What is a game devlog and why does it matter for indie games?

This type of log is a public record of a game shared while still in development. Showing the build helps a good game get visibility in crowded storefronts before launch day. The record can take the form of blog posts, videos, or social clips.

How did ConcernedApe handle delayed release dates in Stardew Valley devlogs?

Eric Barone wrote numbered updates explaining why he avoided announcing dates until the game was closer to done. He noted that experienced developers advised against early predictions and used the posts to share ongoing tasks like balance and new features. This kept followers informed during quiet months.

How did Pounce Light build an audience for Tiny Glade before launch?

The two person team posted short prototype clips on Twitter and TikTok to test if players who were not developers would enjoy the cozy builder. They collected interested viewers into a newsletter and reused successful clips for the announcement trailer. The Steam reveal then gained over 26,000 wishlists in under two days.

What did Motion Twin share in Dead Cells Early Access devlogs?

The studio used Steam news posts and dev diaries to document features like new weapons and biomes during the incomplete build. They actively incorporated player feedback from forums and invited streamers to shape the roadmap. Dead Cells left Early Access about fifteen months after it began.

What four habits do successful game devlogs from these studios share?

They show unfinished work on platforms where players already spend time and keep an owned channel like a newsletter or blog. The teams also name changes made from player feedback and post on a predictable rhythm such as numbered updates or regular streams. These patterns appeared across all five studios in the article.

Successful game devlogs: 5 studios and what they posted

A game devlog (a development log, also written dev log) is a public record of a game while it is still being made. These devlog examples are the posts, clips, and notes a studio shares before the full game is finished. If you want the short version of what that why a devlog matters, read what a devlog is and why it still matters. This article covers five successful studios and their devlog approach. A devlog helps you to stand out. Because stores like Steam are really crowded. We walked through that market in lessons from successful indie game developers. A public log does not automatically fix a bad game, or give you customers, but it can give a good one a chance to be seen while you still have months of work left. Here is what five teams did with that chance.

1. ConcernedApe wrote numbered updates for Stardew Valley

Eric Barone, who posts as ConcernedApe, built Stardew Valley alone and wrote the log on his own site. His updates are straightforward and focused on what he was working on. Dev Update #30, from September 16, 2015, points to a Chucklefish stream of the first week of the game, then says what the stream taught him. People in chat suggested changes. He wrote that he would implement some of them. He also used the log to explain why there was no date yet. In Dev Update #31 he said more experienced developers had told him not to announce a release until the game was finished. He had already made optimistic predictions. He wanted the next date to be real. The same post still shows the work: balance, prices, a new horse, and the idea of a single-player beta while multiplayer was unfinished. That is a written devlog doing two jobs. It shows the unfinished game. It also tells followers why the date moved, so a quiet month does not feel like the project died. On February 26, 2026, the 10-year anniversary post said Stardew Valley had sold 50 million copies. The posts are the record of that long solo build. The sales figure is Barone's, from a decade later.

2. Pounce Light posted Tiny Glade before it was a game

Anastasia Opara and Tomasz Stachowiak, the two full-time developers at Pounce Light, started with prototype clips. Opara has said the early Twitter posts surprised her, so they opened a TikTok account and showed the same footage to people who were not game developers. They wanted to know if the castle builder only impressed other developers, or if strangers would want to play it. She told 80 Level that those TikTok posts were the moment the project found a real audience. The clips were specific and niche. One early viral video, which she later counted at more than 9 million views, said what Tiny Glade was and what it was not: a cozy builder, with no combat and no management pressure. They kept posting progress and sent people to a newsletter. In a public thread she reconstructed the list: about 25,000 subscribers, with the largest spike from a TikTok that reached 21 million views. They cut the announcement trailer from clips that had already worked, including the idea of petting a sheep. The Steam reveal on December 9, 2022 brought 26,000 wishlists in under two days. Three months after the reveal, the same thread put the count at 257,387 wishlists. In June 2024 the studio thanked players for 1 million wishlists. Tiny Glade launched on September 23, 2024. A little over two weeks later, Opara wrote that more than 500,000 people had played the full game. The pattern is easy to see. Short clips tested the premise. The newsletter was the list they owned. The trailer reused the posts that had already found people.

3. Landfall posted the battles before the game existed

Totally Accurate Battle Simulator started as a physics experiment at a game jam in a Swedish castle. Landfall later told VentureBeat they posted a video when they got home, and it spread. One clip was enough to see the joke: wobbly soldiers, a battlefield, a mess. They stayed in public after that. The TABS press kit describes the habit in plain terms. Development videos and trailers of new units went to YouTube. GIFs went to Twitter. Clips went to TikTok. The same page put their Discord at 60,000 members. They also shipped a free early alpha, then an open alpha in November 2016, so people could stage their own fights and ask for units. Early Access came on April 1, 2019. The full release came on April 1, 2021. The log here is visual. A new unit is the post. A ridiculous battle is the post. People pass the clips on, because the joke is visible in a few seconds.

4. Coffee Stain Studios logged Satisfactory for five years

Satisfactory entered Early Access on March 19, 2019. PC Gamer covered the launch that day. Coffee Stain kept a public development log on video: a dev vlog playlist and long livestreams on YouTube and Twitch. A typical stream opens with a State of Dev, then the latest patch, then questions from chat. They also put numbers in the log. On June 7, 2019, community manager Jace Varlet stopped the running joke about sales and gave the real count: 507,374 copies. On September 10, 2024, Coffee Stain shipped version 1.0 and said the game had sold over 6 million copies across those five years of Early Access. Five years is a long time to keep showing up on camera. The streams showed that the studio was still working, including the weeks when the news was a bug fix.

5. Motion Twin used Early Access posts as the Dead Cells devlog

Motion Twin put Dead Cells into Early Access in May 2017. Producer Steve Filby later told PC Gamer the build was about 30 to 40 percent of the game. They still wanted movement and combat to feel finished, so the public version was incomplete and already fun to play. The log was the Steam news posts and the dev diaries. A first diary in February 2017, before Early Access, walked through the Ossuary and traps. In a September 2017 Steam post they listed what had already shipped: new weapons, the Forgotten Sepulchre, and a Daily Run mode. The same post said player feedback had shaped the plan, and that Early Access would run closer to 12 months than the 8 they had first hoped for. Lead designer Sébastien Bénard told Game Developer the team had a roadmap, then spent the time learning from players on forums and from streamers they invited in. By May 2018, Filby told PCGamesInsider.biz the game had sold 730,000 copies. He had expected 20,000 to 30,000 in the first month. Dead Cells left Early Access on August 7, 2018. In June 2023, Motion Twin and Evil Empire said the game had sold more than 10 million copies, and they pointed to 34 free updates as part of that long run. The Early Access posts were how they kept people with the game through the unfinished year. Each had a different format, but the approach was the same. ConcernedApe wrote essays. Pounce Light posted short videos. Landfall posted GIFs. Coffee Stain talked for an hour. Motion Twin wrote patch notes. This consistent approach is the same one behind how a development log builds an audience. Four things show up in all five. They showed unfinished work where their players already were. A blog, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, or the Steam news hub. The post went up while the game was still changing. They kept a place they owned when the clips lived somewhere else. Pounce Light had the newsletter. ConcernedApe had the site. Platforms change. A list or a blog stays put. They said what changed because a player spoke up. Barone named chat suggestions. Motion Twin learned from forum notes and streams. Coffee Stain answered the same questions in public, week after week. People stay when they can see a reply land in the game. They posted on a rhythm people could expect. Numbered updates. A regular stream. A new unit when it was ready. A Steam post when a biome shipped. The week could be messy. The next post still came. One channel is enough if you can keep it. A feature from that week can still become a short clip, a Steam post, and a note to the list. Reuse the work.

Conclusion

A successful game devlog is a simple record, kept in public, while the game is unfinished. ConcernedApe, Pounce Light, Landfall, Coffee Stain Studios, and Motion Twin used different formats. Each one let people follow the build before launch day. If you are deciding whether to start, the earlier piece is the fuller case for why devlogs still help indie games. The studios above are the examples. What counts is the habit. If you want to see where your game stands, and why a public log matters in that kind of market, try the Market Insights calculator.

Successful game devlogs: 5 studios and what they posted

1. ConcernedApe wrote numbered updates for Stardew Valley

2. Pounce Light posted Tiny Glade before it was a game

3. Landfall posted the battles before the game existed

4. Coffee Stain Studios logged Satisfactory for five years

5. Motion Twin used Early Access posts as the Dead Cells devlog

Conclusion

Discussion about this post

Frequently asked questions

Stay in the Loop.

Successful game devlogs: 5 studios and what they posted

1. ConcernedApe wrote numbered updates for Stardew Valley

2. Pounce Light posted Tiny Glade before it was a game

3. Landfall posted the battles before the game existed

4. Coffee Stain Studios logged Satisfactory for five years

5. Motion Twin used Early Access posts as the Dead Cells devlog

What these devlogs share

Conclusion

Discussion about this post

Frequently asked questions

What is a game devlog and why does it matter for indie games?

How did ConcernedApe handle delayed release dates in Stardew Valley devlogs?

How did Pounce Light build an audience for Tiny Glade before launch?

What did Motion Twin share in Dead Cells Early Access devlogs?

What four habits do successful game devlogs from these studios share?

More on this topic

Stay in the Loop.