u/balonmacaron

Hi everyone,

We're currently preparing our co-op game CREWED for the upcoming Steam Next Fest. Right now we're sitting at around 1,700 wishlists, but our daily growth has almost completely plateaued (graph attached).

Here’s what we’ve tried so far:

• Reddit Ads: Gave us a solid sustained bump in late April, but performance dropped heavily over time and eventually stopped converting well.
• Press Outreach: We contacted a lot of gaming press and content sites. One article gave us a huge single-day spike (300+ wishlists), but there was basically no long-tail effect afterward.
• Influencer Outreach: We've recently started talking with TikTok gaming creators. One creator quoted us $1,500 for a sponsored video.

At our current scale, does spending $1,500 on a TikTok creator actually make sense? Has anyone here seen strong wishlist conversions from paid TikTok promotions, especially before Next Fest?

We're trying to figure out whether we should double down on influencers or pivot toward something else entirely before the festival starts.

Would really appreciate hearing real numbers or experiences from other indie devs. Thanks!

Game Title: CREWED

Playable Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2662310/Crewed/

Platform: PC (Steam)

Description: CREWED is a 2–6 player cooperative spaceship management game where the biggest threat isn’t deep space, it’s your own crew. Heavily inspired by the chaotic energy of Lethal Company and the systemic tension of Barotrauma, players take control of a fragile spaceship that constantly demands absolute attention. Systems fail, alarms blare, and fires break out as the crew struggles to keep everything running under intense pressure. What starts as routine coordination quickly spirals into high-pressure situations where every single mistake can trigger a devastating chain reaction of disasters. Communication and timing are vital to stay alive, as no two runs play out the same. We have just launched our public Steam Playtest and are looking for players to test the limits of our ship's interconnected systems, try out the firefighting mechanics, and give us honest feedback on the overall game balance and co-op fun factor.

Free to Play Status:
[X] Free to play (The Steam Playtest is currently 100% free to join and play)

Involvement: I am one of the 3 independent developers at Limina Games making this game from scratch.

This is the world behind our co-op game Crewed

In the world of our game, space travel isn’t advanced, it’s neglected.

Ships are patched together, systems barely work, and corporations prioritize profit over crew safety.

Crews are sent on missions with equipment that is expected to fail.

Not because it’s unavoidable but because it’s cheaper.

Most ships aren’t maintained between runs.

If something breaks, the crew deals with it.

If they fail, they’re replaced.

The result is a system where chaos isn’t an accident. It’s part of the design.

The atmosphere of a new environment from our game Crewed.
Retro sci-fi with a slightly chaotic and fun feel.

If you’re curious:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2662310/Crewed/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=y2kaesthetic

Hey! We’re a team of 3 working on our first PC game, a co-op spaceship game called Crewed.

We just hit 771 wishlists, which has been a huge milestone for us.

Most of this came from:

• Reddit posts (especially niche subreddits)
• Short gameplay clips

We’re preparing for Steam Next Fest, so still pushing hard on visibility.

Would love to hear what’s worked for others at this stage especially around converting views into wishlists. If you want to check it out, it’s called Crewed a co-op game about keeping a failing spaceship alive.

I’ve been working on the visual direction for a co-op game and wanted to share some atmosphere shots.

The goal is a retro sci-fi interior that feels both tense and a bit “lived-in” something that can support chaos and humor at the same time.

I’m especially trying to balance:

– Industrial / cold environment

– Small touches that make it feel human (like seating, clutter, color pops)

Would love to hear if this reads well visually, or if anything feels off in terms of mood, composition or storytelling.

(Preparing for Next Fest, so still iterating on the look.)

If anyone’s curious, it’s part of a co-op game we’re working on.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2662310/Crewed/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=conceptart

We’re a team of 3 working on our first PC game, Crewed.

It’s a co-op game where you and your friends try to keep a failing spaceship running while everything starts breaking at the same time.

We recently shared some clips and reached 368 wishlists in 2 days, which has been a huge motivation for us.

We’ll be part of Steam Next Fest soon, so any feedback is super valuable.

If it looks interesting to you, feel free to wishlist 🙏

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2662310/Crewed/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=spacegames