u/Arslanchaudhry

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to drop a quick thank you to this community—I've found so many great Android games and hidden deals through posts here over time.

It actually inspired me to build a small, simple app called GamesBolt to track temporary 100% off promos and giveaways on Google Play (plus PC platforms like Steam and Epic) so they don't get missed before expiring.

Curious how you all usually keep track of limited-time Play Store price drops? Appreciate all the awesome recommendations posted in this sub!

Just got GamesBolt live after 7 submissions. Writing down what actually held it up, because I couldn't find clear answers on any of it while I was stuck.

Context: the app lists games that are temporarily free across Steam, Epic, GOG, itch.io and the mobile stores, and links out to the storefront to claim. Ads, plus an optional subscription that removes them. That combination — third-party brand names, outbound links, and a subscription — is apparently a lot of surface area for review.

1. [Brand and trademark references.] The listing names Steam, Epic, GOG, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch. [Describe what happened — did it get flagged, did you add the disclaimer pre-emptively?] What I ended up with is an explicit non-affiliation line at the bottom of the description and no store logos anywhere in the graphics. [Adjust to what you actually did.]

2. [Subscription disclosure.] Anything with a free trial and auto-renew has to state the price, the renewal terms and how to cancel, in the listing itself and in the app before purchase. [What did you get pulled up on, if anything?]

3. [Data safety form.] [Which declarations tripped you up — account creation, device IDs for ads, location?] This one is easy to fill in wrong without realising, and it fails quietly.

What I'd do differently: [one honest thing].

Live now if you want to see how the listing ended up: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.auragames.gamesbolt

Happy to answer anything about the review process for apps that link out to other stores — that seems to be the part with the least written about it.

Hey everyone, and welcome to Gamewalay!

Whether you are dropping your latest indie title, hunting for the perfect 16-bit sprite sheets for your next project, or just looking for a place to talk about your favorite games and mods, you have found your new home.

This community was built to be a dedicated space where players and creators can connect, share, and grow together.

🕹️ What We Do Here

Devlogs & Behind the Scenes: Show us what you are building! Share your coding journeys, design processes, and game updates. We love seeing how things are made.
Showcase & Promotions: Just launched a new mobile game or an asset kit on itch.io? We want to see it! (Just make sure to use the right flair and give us some context in the post).
Resources & Assets: Share and discover UI kits, pixel art, scripts, and tools to level up your development.
Gaming Discussions: From classic regional card games to heavily modded survival runs, let's talk about what we are actually playing.

📜 The Ground Rules

To keep this community professional, valuable, and fun for everyone, we have a few simple guidelines:

1. Add Value to Your Promos: If you are promoting your game or assets, include a description, a mini-tutorial, or a devlog. Tell us the story behind it rather than just dropping a link.
2. Constructive Feedback Only: We are here to help each other improve. Be respectful and helpful when critiquing someone's work.
3. Flair Your Posts: Please use the proper tags (Discussion, Showcase, Devlog, Assets) so everyone can easily filter and find what they are looking for.

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Are you working on any games, apps, or asset packs right now?

Grab your controllers, get comfortable, and welcome to the community!

Is it a good idea to add admob on juat publish game or wait until get more then 10000 downloads . Because in these days i see it is very hard to get good download in google play after launching game on it .

Three-person indie team, first commercial-ish release. Built an online South Asian trick-taking card game on weekends over 3 months. Just launched on Play Store last month, \~50 installs so far from friends and seeding.

What I'm looking for from r/IndieDev: an honest gut-check on the first-time-user experience. Specifically:

1. Onboarding — does the tutorial actually teach the rules to someone who has never played? Or does it assume too much?

2. First impression — when you open the game cold, what do you notice first? What feels off?

3. Multiplayer flow — creating/joining a room with a code: clear or confusing?

Stack: \[Unity3d\], multiplayer, \~3 months of evening work.

Free. Android only right now. No real money, virtual coins only. Anonymous accounts.

Link in comments (per sub etiquette). Genuinely just want feedback — happy to return the favor on any indie game you're working on, drop your link in your reply.

Genuine question — yahan twin cities mein weekend activities kafi limited lagti hain. Eating out + Faisal Mosque walks + occasional Margalla hike — yehi cycle hai.

Picha jab cousins gathering hoti thi, hours nikal jate the just sitting around playing Bhabhi/Thulla. Now everyone's busy or scattered.

Question: tum log kya karte ho weekends pe jab koi specific plan na ho?

Side note: meri team ne online Bhabhi game banai hai because of exactly this problem — group bana ke khelo regardless of who's in which city. Free, no real-money stuff, link in comments if anyone wants to try. But genuinely curious about other weekend ideas — kaafi twin cities residents yahan parhte hain.

Outsider angle here — Karachi mein bara hua, but Lahori dost batate hain ke unke ghar mein activities kafi different theen. Karachi cousins ke pas hours of Bhabhi/Thulla card game tha — Lahore mein ye game popular thi?

Curious specifically:

- Lahore mein card games khelne ka culture kaisa hai/tha?

- Family gatherings mein kya signature activity hoti hai?

- Koi alag naam se ye game khelte ho ya same Bhabhi/Thulla?

Background: ye game online banai hai humne (small team) — par sach mein curious hoon Lahore ke perspective se kya wahi nostalgia hai ya alag traditions hain.

Genuine nostalgia question for Karachi specifically — because the gaming/card-playing culture here was its own thing.

Mujhe yaad hai, North Nazimabad ka mohalla, har Eid pe cousins ka aana, aur 3 baje ki dopahar mein shuru hone wali Bhabhi ki baazi jo kabhi raat 11 baje tak chalti thi. Ammi cheekhti rehti theen "khana thanda ho raha hai," koi sunta nahi tha.

Karachi mein particular thi ye thing — I feel like Lahoris had cricket, Pindi waale had different family dynamics, but Karachi cousins would just sit and play Bhabhi for hours.

Kya tumhare mohalle/family mein bhi yehi traditions thi? Aur tum kaunse area se ho?

(Choti si chooti dev disclosure: yahi game online banaya hai humne, link comments mein agar koi try karna chahta hai. But sach mein curious hoon Karachi specific yaadein sunne ke liye.)

Posting an honest 30-day postmortem in case it's useful to anyone here building niche/cultural games.

The game: Online trick-taking card game (a South Asian classic). Free, virtual coins only, Android only.

Team: 3 people, evenings and weekends

Budget: $0 ads, $25 Play Store dev fee, that's it

Tech: [Unity], multiplayer

What worked:

- Hyper-targeted communities (small platform-specific subs > big general ones)

- ASO rewrite: dropping "The Gateway" from the title for actual keywords doubled organic Play Store impressions in 10 days

- Personal asks to friends for reviews (got to 20 reviews in week 1 — Play Store visibility shifted noticeably)

- WhatsApp seeding to friend groups beat every social channel for actual installs

What didn't:

- Posting in r/AndroidGaming without proper [DEV] flair — instant removal (lesson learned)

- Instagram single-image posts (way underperformed carousels)

- Trying to game trending hashtags

What I'd do differently:

- Build to 20 reviews *before* publishing the store listing publicly

- Skip splitting effort across 6 platforms; pick 2 and dominate

Game link in comments. Happy to talk shop about anything specific — multiplayer architecture, ASO, the cultural-niche thing, whatever.

Long-time lurker in card-game communities. Wanted to ask if anyone here knows the trick-taking game called Bhabhi, Bhabi, Thulla, Get Away, or Donkey depending on region — it's played in millions of South Asian households but I've never seen it discussed in serious card-game circles.

Quick rules summary in case you've played it under a different name:

- 52-card deck, dealt evenly between 2-4 players

- Whoever holds Ace of Spades opens

- Must follow suit if able; if not, you "throw off" and the player with the highest card of the lead suit picks up the entire pile

- Last player still holding cards loses ("the Bhabhi/Donkey")

It's structurally similar to games like President or Last Card but with the unique pile-pickup punishment instead of penalty cards.

Reason I'm posting: spent 3 months building a faithful online version because every existing mobile version watered the rules down or wrapped real-money gambling around it. Free, no real money, authentic rules.

Curious if anyone here:

- Has played this game under any name

- Has compared notes with similar trick-takers (would love rule comparisons)

- Has thoughts on what's missing from online card-game implementations generally

(Link in comments if anyone wants to try and give rules feedback.)