How Much an Indie Game Costs to Make YouTube video by Moo Yu

I love sharing numbers so here's a video of how much we spent to make Mythmatch.

I break it down by time, discipline, and funding source.

youtu.be/cB5lanPUQ1o

I'm at #LGF2026 today and spoke for the first time as 🌸 Blossom Arcade this morning, on 'Keeping on top of production tasks without a publisher' as part of the Self-Publishing Toolkit ✨️

BIG MILESTONE ❤️

❤️✨️✨️ thank you so much! Was lovely to meet you.

Incredibly excited to see my bestie Lee announcing Tea Imps first title.

Please repost, wishlist and play the demo right now! It would mean the world to this tiny indie team <3

If you're an indie dev and feel weird about having to market your game and ask/prompt for reviews I ask you to have a mere fraction of the persistence of the dental clinic that has sent me three texts asking me to leave them a review since they pulled a wisdom tooth out three hours ago

Small note. Mass layoffs like these are also a tactic to devalue the work because workers become more desperate while companies create false scarcity.

Do not, ever, forget your worth. Don’t let them win.
You make this industry exist. They don’t.

❤️Super happy to see that RPS covered Grow Wild!

Been working with Philip since mid last year. It's an incredible blend of city building, creature collecting and a 're-wilding' simulator.

Sign up for the playtests and look out for the demo launching into Earth Appreciation fest next month. 🐛🐜🐝

If anyone is willing the share the following, I would be so grateful!

We just launched Piece by Piece on Steam 🎉🎉

It's a cozy repair shop sim, you play a woodland fox who inherits his grandfather's store. You fix up items with your hammer and paintbrush 🔨🖌️🦊

store.steampowered.com/app/3179050/...

In the stage where all I think about is playing more Pokopia. 🌱🛠️😀✨🍃

1. The Last of Us 2. Alexx Kidd 3. Animal Crossing New Horizons 4. Mickey Mania 5. Pokemon Yellow 6. Ghost of Tsushima 7. Divinity Original Sin 8. Planet Coaster 9. Kingdom Hearts

#my9games Well, since everyone else is, here are my top 9! :)

Tavern Talk Stories: Dreamwalker - A cozy visual novel A standalone prequel to the Kickstarter hit. Be the Tavernkeeper! Listen to stories, mix drinks, forge quests in a cozy seaside tavern.

📢It's the last day to back this coastal based, fantasy visual novel, Tavern Talk Stories: Dreamwalker on Kickstarter!

The team have worked so hard on this and it's a huge improvement on the games first in the series.

Please support this diverse team. Captain Beebug is so cute too!❤️🐝

A table with many cards and a small board game on it. The game is seven wonders duel. With a ginger cat with a tent, tunnel and marble run in the background.

Played a couple of rounds of 7 Wonders Duel over the weekend with my wife. Incredible 2 player board game. Going to grab the expansions when I can!

(Wife won both times 😅)

Also, please note the amount of toys we had to put out for the cats to stop them disturbing the game.

It's my birthday, lunar new year and pancake day all on the same day next week. 🎂🐉🥞

Super happy to be speaking at @londongamesfest.bsky.social 's first Self-Publishing Toolkit live sessions in April! 😀🌸

#LGF26 #indiedev #gamedev

Sitting within the big yellow cloud of 'Video Games Industry Professionals' ☺️

Working with Content Creators Tips for organic and paid coverage for indie teams

Just released the latest edition of Before You Launch, 🌸Blossom Arcade’s newsletter!

This month I focused on working with Content Creators. Something I've only picked up over the last couple of years, but learnt fast and have some tips for you if you’ve not worked with creators before 👍

#indiedev

We’re so excited to announce our Story-Rich Showcase!

Our official showcase runs during the Summer Game Showcase 2026 timeframe, dedicated entirely to story-rich indie games with first looks, reveals, trailers, release dates, and dev-led storytelling 💝

More details soon!
🚶storyrich.games

Oooh, 19th May. 👏 ❤️

Please give us a release date today 🙏🙏🙏🙏

So happy to see a Gazoo Racing car on the cover too. ❤️✌️

So excited to see Xbox getting straight to it with showing off Forza Horizon 6.

Honestly couldnt be more excited, I have over 1000 hours logged on FH5.

Ready for my new comfort game to launch and so excited its set in Japan! 🏎

There’s a guy on Facebook who hates the queer romance in Old Skies so much that he’s hopping on every recent thread related to the game to rant about it. Lesson learned. More queer stuff.

The developers of PEAK explain pricing

A computer, a glass of juice and a bowl of berries and yogurt and a book with the title Thunderhead are on a table with a fire in the background.

Enjoying lazy sunday mornings by the fire reading and writing. ✍️📖 Determined to finish editing my book this year.

A timeline visually representing the advice from my post, emphasising how dramatically and reliably having more time, with a testable build, converts to your game being better and your studio being safer.

I've been running an indie games studio for 15 years now, and it felt like a good time to boil down what I've learned into 4 pieces of advice:

www.pentadact.com/2026-01-08-1...

I hope it's of use, not least because goddamn I forgot how long blog posts take to write.

A big ginger cat lying on the floor in a sun ray.

Just providing my weekly Leo picture tax to you all. Here he is being a sun worshipper earlier this week. 🌞😻

Before You Launch Newsletter | Sophie Smart | Substack Practical guidance for self-publishing video games - from 🌸 Blossom Arcade. Click to read Before You Launch Newsletter, by Sophie Smart, a Substack publication. Launched a day ago.

Thanks to everyone who signed up for my new self-publishing newsletter 'Before You Launch'!

I've got a massive list of about 25 topics already that I want to cover, so I've got AT LEAST two years worth of publishing best practises and how-to's to share

If you've not subscribed yet, you can here:

A screenshot image of the newsletter on Substack

SURPRISE! Reposts hugely appreciated! ♥️

It's 2026 and I'm starting a Substack Newsletter!

Before You Launch 🎮
Practical guidance for self-publishing video games - from🌸Blossom Arcade

Read my first post about Best Practices for Steam Next Fest here: blossomarcade.substack.com/p/best-pract...

Subscribe to Before You Launch Practical guidance for self-publishing video games - from 🌸 Blossom Arcade. Click to read Before You Launch, by Sophie Smart, a Substack publication. Launched 24 minutes ago.

You can subscribe directly to get emails once a month with in depth looks into self-publishing topics here: blossomarcade.substack.com/subscribe?pa...

Game devs who are self-publishing upcoming or existing released titles, this one is for you! ✨