Jake Birkett - Veteran Indie

NEW GAME ANNOUNCEMENT! A 1995 CD-ROM. A game buried for a reason. You flip a card. The screen glitches. Something is watching. Forbidden Solitaire—a dungeon horror from the creators of Ancient Enemy and Home Safety Hotline. store.steampowered.com/app/3414580/Fo… With @SlickNickLives

The sacred grove spring 2026

Indie Games of The Week Spotlight! This week I asked the algorithm for games that were niche, strange, ambitious… something different. Safe to say - the algo delivered. Most of these games are by solo devs too. If anything catches your eye, show the devs some love - like, comment, reshare and follow. That sort of support is everything for indie devs trying to build visibility. @TwoPillarsGames - TERRORSTORM: Ground Zero @GreyAlien - Forbidden Solitaire @FangstormGame - Fangstorm @PixelDripGames - Anomalous Cleaning Detail @HereComesSwarm - Here Comes The Swarm @shaderbunny - DAWN ONE @thoboone - Time To Wake Up @nohost_dev - BREKEKEKEX

@clemmygames Recently I played this for a whole weekend on Xbox: store.steampowered.com/app/1634860/Mi…

Here's an example of how much money a game dev actually pockets after earning $100,000 of Gross Revenue on Steam: - ~18% (returns, chargebacks, taxes) = $82,000 - 30% (Steam's platform cut) = $57,400 - 0% (if you self-publish) - 15.3% (U.S. Self Employment Tax) = $48,617 - $4,377 (Federal income tax) = $44,270 - ~$0-$3,800 (State income tax) = ~$40,400 So you could pocket about $40,000, but don't be discouraged. $100k gross sounds like a lot but it's only 5,000 copies sold at $20. This is attainable, but it's also why it's important to keep your development timeline short. x.com/jogamedev/stat… Disclaimer: This is a rough simplified example for a US solo dev self-publishing as a sole proprietor with minimal other expenses. Actual results vary a lot by your location, business structure, deductions, filing status, etc. This is not tax or financial advice — talk to a CPA.

@jogamedev I write a post about this topic which people may find useful: patreon.com/posts/can-you-… It has a similar breakdown of what happens to the money and discusses time take and budgets etc.

@KupoGames That's really great news. Maybe approaching 50% in week 1, then 3x week1 in year 1, so 150%+

Find Matt's Cats has recouped about 33% of the development costs in 2 days, if you assume an average UK salary for me and Ronja.

@KupoGames That was fast, great going!

The first 100 reviews are in. Greatly appreciated! These help out a lot!

Forbidden Solitaire in print in PC Gamer!

@LeJoCarry Thank you!

@Lockie_Glizzy Awesome! Enjoy :-)

@GreyAlien This looks amazing - I love the art direction and concept. Very much my style. I’m 100% checking this out. Hold my beer

I spend a lot of time looking for indie games worth getting excited about. Sometimes the algorithm helps. Sometimes I get distracted by a news event and the algorithm completely changes my feed. So let’s try something. Glizzy’s next showcase is coming up, and I’m looking for devs building something that doesn’t fit anywhere else. Niche, strange, ambitious, half-finished but full of soul - I want to hear about it. Drop your game below. Tag a dev who deserves eyes on their work. Okay algorithm. Show this to the right people. No pressure…

@VoidmawGames Thanks!

@GreyAlien I agree, this is so true. It’s very easy to get burned out in this industry. Also congrats on your 17th game, that is massive!

Fun fact: 75% of indies on Steam only release one game. Which is interesting... because once you ship your first game, youve already done the hardest part. The pipelines exist, connections are made, lessons are learned. A second project in theory, should be easier to produce.

Lots of Opus Magnum stuff happening tomorrow! (3/17) #1 - New DLC on Steam, DE RE METALLICA store.steampowered.com/app/3107410/Op… #2 - New Switch port, which includes the DLC nintendo.com/us/store/produ… #3 - An AMA on the Nintendo Switch subreddit (starting at 4PM PT) reddit.com/r/NintendoSwit…

This is beyond my wildest dreams. picoCAD 2 is #6 on Steam's Popular New Releases list 🤩

Find Matt's Cats is out on Steam!

Marketing wins we can't repeat (New Patreon post) patreon.com/posts/153252733 What works changes over time as the market changes and platforms change.