I'm a solo founder with no game dev background. I just decided to build a Steam game and I want to be honest about exactly where I'm starting from.

My background is 12 years in industrial robotics FANUC, ABB, factory floors. I've spent the last year building iOS apps. I have a vast variety apps in my portfolio live on the App Store. So I know how to build software solo and ship it. But game development is a completely different animal and I'm not pretending otherwise.

The game is a survival horror action title set inside an abandoned auto plant. You play as the engineer who built the system that's now hunting you. That's all I'll say about the concept for now.

The tone is somewhere between Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, and Alien Isolation.

For the build I'm going in with Unreal Engine 5, Meshy AI for 3D asset generation, Ludus AI for Blueprint assistance, and Claude Code as my coding co-pilot connected to the engine through UnrealClaude and VibeUE. I'm treating this the same way I've treated every other build learn the fundamentals, use every tool available, don't quit when it gets hard.

What I genuinely want from people who've been here:

For those who came from non-game dev backgrounds what actually broke the Unreal learning curve for you? Not tutorials. The real moment something clicked.

For solo devs building in this genre how did you manage scope before it killed the project?

For anyone who's shipped on Steam solo what do you wish you had locked down in pre-production that you didn't?

I'm at the very beginning. I'd rather learn from people who've already taken the hits than find out the hard way alone.

We built the machines. Figured it's time to tell the story of what happens when they stop listening.

Iwata inspired me to program video games, I want to be just like him, but I’m very bad at math and programming involving math or at least that’s what people tell me

Hey everyone,
I’m currently studying Computer Science with a specialization in AI & ML, and I’ve decided that I want to pursue a career in game development. I’m still at the beginning of my journey, so I’d really appreciate some guidance from people who are already in the industry or have experience in game development.
I’m trying to figure out the best place to start, what skills I should prioritize, which game engine and programming languages are most valuable to learn, how to build a strong portfolio, and what the hiring process is generally like for game development roles.
If you were starting from scratch today, what path would you recommend? Any advice, learning resources, or personal experiences would really help.
Thanks in advance!

I have a stick up my ass about these two games, and something fishy is going on, but I don't know what.

**TL;DR: Fast food simulator (FFS) and burger shift rush (BR) have identical tutorials, game play, progression, asset packs, and mechanics with few minor differences, like asset aesthetics/colors, interacting with a trashcan or wrapper, and BR has a new oven asset that FFS doesn't have. BR seems like the full game, when it releases, will be more fleshed out than FFS is, but otherwise, as of right now, almost everything is identical. My husband decompiled the files (not a game dev, just a software engineer) and found that they actually seem different enough, and BR's files actually have Italian verbiage in them. FFS is just English.

Something fishy is going on, but what is it? Same devs that made FFS is now parading around nova telum studios? Nova telum just straight up ripped off FFS in an almost identical fashion, but making changes where the FFS devs abandoned the game? Indie teams outsourced to the same people, bought the same kit? I'm so sketched.**

The games in question are

1) fast food simulator. Created by allegedly Turkish indie team no ceiling games. Released in early access on steam December 2024. Last content addition was June 5th 2025. Then one single bug fix to a cashier November 2025, and no one has heard a peep from these devs since then.

2) burger shift: rush. Created by a brand new, allegedly Italian team called nova telum studios. Steam page was created June 14th, the prologue released October 2025, they have since released a demo as well and have scheduled an official release date for September 11th 2026.

Now when I say these games are identical, they are both just full of the same premade assets. So all of that is already the same, nothing unusual there, but the tutorials are even identical. You spawn outside similar-looking buildings by a vehicle, first prompt is to click the sign to name your restaurant, next is to go inside and turn the computer on, then go to market, buy burgers/patties/buns in that order.

*Now, in FFS (fast food sim) the computer is off by default, so you do have to turn it on, but in BR (burger rush), the computer is already on by default.*

So tutorials are the same, all assets are the same, the game play is the same. You have the same brown trays under the same serving counter. You put the same ticket numbers on the trays, make the same food, and deliver the tray. All the burger ingredients are the same, they're unlocked in the same progression order, the customer spawn rate is the same, and the NPCs all make the same idle animations and noises. Even the way you put the toppings on the burger are the exact same, and the order style. IE: customer orders 3 mayo, you click the same mayo bottle asset 3 times, it puts the same mayo splat on the burger.

**The differences:**

1) only the serving counter registers are different. Not the order screens for the people making food in the back.

2) there's a new asset, an oven.

3) some assets are different colors. NPCs styled differently, different generic soda labels, different ice cream flavors, burger wrappers are different colors, etc.

4) you hold LMB to dump tray in FFS, you click once for BR.

5) in FFS, you right click a wrapped burger to bring up a label menu so you can label that it goes to a certain table, in BR you just write on the label with your mouse.

6) allegedly, in the full game, employees will be more fleshed out, having an application pool, taking breaks, and having stats. This doesn't exist in FFS, plus two new kinds of employees. You hire stocker/cashier/delivery person/busser and they just show up, work, and go home.

My husband decompiled both games' files, and found, shockingly, they're actually different. Now he is a software engineer, but no game developer, so isn't exactly sure what is what, but they seemed different enough to him to make him question that two different companies actually made the game. Like audio files having different names and sizes, Italian verbiage in BR, but only English in FFS, just various other things. But we don't really know what's what about files per se.

I've been high key suspicious that no ceiling games (FFS) abandoned their game, rebranded themselves as nova telum, and is selling their now-updated abandoned game as just a "new" game entirely. But idk, the files have me questioning myself and I'm way out of my depth for something that I shouldn't care so much about, but I clearly do way too much 🤷‍♀️.

Hello, im 16 just getting interested in game dev. i made another post on tips to get started so maybe visit that and share some of your ideas. But the significance of this post is to discuss how to manage my time.

I have school from 8 - 5:45
and around 2 - 3 hours of equivalence homework everyday

Is there anyway for me to do at least a bit of gamedev each day or do i do it only on weekends?

Basically, the player can't move, it's like a movie playing like the environment moves around the player, and you have to click on certain objects before they're out of your field of view.

It's like gathering different pieces of a puzzle, some are quick time events, others you just have to notice, and some you have to do a certain task, like a mini game or clicking a certain key a bunch.

You win by getting all the objects, and you'll have to replay it until you get all objects

Hey everyone,

I’m currently wrapping up an internal optimization pass on my upcoming Android title, and I’m hitting a wall regarding input latency and performance variance across different device tiers.

I am looking for some feedback from fellow devs on:

• Input Latency: How responsive do the touch controls feel on your specific hardware?
• Framerate Stability: Do you notice any micro-stutters during core gameplay loops?
• UI Scaling: Does the layout scale correctly on your screen resolution?

Because this is currently on a Google Play Internal Test track, Google requires me to manually whitelist emails before the download link becomes active.

If you have 5 minutes to take a look and give me some technical feedback, please comment or DM your Gmail address so I can whitelist you.

Once whitelisted, the build can be accessed here: google.com

Thanks in advance for any insights!

Hi everyone!

I'm currently learning Unreal Engine so I can develop my first game, and I have a few questions. If you happen to see this same message posted in several indie game development groups, it's simply because I'm trying to gather as much advice as possible from different developers.

So, here's my question.

Using what I've learned so far, I recently published a small game/test level here:
https://elm-art.itch.io/crash-dream

Since it was just a small practice project where I applied the first techniques I learned, I never really felt the need to share screenshots, work-in-progress updates, or development logs.

Now that I'm starting work on my first real game, I'd like to do things differently.

I'd love to share screenshots, WIP videos, and development updates over time to gradually involve people in the project and, who knows, maybe even build a small community of people who are interested in following its development.

So my questions are:

• Which social media platforms do you use to promote your game while it's still in development?
• How do you usually share your progress? Do you post screenshots, short videos, devlogs, GIFs, or something else?
• If you were starting from zero today, what would you focus on to help people discover your project?

I'd really appreciate hearing about your experiences and any advice you can share. Thank you!

Hey everyone! I run a creative community discord server for people who do a range of creative avenues. I decided to open it up to the public a bit more. The server is a community to share resources, teach and learn and also to connect with others in the same fields and network.

It’s a rather small community but we hope to grow it. If anyone is interested please feel free to DM and let me know what kind of creative work you do for example programming, 3D, game dev, traditional art, digital art and so on.

I would just love to have more people join and connect!

Thank you :)

Heyy

I need to pick a laptop for my comp sci & game dev course at uni.

I'll need it to work in unity, unreal engine, maya etc

I've found a few options but just not sure on which would be good. Or if anyone had any better reccomendations that works too!

Never had a pc or gaming laptop before and not sure much about specs bur been trying to research and figure it out. I know I need a dedicated graphics card with a minimum or 8gb . And I should probably get more than 16gb of ram but as long as it's fine for now I'm happy to upgrade the ram or ssd later if I can

Mainly deciding between:

•HP OMEN 16 (intel core ultra 7, RTX 5060, 24gb ram, 1tb ssd) £1350

•Acer Nitro V16 ( AMD Ryzen 7, RTX 5060, 16gb ram, 1tb ssd) £1100

Also considering:

• MSI Vector 16 (intel core ultra 7, RTX 5070 12gb, 16gb ram, 1tb ssd) £1650

• MSI Vector 16 (intel core ultra 9, RTX 5060, 1tb ssd, 32gb ram) £1700

• Gigabyte Aero x16 ( Ryzen AI 7, RTX 5060, 16gb ram, 1tb ssd) £1400

• ASUS TUF A18 (Ryzen 7, RTX 5060, 16gb ram, 1tb ssd) £1400

• ASUS TUF A16 Advantage Edition (AMD Ryzen 7 170, AMD Radeon RX 7700s, 16gb ram, 1tb ssd) £ 1000

• Acer Nitro 16s (AMD Ryzen AI 9, RTX 5070 12gb, 16gb ram, 1tb ssd) £1700

I'd obviously prefer the cheaper ones but are they going to be really bad for game dev..?

I heard the hp omen isn't the best quality in terms of actual build as well as it being harder to take apart to upgrade, I wanted something durable especially for the price but it does have alot of pros compared to the others.

But a few of the other ones are apparently not accurate with colours/ washed out screens or the cpu wattage is limited. Especially when I looked at the MSI or some of the ASUS ones.

Is it worth making sure the graphics card is over 8gb? The two i found with 12gb kinda stretch my budget and lack in other aspects.

The Acer Nitro 16s seemed like the most suggested but it's more out my budget than I'd hope so I really wouldn't be able to upgrade the 16gb ram and not totally convinced if it's better than the others?

(Also I can't get a refurbished gaming laptop right now as I'm upgrading a laptop offered by DSA and paying the difference)

Sorry this is long, I've just been looking at so many I'm now more confused tbh & don't want to buy the wrong one 🫠

Any help is appreciated :))

Hello, im 16 just getting interested in game dev. i made another post on tips to get started so maybe visit that and share some of your ideas. But the significance of this post is to discuss how to manage my time.

I have school from 8 - 5:45
and around 2 - 3 hours of equivalence homework everyday

Is there anyway for me to do at least a bit of gamedev each day or do i do it only on weekends?

I mean we all have a whole background of memories playing games when we where kids. But can you actually remember the first time when you played a video game? What game it was?

Hi everyone, after watching a lot of Godot tutorials, I finally decided it's time to stop thinking about it and actually start learning. I guess I need to write a little intro to see if someone can somehow advice me on my start :

My main background is in music. I have a degree in Popular Music (Jazz, Argentine Tango and Folklore, Salsa, Rock, Pop, etc), and I've worked as a professional session bassist.

My strongest area has never been audio production or recording. What I really enjoy is music theory: learning songs by ear, reharmonizing, composing, analyzing harmony, and understanding the structure behind the music. That's probably the part of my background that I think could eventually be useful in game development.

In 2022, I moved back to my hometown and decided to learn programming from scratch. I started with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, then learned a bit of WordPress, some basic Python, and the fundamentals of Ruby. I was heading toward Ruby on Rails, but after a while I realized I was trying to learn too many things at once, so I decided to leave Ruby for the future and focus on what really caught my attention wich is Godot.

I've built some of the typical beginner projects and simple logic games with html/cs/js, and I even tried to jump into React before realizing that my JavaScript fundamentals still needed work.

So here I am in 2026, still learning and trying different areas of programming. I've always loved video games, and recently I started feeling that game development might be the place where my interests in music and programming finally come together.

It would be great if one day I managed to publish a game that people wanted to buy, but that's not really why I'm getting into this. What I'm looking for is a field where I can combine both of the things I enjoy the most.

Since I'm just starting with Godot, I'd really appreciate any recommendations. And that's why I'm making this intro, i guess that probably an experienced gamedev around here would like to know about my background.

- Where do you usually get sprites, tilesets, UI assets, sound effects, and other resources?

-Are there any websites, YouTube channels, or courses you think every beginner should know about?

- And if there's anything you wish someone had told you when you first started with Godot, I'd love to hear it!

Thanks in advance!

Hey everyone, ​I'm pretty new to indie game development and recently finished building a free web-based basketball simulation game. ​I'm at the point where I really need people to test it for gameplay balance and bugs, but I'm not sure how to actually reach players as a beginner. ​I really want to avoid spamming or self-promoting where it's not welcome. ​For those who have been through this stage: Where or how do you usually start looking for your very first playtesters when you're starting from scratch? Are there specific forums, subreddits, or best practices for getting helpful feedback? ​Thanks for any advice!

Yoo wsg guys, ive recently just got into game dev - did a bit of work in unity but never rlly understood the concept. just blatantly copied of others and quit. Then i got back and copied made a game and quit - happened for around 3 years and NOW ive moved into godot. Any good advice to actually learn the engine so i can maybe create by myself?