Growing My Manhole is officially out on Steam now!
Come join in and grow yours too.
Developing this game has been such a weird but meaningful journey. The name came to me while I was taking a dump. I had no idea what the gameplay would be, but I thought "screw it" and bought the Steam app page under the name "Growing My Manhole" anyway, because I thought it was funny.
I made a demo on itch.io and showed it off at Malaysia's Indie Jam 2026. The reception was surprisingly good, and most players ended up glued to their seats. Later, I also showcased the game at Singapore's Doujin Market 2026, mainly to gather more feedback. There was also an unfortunate incident at the event that led to a public service announcement reading out my game name, "Growing My Manhole", over the speakers. Thanks to that, the game is now recognized anywhere in Singapore, as long as you're a geek.
The game was also lucky enough to be selected for the Southeast Asian Games Showcase Summer Edition, which gave me a big spike in wishlists and got the momentum rolling even harder. Many YouTubers were interested in covering the game, maybe the game name worked out after all?
I kept fine-tuning the demo, it was meant to be an accelerated showcase that reached the power fantasy really quickly, so players would understand what kind of game this is. But that scared me, because the demo was too fast for an incremental game, and I didn't know how to take the full game in the direction players wanted.
I was in a slump for a while, since this was also my first time making an incremental game, but I bounced back after getting inspired by a few other games. In the end, the best approach was simply to make a game I would want to play. I played it over and over again, and at every point I'd pause and ask myself, "What do I want right now as a player?" Then I'd just add it.
I hope the game is fun. Even though the name is meme-y, the game unironically does give you that dopamine satisfaction. I hope you give it a shot, and please leave a review and your feedback if you do! It helps a lot :)
Now let me continue growing my manhole.
- SylverDev