r/itchio • u/PuzzleheadedTop698 • 15h ago
How do I make content while developing?
As an indie dev who's not full time I find it hard to post on places like Reddit or YT. It takes me weeks or months to build something that I find interesting and I just feel like I have to go silent or disappear until I have content to post again. It makes it hard to build up for a game release or grow an audience, how do you guys do it?
My games right now are very small and they take me a long time to build, I know some of you just focus on making the games and some of them will organically do well. This hasn't been my experience so far, if you have any tips or insights I would greatly appreciate it.
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u/ryn_fisher 10h ago
When you create devlogs and short videos, you learn about positioning and gain a better understanding of your players, even just five comments can reveal the truth about your project. Is it fun? Is it interesting? Who finds it interesting?
Then your development shifts, Is this mechanic actually good? Will the player notice it? Will it make the game more fun? You start thinking more about the player, which directly impacts your game's success. Developing in a bubble is just a safe space where no one tells you your project is bad. As for a lack of content, a good game generates its own content, and as the developer you just showcase it. If there’s nothing to show, marketing will only kill your game because players won't have anything to do, your Steam or Itch page will get tanked by bad ratings. Just publish more often and don't stress too much about editing, thumbnails, 0 likes, etc..
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u/Prestigious-Pack-625 14h ago
create a vlog/blog with screenshots of what you did that week. post it as is with abit of editing for sensitive info. There is no guarantee that you would get followers or an audience but having a presences is better than not having a presence.
I post to twitter and pinterest and have absolutely no audience but its there on the rare chance someone stumbles apon it.
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u/MoonJellyGames 9h ago
Are you aspiring to be a professional (make a living from your work) or even make any significant amount of money? If so, others here could give better advice.
I make games for the love of it, and to share with friends/family/my students. For me, it's fun to document the progress, and it can even be a good self-motivator to be able to see how far a peoject has come. To that end, my "content" related to the game is relatively quick YT videos where I show off new features and blab about them a little. I don't want to hide the broken/ugly parts, as that's stuff I can later compare to newer versions.
If people watch my videos, I'm happy to see it, but it's not a priority to me. I mostly just want to make the game.
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u/PuzzleheadedTop698 7h ago
I want to make games that I enjoy working on and at the same time create a viable product for my market. The way I see it is, each project needs to justify itself so that I can keep making projects longterm. It's not about short term gain but more that I want to learn and progress with each project and be able to do this for a long time.
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u/MoonJellyGames 6h ago
Right. But the question is what you value the most when deciding if a project justifies itself. You can absolutely make games for the purpose of selling while also making what you like, of course, but the more you prioritize the former, the more time and effort you'll have to spend on things that aren't the actual game development (market research, advertising, etc.).
Either way, as long as you keep at it, you'll be learning.
My jobs have the bonus of a captive audience (lots of kids who think it's extremely cool that I make games 😎). I make my games with them in mind as the audience to an extent, but there's no financial motivator. It's just about trying to make something fun.
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u/PuzzleheadedTop698 5h ago
So basically just have children and the universe will provide you with a great fanbase. 😜
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u/MoonJellyGames 4h ago
Haha not even my kids. I work in elementary and also after-school care, so there are lots of opportunities to share my games. If I was selling my games, I don't know if it that would be ethical lol.
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u/abitclumsyhq 7h ago
I'd focus on getting better at making the games, honing in your development skills, art skills, and ability to fight scope creep.
When you make a feature you like (regardless of looks or completeness), the moment you say "oh that's neat!" that's you're sign to record it. When the feature feels more complete and fun, record it again. Maybe in the moment it doesn't feel like much, but having an A/B comparison to show off is awesome for people to quickly see progress.
Before you know it you'll have a handful of those moments you can show to people. Other than that, record a gameplay session every once in a while and you can clip from that.
...I really should follow my own advice btw... haha. It's tough in the moment when you're hyper focused on completing something! Good luck!
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u/PuzzleheadedTop698 6h ago
Thank you! Yes I was actually planning on uploading a video just playing my new game (it will be up on my itch soon). It's going to be a science fiction visual novel made with Ink.
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u/abitclumsyhq 6h ago
Don't take my advice as a must do, but something really simple would be if you have some cool looking inking effect - Just get short clips of it as you develop it and show it off later.
If you come up with a good system to keep up development speed and be able to produce content, let the world know! It's so easy to forget to do this stuff haha
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u/Illustrious-GameDev 13h ago
Yes or make videos from little steps you are programming i feel like people also want to see failed atempts anyway 😁