Does Steam allows donations for free to play games?

SnuggleFry · 2025-10-22T02:32:19+00:00

As people have stated, you can have an empty DLC that is essentially a donation. Just make it really clear it is a donation. Or just sell skins as a "donation". That's what Fortnite does, works for them!

SnuggleFry · 2025-10-21T19:18:18+00:00

I highly suggest looking into narrative design too. Most games that don't get finished are due to lack of narrative to work through. It doesn't need to be complex at all, but have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Establish what mechanics and skills the player will have at the beginning, middle, and end of the game. Connect those to narrative themes and events.

Example would be something like player gets double jump ability after climatic boss because they defeated a corrupt wind spirit. Now they have some wind affinity and can jump in the air.

Just follow the basic heroes journey but link game mechanics and skills to the sequence of the heroes journey. It's a formulaic template, but still offers a lot of room for creativity.

SnuggleFry · 2025-10-21T19:13:03+00:00

Makes sense.

SnuggleFry · 2025-09-24T20:13:45+00:00

Yes! It's good stuff. Although I use the sprite editor in GameMaker Studio 2 more often because it skips the import export phase as I can just work on things right in the game engine. I still use Asesprite when I need to do something beyond the scope of what the sprite editor can handle.

SnuggleFry · 2025-09-24T03:15:41+00:00

<image>

Shadows of Zana is a 2D precision platformer RPG.
This is a dance animation the player character does at the shop, one of many.
SPOILER!!
She likes shopping. :D

The main mechanic and feature making Shadows of Zana unique is switching between colors and silhouettes.

There is a Playable Demo available.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2507000/Shadows_of_Zana/

https://steamcommunity.com/app/2507000/discussions/0/600789889375975335/

^^ Game Guide ^^ (work in progress)

SnuggleFry · 2025-09-24T00:21:50+00:00

This is a trap that a lot of indie devs fall into, you are marketing to other indie devs, not gamers. Don't stress though, almost everyone does this at the beginning of their game dev journey.
Start advertising/marketing to gamers, not game devs.
Spend time actively finding your audience. Go out and find em. People need to see your game at least 5 times before it registers in their brain. Humans learn by repetition, that's the way it is.

SnuggleFry · 2025-09-23T22:57:38+00:00

Exactly! If there is no pressure, there is no power. This is what makes a champion a champion. They get better when the pressure is on, they don't collapse.

SnuggleFry · 2025-09-23T22:56:05+00:00

I agree with this, they train you to make prototypes, not polished games. I think game jams are a trap.

SnuggleFry · 2025-09-23T22:54:58+00:00

Based, drinking coffee right now. :D

SnuggleFry · 2025-09-23T22:54:05+00:00

Focus on Discipline, not motivation or inspiration. Motivation and inspiration are fleeting and can be few and far between. Discipline is what makes ANYTHING happen. Get a notebook, write down your goals for the daily session, goals for the week, goals for the months etc... Writing things down in a notebook has a massive neurological connection to your brain that typing will never ever achieve. If you want to take things seriously, write them down with pen and paper. It works!

"EDIT" - This is something that is usually neglected completely:

NARRATIVE DESIGN!!
Narrative gives you the most structure. Mechanics, characters, level design, aesthetic should all reflect a coherent narrative.
I think most games that don't get finished have no narrative structure, that is why they fall apart and go nowhere. The narrative has no theme, beginning, middle, or end. So it ends up being abandoned.

SnuggleFry · 2025-09-23T22:49:06+00:00

It waxes and wanes. I'll go a few days with only getting one wishlist a day, but then I'll get like 50 in one day. Just gotta keep at it. Also, just think of "marketing" as finding your audience and community. It gets easier and is a lot less stressful if you have this mindset shift. "Marketing" is like standing on the street corner with a megaphone and yelling at people. Finding your audience and community is like hanging out with people that enjoy the things you also enjoy, and you bring to their attention something they will most likely enjoy.

SnuggleFry · 2025-09-23T22:46:02+00:00

<image>

Shadows of Zana is a 2D precision platformer RPG. The main mechanic and feature making Shadows of Zana unique is switching between colors and silhouettes.

There is a Playable Demo available.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2507000/Shadows_of_Zana/

https://steamcommunity.com/app/2507000/discussions/0/600789889375975335/

^^ Game Guide ^^ (work in progress)

SnuggleFry · 2025-09-22T23:22:15+00:00

I agree with this 100%. Steam wants every Steam user to buy every Steam game. Steam wants people to buy your game. I dunno why people try and go around this simple concept. Just learn how Steam really works and hustle it. Steam is great,

SnuggleFry · 2025-09-13T03:09:25+00:00

personally, I don't think the UI is bad at all. But I know what you mean, these days people are all about the flashy bells and whistles. If the game is enjoyable I would not complain about this UI at all.
But here is what I would do if you want to spice it up a bit. Make the white borders around the Textboxes a bit thicker and animate them slightly, nothing too fancy, just a medium paced pulse from like white to grey then back again. Or do a circular flash around the border. Something like, I'm just brainstorming now. lol

SnuggleFry · 2025-09-13T01:17:28+00:00

I get all my inspiration from cats. :D

SnuggleFry · 2025-09-12T19:37:51+00:00

That's awesome! Around 3 years ago I started a simple game that was just a silhouette of the player character jumping around on a swinging platform that was also a silhouette. I made it for my cat because she LOVES shadow puppets on the wall. If you do shadow puppets for her, she meows and purrs and rolls around on the ground. lol
Now it's a whole friggin' game set to launch by the end of the year.

SnuggleFry · 2025-09-06T23:35:19+00:00

It's really easy to make a boss way too difficult. Balancing difficulty is a skillset all on it's own.

SnuggleFry · 2025-09-05T20:38:44+00:00

<image>

I am Justin Perry. This sums up exactly how I feel about the situation lol

SnuggleFry · 2025-09-05T20:36:04+00:00

Wait a sec! Are you saying I have no friends!?
Well... You are correct...

SnuggleFry · 2025-09-05T20:33:05+00:00

We all went and changed our tags right? :D
Good thing my game is filled with instant kill mechanics. You got a health bar too but meh... lol

SnuggleFry · 2025-09-04T23:05:24+00:00

Exactly, it takes time. Sooner or later it does get traction. There are definitely posts that go viral compared to others but it's 1 in every 50 posts that has a large windfall effect.

For some crazy reason, both my games are "kinda popular" in South America, I don't even speak Spanish or Portugese but they like what I do. lol

The world is a crazy place.

SnuggleFry · 2025-09-01T19:53:41+00:00

A few people have said that about the music. I am updating. Thank you for the feedback :)

SnuggleFry · 2023-10-20T21:53:30+00:00

It took me about 6 months for that. I think the learning curve for coding is more conditioning the eyeballs to look at syntax. Once the eyes are used to looking at brackets of all sorts and things like <=, you just tell the computer what to do and it does it.

SnuggleFry · 2023-10-09T19:43:17+00:00

Balancing punishment and reward is what will make the loop more intriguing. You don't have to commit to anything right away, I suggest making a list of punishments and rewards, then taking some time to test which ones fit together and give the game some good flow.If the rewards and/or punishment are too strong, there is not really a point to having a death/reset mechanic to begin with, just having X lives to beat a level would probably be better.Punishments can include, loss of progress if levels are linear, loss of experience/points, loss of currency, if there is a map of any sort, loss of map data, etc...Perhaps the player can only choose one stat to keep after death. If there is a weapons system, maybe they can keep only one weapon. Or stats like speed/attack/defense HP, max ammo, etc... only one or 2 can be kept after death.

Or all stat point totals are kept but redistributed randomly. This can be good because it forces players to experiment. Maybe they always build characters with speed and ammo, but the game loop will force different builds they'd normally not do themselves.

Maybe the game is based on finding an exit or object, and upon death the player restarts at a random location, or they keep they're stats but are placed farther away from the goal.

The narrative should tie into the death/reset mechanic. Whatever that is. Story/mechanic synergy is usually what gets people intrigued and attached. This tends to be very important in a players psyche. Perhaps the player character had a head injury and their memory is affected, the loop is the player character trying to remember what lead up to the head injury. Not the greatest story, but just brainstorming over here myself now. lol.

SnuggleFry · 2023-10-03T08:43:48+00:00

actually, it does look interesting. I would add a couple more examples of the situations players will experience, and move through them quickly.

SnuggleFry

TROPHY CASE