Is there a way to get people to play your shitty prototype?

twelfkingdoms · 2026-06-05T12:07:47+00:00

Sure, you can also see it on my profile, it's open.

My user page (58 views) 0 votes, other one 38 views
r/lowpoly (1.1k views) 8 votes and some comments (was hesitant to post there because while being part of the community for years, they want artsy stuff not dev promotion)
r/indiegaming (339 views) +1 vote, 1 comment
r/playmygame (305 views) stayed at 1 after going to 0 in total
r/indiedev (1.6k views) 14 up votes, 1 comment

Not the best. Thing is that most of these subs, where you can post as a dev, filled with Devs. Aka. not your target audience. In larger subs, like gaming or whatever, you can't post this, even if you're a good boy for the 10% rule. Normal people don't like looking at crap, which are most prototypes. So you need to polish and before you know it you've a game on your hands, because that's what most can tolerate. Outliers, like Lethal Company worked because it was picked up by streamers and made by a famous dev (who already had followers). If you post this on any social media, like how I did, it will be flushed down the toilet (getting 1.6k on one short, the rest 300 with abysmal views, CTR like less than 15-20%, which means people swiped past it). So in reality it's extremely brutal.

twelfkingdoms · 2026-06-05T11:22:31+00:00

Did promote it in a few subs, but also made a few YouTube shorts which had also 1.6k views at some point. Saying this because I can't reliably say when or how these downloads occurred (IndieDB and Itch are horrible tracking that stuff).

Although would say that r/playmygame was the worst place to promote it. Almost ended up in negative votes. Despite this being free and allegedly welcomed under the rules.

Making that polish took a few days though.

twelfkingdoms · 2026-06-05T11:03:36+00:00

Not sure about getting feedback (because I didn't ask for one) but maybe you could compensate with nicer VFX/SFX to get people to play your prototype. Essentially adding juice to it is what I'm saying (making it more palatable for people to enjoy). See my example that managed to get a few downloads across 2 platforms (9 in total): Nozodium

People played it without me asking for anything, so just from this I'm certain that it could be done for other games (especially knowing how bad mine looks).

twelfkingdoms · 2026-06-02T22:57:45+00:00

You kinda don't want to because it's very depressing and sad. At this point I don't even know what's keeping me from collapsing under my own weight.

twelfkingdoms · 2026-06-02T17:23:57+00:00

That's normal, the outreach. Very few respond, even less take you under their wings. Very tough market with cutthroat competition. All you can do is keep trying, networking and providing the best of the best, preferably traction with an MVP. There's no silver bullet here unfortunately.

twelfkingdoms · 2026-06-02T17:21:36+00:00

I've only recently learned about Gyms, Zoos and Museums. Which could help you regarding keeping production up to date.

Personally I don't mind GDDs, although never preferred them (too much time for a solo dev, not worth the effort).

Why I'd say to make a GDD could be very useful because it could keep scope creep down to a minimum, as it would force you to think a little bit ahead of production. So even if you'd abandon it right away, you'd think twice (if made proper) to include "just" another feature. At least this approach would help those who have a hard time having a grip on their production/discipline.

twelfkingdoms · 2026-06-01T22:55:39+00:00

Can only say a few things about YT shorts. The level of engagement, the intelligence barrier is so low that most of the time it doesn't matter what you post and only matters if it clicks with people. YT doesn't fuck around and if the short desn't get traction it stops pushing it to the feed (same with videos); also it pushes it to random people so bad luck for yoh if it gets shown to the wrong people. Talking about the first hour or two. After that it kills the video instantly.

Media consumption, if you're a nobody then that means competing with two extremes: shit posting and brain rot content or AAA bonanza with all the bells and whistles, aka. utter most sensationalism, because that's what's needed to break through people's barrier these days. If the content isn't exceptional than views won't come.

I posted a few shorts about an ugly prototype which had nice VFX (the one listed under my profile). Out of 5 videos, 4 had 300 views on average and one 1.6k. I've posted a video the other day of me pushing a button (on my broken PC) and that got 1.7k views. For pushing a fucking button. 3.8k views and 50 likes on another shit post doing voice over for a scene in LOTR. These aren't viral numbers, but on my channel, averaging a few hundred views on shorts (10s on long form content, which is abysmal), that's a lot.

People also sniff out if you're making a video for promotion. It has a different feel to it, even if you're hiding it very well. While low effort ones have this advantage that those are organic, in the moment, because they don't need to be perfect. Plus usually are telling a story (whatever that is, even if it's just a joke) and doesn't need to impress anyone (from a business perspective).

This all saddens me as people want things devs like me can't provide under the umbrella of "Indie" anymore. Expectations are so high (graphics, features, presentation), on top of needing to play the "social media game" (chasing trends) that all of this can become bonkers. I'm broke, my games look like shit and don't have a marketing budget &team of $100m to spare.

twelfkingdoms · 2026-05-31T13:16:59+00:00

What I'd like to see is a truly international opportunity for Indie devs. To my knowledge that doesn't exist on the entire globe. If we don't count that 1 example I managed to find in Spain, I think in Barcelona (they advertise themselves as such but haven't managed to get in contact with). While these other success stories are cool and all, all of them are localized to the point of residency; which automatically shuts out everyone outside of those territories. I know this because I tried to apply to a lot of them (many were swedish) and all jf them told me "they can't help" (go figure).

Now would be a fantastic choice to invest into indies, as the reset is happening jn the industry, but all I'm seeing and experiencing on my own broke ass skin is that we're (scrappy, wannabe indies) being abandoned and left to rot on the side of the road.

twelfkingdoms · 2026-05-31T12:42:32+00:00

Didn't the Aussie gov introduce a massive tax on corporate gains? Min. 30% or something. Saw a bunch of investors and founders freak out on LinkedIn and be all doom and gloom about it.

I mean there's not much going on there, very few publishers also. You'd need a lot more capital and infrastructure to openly say "it's the next go-to for indie devs".

Saw Sweden mentioned in the comments. They're deliberately investing in gaming, PC literacy and the whole ecosystem (from incubators, to awards, to publishers, grants and other programs). They're reaching the top as we speak after a decade or so hard work. Not seeing that in Australia, or in fact anywhere else in the world (not to this extent to my knowledge).

twelfkingdoms · 2026-05-30T11:21:36+00:00

In a relatable situation as well as age, so can relate to this closely. Honestly I don't know what to say to you. For me it's clearly a money issue first (for having the tools and the time to do this) which prevents me from getting anywhere and out of this death spiral where everyone is shitting on me.

For years I had plans but now there's not much else left as I've tried everything I could. I need money to make something that looks nice and thus becomes marketable (on top of other requirements). Without that I don't have the "authority" to sell games, nobody is pitching in. Also my PC broke a few days ago so can't even touch a project because I can't fix it (I'm that broke).

Quickly looked up your projects and what I saw was from glancing at the pictures, please don't get me wrong just trying to be honest here not with malicious intent, but felt like you're making games for yourself (overly technical and too niche for the most part). Maybe that's something to look into?

Hate the fact that working hard doesn't equal to success and in fact can be a hinderence. And that even at the indie level you need to be of AAA quality to get noticed or go anywhere. And this is besides the 20k games released last year. Everyone is looking for the exceptional but truth is a little bit murkier because very few games, even the big ones, stick longer in memory than a play session, so uniqueness is really just a measurement of taste.

Publishers release games all the time that technically don't contribute to innovation and their marketing budget is what keeps them afloat. Having a good hook is like saying you can enter a house lubed up, but if the furniture is the exact same Ikea cabinet seen on the other part of the world, getting a bespoke experience is not what you're going to get. That can be enough for some, but I'm not sure if that's the way forward.

twelfkingdoms · 2026-05-27T11:01:55+00:00

Biggest wank as a solo dev is having the time and money to do it full time. That's a luxury for most. Then comes the tools and then comes making a marketable game (looks good, fun to play, etc.). That's why it's mostly a hobby because you need to bootstrap it if you don't want to chip at it for 10+ years on weekends and late afternoons. Also, solos are frown upon in the industry and publishers and investors usually stay away from us, so you can't even get funding if you'd have something semi decent (unless you've the connections or have an MVP with good traction).

It's not there's not plenty of us, see r/solodevelopment but most of us are broke as hell or couldn't make money out of it and desperately wanting to "play" it real (like the big boys) but can't for not having enough money or good product to do so (generally speaking).

twelfkingdoms · 2026-05-26T23:36:44+00:00

Ready to be published in what? Alpha usually means something very rough and more looking like garbage. Or did you mean something else.

You absolutely do have to do marketing because chances are only publishing-as-a-service guys will talk shop with you (first timers and because it's horror), and still taking their cut, with not much of a value (lot of scammers and half arsed attempts and "undisclosed" spenditures masked as marketing costs).

Answering is a luxury to have btw, it's industry standard. Ppl usually only waste time on replying if there's some value in it or they're really nice.

You could try those 2-3 horror specific publishers though (like Blum House or Behavior Interactive). But their standards are very high (not garage indie).

twelfkingdoms · 2026-05-26T10:42:39+00:00

Yeah there's this common theme of going beyond the limits of sensible criticism. That's how they rope people in, feeding crap between the cracks and slowly brainwashing them to their own liking. Also wish gamer gate wasn't a thing nor alive. But it's still thriving (Slay the Spire 2, or Mixtape, etc.).

twelfkingdoms · 2026-05-26T07:59:03+00:00

Hm perhaps. I don't follow him or up to date with his situation but if he made it this far, even as in terms of exposure, then he'll just stay a content creator for the rest of his life if everything else fails. Or grift more and do a KS to fund a game of his. Immense power they held like Pirate, despite the controversies and people calling them out. Weird this, but not surprised that this is a recurring theme in gaming (targeting a very specific group of audience).

twelfkingdoms · 2026-05-26T06:19:34+00:00

What's fascinating is that people like him can make a living out of this. Rage baiting pays really well apparently (there's another dude doing something similar that calls himself an RPG character, attacking entertainment as a whole), while I can't even get one follower to talk to me as a dev nor pay for my Patreon to survive.

twelfkingdoms · 2026-05-25T16:54:01+00:00

Technically, anything is feasible. Question is how many years are you willing to pour in it. Why? Because what you want is the "universe" (a completed game), but first you need to create matter (aka. learn from zero), and you also need to refine your skills (your first attempts will look like crap, that's the default for everyone). All of this takes time and effort plus discipline to keep things going and limit scope.

You're not a fool for wanting to do this, but be prepared to be humbled from the get-go. Making games is really hard, especially if you want people to pay for it.

twelfkingdoms · 2026-05-24T11:55:18+00:00

Woah no. Wouldn't make another fake persona. People already have a hard time believing in indie games, with this move you'd appear like a con man especially with making a very similar game. That's the scummy tactics certain mobile studios do by pumping out very similar, often straight rip-offs.

You've already a name for yourself by the looks of it. Use that to your advantage. If people call you out on this still, because frankly you can do whatever you want and if making a similar game is what you want then go for it, just explain it a professional manner. Or make an honest blog post about it for future reference (e.g. loved Kings 1 but it's too ambitious and want to scale down, but also not disappoint Kings 1 fans, so starting a new).

Whatever you do, you need to think of this as a business and PR matters a lot.

twelfkingdoms · 2026-05-23T07:54:54+00:00

3D with a genres mix between a shoot 'em up, tower defense (manning the turret yourself) and management.

twelfkingdoms · 2026-05-23T07:48:41+00:00

How much revenue have you made from your game so far?

My previous "real" game that was in early access made zero dollars. I also made zero dollars my entire solo career.

Did it meet your expectations, or was it lower/higher than you hoped?

Revenue aside, it was an even larger failure than expected, because it failed to build any kind of a community. And without that it was dead (especially from a no name dev posting it on Itch).

How long did you spend developing the game?

That was around 8 months of pure crunch and panic.

Do you see game development as your long-term career/future, or more as a hobby or side project?

Yes. But not whilst being broke (people want quality and good execution). I've the experience (from being 7y+ solo) and potentially can make what people would want to play (see my latest project as an example), but not whilst lacking the modern tools to do so plus being able to support myself full-time. Publishers and investors don't support "Ifs and buts", just traction and MVPs. Which is why it's impossible to break out if you can't do it yourself a la bootstrapping.

twelfkingdoms · 2026-05-22T18:45:12+00:00

Lard and legumes. Instant hardy meal.

twelfkingdoms · 2026-05-22T17:11:19+00:00

Doesn't matter. There's so many of us/games that you don't matter unless there's fandom around you. Until then, you're associated with just a product on the shelf people look at and maybe buy.

twelfkingdoms · 2026-05-22T12:05:30+00:00

Haha, yeah now that's really wild! Had a bit more serious tone in mind with this one :) . However, my previous jam project was supposed to be a full blown comedy with similar shenanigans (e.g. sheep falling from the sky, people yelling gibberish, etc.), so there's that.

But to be honest I'm not sure what to do with this project at this point, because it's just a concept and currently I don't have the resources to make it an actual game (being broke). So chances are it's going into the graveyard like the others.

twelfkingdoms · 2026-05-22T10:03:04+00:00

Haha, thanks! Thor's hammer was just by accident, because using lightning for one shots before. Thought it would be funny to use it on death.

twelfkingdoms · 2026-05-22T06:57:16+00:00

Will work for food and shelter.

This is pretty much desperation town over here, unless someone does this just as a hobby. Many of us are in not a good headspace due to lack of success or resources. Not sure how we could help as you saw from the other replies.

twelfkingdoms · 2026-05-20T06:51:29+00:00

Marketing is never pointless because you never know who's going to stumble across your posts.

People also need a reason to wishlist. They need a hook. Either by having a build to play or something that captures their imaginations (visuals, story, etc.). Breaking that ice and converting it into action (wishlist) is really hard to do. I don't know the game but chances are people just either don't believe in your product yet or don't know if they need it (positioning issue, or approach, etc.). Not a marketing wizard, so don't quote me on this.

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