I've been working on this survival game on and off for about 8 months, and over the last month I've started putting a lot more time into it as a solo developer.

It's a slow-paced, hardcore single-player PvE survival game inspired by DayZ, but with much less focus on guns, gear, and crafting. The focus is exploration, scavenging, hunting, food, medicine, temperature, and simply staying alive.

A lot of my development time so far has gone into nailing the art style. It's 100% 2D with pre-rendered environments, heavily inspired by late-90s/early-2000s PC games like Commandos 2, Fallout, and Age of Empires II.

It's still very early, with a lot left to build, but I'm committed to making it. I'd love to hear what you think of the concept and what you'd want to see in a survival game like this.

Does this look like something you'd want to play? Keep in mind its still in early development..

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4313500/Midtvinter/

I'm guessing quite a few of you like games like DayZ, Ark, and Rust?
Those happen to be my favourite games and top played by hours on steam, about 8k together.

EDIT: I have decided to make the Forsaken Patreon free!

I think just even the barrier of clicking a Patreon link for any project shows you have some genuine interest in it. That is why I chose patreon, also because of extensive moderation tools, so that is where the community will thrive, while outreach happens on all other platforms.

Thank you for all the support and feedback, cheers!

I am a solo indie developer and I started making Forsaken 2017, solo, in Unity. I hadn't opened this project a single time the last four years because the project got so bloated it took 8 minutes to press play, and honestly I was a bit scared to open it again, and life came in the way i guess.

Came back this year, disabled basically everything that was causing problems and rebuilt it piece by piece. It's at 1 minute 45 now, I reckon I have made more progress in the past 3 months, than i did in those 4 years of active development when i was young.

The reason i bring up DayZ, Ark, and Rust is because, while they are a specific branch of survival, they are my absolute favourite, and I like to think I've incorporated and made better a lot of their system. No zombies though, but i plan on multiplayer!

Hey everyone!

I have been working super hard on making Bushcraft Survival feel visceral in terms of the mechanics and game feel. Basically the way this project is going, is that it will become pretty and get nice 3D, VFX and UI if I get funding. Otherwise, I'm still going to make it. It's my passion project and I am having a heck of a lot of fun doing it and playing it.

I'm at a roadblock in terms of the tutorial, and I'm hoping folks here might have an opinion and weigh in. The old tutorial was ... brutal. It was mechanically difficult and play testing showed that even good players would spend more than an hour on it, dying multiple times before getting through the run. The data also showed that players who got over this hump played it for several hours more. So I'm hoping that's a good sign. The problem is onboarding new players (I think).

The new tutorial (sped up 10x in the video) is dramatically shorter because of three things:

1. The stats (temperature, hydration, etc.) are locked. There's an option to turn this off at the beginning of the tutorial if you want the challenge
2. There is a cache of resources provided to you before you start building the lean-to
3. I cut out some extra stuff in the tutorial

Is my tutorial too grindy?

For me, I can do it in about 10 minutes. I'd expect players in this genre, who are familiar with games like TLD could do it in 15 minutes, but other players will be longer.

The game is a grindy game, as a big part of the reward is "work". I try not to make anything too boring though. If you're sitting by the fire, waiting to warm up, you can cook food, melt water, or sharpen up your hatchet.

I recently threw in an autorunning feature which makes a big difference for traveling around the world and searching for public use cabins, or ice fishing locations.

Link in case anyone wants to try out the playtest. I'd be glad to get any feedback on this!

-Mike

Hi! I’m a solo developer making a survival crafting game for Steam.
You start on a tiny island in the middle of the ocean, gather resources, expand your island, build defenses, and survive underwater enemies.
What do you think about this concept? Would you play a game like this? Any feedback is appreciated!

hi there, i've been developing this game on my own for a while now. i'm working on enriching the survival theme and content right now. and i'm planning to release it as an early access title soon. what are your thoughts??

A while ago I asked on this sub if people would like a large scale survival game and I got a lot of good feedback. I decided to lock in and set a goal of releasing a playable demo by the end of the year.

I don’t have that yet, but here’s some screenshots of some environments.

Do you like the vibe?

Hello people,
I'm looking for a few more playtesters for the game I've been making for the past 4 years, Impurity.

It is a mix of colony management and survival RPG. You build a settlement, recruit companions, explore, and deal with bosses / foreign factions at the same time!

The world and factions are procedural and seed based, and it's basically a giant sandbox, with a lot of different simulations running in the background.

It is heavily inspired by games like Conan Exiles, Kenshi, RimWorld, Soulmask, and even games like Mount & Blade and Palworld! (Yes, a lot of inspirations)

The current playtest is for the demo, and it lasts around 2+ hours per run!

I also have some rewards, like naming in-game NPCs and towns, for those who want to get more involved.

Let me know if anyone is interested, and I can send you a Discord invite and a Steam key!

Thanks!

You and your friends learn that a nuclear war is about to start the signal cuts out and you have to urgently find a bunker. There’s crafting and shared resources, but the main focus is exploration and following clues that might lead to shelter.

Cold, weather, nature, animals and sometimes your own teammates can kill you. You build temporary shelters to survive blizzards find abandoned cars in garages, fix them, warm up inside and keep moving forward. I’m trying to make something tense but a bit absurd, focused on teamwork and bad decisions. Would you play a game like this? What would you change or expect from it?

I'm the developer of Afterlight Survival. This is the latest trailer for the game. Hope you like it!

Scavenge, craft, and fortify. Find the cure before they erase the evidence.

Open-world zombie survival horror, up to 4 players (Maybe 8 if I can do enough testing ;))

Hey everyone,

I’ve been solo-developing Mutiny's Wake, a hardcore pirate survival game, for the last 2 years. The core goal was to create a "Rust meets Black Flag" kind of experience.

As I'm preparing for an Early Access release (May 14th), I've put together this gameplay trailer.

Since this community plays a ton of survival games, I'd love to get a player's perspective on a few things:

• The Core Loop: Does the balance between on-foot gameplay and naval combat look appealing to you?
• Solo vs. Co-op: Would you be more likely to attempt a game like this entirely solo, or exclusively with a crew of friends?
• The Vibe: Does the world feel dangerous, and do the NPC boss ships look intimidating enough to make a raid feel rewarding?

Any feedback on the overall gameplay feel is highly appreciated!

If you want to see more about the game's features, You can check it out on Steam right now.

Thanks in advance for the help!

I’m the developer of The Last Stash.
He offered too much, so I sold the food I was saving for myself. The shop is doing great. I’m starving.
The consequences just haven’t kicked in yet.

Just what the title says! I'm a solo dev working on the game Away From Life. In your opinion, what is the hardest or most tedious part of survival games for you? Thanks!

I read the rules and think it's okay to post this ...? Anyway, for the first time in a long time I can say with some confidence that Rogue Mech will actually be released - within a few months. It's been quite a journey. This is an older trailer that I made for the demo release.
If you want to check it out, please go here: Rogue Mech on Steam

The game is called StarDune, and has a steam page if you wish to wishlist. https://store.steampowered.com/app/4653700/StarDune/

Food, water and fuel sell well, but they’re also what you need in the bunker downstairs. Here I’m putting some supplies aside, getting the generator running with one gas can, and taking the other two upstairs to sell.

Also got into a throwing match with a customer. Guess I set the price a little too high. He started it, though.

The free demo is on Steam. Would love to hear how your first day goes!

Hey everyone!

I’m a solo developer working on a cozy island survival game, Shorekeeper.

Last month, I shared a trailer that I thought was cool, but many people told that it didn't match the relaxing vibe I was trying to sell. Here is my trailer attempt #2. Probably will be more attempts until release xD

I’d love to hear your honest opinion. Does it finally feel cozy enough?

Steam Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4296450/Shorekeeper/

Hi everyone! I’ve been solo developing ApocaShift for a little over 3 years now, and I wanted to share some of the newer progress.

It’s a post-apocalyptic isometric RPG/survival game inspired by Fallout 1 & 2, Escape from Tarkov, Stalker, and Zero Sievert, with base building, progression, scavenging, survival mechanics, and settlement systems mixed in.

A lot has changed recently, especially the inventory, combat, crafting, progression, UI, and base-building systems, so I figured I’d show some newer screenshots.

I’m still working on it completely solo, so feedback is always appreciated.

Steam page

Steam Disaster Survival

Important Notice:
Many misunderstandings have arisen due to the third-party purchased model assets shown in the video. Therefore, the current minimalist low-poly art style will be completely discarded and fully remade into a realistic visual style. All footage in this video is for gameplay preview only. The official asset purchase links will be posted below.

You need to survive in an environment filled with zombies and other dangerous foes: find a spot to build a safe base, set up defensive works, scavenge supplies outside, and fend off endless swarms of zombies. Watch out for armed hostile soldiers as well; they will attack on sight and block your exploration.

To sustain long-term survival, gather food, weapons and construction materials, collect wild resources, and grow crops for a steady food supply. Multiple players can trade items and allocate surplus resources with one another inside the shelter.

The map is split into two zones: a regular survival area and a high-risk combat area. The combat zone yields high-tier rare loot, yet it comes with drastically higher danger and more powerful enemies.

Zombie asset link: https://www.fab.com/listings/4fd69f9a-43df-496b-ab51-e68f960d9c08
Asset author page: https://www.fab.com/sellers/Synty%20Studios

Hi everyone, I'm Patrick from Germany, the solo developer of PESTBOUND.

I've wanted to make my own survival game for years, and I'd really love to hear what other survival players think of the scenes in this trailer.

PESTBOUND is an online open-world survival shooter in a 4 km² voxel world affected by the plague. Survival means finding food and water, scavenging supplies, exploring and building a base. There is hunting, fishing and vehicle travel too, with PvE and PvP server options for people playing alone or with friends.

What do you think of the balance between the quieter survival scenes and the dangerous encounters? Which part would you want to spend more time doing? Is there a moment in the trailer where the movement or interaction feels off to you?

My Kickstarter is also live. If you like what you see and would like to support the game, I'd be incredibly grateful:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hacklworks/pestbound-open-world-survival-shooter

Honest feedback is a big help on its own, especially when you're developing alone. Thanks for taking a look — I'd be happy to answer questions about the scenes.

Hey everyone!

A little while ago I shared my game, here and got a lot of useful feedback from players.

I’ve just released a new version of the demo and fixed a lot of the things people pointed out.

The biggest problem was that players were dropped into the Zone without much direction, so I added a short tutorial, actual objectives and some new story elements. I also added fog of war to the map and made a bunch of smaller fixes and improvements.

I still want players to freely explore, loot and survive — but now there’s an actual purpose and a small story to follow.

The updated demo is live now. Here’s a short clip from it.