r/gamedev

For the last few days I've been considering making a simple online game which is based on communication between people by texting.

But at the same time, I've been thinking about the impact that technology have on us - they make us lonely, isolate us, social skills are degrading and people live their lives in smartphones, in front of screens, not making genuine connections with others in real life. At least, this is something I've noticed in myself. When I think about all the effects, it makes me sad. And when I'm thinking about my hypothetical game, I ask myself: "Am I really going to connect different people around the globe or will the game become for someone just another reason to not talk to people in real life and will make them more glued to their phones?".

This is the ethic dilemma I'm currently in and honestly not sure what to do. I want to connect people, but at the same time these connections will be surface-level and will never replace those from IRL. Maybe I'm projecting myself, since I was doing exactly this for a long time (texting to people online whom I met in an online game, but didn't have real friends IRL).

I'm stuck. At the end of the day, I just want people to be happy and the world to become a happier place.

New to game development like really new. I have an idea but I’m struggling to figure out a way to get the hands to work and was wondering if anyone could gives some pointers. I want 2d characters hands in a 3d first person plane

I don't mean the type, as far as Zoners, Grapplers, or that kind of thing.

I mean, for the characters themselves, what are the archetypes that attract you?

Obviously it's a very subjective thing, and it'll be different for everyone. But I'm curious what your first thought is.

The reason I'm asking, is because I'm planning to try and make a fighting game. I have a few ideas for the roster, based on what I know I, and my friends like, and look for. But I'm curious about what you think on the matter.

am working on a game , and there is some parts on the game that am still not sure how they will work , every time i think of a way either it become complicated or wont work or it wont be like the way i want it to be

now it become a while and i have nothing done on my game , i start very few scripts then nothing , i just keep thinking of how to make the hard part and that make me do nothing

i though that i should start working on the easy part and just figure it out later , the only problem that that think that am not sure how to make is the core system of my game and it what the whole game work around it , and again i keep thinking that i should figure it out first and make it work then i should work o the rest of the game

dose anyone happen to have same issue ? what did you do ?

Reading posts of devs who struggle to gain traction and consider spending a lot of money on marketing to save it, I feel a common misconception is to think that influencers or aggressive marketing can turn things around and save your game.

If you struggle to gain traction on your own, chances are that the game is simply not appealing enough, and even if a popular influencer ends up playing it, it will not magically make everyone buy it.

An interesting recent case is Gorilla Showdown, a new multiplayer game that was part of the Zlan, one the most watched game competition in France, it gathers millions of viewers over 3 days. Interestingly, this game was the only non-popular game showcased (others were stuff like AoE or Worms), I assume the developers had some kind of agreement with the organizers of the Zlan to have their game among the roster. The game didn't manage to gain traction on its own before the event, and despite being watched by millions of viewers, in only gained 40 followers and has the same review count.

It's also something I experienced with one game I released and that flopped, I kept thinking 'I just need one popular guy to play it and it will be fine!', I got lucky and one youtuber with 17m suscribers played it, the video had a million views but it didn't change anything sales wise. After that I made another game that managed to gain traction on its own, and with this one the influencers did have a large impact on the sales.

Influencers are a multiplier, if your game can get traction on its own, they will make it snowball, but if it doesn't, it's like multiplying 0. So if you're hesitating to X thousands on marketing to try to save your game, it may be better to invest that money in the developement of the next game instead.

What actually makes you pull the trigger on a pack, and what makes you pass?

Curious about what you look for when evaluating an SFX pack or library, what frustrates you most about what’s currently out there, and what sounds or categories you consistently struggle to find in good quality.

Appreciate any and all responses.

We’re a Brazilian indie studio making a roguelite deckbuilder auto-shooter inspired by the Brazilian “cangaço” (a historical movement from the backlands of northeastern Brazil).

Our game used to be called “A Cat in the Cangaço” and “Um Gato no Cangaço” at Portuguese, but we’re now considering simplifying the branding to just:

“Gato Cangaço”

The problem is: most international players have absolutely no idea what “cangaço” means.

So now we’re debating the localization strategy for the title itself.

Here are the options we’re considering:

1. Keep “Gato Cangaço” globally, but localize a subtitle depending on language:

• Gato Cangaço: The Price of a Blessing
• Gato Cangaço: El Precio de una Bendición
• Gato Cangaço: Цена Благословения
• Gato Cangaço：祝福的代价

2. Keep only “Gato Cangaço” in every language, no subtitle.

3.Fully localize the title depending on language:

• A Cat in the Cangaço
• A Cat in the Backlands
• Um Gato no Cangaço etc.

One thing we noticed is that fully translating the title seems clearer, but also removes a lot of the game’s identity and uniqueness.

At the same time, keeping “Gato Cangaço” untouched may hurt discoverability or readability internationally.

What would you personally prefer as a player?

Would an untranslated title make you more curious, or less likely to click?

(And if you’re curious about the project itself, our Steam page is here.)

I am wondering what is typical version control system you use for backing up game assets, sounds etc.

I have been looking at git, svn et all. they seems to have problem with large files.

Hello. I'm currently having fun outlining the concept for a game, which involves the use of a roulette and multiple decks of poker cards. I was wondering if there was a software or multitude of tools that could be used to simulate that environment, as well as scoring or currencies, to test out concepts and interactions in real time without having to buy the cards myself. I don't need complex scripted events, just a way to visualize what I'm doing that isn't just on paper. I'm a total newbie when it comes to game developing, so I'm not expecting an exact software that does this to exist, but I'd appreciate any pointing towards tools and resources that may be of interest.

I really love the code aspects of games and was interested in algorithms and game mechanics implementations and balancing stuff out, but recently I lost all motivation to work on anything for some reason, even the idea of making a small project I don't have the motivation to do it and I don't know why, I used to enjoy these stuff so much and staying up late at nights to work on my games and projects, this also is happening with any form of art I used to do like painting and music making, I literally don't have motivation to do anything anymore but I feel normal? Should I just not do game dev anymore?

I recently shared my business simulator game idea with a few game developers, and they were surprisingly very interested in the concept.

The game is focused on very deep and realistic real-world business systems, decision-making, conditions, and interconnected logic. The goal is to create a highly detailed simulation experience where everything affects everything else.

I don’t want traditional 3D gameplay or character-focused mechanics. The experience is mostly dashboard/UI-driven, with the main focus being on simulation depth and realistic systems.

After hearing the full concept, the developers mentioned that the project is much bigger than it initially sounds because of the amount of logic, balancing, edge cases, and interconnected systems involved.

They estimated that developing the game properly could take close to 1 year and cost around ₹3–4 lakhs.

Now I’m seriously thinking about whether I should proceed with it as an indie founder.

So I wanted honest opinions from people here:

• Would anyone play a deeply realistic business simulator game on Steam?
• Does the development timeline sound realistic?
• And do you think spending that amount on a first major indie project is worth the risk?

Would genuinely love some honest feedback.

edit for context: Overlord is a light novel with a manga and anime adaptation

While looking my question up online i came across this comment in which they say:

>Any existing assets - images, code, writing, or music - are under copyright and you can not copy them from another game.

>Names are trademarked - your name can not be the same or mistakable for an existing trademarked name.

>Ideas, aesthetics, moods, atmospheres, colours, compositions, mechanics, feelings, inspirations, names, references to secondary works (myths), and pretty much anything else you can think of are not copyrighted.

So does this name of a skill fall under the trademarked name? Or is it just an idea? Because the words: the goal of all life is death, are just normal words arranged in a certain way and I don't think you can trademark that right?

For this one skill it probably wouldn't cause any problems then right? But what is the limit? Is there a certain ratio you would probably best adhere to? Like 50% original self made names and 50% of already existing material?

Because in the end, isn't there always some game or online novel or something that has already used a certain arrangement of words to use as the name of a skill? So as long as all your names for your skills would come from different sources, or at least just not all from 1 source it would be okay?

Would love some advice, thank you!

I have been looking for different roles that are required to make a game, from start to finish. I have a diploma in Ui UX Design but im willing to learn blender and unreal if needed for character modeling and/or programming. I know its a long process but im very intrigued with everything that goes into making a game. What can I do, where can I start and what has the most potential in the industry. I would love to know all your thoughts.

To a developer a game will never be finished and imperfect. Dont let your game that is ready to be played stay in the oven for several more months because of something players will never see or notice. Release and update.

EDIT: Anyone who is taking this post as condensending instead of trying to remind folks who are indefinitely delaying their game due to launch anxiety and using a random bug as an excuse, please check your ego, because it isnt that deep.

I want to create a new game but unsure of what language to use. Right off the bat I think we can cross out python (i just don't think it'll work as well imo), and also unity because I'm a bit uncomfortable in coding that involes some visual aspects (yes, even unity), but what is a pretty decent language to use? I'm going to use vs code for it. I was thinking of javascript, but tell me if there's any better ones.

So in August 2025 I decided I was gonna try and make my first indie game.

At the time I honestly had no idea what I was getting myself into, i just knew i wanted to build a studio. I put out posts looking for people that wanted to come along for the ride and ended up having ~220 people apply. I interviewed like 70 of them and eventually a really small group of us decided we were gonna try and build a game in 6 months which now feels completely insane lol

This has probably been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done honestly.

We lost people early on, lost our lead developer, brought new people in, changed direction a million times, burned through money faster than I expected. There were multiple points where I genuinely dont think we even knew what game we were making anymore.

What started as this weird vacuum cleaning simulator somehow slowly turned into this strange hell cleaning automation game called Hell Cleaners.

And weirdly enough I think thats probably the biggest thing I’ve learned from this whole process. You dont really “protect” the original idea, you just survive long enough to eventually discover what the game actually wants to be.

Game development is brutal though man.

Programming is hard. Art is hard. Sound design is hard. Game feel is REALLY hard. Scope management is hard. Getting all of those things to somehow work together into something that actually feels fun feels borderline impossible sometimes.

but I can honestly say I’m really proud of what the team has managed to put together in the last few months.

If you’re trying to become a game developer yourself just understand right now its probably gonna be harder, take longer, and cost more than you think it will. Probably by a lot.

But I do think every time you finish something and start over again you get a little better. Not easier exactly, just better at surviving the process lol which is why it is so important to us to hit this release deadline so we can learn through an ENTIRE process before moving onto the next

Anyways, I’d actually be curious hearing from other devs that went through similar stuff on their first projects. Especially around scope creep, pivots, team issues, all that kinda stuff.

And seriously to everybody out there still grinding on their games right now, I respect the hell out of you guys

Shout out to my team, shout out to unity for existing so we can make it happen haha

We have an alpha version out right now for brutal feedback if anyone wants to check it out, lmk.

I’m trying to better understand how useful the smaller Steam festivals and themed events are for gathering wishlists, especially compared to Steam Next Fest.

Most advice I’ve seen says that Steam Next Fest is the big one and that it can generate a significant number of wishlists if your demo performs well. But Steam also runs many other themed festivals throughout the year.

For developers who have participated in both:

• How many wishlists did you get from smaller Steam festivals compared to Steam Next Fest?
• Were the smaller festivals still worth preparing for?
• Did they bring meaningful traffic, or mostly just minor visibility?

I’m especially interested in real examples or rough ratios if anyone has any data.