Darx

Building viral games, hated by 90% of devs for being too real.

[Darx @DarxDev]

Goddamn I made it in life

[Darx @DarxDev]

game devs might be the only mfs who hate paper

like bro don't you want to MAKE MONEYYYY??

each indie dev goes through the same cycle:

1. decide to build "passion projects"
2. polish code for months without posting a single clip
3. watch the game flop in real time
4. "the algorithm hates me"

no buddy, YOU HATE MARKETING

staying broke and unknown is a choice. here's how you engineer your game to get clout and money fast:

step 1 is blocking each game dev who ever told you to "follow your passion" or "build in silence"

your game will make you rich if you make it BANG. the 3 "bangs" you need are:

1. mechanics

your first mechanic needs to be a BANGER, something that makes people go "no idea what i just watched but i NEED this asap"

build your first viral mechanic in 20 minutes and start posting it

if it's not trash people with fw the raw version
if it is, repeat from scratch

2. momentum

for this step you need to grow some balls and start posting your game from day 1.

spam clips on X, youtube, reddit, tiktok

this is the most important step and if you don't fck it up your game will blow up

this will give your game the momentum it's gonna need to go viral. each view is worth potential $1k in the long run.

this is very straightforward and you will only mess this up if you're lazy in which case you don't deserve the cash anyway

bang 3 is GOING FCKIN VIRAL

npc devs think you can only go viral by "accident"

so we'll let them believe it while we engineer our "accidental virality":

if you want your influencers to notice your game and talk about it, you need to THINK like them

design mechanics that will get clipped
seed early playtest footage on Twitter with optimized hooks ("IKEA battle royale chaos")
reverse engineer streamers' preferences from their VODs

oops, now your game is viral "by accident"

this is what i've been doing for years now

you: DMing streamers "play my game pls🥺"
me: building mechanics I know they'll clip because I studied 40 hours of their VODs

couch throwing in Retail Royale was reverse engineered from xQc rage moments

went viral and printed cash as a result

now you will read this, nod like a good boy and keep "building in silence"

only 1% will actually have the balls to break "the broke dev cycle"

if you're a part of that 1%, you'll have to start with building your first viral mechanic. lucky for you, i broke down the entire process in a video

repost and comment "VIRAL" and i'll send over the vid
(must be following so i could DM)

or stay poor and happy working on your passion
i'd rather be depressed in a presidential suite

this is lowkey the only industry where people deliberately CHOOSE to stay broke and i can't relate to this

just make money bro...

[Darx @DarxDev]

@710wonderdev yo that looks sick

[Darx @DarxDev]

@Phantom_TheGame drugs + food, then keep building with $0 budget

that's the beauty and the curse of knowing how to blow up games from zero

i just see infinite ways of avoiding the investment into the project i'm working on lol

[Darx @DarxDev]

that's the only correct way to go about it but only a few in the space actually get it

these devs try to perfect each game for years without promoting it and when it flops they hit you with "just keep your head up" advice

the REAL way you succeed in indie game dev is by shotgunning project after project and seeing which one has viral potential

if people fw it they'll show it and you can double down on the idea

anything else has to be trashed asap

[Darx @DarxDev]

The game dev advice you see on reddit/discord/X:

"keep building bro"
"focus on your passion"
"this takes years, don't quit"

Breaking news: this doesn't fucking work.

There are high school kids building stupid games and going viral on command

Just like how i made $70k with the game at 17 years old

I only cared about:

- viral mechanics
- standing out
- turning views into cash

While you were spending another 18 months on a passion project nobody nobody knows about

My homies were dapping me up because xQc played my game on in front of 50,000 viewers

I became "the $70k guy" in my high school.

Now i am the game dev everybody's jealous of
That's why they call it "luck"

It's cool though, the real winners are already building viral games with me.

Here's the bridge that you need to cross to get into the winners' team:

I broke down 6 game dev hacks that print you money 99.9% of the time in a document

Like, repost and comment "HACKS" and i'll send it over.

Or you can "keep building" until rent is due and you have to put gamedev to the side.

[Darx @DarxDev]

Passion doesn't pay your bills. People who play your game do.

I held the same bs belief while building my first game, here's a comparison for you:

My first game:

- built out of "passion"
- enjoyed the concept personally, liked playing it
- 100 downloads (failed)

My second game:

- didn't give a shit about passion
- picked a viral meme idea, built something people would clip on tiktok
- $70k generated while still in high school

Solo devs keep following their passion and the only numbers they get is likes on their tweets

I build what the market wants and see numbers in my bank account

And what market wants to see is:

memes
something to talk about
something that stands out

They don't need you crying on your knees begging to play your game because it "means a lot to you"

They need their boys hopping off xQc's stream texting "holy shit we gotta hop on this game bro"

In fact, you NEED to chase money with your projects if you want to STAY a game dev

Can't really "focus on your passion" if your bank account is dry, can you?

So if you want to avoid the "poor game dev" path, here's what you do:

Focus on virality and move with speed

Start promoting your game as soon as you have the first mechanic ready (I already showed how to build a viral mechanic on my YT)

By the time your game is ready, you will have big streamers waiting to cop since their chat wouldn't shut up about it

But this is how boring devs subsidize my projects:

I just do the opposite of what they do:

1. They focus on perfectly-polished games, I post raw garbage to see if people like the base concept

2. They think "it takes time for games to take off", I delete everything that doesn't show signs of virality right away

3. They try to appeal to smart players, I aim for brainrot scrollers who spam "67" in streamers' chats

If you followed this too, now our games stand out from the boring crowd

You either go the safe route and stay mediocre, or take a calculated risk and win big

Follow and DM me "WIN" if you're tired of generic advice and want to start building viral games

I might let you join my free community where the real winners hang out...

Or keep being average, your "passion projects" help mine stand out anyway

That's why average devs hate me and money loves me.

[Aherys @aherys]

Better advice : don’t do that. Don’t do a game that people will like, do a game that you would love to play.

Passion in what you do is the key success. Chasing success is the worst plan to succeed.

[Darx @DarxDev]

My game printed 70 bands when I deleted 80% of my code

Because game development is not building "from start to finish" as you normies think

While working on RR:

1. I prototyped dozens of mechanics
2. Tested them in weekly play sessions
3. Scrapped most of them

You would freak out seeing weeks of code and assets deleted overnight

Because you're focused on "building brick by brick"

But winners know it's sculpting when most clay hits the floor

So here's the real sauce on how to BUILD AND DESTROY FAST:

Unreal's blueprint system lets you test ideas in 5 minutes vs 30 minutes of c++ compile time

That 25 minute difference × 100 tests = 41 hours saved

Most devs don't touch blueprints because "real programmers use c++"

Cute. Their ego costs them weeks.

MY changes are instant and I don't have to wait ages for everything to reload

While 10,000 devs are spending 2 years polishing their first idea, they're training players to have LOW expectations for indie games

So when I ship something that actually hooks in 30 seconds after rapid iteration, it feels premium by contrast

The more generic games flood Steam, the more my chaos stands out

Their slow grind makes my speed look genius

That's why I never get attached to a certain idea off the bat, no matter how much it "makes sense" to me

I look at each one from a standpoint of player satisfaction and marketing

I deleted all my concepts because:

- they didn't hook players in 30 seconds
- pros would exploit the hell out of them and leave the noobs frustrated

Your process has to be mock up, test and delete ideas without full commitment

But you won't do this because deleting weeks of work HURTS

Your ego is attached. You'll rationalize spending 40 hours on a mechanic instead of accepting it doesn't hook players

That emotional attachment is what keeps you broke

I spent 3 weeks on shopping cart drift physics. Looked sick. Tested it. Players quit in 20 seconds

Deleted all files that night and built "throw couches at people" in 2 days

THAT'S what got xQc to clip it.

I built a discord community of devs who are tired of generic advice that keeps them slow and broke.

If you want to join 300+ winners that are already connecting and collabing inside:

Follow, like and comment 'PROGRESS' and I will send over the invite. Introduce yourself inside.

You could ditch the "linear grind" and embrace the art of letting go. You just gotta listen to what the winners say. You will inevitably start winning yourself.

[Darx @DarxDev]

Exactly, each game has its own purpose

What I've noticed is the majority of games that don't succeed usually don't have a clear idea behind them or try to appeal to everyone at once

Personally I prefer to get my bag and dip because realistically speaking there are way lower chances of me building an insane legacy with a game

Rather than blowing up a meme idea that will print me money and die down

[Darx @DarxDev]

I forgot the game dev space is full of idiots who pick ethics over wealth.

If I was this dude who commented under my video, 25+ years old with nothing going for himself locked up in his basement

And most likely building that one game he spent the last 4 years of his life on that will probably never end up getting a solid player base

I would try learning from those who are ahead.

But props to him, at least he's doing everything by the book, even though it keeps him poor.

Game development is still a BUSINESS.

It's supposed to make money, so blaming someone for going viral and getting paid their meme game is same as blaming a bird for not walking like the rest of us.

And I hate to break it to you, but business can be "dirty"

You can steal concepts and use them in your games.

I also knew the game would die and get ruined by hackers at some point in the near future, but guess what?

I DON'T CARE LOL

People who wanted to play it bought it. People had their fun. Even xQc did.

Look, you could've done the same. Everybody with basic game dev knowledge can build a viral game, but you didn't.

If you don't like that I leveraged the viral idea I came up with myself and monetized it

Instead of building the next GTA7 as a broke high school kid...

Well, buddy, seems like ballet would suit you more as a career

And you definitely need this reality check:

Some of us need to pay the bills.

And some people don't want a regular job, so they do it through a skill. Mine is building viral games.

Yours is typing comments instead of asking questions.

Which one pays more?

[Darx @DarxDev]

I went against all gamedev advice and made $70,000.

I made my indie game blow up, which flipped my core beliefs upside down and made me feel like an impostor in this space.

90% of advice you see online and follow so religiously was given to you to stroke your ego and keep you down.

But not here.

The biggest misconception I had?

Thinking the success of your game consists of 80% luck and 20% strategy when in reality it's almost exactly the other way around.

Everything about Retail Royale was intentional.

- I specifically picked a meme idea

It's the main deciding factor of whether your game will make it or not. Not the gameplay features, aesthetics or the end cutscene.

- Shifted focus straight to marketing as soon as I had my first raw, messy WIPs to share

Eyeballs, eyeballs, eyeballs. If your game idea is good enough, you will be able to get people interested even in the very raw stages. No point in wasting 2 years on a game that nobody knows about.

- I picked social media platforms according to my idea

Yes, you can post everywhere and hope something pops. It's an easy way to burn out though. Instead, think of where your target audience is most likely to hang out and go all in on those platforms.

- I figured out how to make content creators notice the game

A content creator's job is to entertain his audience. If his audience isn't entertained - he doesn't get paid. Get him paid.

And guess what happened on a random Wednesday?

I walk into high school. My friend's on his phone. I look over his shoulder - it's xQc.

Playing MY game. Tens of thousands watching live.

This scene was straight out of a movie.

Made me feel like THE main character.

Because now I know I can lock myself in a room for 2 months, build a viral game and make someone's yearly salary.

You can too if you stop listening to the majority and start thinking for yourself.

Be the main character.

[Darx @DarxDev]

Luck does NOT play a big part in game development.

The second game I built made $70,000

I explained exactly how and why it happened on youtube, but wanted to expand on it further here.

Because knowing what I know now, I can pretty much build a "random" game in a month, launch it and make money.

The only reason I don't do it is because I'm chasing bigger numbers, so I'm dedicating more focus to one project I'm currently working on.

But I'm 100% sure any game dev can build a game and make money from it in 90 days or less.

The biggest misconception of this industry is that your game will blow up if you're "lucky"

I intentionally picked a meme idea for a game because I knew it would go big.

I set everything up in a way where there would be no other option for it but to GO VIRAL

And it resulted in @xQc playing it on stream.

This is why I always tell game devs to focus on the idea of their games before everything else.

(tell me about your projects and I'll tell you if your idea has potential or not)

If the idea is viral - you can build a trashy game and still blow it up on socials

So if anybody's talking about luck, it just means they don't know how to market their projects.

[Darx @DarxDev]

Each of your game mechanics can be the reason your game goes viral, or the reason it fails.

I spent hours of my life on each mechanic of Retail Royale. Not just building them.

Analysing, reviewing, polishing them.

Because there are 2 tests your game mechanics need to pass:

1) Will this make a sick Twitch clip?

This is arguably the most important one. Whether you like it or not - game development is also a business.

Your game is a product that needs marketing. It's infinitely easier to advertise your game if everything in it is designed to go viral.

You need to constantly think "what would TikTok say about this?" when adding something to your game.

The more eyeballs your game can get - the more money you will make. So make it impossible for it not to get views.

I thought this way while building Retail Royale - and it resulted in xQc playing it. The game went viral, I made money.

2) Is it actually fun to execute?

This goes hand in hand with the first point, but I want to double down.

It HAS to be fun for you, the player, and the viewer.

I see more and more games go viral simply because of one satisfying gameplay feature. How does this work?

The viewers start liking the gameplay, then streamers/content creators catch on to it.

A good example of this is STORROR (parkour game).

The devs were pushing the clips with satisfying gameplay (also added chill music which amplified the vibes) and it went viral.

If your game mechs don't pass these two tests - cut them.

[Gone Camping @GoneCampingGame]

How convenient! Everyone's Arena-Link comes with built-in crafting skills for your wonderful time in the ring 🥳

Sadly, everyone's creations will look the same, so our betters can keep their faith!

#GoneCamping #NoFairNoShare

[Darx @DarxDev]

Cheers to @AnegarG for using my In-game level editor system, hope you're happy with the result! ♥️

#gamedev #UnrealEngine

https://t.co/lNGGVDF6wt

[Darx @DarxDev]

Host Migration System V2 is not available on the marketplace!
Check it out in action here -https://t.co/ScYToNAv7H

@UnrealEngine @UnrealMarket

[RetailRoyaleGame @RetailRoyale]

The game is now fully out on steam! Though many bugs remain and more patches will come, its already been too long in early access.

https://t.co/v9uVgnvPfe

[Darx @DarxDev]

Trying to make a navigation system that can do wall runs and jumps by itself
#ElapseProject

[Darx @DarxDev]

In-Game Level Editor for #UnrealEngine

https://t.co/WgDoulbijZ

[Darx @DarxDev]

Working on quite a big plugin

#unrealengine

[Darx @DarxDev]

I made unreal engine