Timothy Young

Lead Game Developer & Founder. Building Unity & Unreal games, live systems, AI systems, multiplayer & Web3. Leading development at @bigaarcade.

[Timothy Young @TimYoung_Dev]

Steam capsules are fascinating because they’re essentially a game’s first impression. We tested quite a few layouts before settling on this one. Getting something that still reads well at Steam’s smallest sizes is much harder than it looks.

[Inkarn8 @Inkarn8Game]

Designing a Steam capsule is surprisingly challenging.

You have one image to communicate an entire game.

For Inkarn8, we wanted the living Codex to be the hero while hinting at the mysterious world surrounding it through a mix of moonlight, candlelight and arcane magic.

What’s the first thing your eye is drawn to? 👀

#GameDev #IndieDev #IndieGame #steam

[Timothy Young @TimYoung_Dev]

It’s amazing looking back at how much @Inkarn8Game has evolved since these clips were recorded.

We’re finally getting ready to welcome our first playtesters. I can’t wait to see what people think.📖

#Playtesting

[Inkarn8 @Inkarn8Game]

We’re looking for our first playtesters. 📖 📖

✨ If you love roguelikes, we’d love your feedback as we continue building Inkarn8.

Link in bio.
#GameDev #roguelite #indiegame #turnbased

[Timothy Young @TimYoung_Dev]

Here’s the results post:

[Timothy Young @TimYoung_Dev]

First messaging experiment complete.

I tested four different narratives for @inkarn8game with one simple goal:

Which fantasy gets people curious enough to click?

Here were the top performers:

📖 “The spellbook is the game.”
→ 309 landing page visits
📚 “Remember Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books?”
→ 290

❤️ “Would you sacrifice half your health for power?”
→ 201
✨ “We made a roguelite where you draw your spells.”
→ 168

My biggest takeaway:
The strongest-performing messages focused on the fantasy and world before the mechanics.

That’s already changing how I’m thinking about marketing Inkarn8.
Next up: refining these winning narratives and seeing whether the results continue to hold.

#BuildInPublic #IndieDev #gamemarketing

[Timothy Young @TimYoung_Dev]

One week ago I started actively marketing @inkarn8game.

In the last 7 days I’ve:

• Posted daily short-form content across X, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram & Facebook
• Pointed them to my landing page
• Started collecting emails
• Launched my first paid narrative tests
• Spent far too much time staring at analytics 😅

The biggest surprise so far?

Creating content isn’t the hard part.

Finding new ways to talk about the same game is.

Every post needs a different angle:

• Draw your own magic
• A living cursed spellbook
• Choose your own adventure
• Corruption for power

Same game. Different narratives.

The ad tests still have a few more days to run, but I’m already learning that players often respond more strongly to what they can DO than the setting itself.

Interested to see whether the final data confirms that.

#gamedev #indiedev

[Timothy Young @TimYoung_Dev]

First messaging experiment complete.

I tested four different narratives for @inkarn8game with one simple goal:

Which fantasy gets people curious enough to click?

Here were the top performers:

📖 “The spellbook is the game.”
→ 309 landing page visits
📚 “Remember Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books?”
→ 290

❤️ “Would you sacrifice half your health for power?”
→ 201
✨ “We made a roguelite where you draw your spells.”
→ 168

My biggest takeaway:
The strongest-performing messages focused on the fantasy and world before the mechanics.

That’s already changing how I’m thinking about marketing Inkarn8.
Next up: refining these winning narratives and seeing whether the results continue to hold.

#BuildInPublic #IndieDev #gamemarketing

[Timothy Young @TimYoung_Dev]

One early takeaway from our first round of marketing tests:

The narratives getting the strongest response weren’t focused on the genre, they focused on the core fantasy.

🖋️ The spellbook is the game.
📖 Every page is a choice.

This clip captures both of those ideas.

I’ll share the full results and what we learned from the first round of tests tomorrow.

#buildinpublic #indiedev #gamemarketing

[Inkarn8 @Inkarn8Game]

Not every page contains a battle.

Some pages hide puzzles. Others reward curiosity. Some may change the course of your entire run.

In Inkarn8: The Cursed Codex, every page is a choice.

#GameDev #IndieDev #Roguelite #IndieGame

[Timothy Young @TimYoung_Dev]

Some great games in this community #TurnBasedThursday

[Soverain | Wishlist on Steam! @Look_behindyou]

We're more than happy to host the official #TurnBasedThursday on X this week ⚔️

Devs, drop your game below and tag another developer to join the thread!

Players, this is your chance to discover your next favorite turn based game! Support fellow indies, and don't forget to wishlist the games you love! ❤️

#gamedev #indiedev #indiegame

[Timothy Young @TimYoung_Dev]

Every page is a room.
Every chapter is a floor. 📖

[Inkarn8 @Inkarn8Game]

Every chapter ends with a test.

Bosses in Inkarn8 aren’t just stronger enemies.

They force you to adapt, rethink your strategy, and decide how much you’re willing to sacrifice for victory.

#GameDev #IndieDev #roguelite #IndieGame

[Timothy Young @TimYoung_Dev]

Build defining interactions are the centrepiece to any good #Roguelite

[Inkarn8 @Inkarn8Game]

Every artifact changes your run.

Discover powerful relics, create devastating synergies, and break the rules of the Codex.

In Inkarn8: The Cursed Codex, the strongest builds are often the ones you never planned.

#gamedev #indiedev #roguelite #indiegame #roguelike #turnbased

[digital ghost @vibeeval]

BİRİ SOKAKTA GÖRDÜĞÜN KEDİLERİ POKEMON GİBİ TOPLAYAN BİR UYGULAMA YAPMIŞ, VE EN GÜZEL KISMI HİLEYİ İMKANSIZ HALE GETİRMESİ.

mantık basit. sokakta bir kedi görüyorsun, kamerayı açıyorsun, fotoğrafını çekiyorsun. kedi koleksiyonuna küçük bir yaratık olarak ekleniyor. kendi ismi, nadirliği, seviyesi ve istatistik sayfasıyla.

ama işi oyun yapan asıl detay şu: uygulama fotoğrafta gerçekten canlı bir kedi olup olmadığını kontrol ediyor. yani internetten resim ya da ekran görüntüsü atıp kandıramıyorsun. gidip gerçekten bulman gerekiyor.

yakaladığın her kedi nadirliğine göre bir kart oluyor, bazıları çok ender çıkıyor. bir harita üstünde de diğer oyuncuların senin yakınında bulduğu kedileri görüyorsun. çizimler eski çizgi film tarzında, krem tonları, kalın dış hatlar, baştan sona oyun gibi dursun diye yapılmış.

yapan kişi bir kediyi yakalamanın telefona fotoğraf kaydetmek gibi değil, hızlı ve eğlenceli hissettirmesini istemiş. o yüzden emeğin çoğu tanıma kısmına ve yakalama anını gerçek bir oyuna çevirmeye gitmiş.

şimdi birinin de köpek versiyonunu yapması lazım.

[Inkarn8 @Inkarn8Game]

Would you sacrifice half your health for power?

In Inkarn8: The Cursed Codex, your life force and magic are one and the same.

Sometimes the safest play is restraint.

Sometimes the only way to survive is to risk everything.

#gamedev #indiedev #roguelite #indiegame #turnbased #rpg #fantasygames

[Timothy Young @TimYoung_Dev]

@Inkarn8Game Will some builds will thrive at low health?

[Timothy Young @TimYoung_Dev]

Really unique approach to the roguelite genre.

[Inkarn8 @Inkarn8Game]

This isn’t a dungeon crawler.
It’s a cursed grimoire.
Every page hides new dangers, strange encounters, and forgotten secrets.

Inkarn8: The Cursed Codex is a dark fantasy roguelite set inside a living spellbook.

#gamedev #indiedev #roguelite #indiegame

[Inkarn8 @Inkarn8Game]

Every turn is a decision.

Go on the offensive.
Play it safe.
Spend your ink.
Risk corruption for power.

Tactical combat in Inkarn8: The Cursed Codex rewards strategy as much as spellcasting.

#gamedev #indiedev #roguelite #indiegame

[Timothy Young @TimYoung_Dev]

Agreed! AI in game dev has basically made me a one man army.

[Hasan Leafborn @hasan_tarhann]

🚨 THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING 🚨

As someone who has spent 2+ years in Unity building leaf-based character mechanics, GPU particle collision systems, custom URP shaders, and ray-traced physics — I’m in actual tears right now 😭

A guy. A single prompt. Five minutes. Same exact result. Better, honestly 🤯

I’m not even mad anymore — I’m in awe 🙏✨

→ Closing my Steam page tomorrow ✅
→ Cancelling my Unity license ✅
→ Pivoting to prompt engineering full-time ✅

If you’re still writing code manually in 2026, you’re not a developer — you’re a hobbyist 🎯

The paradigm has shifted. Adapt or die 🚀🔥

#AIRevolution #PromptEngineering #GameDev #IndieDev #TheEndOfCoding #FutureOfGaming

[Timothy Young @TimYoung_Dev]

@andreeliasdev @levelsio @colyseus Colyseus is great doing pretty well on my end without the skill setup just a networking agent.

[Timothy Young @TimYoung_Dev]

The industry is in a rough spot right now. Gamers are absolutely spoilt for choice, and if a game doesn’t immediately deliver a compelling experience, players will simply move on.

Highguard clearly had a serious budget and talented developers behind it, but in today’s market budget alone isn’t enough!The gameplay and long-term hook have to be there from day one.

It’s a tough reminder for everyone building games.

And if you think the traditional games market is challenging right now… the Web3 gaming space is facing an even steeper uphill battle.

[Highguard @PlayHighguard]

https://t.co/2IuXxR5kff

[IGN @IGN]

Build your own cat army when Mewgenics launches tomorrow! 🐈