Structured Community Feedback for Better Game Development

Have you ever spent years building something only to realize you were solving the wrong problem? That’s exactly what happened behind Darkest Path. In this candid breakdown, the creators of Darkest Path, Umut and Berkay, share what went wrong, what they missed early on, and how that hard pivot reshaped their approach to game development. It’s a rare, honest look at the kind of lessons most teams only learn the hard way. If you’re working on a long-term project, this one might save you months (or years) 👇 https://lnkd.in/gQjGncmD For more stories like this, subscribe to our Substack where game devs share what actually happens behind the scenes. 🚀 #gamedev #indiedev #gamedevelopment #gamedesign #startuplessons #productdevelopment #indiegamedev #gamedevs #lessonslearned #linkedincreator

Dev Cypher is where emerging talent meets real opportunity. From concept to creation, we’re building a pipeline of developers, creators, and experiences that power the next generation of interactive content. This is more than community, this is how infrastructure is built and where the trajectory of the next generation’s opportunities, focus on ownership of the IP they consume. ✨ Calling all developers, creators and innovators. We are building, sharing, and shaping what’s next in real time. Join the #coexist movement 🥳🎮. ✨ #DevCypher #CoexistGaming #FutureOfGaming #CreatorEconomy TechInnovation

Behind every great game experience is powerful engineering. Another story from our #JourneyToHire series! Congratulations to Raza Hamdani on stepping into a new opportunity with the support of Crossing Hurdles. With years of experience in backend development, cloud infrastructure, and multiplayer game engineering, his journey reflects strong expertise in building scalable systems and performance-driven applications. From MMORPGs to real-time gameplay systems, he has worked on everything from player systems and backend optimization to infrastructure migration and load testing. A great example of how deep engineering experience continues to shape the future of technology. What area of tech do you enjoy solving problems in the most? More stories from #JourneyToHire coming soon 🚀

A solo developer just sold 100,000 copies of his game in 48 hours. No publisher. No investors. No marketing team. No multiplayer. No live service. No skins. The graphics aren’t the best either. The game is Road to Vostok — a hardcore single-player survival shooter built by one person. I’ve spent the last week playing it, and it made me think about what it says about how the rest of us build software. 🔍 Transparency From day one, Antti Leinonen (developer) was open about the roadmap and the progress on that journey. 💬 Community feedback Instead of building in secret, Antti posted frequent development updates, ran an active Discord, and released playable demos. Players shaped the game before launch by playing it (not just by reviewing it after). 💪 Commitment Midway through development, he migrated the entire project from Unity to Godot in under three months — and still developed all promised features for an early-access game on an indie budget. The result? A polished, well-designed hardcore survival simulator with a strong foundation — and it’s genuinely fun. Now compare that to how most of us ship software: - Stealth mode until launch. - No community in the loop. - Features rushed out to hit a quarter. - Big stacks, big teams, infrastructure, endless meetings. And no guaranteed return. 💡 What can we learn from Road to Vostok? - MVP — Keep the product simple and solid. Quality over quantity. - Community first — Reach out to your consumers. Listen. Share your vision. - Go all in — Attention to detail and originality can make mainstream hits. One former army officer. No publisher. No team. 🔥 Top 20 on global Steam charts When’s the last time your team shipped something this transparent? #RoadToVostok #SoloDev #IndieDev #SoftwareDevelopment #GameDevelopment #MadeWithGodot

Are you asking the right questions about your game’s growth, or are you just following the herd? In the latest edition of Adtech Leaders' Insights, Phillip Black dives deep into monetization psychology and explains why most studios are missing the mark by focusing on the wrong metrics. From the nuances of merge games to the "relevancy" of daily LiveOps, this issue is packed with honest insights! Read the full interview here: 👉 https://lnkd.in/dBtxcnwC #Adtech #MobileGaming #Monetization #LiveOps #AppSamurai #GameDev

Code Games continues to raise the bar! For those not familiar, Code Games is our annual innovation competition, where teams push boundaries and turn bold ideas into real solutions. This year, I was especially struck by the curiosity and ambition across our teams—driving an exponential surge of ideas and applying Agentic AI to solve real problems in new ways. A big congratulations to InnovateHub for winning across multiple categories—an incredible example of innovation backed by execution. Congrats Sarah Gant Robert Baumann We’re not just imagining the future—we’re building it. Excited to see how these innovations continue to transform how professionals work. Check out the video our team put together—it’s funny, but honestly not far from reality. #CodeGames #Innovation #AgenticAI #FutureOfWork #Curiosity #Ambition

Most publishers already know what works in LiveOps. The real challenge is scaling it across multiple games without rebuilding everything from scratch every time. - A successful event structure. - A proven shop setup. - A high-performing offer sequence. - A battle pass configuration that already increased ARPDAU. Why recreate it title by title? With Balancy, teams can turn winning LiveOps setups into reusable templates and deploy them across an entire portfolio. That means: - Shared LiveOps systems across games - Faster launches and iteration cycles - Reusing proven monetization mechanics - Less engineering dependency for every update - More consistency across multiple titles Instead of managing disconnected LiveOps pipelines for each game, publishers can centralize operations while still adapting content for different audiences and genres. The result: scaling LiveOps becomes operational, not manual. We covered this in our latest article + webinar on LiveOps templates and cross-project workflows - link in the comments 👇 #liveops #mobilegames #gamedev #gamepublishing #freetoplay

ScatterKings is now live on Hub88's aggregation platform and from a technical perspective this was one of the smoothest integrations we've done. Clear APIs, well-structured documentation, and a team that communicates the way engineers want to be communicated with 🙏. Every integration we complete extends ScatterKings' reach and Hub88 brings a serious network of global operators to the table 🦾. We've already got customers lined up to go live through the platform, which says a lot about the demand for our content and the confidence in Hub88's ecosystem. The roadmap keeps growing, the partnerships keep strengthening, and the games keep landing. Good things ahead. 🚀 #iGaming #GameAggregation #Slots #Partnerships

Games Lift Incubator 2026 Applications Are Now Open Since 2020, Gamecity Hamburg, part of the Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft, has provided €15,000 of financial support to studios and developers through the Games Lift Incubator. Developers, teams and studios can now apply for the 2026 round. "In the Games Lift Incubator, we put a lot of things to the test. Through tailored workshops and individual mentoring, we create a foundation that allows teams to develop their projects further. The releases and successes of previous years impressively demonstrate the quality of this work - and we look forward to supporting the next teams and developers in our incubator with their projects," says Helen Krüger, Project Manager at Gamecity Hamburg. https://lnkd.in/dhYpcUJX

User-Generated Content (UGC) isn’t just a trend: it’s an ecosystem. 🏙️✨ The most sought-after roles right now aren't just technical; they're "UGC Ecosystem Architects." These are specialists who design the social and economic fabric of platforms like Roblox, Fortnite Creative, and beyond. They’re half game designer, half economist, and half community builder. Finding one is like finding a needle in a digital haystack. Good thing we’ve been looking in that haystack for decades. 🕹️📊 #UGC #GameEconomy #MetaverseHiring #Roblox