Hidden Game—a Telegram channel dedicated to indie games that helps players discover interesting projects amidst a flood of new releases.The goal is to save the audience time spent searching for games and to highlight high-quality titles that might easily be overlooked due to a lack of a major publisher, advertising, or general visibility.Users receive deep dives into indie games: what the game is about, what sets it apart, and why it deserves attention.

Video Games and the Gaming Industry.

Unique and lesser-known indie games featuring unconventional mechanics, visual styles, or original concepts.

Telegram channel featuring short posts, curated selections, and recommendations. The main focus is not on every indie release, but on projects that significantly diverge from mainstream games and offer a novel gaming experience.

There are so many indie games coming out, and most of them quickly get lost among major releases and more prominent projects. Yet, it is often in independent games that you find unusual mechanics, visual solutions, and experimental ideas that large studios are less likely to pursue.

1. Game Specialization Topics — All games, exclusively indie games, unusual and lesser-known titles, and only new releases.2. News Selection — Publishing the entire stream of gaming industry news or filtering it for specific projects.3. Content Format — Recommendations, curated lists, humorous videos/clips, and game releases.4. Consumption Usability — Posting format, clarity of the post’s structure and objective, how quickly the game’s essence is grasped, and whether the project’s main strengths are highlighted.5. Visual Presentation — Game trailers, screenshots, and gameplay footage.6. Audience Interaction (Tone of Voice) — Strictly an informational approach, friendly, humorous, and incorporating polls.

1. Indie Spotlight—offers content very similar to what I am presenting. This channel is about indie games, posting daily releases and materials on lesser-known projects. It also features curated lists, such as «What to Play This Weekend, ” which highlights indie games with unique presentation styles.Selection Criteria: thematic proximity, use of Telegram as a platform, consistency, short recommendation format, and visual content.2. Быть Инди (Be Indie)—this platform publishes content about small-scale games, Steam, festivals, developer promotion, and the lives of developers.Selection Criteria: Telegram presence, indie focus, regular content, interest in obscure games, and strong audience engagement—including posts that prompt viewers to share their own undiscovered indie gems.3. indie.by—this is a platform dedicated to indie games.The platform’s advantage is its clear genre categorization for indie titles.Selection Criteria: niche specialization, authorial perspective, and interest in non-standard projects.

1. Bakery is a very large Russian-language Telegram channel. It focuses on indie topics, features regular content, and covers interest in all games and Steam.However, it is not exclusively an indie channel. They publish all kinds of gaming news, humorous compilations, game bloopers, and keep users informed about everything happening. The channel also includes news not directly from the gaming industry but which could affect it, such as technical reviews, news, and laws related to hardware/PC building, pricing, and updates.Selection criteria: the same platform, audience overlap, high content frequency, strong visuals, and a distinct tone of voice.2. DTF is a gaming community. It has a dedicated section for indie materials and developer publications.It is not specialized media dedicated solely to unique indie games, but a user can satisfy the same need there—finding an unusual indie title. The weakness regarding my idea is that there is a huge volume of content, requiring the user to search extensively and meticulously to find what they are looking for.Selection criteria: large overlapping audience, gaming content, indie features.3. StopGame is a gaming media outlet that produces reviews, roundups, and individual video formats about small and indie games.Selection criteria: indie roundups, large gaming audience, curated recommendations.

1. Steam—a gaming platform that already features curated collections, including indie titles.Selection Criteria: task alignment, vast indie game catalog, personalized recommendations, and the ability to move directly from browsing to purchasing.2. itch.io—this platform hosts a massive number of independent games, making it essentially a space for discovering them. However, the search and browsing experience is not as user-friendly or optimized, meaning you can spend a long time stumbling upon raw, unpolished projects.Selection Criteria: thematic relevance, large quantity of lesser-known indies, and the ability to find experimental projects.3. Epic Games Store—it has a dedicated, large section for indie games where you can view new releases and filter games by genre.Selection Criteria: presence of a dedicated indie category, access to a large catalog, recommendations and filters, and the ability to download or purchase the found game immediately.

Distribution Channel — Telegram. Telegram is well-suited for this type of media because content can be consumed quickly and regularly, without needing to visit a separate website or spend a lot of time on lengthy reviews. I usually do this while riding the subway or in similar settings; I don’t want to spend time on long research pieces on large platforms—I want things to be fast and to the point.

Anya, 24 years old.
An active player tired of generic, large-scale releases.Segmentation: psychographic + behavioral.Anya plays regularly, but large releases seem too similar to one another. She values unconventional mechanics, unique concepts, and non-standard visuals.Jobs to Be Done: When familiar games start feeling monotonous, I want to quickly find a unique indie project to gain a fresh gaming experience.

Andrey, 29 years old. A busy gamer who enjoys playing but doesn’t want to spend a long time choosing.

Segmentation: behavioral + needs-based.

Andrey plays for a few hours each week; he’s interested in trying new things, but he doesn’t want to waste time on lengthy reviews or endless searching on large platforms.

JTBD: When I have free time for gaming, I want to quickly select an interesting project so I can spend my time on the game itself, not on finding it.

Kristina, 15 years old. An experienced indie enthusiast who constantly searches for lesser-known projects, enjoys supporting emerging creators, and collects games on Steam.

Segmentation: psychographic + behavioral.

Kristina follows indie games, small developers, festivals, and new releases. She is more interested in discovering projects before they become popular.

JTBD: When I follow indie games, I want to find interesting, lesser-known projects before anyone else.

Eva, 20 years old. She is most drawn to visual style and atmosphere and is searching for inspiration for herself.

Segmentation: psychographic + by interest.

Eva is interested in gaming, design, music, and visuals. She creates characters and visuals herself, so she wants to find inspiration that she doesn’t see in large-scale projects.

JTBD: When I want a new visual or emotional experience, I want to find games with unusual style and ideas so I can see something I haven’t encountered before.

In one minute, you understand what makes the game interesting. The post immediately explains what the game is, what its special features are, and why you should pay attention to it.

«Discover what’s easily missed»

Little-known projects, demo versions, and small releases that haven’t yet made it into major gaming media or mass compilations.