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Indie game development: videos Hacker News recommends
Indie development: solo developers, small studios, game jams, shipping a game, Steam, game business, marketing indie games, devlogs, Vlambeer, Minecraft-like creators. Below: every video in this topic that at least three HN users linked with real commentary, in at least three different months (20 talks, 10 demos, 3 interviews), best-scored first, with the comments on each video page.
- grapefrukt talk recommended in 12 different months by 12 HN users, 2013–2025The go-to recommendation on game feel and polish, cited by HN as one of the best talks for anyone making interactive things feel good.
- Dutch Game Garden talk recommended in 11 different months by 10 HN users, 2014–2025A perennial recommendation for anyone learning game feel and juice, praised for showing concrete steps that turn a bland prototype into a satisfying game.
- Alexandre Franco talk recommended in 9 different months by 9 HN users, 2015–2026HN recommends it as a talk whose advice on simplicity and avoiding unnecessary work applies well beyond games.
- Internet Historian documentary recommended in 9 different months by 9 HN users, 2020–2025Frequently recommended as an entertaining account of a failed launch and recovery, especially in threads about Star Citizen and over-promising.
- HN keeps recommending it as an inspirational, funny talk on running a long-lived indie studio and what Steam provides for its 30% cut.
- CreativeMornings HQ talk recommended in 7 different months by 7 HN users, 2013–2020HN cites it repeatedly in debates about in-app purchases and monetization corrupting games.
- Morphcat Games talk recommended in 6 different months by 6 HN users, 2019–2026HN points to it whenever discussion turns to how old games were so small, as a clear tour of 8-bit optimization and creative work under hardware limits.
- BUas Games talk recommended in 5 different months by 4 HN users, 2020–2024The go-to talk whenever Wave Function Collapse, Townscaper or tile-based procedural generation comes up.
- Imphenzia tutorial recommended in 4 different months by 4 HN users, 2020–2025It is the most-recommended beginner Blender tutorial on HN, with several people saying it made them comfortable in a couple of hours.
- HN points to it whenever Dwarf Fortress comes up, mainly for the alcohol-poisoned cats bug story and a developer's view of the game's depth.
- HN commenters cite it as the go-to evidence that Roblox exploits child developers, and parents are pointed to it before letting kids build games there.
- VblankEntertainment talk recommended in 4 different months by 4 HN users, 2014–2022Recommended as a fascinating look at fitting a modern game into NES constraints.
- NYU Game Center talk recommended in 3 different months by 2 HN users, 2018–2022HN points to it for the design philosophy behind PICO-8's constraints.
- HN commenters recommend it as a hilarious account of mass-produced app store shovelware and cite it in threads on spam and low-quality content.
- PocketGamerbiz talk recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2019–2026HN mostly cites it critically, as an insider's blunt playbook for psychologically exploiting players in F2P and loot box games.
- Pointed to when non-Euclidean geometry or games in hyperbolic space come up, along with the creator's well-liked devlog.
- Recommended in indie and solo game development threads as a grounded account of making a living in games.
- HN points to it as a concrete case of procedural animation that keeps characters responsive, often in threads about Overgrowth and game feel.
- jon d talk recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2021–2023HN considers it one of the best GDC post-mortems, with funny anecdotes (such as turning down Hotmail equity) and multiplayer insights.
- HN recommends it when people ask why games aren't marketed by creator like films, and for the value of attaching your name to your work.
- Recommended among the nice visual explorations and tech demos of non-Euclidean geometry for games.
- Recommended as a great talk on live, functional-style game programming.
- HN points to it as a first-hand account of game netcode and engineering lessons from a Blizzard and Guild Wars developer.
- HN recommends it as a way to demystify game creation and shows what an experienced developer can build in a 48-hour jam.
- Recommended for its insight into game design and cited as a vivid example of how tricky localization can be.
- James Lambert demo recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2023–2026Pointed to as an impressive technical N64 homebrew demo showing unexpectedly high-res textures.
- GiantGrantGames commentary recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2023–2024HN recommends it for its argument that single-player campaigns and modding are overlooked in RTS design.
- HN holds it up as a vivid example of focused game-jam productivity, and it has been used to demystify programming for students and inspire tools for recording coding sessions.
- HN commenters recommend it as an honest account of the emotional toll and persistence of long indie game development.
- Jeija demo recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2016–2025Pointed to in Minetest and spherical-voxel-world threads as a striking example of what the open-source engine can do.
- simme337 demo recommended in 1 different month by 1 HN user, 2012–2022HN points to it as an example of Notch's famous live-coding sessions, which drew many early Minecraft fans.
- Logo “ND” Surströmming talk recommended in 1 different month by 1 HN user, 2022–2024HN points to it for insight into how the Caves of Qud developer thinks about game engines.
- HN people cite it for solo-dev inspiration and for the rendering technique behind the game's look.
- Godot Engine demo cited on HN 4 times, 2023–2024HN points to it as the official showcase that Godot works for non-game application development.
- [mtbdesignworks {Miegakure, 4D Toys}] demo cited on HN 4 times, 2014–2017HN links it in discussions of 4D visualization and Miegakure as an intuitive demonstration of the fourth dimension.
- Branta Games demo cited on HN 4 times, 2025–2026HN people cite it as the origin of the vanishing-in-a-screenshot effect, used in ideas for captchas and AI-resistant text.
- Mostly shared as a more reliable YouTube mirror, and cited as a related talk on motivation; one commenter criticizes Blow's comments on impostor syndrome.
- HN links it as a historical artifact showing what Minecraft looked like at its very beginning.
Questions
What is the most recommended indie game development video on Hacker News?
Juice it or lose it - a talk by Martin Jonasson & Petri Purho by grapefrukt: The go-to recommendation on game feel and polish, cited by HN as one of the best talks for anyone making interactive things feel good.
How is this indie game development list ranked?
By HackerTube's score: the number of distinct months in which an HN comment recommended the video, plus half a point for every month with a strong recommendation. One viral thread counts less than steady recommendations over years.
Where do the videos come from?
From every Hacker News comment between 2007 and 2026 that linked a YouTube video, labeled by an AI model as a recommendation, a citation, a joke or a criticism. The list is published by HackerTube under ODC-By 1.0; this edition adds indexable pages and the comment context.