Community-voted spotlight for indie games to earn app store features and organic discovery.
Solo indie game developers can't get their small games featured or discovered on app stores due to intense competition and unpredictable algorithm changes.
GameChartClimb lets players vote and playtest indie games in a weekly chart battle. Top-voted games get featured badges, cross-promo slots, and dev tools to replicate success (e.g., metadata from winners). Solo devs submit once, gain visibility without ads or algos.
Solo founders developing small indie mobile games for app stores
Player-driven voting with playtime verification for authentic rankings.
edgy
Easy upload of playable builds or trailers for voting.
Realtime leaderboards with player votes and playtime.
Auto-generate shareable 'Top Chart Climber' badges.
Analyze winners' metadata for copyable strategies.
Winners get slots in other devs' games.
Demographics and feedback on voters.
Pro-run private voting events.
Add chart to dev sites.
| Column | Type | Nullable |
|---|---|---|
| id | uuid | No |
| text | No | |
| is_dev | bool | No |
Relationships:
| Column | Type | Nullable |
|---|---|---|
| id | uuid | No |
| user_id | uuid | No |
| game_name | text | No |
| build_url | text | No |
| week_id | int | No |
| votes | int | No |
Relationships:
| Column | Type | Nullable |
|---|---|---|
| id | uuid | No |
| submission_id | uuid | No |
| voter_user_id | uuid | No |
| playtime_sec | int | No |
| voted_at | timestamp | No |
Relationships:
/api/submissionsSubmit game
/api/charts/:weekFetch current charts
/api/votes/:submissionIdCast vote
/api/blueprints/:submissionIdGet success data
No blueprints
Standard priority
None
| Month | Users | Conversion | MRR | ARR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month 1 | 200 | 2.5% | $125 | $1,500 |
| Month 6 | 1,200 | 4.5% | $1,350 | $16,200 |
Submit your indie game, let players propel it to featured status.
Seed first chart with 5 known indie devs from Twitter/Discord, invite their followers as players. Charge Pro for priority in week 2 based on early buzz.
Community
No mobile focus/charts
App store specific + voting
Asia market
Not vote-driven
Global indie + badges
Network effects from dev-player loop; historical chart data for blueprints.
Rise of community-driven discovery post-TikTok game virals; app stores push user-gen features.
Vote manipulation
Playtime verification + caps
Player engagement drop
Gamification points
Slow MRR ramp
Free tier virality
Success: 100 votes
Success: 50 submissions
Success: 10% paid
Other validated startup ideas you might find interesting
Never miss TechCabal articles again—search and recover 404 pages instantly.
Your personal vault for TechCabal links—auto-recovers 404s forever.
AI revives lost TechCabal pages—summarize, rewrite, recover.
Generate client proposals that justify premium pricing for custom AI over free LLMs
Benchmark free LLMs vs your custom AI to win higher-paying clients
Smart pricing calculator & scripts to defend custom AI rates against free LLM demands