A game designer on Reddit was about to give up and try to transition to another type of job because they can’t find a job in this market. I gave them this advice, maybe its useful to you too:
“I need you to hear this - things are going to be ok in the games industry, but it is radically changing. We used to want to work for our ideal developers like Blizzard or Bioware and then we realized they were companies not utopias. They are gutting teams but that doesn’t mean there are more of any job so radically jumping into another path may not (or it may) be the answer.
There are two powerful questions to ask yourself:
What can you do for a job? (Money)
What can you do for yourself? (Creativity and Satisfaction)
You might have to do #1 before you can rediscover a new way to do #2 (ewww that sounds gross). The light at the end of this tunnel is all of this turmoil is shifting our desire to get validation from a company who we idolized in our youth or fed our egos as adults, and are moving toward actually identifying what feeds our souls.
The scary part is how do we feed ourselves during this transition? Maybe become a product owner like the OP suggested, but don’t stop making games because there has never been a better time to solo dev and have an indie team side hustle.
Now some practical advice that answers OP’s question:
Look at all apps no matter what they do. What do they have in common? The user experience. What did you do as a gamer designer…..the player experience. Apps are more like games than they are software because its all about daily engagement. Rewrite your resume, reach out to some app companies that your a user of their product and pitch them the v2 of their app, gamified, engaging and still delivering on the core promise.
Duolingo is a perfect example. Good luck.”
The Brutal Truth About Indie Game Marketing: What 50+ Post-Mortems Reveal
After pouring through about 50 postmortems from various sources and Reddit. I scraped some useful nuggets by channel.
STEAM NEXT FEST STRATEGIES
1. Enter with 2,000+ Wishlists Minimum
Key Finding: Games entering Steam Next Fest with 2,000+ wishlists see significantly better results. The lowest game to reach "diamond status" (10,000+ new wishlists) entered with 3,000 wishlists.
What Works: Build momentum BEFORE the festival through marketing 1-2 weeks prior using streamers, Reddit, and TikTok
What Doesn't Work: Treating Steam Next Fest as a "kickstart" for momentum when you have zero wishlists
2. Pre-Festival Marketing Push (1-2 Weeks Before)
Key Finding: The algorithm looks back 1-2 weeks to calculate daily wishlist velocity and ranks games accordingly
What Works: Running big streamer campaigns, viral TikTok videos, or Reddit posts 1-2 weeks before Steam Next Fest
What Doesn't Work: Launching your demo seconds before the festival starts (though Desktop Defender broke this rule successfully)
3. Demo Quality Over Demo Launch Timing
What Works:
Releasing demo BEFORE Next Fest to gather feedback and optimize
High median playtime (Steam tracks this metric)
Replayable demos that encourage sharing
What Doesn't Work: Rushing out a buggy demo just to participate
4. Target Specific Festival Goals
What Works:
Aim for "Popular Upcoming" tab (more realistic than "Most Wishlisted")
Target niche category rankings (Fighting Games, Card Games, City Builders) if you can't hit main pages
5,000-7,000 wishlists during festival = success tier
Typical Results:
Median: 1,000-2,000 new wishlists
Gold Tier: 7,000-9,999 new wishlists
Diamond Tier: 10,000+ new wishlists
TIKTOK STRATEGIES
1. One Viral Video Can Transform Everything
Real Results: Developer went from 400 wishlists to 23,000 wishlists from ONE viral TikTok video (7M views)
Day 1: +1,500 wishlists
Day 2: +3,500 wishlists
Day 3: +2,500 wishlists
Sustained 300+ wishlists/day for weeks after
2. Specific TikTok Success Formula
Real Results: "I Just Want to be Single!!" earned 2,900 wishlists from one video (571K views)
What Works:
Hook explained in first 3 seconds
Trending music (even if muted in editor - algorithm boosts it)
Clear CTA staying on screen for 3+ seconds
Consistency with upload schedule
4 relevant hashtags (not too many)
15-second videos
Vertical format preferred but horizontal works too
3. Cross-Platform Reposting
Source: How to go viral on Tiktok
What Works:
TikTok video gets 6K views → Same video on Instagram Reels gets 23K views
Another TikTok with 800K views → 17K+ on YouTube Shorts
Upload to YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels separately (don't just repost)
Use YouTube analytics to check audience retention graphs and improve hooks
REDDIT STRATEGIES
1. Smaller Niche Subreddits > Large Gaming Subreddits
Real Results: For "Boris the Sloth," smaller themed subreddits (r/sloths, animal-themed communities) generated better user acquisition than r/IndieGaming or r/Games
What Works:
Target subreddits where your game's theme/audience exists (not just gaming subreddits)
Easier to hit "top post of the day/week" in smaller subreddits
Reddit was single biggest external traffic source with ~190 visits in first 2 weeks
2. Reddit Ads Performance
Real Results: Voidmaw Games (Katanaut) optimized from $5+ per wishlist down to ~$1 per wishlist
What Works:
Traffic objective (optimizes for clicks to Steam page)
UTM parameters to track in Steam analytics
Target countries matching your game's translated languages
Let Reddit optimize ad scheduling (runs 24/7 in best-performing regions)
Don't stop/restart ads (triggers 1-2 week "learning period")
Average CTR: 0.4%+ overall, 1.0%+ in best communities
REDDIT ORGANIC STRATEGIES
1. Educational/Tutorial Content
Real Results: Particle effects tutorial drove "highest clickthrough rate from my site to the Steam page in the entire development period"
What Works:
Detailed tutorials showing how to create specific effects
Hundreds of weekly visits sustained over time
Few percent convert to Steam page visits
2. Reddit Posting Strategy
What Works:
Reddit = top driver of Steam page traffic (even without viral posts)
Build karma before promoting (10% rule: no more than 10% self-promotional content)
Post in smaller subreddits first: r/IndieGaming, r/indiegames, r/gamedevscreens
Better conversion rate than Twitter
SPECIFIC WISHLIST BENCHMARKS
5,000-10,000 wishlists = Minimum for commercially viable launch
7,000 wishlists = Threshold for "Popular Upcoming" visibility on Steam
2,000 wishlists = Minimum before entering Steam Next Fest
100,000+ wishlists = Requires viral moments, not daily tweeting
Conversion Rates:
Steam Next Fest wishlists: Convert at 50-75% the rate of organic wishlists (5% vs 10%)
Reddit ads wishlist conversion: 10% minimum, 20-25% in high-performing campaigns
TikTok to Steam conversion: ~0.5% (2,900 wishlists from 571K views = 0.51%)
Upcoming Events and Opportunities
Festivals, showcases, influencer and media showcases and their submission windows.
Steam Next Fest (Feb / Jun / Oct)
One of the strongest wishlist drivers if you have a demo ready.Steam Genre & Theme Fests
Smaller, more targeted, and often overlooked—but great for niche games.GDC (March)
Less about players, more about long-term relationships, publishers, and press.Day of the Devs (March)
The Mix (March)
IndieCade Festival (May)
PitchYaGame (#PitchYaGame) A biannual social-media indie showcase on Twitter/X where developers pitch their games using #PitchYaGame. (June)
Summer Game Fest / Digital Showcases (June)
High noise, but useful if you have a strong visual hook.PC Gaming Show (PC Gamer / Future) — big PC-first showcase that heavily features indies.
Future Games Show (GamesRadar / Future) — large multi-platform showcase (often indie-heavy).
Shacknews E4 Indie Showcase (Shacknews) — indie-only showcase timed around “Not-E3/SGF” season.
Nintendo Indie World Showcase (Nintendo editorial/publishing) — platform-holder showcase, but explicitly indie-only.
OTK Games Expo (OTK creators) — streamer network showcase with a strong indie focus.
New Game Plus Showcase (content creators) — newly launched creator-led showcase (notably “no paid placements” positioning).
Indie Quest (JRPG creator-led) — creator-led showcase focused on indie JRPGs.
Six One Indie Showcase (community/creator-run) — indie showcase brand built to spotlight smaller teams.
Links To Remember
All the best links that usually disappear into the Reddit ether only to be reposted by the most diligent Redditors and game development and marketing gurus. Link to the website archive of these great resources (GDMR)
Tip Line: Got Ideas, Insights, or Opportunities?
Have a win, a learning, a question, or an opportunity worth sharing? Send it in. If it helps the community, we’ll surface it with credit. [email protected]