11 highlights from Day of the Devs 2024 that you won’t want to miss
This year, Day of the Devs Summer Game Fest Edition was absolutely jam-packed with fun, exciting indie game announcements! And it’s no surprise. If you go back and take a look at the presentation in 2023, the showcase highlighted some iconic upcoming titles and instsant classics, including Hyper Light Breaker, Viewfinder, Hauntii, and more.
We had an amazing time watching (and co-streaming) the Day of the Devs showcase, and if you have the time, we highly recommend you watch the full event. But if, like us, you’re feeling overwhelmed by all of the amazing game announcements coming out this summer, we’ve selected 11 highlights from the showcase that you won’t want to miss!
1. Battle Vision Network
Emily’s Pick
“So, my first pick is Battle Vision Network, which is not a game that at first glance I think I would have picked up, but some of the elements of the game that they talked about in the trailer and that the devs mentioned, got my ears perked up. And I’m just really curious to see how it does. So the idea is, this is a competitive, like PvP, sort of casual game. The core gameplay is based on color matching. But they’ve incorporated this concept of seasons, sort of like how you see in Fortnite. You have a season every couple of months. and it sounds like the outcome of the collective community’s battles in this game actually will have an impact on what happens from one season to the next.”
—Emily
Developer: Capybara Games
Publisher: Capybara Games
Release Date: 2025
2. Cairn
Kate’s Pick
“Cairn is a story exploration survival climber, and it seems like there’s a lot of resource management components in it, but there were certain elements of the trailer that just had me really invested. I felt like I was watching a movie. I really enjoy games about the outdoors in general, or games with rich outdoor environments. The character that you play as in this game, like there were moments in this trailer where their legs are shaking and they’re doing this really exasperated screaming as they’re like climbing this giant mountain and falling down. And so that really got me, like, I was just hooked right away.”
—Kate
Developer: The Game Bakers
Publisher: The Game Bakers
Release Date: 2025
3. KARMA: The Dark World
Emily’s Pick
“It’s a sort of psychological thriller horror game that takes place in a dystopian, maybe, pre-apocalyptic world. It takes place in a semi-futuristic world where, I think, the entire government is run by a corporation. Corporations have taken over. So it’s a commentary on capitalism and productivity, culture and humanity. It looks trippy as hell. It looks very scary. But also hearing the devs talk about it in Day of the Devs, I really like the commentary they’re trying to make and the message they’re trying to send. So it seems like a really interesting exploration of these themes and really effectively scary.”
—Emily
Developer: Pollard Studio LLC
Publisher: Pollard Studio LLC, Gamera Games, Wired Productions
Release Date: TBA
4. Petal Runner
Kate’s Pick
“I just thought ‘this is everything I want.’ It’s an exclusively purple, pink and yellow and black color palette, which I really love. It’s very pixelated, it seems, which I generally like for the most part. And it just looks really sweet. They’re classifying it as a JRPG, and you’re training to become a petal runner, so you make deliveries with your pet. It looks like a wholesome little slice of life, but there’s a lot of minigames, too. So I’m really curious. I really enjoyed the music, vibe, and overall look of it.”
—Kate
Developer: Nano Park Studios
Publisher: iam8bit Presents
Release Date: TBA
5. UFO 50
Emily’s Pick
“The more the devs talked about their process and coming up with this, I was hooked. So here’s the concept: this game isn’t just one game, it’s actually 50 separate titles. They’re generally in the arcade style of gameplay, with some new genres mixed in a little bit. And they made a point to say, these aren’t mini games, these are 50 games. The way the devs like conceived of all of this, they actually invented a fictional game company from the 80s and 90s that published, in this fictional world, all of these 50 games from, I think, the year 1982 to 1990. And you actually see the technical progression of hardware and software throughout those years in the games, which is wild. They put technical requirements on themselves as they developed them. So they really thought about what makes this retro and like, how do we make this as true to the time period as possible? It sounds like there’s a lot of lore baked into the games related to this larger software company. So the many levels at which they thought about this really intrigued me.”
—Emily
Developer: Mossmouth
Publisher: Mossmouth
Release Date: TBA
6. Koira
Kate’s Pick
“This is a musical, hand-drawn adventure where you basically befriend a puppy. The art style is really simple, I guess, but also really whimsical at the same time. But there’s also this little sinister undertone. You can play fetch with the puppy, but also you’re just exploring this landscape together, and then at night, or when you’re in certain areas of this like, wintry forest, scary things can happen. So I like that it’s a little bit more high stakes. It’s not just a cozy game about you befriending a puppy, (even though that alone sounds wonderful) ! I thought this looked really special because you unlock different musical abilities as you go. And I just kept thinking, watching the trailer like, ‘this is what I wanted out of Snufkin.’ So I’m really, really excited for that one.”
—Kate
Developer: Studio Tolima
Publisher: Don’t Nod
Release Date: 2025
7. Fear the Spotlight
Emily’s Pick
“Brand new horror publishing company, Blumhouse, announced that they’re working with Cozy Game Pals to release Fear the Spotlight, which is very reminiscent of like 90s, 00s, early PlayStation era horror games. It’s got that kind of, low poly graphics, retro style graphics, and looks incredibly scary. Your character’s a teenage girl and you and your friend sneak into your high school to do something with a Ouija board. And then sh*t starts going down and it just looks really scary. They make really effective use of the retro graphics.”
—Emily
Developer: Cozy Game Pals
Publisher: Blumhouse Games
Release Date: TBA
8. Tom the Postgirl
Kate’s Pick
“You know, when I saw this, I was just like, ‘absolutely!’ This is kind of like a creepy hand-drawn art style with really dark humor. I also realized that it’s non-linear. I think that’s really exciting. In the Dev’s own words: you learn about ‘the deranged townspeople’ by looking into their windows. You know, like we’ve all heard of a ‘peeping Tom’. Her name is Tom. Tom, the post girl. And I guess the devs were really inspired by the little Red Riding Hood vibe, but you are basically stalking people of the town. You’re looking into their windows and then seeing some sort of horrific scene unfold or maybe just lightly disturbing.”
—Kate
Developer: Oopsie Daisies
Publisher: Oopsie Daisies
Release Date: TBA
9. Screenbound
Emily’s Pick
“It’s a wild concept visually because it’s a first person game in a 3D world, but constantly throughout the game you see in front of you a Gameboy-type handheld game system that has a 2D world that is representative of the world you’re in. And there are certain things around you in your environment that exist, but you can only see them in the 2D space on your little game console. But also there are some other things that are only perceivable in the 3D world. So you are constantly having to split your attention between what’s around you and your periphery in 3D, and what you’re seeing on the screen of the game console in 2D. Truly wild. I mean, I don’t know if my brain is capable of playing this game, but I love that they came up with it.”
—Emily
Developer: Crescent Moon Games, Those Dang Games
Publisher: Crescent Moon Games, Those Dang Games
Release Date: TBA
10. Building Relationships
Kate’s Pick
“You’re a house on a date. Just like, rolling around. The devs also described it as ‘A Short Hike, but stupid’, which I find very delightful. And that’s honestly, that’s enough. Just that one descriptor. That’s enough to sell me on the game, and I’ll definitely be playing it.”
—Kate
Developer: Tan Ant Games
Publisher: Tan Ant Games
Release Date: TBA
11. Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure
“This game caught my eye because of the team making it. This game is being developed by David Hellman, the artist from Braid, Nick Suttner, the writer from Carto, and Nicolás Recabarren, who was the designer of Ethereal. What a stacked team! Absolutely wild that they came together to work on this. I’m excited to follow it.”
—Emily
Developer: Furniture & Mattress LLC
Publisher: Furniture & Mattress LLC
Release Date: Jul 25, 2024
Thanks for checking out our highlights from Day of the Devs 2024!
We hope you enjoyed these highlights from Day of the Devs 2024!! If you want to hear our full thoughts and highlights from other Summer Game Fest Showcases, like the Wholesome Direct and Women-led Games Showcase, check out the full Summer Game Fest Recap episode of No Small Games.
Also, don’t forget to check out our episodes recapping previous gaming events, like our episodes covering PAX East 2024 and the 2023 Wholesome Direct.