I spent 2.5 years coding this game.

I've spent 6 months just trying to tell people it exists.

Marketing is a different kind of hard. Coding has logic. Clear inputs, clear outputs. Marketing? It's storytelling, psychology, timing, luck — and most of it feels like shouting into a void.

The game is a 4-player family thing where kids can actually beat adults. Fully voiced so pre-readers can play. Built because I was tired of "educational" games that bored everyone.

But none of that matters if nobody sees it. So here I am. Shouting into the void, hoping the algorithm decides I'm worth showing you.

How do you discover new indie games? Steam browsing? TikTok clips? Word of mouth?

It's family game night and your kids want to play YOUR game — but it's not exactly suitable for a kid. You've tried 'educational' games before, but they bored the adults in minutes. And somehow, everyone ends up on their phones instead.

Does this sound familiar?

At last: a game that keeps kids learning, keeps grown-ups entertained — and with every word fully voiced in 19 languages, even pre-readers and grandparents can jump right in without help.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3178920/Educational_Family_Games/

Those wholesome family game night ads? Gentle competition, perfect memories...

That's not what happens.

Reality: Someone's crying by round two. Controller 'accidents'. Nobody having fun—not even the winner.

I watched families for two years. Games aren't broken. Expectations are.

Build for the chaos. The comebacks. The kid losing at 9:47 who wins at 9:52.

Messy nights = Thanksgiving stories ten years later.

When did your game night derail?

My QA process for Educational Family Games is simple:

I hand the controller to a 7-year-old and a 10-year-old. Then I shut up and watch.

No instructions. No 'press this button.' Just observe.

If they frown or look confused? UI fail. Back to the drawing board. If they smile and lean forward? That's the good stuff. Keep it.

Kids don't need to tell you what's wrong. Their face does all the talking.

80 games made it through the silence test. Launching June 24.

Wishlist: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3178920/Educational_Family_Games/

I went with crisp 4K 2D instead of standard 3D for Educational Family Games.

Why?

• Nostalgia hits different — reminds parents of the games they grew up with • Kids don't care about polygons, they care about clarity • 80 games, all readable at a glance on any screen • Actually runs on that old laptop your kid uses

Sometimes the retro choice is the smart choice.

Wishlist: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3178920/Educational_Family_Games/

That's why I built my game around fun first, competition second. No crushing defeats. No rage quits. Just good times.

🎮 Wishlist now: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3178920/Educational_Family_Games/

What makes a family game night memorable for you?

After years of work, the Steam page for Educational Family Games is officially live. 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3178920/Educational_Family_Games/%C2%A0

80 quick-games. 5 game boards. 1–4 players on the same couch. Math, geography, science, logic, drawing, reflexes, and classic games your kids will love - and a few that might stump the adults too.

Every single word is voiced in 19 languages, so even pre-readers can jump in and play on their own.

If this sounds like something your family would enjoy, the single best thing you can do right now is add it to your wishlist. It's free, takes 5 seconds, and Steam will notify you the moment it launches.

No online multiplayer was a deliberate choice.

Couch co-op only. 4 players max. All in the same room laughing (or yelling at each other).

Steam page drops next week with wishlists open. After 2+ years of development, we're finally ready to share what we've been building.

Launching May 26.

#indiegaming #coopgames #familygaming #steam

I realized the best family games don't make you choose. Everyone can compete at their own level—and the youngest player doesn't have to lose for the older ones to have fun.

What's your house rule? 🎮

Hey everyone,

Like many of you, I've spent more time hunting for my next game than actually playing. I'm frustrated with recommenders that just push popular titles, ignoring what makes my taste unique.

That's why I've been building Gamescovery (games discovery!).

What is it?

Gamescovery is a new recommendation system designed specifically for games. The goal is simple: use your ratings from the games you've played to find hidden gems and perfect matches you'd otherwise miss.

Why it's different:

• It's not a generic engine. It's being built from the ground up to understand what you love about games.
• Future updates will let you fine-tune recommendations based on what matters most to you (genre, mood, developer, etc.).
• We start by focusing on the incredible world of itch.io indie games to help you uncover amazing projects that big algorithms overlook.

This is where you come in.

The alpha is now live, and it's very much an early build. I'm not a big company, I'm a solo developer who wants to build something the community actually finds useful. That's why your feedback is crucial.

As an alpha tester, you'll get:

• Early access to a tool designed to beat the "recommendation paradox."
• A direct line to the developer to shape project's future.
• The chance to help build a non-biased, community-driven platform.

Ready to try it out?

👉 Sign up for the alpha and start getting recommendations here: https://gamescovery.com/

Want to chat, suggest features, or report bugs? 🎮 Join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/brr7aYezMc

This project has and will always have a free tier. The dream is to support all major platforms, but we're starting with itch.io to prove the concept.

Thanks for your time, and I'm excited to hear what you think!

Solo dev here, over the calm holidays I built myself a small roguelike MMORP cozy (but permadeath) free to play browser game (mvp) called Tidewrath.

Every 5 minutes a tsunami wipes the surface. Get underground or lose everything. World regenerates, you start fresh.

Isometric pixel art, click-to-move combat, fishing, building stuff, player shops.

This is the first early access version. It should also work on iphone (fullscreen if you add to home screen and sound if you unmute phone).

No accounts yet, so if you want, you can just hop in and see how long you survive.

Would love some feedback if anyone gives it a try.

https://tidewrath.com/

check the release post: release-post

Beyond the Iron Cycle BTIC is fully independent project by one entity.

It is very hard to work and publish such a project as a single entity. Allthough the programming itself - on its own - is already hard, but the harder challenge is to publish the game as independent as possible - and when you know the project, you will know why this has to be as independently published as possible.

After trying several options (github, gibtlab, bitbucket, Savannah, http-hosters, ... - those are more/less: centralized/offering a lot of not needed features/unnecessarily complicated/hosted by toxic-entities like Microsoft/payed services) i think that lemmy is best platform and community to publish the project.

The code i wrote is really easy to check, if in doubt test this on some old laptop or raspberry pi - no strings attached.

Also i choose not to host this (very special) project continually, but until some (yet unknown) point in the future as limited downloads.

Until then, you will find the "release fountain"-post in the according community: https://lemmy.ml/c/btic

for some time i will answer some questions about the game here in the comment-section of this post.

thx, good luck and have fun!

Many things occur as a chance, but some chances may drift away in time and space and they will never come back.

[edit: typos, name hosting-options]

#linux #gaming #indiegaming #cyberpunk #decentralization #free-and-libre #terminal #unix #network

release fountain : Beyond the Iron Cycle

check out the release post: release-post

download: https://limewire.com/d/LUrxA#ZfERLUVwxU (limited downloads) sha256sum: 9cfb455a5ce72fd9fa9c9929cbb6ca6de6c120074da9921e5d656dbb7330e3bc hc-25-12-17.tar.bz2

game start: POS: Pos: r=1.1 SNU; dlt=32.11; phi=45.06 - relay pod

. . . This is an automated beacon signal . . .

You managed to reach the relay-pod, right on the edge of the estimated maximum extend of the Iron Cycle.

You need an operational hypercore to jump away from here.

Intermediate tasks:

• get&start the hypercore (hc-YY-MM-DD.tar.bz2)
• start a tor daemon
• contact the outpost pod [Sun, UTC 18-20]
• configure a tor-service (check MY_README)
• set up an url1 ([r][h])
• send a peer request to user1

[edit: title,link-target]

Umurangi Generation is a photography game with a unique style and a strong message. It's fun to explore these bright and vibrant worlds taking photos and seeing all the unique things going on. It's like stepping into Jet Set Radio. But there's always the feeling of something more, and more important, going on behind the scenes.

Chroma Squad is a fantastic turn-based RPG that is both a loving homage to the Power Rangers. Rather than fighting evil as the Crayon Box of Justice, you instead play a manager of a new Super Sentai TV show hoping to become the greatest show on television. It's a formula that works fantastically.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/30613855

I finished this first game of mine about three months ago. Back then i was too anxious to post it. I would love some feedback on it generally. i am aware of some bugs, and generally know how to do it better nowadays, but i didn't want to touch the code anymore. I'd describe myself as Gamedesigner first, coder second, and artist last. so i would be especially interested in how the game feels to you.

Thanks to everyone who took time out of their day for this :3

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.abnormalbeings.space/post/5293159

The 15 games mentioned in the video, each with a short description/review segment:

• Unbox: Newbie's Adventeure
• Utopia Must Fall
• Chroma Squad
• Shadow Gambit
• En Garde!
• Tinykin
• Our Adventurer Guild
• Timespinner
• Renowned Explorers
• The Brutale
• Wintermoor Tactics Club
• Unsighted
• Wayhaven Chronicles
• Demon Turf
• Roadwarden

It's a retro inspired Arcade / Roguelite Shoot 'Em Up type game.

Wanted to let others know of this new weekly custom Steam Sale that is benefitting Whales & Dolphins worldwide via a charity group. There will be a Steam Daily Deal happening tomorrow (June 6th, 2025) to help support. Every sale in the group will donate a portion to the charity group.

I have 2 games in the sale myself, Rocket (a roguelite space game) and Drop It: Block Paradise (a physics puzzle game) that every sale I'll be donating 50% to the cause myself.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.abnormalbeings.space/post/3637775

The list, if you don't want to watch the (whole) video:

• Popucom
• Zefyr: A Thief's Melody
• Deltarune: Chapter 3 & 4
• Dragon is Dead
• Forgotlings
• Vilde
• The Alters
• Date Everything!
• Lost in Random: The Eternal Die
• Warton
• Dragonloop
• Crown Gambit
• Rematch
• Star Overdrive
• Outrider Mako
• Shuffle Tactics
• Ruffy and the Riverside

Hello, fellow playdaters,

I'm Morgan, from Random Encounter Studios and my brother and I just finished developing our first playdate game. Fell in love with the device a year ago and decided to make a full fledged game on it.

It's a modern twist on arcade classics shmups, lots of actions, level ups, perks and coins! The game is about 6-8 hours length, hope you'll love it.

I'm happy to announce that ARMADA is now out on playdate, available on https://random-encounter-games.itch.io/armada (not sure if I can link something in the post but hey, i'll try)

Feel free to ask me anything about the game/studio/playdate, will be more than happy to answer!