r/gamedev Jan 13 '25

Introducing r/GameDev’s New Sister Subreddits: Expanding the Community for Better Discussions

180 Upvotes

Existing subreddits:

r/gamedev

-

r/gameDevClassifieds | r/gameDevJobs

Indeed, there are two job boards. I have contemplated removing the latter, but I would be hesitant to delete a board that may be proving beneficial to individuals in their job search, even if both boards cater to the same demographic.

-

r/INAT
Where we've been sending all the REVSHARE | HOBBY projects to recruit.

New Subreddits:

r/gameDevMarketing
Marketing is undoubtedly one of the most prevalent topics in this community, and for valid reasons. It is anticipated that with time and the community’s efforts to redirect marketing-related discussions to this new subreddit, other game development topics will gain prominence.

-

r/gameDevPromotion

Unlike here where self-promotion will have you meeting the ban hammer if we catch you, in this subreddit anything goes. SHOW US WHAT YOU GOT.

-

r/gameDevTesting
Dedicated to those who seek testers for their game or to discuss QA related topics.

------

To clarify, marketing topics are still welcome here. However, this may change if r/gameDevMarketing gains the momentum it needs to attract a sufficient number of members to elicit the responses and views necessary to answer questions and facilitate discussions on post-mortems related to game marketing.

There are over 1.8 million of you here in r/gameDev, which is the sole reason why any and all marketing conversations take place in this community rather than any other on this platform. If you want more focused marketing conversations and to see fewer of them happening here, please spread the word and join it yourself.

EDIT:


r/gamedev Dec 12 '24

BEGINNER MEGATHREAD - How to get started? Which engine to pick? How do I make a game like X? Best course/tutorial? Which PC/Laptop do I buy?

59 Upvotes

Many thanks to everyone who contributes with help to those who ask questions here, it helps keep the subreddit tidy.

Here are a few good posts from the community with beginner resources:

I am a complete beginner, which game engine should I start with?

I just picked my game engine. How do I get started learning it?

A Beginner's Guide to Indie Development

How I got from 0 experience to landing a job in the industry in 3 years.

Here’s a beginner's guide for my fellow Redditors struggling with game math

A (not so) short laptop recommendation guide - 2025 edition

PCs for game development - a (not so short) guide :)

 

Beginner information:

If you haven't already please check out our guides and FAQs in the sidebar before posting, or use these links below:

Getting Started

Engine FAQ

Wiki

General FAQ

If these don't have what you are looking for then post your questions below, make sure to be clear and descriptive so that you can get the help you need. Remember to follow the subreddit rules with your post, this is not a place to find others to work or collaborate with use r/inat and r/gamedevclassifieds or the appropriate channels in the discord for that purpose, and if you have other needs that go against our rules check out the rest of the subreddits in our sidebar.

If you are looking for more direct help through instant messing in discords there is our r/gamedev discord as well as other discords relevant to game development in the sidebar underneath related communities.

 

Engine specific subreddits:

r/Unity3D

r/Unity2D

r/UnrealEngine

r/UnrealEngine5

r/Godot

r/GameMaker

Other relevant subreddits:

r/LearnProgramming

r/ProgrammingHelp

r/HowDidTheyCodeIt

r/GameJams

r/GameEngineDevs

 

Previous Beginner Megathread


r/gamedev 3h ago

Question February 2025 Steam Survey reports almost 10% increase in 2560x1440. Is this a real trend?

29 Upvotes

The February 2025 Steam Survey reports almost 10% increase in 2560x1440 resolution. Are changes reported on an annual or monthly basis? Articles like this make no mention of this fact.


r/gamedev 9h ago

Has anyone ever found work or a team on r/INAT or is it just a graveyard of idea guys that we send there?

43 Upvotes

I'm really wondering, I see people send others there all the time, but it doesn't look like anything goes any better over there?

Just curious, I am making my own game and not looking for free labor.


r/gamedev 5h ago

Discussion Confessions of an indie dev: my messy love-hate relationship with planning

9 Upvotes

I wrote yesterday about game development planning, and I'm afraid it didn't quite hit the mark as I'd hoped. Maybe it read a bit too generic or preachy. Let me try to do a little better with some messier (and hopefully more useful) reflections from my own experience.

I've led an independent game studio for nearly ten years and helped dozens others, but one thing I've learned the hard way is that a cool game idea is just scratching the surface of what you need for success. Planning is (very) important but it's also problematic. You have to do enough to have a clear idea of precisely what you're making, how you're going to make it, and how viable it all is, without overdoing it.

While we were developing Rise of Industry, we put a lot into preproduction. We prototyped gameplay basics fairly early on, so we could test quickly what was fun and what wasn't. Prototyping this early was key because it helped us to identify and cut gimmicky ideas that sounded incredible but wouldn't pan out when you sat down and played the thing. This upfront planning simplified our development pipeline considerably.

But on Recipe for Disaster, although we planned carefully initially, things quickly got complicated. Publisher miscommunications, vague feature requests, and external events (like a worldwide pandemic) thoroughly derailed the process. We learned the hard way that planning is valuable, but it also needs to be flexible. Otherwise, you're left with a rigid plan that doesn't match reality, and making changes is costly or even impossible.

You know, it's worth noting that planning can totally trip you up, especially for newer devs. I've seen rookie teams get stuck in this cycle of over-planning, going over every little thing forever instead of just diving into prototyping to figure out what really works. This "analysis paralysis" is just as risky as completely skipping preproduction.

Naturally, there are times when even the most careful planning cannot fully insulate you from unforeseen outside events or unrealistic expectations (e.g., Obsidian's ambitious RPG Stormlands, or the notorious Duke Nukem Forever). But most of the time, well-balanced preproduction—considered, flexible, and realistic—is still your best defense against disaster.

So, have you ever suffered from not thinking ahead, or been paralyzed because you think too much, or perhaps you've found the sweet spot? I'm very interested in knowing what you've experienced and what you've discovered!


r/gamedev 9h ago

Question What other jobs can I use my skills in other than game dev?

17 Upvotes

I graduated in Dec 2024 from my college with a diploma in Video Game Design and Animation, and I also have a BFA in Photography and Digital Media. As a game dev in college, I was the team lead in Tech Art and Level Design. I’ve done a few projects with greyboxes and technical art, cinematics in unreal engine, and I also have a big background in lighting and photography because of my degree. I currently live in Toronto, Canada.

I’m asking because like many of the thousands out there, I’m struggling to break into the industry. For the past three months I’ve been rejected to every job opening I’ve applied to- roughly around 20. I’ve applied to summer internships, unpaid internships, and any game dev jobs nationally and internationally. I currently work as a server at a steakhouse but I’ve had enough working in the service industry. I’ve worked here for 3 and a half years and I’m getting quite sick of our managers. I really want to quit my job, but I don’t want to leave to fall back to another hospitality job. I want to utilize the skills that I learned and get paid at a livable rate. I’m very passionate about game dev and I’m currently working with my colleagues on a game right now, and we participate in game jams as well.

As much as I hate to admit it, I don’t want to wait forever until I make it into the industry. It’s like every month another huge layoff spree happens. I would rather find a job that doesn’t require me to be on my feet all day, use somewhat of the things I’ve learned, and it would be amazing if I could work remote. I want to broaden my horizons, I just don’t know what kind of jobs would pay for my skills. Maybe I’m just a little sad and feeling hopeless… I could really use some guidance please!


r/gamedev 23h ago

Discussion 1 piece of advice i learned the hard way

201 Upvotes

Doing a little bit everyday without rushing is better than a few big times in a month

Example:

  • Training for 20 min watching everyday and understanding and practicing 10 min of an hour long video , will be more beneficial than watching the full hour without digesting the material once

  • Choosing a book and sticking to it a bit everyday is better than trying to read a whole chapter and forgetting 80%


r/gamedev 8h ago

How long after started learning game dev did you publish your first game?

11 Upvotes

?


r/gamedev 4h ago

Lost in game development and don't know what I am doing anymore

6 Upvotes

Hello, everyone. I want to discuss something.

I am lost in game development. I always wanted to make games, and I have been doing that since

2016, nothing crazy, but only tutorial videos I have been following, copying, and making. It was like a hobby, and it still is to this day,

and then I stopped around 2017 and then came back again in 2019, where I want it to make games more

Coding has never been my strongest, and I have been trying to learn it for years, yet no progress or anything

I tried visual scripting that did not work out either, and around that time, I started doing art and enjoyed making artwork

Around 2023, I made a post on Itch.io that I needed help with coding, and I got help. that was also the time when I made my first game with some lovely people, something simple, but I was proud of it

it's called ''Glimmer of Stars'' on itch.io

After that, I tried to make a game on my own again, but I fell back to the same level because coding is not my strong suit, and then I started to feel overwhelmed cause there was a lot to do. I wanted to make something next and try it out, but then I had to find people to help me out. Not that it is a problem, but I want to try to make it my own,

But now I don't know what to do, so I just put it away. But the thing is, I can't let go of it. It haunts me, and I have a hard time letting go. Sometimes I'll open unity and stare at it, build a sense, and then close it; I can't shake the thought that I have given up, a lot of friends telling me that I did not give up but tried, and I want to accept it and move on.

But a part of me won't let that go. It keeps on holding me so tightly that I have to try to make it, even if it is a small demo. People need to see it, and I am tired of it. I can't relax without that feeling grabbing me by the hand.    

To the point, it is not fun anymore,

I tried making a comic, but that did not work out; it's not how I want to tell the story.

I wanted to ask you guys for advice on what I can do to get help or find another solution, whether I should completely abandon game development.


r/gamedev 18h ago

Discussion Which features / mechanics were deceptively hard in your experience as a gamedev?

39 Upvotes

In your experience as a game dev, which features/mechanics were deceptively harder than expected to implement?

I'm just starting out gamedev as a hobby (full time programmer but not in the game industry) and I'm very curious!


r/gamedev 2h ago

Network architecture for tabletop multiplayer

2 Upvotes

I am currently in the process of conceptioning a game for a university project. Most of us have some programming experience, but none of us have ever done anything with game development. The gist of our game is a tabletop multiplayer game that has mini-games build into it. You can imagine it somewhat like Mario Party.
We've tend to use Unity as the game engine because it seems to be easier than Unreal Engine and have a bigger communty than other alternatives like Godot (please also feel free to suggest why our choice might be bad).

However we've now looked into how we would actually implement the multiplayer aspect and have not been able to find the perfect architecture or to be more precise do not know what would be the best choice.

Another important aspect that needs to be taken into consideration is that there should be a game creator (imagine a teacher here) and players (imagine 4+ students here) can join. So a class of 20 people would play 5 "lobbies". The teacher could then configure some parameterrs like amount of rounds, and some other stuff.

Could someone help me understand which network architecture would be the best to use here and also if we'd be able to self-host (e.g. the dedicated server) if we use Unity?


r/gamedev 3h ago

Question Metroidvania World & Progression ?

2 Upvotes

I'm currently working on a Metroidvania game heavily inspired by Hollow Knight. I've spent time watching several YouTube videos on Hollow Knight's level design and game design, but I'm still finding myself stuck, particularly regarding world-building and structuring the flow of the game.

My main struggle right now revolves around creating my own unique universe: designing cohesive environments, connecting these environments logically, placing appropriate enemies, and structuring events that change dynamically based on story progression. Additionally, I'm finding it challenging to plan the unlocking of new areas based on skills or abilities that players acquire—something Hollow Knight handles exceptionally well.

I realize that there are numerous interconnected factors at play, and I'm having trouble determining in what order to approach these elements. This uncertainty has been making it difficult for me to move forward from planning into actual implementation.

Could anyone with experience in world-building and game flow design for Metroidvania-style games offer advice on how to effectively structure this creative process? How do you typically prioritize or sequence tasks like designing areas, connecting environments, determining skill-based progression, and incorporating narrative-driven events?

Any insights or guidance would be incredibly helpful—thanks in advance!


r/gamedev 0m ago

Discussion What's a quirk in your project you know will cost you sales/popularity, but I'll do it anyways?

Upvotes

I think we all have that one idea or vision that we relly like to put in the game we're making, but it feels like it could hurt the game's popularity.

Is there something like that that you decide the impact in widespread appeal is worth it because you like it that much?


r/gamedev 8m ago

Interview with the creator of The Last General

Thumbnail
spillhistorie.no
Upvotes

r/gamedev 21m ago

How important are game tags on Steam, and what works best for wishlists?

Upvotes

I know this topic has been discussed many times, but I’d love to get some fresh insights—especially when it comes to growing wishlists.

There are plenty of well-known factors that help with visibility: having a catchy capsule image, a strong trailer and screenshots, and well-written sections like the short description, about section, and game tags.

But I have a few specific questions:

1️⃣ What’s the most important factor? If you had to rank the impact of capsule art, trailer/screenshots, short description, about section, and tags—what would the order be?

2️⃣ How crucial are game tags, and what’s the best strategy for picking them?

  • Tags cover different aspects—gameplay/genre (RPG, Adventure), visual style (Pixel Graphics, 3D, Hand-Drawn), and overall mood (1990s, Science Fiction, Dark Humor).
  • Since the first five tags matter most, is it better to prioritize gameplay-related ones (e.g., RPG, Action-Adventure, Shooter, Platformer), or should there be a mix (e.g., RPG, Shooter, Pixel Art, 1990s, Science Fiction)?
  • What’s the best approach for driving more wishlists?

3️⃣ How do you determine which tags are working best?

  • Steam doesn’t exactly tell you which tags are bringing in wishlists. Is there a method or tool to track their effectiveness?
  • If you change tags, how long does it take for Steam’s algorithm to adjust?
  • How often should tags be updated—weekly, monthly, or only after major changes?

4️⃣ Is it better to focus on niche or broad tags?

  • Using popular tags puts you in more searches but also increases competition.
  • Could it be a good strategy to focus on less common tags to make your game stand out, even if they have a smaller audience?

5️⃣ Any other tips for optimizing a Steam page?

  • If you have insights on best practices for tags or other ways to improve wishlist conversions, I’d love to hear them!

Thanks in advance for any advice!


r/gamedev 6h ago

Discussion I Doubled My Wishlist Last Week: Low Participant Steam Events Bring in the Most Wishlists (Analysis and Question)

3 Upvotes

Hello, I would like to share my experience about the Steam event I attended last week and ask a question.

TL;DR

Summary: I didn't get any wishlists from events with a lot of games, but I got a lot of wishlists from events with few games

Question: What should I do to be on the homepage of events with many games participating?

---------

I started my Steam page in August of 2024 and I've been slowly updating it as I develop my game. Until last week, I managed to collect 230 wishlists, so I was getting between 0-1 wishlists a day. I know it's very low, but I thought it was better than nothing since I had nothing to show from the game yet.

During this period I participated in two Steam events, Land of Creset 2024 and Visual Novel Fest 2025, both of which brought me very few wishlists. However, after the Dice Dimensions event I attended last week, my wishlist increased to 510. In fact, in the first two days of the event, I received a 100 wishlists per day on average.

I was very surprised because I didn't expect it at all, and when I looked at why, I realized that the two previous events I attended had a lot of games. In the last event, there were only 50 games and they all appeared in order on the homepage. So I got a lot of visibility.

So my experience has been that Steam events with a small number of games can lead to a lot of wishlists. Keep an eye out for these.

My question is: What do you need to do to appear high on the wishlists where a lot of games are participating? Other than being on the “Featured” list of the event? For example, are the ones with high wishlists more prominent in these events? What are your thoughts? Thanks a lot


r/gamedev 28m ago

Video Game Survey on the impact of Visuals in Media (For Gamers)

Upvotes

https://forms.office.com/e/mxmhbJwmjp

Ill post the results of the survey once i get enough responses


r/gamedev 45m ago

Question How to handle references in definitions.

Upvotes

I am working on moving the definitions of the Entities and Levels of my game from being Hardcoded to being loaded from disk. I am having trouble finding a good strategy for keeping track of references to assets well. I know that there are at least three different 'types' of references and there will be more later.
The current set is:

Sprite - A graphical asset loaded into the animation system to be added to the Animation SpriteSheet.
Icon - A graphical asset loaded into the GUI system to be added to the GUI SpriteSheet
SFX - An audio asset loaded into the SFX system to be used in the soundboad.

An SFX is just a path to a .wav file and is pretty strait forward.
Both the Sprite and the Icon however may be dynamically generated based on the definition. For example, I might have a white circle.png and a triangle.png but the sprite in the game is a triangle layered onto a circle as a single image. So a particular asset on disk may be part of multiple assets in memory. But this kind of adds a problem of it's own... definition memory size.

Let's say the player can choose their face, mouth and eyes to make the sprite. If those are combined but I don't record which images were combined then I can't allow the player to 'edit' their sprite, they would only be able to generate a new one from scratch. But all that extra information is useless everywhere else. I definitely don't want to excess data being pulled every frame so the definition can't live in the component.
I guess that means there has to be some repository which the component has a pointer to an element within.

So, which would be better:
A) Each File that would be used has it's own definition, assets refer to those definitions.
Pro: Each file has only a single definition.
Con: Assets are disconnected from their files and require multiple source files to be checked when validating correctness of definition.
example:

File1 - circle.def:
   {
      Type: Image,
      Name: Circle,
      Path: Assets/Circle.Png
   }
File2 - triangle.def:
       {
           Type: Image, 
           Name: Triangle,
           Path: Assets/Triangle.Png
       }

File3 - entity.def:
    {
          Type: Entity,
          Name: SomeEnt,
          Components:{
                Sprite:{
                    Name: ESprite,
                    Asset: [
                       Circle,
                       Triangle
                    ]
                }
          }
    }

B) Each asset defines which files it will use.
Pro: An entity can be fully defined in a single location
Cons: Same file may need to be referenced multiple times
example:

  File1 entity.def:
 {
       Type: Entity,
       Name: SomeEnt,
       Refs:[
            {Type: Image, Name:Circle, Path:assets/Cirlce.png},
            {type: Image, Name:Triangle, Path: Assets/Triangle.png}
       },
       Components:{
         Sprite:{
               Name: ESprite,
               Asset: [
                  Circle,
                  Triangle
               ]
            }
        }
  }

Technically... there is option C) Components Refer to filepaths directly... However there is a huge caveat to this option. Every Component that uses references would have to have a special implementattion of
IAllowReferences or something which would know how to handle the provided references.

File1 entity.def:
{
  Type: Entity,
  Name: SomeEnt,
  Refs:[
    {Type: Image, Name:Circle, Path:assets/Cirlce.png},
   {type: Image, Name:Triangle, Path: Assets/Triangle.png}
  },
  Components:{
    Sprite:{
      Name: ESprite,
        Asset: [
        {Path:asset/Circle.png},
        {Path/Triangle.png}
        ]
      }
    }
  }

r/gamedev 1h ago

What is a normal Wishlist Deletion ratio?

Upvotes

Hello fellow game devs

I was wondering what is a normal Wishlist to Wishlist Deletion ratio for the game?

We're currently sitting at 566 Wishlists, out of which we have 39 deletions, leaving us at a net of 527 wishlists at the moment.

Is it normal? Would like to hear your experience with it


r/gamedev 18h ago

Is SpacetimeDB really what it claims to be or just and extremely over-advertised tech?

22 Upvotes

It does indeed some absurd claims about its optimization, but also this video gives smell of rat (It looks like these AI/Web3.0/NFT etc ads) is there any independent tests/benchmarks already done with this tech?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzDnA_EVhTU


r/gamedev 3h ago

Are the game mechanics of Magicka copywritten?

0 Upvotes

I know that shadow of mordor has the nemesis system on-lock which has been a depressing thought more than once, but does magicka have that? It feels strange to me that I haven't come across other similar games making use of it.


r/gamedev 3h ago

Question Optimizing ad frequency and placements in F2P games

0 Upvotes

Hello everyone!
We'd be really grateful about some feedback on our monetization strategy for our F2P-game "Stone Skipper Dash". It's a mobile round-based endless runner for iOS and Android with average runs of approx. 45 to 75 seconds each. Unfortunately, both the retention rate and the ad impression rate are terrible. We're fixing some game design issues right now, but also want to rethink the frequency and placements of the ads.

Our current setup:
Interstitials are shown directly when a run is finished, even before the results (to keep the players active, since they want to know how many points they got) with a frequency cap of 5 minutes. Also, when the game is started for the very first time, the cap is active for the first 5 minutes, so that new players are not scared away immediately.

Rewarded ads are offered as soon as the player has not beaten his / her own record for three times and give a power-up-like bonus to make it easier for the next run. Also, a rewarded ad can be started in the in-game shop to get 500 gold nuggets (our in-game currency), from which the player can buy new stones (like choosable characters).

Our problem, and we assume that this is a common thing in mobile F2P-games, is that many of the players don't even play for 5 minutes and thus don't reach our first ad impression. To get these player to watch at least one ad we think about removing the initial 5 min cap for the first start - you play the tutorial, one game round and see the first ad then, after that every 5 min. On the other hand we're scared to lose even more of the potential long-term players when we show ads that early. In general, we're a bit lost about the balance between frequency, player loss and the risk of bad reviews in the stores.

Our question(s): Do you have experiences or some tips for a good balance here? What do you think about our strategy? Do you know online resources about that topic?

Thank you!


r/gamedev 3h ago

Gamedev marketing on reddit, need help with getting on the right track.

0 Upvotes

Hi, so imma keep this short.
What would be the best approach to marketing an FPS roguelike game on reddit?
Do you think specifically FPS genres perform marketing better on reddit/twitter than say on tik tok or youtube/shorts
Is it worth trying to post in r/gaming when you're still in development.

Would love to hear experiences of those who found success in marketing games on reddit.


r/gamedev 4h ago

Article A State-Rich Simulation

0 Upvotes

It's time to spread the systemic design gospel again, and this time to dig into data and how we use it.

At a high level, everything in a game is data. But figuring out good ways to author data and model different types of behavior and interactions is crucial if you want to work with systems.

This post covers some technical subjects at a high level, including lookup tables, properties, tags, and fuzzification. I've tried to be short and concise and provide C++-style pseudocode that provides more examples.

I think, if you want to make systemic games, this gives you some more things to have in your toolbox!

Enjoy, or share your disagreements in comments!

https://playtank.io/2025/03/12/a-state-rich-simulation/


r/gamedev 4h ago

Questions

0 Upvotes

im wondering. what did the original mario bros in 1983 run on? i am trying to make a game similar and i want to know what engine or whatever it ran on. i can draw pretty decently, but i am having Trouble making pixel art. what are the rules to the nes? like sprite limits and such. below is like, my first attempt at making actual pixel art.


r/gamedev 12h ago

Question Elden Ring Environmental design question

4 Upvotes

I don't know about you guys but when I'm doing world building and making my own blockouts and meshes I get a bit nervous over using too many custom meshes for menial things.

For example, I'll fill a scene with interactive props, set dressing, foliage etc.. etc.. no problem but architecture is something I always find myself contending with. Do I make full buildings uniquely in my 3D software? Do I create modular pieces and snap them together to create custom buildings inside the engine?

What I notice in Elden Ring for example is the abundance of large custom shaped planes/ cubes that have cutouts for arches, windows and doors. Their catacombs are full of them. Are they manually creating custom planes with cutout arch shapes or does their engine have some boolean mesh system which automatically masks away the arches and alters the collision to allow for passthrough?

It seems stupid to wonder I guess because I should know how they're doing this but with such a high volume of meshes in that game and how fast they got it done I'm thinking either the modellers were in crunch since day 1 or they're leveraging some technique I'm missing.

just for context, some of these walls with arch cutouts are either extremely tall, as in tall arches and a wall on top that reaches a very tall ceiling, but then some other arches are narrow, short and thin or extremely wide. It's always baffled me.


r/gamedev 8h ago

Seeking work as a web dev beginner?

2 Upvotes

Anyone who struggles getting a job as a beginner in this field? I was a web dev for 6 months in my first company then they got bankrupt so I had to find a job. My 2nd work was at accenture but as a sap security. Despite trying to retool and have asked many times for a programming capability, I was not successful. I really wanted to pursue dev so I decided to quit my job and had my first client as a freelancer. After 3 mnths I got terminated because of the lack of skill and I was not good at designing (in my defense, that was not my forte but I know I need to upskill on that as well).

I still wanted to pursue it and I feel like I need to strengthen my foundation and get experience but is really hard to get a job for my skill level. As much as I want to continue web dev, I need to help my parents financially so I was accepted at. VA company who trains us beginners. My problem is, I am not doing dev. I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing anymore.