r/IndieGaming • • 2h ago

I made diving under the waves a thing

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687 Upvotes

I added this mechanic for gameplay reasons since it helps with shortcuts and performing tricks, but from an art perspective I'd like to make it feel like there's a whole other world below the surface. Any suggestions for making a cool underwater environment?

Wishlist Tokyo Wave Rush: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4514050


r/IndieGaming • • 9h ago

We wanted to make a game about dance with zero budget for high-end animation, so we went old-school

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734 Upvotes

Making a visual novel centered around contemporary dance without animation felt wrong, but as a micro-indie crew, we had neither the tech nor the budget for big rigs.

So we did the only thing that made sense: we reached out to regional dance schools, brought cameras into their rehearsal rooms, and filmed real choreographers. From there, our artist traced and drew every gesture stroke by stroke, roughly 15 individual hand-drawn frames for every second on screen to capture genuine physical weight and momentum.

Then yeah, After the Wane have no animation but only rotoscoping!!

Here’s a side-by-side of the raw studio footage and the final watercolor animation in-engine. What do you think of how the movement holds up?


r/IndieGaming • • 4h ago

Creating a PS1 era inspired Tank Game

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125 Upvotes

Hello Everyone! I'm creating a PS1 era style game where you control a tank against the AI apocalypse where machines turned on humanity.

For those who grew up with these type of games and are nostalgic, you can play the Demo on steam! (and everyone else ofc)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5152000/MAGNUM_Protocol


r/IndieGaming • • 10h ago

I don't know how much longer I can take the slop in this sub

225 Upvotes

I used to genuinely enjoy this place, seeing new games and such. I really don't want to leave, but this sub is just a source of annoyance at this point. There's just so much AI generated crap, and having it shoved in my face everytime I open Reddit is really irritating

IDK man, I want to be part of a community of developers, but there's just none left here


r/IndieGaming • • 3h ago

I'm making a cozy game about a duck searching for her lost ducklings

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26 Upvotes

I've been making this game on my own for about 3-4 months, and yesterday its Steam page finally went live. Its called Quack Back Home

It's a small, cozy game: you're a mother duck, a storm has scattered your ducklings across the islands, and you go and bring them home, one by one, by solving small puzzles. Nothing can go wrong. I wanted to make something you can play when you just want a calm evening.

If you've got a minute, I'd really love to hear what you think🦆


r/IndieGaming • • 6h ago

I released my canceled project as a mini-game for free

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35 Upvotes

Hey everyone! For the last few years I was working on a major IP project in connection with Paramount. I'm a solo developer so things take time and I realized that I needed a bit more to make the rest of the content and ship it as polished as possible so my publisher and I requested an extension.

Sadly, that time extension request was denied so I had to decide if I wanted to put myself through mountains of stress to ultimately put out a rushed game in a few months or walk away.

I chose to walk away and my publisher supported the choice. Thankfully, Paramount and I split in a positive way and I got to keep what I created. A few months later my publisher floated the idea if packaging the demo I had created for PAX as a standalone mini experience sort of thing if I stripped all the branding and IP specific stuff.

I figured that was better than letting it gather dust on my backup repo so I released a polished version on steam for free on Monday. I hope you can give it a shot in time for Halloween!

Thank you to this community for being so supportive for so many years. Im happy to see it out in the wild for people to enjoy. Happy Halloween and thank you again r/indiegaming community!

Playable Archive free on steam and itch

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5356470/Playable_Archive/

https://darkstonedigital.itch.io/playablearchive


r/IndieGaming • • 1d ago

100K copies sold in 1 month on Steam. But it took us 12 years to get here.

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1.4k Upvotes

Recently celebrated selling 100K+ copies of our game, over it's first month in Early Access.

Could not be more grateful for all the support we've gotten on this project.

It's been an incredibly long, strange journey getting to our first commercially successful game. 2 friends and I started making short punk games as Team Lazerbeam in December of 2014. Our games tended to defy genre, and were very short, alternative games with hand crafted art. Not the kind of thing you could really put on Steam and expect people to pay for, but we were stoked to self-publish them through itch. After 6 years we eventually strung together a longer experience (30 whole minutes of playtime!) and finally made our Steam debut, but that game bombed pretty badly. (That is to say, it sold very poorly, I still saw it as a creative success.)

I was always so stoked for any people that picked up on what we were putting out there. We had some decent numbers of downloads on our free titles. I was super proud of what we were making, and so grateful every time I saw one of our games resonating with someone.

Shroom and Gloom is our first proper, commercially released title. First time working within a more defined genre. First time releasing something that you could get lost in for hours. First release with a publisher. Basically, loads of firsts. Now we can add to that list, first Team Lazerbeam game to sell 100K copies. The fact that we hit that milestone in our first month on Steam is still mind blowing to me.

For anyone reading this that passionate about making things, I really hope this might give you some encouragement to keep creating. It might not happen for you overnight, but if you keep at it you'll be surprised where your art takes you. Or if you just reading this as an indie game fan, please know how impactful your support can be. It means so much to devs that people like you are out there, supporting unconventional games that are lovingly made by small teams.

I'm guess that out of the 100 894 copies that sold in the first month, at least a few of them could have been people that discovered the game through my last post on r/indiegames. If you're one of them, thanks for being getting behind this thing in these first days of Early Access.

Now the exciting part is what comes next!


r/IndieGaming • • 38m ago

We just announced DUNK, our first-person basketball game for 1–6 players

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Hi everyone! I’m one of the devs at Katapult Games, and we’ve just announced DUNK.

It’s first-person basketball with online matches from 1v1 to 3v3, proximity chat, and courts ranging from the city to the moon.

Development has taken quite a few turns over the years: from chess to a narrative game, then co-op, before we finally landed on basketball. Our recent playtest sessions have been encouraging, and we’re excited to get more people playing.

If it looks interesting, you can wishlist DUNK or request access to the playtest on Steam. We’re planning to start accepting applicants very soon!

Happy to answer questions about the game!


r/IndieGaming • • 2h ago

We’ve been working on Smalland 2: Lost Realms. Here’s our first gameplay trailer! Hope you like it!

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9 Upvotes

Hey everyone! We’ve been working on Smalland 2: Lost Realms, and today we’re proud to share our first true gameplay trailer. We’re also announcing that the game is coming in 2027, as we want to take the time to listen to the community feedback and polish some aspects of the game.

Play solo or with up to 10 friends in co-op: tame creatures, build outposts, craft gear and explore new lands, with new perks, crafting and resource gathering systems, plus swimming, climbing and stealth.

We’d love to hear what you think! Some elements are still work in progress.

Feel free to wishlist the game on Steam if you want to support the project. See you in the wild, smalfolks!


r/IndieGaming • • 9h ago

Someone played my newly released demo, and then privately messaged me saying it's one of the greatest games they've ever played

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34 Upvotes

Now, I think that that's a LITTLE too high praise, but I appreciated it nonetheless!!

Afterward, we had a long, long fun chat about the game and their thoughts on it. The demo *JUST* came out, and they're already asking me to play more!

Posting the demo was a huge moment for me for sure... Moments like this make all the work I put into it worth it, though!!

If you'd like to try it yourself, the free Gauntleteer Demo is now available on Steam!


r/IndieGaming • • 5h ago

Our CREEPY-CUTE game is coming out just in time for Halloween vibes! (no AI)

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12 Upvotes

🎃 Tom the Postgirl 🎃

Join Tom, the village’s new postgirl, and get to know the locals, perhaps a little too well. Her method, although controversial, is highly effective: intense, obsessive stalking.

This absurd adventure follows the mischievous Tom on her delivery rounds, which always seem to go awry. No surprise there, since Tom spends most of her time peeking inside people’s homes whenever she gets the chance.

Join Tom in a charming village where every resident has something to hide. You deliver their packages, but what do they do with them once out of sight? Every window, every door, every crack in the wall is an opportunity to learn more about the inhabitants and their nasty secrets!

It will be available tomorrow on Steam and Nintendo Switch! If it sounds interesting, you can check it out here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2257440/Tom_the_Postgirl/

https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/tom-the-postgirl-switch/

AI disclosure: There was zero use of AI during the creation of this game. We made it with our hands and sweat!


r/IndieGaming • • 1d ago

Can we crack down on all these ai games. It’s ridiculous!

351 Upvotes

So many ai slop games are being posted here daily with no disclosure. A lot aren’t even just assisted with ai but completely ai generated. It’s getting out of hand. “Developers” stop saying “I made this game…” when you did almost nothing. I think of a saying often, “if you didn’t care enough to make it yourself, why should I care enough to use it?”


r/IndieGaming • • 3h ago

Inspired by Mini Metro, I made a calm little game about a city's power grid

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5 Upvotes

This is Peak Demand, a small, calm strategy game where you lay out a city's power grid. The city grows a little every day, and the puzzle is fitting plants, substations and cables together so everything holds in the evening, when everyone comes home. You can pause whenever you like and plan while the city waits.

It's free on itch and plays right in the browser. There are Windows, Mac and Linux builds too: https://latroworks.itch.io/peak-demand

AI disclosure: I used coding assistants while making it, and some of the translations were done with an LLM. There are no AI-generated images or audio.


r/IndieGaming • • 1d ago

Q to Slap

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802 Upvotes

r/IndieGaming • • 45m ago

How's this look for a side-scroller about a silly monkey?

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• Upvotes

Working on a light hearted game where you help a silly monkey that gets distracted by everything succeed. How is this style, too little, too much? I was thinking of keeping the black and white with occasional yellow accents.

Also if you wanna follow along the journey here's the steam page https://store.steampowered.com/app/5496210/Do_not_the_Monkey/


r/IndieGaming • • 11h ago

Why do some 2D games look better when rebuilt in 3D?

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20 Upvotes

What's interesting about remaking a 2D game in 3D is that it doesn't necessarily mean changing how the game feels.

With 3D models, artists can adjust lighting, camera angles and animations without having to redraw every frame from scratch. But the tricky part is keeping the original art style and movement intact. If you get that wrong, a remake can look technically better while somehow feeling worse.

Diablo II: Resurrected is a good example of taking a different approach: the original gameplay logic stayed intact while the visuals were rebuilt. And then there's Guilty Gear Xrd, which used 3D models and animation techniques to make characters look surprisingly close to hand-drawn anime.

It makes me wonder where the line is between improving old visuals and losing what made them special in the first place.

Which 2D game would you actually want to see rebuilt in 3D, and which one should be left alone?


r/IndieGaming • • 8h ago

Indie developed carnival-themed website games with interactive and community elements

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9 Upvotes

Illustrations are self made. Claude helped with coding.

Feedback requested for website and games. Please post your comments in the original thread in r/Websites since I’m not OP.


r/IndieGaming • • 4h ago

After a year of work my space strategy game NOVA is finally out! here's the trailer

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3 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I'm a solo dev from Romania, and this is NOVA (unique name, I know). You own worlds, they grow fleets, and you send those fleets out to take the next world. The whole thing is played with one mouse.

It took me about a year to make. There are 12 chapters and 144 hand built levels, with suns, black holes, portals, orbiting planets and 7 rival factions that each play a little differently.

I'm not an artist, so I'll be upfront: a lot of what you see comes from asset packs. You thought I was going to say AI, right?! The UI is Reach by Michsky, the planets and skyboxes are from Parallel Cascades, the space effects are Space Graphics Toolkit by Carlos Wilkes, and the nebulas were made with Nebula Creator by LumaxForge Studio. There are also portal, station, ship and mine packs from ALinea, Sector 3D, VIS Games and TachyonCraft, and planet models from Game-Ready Studios. Those packs and generators worked wonders. They let me spend my time on the levels and the enemy AI instead of struggling with art I couldn't make myself. Still I spent more than a week on that ring around the planets just to make sure it works well and looks right to me.

Big thanks to my friends who played the early builds and had the patience to support me and give me suggestions on how to improve it.

The best part is that now I can just sit down and play it. After a year of building, it's so satisfying to see it all come together and actually have fun with my own game! And I still find things to improve on it! One friend is asking about multiplayer and I have no idea how to do that yet, but anyway..

It's out on Steam, and there's a free demo with the first chapter if you want to try it. I'd love to hear what you think! :D good or bad of course


r/IndieGaming • • 4h ago

Grab Your Deck has silly legendary tricks like the 9000° - I’m struggling with the flip and spin ones!

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4 Upvotes

This is Grab Your Deck - a deckbuilding roguelike I’m making where small tricks combine into bigger and better tricks and combos. Each base trick has a “suit,” like flips, body spins, or grabs, and if you play a certain “flush”, you get a legendary like these!

I’m going for fun/over the top, and could use some ideas. I’ve got a preview of a “paddle wheel” and “tornado,” but I’m not sold yet. Any ideas?

If the game looks interesting, the demo is out now on Steam and the full game launches November 11.

I DO use AI in development, mostly code productivity and teaching me new programs like Ableton and Blender. All in game assets are my own (skater and board, animation keyframes, board art and stickers, sfxr.me) or purchased (HumbleBundle, AudioHero, Synty), and I’m working with /r/punk for a killer indie soundtrack.


r/IndieGaming • • 40m ago

Devlog about story, gravity powers and mechanics in a game I'm working on

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• Upvotes

r/IndieGaming • • 52m ago

Ribbit is now playable on the original Game Boy DMG!

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• Upvotes

Play the demo here!

Hey, it's been a while!

I've finally managed to release a new version of the demo, which is now playable on the original Game Boy DMG! You can now play Ribbit with a 4 color palette, as well as in full color on a GBC.

I’m also preparing a Kickstarter campaign (that you can follow here) to help me launch the full game in both digital and physical editions, but I’d like to launch it only when I have enough stuff to show you what the full game will have.

I'm currently working on a new world that will introduce new enemies, game mechanics, and a new power up!

From now on I’ll try to post updates more frequently, even if I don't have a new version ready.

As always, if you have any suggestions, bug report or feedback, I’m always happy to hear them.

See you soon!


r/IndieGaming • • 1h ago

Solbrand Demo now on Steam — Dive into a strange adventure and begin to crack Ullarakir's greatest mystery...

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Hi everyone! I'm Mattias, developer of Solbrand, and moments ago I launched my first Demo on Steam! Exciting and nerve-racking in equal measure :)

Solbrand is a very weird, story rich puzzle-adventure game set in a flooded future, inspired by quiet local legend and grand norse myth from the real-world, and churned through a blender of cosmic horror.

  • Play as a Spook; a tech-savvy dowser and medium for the long dead.
  • Command your submersible via a uniquely detailed and immersive interface.
  • Explore the seafloor and survey archaeological ruins, uncovering forgotten facts and puzzling fragments. Study their secrets to dive deeper into a mysterious past.
  • Confer with the living, and use your otherworldly senses to commune with the dead, in rich and sprawling dialogues that ebb and flow with the choices you make.

If you decide to try out the demo I'd love to hear about your experience, or answer any questions you might have! (And do feel welcome to hop into my Discord if you'd like to chat with me or other Spooks)

All the best!


r/IndieGaming • • 19h ago

Laszlovania: What We Do In the Shadows game

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48 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I made a game based on What We Do in the Shadows for Halloween.
You can play it free here: https://edward-la-barbera.itch.io/laszlovania
Character Art by Lara K.
Choir Arrangement by Tiffany Palmer


r/IndieGaming • • 1h ago

Toxic Dream Trailer

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• Upvotes

*Edit to add steam link here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2278940/Toxic_Dream/ *

Hey folks,

I wanted to share the trailer for our game called 'Toxic Dream' to get some feedback and eyes on it. We're a pretty small indie team and just released a major update for our game a couple of weeks back in preparation for Steam Scream.

If the game trailer interests you, the Steam page link is in the top of the YouTube description and is the first pinned comment. It's also 30% off during Steam Scream so it is the perfect time to grab it if you're really keen (or wishlist it... That is also really appreciated).

The team put a lot of effort into this game. We went so far as to actually work with counseling professionals for parts of the game's narrative.

Thank you all so much!


r/IndieGaming • • 1h ago

Witchbrook finally has a real release date: January 28, 2027, and it's coming to PS5 too

• Upvotes

Announced at today's Nintendo Indie World. After all the delays, it finally has an actual day on the calendar.

- January 28, 2027, same day on every platform

- PC, Switch, Switch 2, Xbox, and now PS5 as well

- $24.99

- Day one on Xbox Game Pass

- Online co-op for up to 4 players

Set in the seaside town of Mossport: witch classes, making friends, decorating your home, gardening, and running your own little witch business at a Sunday market.

Who's picking it up day one? Solo or with friends?