Media documenting the development of a game, truthfully chronicling the entire journey—not just the successes, but also the failures, bugs, and feature iterations. Competitors only showcase the beautiful end result; I show the process through the eyes of a student, without a studio or a budget. Viewers vote on mechanics and characters, get to know the project’s concept and aesthetic, so the community around the game gathers even before the release.

The main goal of the project is to document the development process of a self-made game through short vertical videos and to build a community around the project even before its release—thereby increasing interest and audience loyalty.

Project Objectives:

Broad Segment: Game development/game creation. Niche Topic: A development log (devlog) of one specific indie game by a student game designer OR «how I build a game from scratch by hand.»Format: Short, vertical videos (15–90 seconds) for TikTok: project progress, design breakdowns, failures, art, code, etc.

Content Categories:

To identify competitors, I reviewed existing Russian-language blogs on TikTok (and other social media platforms utilizing short-form video), which resemble my project, found using thematic hashtags: devlog, gamedev, indie development, and game design.The criteria for competitive analysis were:
1. Publication platforms (TikTok, YouTube Shorts, etc.)
2. Visual style
3. Tone of voice (expert / friendly / humorous / «insider»)
4. Tools and formats used (stories, pinned videos, Q&A, humorous skits, tips, etc.)
5. Audience reception (what resonates and what doesn’t)
6. Video posting frequency

Direct competitors are vloggers, much like me, who maintain devlogs of their own games in the format of short vertical videos. We are competing for the same audience using the same format. Among all creators, I have identified three competitors who have the largest reach in the Russian-speaking segment (since my project is primarily aimed at the CIS community).

Zero2DevHeroHe maintains a devlog detailing the development of his game, «Don’t Eat Me, Granny, ” primarily through short, vertical videos. His strength lies in the project’s memorable title, humorous, niche-focused videos, clear positioning, and the „zero-to-hero“ journey narrative, which has already established a personal brand. He duplicates content across platforms and omits failures. My key differentiator—which he lacks—is engaging the audience in the development process through surveys and polls.

ALLA GAME DESIGN

She maintains a diverse blog about game development, skillfully blending tutorials with development logs from her own game. This allows her to cover both the educational and devlog niches simultaneously. Her strength lies in her many years of experience and the broad range of topics she covers, which establishes authority and content variety. Her weakness is infrequent posting: the audience loses momentum, algorithms favor less active accounts, and the niche remains under-saturated. My advantage—my differentiator—is consistency (3–5 videos per week) coupled with the position of a newcomer who is «one of us.»

Aleksandr

He has already released the game «Voron: Raven’s Story» and primarily creates beautiful, aesthetic gameplay videos. His strength lies in the finished product and visual presentation—his content looks like promotional material and captures the attention of observant gamers. His weakness is that he shows the result, not the process: the viewer doesn’t see the journey, the failures, or the solutions, which makes it harder for novice developers to relate to him. My advantage is that I am at the beginning of my journey and focus specifically on the process and honest devlogging, whereas Aleksandr has already moved into the phase of «showing the finished game» rather than «making it from scratch.»

Indirect competitors are bloggers and channels that create game development content but do not document the development of their own game: they compete for the same audience’s attention through different formats.

E.AruruShe runs a blog offering advice for game designers and produces conversational videos about the game development industry. Her strength is her clear presentation, engaging hooks at the start of her videos, and the use of relevant yet compelling topics. However, unlike me, she does not promote her own projects, focusing solely on entertainment or educational content.

LehmannShe creates motivational and educational content for game developers, but she doesn’t maintain a devlog for a specific game; instead, she focuses on expert advice. Her strength lies in unique topics that few people discuss and in her authority as a seasoned industry professional. My key difference is that I am a newcomer, showing the path from scratch: where Lehmann provides a definitive expert answer, I offer a relevant example of, «If I can do it, you can too, ” which resonates more closely with a beginner audience. Furthermore, I can use her content as a source of knowledge and inspiration for my own analyses—though I present it through the lens of personal experience rather than an expert’s authoritative perspective.

Indirect competitors may also include informational TikTok accounts about games, which share interesting facts about popular projects, developers, and studios but do not maintain a development log of their own game. For example, the account "Games | Immersive Art.» Their strength lies in broad reach and an easy-to-digest, entertaining format: facts about well-known games captivate the mass gaming audience and perform well in recommendations. Their weakness is that the content is general and impersonal: there is no personal project, no developer-author, and no overarching narrative for the audience to connect with. My advantage is that I provide not abstract industry facts, but a first-person account of the living process of creating my own game, which fosters an emotional connection with the audience that the informational account lacks.

Potential competitors could include creators whose content focuses on digital art, 3D modeling, tutorials for Unity/Unreal Engine (game engines), and coding. For example, TikTok accounts such as Lowpoly.polina (Blender modeling), Sen tin (concept artist), and Danil Gryzlov (3D tutorials), among others.

Key Insights: