Building a good game is necessary but not sufficient. The graveyard of indie releases is full of genuinely great games nobody heard about. Discovery is its own discipline — and a lot of it comes down to reaching the curators, communities, and creators who exist specifically to surface hidden gems.
Understand who amplifies indies
There’s an entire ecosystem dedicated to finding and sharing indie games: Steam curators, YouTube and TikTok creators who cover small titles, subreddits, Discord communities, and X accounts whose whole purpose is spotlighting devs. These people want to find your game. Your job is to make it easy for them.
How to earn that attention
- Make a great presskit. Screenshots, a trailer, a clear description, and contact info in one easy link removes all friction.
- Share raw gameplay openly. Many curators bookmark clips they stumble across — post them where they’ll be seen.
- Be part of the community first. Support other devs, join the conversations, and you won’t be a stranger when you have something to share.
- Respect people’s time. A short, specific, personal message beats a mass-blasted press release every time.
Play the long game
Discovery compounds. One creator sharing your clip leads another to notice it; a curator adding your game exposes it to their followers. None of it happens if you stay invisible until launch day. The developers who get “discovered” usually spent months quietly making themselves discoverable.
Your game deserves to be seen — but nobody is obligated to find it for you. Meet the people who love surfacing indies halfway, and give them something easy to champion.
Communities and creators like @IndieGameJoe actively call for devs to share raw gameplay — exactly the kind of opportunity worth showing up for.