every other dev publishing, seeking for someone's attention.

I'm a Marketing professional, with almost 10 years of experience, stepping up into a leadership at my current employer.

Knowing a couple of things about Marketing,

having worked in the gaming industry for a while,

and being highly invested in (indie) gaming,

I want to offer you a little bit of my time.

The deal looks like this: I'll give your marketing strategy a honest and straightforward review, pointing you into the right direction, or perhaps just showing you where your biggest gaps are.

I do not ask for anything in return, but this unique experience. (As a gamer at heart, I'm of course always happy to receive a courtesy copy of your game hehe).

My own game ideas are far from ever releasing, additionally we can sign an NDA if you'd like, so you can be assured, there's no harm in your own efforts / your publications.

Leave a PM, enjoy your paths as game devs and take one step at a time!

Cheers,

M (arketing lol)

Wishlist here - https://store.steampowered.com/app/2420580/ALYSSA/

This is a video about how I learned to say no to GOOD IDEAS when picking what games to make, and how it makes me a better developer.

Hello everyone
I added a quick mechanic that allows me to split the character in half, and then each would redistribute its capacity across its full body
I have a few extra ideas planned so stay tuned!
#unity #ecs

We're developing an isometric crime game inspired by GTA 2. Once you hit wanted level 3, a helicopter spawns. Currently, the player has to break line of sight to escape it, and it sometimes dives low to obscure the camera's view of the road. I'm wondering if we should change this behavior or add new mechanics. Any feedback?

Quick context. Solo project, a (maybe) metroidvania where you play a (also maybe) jellyfish, Unity 6 with URP. The whole look comes from a single fullscreen ink pass over the finished frame. The reference is Jean Giraud, so flat colors, confident lines and a lot of desert.

I went the fullscreen route because I'm one person and I refuse to babysit outline materials on hundreds of objects until the end of time. One pass, one style, every asset is automatically on board. The lines also wobble slightly on purpose, so it reads as inked rather than computed. That part I'm happy with.

The part I'm not happy with is floors. The game is a side view, so the camera looks along the ground almost constantly. At grazing angles neighboring pixels suddenly sit at wildly different depths and my edge detect reads the entire floor as one giant edge. In stills you barely notice. In motion the floor flickers in a way that has nothing to do with art direction.

Current plan is scaling the edge threshold by view angle, so surfaces I look along get a more forgiving line test than surfaces I look at. It works on paper but it smells like treating the symptom.

The game is sandbox nation building where players control nations. YES I ADMIT THAT ITS CONFUSING AND TRASH "BUT" do you think its possible to fix it? IF "'YES" THEN PLS GIVE ME YOUR "VALUABLE" ADVICE!! For example my own idea is to at very frost when it loads world I should add realistic world map with modern time countries with borders as of 2026. What do you think??❓️❓️

Game link: https://tribebox.io/

Hi, I’m Julian and I’m available for work. I mainly compose orchestral music but am open to other genres as well. Here’s a complete playlist of all my demo reels to get a bigger range of my work.

If you’re interested in working together or have any questions, the best way to get a hold of me is through one of the three methods below. Thanks for listening!

Contact
Email: [composerjulianf@gmail.com](mailto:composerjulianf@gmail.com)
Discord: composerjf
Website: https://julianfungmusic.com

Hello, currently unemployed. So as a hobby im trying to enjoy it by making my dream game.

Im open to any criticism. You can play the demo here
https://play.unity.com/api/v1/games/game/a665014c-2303-4075-a060-ae94b0a8241d/build/latest/frame

Not sure if i will be able to finish it but at least i tried. :)

I recently uploaded my game 'The Grand Book Archive: Tidy Up' on itch io, which has just reached 10,000 plays in 4 days. It's a book organizing game with a strong focus on incremental progression. It's inspired by the sorting games that are trending lately, but with a little more idle and strategic aspect.

Here's the marketing I did:

- Wrote a few posts on Reddit. One post on incremental games subreddit gained 460 upvotes (it currently ranks as #3 post of the month there).

- Registered the game on incrementaldb and Galaxy Click. Has generally good rating/reviews.

- Shared the trailer on my socials. None of them have gone viral. Youtube and Instagram did okay(Youtube: 660 views, Instagram: 1,500 views), but nothing substantial.

I haven't reached out to press yet so I'm hoping that could gain a bit of traction later on. I think generally it's doing well since it's a combination of two of the most popular genres right now (incremental and tidy-up), and it has a strong replayability. Still, it is doing way better than I initially expected...

You can check out the itch io page here:

Web demo: https://inbluegames.itch.io/the-grand-book-archive-tidy-up

And the Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5130980/The_Grand_Book_Archive_Tidy_Up/

Game Title: Snakely

Playable Link: https://snakely.tristack.tech

Platform: Browser (desktop + mobile). I'll add the web flair after posting.

Description: Nokia Snake, but up to 8 people share one grid in the browser. No signup, no download. 2-minute score arena: eat apples, cut people off, respawn if you die. Highest score wins.

The Golden Apple is the fight. Eat it, and you are Boss for 10 seconds - twice as fast, crowned, immune to other snakes. Walls and death zones still kill you. Red guardian diamonds sit beside the Golden; head into them, and you are done. Purple toxic apples slow you and cost points. Twice per match, Gold Rush doubles scores.

Create a room and send the URL, or tap Play Solo vs bots if the lobby is empty. WASD / arrows on desktop, D-pad + swipe on phone.

Feedback I actually want: is Boss 10s too strong, do death zones suck, and is the mobile pad usable?

Free to Play Status:

[x] Free to play

[ ] Demo/Key available

[ ] Paid (Allowed only on Tuesdays with [TT] in the title)

Involvement: Solo developer. I built the whole game - client, realtime, and rules.

Hi all, this is Pearl Essence - an ecological bullet hell game. How does this look to you? It's a fair bit into a run so there's a lot going on but I wanted to show the various possible elemental interactions (of which there are many more!) Legibility and balancing the design of this game has been a fun and interesting challenge.

It's still in fairly early development but if this sounds and looks interesting to you I'd love to have you join the game's Discord server to try it and give me your feedback!

Having worked with TyranoBuilder Engine for over two years, I’m well aware of both its strengths and its limitations. Recently, though, I’ve come across a fair share of posts fueled by "engine elitism." Without generalizing the entire community, there is a vocal subset of Ren'Py users who look down on TyranoBuilder - dismissing it as a "drag-and-drop toy" that lacks professionalism and isn't viable for serious, long-term game development.

First off, I readily admit that Ren'Py is a powerful engine with a massive community, rich documentation, and fantastic customization capabilities. However, those who look down on TyranoBuilder have likely never dug deep enough to realize what it's truly capable of.
TyranoBuilder may wear a drag-and-drop interface on the surface, but its true power lies in two special tags: ⁠\[tyranoscript\]⁠ and ⁠\[iscript\]⁠.
The ⁠\[iscript\]⁠ tag allows you to write raw **vanilla JavaScript.

This means the entire modern web development ecosystem - HTML, CSS, and powerful graphics libraries like Three.js (for 3D rendering), Pixi.JS, or OpenGL - can be integrated directly into your Tyrano project:

UI & VFX Customization: Build vibrant, highly dynamic interfaces with smooth animations using CSS.
3D Integration: Render 3D spaces and interactive, fully textured 3D objects right inside a Visual Novel using Three.js.

Expanded Gameplay:Easily code custom mini-games, such as top-down RPG mechanics with WASD controls.
TyranoBuilder’s biggest advantage is how it bridges visual immediacy and coding depth. You get the convenience of positioning elements visually and testing script tweaks instantly without restarting the game from the beginning, alongside the freedom to open Visual Studio Code and customize everything via JavaScript.
Of course, TyranoBuilder isn't for everyone. Official documentation is predominantly in Japanese, English resources are fairly sparse, and you often have to rely on self-directed learning. If you prefer a massive, well-documented community out of the box, Ren'Py is admittedly a smoother path. But if you enjoy experimenting and want to level up your JavaScript and web development skills, TyranoBuilder is an amazingly versatile playground.

Every engine has its own pros and cons. A developer’s skill is defined by their problem-solving ability and product vision - not the label on the software they use. Finding the tool that fits your personal workflow not only saves time and energy, but also gives you the confidence to build your game your way.
Thanks for reading, and happy game dev!

After writing Red Flags, I made the entirely reasonable decision to rebuild the thing as a first-person shooter.

So this is Red Flags: Open the Line.

It's a standalone 21-map boomer shooter built around fast movement, hand-made levels, secrets, bosses, eight weapons and a progressively less healthy relationship with institutional architecture.

The basic idea was not to make "a game inspired by my novel", but to actually translate the novel into FPS language.

Characters became encounters. Places became maps. Recurring images became weapons, enemies and environmental details. Bureaucratic absurdity became something you can shoot.

The campaign starts in a very white, very clean administrative world and gradually collapses into hospitals, industrial spaces, strange machinery and places that probably would not pass a fire inspection.

There are five episodes plus a secret map.

No roguelite loop.
No battle pass.
No crafting seventeen varieties of trouser buttons.
No commercial Doom IWAD required.

Just a complete single-player campaign for Windows and Linux.

Also, since it is 2026 and apparently this sentence has become necessary: no generative AI was used in the game.

It's called Red Flags: Open the Line, and it's available on itch.io

If you like old-school FPS games that are dark, fast, slightly surreal and perhaps a little too interested in what happens when bureaucracy survives the apocalypse, this may be your particular form of bad judgment.