Seattle: "The Hollywood of Game Development"
On August 27th, 2025, I had the honor of attending Seattle's 15th annual S.L.I.C.E. event ("Seattle Loves Indie Creators Expo), an all-day indie game event where humble indie devs get to share their games, connect with other devs, and hear the dos and don'ts from the industry masters themselves.
Feeling like I lived through 20 lifetimes of game development in only a day, I learned what it means to be a true indie developer. Spoiler alert: There is no "one way", but there sure are a lot to choose from...
"So how was it?"
Mostly attending the panels about community building, budgeting, and marketing (every dev's kryponite), I got the chance to hear from and talk to a lot of industry professionals, including:
Eric Borane (creator of Stardew Valley)
Hanna Fogelberg (PEAK and Content Warning)
Gavin Eisenbeisz (Choo-Choo Charles)
Jon Hansen (CEO of Skill Tree)
Renee Gittens (creator of Potions: A Curious Tale)
Dan Dixon (creator of Universe Sandbox)
And many others I sadly didn't have enough time to talk to.
A few of them even took direct interest in Night Spasm. It was like hearing validation from a council of game-enthusiastic Greek gods.
Out of all of the panels, Eric Barone's interview intrigued me the most. It's hard to explain, but apparently, though our mentalities are completely different when it comes to work strategies, time management, world-building, community values, and so on, we had a lot in common. We both seemed to share a similar origin: Two stressed, self-depricating, and easily-distracted guys making a game basically all by ourselves, never giving up and striving to improve each and every day. In Eric's case, though, he THINKS he's not good enough to deserve his success. Hearing him say that, I realized underconfidence was my biggest killer...
Emphasis on "was".
In the end, each panel was both relatably hilarious and full of wise words I'll never forget. In fact, there was so much to take in, I ended up creating the longest list of notes I've ever made. Below is a GIANT list of some of the best pieces of advice and quotes I could collect:
If you hate what you've made, you're probably doing something right. If you like what you're doing, you're still on the way to success, only faster.
"Games are just machines that can't replicate intuition" (Eric Barone). Intuition comes from the player and must originate from them. It's impossible for intuition to come from the game, but it can initiate it. "If your game feels like a machine, it might as well not be a game."
"Yeah, formality kills. I come up with the idea first and don't bother changing the idea because, if I could come up with an idea out of nothing, so might the player. It's like a magic spell requiring a luck roll. Go for d20 before the idea or your motivation dies."
Crunching and burnout do more damage than they do progress.
Personal reputation is stronger than portraying yourself as a company or team that doesn't exist, especially when trying to come off as "big" or corporate. People care about you more than your reputation as a company.
Don't hold back on posting on social media. If it works, it's because people liked it. If it doesn't, no one's going to see it anyway.
SHOW. YOUR. GAME. Let people see it, no matter what it is. Just do it!!
Even if you just have an idea, develop it. It's something to build off of immediately, no matter how small!
Start where you're comfortable first, then branch out. Figure out where your community and target audience want to linger. Use media based on your game (wordy platforms for Night Spasm's case, for example).
Teasers without context are mysterious and captivating, making people imagine the potential, even if the teaser is just a shitpost.
Immediate danger sells. Start trailers strong and lead them to understanding what's going to happen next.
A dedicated media manager/moderator is stronger than managing media yourself. Helps you stay as the good cop, too.
Use platforms as ad space by offering as much free and polished content on that platform.
Tell the "why" behind bad news. Trust your audience with the truth. We're all people with things to show and say, after all.
1 like is more than no likes. You miss every chance at engagement you don't go for.
"If everyone is making mistakes, you're on the right team. No one makes games the same way at all". (Jeff Pobst)
Nobody likes a "talented asshole", no matter how skilled they are.
"Good people drain the GREAT people's potential and ruin the chance to acquire greatness from the good people". (Dan Dixon)
People who've been developing a game for over 3 years are still developing their work culture, and that's ok. "Keep asking if it's working or not". (Samantha Kalman)
"Don't finger-point. Just solve the problem." (Mitch Gitelman)
Some people don't want to know everything happening in development. Some people don't like rollercoasters, others do. It's a matter of balancing transparency.
Clear and honest equals kind. Negativity isn't bad. There's a difference between kind and nice. Being nice just means suppressing something that will linger. Correct people because you want them to be good. It helps EVERYONE.
"Improvement is a 50/50 half of the time". (Mitch Gitelman)
If you want to make meaningful change in the industry, it's about the people in the industry, not who started it or who's "controlling" it (there isn't anyone controlling it).
Listen to the people who want to do the work, not the knowledgeable ones you have to convince.
As a leader, be the team's therapist.
There's a genie in every member. They'll grant your wishes, so long as you don't turn them into a "golden goose".
Everyone is equal, no matter the roles. Some just don't know that yet.
If you're encouraged to make money from a game because you need the money to survive day-to-day life, chances are, you have a happy team working for you.
Money lets you make more choices, including bad ones.
Repost often. It introduces latecomers to important info, and you can build off of familiar content as an easy kickstart and community reminder.
Over-promising or being underwhelming hurts the devs more than the community.
Stay engaged. If there are people begging to listen to you, give them what they want. It maintains loyalty.
Willingness to show content gains appreciation from the community.
I could go on and on about the things I learned, but this seems like enough as is. Maybe I'll jump on the bandwagon and talk about this more in a podcast (it will get 1 listener).
Oh yeah, DannyBStyle (composer of Crypt of The Necrodancer) and Prog XP hosted a concert during the after-party event, playing many songs from Super Meat Boy, Rift of The Necrodancer, Sonic, Final Fantasy, and, to my pleasant surprise, Xenoblade. They played a few Miku songs too (they were weird but kinda cool).
Apparently, their bass guitarist got deported, and they had a whole montage about it. R.I.P. Daniel.
"See any cool indie projects?"
You better believe I did!
If indie developers are good at anything, it's coming up with original ideas, from a competitive local co-op delivery service game to an extremely detailed fish simulator. My favorite one was a tactical RPG heavily inspired by Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Guess I'm not the only one who steals 90% of their ideas from that game...
Below are some of my favorite projects I'd highly recommend checking out (not all of the top condendors had Steam pages yet, unfortunately):
"What did people think of Night Spasm?"
Expectation:
"Man, my game doesn't look nearly as cool as all these other ones. Why am I even here? Maybe I shouldn't even bother..."
Reality:
...
I gave away all 100 business cards I printed that night.
Contrary to my fears, people seemed to like the game a lot, and I'm not talking about pity. I was extremely worried people would just see the game as some crappy RPG Maker slop project, but not only did I barely receive any constructive criticism, tons of people liked that it felt like a classic RPG Maker game. In fact, most players seemed less interested in the main concept of the game and were more invested in the little retro details they could identify, some players finding reference to classic things I didn't even know were references! The music was by far the majority's favorite element, and I didn't even bring that topic up once.
One funny moment I recall was a player and two strangers huddling together to try and solve one of the puzzle pillars, specifically the maze with the one-way arrows. After about 5 minutes of trying to solve it, they celebrated their accomplishment... only to earn a pile of leaves and a bundle of fish as their reward. They had a good laugh over that.
Another funny moment involved a player whose luck was so unreasonably unlucky that he actually became more invested in the game, continuously trying to redeem himself with a positive attitude. No matter what, he just couldn't seem to make the right choices at the right time, but he held on like his life depended on it. In the end, he played more than he originally planned to, eventually figuring out how to defeat one of the hardest bosses in just 4 turns.
Apparently, everyone else is better than me at my own game. A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.
Also, shoutout to the lady who asked to exit the demo save file to start a full-on playthrough from the beginning, still playing the game for about an hour and 45 minutes after I just came back from one of the panels. Now THAT'S some serious perseverance!
By the end of it all, there was nothing better than seeing a player's smile right in front of you. It's safe to say my spark of passion is now a roaring inferno.
"In conclusion?"
For the first time in my life, I feel I have a purpose. As passionate as I was before the event, I still had the feeling that game development was just a hopeless dream I forced myself to hold onto.
But now I know the truth.
This journey won't be easy, and perhaps, I just don't have the luck to follow all my dreams. But the parts that don't require luck? I'm coming after them with fearlessness, baby! No longer am I content with being the cog in a corporate machine! No longer am I afraid to speak up about the things I thought sounded foolish or too good to be true!
I'm an indie developer at heart, gosh darn it, and I'm not giving up, even on my last life!
As part of the new development mindset I wish to follow while developing Night Spasm, I talked to the team about how we want to portray ourselves... and it was a super easy discussion, because truthfully, there never was a "team" to begin with.
One thing I learned is how important it is to be honest with yourself and the community supporting your game. For a while, I've tried to portray myself and those working with me as some big company... but that's not who I am. Like Eric, I'm just one man working on a game, occasionally hiring freelancers to do the things I can't do myself, left alone once their work is done. No matter how big my list of credits gets, in the end, it's just me. Would I rather have a passionate team supporting me forever? Undoubtedly. Is that what I have or something I can get? As much as I'd like to say yes, that's not the case. It's me against the world. I'm small, and that's ok! We all start somewhere, right?
Maybe one day things will grow, but for now, I must make do with what I have. May luck be with me.
If you're interested in hearing more about the event or want help figuring out where you're headed in your gaming career, feel free to message me on X.com (@master_moes) or hit me up on the Night Spasm Discord Server. SLICE will also be releasing a small interview I did with one of the event coordinators, which I'll be sure to share on my X account.
Thank you for reading!
Sincerely,
The Night Spasm Team
MasterMoes