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Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?

• VoxelBoy 4y ago
  My games on the app store are MobileUO and Sandbox City. MobileUO is a Unity-port of ClassicUO, which is an open-source C# client for Ultima Online. My hope was to get support from community on Patreon to keep developing it but the financial support didn't really materialize. But it's ok because close to a thousand people seem to be using MobileUO daily to play UO on their mobile devices and are happy with it as it is. Sandbox City is a really mini-tiny-not-even GTA style game for mobile where the player gets to run around in a city, driving cars, and running over pedestrians and zombies. I'm working on adding more content into the game but it already gives me decent passive income from ads and IAPs. I also have it published on CrazyGames (html5/webgl online game platform) and it is also played a lot there and bring in additional income. I'd be interested in joining your Discord. My email is in my profile.
• pfoof 4y ago
  I used to focus myself on game development, mostly mobile, several times, then I joined a game studio as a DevOps engineer and I'm not looking back, backend and scripting life is way easier but sometimes I feel that I should make an update or join a jam. Well, the creative process for games is much broader and freeform but it's like with every art.
• insraq 4y ago
  I am a solo indie game dev - and have released Industry Idle[1] - a factory building/supply chain management/trading sim about two years ago during pandemic where I've got some free time. Now I am working on a spiritual successor called CivIdle while maintaining Industry Idle (it has a global real-time player driven market, which surprisingly takes quite some effort for maintenance, and that has slowed down the new development by a considerable amount) P.S. Industry Idle has been open sourced a while ago, if anyone is interested in the code[3] [1] https://store.steampowered.com/app/1574000/Industry_Idle/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/1574000/Industry_Idle/ [2] https://store.steampowered.com/app/2181940/Cividle/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/2181940/Cividle/ [3] https://github.com/fishpondstudio/industryidle https://github.com/fishpondstudio/industryidle
  • FumblingBear 4y ago
    Just wanted to say I'm a huge fan of Industry Idle! Thanks for the hard work you're doing by maintaining such a fun incremental game :)
• smartties 4y ago
  I'm interested to join, but I'm not doing it fulltime (I went back to uni to get a master degree). As a side project I'm developing a factory game (conveyor belts/factories/insertors..) with some Spaceflight Simulation game mechanics [1] I'm planning on releasing the full game this December, but the game is already not doing so well (only 4K wishlists. 12K is recommended for a successful launch) [1] https://store.steampowered.com/app/2219580/Spaceflight_Factory__Prologue https://store.steampowered.com/app/2219580/Spaceflight_Facto...
• nektro 4y ago
  anyone interested for something similar to this should check out https://handmade.network/ https://handmade.network/
• dgunay 4y ago
  I currently am just hacking on a Pong clone in Bevy in my spare time, so I'm not serious at all. Just want to say props to all of you who are putting serious work into creating games full time or otherwise. It has been quite a challenge in ways that web development just isn't.
• dboon 4y ago
  Yeah! I made this science fiction VN [1] and am currently working on a follow up with overworld and graphics. I’ve got a Discord server where my friends who make games hang out — we’ve got a couple different games being made as well. If anyone’s interested in joining, my Discord handle is in my profile. [1] https://boonbane.itch.io/firmament https://boonbane.itch.io/firmament
• gentoogames 4y ago
  im not much of a HN regular, but a friend forwarded this over my direction. absolutely love the idea of more exclusive game dev communities. understandably, large parts of the game dev space have become oversaturated with a ton of "beginner-help-spam", and while getting that entry-level help is necessary to integrate into any new community, it feels as though some of the more nuanced and mature parts of the community get lost in the noise. all that to say I love the idea, and wish you luck!
• stodor89 4y ago
  I couldn't take the loneliness and joined a small studio. Good initiative, I wish you best of luck!
• spandrew 4y ago
  I am! But I feel like I'm already apart of 20 gazillion game dev discords and streams. Focus is a real drain doing solo game dev (using Unity to make a 2.5d platforming survival game). Good luck to you and your crew!
• quelsolaar 4y ago
  Yes I'm a lone indie developer. A long time ago I made a game called LOVE. Now im making a Real-time stealth tactics game called EXO. However I'm not doing it full-time. Sounds like a great group! Making a game yourself can be very tough, but also rewarding. Having people to share your experience with is really important. If you ever want a guest who spent many long years working on a game and came out of if scared but a happier person, please reach out.
  • Pfiffer 4y ago
    I've spent a fair bit of time wandering through your C libraries before, very useful stuff. It's been a while but your memory leak checker was pretty cool.
  • valtism 4y ago
    I remember reading about this game as a full feature in a gaming magazine years ago. I was so entranced by the mystery of it and gorgeous art style, but never actually got to play it. I'll have to see if I can get it up and running.
• namrog84 4y ago
  I am 38 and recently quit my job at Xbox Microsoft as a Senior Engineer (mostly C++) to pursue fulltime indie gamedev. As I've quit my day job, I am all in on this. I have a few friends who will be quitting their jobs in a some years and it's sorta on me right now to start generating revenue to help speed up them joining me if at all possible. I have a long runway and expect quite a few failures on the way but it's my goal to find success and balance. I've only ever done various ludumdare or other misc gamejams, maybe 20 in my life. No substantial games to show/demo. Have used many tools and frameworks over the years, such as flash, libGDX(Java), Visual 3D, Unity, and finally a die hard Unreal Engine fan. There is a lot of other posts already here of far more successful and qualified folks. So if not OP, if there are other communities with less restriction. I am always open to more. Discord: namrog84#0880
  • samspenc 4y ago
    Hey congrats! Quick question if you don't mind, I'm learning about game engines. With your experience across so many engines, what made you choose Unreal Engine (UE) and stick with it? I'm liking UE as well but haven't dabbled in other engines prior to UE, so just want to make sure I'm not missing anything before jumping into UE.
• ertucetin 4y ago
  I'm a Clojure developer, and for most of my career, I have worked at small to medium SaaS startups. However, after some time, I decided to work on some side projects that were in a completely different field. I started playing with the PlayCanvas game engine and created a 3D PvP based browser game. Currently, the game is in the alpha stage and is called Enion Online. Link: http://alpha.enion.io http://alpha.enion.io
• sadpolishdev 4y ago
  Yes, I've worked in multiple indie teams on various titles, I'm doing gamedev professionally, as well I'm solo dev making sideproject in spare time... on the span of 4 years or so. My two cents - excluding people who "not work on their game full time" isn't very smart, most people have responsibilities and jobs, and can't afford to spend all the time on their pet project, and it doesn't mean they are not serious about releasing their games. I wish you all the best on your development anyway. You can check what I'm doing here: https://twitter.com/piropro https://twitter.com/piropro
• Madmallard 4y ago
  I've been a hobbyist game dev for several years now. I would like to transition to full-time and making a living off it but in my position (disabled for health reasons) it is seemingly too difficult. I think a team would drastically help push my efforts forward but alas everyone wants to make their idea. I know I have the creative sauce and technical competence but external motivation and time commitments on the order of months to years makes it rough. Some of my work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7iA3_mbd4U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7iA3_mbd4U https://explorerdude.net https://explorerdude.net https://novagame.net https://novagame.net https://choreomania.net https://choreomania.net Something I think would sell: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11GreRAVxi-TO8zBt_Q0xKDnoVZQrt8lzb_dPbOgpzJ8 https://docs.google.com/document/d/11GreRAVxi-TO8zBt_Q0xKDno...
• IYasha 4y ago
  > Any solo game developers here? yes.
• euix 4y ago
  I started working full time on a game in Jan 2021, minus vacation I have probably spent a 1 year on it. I also have a side hobby job, doing some data science consulting. I started with big ambitions the initial inspiration was Battle Brothers, Underrail, Jeff Vogel's old Exile RPGs and Caves of Qud (never played but seen lots of talks and material on it). Now it's evolved (devolved?) into a procedural simulation game of sorts. I wrote lore and world building. I want to do something deep and engaging that has high replay value - even with shabby graphics for years and years and something that I can continue to add content over time and expand the depth and scope of. A big decision at the beginning was to build using C++ from scratch and not use an existing engine. So really I would say up about to the 10 months mark was just me figuring out application and software development - I come from an analytics background so in the beginning it was basic baby steps - like wrapping my head around doing everything in a giant infinite while loop, understanding how to manage memory, profile to figure out where frame rate is slowing down...not so much touching any content. The hardest part was and is the architecture, how to add components, assets and generally organize the code so it doesn't become spaghetti as the game complexity grows - I started using a ECS early on but even still, I refactor the code structure a few times already and have simply come to accept some degree of chaos is inevitable. Next to that the UI is completely vectorized and drawn in-game so as to scale to any resolution and that has been a huge pain in the ass. There is a surprising amount of complexity in UI and I am devoting a lot of attention to it. So now after 12 months I am finally close to the point of dedicating myself to mostly content creation and working on the game as opposed to the engine. After that I probably have to make a decision on whether to continue full time or devote some time to making some money elsewhere.
• olegshagramanov 4y ago
  I was wondering if there is anyone here trying to add matchmaking into their singleplayer mobile games? I have an SDK that could work well on IOS
• hnaccountme 4y ago
  Cool
• qprofyeh 4y ago
  For all developers who are curious about the solo gamedev lifestyle business, I’m sure there are many, what are the basic economics that can make it work? (Other than money saved at MAANG.)
  • quaintdev 4y ago
    The fact that this is on front page with just 1 comment indicates there are not many solo game developers
    • rafael09ed 4y ago
      On hacker news
    • opyate 4y ago
      Perhaps folks aren't putting their hands up, because they're not all full time, and don't necessarily want to join a community on Discord.
      • drusepth 4y ago
        Especially one with such a high time/mental commitment, as there isn't a lot of that left to spare when you're a solo game dev.
  • YesBox 4y ago
    You need money saved (for yourself and for contractors), and publishers wont be interested in you until you are well into development (unless you have previous experience releasing something). So you're on your own until you can catch the attention of a publisher, assuming you want to work with one. I didnt start receiving publishing offers until 13 months after I started development (and notably, when I started adding serious art to the game).
  • gabereiser 4y ago
    You need a savings. Probably 3x what you think you’ll need. You’ll need a solid plan. Not just a “this would be a cool game”. You need to be open about the development (not open source, but posting blogs etc). You also need to work with marketing and publishers to get your game(s) out there. You need to think about support and community from day 1. In the end, the game is its own thing. It better be fun. It better be enjoyable. Otherwise all the above doesn’t matter.
• adanto6840 4y ago
  I started a small "no-name" studio to build games handful of years ago. Built and released two games thus far -- SimAirport & SimCasino. I'd potentially be interested, my email is in profile if you'd like to reach out. :)
  • capableweb 4y ago
    Funny to come across you here! I've played lots of SimAirport since something like 2017 I think, somewhere around the initial version available on Steam. Thanks a lot for providing countless of fun hours managing an airport :)
    • adanto6840 4y ago
      It's incredibly rewarding & gratifying to hear that, thank you! I still firmly believe that making games -- especially under an "old-school" business model (ie no loot-boxes, no microTX, etc) -- has to rank extremely high on the "work gratification" scale. I'm obviously super small -- but it's AWESOME to know >80k people have played SimAirport for >20 hours and ~20k have played >100hrs (!!) -- so damn rewarding!
  • ChicagoBoy11 4y ago
    I just took a peak at SimAirport... just insane. As someone whose coding has amount to little else but a few small webapps here and there, it completely and utterly boggles my mind that a single person would be able to accomplish something like that. I was aware of the RollerCoaster Tycoon person, but I figured that was an abherration. Completely amazing and awe-inspiring. How on Earth do you get going on something like this?!?!
    • rolha-capoeira 4y ago
      Well, 1) we have no idea how long it took to develop SimAirport. I'd be curious to know! And 2) Rollercoaster Tycoon IS an aberration, since it was written in Assembly by one person!
      • 4y ago
• deleted 4y ago
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• gabereiser 4y ago
  Have you looked into IGDA meetups and support? Having plenty of online channels for discussions with other game devs (solo, teams, etc) with Discord and all is great but having face to face time with folks is better. I basically did what you did. Gather a group of like-minded friends that we can riff and talk about our games while we build them. It’s been a while for me though. The recipe is still the same. People, find your people.
• maxilevi 4y ago
  I recently released an open world RPG game I wrote completely from scratch while in high school (I only used OpenGL) to Steam https://store.steampowered.com/app/1009960/Project_Hedra/?l=latam https://store.steampowered.com/app/1009960/Project_Hedra/?l=... And now I am currently working in a few other prototypes and tools. Would be interested in joining
  • jackling 4y ago
    Looks cool, was the terrain procedurally generated?
    • maxilevi 4y ago
      Yes! Actually the entire world is a infinite voxel grid
      • jackling 4y ago
        Very impressive! I'm 3 years in Software Engineering, and can't build simple stuff in OpenGL. Really impressive for someone in HS.
  • DontchaKnowit 4y ago
    That looks incredibly good for a solo high school project. I mean it looks great period, but you must be a pretty special programmer to have made that solo as a high schooler. props!
    • maxilevi 4y ago
      Thanks. To be transparent, I started it in high school but finished recently (started it at 16 and I am 22 now) Personally I wouldn’t recommend anyone rolling their own engine
      • harph 4y ago
        On the contrary, I would recommend everyone to try and make a game engine. Through my teens and university years I tried many types (3D, 2D, visual novel...) and it's an awesome learning experience. Of course, for a real project that you want to actually finish, that's a different story
• deleted 4y ago
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• DvnZook 4y ago
  itch.io has been my go to for both hosting my interactive projects as well as finding good community within game design. Not only is it where you can find game jams to work on side projects, but there's some pretty good forums & dev logs that allow you to find dedicated people. I think it's only coincidental that I'm a game developer & on hacker news. I haven't seen a lot of cross-over until this post. Glad to see it though.
• Fartus 4y ago
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• Marijenburg 4y ago
  Hi, this is really interesting! I'm working on my first commercial release and I can relate to these dev struggles. We're a small team of 3 people, a game designer/artist, a programmer and a sound designer. the game we are making is 2d crafting game about a squirrel helping a baby alien survive on earth. You can check the steam page here : https://store.steampowered.com/app/1897470/Bill/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/1897470/Bill/ Cheers
• 4pkjai 4y ago
  I used to be an indie game developer from 2010 to 2014. I created games using the XNA framework for Xbox360. It was a fun time, most of my games made very little money but a few them were popular. When I switched from game development to app development I got the feeling that game development required 3x the effort to make a $1 when compared to business app development. I guess it's like the difference between being an artist and a graphic designer
  • thsbrown 4y ago
    Full time indie game developer here. I've also done a myriad of other development in the past. I always say the difference between software development (app, website, ect) and game development is that with software you have a predefined problem and your trying to solve it. With game development you are creating the problem and you are trying to solve it. In my opinion software development can arguably be more straightforward as a result because you know that what you are building is meant to relieve some pain point. I love game development but it can be very tricky to sell people on entertainment.
• levmiseri 4y ago
  I have been working on a programming game https://yare.io https://yare.io but kinda burnt out on it. The last 5% of polish/onboarding/marketing is so hard to get through. Would happily join the group to hopefully rise my spirit a bit!
• syngrog66 4y ago
  I've made about 30 games over the last few decades, and did it FT solo indie for a few years. as a PT hobby currently I'm building a new interactive sim, with game-like aspects, related to democracy. Goal for UX is a mix of education, persuasion and entertainment.
  • mhitza 4y ago
    That sounds cool. Where do you publish your games? Itch or on your own website?
• SeanAnderson 4y ago
  Hah, this technically applies to me, but I don't feel I am taking my own work seriously enough to reach out even though I'm working on it full time. I've saved this post, though, and will reach out if I get to the point of feeling confident enough to say I'm actually an indie game developer. Here's some info (okay, a lot of info) on what I'm trying to create for anyone curious: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17ACH1XLCn7hkKz2dhuL1c_nxbGOTZdUY6jJPsY_xA6I/edit?usp=sharing https://docs.google.com/document/d/17ACH1XLCn7hkKz2dhuL1c_nx...
• schizo89 4y ago
  I'm doing 10 day jams every 6 months or so.
• onikolas7 4y ago
  I am solo building a 2D game engine. Does it count?
• ronyeh 4y ago
  Anybody here going to GDC? I can meet up next week if you're interested. I'll play test your game and give feedback haha. I'm based out of Palo Alto.
  • ronyeh 4y ago
    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35139687 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35139687 I posted an Ask HN to organize a GDC × HN meetup. Depending on interest level, it could just be a quick meet and greet between sessions, or it could be a bring your own lunch and hang outside Metreon on the grass.
  • DonHopkins 4y ago
    I am, and would like to attend a Hacker News game dev meet-up too! It would be good to have it somewhere near the conference, but where people who haven't registered with the conference can attend.
    • ronyeh 4y ago
      There is a discord server for facilitating meetups at GDC. https://discord.com/invite/mwkNcAR https://discord.com/invite/mwkNcAR I'll also ping you via email.
• fwsgonzo 4y ago
  I see alot of comments here who are wondering if they're good enough to join. At the same time, it looks like this group is very picky about who can join. Perhaps there is another Discord someone could setup where part-time game creators could join. I am making a procedurally generated world simulation game that is a little bit too early in the process to showcase, and definitely not work full-time on, but it still has several tens of thousands of lines of code in it. That's just reality for making a game from zero. I would be interested in talking to other people about game creation.
  • hitpointdrew 4y ago
    I would love to join a community like this, as I am a part-time hobby game dev. Unfortunately, Discord is a bit of a deal breaker for me, especially with their updated TOS. If something was setup on another platform I would be happy to join.
  • tcmart14 4y ago
    Same here. I dabble a little bit in the evenings, but it is not my full time job. Would love to get into a good group of people in similar situations where perhaps it is more of a hobby/learning experience. Since after all, my biggest reason to dabble in the idea of game dev is to improve myself as a developer. Game development seems to be on of the few things you can do where you can truly touch most to all areas of computer science. I would say game dev and operating systems. AI, ML, graphics, optimization, data structures, algorithms, fundamentals of software design, etc... It seems like there isn't an area in CompSci that can not run into with game development.
  • Silverback_VII 4y ago
    >At the same time, it looks like this group is very picky about who can join. He is using a psychological trick to make people feel insecure and inadequate, and thus create an imbalance of power within the group. However, his requirements may backfire because being a full-time solo game developer may only be possible if you have someone supporting you, or if you live in your mom’s basement or on social security. It excludes people who are serious about their endeavors but still have to pay the bills.
  • 4y ago
• dimgl 4y ago
  I was a building an action RPG for six months. I made a ton of progress. Then I just gave up due to life situations and I haven't picked it up since. I'm itching to get back on it, but not being an artist is really hurting my game development journey. I need a partner for the art, or I just won't be able to make the game at all. It's unfortunate.
  • drusepth 4y ago
    I put out a small card game demo a while back using Midjourney assets for most of my art. The tech has wildly improved since then (this was ~v2 and we're about to see v5, Stable Diffusion is out now and actually good, and many companies are starting up specifically to provide AI assets to game developers), so I would imagine you could get pretty far without an artist now. At the very least, you can definitely produce a good-looking demo with enough reference material to hand off to an artist before a final release. Feel free to hit me up via email (profile) if you aren't familiar with the tech; if you're on Discord or something I'm usually around to give some tips & pointers when indie devs have questions. :)
  • Madmallard 4y ago
    you could probably get your main systems made so that designers can go on top of them with free assets / stable diffusion then get an artist after you have all that
    • dimgl 4y ago
      I was using free and paid assets to make the game. I think part of it is that the game I was making just wasn't very fun. For my next game I'm focusing on making the game fun first before worrying about the assets. I may continue on the action RPG, but idk. So much of making a game is the actual graphics, and even some features in games are graphical features, so I'm unsure where to go from here.
      • Madmallard 4y ago
        The assets that make the aesthetic yeah probably a majority of the work unless your game is very mechanics heavy
• YesBox 4y ago
  I forgot to add the specific time (oops). We meet at 8:30 PM EST every Tuesday, and the meeting typically ends 2 to 2.5 hours later.
• atum47 4y ago
  > Must be serious about finishing/releasing your game. What are you talking about. Of course I'm gonna finish HoboHero [1]. Anyday now... 1 - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3pnEx5_eGm-LpaFqWNN0OItIlUxKlO5u https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3pnEx5_eGm-LpaFqWNN0...
• luxuryballs 4y ago
  Oh yeah I remember we met on video, you said how the people not chosen would be sent a link to a discord for “everyone else”, then after an email saying you went with someone else you never sent the link to the discord and then ghosted us. I made a mental note to remember that this guy was a liar who only said/did things for his own benefit.
  • helloplanets 4y ago
    Let me get this straight based on the other posts in this thread. You suggested the idea of the other person sending out invites to another server, and he said that he's already on it? And after he did not come up with the invite, he's a liar because he said he was already working on your suggestion but didn't go through with it? Or am I getting this wrong?
  • YesBox 4y ago
    I dont know who you are, but what actually happened was I decided to double the server size and accept way more people than I originally planned (which I am not going to do this time). That gave me a lot of work to do so I'm sorry if I forgot to keep you posted.
    • luxuryballs 4y ago
      you immediately blocked on discord after sending the rejection message making it impossible to even say “thank you, good luck” in response, so there was no feasible way to reply or stay in contact or even follow your game, and I remember thinking he’s going to regret treating people this way later on when it comes time to build a community around his game… lesson learned now I hope?
      • YesBox 4y ago
        I just checked my discord and I dont have anyone blocked. I close/leave conversations so I dont clutter my inbox, so maybe discord internally severs the connection? (That would be really good to know moving forward). (edit: I also dont recall "immediately" closing any chats, but I may have?) Anyways, sorry you feel that I wronged you, it really was not my intention. I received over 30 responses last time and it's a lot of work to interview everyone, then video interview them. It looks like you are running a discord yourself and managed to build your own community, which is great. Maybe you have an idea how much work this is, and perhaps you are better at handling this type of work than I am :)
• deleted 4y ago
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• es7 4y ago
  Fifteen months is major commitment. Good for you! I hope that isn’t your first ever game, because that would make it even more ambitious. I don’t think I could do that. I’ve built a number of mobile games, but the longest I worked on before releasing was four months and that was hard enough. I’ve always found it much easier motivationally and financially to launch early and iterate based on player feedback, but maybe the economics are very different with free-to-play mobile games. I stopped doing it full time after a while and eventually went back to work. Game dev could support a family but not as well as a tech job, at least for me with my not-that-huge games. Besides, for me I love that my game income is beer money/vacation money/new car money and not mortgage/health insurance/grocery money
• bilsbie 4y ago
  I’d love to have a group like this but for learning AI. Is it only possible for people in tech cities?
  • entelechy0 4y ago
    [dead]
• EamonnMR 4y ago
  I've gotta say, I've seen your game before. You're very good at marketing.
• shaunrob 4y ago
  Hey game devs, check out Legends of Learning! We've built a game based learning platform for k12 education. Units of curriculum are delivered through games built by indie studios all over the world. We provide the curriculum and materials and you build educational games for our platform. You get paid a revenue share based on the percent of playtime your game earns. Teachers and students review the games and their favorites rise to the top. Our game devs have a community on discord for ideas, tips, mentorship and all other aspects of game design and dev. If you're interested, here is more info: https://www.legendsoflearning.com/get-started-game-developer-legends-learning/ https://www.legendsoflearning.com/get-started-game-developer... or email me: shaun [at] legendsoflearning [dot] com
• willemlaurentz 4y ago
  I created Snake '97, the retro phone game remake that has gained some traction on Android and iOS (50M downloads): snake97.com On how it got where it is, including a fun back story, I wrote a blog post: https://willem.com/blog/2018-02-21_updating-snake-97/ https://willem.com/blog/2018-02-21_updating-snake-97/ It must be said: developing a game and have it enjoyed by millions is something very special. Things really went bananas when I was invited to an art gallery showcasing art inspired by my very game: https://willem.com/blog/2022-04-18_snake-97-high-scores/ https://willem.com/blog/2022-04-18_snake-97-high-scores/ It makes me feel humble and grateful.
  • senko 4y ago
    Wow, 50M downloads is huge, congrats! Are you able to get meaningful income from it? (Google Play store mentioned it contains ads tho I haven't seen any)
    • willemlaurentz 4y ago
      The game sparsely shows ads - just enough to keep things running. I personally hate (over)monetised apps, and therefore made sure the Snake app doesn't bombard the player with ads. Part of the game's (organic) growth is (kindly + infrequently) asking players to share their high scores with their friends. It saves me from having to advertise the game to reach new players. (If a player shares his or her highscore, ads are even less frequently shown, as an hidden reward)
  • ACV001 4y ago
    That's a great story mate! Great achievement.
• robertlagrant 4y ago
  > 9001 and It Usually Ends In Nuclear War I thought this was a game about ISO certifications for a minute.
• hello_moto 4y ago
  Is there a good resources for a non-game-dev person to learn about game-dev? Preferably a more guided approach (starts with A, then B, then C) I'm interested to make my own game (2D, RPG, simple games, not touching 3D) just for fun.
  • ted_bunny 4y ago
    SOSCSRPG.com is a fun little beginner tutorial IMO
• felipemnoa 4y ago
  Hello! Working full time on game right now. Been working three years on this game now. The game is a machine building game. Hoping to finish within a year. https://www.reddit.com/r/indiegames/comments/zolsc4/dominoes_simulation_in_my_machine_simulation_game/ https://www.reddit.com/r/indiegames/comments/zolsc4/dominoes... In retrospect, I probably should not have tried to build a full game engine, which is why it has taken me so long. Oh well... Live and learn. C'est la vie.
• xeonax 4y ago
  I'm developing a racing game as a hobby. But I generally don't discuss my game with other developers since they are not the target audience for my game. I prefer to talk with players and get 360° feedback. I don't get the benefit of sharing the game to fellow developers.
  • hitpointdrew 4y ago
    This kind of makes me sad. I feel like this is a terrible trend that is/has basically ruined gaming. The way I see it, making a game is art. I want to make games to express my ideas, and my feelings, and I want to do the best I can to convey those feelings and ideas in my games. The moment you start seeking player feedback for your game you are no longer making art, you making a product. I suppose that is all well and good if your goal is only to make money (although I highly suspect that this often has unintended and sometimes opposite affect). Seeking player feedback is like Michelangelo asking random people on the street how he should have carved the statute of David. This is my art, this isn't a collaboration, I don't have any desire at all to sink, time, effort, and talent into someone else's ideas, especially when they aren't willing to sink any time or effort to do it themselves, they just want to sit back and call the shots without having any skin in the game at all. This seems like a loose/loose situation to me, the game often ends being worse in the end, and the artist becomes a cog/slave to the masses (who often don't have the foggiest clue of what they really want, or what makes a good game, because they aren't putting real time and thought into how the mechanics will interact, what is technically easy or hard, they just trow out "It would better if it did x, y,z").
    • xeonax 4y ago
      Maybe you are right. I'm not an artistic kind of person. I'm more of the technical implementor kind. My goal with the current game, is to learn stuff and implement all the systems that go into making it great. And then finally publish it. I'm currently on track to achieving all my goals. I have certain ideas w.r.t. to the game that I won't deviate from. But I don't know everything. I'm not even a pro player at my own game. This is where the player feedback comes into the picture. I'm not trying to make my game from a very unique idea. But it's a mish mash of ideas I got from other games. I take feedback to know that I'm not doing something offensive/player denigrating accidentally. I got few good ideas from my players which I included. Many ideas I have straight away denied to be included, because it didn't fit into my vision for the game/or I lacked the skills/efforts to give it justice. I'm making a game, to scratch my itch of building something. Something that makes me happy, when people play the game and really like it. People keep coming back to give it a try. Sometimes even after weeks. Its nice to hear their feedback. It's nice to discover that people have been talking about your game in your absence, where you are not the first one to introduce the game. I don't get actual users appreciation/feedback at my day job. No one says there they liked the attention to detail that was given there. This is why I'm making the game.