The whole team has been working incredibly hard on the first DODGE(Y)BALL demo update.

Management reports that productivity has been suspiciously high.

We listened to your feedback, held several highly productive team meetings, and somehow reached unanimous agreement on every decision...

Demo is available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5216680/DODGEYBALL/

Here's a video showing some of the improvements: https://youtu.be/e78-UOYtChs

P.S. I'm a solo developer. My colleagues are notoriously difficult to work with.

Am developing this slime game, there is a lot of potential but still not sure which direction to take it, any advice?

Hey everyone! I'm a solo dev and a dad of 3 young kids. 18 Summers is a first person lawn mowing game. Each level is one summer in the same backyard. Between summers your kid gets older.

Mowing finishes patches of the yard and brings back memories and toys from that year. The goal was to make something satisfying to play that also shows how fleeting time can be.

The Steam page just went live. I'd love any feedback on the trailer!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4985700/18_Summers/

I'm a solo dev, and I've spent 4 days creating outlines for all 72 buildings of my incremental game, including specific outlines for each building upgrade. Some events also slightly change the outline of certain buildings.

They all come together on a village map that grows over time as you build and upgrade your village.

I was kind of happy and even a bit proud of how it turned out, to be honest.

Then my 5-year-old daughter passed by my work desk in the living room and asked, looking at the screen:

"Is that a pizza?"

So I guess I spent 4 days of work building a pizza.

But since she loves pizza, I'll take that as her seal of approval.

Link to pizza: https://a-dark-cave.com/

Hey everyone! I’m Patryk and I would like to announce my game: Commandlings! I’ve been working on it for over five years, and about a year ago I quit my job to focus on it full-time.

This is me showing Commandlings at DevGAMM in Belgrade. After years of building my dream game, I wanted to finally share it with the world.

Commandlings is a real-time tactical RPG that combines creature collecting, building your own warband, and deep RPG progression. Before each battle, you choose your units and arrange their deployment. Then you control your Commander and fight alongside them.

You explore the world, recruit new creatures, and experiment with different combinations of units, abilities and equipment. Endless options to build your commander across 30 classes, hundreds of abilities, passives and augmentations! I am complete nerd for those kind of games and this is my dream game.

You can see the gameplay and wishlist Commandlings on Steam here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5136460/

Also my demo is ready so feel free to DM me if you would like to try and playtest it! Your feedback will be crucial and help shape the game for the planned release end of 2027.

Happy to answer questions about the game 😊

I've been working on my game for two years now. Lots of prototypes, characters, shaders, animations and gameplay loops, all built piece by piece and often thrown away.

And then I see people release a complete game within days almost every day. I don't want to take anything away from anyone, but honestly it's taking my motivation. I keep wondering if it even makes sense to release something when you just get lost in the flood.

Over 100 people have already signed up through wishlists or playtest requests, and I'm still somehow losing motivation.

Hey everyone,

I've been building games for years, and I still love doing it. But lately, I've found myself in a position where loving what I do isn't enough to keep doing it.

I'm from Iran, and being a game developer here means dealing with barriers that many developers elsewhere never have to think about. Access to publishing tools and international services can be restricted, and something as basic as receiving payment for your work can turn into a complicated process.

I've developed games that have received around 40,000 installs in my country. I've worked on online games, and I can build the backend servers myself. I have ideas for new games, too. I want to make them real.

But game development costs money, and when your games are free and you don't have a reliable income, eventually you reach a point where you can't afford to keep building the things you believe in.

That's where I am right now.

I'm looking for any legitimate Unity development work I can do. Even $100 a month would help me cover some costs and give me more room to continue developing.

I realize that asking for work this way might raise red flags. You don't know me, and you have no reason to trust a stranger on the internet. I get that. I'm willing to prove myself through a small task, show my previous work, and agree on clear deliverables before starting. No upfront payment needed from you.

I can help with Unity, C#, multiplayer systems, online gameplay, and custom game backends.

I'm not asking anyone to feel sorry for me or to give me something for nothing. I just want the chance to use the skills I've worked hard to develop and get paid fairly for the work I do.

If you have a small project, need help with a game, or can point me toward someone looking for a Unity developer, I'd genuinely appreciate it.

Sometimes, a small opportunity can make a much bigger difference than people realize.

Thanks for hearing me out.

It's kinda weird seeing yourself from above. for now I'll keep it as an optional beta feature

I'm still testing it out

This is Voenkomat 8, my solo project in Unreal Engine 5. Early Access is right around the corner and tbh I'm kinda running on fumes rn 😅

Quick pitch: it's an anomaly-spotting horror in the Exit 8 vibe. You're a rookie liquidator taking an entry test in a Soviet enlistment office, somewhere deep in the endless Gigakhrushchevka. Same floor, same doors, same buzzing lamps, over and over. Spot something off? Turn back or make it disappear. Miss it and you're back at the start. The goal is to reach floor 8.

A bit of context, since this sub likes the real stuff:

- The world is the Gigakhrushchevka, an endless Soviet megablock where the floors just never stop. And there's Samosbor, a violet fog that rolls through the floors and leaves behind stuff that shouldn't be there. The game lifts the curtain a little on what Samosbor actually is

- I'm writing a script and a short story set in this universe rn and I hope they become the base for the next games in this world

- The EA build has the full run to the ending, 25 anomalies, English and Russian and gamepad support

- Plan is about 6 months in EA, adding more anomalies and listening to whatever you throw at me

Ngl, I'm super tired. The last weeks were basically fix, sleep 4 hours, fix again. But I'm SO close to shipping my first solo release and I really wanna push it over the finish line.

So yeah. If the game clicks for you, I'll be over the moon. If you follow the socials, even better. If you wishlist it on Steam, you'll make me the happiest dev on the planet, fr. And if you just drop a comment and send some good vibes my way, that honestly helps me hold on and finish this thing 🙏

Fair warning tho, my socials are pretty empty rn. I never kept a solo dev diary and honestly guys, I have no clue how you find the energy for that on top of actually making the game. Massive respect to everyone who does!

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5420010/?utm_source=reddit&utm_campaign=solodev

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BadMammalGames

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@badmammalgames

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/badmammalgames/

Happy to answer anything about the solo grind, UE5 or the Gigakhrushchevka lore. Thanks for reading, you guys are awesome

Igor

Tile Former doesn't have much in terms of visuals as it's a low-res 1-bit style, but I was able to squeeze in some nice transitions. I will probably want to update them later but I'm already happy with the first iteration

Free to play here: https://vengeful180-dot.github.io/Need4Space/

Mechanics are still evolving, and mobile performance is a work in progress.

Your feedback matters. It will shape where the game goes next.

I've been thinking about this lately. When an indie game fails to get many players, it's pretty common to hear that the problem was marketing.

And sure, marketing matters a lot. A great game that nobody knows about will struggle to find an audience.

But I wonder if sometimes we use marketing as an excuse because it's easier than admitting that maybe the game itself just isn't that interesting.

Not every game is going to be good, and not every game deserves to be successful just because someone worked hard on it.

What do you guys think? Do indie developers sometimes blame marketing too much, or is getting noticed really the biggest challenge nobadays?

I'm a Solo dev and i need your opinion. A week ago i was getting about 1 wishlist a day and decided to improve the trailer on Steam to make it show more action clips and survivor-like mechanics. I'm getting a lot of clicks so i thought the Trailer as my weak point. But after i switched the trailer i stopped getting wishlist's at all. Is there anything you see that turns you off?

Thanks in advance!

Is it normal to waste large amounts of time on features or system that never see the light of day? Of course when a game is a commercial failure or doesn't ever release, there is a similar sense of lost time. But I mean truly "wasted", like you spend a dozen hours making a new feature, then decide that the game is more fun without it.

In some cases maybe you feel like that attempt was needed to find the right direction and reach the final product, but in others there must be a sense that many spent hours could have been avoided. Is this a common experience?

And for people who have gone through this, did you learn anything in the process?

What was your biggest mistake or regret on your first project you would have avoided?

I have been working on my first project for close to a year, and I feel like every other week I make another grave mistake I didn't know existed.

Looking to learn what mistakes to avoid going forward.

Thanks,

Simant2020

Optimized InteriorMapping on Steroids. I created a special shader system for Unity 6.3+ called Interior Master, that uses selfmade (also included in the package) cubemaps and bakes them with into a single atlas texture (atlas generator also inside the package) with tons options/changes per object/instance, that allows every cubemap to look different, mix walls inbetween etc, by then rendering the whole thing with 1 draw call! Also supports custom windows. etc.

Here's the trailer from the 1st post https://www.reddit.com/r/Unity3D/comments/1ttk6zn/interior_master_runtime_showcase/

Hi everyone!
I'm developing Admiral Yi: The Imjin War solo, mostly after work and on weekends. It's a historical RTS set during the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592.

After working on long-spear troops, I've been giving artillery its own tactical role. Players can choose a location to bombard and switch to grapeshot when enemy infantry gets too close. In this clip, Joseon cannons fire on advancing Japanese troops, change ammunition at close range, and the attacking troops eventually break and flee as their morale collapses.

I'm trying to make targeting, ammunition choice, and morale work together so different weapons create different battlefield situations. There is still plenty to improve in the AI, animations, and combat feedback.

For fellow solo developers: is the change from bombardment to grapeshot clear enough in the footage? I'd appreciate feedback on how to make that transition easier to read.

Hi everyone! After five weeks of evenings and a little over 600 commits, I’ve just released Homestead Mars, a cozy survival and terraforming game. It’s free and plays in the browser:
https://deuxcents.itch.io/mars-mission-terraform

The idea: you land with one colonist and one dome, and your suit lasts sixty seconds outside. You mine regolith by hand, sort it, and turn it into bricks, metal and machines that let you stay out longer and go further. Over the whole run, you turn a planet that kills you into one where you can stand outside with your helmet off.

What I learned making it alone:

• Let real science do the design. I made the chemistry real, and it ended up making my best design decisions for me. For example, I never chose the pressure you need to breathe: it falls out of clearing a 95% CO₂ sky down to the toxic limit.
• Measure, don’t guess. I wrote a script that plays the whole game headless and prints when each stage unlocks. I was aiming for a run of about eight hours, and the script said fourteen. It also caught several design mistakes I couldn’t see by reading the numbers, including one where I’d used a mass ratio as a molar one.
• Renaming is fine. The game was called Red Regolith until two weeks ago. Nobody could spell it.

It’s my first public release, so I’d really love feedback, especially on the first fifteen minutes: was it clear what to do, and did the air limit feel tense or just punishing?

Thanks for reading, and good luck with your own projects!

I’m a game concept artist. I’m not a programmer, and my 3D skills have always been pretty limited.

AI in game development is a hot topic, and I totally understand why some artists feel uncomfortable with it. Personally, though, I’ve been waiting for the right time to try bringing AI into my workflow.

Recently,I started seeing more projects built with vibe coding and AI tools, and honestly, I was pretty impressed! The results weren’t perfect, but they made me think, “maybe I can actually build my own game”

Since creating art is what I love most, I drew and modeled the core assets myself because that’s the most enjoyable part for me. But I used AI assistance for coding and base modeling to bring the project to life.

and I just made this all by myself.
https://fufuhol.itch.io/boo-boys

It definitely needs polish, but I’d love to hear your feedback and comments!

It's been almost a year since I started working on Team Chess and I have just now released the Steam page for it!

The game is just chess, but every piece is controlled by a different player!

It's my first real project and I really hope it goes well and people enjoy it. I poured what I can only assume is my heart and soul into this goofy idea inspired by DougDoug's video.

Even if it flops, I have grown so much as a person from working on it. Whether it's through learning game development or teaching myself to dedicate more time to something, I really think I have already won, or you could say... checkmated?

Anyways, here are the links to the Steam page, the Discord server, and a small teaser trailer if you are interested.

You are free to apply for the playtest from the Steam page, although I recommend joining the Discord server as well, since I am planning to organize games there for anyone who doesn't have 31 friends lying around.

I'm developing Lost Cat Showa Town, a game inspired by nostalgic Japanese Showa-era streets.

I wanted to create a little moment that makes the town feel alive: one cat discovers corn at a food stall, and soon the other cats start eating too.

I'm curious whether this kind of small environmental interaction makes you more interested in exploring a game world.

Does this feel charming to you, or would you want more variation in the cats' reactions?

I'd love honest feedback!

Started this about a year ago, and making a 3D party game on my own felt pretty ambitious. Now I’ve got my first trailer and even a Steam page! It’s an 8-player party game where everyone builds a deadly beach obstacle course, then has to survive it, and there’s a free demo out too.

Would love to hear what you think :)

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5031430/I_Buried_Steve/

Heyo,

New dev here.

This may be a silly question but how do y'all find and retain people to act as beta testers?

I have friends very graciously testing what I make, but would love to expand that to a larger group.

Thanks