Everything you need to know about how PixelPicked works — for developers building games and players looking for something worth playing.
Everything you need to know
If you have a question that is not answered here, reach us on X or email us directly.
PixelPicked is the launch infrastructure indie mobile games have always needed. These are the questions we get most often from developers and players trying to understand what we are building and why.
General
PixelPicked is the launch infrastructure for indie mobile games. Developers get a game page, devlog tools, follower collection, beta recruitment, and a launch campaign — everything needed to build an audience before launch, make noise on release week, and stay discoverable after day one. Players get a curated feed of original indie games worth playing, with the ability to follow games in development and shape what rises.
Indie mobile game developers who are tired of launching into silence and want real infrastructure to build momentum before they ship. And players who are tired of the App Store showing them the same heavily monetised titles and want to find games actually worth playing.
Yes. PixelPicked is completely free for both developers and players. There is no commission, no ad spend required. We will always be free for indie developers.
The App Store and Play Store are storefronts optimised for revenue and retention. Discovery is driven by ad spend and download velocity. PixelPicked is launch infrastructure — a platform where you build your audience before you ship, run a campaign on release week, and stay discoverable after. Games are curated by humans and ranked by real player votes. No ad slots. The best games rise because players say so.
For Developers
No. You do not need a finished or released game to be on PixelPicked. You just need to be actively developing one. The earlier you create your game page, the more time you have to build an audience before launch. That is the entire point — we are launch infrastructure, not a storefront. The best time to start is while you are still building.
Yes — and PixelPicked is built specifically with solo developers in mind. You do not need a studio, a publisher, or a marketing team. You need a game worth playing and the discipline to show up and share your progress. Some of the best games in mobile history were made by a single person. We exist to give those games a real shot.
Yes, with one condition — your game needs to be genuinely original and your studio needs to be small. PixelPicked is not for publishers or large studios with marketing budgets. It is for teams where every person on the project cares deeply about what they are making. If your studio has the culture of an indie developer, you belong here.
All of them. Unity, Unreal, Godot, GameMaker, custom engines, no engine at all — we do not care how you built it. What matters is the game, not the tools you used to make it.
Every game submitted to PixelPicked is reviewed by a human before it goes live. We check for originality, quality, and that the game is not a clone or shovelware. We would rather have 500 great games than 50,000 clones. The review typically takes a few days.
Yes. Your game page is yours to update whenever you want. Post devlogs, update screenshots, change your description, add a trailer, open or close beta testing. Your page should evolve as your game evolves — that is the point of building in public.
Yes. Premium games — games you pay once to own — are fully supported and frankly encouraged. We have no preference for any monetisation model as long as it is honest and fair to players. Free-to-play, premium, and pay-once-with-optional-extras are all welcome. Predatory mechanics like loot boxes and pay-to-win are not.
A launch campaign is a coordinated release push that runs the week your game goes live. It includes push notifications to every player who followed your game, trending placement on the PixelPicked homepage, and a broadcast to our social channels across Discord, YouTube, TikTok, and X. You arrive on launch day with an audience that has been waiting — not a cold launch into silence.
Your game page includes a beta recruitment section where players can apply to test your build. You review applications and approve testers directly. Players on PixelPicked are self-selected enthusiasts who are actively looking for games to play early — they are real testers, not bots.
Yes. Post-launch discovery is one of the core problems PixelPicked solves. If your game is already live and did not get the audience it deserved, create a page, post devlogs about updates, and let the community vote it up. Great games deserve to keep being found.
For Players
Every game on PixelPicked has been reviewed by a human before it appears in the feed. Beyond that initial curation, games are ranked by community votes — real players upvoting the games they think deserve attention. No algorithms. No ad spend. No black box.
Yes. You can follow a game the day a developer starts building it, read their devlogs, apply for beta access, and get notified the moment it launches. You stop discovering games after they have already succeeded and start being part of what makes them succeed.
Yes. If a game is inappropriate, misleading, or violates our quality standards, you can report it directly from the game page. Every report is reviewed by a human. We take the integrity of the feed seriously — if something should not be here, it will not stay here.
The App Store shows you games based on ad spend and download velocity. PixelPicked shows you games based on human curation and community votes. Every game in the feed has passed a quality review and earned its position through genuine player interest — not a marketing budget.
Platform
PixelPicked supports iOS and Android mobile games. We are focused entirely on mobile — we believe it is the most underserved platform for indie discovery and we are not trying to be everything to everyone.
No. PixelPicked does not take a commission on game sales or in-app purchases. We are launch infrastructure, not a storefront. Players still download games through the App Store and Play Store.
Every week, players can vote for the games they think deserve more visibility. Votes reset weekly so new games always have a chance to rise. The top voted games each week get featured placement on the homepage and in the weekly newsletter. The best games win — not the best funded ones.
Yes. The Weekly Pixel goes out every week with the top community-voted games, notable new submissions, and developer stories worth reading. It reaches thousands of players who are actively looking for great indie mobile games.
We are a small team and we read everything. Find us on X at @pixel_picked or email pixelpickedupdates@gmail.com. We will get back to you.