u/phantomscriptstudio

Hey everyone,

I wanted to share a small but very meaningful update.

A few days ago, I posted about finally releasing our first Steam game, Dice Carnival, after a pretty stressful launch process. That post received way more attention and support than we expected, and I’m genuinely thankful to everyone who commented, checked out the game, wishlisted it, or just sent kind words.

Since then, the game has passed the 10 review threshold on Steam.

It is currently at 12 reviews and marked as Positive.

For a small team releasing its first game, this feels huge. Our first week is not even over yet, and seeing people play the game, leave reviews, share builds, and give feedback has been honestly incredible.

This whole process has taught us a lot. We are going to keep supporting Dice Carnival for a long time with updates, bug fixes, balance changes, and community driven improvements. We want to keep the game as clean, fun, and responsive to player feedback as we can.

We had also already started working on our second game, and there are some exciting things happening on that side too. Everything we learned from Dice Carnival, especially during launch, will help us make the next development process smoother and better.

Thank you again to everyone who supported us.

For a first release, this means more than I can really explain.

After a long, stressful, and honestly pretty chaotic journey, we finally released our first game on Steam.

Our game is called Dice Carnival. It’s a dice based roguelike where you build synergies, push your luck, and try to survive a weird little carnival of escalating choices.

This whole development period has been intense for us. We are a small team, and during the process we had to deal with a lot of unexpected problems, delays, fixes, last minute changes, and the usual indie dev panic that comes with trying to finish something bigger than yourself.

Even the launch itself didn’t go smoothly.

We were supposed to release yesterday, but a small Steam achievement image issue blocked the final approval. The problem was fixed quickly, but we still had to wait for the review to go through, so the launch had to be delayed at the very last moment.

That was painful. We had already made announcements, people were waiting, and after working toward a specific date for so long, missing it by one day felt awful.

But today, the approval finally came through.

Dice Carnival is now live on Steam.

It feels strange, scary, and amazing at the same time. After everything that went wrong, we still made it to release.

If you are working on your own game and everything feels messy, late, broken, or uncertain, I just want to say: keep going. Sometimes launch does not look clean or perfect. Sometimes it arrives exhausted and one day late. But it still counts.

Thanks to everyone who supported us, gave feedback, wishlisted, shared the game, or simply waited.

We finally did it.

Hey everyone,

After a long, stressful, and honestly pretty chaotic journey, we finally released our first game on Steam.

Our game is called Dice Carnival. It’s a dice based roguelike where you build synergies, push your luck, and try to survive a weird little carnival of escalating choices.

This whole development period has been intense for us. We are a small team, and during the process we had to deal with a lot of unexpected problems, delays, fixes, last minute changes, and the usual indie dev panic that comes with trying to finish something bigger than yourself.

Even the launch itself didn’t go smoothly.

We were supposed to release yesterday, but a small Steam achievement image issue blocked the final approval. The problem was fixed quickly, but we still had to wait for the review to go through, so the launch had to be delayed at the very last moment.

That was painful. We had already made announcements, people were waiting, and after working toward a specific date for so long, missing it by one day felt awful.

But today, the approval finally came through.

Dice Carnival is now live on Steam.

It feels strange, scary, and amazing at the same time. After everything that went wrong, we still made it to release.

If you are working on your own game and everything feels messy, late, broken, or uncertain, I just want to say: keep going. Sometimes launch does not look clean or perfect. Sometimes it arrives exhausted and one day late. But it still counts.

Thanks to everyone who supported us, gave feedback, wishlisted, shared the game, or simply waited.

We finally did it.

Hi everyone,

Dice Carnival just reached 1,000 wishlists, 4 days before launch.

I know 1,000 wishlists is not a massive number compared to many games on Steam, but for us it feels huge. My wife and I have been working on this game without a publisher, without a marketing budget, and mostly just trying to figure things out as we go.

The game launches on July 17, and seeing that 1,000 people cared enough to wishlist it before release honestly feels a bit unreal.

Dice Carnival is a dice-building roguelike where you build broken dice combos, collect tokens, upgrade your dice, and try to survive the carnival. We tried to make something simple to understand, but with enough weird synergies to make every run feel different.

I’m sharing the milestone screenshot because this is probably the first time the game has felt “real” in this way. There is still a lot of uncertainty before launch, but reaching this point already means a lot to us.

If you have a minute, I’d love to hear your thoughts:

Does the Steam page/trailer make the game look clear and interesting enough?
And for other indie devs, did you do anything useful in the final few days before launch?

Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4414210/Dice_Carnival/

Thank you for reading.

Game Title:
Dice Carnival

Playable Link:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4414210/Dice_Carnival/

Platform:
PC / Steam

Description:
Dice Carnival is a dice-building roguelike where you build your own dice strategy through upgrades, tokens, and risky combinations. Each run is about finding strange synergies, improving your dice, and trying to survive the carnival as the numbers get harder to beat. Some upgrades can change how your dice behave, while tokens can affect your economy, scoring, or the way your run develops. We wanted the game to feel simple to understand at first, but gradually open up into broken and satisfying combos as you learn more systems. The game is close to release, and I’d really love to hear whether the trailer and Steam page explain the core idea clearly enough.

Free to Play Status:
[ ] Free to play
[x] Demo/Key available
[ ] Paid

Involvement:
I’m one of the developers of Dice Carnival. My wife and I are making the game together as our first commercial release. I handle the programming and game design side, and we’ve been building the game without a publisher or marketing budget.

Tomorrow our first Steam Next Fest comes to an end.
Honestly, just being here feels a little unreal.
About six years ago, my wife and I met and started talking about all the creative projects we wanted to make together someday comics, games, stories, all kinds of things.
Instead, we spent years working in the game industry for other companies. We got married, kept improving our skills, and kept telling ourselves that one day we’d finally build something of our own.
That day kept getting postponed.
During those years I went through three different layoffs. Every time we thought things were becoming stable, the industry reminded us how fragile that stability really was.
By last November we were exhausted.
So we made a decision:
“Maybe we know enough now. Maybe it’s finally time to try.”
That’s when we started working on our own game.
After months of long days, late nights, constant iteration, feedback, redesigns, and learning things the hard way, we launched a demo and joined Steam Next Fest this month.
Some people might look at our wishlist numbers and think they’re small.
Maybe they are.
But honestly, that’s okay.
Because this time, it’s ours.
Not a project for a company that might lay us off next year.
Not somebody else’s dream.
Ours.
And that alone makes me incredibly proud.
Our first game, Dice Carnival, is planned to release in about a month. Financially, freelancing alone isn’t enough to keep delaying it forever, so we’re finally taking the leap.
And as you can probably tell from the photos, the game wasn’t the only thing that entered our lives last November.
We also adopted a cat.
While we’ve been locked at home working on the game for months, she’s been our tiny quality assurance department, emotional support team, and office supervisor.
The demo will remain available for another week even after Next Fest ends, and the full release is planned for next month.
If you’d like to take a look Steam page, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
And if you’re sitting on a dream project of your own, I genuinely hope you give it a shot someday.
I hope it’s worth it for you too. ❤️

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4414210/Dice\_Carnival/

Just before the festival, we started receiving wishlists from Japan thanks to the Game Spark news, and this allowed us to enter Nextfest a bit stronger. We're still behind our target, but I'm still very happy with the results.
My game is Dice Carnival. It's an dice based rougelike deck builder.
Steam page : https://store.steampowered.com/app/4414210/Dice_Carnival/

Hi! I am an indie dev and I just launched the demo for Dice Carnival, a dice-based roguelike deckbuilder focused on building “broken” synergies.

🎲 What it is:

- Dice-driven runs with a shop + bosses + events

- A “Bank” system: lock a die for the round to secure points, reroll the rest to manage luck

- Tokens that bend the rules and enable crazy combos

✅ Demo is live now on Steam, and we are part of Steam Next Fest we’d love your feedback on:

- Does the core loop feel clear/fun from the start?

- Is RNG fair, or does it feel too swingy?

- Are bosses/challenges a good “build check” or too punishing?

Steam page (demo): https://store.steampowered.com/app/4414210/Dice_Carnival/

Thanks for checking it out!

A small milestone, but one that means a lot to me: i just reached 400 wishlists, only 2 days before Steam Next Fest.

What’s wild is how it happened.

I made a Japanese tweet after suddenly noticing wishlists from Japan increasing.
That tweet got great engagement, so I followed it up with a thank-you post.
Then Game Spark picked up the story and wrote an article about it.

That whole chain reaction ended up pushing Dice Carnival to 400 wishlists right before Next Fest.

I’m honestly both really happy and really excited right now.
As a solodev, moments like this feel huge.

My demo is live now, and we’re participating in Next Fest.
I really hope it turns into a great festival for the game.

If you want to take a look, I’ll leave the Steam link here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4414210/Dice_Carnival/

And if you do try it, I’d genuinely love to hear what you think.

Hi! I am an indie dev and I just launched the demo for Dice Carnival, a dice-based roguelike deckbuilder focused on building “broken” synergies.

🎲 What it is:

- Dice-driven runs with a shop + bosses + events

- A “Bank” system: lock a die for the round to secure points, reroll the rest to manage luck

- Tokens that bend the rules and enable crazy combos

✅ Demo is live now on Steam, and we’ll be part of Steam Next Fest we’d love your feedback on:

- Does the core loop feel clear/fun from the start?

- Is RNG fair, or does it feel too swingy?

- Are bosses/challenges a good “build check” or too punishing?

Steam page (demo): https://store.steampowered.com/app/4414210/Dice_Carnival/

Thanks for checking it out!

Merhaba, yeni demo trailer ile beraber oyunumuz Dice Carnival’ın demosu açıldı. Bu süreçte oyunu deneyip feedback verirseniz benim için çok güzel olur.
Tester ya da yayıncımız bulunmadığı için her şeyi bir kaç kişiye test ettirerek devam ediyorum ayrıca feedbacklere göre bu süreçte çok fazla değişiklik yaptım her zaman oyuncu tarafından geliştirmeler yapmaya çabalıyorum.

Dice Carnival bir rougelike deckbuilder. Zar atarak hedef score a ulaşmaya çalışıyoruz, bazı zarları seçiyoruz kullandığımız tokenlar ve upgradeler ile kendimizi geliştiriyoruz ve roundları kazanarak sürekli kendimizi geliştiriyoruz. Her 5 roundda bir boss ile karşılaşıyoruz ve 30roundda ilk tour bitiyor. Sonsuz devam etmesi ve farklı tourlar da tam sürümde eklenecek.

Ekibimiz 2 kişi, evli bir çift olarak ben develope kısmını eşim ise ui ve görsel taraftaki her şey ile ilgileniyor. Kasımdan beri ilerlettiğimiz bu projede haziran next fest e katılacağız.

Merhaba, yeni demo trailer ile beraber oyunumuz Dice Carnival’ın demosu açıldı. Bu süreçte oyunu deneyip feedback verirseniz benim için çok güzel olur.
Tester ya da yayıncımız bulunmadığı için her şeyi bir kaç kişiye test ettirerek devam ediyorum ayrıca feedbacklere göre bu süreçte çok fazla değişiklik yaptım her zaman oyuncu tarafından geliştirmeler yapmaya çabalıyorum.

Dice Carnival bir rougelike deckbuilder. Zar atarak hedef score a ulaşmaya çalışıyoruz, bazı zarları seçiyoruz kullandığımız tokenlar ve upgradeler ile kendimizi geliştiriyoruz ve roundları kazanarak sürekli kendimizi geliştiriyoruz. Her 5 roundda bir boss ile karşılaşıyoruz ve 30roundda ilk tour bitiyor. Sonsuz devam etmesi ve farklı tourlar da tam sürümde eklenecek.

Ekibimiz 2 kişi, evli bir çift olarak ben develope kısmını eşim ise ui ve görsel taraftaki her şey ile ilgileniyor. Kasımdan beri ilerlettiğimiz bu projede haziran next fest e katılacağız.

I think we finally “made it” (at least a little).

Over the last months I emailed a lot of content creators asking if they’d try our Steam Playtest. A few really kind channels actually jumped in, played Dice Carnival, and even sent us clips from their recordings.

Their feedback helped us improve the game a lot (and made us see the weak spots fast). But the biggest thing I learned is: if you already enjoy roguelites/deckbuilders, this kind of dice-based “build crafting” can be genuinely fun.

Here is a short clips from one of the playtest runs: shop → round → event (you can hear them say “this is really fun”)

Full video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VVZwUeJyHc&t=2537s

They didn’t struggle too much with the basics, and once they got comfortable, they built a solid deck, beat bosses/events, and reached a pretty good point on their first run. After this playtest I also added more tokens to increase variety and there will be even more in the full release.

Huge thanks to them for supporting us.

If you want to try the game yourself: our public demo launches on **June 4**.

Steam Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4414210/Dice_Carnival/

I’d love to hear your feedback after you play.

We’re only a 2‑person team, and seeing someone spend 40–50 minutes on a run and genuinely enjoy it is a kind of joy I can’t really explain.

I think we finally “made it” (at least a little).

Over the last months I emailed a lot of content creators asking if they’d try our Steam Playtest. A few really kind channels actually jumped in, played Dice Carnival, and even sent us clips from their recordings.

Their feedback helped us improve the game a lot (and made us see the weak spots fast). But the biggest thing I learned is: if you already enjoy roguelites/deckbuilders, this kind of dice-based “build crafting” can be genuinely fun.

Here is a short clips from one of the playtest runs: A high-roll moment (3 sixes) into token interactions, ending with “I love it, I really really love it”

Full video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VVZwUeJyHc&t=2537s

They didn’t struggle too much with the basics, and once they got comfortable, they built a solid deck, beat bosses/events, and reached a pretty good point on their first run. After this playtest I also added more tokens to increase variety — and there will be even more in the full release.

Huge thanks to them for supporting us.

If you want to try the game yourself: our public demo launches on **June 4**.
Steam Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4414210/Dice_Carnival/

I’d love to hear your feedback after you play.

We’re only a 2‑person team, and seeing someone spend 40–50 minutes on a run and genuinely enjoy it is a kind of joy I can’t really explain.

Even though dice are random, the goal is to let you *manage luck* through builds (tokens/Jokers), and chase that “broken combo” feeling.

This clip shows a quick run flow: a couple rounds → boss fight → shop decisions.

Bosses/events are meant to act like “build checks” you’re supposed to adapt your setup, not just brute force it.
What kind of boss modifiers do you enjoy in roguelites?

Demo coming late May.
Steam page

Before/after from our project Dice Carnival.

Image 1: day-one Unity prototype, just testing a single dice + score/timer.
Image 2: ~3–4 months later, it turned into a full dice-based roguelike deckbuilder with bosses, shops, tokens/Jokers, etc.

Honestly I can’t believe how far it’s come in such a short time.

A public demo is coming very soon (late May).
If you have 30 seconds: what do you think is the biggest improvement, and what still looks unclear/weird at first glance?

(If you want to follow along, Steam page is here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4414210/Dice_Carnival/ )

Hi! We’re a 2-person indie team making Dice Carnival, a dice-based roguelike deckbuilder.

Even though dice are random, the goal is to let you *manage luck* through builds (tokens/Jokers), and chase that “broken combo” feeling.

This clip shows a quick run flow: a couple rounds → boss fight → shop decisions.

Demo is planned for late May. If this looks like your kind of game, I’d love to hear:
- Does the core loop look clear/fun from the clip?
- What would you expect from a demo (length / content)?

Steam page

She mostly specializes in:
stepping on the keyboard
deleting Unity windows
demanding food during debugging sessions
But morale has improved significantly.