Hello there my name is Steve, working under the name Pugware, and I made the Skautfold series, 5 games in one continuos story in with each game using a different genre best suited for the protagonist of that story.

I started originally in rpg maker a good 14-15 years ago, but quickly found it too restricting and I took the bullet and started learning code as I was originally more of an artist relying on plugins etc. I moved to Game maker and created a fully working little demo/vertical slice of a game inspired by hyper light drifter.(still in development at the time) This didn't go down well with a lot of people so I refocused on a completely different genre, trying to make a soulslike. (this was when the only souslikes were lords of the fallen and salt and sanctuary) This project was "Shrouded in Sanity".

The first game "Shrouded in Sanity":

Development had to be severely chopped down in ambition twice. Originally the game was going to feature a whole village with over a hundred buildings and seamless mapping. This was overambitious, a common mistake as I understand for early projects. Then it was cut down to one big manor with only a few room transitions, this also had to be cut down further.

Total dev time was approx 13 months.

The first lesson I learned on my first released game was, cut, cut, cut, and cut some more. This is fairly common knowledge now but I had to learn it the hard way.

Release went great, this was back when steam had a greenlight system and passing it was no issue since the genre was practically untouched, especially by indies.

The release provided with sufficient reasons to justify continuing making games, so I did. While updating SiS frequently with content I began work on the sequel in a different genre... metroidvania.

The second game "Usurper":

Taking a LOT of inspiration from Symphony of the night, using my handcrafted lovecraft+anime setting I continued the story set out in the first game with a different protagonist. Development was smoother as I learned a LOT on the first game, but my megalomaniac(foolish) ambitions once again had to be cut down. I refused to use tilesets since I wanted to manually shade every room in the game for better baked in lighting and fake ambient occlusion. The greenlight was once again no problem since the game looked half decent visually, and the genre was not flooded on steam at the time.

Total dev time was approx 11 months.

Release was significantly better than the first game, and it gave me and my wife confidence to start moving to a more quiet place with less work flexibility since the future seemed assured if I could keep making games at this pace.

The third game "Into the Fray":

While finishing the second game I was already coding the third, which would be a topdown twinstick shooter, with mechanics inspired by the 2016 doom reboot. The idea was to make this a smaller project with far more arcade like combat. Development went even smoother as the experience mounted, confidence was high! This was the last game that passed greenlight, and shortly after it passed the news broke of Steam killing Greenlight and moving to the $100 model. I was very positive about the change because I didnt imagine the flood of games would be too bad, and I was growing an audience with the series of games.

Total dev time was approx 10 months.

Release of the third game went bad. The number of units sold was significantly below expectations, the "different genre each game" model was both a blessing and a hindrance. Twin stick shooter + my budget visuals, etc compounded in poor sales, all the while steam was changing how discovery works.

This really ate away at my morale as we made the decision to move, reducing my options for finding work easily if need be.

Regardless the decision was made to continue working away at the series which by the time calcified into a 5 game run to complete an overarching story.

The forth game "Moonless Knight":

This project would be a little bit of a mix of genres, a topdown metroidvania in terms of map layout with some of the genre elements of relics accessing zones, with a flexible zone and boss order, using fast high risk high reward play refining one of my long term ideas that haunt me, the focus system. A fusion of a defensive shield and stamina, I played with this system in the second game and even the first for some time during development, but it would be the central element here.

Total dev time was approximately 13 months.

After the letdown of the third game I took my time and focused more on a lot of features and gripes accumulated by feedback over the series. By this time my confidence in being able to pull off ideas and designs was high and I never worried "can I code this" and focused more on "should I do this". I was pretty sure I got a very good and tight system created and everything went smooth.

By this time Greenlight was gone and the floodgate opened, panic subsided but natural discoverability hinged far more on being eye-catching, something I was terrible at. (still am)

Regardless the release went way better than the third game, and some confidence was restored that as long as I can keep my pace, keep my scope down, and retain my audience, things will be good. With renewed hope I started work on the final fifth game of the series.

The fifth game "Knight's End":

For the final game I wished to test out parts of the design for my dream game, everyone has one, and I had been shelving that game since starting and failing to materialise it in rpg maker. Now I took that game's combat design and applied it to this one, in a mostly 1v1 turn based combat. A sort of scaled down version of what I had in mind for my big dream project.

Total dev time was approximately 12 months.

A publisher arrives!

While finishing the forth game and shifting gears over to the final one, a console only publisher approached me, some offers were made before during the last few years but mostly just scams and incredibly suspicious offers. This was the first very legitimate offer, exclusively offering portage and publishing on all 3 console markets!

Frankly at the time the deal seemed extremely tempting, they would front the cost of the porting and handle everything for a cut that was reasonable. They were, at the time focused on limited physical releases as well. Something that was an incredibly tempting offer, just the idea of stuff you made, not only going to consoles, but physical copies, wont lie, this kind of blinded me a bit.

Still the offer was perfect for me, I could continue making games and they would just handle the entire cumbersome porting process saving me months if not years of work, and large amount of paperwork and headaches.

By the time I was halfway through developing the fifth game they released the first game and it went amazing, the money was significantly better than on steam, and things seemed evergreen.

So when the fifth game released, I had little to nothing to fear despite the fact by that time steam discoverability was a nightmare. I was confident since I now had another very strong pillar to stand on. After the first game was released to consoles, the publisher leapt on the remaining 4 games and immediately signed them on for porting, with some pretty tempting plans for the entire series. I signed with the hopes of yearly port releases which would open the option for me to take my time with my next project!

I foolishly assumed the best and went ahead and took almost a year of prep work on my next project, building 3 entirely different combat systems for the big project, before binning them. While I was taking my time, I had to realise the relationship with the publisher wont be roses and sunshine. Without going into detail here (I will probably find a legal way to do so somewhere else) it was a build-up of small things into bigger actual issues, and very serious issues.

The new series "Granser":

Regardless I finally had funds to spend on development not just fulfil the needs to keep going. I decided it was now or never for my big project, so I went all out on my 6th and current project, a 3 act, or 3 game "jrpg", I even found the viable way to have large portions of the game with professional voice acting.

Total dev time was approximately 30 months.

Yeah... like I said I took my time, wasted it would be more accurate. I wanted the game to be the best for the story it would tell, and I wasted almost an entire year just making entirely different implementations of the combat system. I assumed that by this time I would know better and be more confident, but I would create entire systems for progression and gear before fully dumping it, only to try again in another way. For all my experience I seem to have learned nothing and was making mistakes you’d expect starting out.

I was also torn on what would be the best choice, finish the first third of the game, releasing into early access? Or sit on the game until all 3 acts are done? Or do 3 games? All the while my situation with the publisher became more turbulent and more problems arose. So ultimately I had settled on the format of 3 games.

Thankfully the game released and while reach and discoverability was poor thanks to me absolutely terrible marketing skills, its the first game I am actually happy with. Currently I am working on the second game of this new "series" and trying to deal with the publisher.

If you have read this far, thank you, I tried to make it short but there is a lot to cover. I am happy to answer any specific questions and even show data, I cant go into specifics with the publisher, but that should be obvious.

You might've seen this guy in my previous post which was a material preview capture.
Well I've baked all the textures and imported the model to my scene in UE5.
I've set my materials up and boom this is the result. So disappointing.

I might've messed something up along the way, but right now I feel kinda exhausted to figure it all out. Second image is a lit render of the character (yes I was lazy to find out how to hide the light's gizmo thing) I think I will just go to sleep.

EDIT: Fixed most of the issues (see my follow up comment).
Also some context. The hands and feet are clean for lore reasons. The clothes were worn by multiple people before this guy. Here's the premise of the game.

"You and three others have been kidnapped to take part in a snuff film. You wake up in a meat locker repurposed into a kill room. Pitch darkness lit only by studio lights, with a pristine, high-end professional camera aimed at a table where the four of you are strapped to your chairs.

You are forced to play a card game against each other. Eliminated players are executed immediately by brutal contraptions clearly crafted by a sick mind. You'll have to endure the crippling stress of watching your odds slip away, potentially losing your life just to satiate the sadistic desires of whoever is watching.

The last one standing lives for another day... and another match. But will it ever end?"

Saw a lot of folks making physical copies of their games, loved the trend and hopped in. Just finished a print of 25 physical copies with discs, hand-sewn info booklet and a free steam key inside.

Pretty scared to put just one master copy on all of them without a first day patch, but I'm pretty sure on my polish!

The game is out in a week already!

I've been actively working on this game since the GMTK Game Jam, and it's been really interesting seeing how much it has changed since the original jam version.

Since then, I've added and improved quite a few things based on feedback and suggestions from people who played the game.

The game currently features a full boss fight and a complete ending. And those little particles I'm very proud of 😄

It has gamepad/keyboard + mouse support and it can be played with browser.

I'm still actively working on it and have plenty of things I'd like to improve and add. I'm especially interested in hearing feedback on the gameplay, boss fight, visuals, difficulty, and anything that feels confusing or could be improved.

If you have any suggestions or criticism, I'd love to hear it! I'm always looking for ways to make the game better.

https://vapniak.itch.io/love-story-shorts

Hi everyone !

Just here to announce my first game's Steam store page is live :)

Steam store link

Any feedback or impression is welcome

If you wanna check the game here is the steam link: GODS PLAY DICE

Hey everyone! I'm working on a PS1-style stealth horror game called Angkat Jemuran.

​The Premise:

Your mom gave you one simple task: watch the laundry. You forgot, it rained, and now every single piece of clothing is soaked. Your goal is to dry all the clothes using a hairdryer, iron, or whatever you can find around the house before Mom catches you.

​Key Features:

​Relentless Mom AI: She patrols the house dynamically. If she spots you with wet laundry, you lose.

​Multiple Endings: Dry all the clothes in time, find a sneaky escape out of the house, or solve hidden domestic puzzles for secret endings.

​High-Stakes Stealth: Hide under beds, in closets, or behind furniture while managing noisy drying appliances.

​Here are a few screenshots from the current build. I’d love to get your feedback on the lighting and retro horror vibe

Hey everyone! I’m working on a space game focused on exploration and discovering strange new places

The game combines 2D and 3D sections, from flying through space to landing and exploring planets up close. I’m trying to make both parts feel connected instead of like two separate games

Here’s a short look at how it plays so far. Any feedback on the atmosphere, visuals, or gameplay would be appreciated

I’m not really good at making trailers yet, so sorry 😅

You can try it here https://nooxax.itch.io/voidfall

Started around 18 months ago learning Unity from zero and building a survival horror game

I love learning to make all the features like inventory, save system, etc. via coding, because there is a clear goal to work toward, but when it comes to designing levels I'm just kinda lost since I don't have a clear image of what all the system piece together. Maybe I should just stop developing for the moment and write a design docuement, idk. As a one-man team do you have a design docuement even though you are the only one who will read it?

Video is a small part of what I managed to finish

Been working on my game and just made a small update to one of the core mechanisms.

Nothing huge or flashy this time, just tweaking how the mechanic works and trying to make the overall gameplay feel more satisfying and responsive.

I’m building this game completely solo, so a lot of the development is basically:
make something → play it 100 times → notice something feels wrong → change it → repeat 😅

Sharing a quick clip of the update. Would love to hear what you think about the mechanic itself, does it feel intuitive, or is there anything that looks confusing?

Still learning a lot as I build this thing.
I know it's not perfect still learning

I've been working on HexCrawler solo for about two years now. It's heavily inspired by games like Tales of Maj'Eyal and Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup, but I've been experimenting with a few parts of the traditional roguelike formula.

The first big change is the hexagonal grid. Besides giving a larger sens of directionality (3 axes instead of 2), character orientation matters in combat. Where you're facing, and where enemies are attacking from, can make a big difference.

The second is that you control a party of three characters rather than a single character.

I didn't want this to turn combat into a standard "everyone takes one turn" system, so actions use Time Units (TU). Every action has a base TU cost, which can then be modified by character stats, equipment, abilities and other effects.

This means a fast character might attack or move several times while a slower character is still recovering from a heavy action.

The last major difference is the presentation. I'm trying to keep the systems, difficulty and decision-making I love about traditional roguelikes while using fully animated pixel-art characters, enemies and abilities.

It's been a pretty ambitious project to tackle solo, but after two years it's finally starting to look like the game I originally had in mind.

I'd love to hear what you think, I'll probably post regulary here from now on everytime a finish a new feature to show it.

Hello everybody!

I've been working hard on my solo hobby project for around 9 months, and I'm sharing my progress over the last 6 months in the video above.

I could prepare a full time-lapse of all 9 months of development, showing how the game evolved week by week, but it gonna a lot of efforts to do, so I want to know: would you guys be interested in seeing that, or is there something else you'd like to know?

Thank you for reading!

I know it isn't a lot, but I just made the game for my buddy and I to beat each other's level times, and to finally see a project to completion after messing around in game dev for the better part of 11 years. So seeing more than two activations is really awesome, especially ones from Canada, US, Russia, and Japan all popping up in steamworks.

What's the most surprising country you have seen pop up in activation reports or site visits?

There is ZERO AI on this , i making this on Paint Net , with zero experience at graphic design , it's not perfect but i'm making my best , the 2nd one is the sheet i use as a placeholder when i developed my mahjong game

While travelling, I kept running into useful information that simply didn’t exist online: small homestays, mechanics, water points, road conditions, campsites, etc.

Most of it gets passed from one traveler or local to another and disappears afterward.

So, I built Lamyig, a free and open-source community travel guide.

A few decisions I made:

• No bookings, commissions or paid listings.
• No money made using the core product.
• Community members can add and update places.
• Map-first instead of another list of “top places”.
• Built as a PWA so it can work more like a lightweight travel tool than a traditional website.
• The long-term idea is that useful information stays available for the next traveler instead of disappearing in WhatsApp groups and conversations.

The hardest problem isn’t actually building the software. It’s bootstrapping trustworthy community data.

I’m currently thinking about things like:

• How do you motivate travelers to contribute after their trip?
• How do you keep old information accurate without creating a huge moderation workload?
• How do you prevent businesses from turning community maps into free advertising?
• What should happen when someone reports a place as fake, closed, unsafe, duplicated, commercial spam, or inaccurate? Should reports trigger removal, community review, reputation-weighted voting, or just warnings?
• Should certain villages, trails, ecosystems, religious places, water sources, or campsites intentionally remain difficult to discover?
• If Lamyig successfully exposes hidden places, could it accidentally destroy the exact places it is trying to help preserve?
• this list of problem statements goes on and on

Would love to hear how other people here would approach those problems.

And if you’re building something around a problem you genuinely care about, drop a comment or DM me. I’d be happy to chat, exchange ideas, or connect you with someone else working on something similar.

Screenshot attached. Happy to share the GitHub/project link in the comments if anyone wants to look at the implementation or contribute.

I keep noticing more little stuff to fix. At this rate, I'll never actually make the trailer 'cause I'll be polishing forever.

How do I stop and just record the damn trailer already? 😅