Everyone has their own process, but I think it's fine to just start with a simple idea that's not yet a game, jump in, and experiment around, especially if you're just starting out. I'm not an expert by any means, but I managed to release a small game of my own recently, and all I had at the start was a test where I could knock over a box by throwing a ball. Everything else that eventually became the game were ideas that I had later while playing around and showing it to other people.

I'm glad you like it! I actually made my first prototype right before last Christmas so I could play it when my family got together, and people enjoyed it so much I just kept working on it.

As far as gifting goes, I actually didn't know you could get Steam gifts that deliver later, so I'm not entirely sure of the answer, but I assume if they charge you for the game right away it would process the payment then too.

Full disclosure though, only one person needs a copy of the game to run it and play with a group. Everyone joins the game by visiting a website (generally on their phone), similar to how Jackbox games work. So there's no obligation to gift copies, but if you still do I will be quite honored and grateful!

I appreciate the optimism! I hope it can find an audience over time, but it's definitely tough to stand out. For now, I'm aiming to just keep making games and improving, rather than giving up after the first try, which sadly seems to happen a lot out there.

By the way, here's the game for anyone interested: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2792160/SnowDown/

I didn't expect to see so many replies!

Oof, though you're not wrong!

Here's my game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2792160/SnowDown/

It's a little action party game you can play with phones as controllers (similar to how you'd host a Jackbox game). And yes I did make it with Godot!

Hey me too! I released my first game on Steam a month ago and by all objective measures it was a flop, but as a hobbyist I'm still proud of it. It honestly did better than I thought for a small niche game that I did a terrible job of marketing, and my one review so far was quite positive so I'll count that as a small win as I move onwards to the next game.

EDIT: Here's the game because my reply is getting harder to spot below - https://store.steampowered.com/app/2792160/SnowDown/ - It's a small Jackbox-inspired party game (using phones as controllers) but with real-time action and physics as you throw snowballs around and destroy structures.

This was my first game jam ever and I'm happy to say mine is one of the thousands of Godot games this year. The web export in 4.3 worked without any issues for me.

Maybe this is a little weird but I actually use mine the most at the gym while on the treadmill and stair machine. It's helped me stay motivated to keep going back semi-regularly and luckily over the last year I've lost most of the weight I gained during the pandemic. I've also worked through a lot of games that have been sitting untouched in my library, especially those smaller indie games that run well on the Deck.

Apart from that I also bring it to family gatherings since it's convenient for local multiplayer games like Jackbox.

I don't know if I can call it garbage but probably no one in their right mind should play Hearts of Iron IV. Somehow I managed to persist through hours of bewilderment and confusion, until it all clicked, and I soon found myself unhealthily obsessed and unable to rest peacefully until glorious France had swept across half of the globe

The only recommendation I can think of at the moment (at least that hasn't been mentioned yet) is Kaguya-sama: Love is War (admittedly I've only seen S1 since that was all they had on Hulu but it was one of my favorites)

Also maybe Ouran High School Host Club but it's been a while since I've seen it so I don't remember much

Hi all! Just another ex-Redditor hoping to overcome my lurker inclinations and find some interesting new communities to join