Steam Next Fest is now a Game Jam

Episode Chapters 0:00 Intro 2:14 Forecasting launch success based on the first 72 hours 6:30 Validating games and finding early playtesters 15:12 Designing for new players and the right audience 29:54 Game jams, Steam Next Fest, and indie discoverability 40:56 Building an effective playtesting process 48:12 Interpreting feedback and reading player behavior Follow Us Cory https://store.steampowered.com/develo... Connor https://sundaybrunchstudios.com/blog Referenced Games A Game About Feeding a Black Hole https://store.steampowered.com/app/36... The Walking Trade https://store.steampowered.com/app/33... Balatro https://store.steampowered.com/app/23... Just Keep Fishing https://store.steampowered.com/app/46... Mining and Dwarves https://store.steampowered.com/app/39... Orb Breaker https://store.steampowered.com/app/42... Referenced Books Nudge by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo... Additional References Min-Maxing Your Steam Launch — A Game Dev Podcast with Jonas Tyroller — https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/e/m... How to Market a Game — The Great Conjunction — https://howtomarketagame.com/2025/11/... Incremental Games Database — https://www.incrementaldb.com/ Godot Wild Jam — https://godotwildjam.com/ Ludum Dare — https://ldjam.com/ GMTK Game Jam — https://itch.io/jam/gmtk-game-jam Dream Dev Podcast —    / @dreamdevpodcast