Solo developers struggle to market their games
39 posts across 7 communities in the last 30 days; 36% from r/IndieGaming.
“I know this probably gets asked a lot, but how does good marketing actually work - especially if your game isn't on a platform like Steam? I'm working on a board game (not promoting it here because I don't want this post to look like a stealth ad, and no, you won't find any…”
“This is Arrow Puzzle: Nockways . Every arrow wants out. The problem? They're all blocking each other. You have to find the right order to clear the board. It starts simple, then the boards get progressively more chaotic — eventually reaching 60×60 with 200+ arrows. There are…”
“I've created a game that's a modern take of the legacy RTS tower defense games. For people that want an experience they can play with their chronically online friends, but only requires about an hour per session. Most people that have played enough of the original Star Craft…”
Multiple indie game creators are seeking advice on marketing their games, particularly after release. They’re struggling with low install conversion rates from ad clicks and a lack of visibility in the app stores. One developer specifically mentions needing help understanding why their play store page isn't converting well.
SOURCES (60)
“Hey guys! After months of learning game development from scratch, I finally published my first game: Bead Puzzle. It's a clean, relaxing casual logic puzzle where you fit satisfying 3D pieces into a grid. There are no timers or stressful mechanics—just 200 levels designed to…”
“I’m making a turn based card game where enemies attack in real time and you parry with one key, inspired by Sekiro. I’ve spent about two months marketing it alone. Here’s where I am: - My best Short got around 30k views. Likes and wishlists from it were close to zero. - My Shorts usually got 1k to 2k views. The last few are down to a few hundred. - Reddit: I posted clips to r/IndieGames , r/IndieGaming and a few other subs. Most got almost no upvotes. - Total wishlists right now: 23. I won’t pre”
“Body: Hey everyone, After months of late nights working on graphics, coding, and ironing out mechanics, I recently launched my casual mobile puzzle game, Pairoma , on the Google Play Store. The development journey was a great learning experience, but hitting "Publish" felt less like a finish line and more like stepping into a dark room. Right now, my only marketing channel has been posting updates and progress shots on X (Twitter). While it's great for connecting with other devs, i”
“After working as a game developer at a studio, I wanted to ship a game entirely on my own. Box Knight Idle is now live on Google Play. It's a pixel-art idle RPG: open chests, gear up your knight, defeat bosses across worlds, and keep earning while you're away. I'd love feedback, especially on the first 10 minutes and the pacing. Google Play: Link submitted by /u/Castollo [link] [comments]”
“So I am working on a game called Taskbar Garden , it is a desktop companion game where you Grow a garden is your computer task bar The plant growth and genomes are procedural meaning tjat there is essentially an endless option of plants to grow. The core loop: purchase a seed, plant, work or relax while you wait, harvest for money -- then you can purchase more , higher tier or different seeds, or purchase tools to improve your plants or purchase other smaller things like decorations Then you pla”
“Hi all, I’m an independent dev with a catalogue of casual HTML5 games on a few distribution platforms, including Playgama. If you already have a finished HTML5 game, or are about to finish one, it’s worth knowing that Playgama lets developers publish games and earn revenue from the ads shown on them. How much depends on your game and its traffic, so I won’t make promises. Playgama’s Sandbox also has an invite system. Disclosure: I get a boost for one of my games when you publish your first game”
“I know this probably gets asked a lot, but how does good marketing actually work - especially if your game isn't on a platform like Steam? I'm working on a board game (not promoting it here because I don't want this post to look like a stealth ad, and no, you won't find any info about it on my profile anyway), and I know I'll eventually need to crowdfund it or pitch it to a publisher. The problem is, I have no idea how to actually reach my target audience - or anyone at all”
“I'm a solo developer on a turn based strategy game. It's a game I'm trying to market on its unique gameplay. I would like some feedback to see if what I'm trying to promote is reflected in my store page : https://store.steampowered.com/app/5140790/Medieval_Squad_Tactics_Demo/ The gif in the OP and image are the first seconds of my trailer and capsule image. What's expecially imporant to me is to know if the gameplay does look fun and unique from just those small tidbits ? I w”
“Hey r/gamemarketing , I’m a solo developer building Petty Kings, a 2D top-down survival RTS and base builder. The page has been live for about 2.5 weeks, and I’m currently manually driving 100% of my traffic via external links because I'm stuck in the initial Steam "learning" phase. My current conversion metrics sit at a 1.25% average visit-to-wishlist rate (though tailored pushes have bumped it to 1.77% recently). I am targeting a 2027 launch and want to make sure my page position”
“I've spent a year solo on WarExpand, a browser grand strategy game where the map is the real world with real administrative provinces. Here's what worked and what hurt. **The map** Real country/province polygons turned into a node graph: every province gets a node, edges link adjacent provinces, and the sea is a ~30 km grid of water nodes. Generated offline with a Node script and stored as plain node and edge tables in PostgreSQL; the server loads the whole graph into memory at boot and”
“I'm a solo indie dev (gix0n) and shipped Spaceblox: a calm grid puzzle where each color has its own rules (never three in a row, keep yellow and blue balanced, green counts as both). There's a short campaign (easy → hard), free on Android. Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spaceblox.game No Android? Browser version: https://geeks0n-byte.github.io/spaceblox/play/ If anyone tries a few levels, I'd love to know where the difficulty cliff hits. submitte”
“This is real photography with a bit of touch-ups in Light room, no AI used (or in the game). It is for our game: Puzzle Mage Please follow and wislist if you like the game. submitted by /u/Firekloud [link] [comments]”
“Hey devs! We are a small indie team working on Candletales, and we wanted to share our core mechanic with you. We love tabletop RPGs, but we wanted to experiment by forcing grid-based positioning and dice-rolling into a relentless, real-time pace. No pauses, just constant pressure. Integrating high-risk decisions and endless procedural worlds (full of enemies, traders, goblins and more) without losing board readability has been a massive design challenge. To make you feel fully immersed, as if y”
“Hi everyone! I'm the solo developer of Overwrite Conflict, a turn-based roguelike deckbuilder. The free Windows PC demo is now available on Steam, and I'd appreciate some feedback on how the trailer communicates the game. Your cards are called protocols, and each has its own shape. You rotate and place them on a shared grid to claim territory and limit your opponent's options. Protocol effects, mech abilities, and components combine into different builds, so both card synergies and b”
“Hi everyone! I’m the solo developer of Overwrite Conflict , a turn-based roguelike deckbuilder made in Unity. The free demo is now available on Steam, and I wanted to share some gameplay from the project. The core mechanic is that each card, called a protocol, has both an effect and a shape. You rotate it and place it on a shared grid to claim territory, restrict your opponent’s options, and leave space for future plays. A good combo also needs room to fit on the board, so deckbuilding involves”
I’ve been working on my colour-based Maze game for many months now, and finally launched it on iOS this week. You can download it here: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/plasm/id6804028969 - DM me if you want…
“I'm a solo dev and I released my first game tetro fall on Android. The idea sounded great in my head, but now that it's built, the numbers are telling a different story. The whole game is one mechanic: Tetrominoes fall from the top like Tetris. Partial rows constantly push up from the bottom. You clear rows to buy back space. If the stack reaches the top, you lose. The board is 18 columns wide, and clears can chain into cascades. The numbers say it isn't fun: [e.g. most players quit”
“Hey everyone! I've been workin on a little puzzle game called Tiltroll and it's finaly out on Android. So I wanted to share it here. The idea is simple: you swipe to roll blocks across a small board and try to cover every target tile. Blocks come in diferent sizes from a single cube up to a chunky 2×2×3, and a long block covers different tiles depending on whether it's standing up or lying flat. So the order you move things in really matters. You also only get a limited number of mov”
“Hey r/gamedev . I've recently released my 2nd game that is a puzzle logic one. I'm not here to brag about self-promo, I'm interested in your goal of playing that kind of games. The obvious first thing to me is set&setting, type of logic, progression. I think i've covered that. But what next? It's f2p mobile so I've done some live ops. Main set of handcrafted puzzles. Daily challenges. Leagues with buckets. Achievments, trophies, progression texts. At this point I thin”
“Hi everyone! I'm Dustin, a solo indie dev at Vibetopus, and I've been working on Rift Rollers. It's a free-to-play tactical dice board game for iOS, Android and the web. The core idea: each turn you roll 3 action dice for your whole team and use 2. Each die is one action for one god: Move, Attack, Skill or Wild. The dice only decide what kind of action you get, and you always get two, so which dice you keep and where your gods stand is what wins. - 20 tiny cosmic gods in 4 factions (”
“Title say it all! I made multiple games for mobile platforms, and I always fail at marketing. How do people market their games on social media without spamming everywhere? or spamming it is the way? Any ideas? submitted by /u/dumb_potato_404 [link] [comments]”
“Hello everyone, First, a little about me so that you can understand where I'm coming from. I've been designing boardgames since 2015. I have 11 games published, including 4 this year, excluding 2 coming up next year. I've been working as a videogame designer starting in 2024. I've shipped a project last May and currently working on another. Making a boardgame has always been *relatively* easy, at least on the technical and financial sides of things. Making a boardgame prototype h”
“A while ago I made a top-down pixel art puzzle game called Paradox. The main mechanic is based on Tenet-style time inversion, so you move backwards to solve puzzles with your past self. I never really did much marketing for it, but a few people found it and sent me messages saying they really liked it. Anyway, the ads completely broke recently. I realised I prefer playing it without them, so I'm just not going to fix them and it will stay ad-free forever. There is still a "remove ads&qu”
I made a free-to-play game as a solo dev, basically about fighting an endless pixel horde. Playable Link: https://ruvko.itch.io/grove-rush https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJjPHQlZpYY submitted by /u/Outside-Tap6764 [link] [comments]
“Hi :) at the moment i am working on a real-time-strategy game. Instead of chosing a faction, you create your own . You do that by collecting cards during matches that represent units and buildings. Stats are procedurally generated. You can compare the system with a mix of diablo and magic the gathering. During the matches you also fight bosses, that drop even rarer loot. If you want to have a look: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4240340/Abyssal_Dominion/ The playtest on steam is accessible f”
“Hey all — wanted to share Block Nova, a block-clearing puzzle game I built solo and just launched on Play Store. I got a little obsessed with "game feel" during development — every clear has screen shake, particle bursts, and an escalating hype system (Nice! → Great! → Awesome! → Unstoppable!) that ramps up the bigger your combo gets. Turns out that stuff makes a genuinely huge difference even in a simple puzzle loop. It's got 3 difficulty modes, 4 power-ups (bomb, undo, hint, shuf”
“Launching an indie game with a limited budget often feels like shouting into the void. For those who have actually shipped games: what single channel provided your best return on effort (or spend) to get your first meaningful wave of players? submitted by /u/Shay_Solomon [link] [comments]”
“I posted a Euler diagram puzzle on Instagram , and it went viral. People liked it so much that I decided to turn it into an online game! There are free daily challenges, and a paid membership that gives access to more puzzles. I don't have any members yet, but it was only released a few days ago, so I'm happy just to get users and feedback at this point. Play today's challenge: All/Some submitted by /u/critikid [link] [comments]”
“Solo food tour game set in NYC is a fun hook — the theme alone gives you a strong differentiator over generic arcade games. Since you want to know whether the levels feel distinct, I'd name each round after its neighborhood and ask testers which one they could describe back to you an hour later; if they can, the level identity is doing its job. One suggestion: prompt a one-line rating right after each round instead of at the very end, since impressions fade fast and early-round notes get mud”
“Hey everyone! 👋 I'm a new solo game developer and recently released my first puzzle game, Traffic Escape . The idea is simple: move the cars in the right order and clear the traffic jam. 🚗💨 I'd really appreciate some honest feedback on the gameplay and UI . Still learning, so all criticism is welcome! 🎮 Traffic Escape on Google Play Thanks for checking it out! ❤️ submitted by /u/UpstairsContest3781 [link] [comments]”
“This is Arrow Puzzle: Nockways . Every arrow wants out. The problem? They're all blocking each other. You have to find the right order to clear the board. It starts simple, then the boards get progressively more chaotic — eventually reaching 60×60 with 200+ arrows. There are currently 100 hand-built levels , with no timers and no move limits. 🎮 Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.p26games.nockways Would love to hear what you think! submitted by /u/Rich”
“Hey everyone, my name is John Gonzalez and I’m the solo developer behind Sapling Studios. A few months ago, my life was completely turned upside down when my tech position was automated away due to corporate AI implementation. Instead of letting the financial panic freeze me, I decided to take absolute control of my own future and dedicate every single daylight hour to my true passion: solo-coding deep, stylized worlds that you can play forever. Right now, I am crunching non-stop on my code edit”
“I'm working with a top tier publisher in mobile game. Something must going wrong cause no way a puzzle game could have 50$ CPI. I will drop screenshots of my test in comment section but overall they target region 3 and in running - 2K USD campaign - 2M impressions - and only have 42 Installs on IOS.... what da heck I'm need your help to understand what could goes wrong with campaign or because my game it's just too bad submitted by /u/khanhhuy_1998 [link] [comments]”
“Hi everyone! For the past few months I've been building Cards Quest, a collectible card game set in the world of video games. The idea is simple: every card is a real game, from Age of Empires to Alan Wake, and its rarity depends on its press score. It's live as of today, and I wanted to walk you through how it works. The game is here: cards-quest.com 🎁 Launch offer: the first 100 players to sign up get a special status, Pioneers. They start with 1,000 coins instead of 500, plus a numbe”
“I've been building mobile puzzle games as an indie dev out of India, and Box Sort is my latest — a color-sort game where you tap boxes on a conveyor belt into matching bins. Kept the mechanic dead simple on purpose (one tap, no drag/swipe) but layered in difficulty through lane-splitting and special box types (Mystery, Bomb, Golden boxes that change the rules mid-run). 60 campaign levels + endless mode, daily streak rewards, free with ads, no forced account creation. Play Store: https://play”
“Hi everyone! For the past few months I've been building Cards Quest , a collectible card game set in the world of video games. The idea is simple: every card is a real game, from Age of Empires to Alan Wake , and its rarity depends on its press score. It's live as of today, and I wanted to walk you through how it works. The game is here: cards-quest.com 🎁 Launch offer : the first 100 players to sign up get a special status, Pioneers . They start with 1,000 coins instead of 500 , plus a”
“This might sound silly because it’s literally $4.99, but this made my day. I recently released Antenna , a tiny retro game inspired by the old Nokia/LCD-era games I grew up playing. Today someone commented that the game took them “into the 90s again” and then casually mentioned that they bought the ad-removal package. I realized… this is my first actual paying user. I’ve made money from jobs and client work before, but seeing a complete stranger pay for something I built just because they enjoye”
“Built Piment Dice, a mobile dice game (risk/reward mechanic inspired by Chili Dice and Yahtzee), solo — design, dev, and publishing. Used AI to help with the code side. Launched properly on Google Play on Sept 3rd after a closed beta with a small group of testers. Since then I've been pushing content across Reddit, X, and a YouTube channel to try to get real users beyond that initial test group — it's been a genuine lesson in how much harder distribution is than building. Impressions on”
“It's called Toading Home and it's free (without ads) in Play Store! submitted by /u/GamerObituary [link] [comments]”
“Hey Everyone, CornerWISE is a recently released free mobile number puzzle game, based on my brand new idea. Central rule is simple: You connect 2 diagonal numbers if they can produce (+, -, *, /) one of the opposite corner values. But finding all connection might be challenging. You can either play alone or against your friends on the exact same board with QR code. Progression and achievements: Local leaderboards, IQ Points, karate belts, and Expert headbands. No registration needed and the game”
“Hello, i have a unrealistic goal of eventually being able to generate some income from my games with the goal of being able to hire people to make my games better, but it seems that my approach to player acquisition is not a good one. My main question would be, should i prioritize making fast games or quality and a focus on sales? I am just now starting to learn about the keyword game, and it’s way harder than i would have thought. specially as my forte is in coding. Any and all feedback is welc”
“https://n-studio.itch.io/outbreakcheckpoint submitted by /u/NKXK26 [link] [comments]”
“It's called Aphelion on both Android and iOS . Would love to hear your thought on it. Thanks! submitted by /u/Head-Eye-5342 [link] [comments]”
“Hello everyone, I'm one of the devs at Pepperbox Studios. Earlier this year we agreed to build and release a mobile version of our friend Jestercraft's game called Buttons Up!. Buttons Up! is a incremental button collecting game where you hoard Buttons and keep them safe from stealing intruders. Get those Buttons Up by buying buildings, using skills and by automating your income. Pre-registration is open so if you enjoy casaul incremental games, you should definitely check this out. We a”
“Solo Android dev — this is my most polished release yet after several apps that went nowhere. 10x10 grid, drag-and-drop, combos/boosters, offline play, no wifi needed. Would appreciate anyone giving it a shot and telling me honestly if it's worth continuing to build on. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.karnadigital.blockpuzzle submitted by /u/FoxSilent3186 [link] [comments]”
“Solo Android dev — this is my most polished release yet after several apps that went nowhere. 10x10 grid, drag-and-drop, combos/boosters, offline play, no wifi needed. Would appreciate anyone giving it a shot and telling me honestly if it's worth continuing to build on. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.karnadigital.blockpuzzle submitted by /u/FoxSilent3186 [link] [comments]”
“Hi all, first post in the space. `i wanted to share my first mobile game that I have built for Android and iOS platforms. Happy to receive some constructive feedback and accepting all praise as well 😄 The game is a 2D shooter, tower defence called "Arcane Spire". It's a mobile game, causal which will help you relax on a weekend. I have built in some payment and ads options but the majority of the game can be played completely free. No forced ads, all are for extra rewards or boost”
I just shipped my first game ! 🀄🎉 It’s a Mahjong game for Android that I’ve been building from scratch, and it’s finally out on the Play Store. I wanted to make…
“Playable Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nullpixel.trollgame Platform: Android (Google Play), will add the flair after posting Description: Troll Strike is a side-scrolling platformer with one twist: every level is quietly working against you. Trap doors that aren't doors. Platforms that vanish the second you trust them. Hazards disguised as perfectly safe ground, waiting for exactly the wrong moment to ruin your run. It's built to mess with you on purpose, and it”
“After months of development my game is finally live. Attached the game trailer (recommend to turn the volume up!). Play store link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ethericgridstudios.aetherarchive3d App store link: https://apps.apple.com/in/app/screw-puzzle-aether-archive/id6798177354 If you've played Screw Puzzle games like Screwdom 3D, 3D Boltmaster etc. this is in the same genre with stellar aesthetics and BGM/SFX! This is my first rodeo in the mobile gamedev space! Do g”
“I've created a game that's a modern take of the legacy RTS tower defense games. For people that want an experience they can play with their chronically online friends, but only requires about an hour per session. Most people that have played enough of the original Star Craft game(s) will recognize it right away, but I just can't seem to get any traction with visibility. My top of funnel to download is about 10% -- which seems rather decent in my mind -- but, with 0 conversions to act”
“Hey everyone! Please check out my review of the latest indie game from developer Aerial_Knight. It's a small scale puzzle game with a solid core puzzle mechanic that I enjoyed during short pick up and play sessions. It has a lot of flaws and does get repetitive by the end, but I found myself enjoying my short time with it. The price and content has been considered when deciding my score. submitted by /u/PlaySaveRepeatYT [link] [comments]”
“Side project that turned into a real app: FALLMATCH, a calm block puzzle. Slide blocks to match colors; a small budget of rotate / flip / invert moves reshuffles the whole board. No timer, no lives, no ads, no IAP, no account — fully offline. The unusual bit is the level pipeline. The idea was that difficulty should be measured, not guessed, so every board goes through a solver before release: the 3-star target is the proven minimum move count, every "this move is required" badge is ve”
“I'm a first-time developer and honestly the marketing side has been way harder to figure out than I expected. My game is Grid Breaker on Android and Grid Breaker: Puzzle Survival on Apple. It's still a work in progress and I'm constantly changing and adding things based on feedback. I recently added friends, a global leaderboard and a friends leaderboard to add more of a social aspect to the game and bring in some competition between players. Right now I'm probably a”