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Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?

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Re: Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?

#51

Post by es7 »

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

Re: Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?

#54

Post by YesBox »

luxuryballs wrote: post #46

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.

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.

Re: Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?

#55

Post by shaunrob »

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...

or email me: shaun [at] legendsoflearning [dot] com

Re: Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?

#56

Post by quadcore »

qprofyeh wrote: post #2

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.)

what are the basic economics that can make it work?

Ah i was coming here to warn you about that.

Ill brace for downvotes but if i can light a candle for just one person, that would be fantastic.

A big misconception about the economy of games is that they are content - economically-wise. An example of content is music or movies, think spotify or netflix.

This is absolutely not the case. Economically, games work like software: a handful of games are played for years and represents 98% of the playtime / money.

Treat games like a startup: what will make your game still be played 10 years from now?

Dont think "im gonna do one game and then another". Think "ill make one game". You wouldnt think "ill make a startup and then another and then another" even though you could its not really how youd think about this stuff right. Do the same with games.

One game. One startup. One product. Played for years on end. Diverge from that strategy and chances are you wont have a good life as a game developer like millions before you.

That being said, lets say you want to make a "content game", that is, a clone (your 2d platformer with a nice plot and rpg elements). Nothing wrong with that but just understand that on the long run it wont be sustainable economically, even if you take a lucky jump.

Re: Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?

#57

Post by luxuryballs »

YesBox wrote: post #54
luxuryballs wrote: post #46

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.

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.

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?

Re: Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?

#58

Post by DonHopkins »

adanto6840 wrote: post #4

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. :)

Arthur, I enjoyed playing your early version of SimAirport, and I'm glad you finished and released it -- that's excellent work and persistence!

Will Wright always wanted to make a game called "SimTapeworm", however he could never get the green light on that from Maxis or EA.

I hold out hope that some clever indie developer will figure out how to monetize the serious educational parasitic infection simulation genre.

Maybe you could make a plug-in to SimAirport, so parasites and contagious diseases could spread internationally via Vomit Waves like in Theme Hospital and Two Point Hospital and Oxygen Not Included.

https://two-point-hospital.fandom.com/wiki/Big_Kahuna:_How_t...

https://youtu.be/Z7XCXq8j4iA?t=1402

Or how about Toxocariasis Tycoon, where you try to take over the world by controlling your hosts' behavior to widely reproduce and spread out through enough people to swing the election and control the government?

Re: Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?

#59

Post by YesBox »

luxuryballs wrote: post #57
YesBox wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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?

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 :)

Re: Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?

#60

Post by willemlaurentz »

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/

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/

It makes me feel humble and grateful.

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