Indie Devs Struggle with Game Management
Independent game developers are building tools to manage their own game libraries, track progress, and facilitate multiplayer experiences. They face challenges balancing development with personal commitments and desire alternatives to existing, often proprietary, solutions. These projects often start as personal solutions and evolve into shared resources.
SOURCES (60)
“We're launching soon, so I'm thankful for any advice. - Name: STUNTBOOST - Genre: Racing - Playtime: 3 hours, but high replayability - Singleplayer with online leaderboards - Wishlists currently at 25k - Similar games cost from 10 to 20 USD. submitted by /u/tornadoleek [link]…”
“This week I haven't made much progress on my game for two reasons. First, going back to work has left me with less free time, and second, I made a rookie mistake. I used a tutorial to learn how to create branching dialogues in Unity, and it turns out it was part of a series. When implementing the system, the code referenced a quest system from a previous video, so to make it work, I decided to include the quest system and adjust it later. But the quest system references an inventory system f”
“Hello, Yesterday I managed to set up a playtest for my alpha testing. That was easier than I thought, Steam made it simple. A few things I did not know before starting, in case it helps someone: - The playtest is a child app of your game (no need to pay for a new app). You create it from the Associated Packages page and it gets its own appID and its own depot. Everything about it is here: Steam Playtest ( https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/playtest ) - No need to integrate the Steamwork”
“Thanks! Great feedback. Keeping you coming back is your friends being able to trash talk in the room. Mini-games and room customization is definitely coming.”
“Is there anything you think I should add? submitted by /u/FullLet2258 [link] [comments]”
“Been building this in Unity on my own. Wanted to take a puzzle everyone already knows and give it a reason to keep playing, so the first time you hit a new tier the run pauses, a box drops in, and that cat gets permanently added to a garden you can decorate. Each unlocked cat also gives you an ability you can use on the board. Not out yet. If anyone likes cozy games and wants to try it early I’d really appreciate testers. Beta signup: https://meowdow.com/ submitted by /u/SubstantialM”
“"We don't have a big studio behind us—we're just working with whatever little or much we know. We're 4 friends putting our whole heart and energy into our very first game. Thanks for joining us on this crazy ride!" Discord: https://discord.gg/sbfsdyFHn submitted by /u/Existing_Attempt_715 [link] [comments]”
“Small addition since posting this: Codoro has a mascot now, a rubber duck (rubber duck debugging, but literal). Still open on question 2 above if anyone's tried it and has a read on async duels vs. live head-to-head.”
“Hey yall I am about ready to put my game out there in early access so other players can try it (besides me and some play testers). I am weighing my options with posting it on itch.io now or waiting and posting to both steam and itch.io. Any help yall can give is welcome. submitted by /u/Professional-Log482 [link] [comments]”
“I'm the solo-developer of Gunclone Arena. It is a 2D top-down looter-shooters. Expect an experience like Brotato meets Super Smash TV with a loot system similar to Borderlands. The game is approaching launch on 22nd of September, following 2 years of development. Meanwhile I did a lot of updates to the Demo on Steam as well. Link to Steam page and the Demo: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4265740/Gunclone_Arena/ Thanks! submitted by /u/multiplexgames [link] [comments]”
“Hello everyone! We've worked on this project for almost a year now and we're around two months away from release. We've worked very hard on this and we're struggling with marketing at the moment, as we have really no experience with that. We've done a lot of reading both on reddit and on the internet in general, but it feels like a lot to do. We'd love to hear your opinions on our Store Page and our trailer so far, if there's anything we can improve or if there's”
“After the keyboard, I decided to implement mouse controls for the player... submitted by /u/ouzzgame [link] [comments]”
“After 5 years of working solo, I'm finally ready to show my game to the public. I was gonna do it a month ago.. but I had to postpone it due to some troubleshooting and bug fixing after implementing the new graphics I'm too much of a perfectionist, that's why it took me so long to reach the point where I was satisfied with every aspect. Now the project is as polished as it could be. I feel like I really made my dream game lol Only a few friends of mine have tested it so far, but I”
“playtimeline.io Sort historical events in order. submitted by /u/bizbloom [link] [comments]”
“Two years ago I started making a video game in my spare time, provisionally called Voxel Populi. There is no public playable build yet; it is still very much in development. It was inspired by the things I liked to play as a kid: Rome: Total War, Age of Empires, Black & White 2, Spore, RollerCoaster Tycoon, the City Building series and various iterations of SimCity. The hope is to combine elements of all of them, but at a scale that wasn’t really practical when those games were made. It will”
“A few weeks ago I reached out for some help with my idle tycoon game as I was stuck on visuals and I got some incredible guidance so thank you for that. That part of the game is still being worked, however this is the part that is officially live in stores. The scope is simple, you open your gym and you try to build an empire, however, building out one full gym does not mean the journey ends there. You have 8 other worlds to explore and 3 more premium ones being developed. This is my first idle”
“I've recently released a Gameplay Teaser and would love to hear your feedback. I've also completely overhauled the Store Page and wonder if it's good enough at the current stage of development. The game is called Warmongers: Empires Reborn and you can currently wishlist it on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3468800/Warmongers_Empires_Reborn/ Thank you for your support! submitted by /u/Arwo10 [link] [comments]”
“Hey all, software dev as a day job, learning godot in my free time. Looking for advice on structuring scope for a demo I’m working on. I‘ve written out a full GDD, have an implementation order with stops for validation & playtesting, tasks broken up into tickets. Mini prototype is working. Now I’m writing the scope doc for my Steam demo and I’m wondering if it should be a true MVP or if it should have a little more in terms of content & polish. Wanting to reduce scope creep and wondering”
“Hello everyone, I am currently working on a new Tower Defense game. I wanted to show 15k horde scene from the game. The game is still in very early development, and I’d really like to hear your feedback. Thanks in advance! Here is the Steam page: Horde Up Ahead AI used to create some UI icons. submitted by /u/AristocratMouse [link] [comments]”
“Salvage of the Demetria's playtest is open, and I'm particularly interested in what people think about the crafting and excavation mechanics. The primary loop is playable end-to-end, and there's a lot of content in there to play around with. Everything is still really rough--most models are stand-ins; everybody is wearing default metahuman clothes; animations are frequently glitchy, wrong, or missing; UI and controls are often clunky; etc. I know about most of these issues, but I'”
After aimlessly tweaking things for like half of August, telling myself it wasn't ready for launch, I had to self-impose a deadline of Labor Day to get this Demo out into the…
“My game is called Well Dweller, please wishlist on Steam if you're interested! It will be out on September 22nd. I made all the art, code, design, and my brother made all the music. I am very excited and nervous for it to be out! submitted by /u/SheepoGame [link] [comments]”
“My gf and I have been been working on Monk Took Book for 2 years - it's a game about organising hundreds of book in a medieval monastic library - and remembering where you put them. It's partly inspired by Wilmot's Warehouse, but co-op. And with monks and books, of course! This is our new launch trailer. submitted by /u/pH_101 [link] [comments]”
“Hey r/indiegaming , solo dev here. Been building Star Lane for about a year, a 2D pixel-art roguelike for Android with 12 zodiac-themed corridors, 67 items and an original soundtrack. Just finished the first trailer with art for the first three zones. Stayed up editing it :^) would love some feedback. 🪐 submitted by /u/Lab_Lasagna [link] [comments]”
“I’ve recently been working on a new demo for my game, "Asantria". I’d appreciate it if you could check it out and leave a review, and feel free to share your thoughts in the comments here! submitted by /u/Future_Yogurt_275 [link] [comments]”
“I’ve recently been working on a new demo for my game, "Asantria". I’d appreciate it if you could check it out and leave a review, and feel free to share your thoughts in the comments here! submitted by /u/Future_Yogurt_275 [link] [comments]”
“Now that I'm funemployed, I thought it would be fun to make this game. I don't make money from this (obviously), just thought I'd share with the community. I'll probably update once a day until I get a job =) I'm day 4 now: Every NPC has a Pokémon following them When two NPCs run into each other, their Pokémon battle automatically Day and night cycle Lampents float around and light up the town at night (initially i tried street lights, but lampents seem much more on theme) NP”
“I have always been impressed by the classic, deep text-based simulations about making movies, with their detailed character rosters and deep mechanics. That is why I started my journey with Backlot: Hollywood Studio Tycoon . You can start in any time period between the 1930s and today. You can create movies and TV series, as well as contract actors and directors. I have created a deep simulation where you can choose how many theaters to release your movies in, leverage an actor's fame to boo”
“We’re a team of just 3 building Neosis Echoes , a third-person sci-fi action-survival game. At the core of the game is Reactive Survival : a systemic gameplay loop where your emotional state can affect your abilities, survival conditions, AI behavior, and even the environment around you. This clip focuses on K.I.T. , the robotic companion of our protagonist, Evan Draxell. K.I.T. helps you explore, support you during combat, survive the world, and extract Echorium, a mysterious resource that reac”
“Demo Build: Your demo build has been reviewed and approved for release. First try, I am in for Steam Next Fest. I submitted August 31st. Hoping I would have enough time to make the fixes for issues found in their review as I am told alot do not pass the first review....so glad I am over that hurdle! This my first self-praise post for anything and last I swear. This one had me worried so long! submitted by /u/Fidbit [link] [comments]”
“I finally have a full enemy roster for the first floor of my procedural roguelite dungeon. A quick melee chaff enemy, a ranged mage, a tanky heavy hitter, a flying dive bomber, and a support slime that attaches itself to enemies and buffs then, but when it's desperate, flings itself off items around the rooms at the player. Do you guys think I'm deep enough into my development to start showing off what I've got? I also have a combat system that's starting to get pretty in depth,”
“Hey everyone! I started developing a game on my own, and recently finished the first two acts. The main idea is that with every new act, both the visuals and the difficulty increase. It’s tied directly to the game’s lore: as the story progresses, the character begins to see the world around them more and more clearly. So far I’ve implemented: Combat system; Leveling system; 3 classes in Act II; Rune system and blood altar; Merchant and his quest; Several enemy types; 2 act bosses. I’d really lik”
“Caveat - this is going to be a bit of a musings & ramblings post :) So, about a week ago I posted my game on galaxy (a site for web-based incremental games). It has been posted before on other places and advertised on reddit, discord, etc. - but the amount of plays I am getting on galaxy is far larger than other sources, so I am going to treat it as more representative. Context The game is a bit of an active incremental / rpg / puzzle hybrid with a fantasy setting. The ratings suggest that i”
“Hi all! I've been working on my game and recently launched the steam page ! As of recently, we grew our team to a whopping two people! But, I was solo for almost a year and I thought I'd share some of my learnings and insights here in case it helps others starting up. Here are four learnings, in no particular order! Know your strengths Know exactly what you like and what you are capable of, don't assume. Before I committed to this project, I tried a lot of other ideas that inevitably”
“Hi all! I've been working on my game and recently launched the steam page ! As of recently, we grew our team to a whopping two people! But, I was solo for almost a year and I thought I'd share some of my learnings and insights here in case it helps others starting up. Here are four learnings, in no particular order! Know your strengths Know exactly what you like and what you are capable of, don't assume. Before I committed to this project, I tried a lot of other ideas that inevitably”
“We thought that our old capsule didn’t really match with the game, what do you think of this one ? 👀 submitted by /u/Diblow [link] [comments]”
“Built a quiet strategy game: place stones on lines to form patterns. Solo, pass-and-play, online. No ads, no tracking. I’m trying to get better at 2D game feel (board readability, turn clarity, teaching without a wall of text). What usually breaks first on a phone abstract like this? https://apps.apple.com/us/app/line-and-stone/id6758897625 submitted by /u/Independent-War-6725 [link] [comments]”
“Nice interface and characters! Demo should be much shorter and more impactful. What are the main mechanics except from making the dev learn stuff and earn money?”
“This is actually a really good idea for a first full-stack project. The problem you're solving is something I can definitely relate to after buying games for several platforms over the years, it's surprisingly easy to forget what you already own. One thing I'd consider for the next iteration is making the library a little more useful for managing physical vs. digital games. Things like platform, physical/digital, completion status, wishlist, or even filters for games you haven't”
“Hi I am a solo developer and I have been making a placement puzzle-strategy game with love2d for 1.5 years now 😅 I have an internal build available to play but not enough play testers Join my Discord and ping me and I will make you an official " Play Tester " with access to all internal builds + will add you to credits on release as well ❤️ Join my Discord to join the Playtest and be my fwend discord.gg/gyzWE39TB4 submitted by /u/tossedsaladsgames [link] [comments]”
“Isso parece interessante ainda não cheguei a experimentar isso, gosto bastante de utilizar e explorar a IA (também mexo com python e cmd então seria interessante ver o que o aplicativo consegue entregar e ando à procura de algo específico secalhar eu poderia ajudar”
“Hi r/IndieGaming ! We’re 150 Beanies, a two-person indie studio from Finland. We spent three years working on our first game, but it eventually became too ambitious for a team our size, and we had to make the difficult decision to let it go. We didn’t give up. We took everything we learned and spent the next two years building a more focused game that we truly believe in. Today, we’re incredibly happy to announce Cardboard Gladiators. It’s an asynchronous PvPvE inventory-management autobattler w”
“Hi r/IndieGaming ! I'm Emotion Dynamics, the small indie team behind QPopGirl: Ancient Pop Tower . We recently released QPopGirl on Steam, and I wanted to properly introduce the game here. QPopGirl is a casual strategy roguelike that combines claw machine gameplay with combat . Instead of directly attacking enemies, you operate an ancient claw machine and try to grab different dolls and special balls. Each doll has its own role — for example, some focus on reliable damage, critical attacks,”
“Hey everyone. I'm working on Undying Soul, a 2D pixel-art action roguelite. I'm currently getting the demo ready, and one thing I'd really like to do is make it accessible to players in the languages I’m planning to support for the full game. The good news is that there's not a huge amount of text. Most of it is short item names and descriptions, with only a little dialogue. I'd rather not just throw everything into an AI translator and call it a day. I'd really like the”
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