I have like 60% of a game ready, but it's in the fridge while I finish some other projects. I intend to release it on a game console but I don't have the time to work on it right now. As many people here have said, I work a full time job as well. I would like to join, but I don't now if I'll have the time for the meetings.
Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?
41–50 of 94 posts
Re: Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
> While the game is my goal, i focus on the platform because i feel solo devs have a ton of overhead. I figure if i can optimize my the creative aspects of my work i will have better long term success. I've been researching solo game dev for decades now, and that definitely mirrors my conclusions so far. Just keep the end goal in mind and don't reinvent the wheel, unless you desire a career in wheel engineering. Whil…
This is pretty much exactly why I (as a complete hobbyist) ended up with Godot. I spent two years writing things from scratch in various languages and lots of time Yak-shaving. The experience itself was worth something, but I don't really have a lot to show for it. I don't love godot - but it's far beyond anything I'll be able to accomplish on my own as a hobbyist. I find art to be the most limiting factor at this po…
Have you tried Upwork/Fiverr/Behance/Dribbble? In my experience you can get decent art for quite cheap.
Re: Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?
#43I own Planimeter. We publish Planimeter Game Engine 2D, which was previously called Grid Engine 9.[1] I spend a lot of time thinking about how independent developers can better spend their time. A lot of developers get caught up in design documents, or thinking about how they want to make a game, but not seriously understanding how many hours a week you need to commit to a project and over how many years. As a rule o…
Links on your README to getting started and docs are 404
Re: Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?
#44Hey I've been developing a game by myself for the past 7 months. Would love to be a part of your community to share ideas and contribute. Thanks!
Shoot me an email (in profile)
Re: Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?
#45[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?
#46I might be interested, but this group sounds too "serious" for me. Ie i'm serious, but i have a full time job, and i'm obsessive so i'm yakshaving the foundations of my projects. I'm less concerned with the final game, and more concerned with building a platform that helps me efficiently create. While the game is my goal, i focus on the platform because i feel solo devs have a ton of overhead. I figure if i can optim…
I agree with this mentality. I have always believed dev journeys are what excite me - not dev destinations.
I don’t think I’m in a small minority despite the vast amounts of literature (on HN) mostly that is about the destination alone.
Re: Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?
#47I think this is related to one:
Technical overview of Kandria, a game and game engine developed in Common Lisp - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32043026 - July 2022 (32 comments)
Re: Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?
#48Half-OT: Anyone got pointers to game engines for solo devs? Something to get 2D multiplayer games out of the door quickly.
Let's set up some expectations first. Games almost never "get out of the door quickly", with very few exceptions. That goes multiple for multiplayer games. What you might be able to produce quickly is prototypes . "A moving rectangle which shoots circles" - kind of thing. That is a super power, don't underestimate it. LÖVE is a nice game engine, I used it a lot in the past, mostly for personal stuff. And released som…
LÖVE is great - but are there any good engines / libraries built on-top of LÖVE that make it easier to create certain 2D games?
I.E.
A top-down tile-based extension? Ideally just an integration with some existing 2D tile map editor.
Or an isometric extension?
Or a side-scrolling extension with gravity and parallax and a tile map, etc?
When I tried LÖVE years ago, it seemed like there was a little bit of engine-building before you could really start making a game. Like figuring out how to do the rendering and tiling and jumping between scenes/rooms, etc
Re: Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
> While the game is my goal, i focus on the platform because i feel solo devs have a ton of overhead. I figure if i can optimize my the creative aspects of my work i will have better long term success. I've been researching solo game dev for decades now, and that definitely mirrors my conclusions so far. Just keep the end goal in mind and don't reinvent the wheel, unless you desire a career in wheel engineering. Whil…
This is pretty much exactly why I (as a complete hobbyist) ended up with Godot. I spent two years writing things from scratch in various languages and lots of time Yak-shaving. The experience itself was worth something, but I don't really have a lot to show for it. I don't love godot - but it's far beyond anything I'll be able to accomplish on my own as a hobbyist. I find art to be the most limiting factor at this po…
For context, i don't suspect Godot has too much of what i'm focusing on built in. Versioning of my assets, build pipelines for asset source to optimize it or generate variations of it (2D images, renders, etc), generate configuration of available assets for use in game, etc.
Though i am purposefully using Rust, so even if Godot did it's a bit more awkward. There are Rust libs for Godot, though i'm not entirely sold on the libs quite yet.
My basic thought process is never do anything more than once for the creative work. If i can't find a way to keep overhead obscenely low then long term i will drown in one-offs.
I think the same way with game code. A heavy emphasis on testing, integration testing, etc. I don't have the time to Q&A for all possible regressions, so i have to ensure i do everything i can to make the engine very testable.
Minimizing repeat work is my goal with everything. Also insanely stable builds, i suppose. Ie i don't want a change in an asset to break historic builds or source. My source is tied to the assets at that time. etcetc
edit: And to be clear, i'm not writing a game engine myself. I'm using Bevy atm.
Re: Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Let's set up some expectations first. Games almost never "get out of the door quickly", with very few exceptions. That goes multiple for multiplayer games. What you might be able to produce quickly is prototypes . "A moving rectangle which shoots circles" - kind of thing. That is a super power, don't underestimate it. LÖVE is a nice game engine, I used it a lot in the past, mostly for personal stuff. And released som…
LÖVE is great - but are there any good engines / libraries built on-top of LÖVE that make it easier to create certain 2D games? I.E. A top-down tile-based extension? Ideally just an integration with some existing 2D tile map editor. Or an isometric extension? Or a side-scrolling extension with gravity and parallax and a tile map, etc? When I tried LÖVE years ago, it seemed like there was a little bit of engine-buildi…
You may find some examples in the forum and wiki, but they are community-(un)maintained. There's no guarantees that everything will work and be up-to-date with the most recent versions of the engine (I have not maintained mine, for once). A lot of people are attracted by the minimalism and the DIY approach, but I understand that's not for everyone.
If you are looking for a more "batteries included" approach, then probably Unity (with its plugins on the Asset store) would probably be a better fit.