I'm curious to hear other indie devs thoughts on this wild scenario. Essentially, a bunch of coordinated reviews claiming my game is a crypto miner, then they had an hour and a half long phone call demanding I promote their political messaging.

Definitely not a video editor, sorry for the quality.

My first solo indie project is a local multiplayer football platformer with chaotic physics fun!
Adapt fast, master the chaos, and outplay your opponent in ultra quick matches!

I honestly think a memorable mechanic or a strong atmosphere can do more for an indie game than a massive amount of content ever could.

A game where every missed shot makes the next encounter harder immediately gives your actions more weight. A psychological horror game that makes you uncomfortable without constantly throwing jumpscares at you can stick in your head for days. Even something built around the fear of deep water can be terrifying if it understands exactly what makes that fear work.

That's what I love about indie games. Smaller teams can take one unusual idea and commit to it instead of trying to appeal to absolutely everyone.

I'd rather play a short game with a mechanic I've never experienced before than another 40-hour game that feels like everything I've already played.

It's called Tidy Farm. Here's the steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5226940/Tidy_Farm/

(No generative AI used)

I’m making That’s Not My Cat, a cute desktop companion that walks across your windows, chases your cursor, naps while you work, and wears little hats!

The game has reached 700 wishlists on Steam, and the demo is available to try! ❤️

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4256600/Thats_Not_My_Cat/

Youtube video : https://youtu.be/mzoQGU5LVro?si=zV35xtHSndpaORMj

Hey everyone! I released my indie psychological horror game, Panic Files: Buried Sanity, about a month ago, and it's now 50% off during Steam Scream Fest V!

It's a short, 1-hour first-person horror game designed to be played in one sitting. So if you're interested in indie horror games for Halloween, here is mine.

You start your first day working in a local mine, but things take a turn for the worse when the mine suddenly collapses, trapping you underground. After a falling rock knocks you unconscious, you wake up alone with no clear way out.

Your only option is to go deeper into the tunnels and discover why the other miners were so afraid of the depths.

If that sounds like your kind of game, you can check it out here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4012730/Panic_Files_Buried_Sanity/

Happy Halloween!

Story time?

So first, I accidentally released a game on itch, publicly, because I didn't realize that was a thing you are supposed to hold back and prep for so you can enjoy your one day on the "New" page and try to build an audience. I didn't do any of that. Consequently, my "New" day was what I deserved: 80 views, 40 "Run Game" starts, and exactly 4 real players who committed, which was more than I deserved.

Still: those four wound up spending hours in the game.

And then crickets.

I understand now that's how itch rolls. You get buried under other "new" stuff pretty quickly.

But I kept wanting to understand why people dropped off, and when, and to make things better. I viewed it as my problem. My mistake. Something I could fix.

Also, if I'm being painfully honest, after that tiny taste, I desperately wanted to have players again. I wanted the feeling I had gotten when I saw that there were actually people playing my game, that it wasn't just something I toiled away at as a hobby, thinking "This puzzle is cool!" but instead a real game, because people play it.

So I worked at it. I figured out the flaws. I tried.

And I watched while my remaining players dwindled from four, to three, to two.

It's a puzzle game, not a social thing. They were going to find their natural end points. I couldn't be bitter about this.

There was one really bad day: working on new changes, I accidentally introduced a bug corrupting the access of one of my two remaining players. I was shaking with anger at myself for hours. One of my only two players, and I locked them out! I saw that they tried to log in again. And again.

And then they stopped. And then, zero. Zero players. For over a week. I get it: itch doesn't promise to deliver traffic. That's on "us."

But I still loved my game. I still loved making it. I still thought it was worth something.

Yesterday morning I got over myself long enough to post on two tiny discord groups that I'm part of, both for playtesters. I figured if I was lucky someone would click out of pity and say "Cool game" or "I don't get the controls."

Here's what happened instead.

Twenty one people clicked on my game today. Twenty one! That's nearly how many I got when I "launched" on itch.

Maybe the scale is laughable to you. Maybe you're building an MMO or you're looking to monetize or you know the first thing about social media.

Me? I was soaring above the clouds all day.

I love data. So I'd like to share.

• 9 of them played for fewer than ten minutes, generally only playing the 4 tutorial levels. That's okay. They didn't know me or owe me. They tried it. I'm grateful.
• 8 of them played for somewhere between 10 and 25 minutes, mostly playing the 4 levels of the first map. Bless their souls for trying. I don't think they'll come back
• One of them played for well over half an hour across three separate sessions and somehow completed 43 levels. I probably couldn't do it that fast, and I wrote the thing.
• Another one also came back three times, but they played for 75(!) minutes. They can have naming rights to my next pet.
• The other two were a bit... more: the first of them played seven times throughout the day. They came back over the course of eight hours for a cumulative 105 minutes. They got through 20 levels, but you know what? They are perfection. They made my game part of their day.
• And last of all, one of them only showed up only once, just one session, but they played for 160 minutes straight, fighting through 69(!) levels of the game. I hope someone brought them their dinner.

I don't know if any of them will come back tomorrow. I just know this part: keep on fighting for your dream.

--

This is not really intended as a promotional post, just a story of my day, but I'll put the link here anyway, in case anyone likes thinky puzzle games. https://snadata.itch.io/none-of-these-hats-are-mine
--

Whatever you want from your work, I hope you get to feel as good about it as I got to today, and soon.

I’m using the Mini Medieval asset pack by VEXED.

Still early, you can play it here: https://cockergames.itch.io/gonfalon

Hi! I'm Seto, Rakuworld is a co-op survivors-like where you draw your hero in a simple in-game editor (there's a guided mode if you've never drawn on a computer), pick a class, and your drawing gets weapons, a power and an ultimate.

Paper cut-out + crayon characters inside a small PS1-style 3D world. 1–4 players, local or online, and your drawing travels with you online.

It launches in Early Access on Steam on Oct 27: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5382580/

What would you draw first? 😄

In Link Loop the screen warps around to visualize the player walking through a portal. It's a 2D puzzle-platformer, and the physics are pretty satisfying.
You can see more gameplay on the youtube trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-8hU9XEep8

Me and my friends are making Cat Caffeine, a game where you run a little cat café right on your desktop 🐱☕

You can decorate your café, hire cats, unlock upgrades, pet your cats (very important), and watch your little business grow while you work or do other stuff on your PC.

We're also adding an in-game phone where you can read reviews from your cat customers, complete decoration tasks to attract reviewers, and even use a Pomodoro timer to help you focus while working!

Basically, a little café full of cats keeping you company while you do your thing.

Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4681680/Cat_Caffeine/

Humanity has failed to pass the Intergalactic Entrance Exam. Planet status has been updated to "Quarry". Complete contracts, take down cities across Earth, with a wide variety of tools and vehicles at your disposal.

I've always been fascinated with destruction at scale in video games. Inspired by games like Red Faction and Mercenaries. Finally managed to make something I am happy with work.

So far there are 6 crafts (in the video):

1. Mech (start)
2. Spider mech (1:04)
3. UFO (1:22)
4. Titan Shell (2:48)
5. Mega sphere (3.33)
6. UFO wrecking ball (4:55)

Let me know if this is interesting! Feedback is welcome. Would love to put out a demo on Steam soon to let others test drive this!

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