A year ago I started working on Salt and Soil, a turn-based strategy game about one family on the American frontier. Today it finally has a free demo on Steam, and you can play the first scenario: Jamestown, 1607 to 1637. You decide where the family settles, who marries whom, which child inherits and what the family builds.

To mark the year, I put together a short video of the small details I’ve enjoyed adding the most:

• The map began as a placeholder picture. Now its mountains and rivers come from real elevation and map data, and the climate zones are checked against real climate maps.
• The railroads grow year by year along real routes, using economic historian Jeremy Atack’s railroad dataset. He kindly allowed me to use it.
• My first Jamestown fort was a square, but the real James Fort was a triangle. So I rebuilt it, and then more than seventy other towns, each based on its historical counterpart.
• People on the map are about ten pixels tall and dressed for their place and year. Wildlife follows the climate zones.
• Trains and ships change with the decades, and each one is based on a real design.

A quick note on the narration: English isn’t my first language, so I used an AI voice to make the video easier to follow. I hope you’ll forgive me for that.

If you give the demo a try, I’d be really grateful, and I’d love to hear what you think, whether it’s about the gameplay, the history or anything that feels off. A lot of these details came from players pointing things out.

Strategy gamers, we'd really appreciate some honest feedback.

These screenshots are from our game and we're trying to strike the right balance between depth and readability. We know strategy players expect a lot of information, but we don't want the interface to feel overwhelming.

Please don't hold back. If something looks cluttered, confusing, difficult to read, outdated or simply doesn't work, we'd genuinely like to know.

We're still refining the UI, so this is a great opportunity to influence the final experience.

Steam page for anyone who wants additional context:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4747360/SolPlex_Dominion/

Hi everyone, 

We’ve read through all of the comments and appreciate everyone who took the time to share their thoughts. 

The biggest point we wanted to clarify is that the screenshots you’ve seen are actual in-game screenshots, not AI-generated mockups or fake concepts. SolPlex has been in development for several years with a significant investment of both time and funding. As we’ve always been transparent about on our Steam page, generative AI was used to create some initial concept imagery during development and marketing. All AI-generated content is reviewed, heavily modified, edited and incorporated into final artwork by our art team before use. No AI-generated content is produced during gameplay. 

The second most common piece of feedback was that the game looks busy. That’s completely fair. SolPlex is designed as a deep strategy game with multiple colonies, five tiers of resources, production chains, diplomacy, trading, alliances, warfare and a large amount of information to manage. These are static screenshots taken during gameplay, so they naturally contain a lot of information at once. Improving readability and visual clarity is something we’ll continue refining and the feedback has been valuable. 

Again, thank you to everyone who left constructive feedback. Whether positive or critical, it helps us build a better game. 

I see so much doom and gloom in the gaming industry when it comes to your chances of making it as an indie dev, so I really wanted to share this and show it's definitely possible!

There's a ton of competition out there and I don't agree that a "great game sells itself", but if you combine a great game with a proper marketing strategy I promise it's still very possible to find success! And you don't need a massive budget to make it happen. Localization was pretty much the only paid marketing we did if you want to count that.

Despite being happy with our wishlist numbers, we're still quite nervous about our launch tomorrow 😅

Small note of clarification, Tabletop Tavern is made by one dev, but I said "we" because I helped with marketing.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3337380/Tabletop_Tavern/

We are working on what we call Orders & Consequences, a Cold War RTS set in the 1960s and 1970s, blending alternate history, (and with a little dark geopolitical satire)

We want to try,to bring more than just combat into the game, but also focus on logistics, radio coverage, handling requests from units in the field, choosing the right units for the job, resupply, medevac, and even assisting wounded civilians.

We're also exploring how to make Rules of Engagement (ROE) a meaningful part of gameplay. Having overwhelming firepower doesn't mean you should bomb the hell out of every village ;) Poor decisions could thereby lead to war crimes investigations, meaning units being removed from your command.

There is no base building or buying units mid game. You shoudl fight with what you've got for the mission.

We're still developing and evaluate all these mechanics. So we'd love to hear what fellow other gamers think about this?

See more at: https://ordercons.com

And pls send an email of you would like to be a part of it (we need a few more advisors, military, historians or mission-writers)

Hi All! I've been building Swords and Cavalry on my own engine, and the playtest is now open on Steam.

Overview of the game:

- Build your town your way: free build roads and walls, burgage plots with houses that grow, fields through the seasons and weather, markets, taverns, guilds and town policy.

- Be the lord: walk out and fight in person, with heavy attacks, feints, parries and counters with the spear, or sword and shield, on foot or mounted.

- Raise an army: troop lines up to tier 10, formations, castles you design tower by tower, and siege engines.

- A living world: a campaign map where armies march between towns, AI lords and outlaws roam, and diplomacy lets you make peace or trade. You can host a world for friends where each holds a town, swears into realms and fights the others.

Join the playtest: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2997680/

It's an early playtest, so expect rough edges. Any feedback helps!

Hi everyone. 😄

I'm Dale and I'm working on a new 4x game called Imperialist. It's a colonial-era game where you take the reigns of a European major power at the start of the 1500's, and lead them through the Ages of Discovery, Industrialisation, and War, to try to emerge as the first global Superpower!

I've been working on the game since the start of last year and getting quite far into development. I'm hoping to get a demo out later this year, and targeting Feb Steam Next Fest and release shortly after.

If you like 4x games and want more info, please ask away! If you want I can also post more updates about the game here too. 😄

This is Map Scout, the world browser inside my RTS, Doctrine Strike.

It's the whole Earth, simplified into a game-map look: real elevation, real mountains and valleys, lakes and coastlines, climate bands with their own trees (palms in the desert, conifers in the north), and towns built in their own culture's style. Ships, airliners and satellites move around the planet.

It runs at about 200 FPS native, with no upscaling or frame generation.

Pick any frame between 100 and 1,000 km, anywhere, with EDIT MAP, the game turns that piece of the world into a playable battlefield:

- the real towns become districts, with their real landmarks at the heart

- about 60% of the ground stays open for your base and army

- it places the starts, the contested ground and the chokepoints, then checks every start can reach the others

Then you deploy and fight there. Your hometown, a mountain pass, a famous capital: any of it.

Pre-alpha. Wishlist it on Steam: it's free, one click, and Steam tells you the moment it's out.

Follow us for more

Wishlist on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5145960/Doctrine_Strike/

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP3JGbnxE5k

Web: https://doctrinestrike.com

Discord: https://discord.gg/WeBjq5vcqx

YouTube: https://youtube.com/@DoctrineStrike

X: https://x.com/DoctrineStrike

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/doctrinestrike.com

What do u think?

Hey everyone!

I've always loved HOI4, but felt like the combat could use a bit more depth, especially when it comes to troop movements and maneuvering.

So we started working on a WW2 grand strategy game called Iron Leaves.

The main idea is to have much smaller map tiles and individual regiments instead of just divisions moving between huge provinces. We want players to actually be able to exploit gaps in the frontline, maneuver around enemy positions and create encirclements on a much smaller scale.

Here's a short clip of Testing a German invasion of Poland in September 1939.

Still very early in development, but I'd love to hear what you guys think!

https://www.youtube.com/@IronLeavesGame/videos

My partner (and best friend, we know each other since kindergarten) and I had one goal we wanted to reach while developing our indie 4x game: bring the strategic depth and joy of Civilization into a much faster format. The main reason for that: we love the game series (Civ5 & Civ6 are the best 😉) but we do not want to spend our whole free time for 17 re-starts and one half-finished game.

1 year ago, we spoke with some people at a physical indie-gaming event and found out that a big part of civ-lovers share our wish in a “Civ but fast”-game.

Today, we are just a few weeks away from our demo and the hard part of being a game dev starts: marketing🥹

So I'm throwing this into the community:
If “Civ, but fast” sounds like something you'd enjoy, I'd love to hear what you think.
And if you want to follow the project, a Steam wishlist would mean a lot to us. ❤️

I’ve been working on Europae Invicta: Pike and Shot, a historical strategy game combining a real-time campaign map with tactical real-time battles.

I’m developing it solo in Austria, and a lot of the inspiration comes from history channels I personally enjoy, such as SandRhoman History and similar channels covering warfare and society in the Early Modern period.

One of my main goals is to make the battles feel believable for the period while still keeping the game enjoyable to play. I’m still experimenting with formations, AI behaviour, army composition and how much historical detail works well in actual gameplay.

I’m hoping to get more strategy players and history enthusiasts involved early on, because feedback from people who know the period or simply enjoy this kind of strategy game would be very valuable to me.

The current reveal trailer mainly shows the battle system. The campaign side is still at an earlier stage.

Hey!

I'm Henri from Kokoon Games. We're a small 4-person indie team from Helsinki, Finland. Last year we somehow won "Rookie of the Year" at the Finnish Game Awards, even though we've been making games for over 15 years 😂

Anyway, to the point. Our new game, New World Trading Company, is coming to Steam Early Access in early 2027. We'd be incredibly happy if you'd add it to your wishlist (if the game interests you, of course).

In New World Trading Company you build a trading company in the age of sail. You start with a single ship, hunt pirates on a realistic sea, and grow your fleet and your own harbour town. It's single-player only, no PvP.

We're also looking for keen pre-alpha testers, so we can build the game together with players who love the genre. Send us a message on Discord if you're interested!

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5331310/
Discord: https://discord.gg/QYDfu6pGU

Thanks for your attention!

animated battles, map editor, balance missions, fix bugs and many, many more small and bigger improvements. Some of the players already spent 200h+ hours trying to master the game, and finish all the missions.
Good luck and have fun!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4380120/Horn_of_the_Warlord/

https://reddit.com/link/1xfjc8e/video/yix8jconopxh1/player

https://reddit.com/link/1xfjc8e/video/miefel9qopxh1/player

Hello everyone, Im a student currently been building My General: a real time medieval strategy game set around 900-1200 where you command units in tactical battles, heavily inspired by the Total War series.

Every faction has strengths and weaknesses, but none is designed to dominate. Battles come down to how you use what you have.

Game modes:

- Quickplay: single player against AI

- Scenario Battles (beta) + Tutorial

- Multiplayer: friendlies, public and private matches, plus local network play

- Ranked: coming soon

- Campaign: coming soon

The game is in development and waiting for Steam to verify my submission. Multiplayer runs on my own dedicated relay server, so you can host or join matches with friends, and ranked will come later with leaderboards.

I'd love for you to try it and tell me what feels good, what's confusing and what's broken.

Game Link in discord server 90+ Members: https://discord.gg/rYhCHHQ3Ce

King's Subsidy is rogue like strategy where as merchant you are trying to rebuild king's economy. Each run feels fresh and unpredictable.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2999180/Kings_Subsidy/

A quick side note: I'm the furthest thing from an artist so the trailer is a little rough. I'd appreciate any kind of feedback. Thanks.

A gameplay trailer for Bourbon Empire, a game I've been working on for years.
It's a real-time strategy set in (fictitious) Metro City during Prohibition. You lead crews of gangsters as you build your criminal empire using extortion, rackets, and bootlegging. You also have to battle other mafia families for control of territory. Finally, no crime goes unnoticed so make sure to manage your heat and keep the police 'well taken care of'.

Coming to Steam mid November.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/954320/Bourbon_Empire/

Hello everyone!

My strategy game, ReBirth: Build & Resist, is now available on both Google Play (Android) and itch.io (PC)!

I'm an indie developer working hard to improve my game and reach players who enjoy strategy, management, and simulation games.

As an independent developer, one of my biggest challenges is reaching the right audience and building a community around my game.

I'd really appreciate any advice, guidance, or support on how to promote my game and connect with people who might be interested in playing it.

Are there any communities, content creators, or platforms you'd recommend reaching out to?

Any suggestions would mean a lot to me. Thank you so much for your time and support!

Everfront is real-time territory control. You pick what land to push into, and your front line grows there. The side with more strength along a stretch of front pushes the other back, and supply thins out the further you reach. The tactics are about the shape of the front: pinch a salient, punch a tank down a border to split two regions, and dig in where you're thin.

Between battles there's a roguelite campaign: a branching map through WW2 with tech trees and choices that change who fights alongside you.

Demo: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5272240/

The demo covers 1939 to December 1941. Full release is 14 January 2027.

I'd love feedback from people who play a lot of strategy games!

I was working on rough alpha build for last few days and would like to start getting feedback:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5087810/Pennants_of_Glory_Condottiere/

Limited play test available now.

I started making STATO because I wanted a grand strategy game with enough depth and granularity that my decisions could have tangible consequences on the world.

The current map has over 26,000 provinces, with economies, infrastructure, population, resources and warfare interacting at both the local and national level. STATO also has historical scenarios, procedural worlds and a scenario editor, because I want the simulation itself to be the core of the game rather than any specific scenario.

One of the challenges I've found while developing it is making all these systems interact in a way that feels coherent. I want the world to react to what happens rather than follow a predefined path, without unpredictability simply becoming randomness.

This is something I'm still figuring out, so I'm curious about what other grand strategy players actually want:

How much do you want to understand why things happen?

How much historical plausibility do you want before it starts feeling scripted?

When something unexpected happens, what makes it interesting rather than random?

And more generally: what do you actually want from a grand strategy game?

Developing STATO has made me think a lot about grand strategy design in general, and I'd really like to hear how other players see these things. There are many different ways to approach the genre, and I'm interested in hearing different opinions and ideas.

The demo will be out next week.

Thanks for reading.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5058330/STATO_Demo/

I've been working on a new game for a few months now, and the time has come for it to be officially announced.  It's called Arise Dark Lord, and it's the 8th game I've made with Introversion Software.  If you've played any of my previous indie games - Prison Architect, DEFCON, Darwinia, or The Last Starship, then I think you'll love this new one.

You are The Dark Lord. Your evil aim:  To raise an undead army and crush the feckless, godless, heathen humans. As your sorcery and army grow, all the world will rise up to destroy your Dark Tower and end your reign of terror.  Fortify your dark realm, enhance your sorcery, and build enough strength to march out and crush the humans once and for all.

An action-strategy hybrid RTS, blending tower defence, base building and direct control of your Dark Lord avatar.  

Please play the prototype on itch, and I'd love to get your thoughts on the game here.  Thank you!

Hey everyone!

I’ll be honest - I have absolutely no idea how to properly promote an indie game, so I’m doing my best and trying things out 😄

Also, if anyone here is genuinely interested in trying it, I’ll send a free Steam key to the first 10 people who ask in the comments (one key per person). I’ll DM the keys directly.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4018160/Idle_Terra/

Please allow me to introduce:

COLONERRA: Age of Exploration, a turn-based historical 4X grand strategy game about turning that single dot on a map into a thriving colony and that colony into a nation.

Watch trailer: Trailer

Hi, my name is Mihailo, and I am the lead developer for Colonerra Age of Exploration, with almost 20 years of professional programming experience. We are a small team from Serbia consisting of one dev, two designers, and a few helpful friends who do testing, copywriting, and, occasionally, illustrations. As you can guess, we are big fans of Sid Meier’s Colonization and Civilization, and we play the originals to this day. We feel that Colonization never got the successor it deserved, so we decided to take a swing at it ourselves.

What makes COLONERRA different?​

• Serve the Crown. Your colonies exist under the authority of a European monarch. Taxes, requests, favors, military demands, and royal decisions can all affect your relationship with the Crown. This, in turn, creates unique diplomatic challenges and also allows us to make the game more interesting at later stages.
• Founding Fathers. Each nation has 25 unique characters acting as agents for the viceroy who commands them. There are 5 leaders for each of the 5 traits: exploration, military, diplomacy, trade, and religion. Develop these leaders to reach the status of a Founding Father and deploy them to a Continental Congress to earn unique bonuses.
• Quests and events. Both Indigenous people and the Crown can give you quests to fulfill, in addition to random events you have to deal with. Each decision you make makes a difference and shapes your path in the New World; will you be a conqueror or a diplomat?
• Natural Landmarks. Send expeditions to discover and later claim natural wonders and landmarks, unlocking unique bonuses and gameplay opportunities while keeping exploration engaging throughout the game.
• Complex trade made simple. Trade in this game is simple to execute but complex underneath. You can trade with the crown and pay taxes, barter with the indigenous tribes, trade with the passing ships, or smuggle goods to avoid the taxes. Every trade is meaningful, as it affects both taxes and prices, and earning too much gold might cause inflation, so be careful how you trade.
• Diplomacy matters. Native nations, the Crown, and other powers all have their own interests. Expansion isn't simply about claiming territory; your relationships can determine whether your domain prospers or survives. You will need all the help you can get.

And much more…

So come join us and check out the game on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4964150/Colonerra_Age_of_Exploration/

And please comment; I'd love to hear what people here think, especially from players who enjoy older strategy games and play them to this day.

Thank you for reading.

Mihailo

In Language of Diplomacy (LoD), you rule a nation and decide what your government does next. You give the orders, and the AI simulates the consequences based on real-world datasets for every country.

You can change the world map through your actions. The game is focused on multiplayer. You can chat with your friends and come to agreements, which are written down and interpreted by the same AI.

The world evolves through the actions of all players. You can go to war, conduct espionage, or build a peaceful world.

Hope it's maybe intresting. :)

It's a open Alpha so it is not perfect, but you can play it for free with your friends.

You can play it here: https://lod-game.com

Our Discord: https://discord.gg/pFguqfkBd

open multiplayer game invite link: https://lod-game.com/invite/70cad5469614c553b7a4ad5eb369cd930fac12fe9eea06c6603664361ff39ed283db7a92

I've had the idea for this game in my head for almost 10 years, and three months ago, I finally started turning it into reality!

It's been an intense few months, and the game has come a long way. Looking back at the earliest versions, it's honestly crazy how much has changed.

So far, I've received a lot of great feedback, mostly from people with a background in energy systems. But my goal has always been to make a game that's easy to learn but hard to master, even if you know absolutely nothing about energy.

That's why I'd really love to hear from a broader range of players!

If you enjoy tycoon, management, or strategy games, I'd love for you to give it a try and tell me what you think. Especially whether the game feels approachable for someone without an engineering background.

You can play the first 10 in-game years completely free, which should give you plenty of time to get a feel for it :)

by the way: If you are interested in how I've developed it I'm obviously fully open to any advice / insight I can give.

Play here: www.powerstate-game.com

Any feedback is genuinely appreciated!