The true cost of solo indie game development for me is the time spent exploring the game design space to find what works, and more often than not, find which features or system that don't work. Thanks for watching and don't forget to give the new Hexagod demo a try: store.steampowered.com/app/3059390/Hexagod/
I love how devs say "just map out your game" bc for me it is not a linear process. Just as soon as I figure something out, I find a better idea. I don't know what this thing is yet. Development is how I learn and know. I think the variable you control is how good you get at coding. Knowing what to write and where, and doing that as fast as you can. The ideation takes effort, but the code to execute your idea can get faster and better, and you develop a sixth sense for what you should try to make it work. I've always said I think game dev is hard bc you are learning engine, code, game dev itself, and also who you are and how you think stuffed into a living breathing entity that isn't so cut and dried. It is at least a triple threat.
True, this is a fact of all art really. Tho more experienced devs won't have to do some of that like learning coding and design skills. But the point of "map it out" is to keep you focused, minimize scope creep, and help you actually finish a game. If you're always adding, expanding, and changing, most people will struggle to finish and publish their game. That's the value of mapping and planning.
Starting a game is easy. Staying with it until it's done is HARD. My main tip for helping with this is (btw I'm still practicing this :D)... When you don't feel like working on the game, and have had probably 3 days off in a row because of procrastination, then JUST LOAD THE DAMN PROJECT. Play around in it. Most of the time, you'll end up working on little bits, and before you know it, you've done a couple of hours of work!
After 2 years in development my early demo is almost ready..... Fortunately I don't have big expenses and live in a cheap country so as long as we can sustain it lets keep the grind going! Nothing make me happier than making games.
Just played the demo, feels pretty good, nice job! Two minor visual suggestions: 1) make the stretchy selection arrow semi-transparent, it can currently cover a lot of details including obscuring the timer on the current tile. 2) Add some more detail/uniqueness to the villager icon, I know you have a minimalist look, but this is maybe too simple. Maybe play with lineweight as well as it may look better with a thicker lineweight closer to tiles vs. resource lineweight. Multiple selectable villager types would be fun too, eventually 😉
LOL, "If you have any tips below on how to save time and stuff like that ... I guess I don't really care because I'm gonna just keep exploring this space!" Low Key Comedy Gold, my man! Stay indie! This is the way!
I'd say it takes so long because creating a game involves so many different media: art, writing, music, sound design, coding, ludic design, etc. Sure, the writing is (depending on the game) on the level of a collection of short poems or novellas, but that still takes time. I went into my current game (after publishing a much simpler one) knowing it will take 3-4 years of fulltime work, significantly more as a side project. As for how to speed things up: the only tips I can give are "fail fast" and "sacrifice irrelevant media." If you want to try out a new ludic design element, don't bother expending too much effort on the art, writing, music, etc. for it. Use placeholder graphics and sound effects, or borrow from royalty-free sources until you've determined that you want to keep this ludic element. This is obviously much harder to do if you've already published the game somewhere (as you have with Hexagod), but you can still branch your project.
I know exactly how you feel!! Thanks for putting these thoughts into words, it’s very powerful to hear that others are going through the same thing ❤ best of luck with your journey!
"If you have tips to save time... I guess I don't really care." lol well said. In all seriousness though, you're spot on with your comments on iterating and experimenting. All part of the process.
Lol, thanks for watching until the end, but yeah one of the reason I love Solo Dev is figuring out my best working process and I think for me I simply need to explore and spend time testing stuff. Cheers!
If I mapped out my game completely before I started, I'd never get started. Although, since I've only ever finished one game in my life, maybe I need to do more mapping :)
For paper prototyping use Figjam that way you can play as the game rules, and have a second person as in the player move things around and do stuff with you correcting them in a call. You can also prototype for single player or multiplayer if you do it that way. This is only good for early development for creating lots of games ideas fast. Works best for turnbased or system based games. Not so well for physics based games.
I've wondered and thought about why it takes so long to make games *NOW* -- the Id guys would make a game (2d platformer) in two months and stagger them so they could release a game every month, until they switched gears to a spent a couple years each on Wolfenstein 3D and Doom. A couple years seems to have beem typical of the 90s, 3-5 (with bigger teams in the 00s, and 5-10 with huge teams now, 3-5 years for most indies. It seems as the barrier to entry has gone done the amount of work has gone up. It seems player (and developer) expectation have gone up, and you need to make more to stand out.
You're developing twice as slow as most people, because you're editing/uploading these videos along with making a game. How long does it take to make these videos? A few hours to a day? This isn't inherently good or bad, but people should keep it in mind. Doing these kinds of dev logs while developing a game, is NOT normal. Yet a lot of people are starting to copy this behavior because they see it everywhere, its becoming the new norm, but you're simply slowing yourself down.
This video took about an hour. I do minimal editing (ideal just do one take) and my thumbnail is fairly simple so I have a quick pipeline for taking the picture then lightly editing it. There is some admin stuff to uploading to YT, but I have gotten fairly quick at if over the years. In the past, I have for sure have done 8+ hour editing before, but I think I found a way to share my journey while also making sure it doesn't steal too much time/effort from game dev.
My question is, why does it take a professional studio (indie or otherwise), 5+ years to make a game? I've wondered if it was the art, engineering, or R&D. Or is it that they only work part time? I'd imagine a game dev office working a minimum of 60 hours a week. How much do they have to reinvent the wheel? I can imagine working in art, that detailing would take quite a long time. But 5 to 10 years? It's baffling.
we talked about Jonas Tyroller's local maxima and prototyping, but maybe full time indie's need to budget how much exploration can be done versus how much polish, otherwise things will never get done. At some point I may be a local maxima but it works, and I'm going to move forward and maybe i'll hit the better maxima of that element for the sequel or an update
How much of a game design do you personally plan out/imagine before ever starting a project? It sounds like youre comfortable playing around until something sticks. It sounds so freeing, bc I tend to over-indulge to the point where GDDs are practically Ikea instructions.
I normally have an idea in my head that I let it sit for a few weeks, months or even years. Then as I start prototyping the full scope comes slightly more into view and I learn what the hard stuff will be, but most importantly in that phase I figure out: 1) if the game idea will be fun or not/will people buy it, 2) if I can make the game, 3) if I want to make the game. From there I typically move into a demo phase with an idea of the core, but then there is a lot of experimenting and losing track of what the core is. So long story short, I would say I lean more into the vibes of the idea instead of planning it all out.
Thank you for watching the video right when it comes out. This really does help show YT that my core audience (people like you), want to see the video, which helps push it to more people. Cheers!
Would it have been better if you had more prior experience making game jams and longer projects while working a full time job before taking the leap towards being a solo dev with no job
The true cost of solo indie game development for me is the time spent exploring the game design space to find what works, and more often than not, find which features or system that don't work. Thanks for watching and don't forget to give the new Hexagod demo a try: store.steampowered.com/app/3059390/Hexagod/
I love how devs say "just map out your game" bc for me it is not a linear process. Just as soon as I figure something out, I find a better idea. I don't know what this thing is yet. Development is how I learn and know. I think the variable you control is how good you get at coding. Knowing what to write and where, and doing that as fast as you can. The ideation takes effort, but the code to execute your idea can get faster and better, and you develop a sixth sense for what you should try to make it work. I've always said I think game dev is hard bc you are learning engine, code, game dev itself, and also who you are and how you think stuffed into a living breathing entity that isn't so cut and dried. It is at least a triple threat.
So true! For me it feels like I am trying to figure out what my game wants to be. Good luck out there!
Not to mention all of the art and design aspects of a game outside of being able to code.
True, this is a fact of all art really. Tho more experienced devs won't have to do some of that like learning coding and design skills.
But the point of "map it out" is to keep you focused, minimize scope creep, and help you actually finish a game. If you're always adding, expanding, and changing, most people will struggle to finish and publish their game.
That's the value of mapping and planning.
Starting a game is easy. Staying with it until it's done is HARD.
My main tip for helping with this is (btw I'm still practicing this :D)...
When you don't feel like working on the game, and have had probably 3 days off in a row because of procrastination, then JUST LOAD THE DAMN PROJECT. Play around in it. Most of the time, you'll end up working on little bits, and before you know it, you've done a couple of hours of work!
After 2 years in development my early demo is almost ready..... Fortunately I don't have big expenses and live in a cheap country so as long as we can sustain it lets keep the grind going! Nothing make me happier than making games.
Just played the demo, feels pretty good, nice job! Two minor visual suggestions: 1) make the stretchy selection arrow semi-transparent, it can currently cover a lot of details including obscuring the timer on the current tile. 2) Add some more detail/uniqueness to the villager icon, I know you have a minimalist look, but this is maybe too simple. Maybe play with lineweight as well as it may look better with a thicker lineweight closer to tiles vs. resource lineweight. Multiple selectable villager types would be fun too, eventually 😉
LOL, "If you have any tips below on how to save time and stuff like that ... I guess I don't really care because I'm gonna just keep exploring this space!" Low Key Comedy Gold, my man! Stay indie! This is the way!
he he ;)
I'd say it takes so long because creating a game involves so many different media: art, writing, music, sound design, coding, ludic design, etc. Sure, the writing is (depending on the game) on the level of a collection of short poems or novellas, but that still takes time. I went into my current game (after publishing a much simpler one) knowing it will take 3-4 years of fulltime work, significantly more as a side project.
As for how to speed things up: the only tips I can give are "fail fast" and "sacrifice irrelevant media." If you want to try out a new ludic design element, don't bother expending too much effort on the art, writing, music, etc. for it. Use placeholder graphics and sound effects, or borrow from royalty-free sources until you've determined that you want to keep this ludic element. This is obviously much harder to do if you've already published the game somewhere (as you have with Hexagod), but you can still branch your project.
I know exactly how you feel!! Thanks for putting these thoughts into words, it’s very powerful to hear that others are going through the same thing ❤ best of luck with your journey!
I'm currently in the process of trying some paper prototyping myself and I'm still not sure how I feel about it but good to get your take!
"If you have tips to save time... I guess I don't really care." lol well said. In all seriousness though, you're spot on with your comments on iterating and experimenting. All part of the process.
Lol, thanks for watching until the end, but yeah one of the reason I love Solo Dev is figuring out my best working process and I think for me I simply need to explore and spend time testing stuff. Cheers!
If I mapped out my game completely before I started, I'd never get started. Although, since I've only ever finished one game in my life, maybe I need to do more mapping :)
So true, that would be like doing waterfall development.
I'm just glad to be at the fun part. Just added an infinite upgrade tree
Thanks for the video ;)
Thanks for watching :)
For paper prototyping use Figjam that way you can play as the game rules, and have a second person as in the player move things around and do stuff with you correcting them in a call. You can also prototype for single player or multiplayer if you do it that way. This is only good for early development for creating lots of games ideas fast. Works best for turnbased or system based games. Not so well for physics based games.
I've wondered and thought about why it takes so long to make games *NOW* -- the Id guys would make a game (2d platformer) in two months and stagger them so they could release a game every month, until they switched gears to a spent a couple years each on Wolfenstein 3D and Doom. A couple years seems to have beem typical of the 90s, 3-5 (with bigger teams in the 00s, and 5-10 with huge teams now, 3-5 years for most indies. It seems as the barrier to entry has gone done the amount of work has gone up. It seems player (and developer) expectation have gone up, and you need to make more to stand out.
"The game will be released when it's done" - attributed to Blizzard Entertainment, John Carmack and Jonathan Blow.
Man I am taking forever, mostly because I'm not full time. That would be a game changer but it's tough to justify. Rooting for you though!
You're developing twice as slow as most people, because you're editing/uploading these videos along with making a game. How long does it take to make these videos? A few hours to a day? This isn't inherently good or bad, but people should keep it in mind. Doing these kinds of dev logs while developing a game, is NOT normal. Yet a lot of people are starting to copy this behavior because they see it everywhere, its becoming the new norm, but you're simply slowing yourself down.
This video took about an hour. I do minimal editing (ideal just do one take) and my thumbnail is fairly simple so I have a quick pipeline for taking the picture then lightly editing it. There is some admin stuff to uploading to YT, but I have gotten fairly quick at if over the years. In the past, I have for sure have done 8+ hour editing before, but I think I found a way to share my journey while also making sure it doesn't steal too much time/effort from game dev.
My question is, why does it take a professional studio (indie or otherwise), 5+ years to make a game? I've wondered if it was the art, engineering, or R&D. Or is it that they only work part time? I'd imagine a game dev office working a minimum of 60 hours a week. How much do they have to reinvent the wheel? I can imagine working in art, that detailing would take quite a long time. But 5 to 10 years? It's baffling.
8 months is nothing. It took me 5+ years to make my first commercial game doing it full time.
we talked about Jonas Tyroller's local maxima and prototyping, but maybe full time indie's need to budget how much exploration can be done versus how much polish, otherwise things will never get done. At some point I may be a local maxima but it works, and I'm going to move forward and maybe i'll hit the better maxima of that element for the sequel or an update
How much of a game design do you personally plan out/imagine before ever starting a project? It sounds like youre comfortable playing around until something sticks. It sounds so freeing, bc I tend to over-indulge to the point where GDDs are practically Ikea instructions.
I normally have an idea in my head that I let it sit for a few weeks, months or even years. Then as I start prototyping the full scope comes slightly more into view and I learn what the hard stuff will be, but most importantly in that phase I figure out: 1) if the game idea will be fun or not/will people buy it, 2) if I can make the game, 3) if I want to make the game. From there I typically move into a demo phase with an idea of the core, but then there is a lot of experimenting and losing track of what the core is. So long story short, I would say I lean more into the vibes of the idea instead of planning it all out.
@@Aarimous forgetting the core - such a bittersweet thing haha
Yandere dev syndrome
I hate to say this but first
Thank you for watching the video right when it comes out. This really does help show YT that my core audience (people like you), want to see the video, which helps push it to more people. Cheers!
Would it have been better if you had more prior experience making game jams and longer projects while working a full time job before taking the leap towards being a solo dev with no job
1 year to make a game is NOT a long time.
Most great games took between 5 and 10 years to make.