Tiny Teams Fest is happening right now, and it’s got us thinking about something we’ve wanted to do for a while. We want to give solo developers and small teams a proper spotlight here on AllRogues.
There’s a ridiculous number of roguelikes, roguelites, deckbuilders, bullet heavens, dungeon crawlers, and games that are currently being made by incredibly small teams. In plenty of cases, “team” might even be stretching it. It’s one person doing the programming, artwork, marketing, community management, bug fixing, and seemingly everything else required to actually get a game out of the door. Then comes arguably one of the hardest parts…Getting people to notice it.
Big studios have marketing budgets, PR teams, and a pretty good chance of appearing at major showcases. Solo developers and small teams can spend years pouring everything into a game, release it into an increasingly crowded Steam store, and simply have to hope the right people stumble across it.
We think those games deserve more attention than they often get, festival or not. So, we want to do our bit. So, how can we help?
We Want to Talk to the People Behind the Games
First up, we’re looking for solo developers and small teams who’d be happy to take part in Q&A-style interviews. Nothing intimidating. You don’t have to go live or deal with any awkward video calls where you suddenly forget everything you’ve ever known about your own game.
I’ll send the questions over by email, and you can answer them whenever you have the time. It’s as simple as that!
I want to know about the person or people behind the game as much as the game itself…
- Where did the idea come from?
- What’s it actually been like building it with such a small team?
- What nearly drove you up the wall during development?
- What have you created that you’re ridiculously proud of?
I’m not looking for polished PR answers, either. Tell me about the bug that took three days to fix before you realized you’d missed something painfully obvious. Or talk to me about the mechanic you nearly scrapped that ended up becoming one of your favorites. Tell me about the tiny detail players in your tests or demos keep overlooking.
Those are the stories we want to share.
One Small-Team Game, Every Day
Alongside the interviews, we’re also going to start featuring a different game from a solo developer or small team every day on AllRogues.
Now your game doesn’t need to have launched yesterday to count here. Maybe you’ve just released it, or maybe you’re working toward Early Access. Perhaps it came out two or three years ago, received some great reviews, but never quite found the audience you hoped it would.
If it fits what we cover on AllRogues and we think our readers would be interested in it, we want to hear about it.
There’s no paid placement involved and no fee for being featured. This isn’t a sneaky advert for a new sponsorship package. I simply want to use the audience we’re building at AllRogues to help shine a light on some of the smaller developers making the games we love talking about.
Making a great game is hard enough, but getting people to actually notice it can feel impossible.
Want Your Game Featured?
If you’re a solo developer or part of a small team working on a roguelike, roguelite, or something you think would be right at home on AllRogues, get in touch.
Send me an email at aimee@allrogues.com or drop me a DM on any of my socials (@aimeegoesrogue) and tell me a little about you and your game.
Don’t worry about writing the perfect pitch. Send me your Steam page, tell me what you’re making, and introduce yourself. I’ll take it from there.
Let’s get some more eyes on the brilliant games being made by tiny teams!