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Hi Steam community!
This is my first time posting here, so please bear with me. I'm a solo developer who's been working on Match Morphosis, and this is my first project on Steam. I've released mobile games in the past, but PC gaming has always been my dream platform to develop for.
What is Match Morphosis?
It's a match-3 roguelike deckbuilder—think games like Peglin or Dungeon Clawler, but with my own spin on the genre. The core mechanics are heavily inspired by Slay the Spire, with that same addictive loop of building synergies and making strategic choices, but delivered through match-3 gameplay instead of traditional card battles.
The Journey So Far:
I've been working on this game in my spare time for the past 8 months—sometimes just 1-2 hours a day whenever I could squeeze it in. When I initially showed the game to a bunch of friends, something clicked. It actually had some stickiness to it, and people kept asking to play it again. That's when I realized I had something worth pursuing, so I doubled down and committed to working on this full-time.
The Steam page has been live for about a month now, and I'm genuinely excited to share that we've hit 150 wishlists! I know that might not sound huge compared to other games, but as a one-person team, seeing that number grow has been incredibly motivating.
The Tech Side:
For the developers and tech-curious folks out there: this game isn't built on Unity or any off-the-shelf engine. I'm using a custom engine written in C on top of SDL with bgfx for rendering. It's been a wild ride building both the engine and the game simultaneously, but it's given me complete control over performance and how everything works under the hood, currently it is working only with 60mb of memory, on the iteration side compiling only took subsecond and packing the build can be finished in just 3 seconds.
What I've been up to:
The past month has been quite the learning experience in the "marketing side" of game development. I've been posting on various social platforms (X, Bluesky, Reddit), dealing with the occasional moderation challenges that come with self-promotion, and reaching out to content creators and media outlets. It's been exhausting but educational!
Beyond social media, I've also been:
Optimizing the Steam page (tags, GIFs, description - all the SEO fun stuff)
Getting feedback from fellow devs on the page layout
Creating a Steam capsule image and trailers
And let me tell you - the capsule image is NO JOKE. I never realized how critical it was until I actually experienced the process myself. That tiny rectangle is literally your first impression with Steam shoppers. It's like your game's dating profile picture. You really, really need to nail it because that's what people see before they even consider clicking on your page.
There's still a lot of work to be done, especially on the visual side. I'm pretty confident in the gameplay—I know people will stay and play once they try it—but the visual presentation that actually attracts players in the first place? That's where this game currently lacks, and it's something I'm actively working to improve.
I've also put together a new trailer that better captures what the game is about, which you can check out on the Steam page.
What's next:
Now that I've gotten some initial visibility, I'm shifting focus back to development. Coming up soon:
Entering SEAGO 2025 (South East Asia Game Onward!)
Launching an open playtest shortly after
I'm also hoping to start posting bi-weekly development updates here on the forum, sharing progress, challenges, and behind-the-scenes insights. It'll be a good way to keep you all in the loop and hopefully build a community around the game.
How you can help:
If this sounds interesting to you, wishlisting the game and sharing it would mean the world to me. Every bit of visibility helps as a solo dev!
The public beta and open playtest are on the roadmap, but if you'd like to try the game earlier, please join the Discord. I post faster updates there, and you can get your hands on the game first and give feedback directly. Your input would be incredibly valuable in shaping the final product!
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope some of you will join me on this journey!
https://discord.gg/PXDWcuPtWx
- Ernes