u/MoonBag_Studio

Hey everyone, solo dev here working on Hamstr Protocol, a first-person tycoon/incremental game where hamsters run on wheels to power GPU rigs. Yes, hamster powered mining rigs, it’s as weird as it sounds.

I’m sitting at 92 wishlists right now and would love to hit 100 soon. Demo is live on Steam if anyone wants to try it, even just wishlisting helps a ton at this stage.

Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4708030/Hamstr\_Protocol/

Happy to answer questions about the game or the dev process, this is basically my full time thing right now.

I'm a solo dev and Hamstr Protocol is my first ever project, a game where you manage hamsters on GPU rigs to mine HAM, a fictional in-game currency. You can create an entire bio-mining operation.

Sometimes they need a little... boost.

Wishlist now on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4708030/Hamstr_Protocol/
Also a free demo is now available.

AI disclosure: some music generated with AI. All visuals are hand-made.

I’ve been building this solo for the past months with 0 budget, no team.

You set up rigs, manage heat, feed your runners, buy more hamsters, upgrade your GPUs, and turn HAM (a fictional in-game currency) into real in-game profit. First-person tycoon/management sim ,think idle game but you’re actually walking around in it.

There’s also a bit of lore and mystery underneath it all, but I’ll let you find that yourself.

The operation starts small. It doesn’t stay that way.

Demo is free on Steam if anyone wants to try it. Would love to hear what you think.

Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4708030/Hamstr_Protocol/

“Music in the game is AI-generated”

I’m a solo dev and I’ve been working on my game for about a year. It’s a first-person tycoon where you run a basement of hamsters powering GPU rigs to mine a fictive currency — cute on the surface, with something darker hiding underneath that I deliberately don’t explain.

Here’s my problem: I’m stuck at 78 wishlists and I have no idea how to break out of it. The demo is live and free, and the people who actually play it stick around — my Steam retention is above average. So the game isn’t the issue. Nobody’s finding it.
I just redid my capsule (attached) using only in-game assets, and I think it’s a big step up from the old one. But I’m clearly missing something on the visibility side.

I haven’t done a Steam Next Fest yet, and I’m thinking about joining the one in October. From what I understand that’s a big visibility moment — but going in with this few wishlists feels like showing up to a party nobody knows I’m throwing. I’d rather build some momentum first.

So I’m asking honestly: how do you get those first few hundred eyes on a niche game when you have zero audience and zero budget? What worked for you? And does the capsule make you want to click, or does it not sell the concept?

Game Steam Page (Hamstr Protocol): https://store.steampowered.com/app/4708030/Hamstr\_Protocol/

Someone told me my old capsule’s hamster felt like a stock image slapped on a background, not part of the game. So I rebuilt the whole thing using actual in-game assets — real model, real wheel, real garage, then lit and graded it in Photoshop.
First image is the old one, second is the new one.
Does the new version read better? Anything that still feels off? Brutal feedback welcome.

First game, solo, one year in. The demo’s doing well where I can measure it — Steam flagged retention as “above average” vs other demos, with 50 min avg playtime. Since the demo is only ~50-60 min of content (just the core loop — the full game has a lot more), players are basically finishing the whole thing. People who play it stick.

My problem is purely reach. I’m at 74 wishlists and getting people to the game is the wall, not the game itself. I genuinely believe in this one — the retention tells me the core loop works.

Two things I’d love help with:
1. For devs who’ve launched — what actually moved the needle on wishlists? What worked vs what was a waste of time?
2. Honest takes on my Steam page and the concept itself — does the premise grab you, does the page look solid, what would you change?

Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4708030/Hamstr\_Protocol?snr=1\_7\_15\_\_13

Brutal honesty welcome — wishlist if it looks like your kind of thing, but mostly I just want real feedback.