0:00 Intro
2:14 Forecasting Launch Success and 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 Behaviors

Follow Us
Cory https://store.steampowered.com/developer/thornity
Connor https://sundaybrunchstudios.com/blog

Referenced Games
A Game About Feeding a Black Hole https://store.steampowered.com/app/3694480/A_Game_About_Feeding_A_Black_Hole/
The Walking Trade https://store.steampowered.com/app/3398110/The_Walking_Trade/
Balatro https://store.steampowered.com/app/2379780/Balatro/
Just Keep Fishing https://store.steampowered.com/app/4601160/Just_Keep_Fishing/
Mining and Dwarves https://store.steampowered.com/app/3987230/Mining_and_Dwarves/
Orb Breaker https://store.steampowered.com/app/4261030/Orb_Breaker/

Referenced Books
Nudge by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/690485/nudge-by-richard-h-thaler-and-cass-r-sunstein/

Additional References
Min-Maxing Your Steam Launch — A Game Dev Podcast with Jonas Tyroller — https://tyrollerjonas.podbean.com/e/min-maxing-your-steam-launch/
How to Market a Game https://howtomarketagame.com/2025/11/04/the-optimistic-case-that-indie-games-are-in-a-golden-age-right-now/
Incremental Games Database — https://www.incrementaldb.com/
Steam Next Fest — https://store.steampowered.com/sale/nextfest
Godot Wild Jam — https://godotwildjam.com/
Ludum Dare — https://ldjam.com/
GMTK Game Jam — https://itch.io/jam/gmtk-game-jam
Dream Dev Podcast — https://www.youtube.com/@DreamDevPodcast