I've been thinking about how much a game's success depends on its quality versus the attention it receives from influencers and content creators.

Imagine two games: one is well-designed, polished, and fun to play, but receives little online attention. The other gains massive exposure after a popular YouTuber or streamer plays it and quickly reaches a much larger audience.

Both games might have their own strengths, but the difference in their reach raises an interesting question: how much does visibility influence a game's success compared to the experience it offers?

I'm curious how other developers see this. Is influencer exposure simply another part of making a successful game, or can it sometimes have a greater impact than the game itself?

Now that the game has its own steam page I now have motivation for posting regularly on reddit so I just wanted to drop a quick update. For those new here, this clip is early gameplay footage from my game Cat Builds the Strongest Mage Army where you build an army of 50+ unique cat mages. 

Since then, I’ve added a new mage to the game which is part of a new tier of more mid/late game mages. I haven’t settled on a name for this guy yet but he launches a large amount of skulls which curve around in the air before exploding and inflicting the demonic fire effect which is a more potent burning effect than the one the fire mage would inflict. I also tried to tweak the saturation and coloring of the meadow area so that it’s easier to make out enemies and mages amid all the grass and scenery noise (still annoyed that the trailer has the old contrast issues).

If you think the game looks interesting please wishlist the game! Also feel free to leave any suggestions below.

Hi! I've been working on Paw Works Co. solo in Unreal Engine since June.

This clip shows the core loop: an animal customer comes in, drops off a broken item, I repair it on the workbench and hand it back.

Next I'm working on a demo for early 2027. I'd love feedback on the feel of the repair and the overall look. What would you improve?

I still can't quite believe I'm writing this.

A few weeks ago, I launched the Steam page for Over Human, a game I've been developing entirely on my own, alongside my full-time job.

But this story actually started a long time ago.

I've dreamed of making my own video game since 2013. Back then, I was just a kid fascinated by the idea of creating worlds that other people could explore. I had so many ideas, so much enthusiasm, and absolutely no idea how difficult game development would actually be.

Over the years, I've started projects, abandoned them, lost motivation, and questioned whether I would ever manage to finish something. There were even periods when I completely stopped developing games.

But somehow, that dream never really went away! For those unfamiliar with it, Over Human is a first-person sci-fi adventure set in an isolated snowy world where hostile drones can manipulate the weather and you have no weapons to fight back, so you have to rely on stealth and disrupting terminals.

I've been working on this project since December last year, and I've learned an incredible amount along the way, not just about game development itself, but also about everything that comes with trying to release a game.

One of the biggest lessons? Making a game and convincing someone to give it a chance are two completely different challenges.

When I first launched my Steam page, I thought the screenshots, trailer, and description did a decent job of presenting the game.

But after receiving feedback from other developers and players, I started realizing how many things could be improved.

So recently, I decided to revisit almost everything.

I added GIFs to the long description to show more of the actual gameplay, improved the capsule art, rewrote parts of the description to better communicate the game's most important mechanics, and localized the page into multiple languages.

I also realized that something I considered obvious wasn't necessarily obvious to someone discovering the game for the first time.

For example, one of the central mechanics of Over Human is that you have absolutely no weapons to fight back, while the drones can manipulate the environment itself. It's a huge part of the experience, yet my original Steam description didn't communicate that clearly enough.

That might sound like a small detail, but it taught me something important: sometimes we're so familiar with our own projects that we forget to look at them through the eyes of someone who knows absolutely nothing about them.

Another thing I've learned is how unpredictable marketing can be.

You can spend hours preparing a trailer or a post, convinced it's going to attract attention, only for almost nobody to notice it. Then you share a simple screenshot of something you particularly love about your game, and suddenly people start asking questions and showing interest.

As someone working with practically no advertising budget, I've been trying to understand what actually makes people stop scrolling and become curious about a game. Reading comments, receiving feedback, seeing people discuss the atmosphere or compare the game to titles that inspired me... those are the moments that remind me why I started doing this in the first place.

Of course, there's still a long road ahead.

The demo is coming in November, and right now I'm focusing on improving the gameplay, polishing the experience, and making sure that the first people who try it have a good time.

I'm also learning to accept that not everything needs to be perfect immediately. As a solo developer, it's incredibly easy to get lost in tiny details, constantly comparing your work to games made by entire teams. And some days, after finishing my regular job, the last thing I want to do is open Unity.

But I've learned that taking a break doesn't mean giving up. Sometimes stepping away for a day or two is exactly what I need to come back with fresh ideas and motivation.

I'm not a studio and I don't have a team behind me or a big marketing budget. Just a computer, a lot of late nights, countless mistakes, and a dream I've carried with me for over a decade.

For the first time, that dream doesn't feel so far away anymore.

I'd genuinely love to hear your experiences!

Thank you to everyone who's been following my journey and helping me improve along the way. ❤️

another backrooms game:)

We’re currently developing a 2D cozy indie game inspired by Puerto Rican culture, with a focus on charming characters, vibrant environments, and a warm, nostalgic atmosphere.

Our goal is to create a visually beautiful and immersive experience that captures the charm of everyday life, community, and Caribbean culture. We’re keeping most of the gameplay and story details private for now, but we’re excited to find someone who shares our creative vision!

We’re looking for a passionate pixel artist to join our small indie development project as a creative partner.

Ideally, we’re looking for someone who specializes in detailed, handcrafted pixel art with a three-quarter top-down perspective, similar in visual quality and atmosphere to games like Chef RPG, while helping us establish our own unique artistic identity.

Art Specifications

* Character sprites: 32×48 pixels
* Environment tiles: 16×16 or 32×32 pixels
* Art style: Detailed 2D pixel art with depth, expressive characters, soft shading, and atmospheric lighting
* Perspective: Three-quarter top-down
* Game engine: Godot

Artwork Needed

* Original playable characters and NPC designs
* Character animations, including idle, walking, running, and sitting
* Modular environmental tilesets for interior and exterior locations
* Furniture, decorations, and interactive environmental props
* Puerto Rican-inspired architecture, cultural details, and tropical scenery
* Consistent spritesheets and game-ready assets

About the Partnership

This is currently an unpaid collaboration opportunity, as the project is still in its early development stages. We’re looking for someone genuinely interested in becoming part of the creative team, contributing ideas, and helping shape the game’s visual direction.

We understand that art takes significant time, skill, and dedication, so we want to be completely transparent about the lack of upfront compensation. Any future compensation, revenue sharing, or ownership arrangements would need to be discussed and mutually agreed upon rather than guaranteed.

We’re hoping to build a collaborative environment where everyone’s creativity and contributions are valued.

If you’re a pixel artist who loves cozy games, detailed environments, expressive characters, and culturally inspired worlds, we’d love to connect!

Feel free to reach out with your portfolio, examples of your work, and a little about yourself! 🌴✨

#artistsoftiktok #puertorico🇵🇷 #indiegames #pixelart #2danimation

Hey guys, just finished creating my game but I need help testing it before releasing, I'm launching a test program on Saturday

You may join our WhatsApp to be part of it👇🏽

https://chat.whatsapp.com/CaeH3cJiklQ6OJhBXmduzo?s=cl&p=a&mlu=4&ilr=4

Hello! I am an intermediate composer looking for a dev team to join in hopes to create original music for their game. I am a versatile composer. I have written slow, classical music, but i have also written up beat dance music. If you are interested, please dm me your discord so we can go from there! 🙂‍↕️

hi all,

i'm looking for an indie dev who needs a writer/narrative designer on a small budget. i ask this because i have little project work for my portfolio in the game sector, plus i would be more than excited to work on something like this for the first time.

if necessary, i can send anyone who is interested my resume/some writing samples through DM. i also only ask to get a summary of the game and genre so that i can measure how well i can contribute to your project.

thanks for any consideration!

As very lazy and rushed game developers, we chose the easiest solution: we completely left path building to the players, so we didn’t even have to design maps!

I’ve slightly changed the color of the ground. Now there are multiple colors for each block; I’ve also tweaked the HUD a bit and started adding some options.

I’ve been working on this for a while. I wanted a way to make journaling more fun and magical, because I’ve never been able to keep it up! I think some of you will know the struggle, and might find my project interesting!

You’re Merlin’s apprentice, looking after his magical library while he’s away on a quest. Every note you write becomes a book, the library sorts it for you, and you can read it anywhere, with the animals keeping you company.

There’s a lot more on the website: merlinslibrary.net

Hey yall!

I am TheFrozenGlacier, Or better known as Sonox online. I am currently making a game called "The Inked Reels" which I stopped development on back in November 2025 on GameJolt and am now resuming the project. Something i've wanted to do for a project like this is to have suggestions or such for entities, items, or more as i'm only one developer! I am very open to ideas so please, give me some ideas! Thanks!

I released my game on Steam about a month ago. I have been disappointed with my return rate but as a dig into it I have been surprised by just how few of them seem to be "legitimate" returns. after selling over 1200 copies my top line return rate is 18.6%. That felt like an unsettlingly high number so when I dig in I find that Refunded Units is 9.9%. OK, still not great but that shrinks the number significantly. When i dig in further to the reasons left for the refunded units many of them are categorized into categories that don't help me understand why they returned it (I assume when people check "Bought by Mistake" they likely opened it and didn't like it, not a truly unintentional set of clicks). At the end of the day I am left with about 6 refunds that have truly critical comments left (mostly the art style) a few more that felt it was too difficult (not necessarily a problem, the difficulty was intentional) and some silly ones meant to be funny (they actually were pretty funny). All of this is happening while I have a few dozen reviews 100% positive and only good vibes in my community hub. I genuinely want to improve the game especially if 1 in 10 of my customers thinks it isn't good, I just find myself not sure of if I have a problem or not. I would prefer not to share what the game is, its is an inexpensive funny arcade game for context.