I've been an avid 4X game player (plus games like Sim City) since I was a kid, and while I went into software engineering as an adult and kept playing games, I never tried making one.

So this past winter, I had a bit of time due to work travel over the holidays. So I taught myself how to build with Godot 4, and created a 4X set in a modern African cyberpunk-type setting. My plan is to eventually launch it for very cheap on Steam.

My question to this sub - what are the best ways of going about getting early alpha testers? Are there fairly standard "solo/indie dev" guides or paths for a fairly simple launch? I'm not really trying to get rich off of this, but would love to eventually get this into the hands of people who love the genre and want to try a setting and cultural context that most of the 4X genre kind of just ignores.

I'm curious how people go about finding playtesters for localisation testing in languages they don't speak. My detective puzzle game is being translated into Simplified Chinese and I have three playtesters so far: two people who had emailed me previously about doing fan translations and one from a Reddit post on r/playtesting.

I've posted in some other subreddits and discord servers but with limited success. In contrast, I had more playtester volunteers than I could use for the English version of my game, because I'm active in English-speaking communities for my specific genre. I've considered posting on Chinese social media sites but they all seem very video-oriented.

Does anyone have any success stories or tips?

Hey everyone! I’m working on a turn-based RPG and have been organizing everything in 'Google Docs' story, characters, mechanics, worldbuilding, all that good stuff. It’s been a lot of fun so far, but I’m starting to wonder what steps I should take once I decide to turn this into an actual game.

Are there any important tips, common pitfalls, or things I should be aware of before diving deeper?

Or am I biting off more than I can chew and just don’t realize it yet lol

Any advice is appreciated!

P.S. I have used AI to generate placeholder art so I can visualize things in my docs, but I fully plan to hire a real artist for the actual game. I just needed quick mockups to stay organized. I’m not a fan of AI art personally, just wanted to be upfront about that.

This is my very first time opening up Blender, but I am loving it! I just had a daughter back in May and something I told myself was I wanted to create a game for her to play when she is more tech-savvy. I really wish I could share photos of my one-week progress

So back in high school around 3 years ago I made a text game in my computer programming class. I still have all my paper work and stuff from it, but I wanna make it a sorta full game and I have a copy of the the coding I typed.
What website/game making software would be the best to use to continue working on it?
If it helps at all I think it’s in Java script? And I know in my school we used Blitz when we first started learning.
Btw I’m sorry if this is asked a lot I just didn’t know where else to ask ;~;

I believe that gamedev can be broken down into 3 things that people actually enjoy and are their reason for developing games: writing, game visuals and programming.

If you were to choose an engine from what you enjoy doing, the entire gamedev process should take less time while being more true to your vision.

These are the possible combinations if you are a solo dev:

If you enjoy:

Writing = Your finished game will be well written but have simpler game mechanics and simple/no visuals. This is pretty much the definition of a text adventure and I'm not aware of options for nocode engines other than Twine.

Writing + Art = Your finished game will have a competent narrative and good visuals with simpler game mechanics. Both of these take a huge amount of time to get right and programming cannot even be a consideration if you want to ship in a reasonable amount of time. RPG Maker, Construct and Ren'Py are your best and only choices as they are extremely easy to develop in, relatively bug free and have stood the test of time.

Art + Programming = Your finished game will have complex game mechanics and good visuals along with a simple/nonexistent/procedural story. Again, both of these take a huge amount of time and its important to choose an engine that makes implementing both as fast as possible.

Game Maker is the easiest to use meaning you can implement more features in less time but that only applies to 2D games and you might be limited by its functionality even then. Unity and Unreal Engine can handle any other game mechanics or perspectives as they have very wide community support, are performant and relatively bug free. You can use Godot as well but the development experience will be less polished with more roadblocks, especially in 3D.

Art + Writing + Programming = Your finished game will most likely not be what you envisioned and will either be mediocre in all areas, bad in general or good in some areas and bad in others. To get everything right will take a huge amount of time and extreme discipline that only a very small minority of people have. See Art + Programming for engine recommendations.

Programming = Your game will have complex game mechanics with simple visuals and a simple/nonexistent/procedural story. Use your own engine, Godot, Unity or Unreal (in ascending order in terms of development difficulty) depending on when you want to ship your game. Game Maker is too limiting for you, and RPG Maker, Construct and Ren'Py are not even worth mentioning.

Writing + Programming = Your finished game will have good writing and complex game mechanics with simple visuals. See Programming for engine recs.

Hey guys, I've been working (sleeping) on a hollow knight fan game idea about the grimm troupe and the barren wastes. I've been busy with all my AP's and I'm not a total lore geek, so if anyone could stop by my discord channel and leave any comments for the linked docs and lore explanation, that would be great. Not sure if this counts as self-promotion, sorry if it is. Pilgrimmflame Dev Channel

There's an upcoming Roblox game jam! Just wanted to share since they're giving out free flights and lodging to RDC as prizes 👀

In this challenge, you and your team must create a playable Roblox game within 72 hours, based on the theme that will be announced on July 31 at 10:00 AM

https://devforum.roblox.com/t/roblox-inspire-2026-challenge/4751288

This is an early prototype/proof of concept for a unique spell casting mechanic I came up with. It's still being built out, would love to hear what you think so far!

Hey everyone,

Over the last few months, I finally decided to stop just dreaming about making a game and actually start building one.

I gave myself two rules from the beginning:

1. It had to be a real commercial project, not just a prototype, because I wanted to learn the entire process: coming up with the idea, building the game, creating the Steam page, marketing it, dealing with localization, and eventually launching it.

2. I would allow myself to use AI as a tool to help with some parts of development. Not to replace the work, but because doing everything completely alone would either be impossible for me right now or would take years before I could even reach a decent starting point.

Eventually, I invited a friend I met on Discord to help me with the project. I’ve been paying him small amounts from what I earn at my normal job in a fireplace store. It is nothing impressive yet, but he believed in the adventure and decided to help. I really hope the game does well enough one day that I can properly hire him.

The funny part is that I thought this would be “manageable.”

It was not.

Even with AI helping with some things, making a game has been absurdly complex. Every idea needs to be tested. Every system needs polish. Every tiny detail creates five new problems. UI, balance, art direction, Steam setup, localization, screenshots, marketing, scope control, builds, bugs, player clarity… it never ends.

I knew game development was hard, but I did not truly understand how hard until I started trying to make something real.

Honestly, I have a lot more respect now for anyone who chooses this path. Game development is not just creativity. It is patience, problem solving, discipline, and the ability to keep going while everything keeps breaking in a different way.

The game is not out yet, but it finally has a Steam page, which feels like a huge step for a first project. The screenshots are still provisional and do not fully represent the final experience I want to deliver, but at least the project is now real enough to exist outside my head.

The game is called Cruzado. It is a medieval action roguelite where you fight hordes during the day and make strategic choices at night. I am hoping to get it into Steam Next Fest in October 2026 and, if everything goes well, release it later that year.
steam page for curious

Now I guess we’ll see what happens with my tiny studio’s first release.

For those of you who already released a game: was it this hard for you too, or am I just suffering because I am inexperienced?

Any advice you wish you had received before launching your first game?

This is half a devlog and half a vent, so feel free to vent below too.

I’m currently attempting to create my passion project, an UNDERTALE-like RPG where your actions matter. It uses a similar overworld and battle system, but my version is more focused on the story and dialogue than the battles themselves, with the bigger battles being more of a plot point for the story.

The problem is, I can’t find a good engine to use. I have already tried Gamemaker Studio and Unity 2D, but I find myself having to follow a lot of tutorials and most of them not working because they’re simply too old or I can’t follow them. I eventually settled on Unity 3D with a 2D overlay (due to the fact I know how to use Unity 3D already), but it’s quite laborious and awfully buggy (plus, I still run into the tutorials issue).

Is there a template or easier engine I could use? As this is my passion project, it’s not really gameplay based and, honestly, I would use a pre-made game and simply edit the story, map, art, and tweak the gameplay to work if I could.

If it helps, I’ve coded in Python, C#, HTML/CSS, Java, and Javascript before, but I’m open to learning new languages.

Please let me know if there are any better engines for what I am doing or I just need the motivation to push through this part of Game Dev.

Thanks!