World's Okayest Developer

On July 16th at 1PM ET, beehiiv is unveiling the next chapter for audience-led businesses.

For years, creators and brands have been forced to stitch together bloated stacks of tools just to publish content, grow an audience, and make money online.

Newsletters in one platform. Websites in another. Podcasts somewhere else. Analytics scattered everywhere.

beehiiv thinks there’s a better way. Now, they’re ready to show it off at their Summer Release Event.

Reserve your spot.

Don’t Shit On Other Developers.

Seriously there’s a stage where everyone who creates something is vulnerable. Your critique, your opinion, your negativity begs the question - Do you want me to succeed or do you want me to know how smart you are? When you make a game, you can’t do it in a vacuum but the right to give feedback needs to be earned, not to mention requested. not many people can look at a block of marble and say, “That’s going to be a statue of David.” Not all games are a work of art, or good, but then again art isn’t a competition. The journey is never graded on the same curve as the outcome. The criteria is never static, objective and with deep understanding of the intent of the artist to make a certain type of fan happy, or themselves happy, or to fill a void in the industry that the elite refuse to discuss.

So before we go through the performative actions of offering our opinions, bias and emotional shortcomings cunningly disguised as feedback, ask yourself if you saw the late nights. Did you feel the pinch of tight wallets. Did you feel the stress of letting family and friends down. Have you ever made something on your own, solo, or with a small team that is vulnerable, honest to skill and showing growth and expertise everyday. Or have you always be at the big company. Only worked with 10/10 teams. Road the coattails of giants while getting a huge check from someone you fall for that kind of stuff.

Are you a builder. A maker. A person who knows when to shut the fuck up and just high-5 a stranger even if their game is a 1 out of 10. Especially if you don’t get it, because it might not be made for your refined palette. It might be comfort food for someone else’s soul.

The Steam process still requires approval and Lorix Games lost 2-3x wishlists by not being prepared. Press F to pay respect

I recently released my first commercial indie game called Village Merchant on steam. It wasn't a complete failure, but it definitely didn't performhow I hoped, so I wanted to share some numbers and lessons in case they're useful to someone else.

Launch numbers

One thing worth mentioning is that I launched during the Steam Spring Sale which I highly regret now.

Normally that sounds like a terrible idea, but we happened to be in Popular Upcoming at the time. I thought that delaying the release would mean losing that visibility. For my justification, during the last day before premiere project gained about 1500 wishlists, while we built the whole thing for roughly 9 months to reach those 9k.

Seeking self-published games OR ones looking for publishers -- giving a spotlight to teams without major backing or helping those searching for a publisher get discovered.

Submission Form

1. Game Maker's Notebook: https://lnkd.in/eQs6GqTa
2. Level Design Lobby: maxpears.com
3. Designer Notes: https://lnkd.in/enyb_d23
4. Game Dev Field Guide: youtube.com/@Zackavelli
5. The Debug Log: thedebuglog.com
6. CodeNewbie: codenewbie.org/podcast
7. GameDev Unchained: https://lnkd.in/e4Gc9xqt
8. The Art Department: https://www.art-dept.com/
9. The Animation Guild Podcast: https://lnkd.in/ekehpRem
10. Art Side of Life: artsideoflife.com
11. Concept Art Podcast: https://lnkd.in/esVb4mYf
12. Script Lock: scriptlock.simplecast.com
13. Writing Excuses: writingexcuses.com
14. LORE: https://lnkd.in/eXyMh4ni
15. Game Writer's Panel: https://lnkd.in/e5-j9E6p
16. The Gaming Playbook: youtube.com/@hphokou
17. Deconstructor of Fun: deconstructoroffun.com
18. Triple Click: https://lnkd.in/eWpJBN8K
19. Eggplant: The Secret Lives of Games: eggplant.show
20. Play, Watch, Listen: https://lnkd.in/e7aBH_vV
21. Spawn On Me: youtube.com/@SpawnOnMe
22. The Nextlander Podcast: youtube.com/@nextlander
23. Kinda Funny Gamescast: https://lnkd.in/exuc3M-J
24. Game Scoop!: gamescoop.libsyn.com
25. What's Good Games: https://lnkd.in/ep-YcX7i

Festivals, showcases, influencer and media showcases and their submission windows.

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)

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]