What it takes to make a game by yourself • Hacker News Board

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#131

Post by moviewise » Sat, Sep 17, 2022, 1:14 PM UTC

Good luck to all indie game developers!

If you need a break, seeing this documentary about it will be worth your time: Indie Game: The Movie (2012) https://moviewise.wordpress.com/2012/12/28/indie-game-the-mo...

And, if you need some encouragement or diversion about the joy and reward of learning and how it get help you achieve "flow" and happiness from your work, please read: Some Advice On Happiness From A Few Good Movies https://moviewise.substack.com/p/going-through-an-existentia...

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#132

Post by Nemrod67 » Sat, Sep 17, 2022, 1:20 PM UTC

checkyoursudo wrote: post #124

Have any of you made a game, not just by yourself but only for yourself? I haven't (other than some basic terminal-based games when learning new languages, etc), but I've thought of a few that I know I would like but don't want to put in the time/effort to make them something that someone else would like. I also wonder about what to do when you have an idea that you know is way bigger than yourself, but you're not in…

Yup, three times over...

I just released the third version on Steam EA, doing a stealth release for my own sanity. (https://store.steampowered.com/app/914930/Alcyon_Infinity/)

Payed for the graphical assets 10 years ago, made a soundtrack and most of a game, then got a reality check and moved out to contract work for a year on a polished turd game under a crazy Youtuber (Fuzecat).

Came back, worked on a second version and composed a soundtrack again. A month before we would have had a nice version to show to publishers got ghosted by the artist, got a reality check and went to contract work for a medium studio in Paris, worked on 2 pretty good games (WRC8, TT:2) that were good only through the sweat and tears of people on the ground. Returned home afterwards, half the people I knew there changed job.

Came back right for Covid years, worked freelance debugging and adding features (Neurodeck), then started again on my project...

Why?

Because sometimes there are things you have to do I guess :p I took only what worked from previous iterations, and cut as much things as I could.

The end product isn't what I started with anymore, but at least I got to the point that I could make it "Real", it has an options menu, and you can remap all inputs and there's and "End" and so forth.

I made at least 5 different prototypes within those 3 iterations of the same 2D Space Pew-Pew game: - open world scriptable missions and universe - fully scriptable universe for a Star Wars mod - Survival action - Pokemon Style - Roguelike - Bullet Hell (current one)

Only one has everything that makes it a full contained and shareable experience that I can play if I want 10 years from now :p

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#133

Post by Nemrod67 » Sat, Sep 17, 2022, 1:24 PM UTC

Aperocky wrote: post #37

dieselgate wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The most difficult part about software engineering and IRL engineering is the feeling of “everything’s broken always” and just constantly needing to fix or tweak things. I understand that’s the job description basically but nice to hear it articulated by someone else

This is why TDD exist, it doesn't necessarily improve the product or delivery speed, but it keeps you sane while the project is half baked. I've found incorporating tests on my personal projects allow me to pick it up after even a year or two, but if I don't have tests, they inevitably become so jumbled that they cannot be salvaged once the initial effort is over.

tests mostly work for technical code, it would be harder to pick up gameplay stuff.

Though that's why open betas exist I suppose, but for most studios that want to keep things under wraps, paying a lot of testers is extremely costly (and thus buggy releases).

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#134

Post by Nemrod67 » Sat, Sep 17, 2022, 1:32 PM UTC

DaveSapien wrote: post #118

I'm also a solo game dev with a recently released game. All this is really spot on with my experience. It just not clear if the author hired an artist or he just recommends it...its quite common for Game dev's to claim they made a game by themselves but actually contracted out the music, art, animation, etc. Somewhat of a bug bearer with me as there are some genuine solo dev's creating great work that get overshadowe…

You got a wishlist from me sir, your game looks perfect for my GF when she wants to relax after a hard day's work.

Just released my own game in EA, I'd say our saint patron Gabe Newell kinda failed us with the way discoverability works in Steam.

There is clutter problem that hides a lot of gems, and they have full coffers to solve it...

But eh... maybe it wasn't all about expanding the Human consciousness and Art and all :p

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#135

Post by hombre_fatal » Sat, Sep 17, 2022, 1:37 PM UTC

piinecone wrote: post #105

I love reading these kinds of posts. Whenever I’m reminded that I’m not alone, I get a little bit more self-compassion and that makes me more excited to release my game and helps me appreciate all the progress and hard work to date. I’ve been working on King of Kalimpong [0] on and off since playtesting a one-week prototype of it in 2014. I had no idea how much work a networked physics vehicle/movement shooter game w…

That looks really polished/professional. Nice work.

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#136

Post by somehnacct3757 » Sat, Sep 17, 2022, 1:49 PM UTC

gnrlst wrote: post #82

njsubedi wrote: post #54

I started making games right after I joined my university. Those were simple flash-like games with simple gameplay and basic UI/UX. Fast forward 10 years; I started a game studio and we’re a team of 50+ but still making really simple games for mobile. Not that we didn’t try making “huge” games but constantly creating new games and publishing them and seeing them succeed is what it takes to keep making games. As an in…

You're optimizing for revenue/chance of success, not for the creation itself, which most world-class indie games are optimizing for (e.g. stardew valley, dwarf fortress, celeste, hollow knight, etc). Also, building a million simple mobile games will not magically compound into making you a great complex/deep game builder. Not trying to say your strategy is wrong, I just don't agree with your strategy if someone's goa…

All the indie devs you mentioned had moonshot successes that catapulted their studio. They shouldn't be modeled by anyone making a fresh go at the games industry. Save yourself the time and buy a lotto ticket.

Having a tight release loop is a good strategy. You will find mechanics that work over time and iterate on them, finding more and more reliable success. Eventually one will hit. You don't even have to avoid looking like shovelware. The mobile game audience doesn't care about that, it's more of a capital G Gamer gatekeeper thing.

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#137

Post by alok-g » Sat, Sep 17, 2022, 2:11 PM UTC

unnouinceput wrote: post #130

checkyoursudo wrote: post #124

Have any of you made a game, not just by yourself but only for yourself? I haven't (other than some basic terminal-based games when learning new languages, etc), but I've thought of a few that I know I would like but don't want to put in the time/effort to make them something that someone else would like. I also wonder about what to do when you have an idea that you know is way bigger than yourself, but you're not in…

When I started learning programming 25+ years ago, I started a tetris clone. I was learning Pascal (Borland's TP 7 anyone?) as well as creating the game. Took me 2 months and was a smash hit among my colleagues at Uni. Next I did 5-in-row (Tic-Tac-Toe's more interesting big brother), which was another smash hit among the same colleagues. They were preferring playing those games instead of listening to the undergrad w…

Similar story for me. :-)

Noting down some of the differences below.

Game: Pacman

32 years ago (12-13 years of age)

Programmed in Sinclair BASIC on ZX Spectrum+

Took two weekends as I recall

Played only by me and a friend

Lost the source code: There was no non-volatile memory on the computer so I used to note down the programs manually in a notebook, which I've lost.

Similarity:

"Good times." :-)

PS: The 34 years old computer still works, though 90% of the keyboard keys have stopped working. I'll need to replace internal keyboard membrane and also get adapters to hook it to a monitor.

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#138

Post by q-big » Sat, Sep 17, 2022, 2:39 PM UTC

dieselgate wrote: post #34

pengaru wrote: post #22

Perseverance and conditioning yourself to be comfortable with (or even excited/inspired by) long periods of unfinished-ness are core competencies in practically every demanding project I've embarked upon - not just software, literally anything that can't be started and finished over a weekend. A WIP is often largely indistinguishable from a complete and utter broken disaster. When the project necessarily takes a long…

The most difficult part about software engineering and IRL engineering is the feeling of “everything’s broken always” and just constantly needing to fix or tweak things. I understand that’s the job description basically but nice to hear it articulated by someone else

> The most difficult part about software engineering and IRL engineering is the feeling of “everything’s broken always” and just constantly needing to fix or tweak things.

Who says that this feeling is not entirely correct and most of software development is insanely broken, i.e. software development as of today actually mostly means working around these insane problems such that not already a monkey that was conditioned using electrical shocks realizes how broken everything is.

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#139

Post by DaveSapien » Sat, Sep 17, 2022, 2:41 PM UTC

Nemrod67 wrote: post #134

DaveSapien wrote: post #118

I'm also a solo game dev with a recently released game. All this is really spot on with my experience. It just not clear if the author hired an artist or he just recommends it...its quite common for Game dev's to claim they made a game by themselves but actually contracted out the music, art, animation, etc. Somewhat of a bug bearer with me as there are some genuine solo dev's creating great work that get overshadowe…

You got a wishlist from me sir, your game looks perfect for my GF when she wants to relax after a hard day's work. Just released my own game in EA, I'd say our saint patron Gabe Newell kinda failed us with the way discoverability works in Steam. There is clutter problem that hides a lot of gems, and they have full coffers to solve it... But eh... maybe it wasn't all about expanding the Human consciousness and Art and…

Thank you! Likewise!

I'm not too bothered about Steam's discoverability, its at least honest(ish) about it. The more reviews and sales you get the more its pushed...as far as I can tell.

I've found discoverability/promotion to be the most difficult, esoteric in the indie game enthusiast spaces. That really surprised me.

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#140

Post by zulban » Sat, Sep 17, 2022, 3:17 PM UTC

checkyoursudo wrote: post #124

Have any of you made a game, not just by yourself but only for yourself? I haven't (other than some basic terminal-based games when learning new languages, etc), but I've thought of a few that I know I would like but don't want to put in the time/effort to make them something that someone else would like. I also wonder about what to do when you have an idea that you know is way bigger than yourself, but you're not in…

I made www.chesscraft.ca for myself, mostly to survive my brutal commute to work pre pandemic. Today I still prioritize features I'll enjoy most, even tho I have 250k installs now.

The game will also never have ads, even tho lots of people tell me I'm missing out. Then again, those people haven't or can't build fun games.