Cinevva FAQ

What is Cinevva?

Here's the short version: Cinevva lets you discover indie games by watching real gameplay. Not polished trailers designed to sell you something. Not carefully cropped screenshots hiding the janky bits.

You're seeing someone actually play the thing, rough edges and all. Scroll around, something grabs you, maybe you try it out yourself. That's pretty much it.

If you want the full picture, About Cinevva has more.

Is Cinevva "TikTok for games"?

Yeah, we hear this one constantly. And honestly? I get it. Vertical video, swiping, the whole vibe looks familiar on the surface.

Here's where it breaks down though. TikTok needs you glued to that scroll, their whole model depends on it. We're after something different. The goal is helping you figure out if a game's worth your time before you download anything or spend money. It's about making a decision, not getting sucked into endless content.

What kind of games are on Cinevva?

Indie stuff, mostly. The solo dev grinding away on some weird idea at 2am. Small teams held together by stubbornness and way too much caffeine. Games that get buried the second they have to compete with actual marketing money.

You'll find browser games from itch.io, Steam releases from tiny studios, stuff hosted on someone's personal website. What you won't find is Assassin's Creed. That's intentional.

Can I play games directly on Cinevva?

Sometimes. If it's browser-based, yeah, click and you're playing right here. For everything else, we send you wherever the developer wants: their site, a storefront, wherever they've set up shop. They control how their game gets distributed. That's theirs to decide.

Where do the reels come from?

Real gameplay from games you can actually play right now. No staged demos, no misleading cuts. This matters to us, a lot.

I'm a creator, how do I get my game featured?

Still working out all the details, but here's what we've got:

• For game creators breaks down subscription options, and no, you don't need to integrate any SDK
• Blog and News have updates whenever we ship something new
• Tutorials and Guides are coming, practical stuff, step-by-step walkthroughs

What's the best way to keep up with changes?

Save these somewhere:

• Blog, where we share what we're thinking and building
• News, the official stuff when features go live
• AI-generated content policy, where we stand on AI-made games
• app.cinevva.com, the actual product

What's the best way to discover indie games?

Most people just scroll through Steam or itch.io and hope something catches their eye. That works okay if you've got an hour to spare, but it's a pretty terrible system when there are thousands of new games every month.

We think the fastest way is watching someone actually play for fifteen seconds. You know almost immediately if a game's your thing or not. That's the whole idea behind Cinevva's reels, short clips of real gameplay you can swipe through until something clicks.

Can you play games in a browser without downloading anything?

Yeah, tons of them. Browser games have gotten surprisingly good. We're talking proper 3D stuff running in WebGL, physics, multiplayer, the works. No install, no waiting, just a URL.

On Cinevva, if a game runs in the browser, you can play it right here. One click from the reel and you're in. For games that need a download, we'll send you to the developer's page instead.

What is a web game engine?

It's a set of tools for building games that run directly in a browser. Instead of making someone download an .exe or install from an app store, your game loads like a website. Share a link, they're playing.

The big ones right now are Three.js, Phaser, PlayCanvas, and Godot (which can export to web). We built Cinevva Engine on Three.js because we wanted something open-source and browser-first from the start. There's a full comparison of web game engines if you're weighing your options.

Are AI-generated games allowed on Cinevva?

Yes, with one condition: be honest about it. If AI made your art, wrote your dialogue, composed your music, or generated your levels, say so when you upload. Players can filter on that label if they want to.

We're not picking sides on whether AI is good or bad for games. How you build your thing is your business. We just think people deserve to know what they're playing. More on this in our AI content policy.

How does a subscription game platform pay developers?

Players pay a monthly fee and get access to a catalog of games. The subscription money gets split among creators based on how much time players actually spend in each game. More playtime in your game means a bigger share of the pool.

It's not ads. It's not one-time purchases getting lost in a sea of sale events. Your game keeps earning as long as people keep playing it. We break this down more on the creators page.

How do indie developers get their games discovered?

That's the million-dollar question, honestly. Most indie devs try some combination of Steam wishlists, social media, game jams, press outreach, and hoping for the best. A few get lucky with a viral TikTok or a streamer picking them up.

The problem is that all of this takes time away from actually making the game. We built Cinevva because discovery shouldn't require a marketing degree. Real gameplay clips, no editing, no budget needed. If your game is fun, people can see that in fifteen seconds.

Does Cinevva cost anything for players?

Browsing and watching reels is free. You can scroll through as many clips as you want without signing up or paying anything. Playing browser games directly on the site is free too.

The subscription unlocks the full game catalog for unlimited play. Think of it like a game library you're renting access to, except the developers actually get paid based on your playtime instead of getting a flat cut from a sale.

What file formats does Cinevva Engine support?

The engine works with standard open formats. glTF for 3D models, PNG and JPG for textures, MP3 and OGG for audio. For scene interchange we use USD, and we built a pure TypeScript USD parser that handles USDA, USDC, and USDZ files directly in the browser.

No proprietary formats, no lock-in. Everything exports to standalone HTML you can host anywhere.