Indie maker communities worth joining

All of these are other people's communities with their own rules. Read the rules, spend a week reading before you post, and answer other people's questions as well as asking your own.

Indie Hackers

Indie Hackers is a long-running community for people who build and run their own small businesses, with posts, discussion and product pages. Stripe bought it in 2017, and its founders Courtland and Channing Allen bought it back in 2023, according to TechCrunch and other reports. Good for: business-minded makers sharing numbers and lessons.

Hacker News

Show HN is the place to put something people can try. The rules are strict about what qualifies. Good for: technical projects with a working demo.

Reddit communities

There are subreddits for game developers, for side projects and for sharing games to be played. Each has its own rules about self-promotion. Good for: specific feedback from people interested in your niche. Check the sidebar rules before posting.

itch.io

itch.io is a store and community for independent games, with devlogs, comments and game jams. Good for: small and experimental games, and for meeting other developers through jams.

Discord servers

Many game engines, tools and genres have servers with a channel for showing work. Good for: quick back-and-forth. Quality and rules vary widely, so judge a server by how its members treat each other.

A cafe where makers sit

Midnight Cafe is a free browser world made for indie developers, makers and freelancers. You walk around cafe rooms, chat, and build a room of your own with a project stand and a Q&A board. It is new and small, so it is a good place for relaxed conversation and a poor place to look for an audience.

How to take part without spamming

1. Answer two questions for every post of your own.
2. Say what you made and what you want to know, in plain words.
3. Do not post the same text in ten places.
4. Come back and report what you did with the feedback.