Launch an Indie Game for Free: Work Out the Date, Then Fill the Wait

Why is your release date arithmetic, not a decision?

Valve’s Steam Direct page (read 13 November 2026; confirm on the page before you plan) lists the steps for a first release and several clocks that run on its schedule, not yours. You sign the digital paperwork and pay the app deposit fee, which the page describes as not refundable but recoupable after the product reaches a revenue level it names. Then you complete bank, tax and identity paperwork, which it says takes 15 to 30 days. Only then do you get Steamworks access to build the store page and upload builds.

After that come three more rules. A review of the store page and build takes 1 to 5 days. There is a 21-day waiting period between paying the fee and releasing. And a public coming-soon page must be up for at least two weeks. Put together, a first release has a floor, and the table below is our arithmetic from those published numbers, not a promise from Valve.

So the realistic floor is five to eight weeks from the day you pay, and any mistake in the paperwork pushes it later. That is the number to build your plan around.

What can you do for free while those clocks run?

Almost everything that grows an audience. The sensible order is to put something playable in front of people on a low-stakes page, learn what confuses them, and bring the improved version to the store page. itch.io suits the first step: its documentation says you can upload a game as a ZIP file containing an index.html for the browser, or distribute downloads, and its payments page describes an open revenue share that you set yourself with a slider in your account settings.

• A short demo with one complete loop that ends in a natural place to stop. Ten honest minutes beat forty unfinished ones.
• Devlog posts on your own page: each one a clip, a decision and a question for readers.
• One recurring screenshot day, so followers know when to look.
• A press-ready folder: logo, capsule-style art, a trailer link, a plain-text description and your contact. The press kit checklist lists what goes in.

Is Steam Next Fest worth planning around?

Valve’s Next Fest page describes a weeklong event, held three times a year in February, June and October, that promotes upcoming games through playable demos. We saw no entry fee on the page, but confirm that, and note that the eligibility rules shape your calendar. Only unreleased games can take part, so releasing before or during an edition makes you ineligible. The store page must be published and visible. The game must not have been in a previous Next Fest, and its release date must not fall before the event starts. Early Access and free games can enter as long as they are unreleased.

Two consequences follow. A game can only enter once, so enter when the demo is good, not merely ready. And since the demo is the entry ticket, the work you did on the itch.io version is directly reusable. Read the page for each edition’s dates and sign-up window, since they change.

What should each stretch of the wait contain?

1. Weeks 1 and 2: pay the fee only when the game is within reach of a release, start the paperwork the same day, and publish the browser demo on itch.io.
2. Weeks 3 and 4: write devlogs, collect feedback from the demo, and cut anything that three people got stuck on.
3. Weeks 5 and 6: build the store page the day access arrives, submit it, and set the coming-soon clock running.
4. Weeks 7 and 8: line up Next Fest if the dates fit, send press keys, and prepare launch-week posts.
5. Release week: post a Show HN only if people can try the game without barriers, answer everything, and fix the first bug report within a day.

The Show HN guidelines say it is for something others can play with, and that the project should be one you made and can discuss. A game with a browser demo fits that well. Links to a store page that only takes a wishlist are closer to a landing page, which those guidelines place off topic. The Show HN playbook explains the rest.

Which other free places show a game?

Beyond the store, look for communities organised by genre or engine, game jams, and places where players post what they are playing. Each has rules about promotion, so read them and take part before you post. Add a public page by choosing to launch your game on this board: it takes one verified email, there is no queue or paid placement, and builders who follow gaming ideas are the ones most likely to read it. For the browser-first path, see the browser game playbook, and for the checklist side, the indie game launch checklist. A broader list lives in where to launch indie games, and the maker-side view is in the indie game developer playbook.

What can you skip?

• Paying anyone to post your game. None of these routes needs it, and no one can promise players.
• A trailer before the game exists. A short honest clip of the loop is enough for a first page.
• Release-day exclusivity games, such as locking the demo away. Players who cannot try it cannot wishlist it.

Note the number of wishlists, demo plays and devlog readers each week next to the date of every post. Those three lines, kept honestly, are a better guide to your next step than any benchmark from another studio.