INDIE

🎮 GAME DEVS, THIS ONE'S FOR YOU. 15 years in games. Here's the community + social media stuff I wish someone had told me before I spent years posting 'New update! #gamedev' into the void: ✅ Followers aren't an audience until they've talked to you. Reply to people. 300 real conversations beat 30,000 impressions. ✅ Post the game, not the patch notes. Nobody in history has wishlisted a changelog. ✅ The first 3 seconds of your clip ARE the clip. If it opens on your logo, congrats, you made an ad people scroll past. ✅ A Discord isn't a community until someone besides you posts in it. 20 people who care beat 2,000 who joined for a giveaway. ✅ Hashtags are seasoning, not the meal. Eight in a row reads like a ransom note. ✅ Other devs aren't your competition. They're coworkers in the world's least organized office. Share their stuff. They'll share yours. ✅ Viral is a lottery ticket. Showing up every day is a salary. ✅ When someone says something nice about your game, screenshot it. You'll need it at 2 AM in month 14. Got questions? I'm around right now. Ask me anything below 👇 I'm also open for contract work (community, social, launch strategy). DMs open.

Games from the developers of the IndieGameBusiness Discord server! nitter.cf/i/broadcasts/1PKqrNvWL…

🔴 Going live at noon PT! Today I'm playing games made by devs in the IndieGameBusiness Discord. If you're building something, join the server and drop your game, demo, or Steam page, and it could be on stream next. 💬 discord.gg/indiegamebusiness 📺 Twitch: twitch.tv/indie 🟢 Kick: kick.com/therealindie 𝕏 X: @TheRealIndie

15 years in games and here's my prediction for the next 12 months: AI makes building games cheap. It does NOT make attention cheap. The devs who win are the ones who already have people who care when they hit 'launch.' What are you doing THIS month to build the audience part? 👇

To every indie dev panicking about launch week. 15 years in games, and I've heard every scary rumor. "You need 10K wishlists or you're dead." "Never launch near a big release." "If day one is quiet, it's over." Most of those are half-truths that spread because fear gets more engagement than facts. My game launches in 6 days and I'm still nervous. But nerves aren't data. Make the thing people will love, then tell them about it. Loudly. What's the launch myth you were most scared of?

This is what I love to see from AI in game dev. It isn't replacing the designer's vision, it's clearing the path so the designer can chase it. Kevin had a bold, specific idea, and Bezi helped him actually build it. The best tools don't make the creative calls. They give you more time to make them.

Thank you @GamesAndGod for the amazing article about #TheCanonKeeper! gamingandgod.com/interview-i…

6 days. The Canon Keeper is Papers, Please, but with Scripture. 📜 Faith is outlawed. The surviving verses get smuggled to your desk. Your job is to decide what makes it into the rebuilt Bible. The problem is that a lot of people in line have twisted the Word on purpose, and every one of them wants their version made official. A quick roll call of who's waiting at the checkpoint: 🪤 The Loophole Guy. His verse looks perfect, except for one tiny "clarification" that makes everything he did last Tuesday technically fine. 👑 The Throne Guy. He rewrote a whole passage, and now it just happens to say the land, the crown and the good chair all belong to him. 🪨 The Guy Who "Found" a New Commandment. It was "under a rock." It's on fresh paper, and the ink is still wet. 💰 The Tithe Trimmer. Somehow his copy says 10% is "more of a vibe." 😇 The Sweet Old Lady. She's the nicest person in line, and she's also the most dangerous forger you'll meet all week. They're charming. They're convincing. They swear on their lives it's the original. Stamp it, and it's canon forever. Stop it, and you'd better be right. The trailer's on the Steam page. Launches Nov 4 on Steam and Nov 11 on PS4/PS5. Wishlist on Steam and PlayStation store.steampowered.com/app/4… store.playstation.com/en-us/…

7 days. 📜 The Canon Keeper launches on Steam next Wednesday, Nov 4, and on PS4/PS5 Nov 11. Papers, Please, but with Scripture: faith is outlawed, verses get smuggled to your desk, and some people have twisted the Word on purpose to get their agenda into the new Bible. Your stamp decides what's canon. Trailer's on the Steam page 👇 store.steampowered.com/app/4… store.playstation.com/en-us/…

Checking out Random INDIE GAMES! nitter.cf/i/broadcasts/1yJAPwjzz…

Streamers and indie devs, real question: What's the best thing a dev has ever done to make their game easy to stream? Press kit, free keys, Twitch drops, a streamer mode, something else? I play a ton of indie games on stream, and I'm about to launch my own. Tell me what actually works 👇

November release calendar: massive AAA launches everywhere. Also November: my little indie game about catching people who deliberately twist Scripture. 😅 Indie devs: how do you stand out when you're launching next to the giants? Drop your best tactic 👇

This Boss Has Beaten Me for 3 DAYS 😤 | Fallen Tear: The Ascension Three days. Same boss. No heals left. 😤 Fallen Tear: The Ascension is a gorgeous hand-drawn metroidvania with brutal boss fights, and this one keeps humbling me. Strategic retreat activated. Want me to live stream YOUR indie game? Hit me up at [email protected] or on X @TheRealIndie. I'd love to talk about your game! Catch me live Mon/Wed/Fri. Follow on Twitch! 🟣 twitch.tv/indie 🟢 kick.com/therealindie ✖️ x.com/TheRealIndie

Okay, help me make sense of this. 🤔 Emberville just delayed its Early Access to January 7… …but it's still sitting in THIS WEEK'S Steam launch calendar. 👀 So is it coming out or not? Is Steam's calendar just slow to update, or is something else going on? If you're planning a launch, this is a good reminder to check that your store dates match your announcements. Players notice. What's your read? 👇

Checking out Random INDIE GAMES! nitter.cf/i/broadcasts/1yxBePWan…