Game design, artist, coding, marketing...all covered by one person. Have you guys ever try it? I have. Well, it is definitely pain in ass to cover all the process. As an indie developer, you might make a good schedule, and then you realized that you have to execute it yourself. How do you feel... There would be a lot of work for a game from zero to release.
I did it with my first iOS game ShootStorm. It is a lot of work, but very satisfying to do once. For my next game I have got a musician onboard, and am starting to look for a publisher. It makes sense to work with someone who knows what they are doing in the areas where I am weakest.
I did it once and now I'm doing it again (Lander Hero). It is a satisfying feeling to complete a game, but too much work really. I wish I had a gfx artist and a sound designer on board
I've done so before and am probably likely to do it all over again soon! Aerox was produced entirely by me. I wrote the engine, did all gameplay coding, modelled and textured all 3d assets, wrote the music, produced sound effects and handled all the marketing stuff... Wow, I feel a little tired just remembering it all actually! Producing a game yourself is probably only best suited to control-freaks (like myself!) who hate relinquishing any inch of control! Having multiple skillsets likely comes in quite handy too... It can be a lot of work too of course, but the feeling of single-handedly bringing your idea to life and sharing it with others can often be a massive motivation!
I never realised that Aerox was made by one guy or that it was British. It's an awesome game so great work on that! Up till this point I've always worked as part of a small team (3-5 people) but I've just embarked on my first solo iPhone project. I think working on your own is interesting because it's a completely different dynamic to working as part of a team. I personally feel like I've accomplished a lot more each week because I encourage myself to work on my app in the evenings as well as in the daytime. I guess I'd say working on your own is more fulfilling and rewarding but obviously a lot more challenging .
I quite like the single approach. Which ever way you do things it take a lot of effort, determination, coordination and organization to achieve your goals. One thing people haven't mentioned yet is that developing game by one's self means that all the profits come to you and it's like the old saying goes, you only get out of something what you put it. Never has this been more true. I find , like the rest of the people on here that I'm more energized by the whole process and will work deep into the night when I get in the "coding zone" and on a role where everything just clicks. At the end of the day you'll always find the solution that best fits YOU and move from teams to single to teams. As long as you maintain the passion and desire for what you do, it's all good!
Thanks! Yep, British too... thankfully not all of us are out rioting in the street... I can certainly echo the self-motivating aspect of working evening/nights too. As a long-suffering insomniac, I have to admit a slightly smug satisfaction in knowing I'm getting a bit more work done while other developers are probably sleeping
Wish i could do it myself sometimes, but i don't posses the necessary art skills, so I stick to mainly coding. It's also good at times to outsource as you can accomplish multiple tasks simultaneously
I'm very interested what other indie developers (especially one man studios) are doing. I just have to test Aerox!
Aerox was great! You've done a great job! Generally speaking, a work list of a game development is just like this: Prototype phrase: - Game dev doc - Some simple materials, such as graphics, 3d models, sounds, etc - Implement a simple demo Alpha phrase: - More art assets required - Detail game logics and data structs - Implement the basic game UI. Design and coding. - Implement a playable game, with several scenes/levels Beta phrase: - Game Menu UI - More game contents added. Such as tons of levels, more enemies, more arts of effects, backgrounds, props, etc. - Background musics - Score system - Integrated with GameCenter - Add IAP or IAD if needed Production phrase: - Icons, screen shots, videos - Game descriptions, slogans, posts for popularize - Test & debug - Upload to Appstore - Marketing. Popularize your app, send promotion codes, write posts, etc. Actually the cost of marketing is hart to estimate. - Further upgrade. Well, how much time did you guys spent to work through all the process? Finally your game went out, featured by Apple, stand in Top 200 if luckily, even then your game might be replace by another very soon. What I wanna talk about is, today the quality baseline of Appstore was growing too high, that requires much more work. The indie developers might be more and more difficult to afford this. We might have to change the strategies. After our new game Robot Bros published. (Actually I didn't dev it by myself. I've outsourced most parts of the 3D art. ) I just feel powerless when I'm facing to the newer task lists. That why I wrote this post. If I've misstated anything, please don't be hesitate to point me out.
For me the difficulty is in getting the balance right between creating a polished game and putting all of my eggs in one basket. As a solo developer you could quite easily spend over a year developing one game. It will be polished however if the fundamental mechanics aren't right then it's probably not going to be successful and it will have been a waste of a year aside from experience learned. Equally no matter how good your ideas are you're probably not going to churn out the next "Angry Birds" in the space of two weeks. So I guess what I'm saying is as a solo developer time management is particularly important, it's easy to get caught up in what you are doing and to forget that chances are it's not going to make you hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Hi there. I am also a 1 man team (British too by the by ). I can't do music, but the rest has all been on my own shoulders. I love programming, and I don't mind doing art. I even can tolerate making simple sound effects. It's the marketing I cannot stand and cannot do. I think I will never get the hang of it. I guess it takes a certain kind of person. So, if I am ever to make any money at all, I will need to get a publisher or something. Having said that, I am currently revelling in the creative freedom, even if I still don't have two pence to rub together.
How do you guys manage it all and also pay the bills? Is there enough money in it to quit your day job? It seems like you would need to spend a while just working on the game in your spare time whilst also working elsewhere in order to survive
I am just finishing my third game and it is way better than the others. I learnt heaps from the first two but I think the biggest hurdle with developing by yourself is no feedback/sounding board. You have heap and heaps of ideas and things to do but when you have to do everything you park lots and get on with the core. This time I used (for the first time) beta testers and it was a real eye opener. I got a couple of great guys (from TA) to beta test and it was fantastic. They had some great ideas and I got a much better idea of what to do and what not to do. So my lesson from this game is "Beta Testers"! Never going to do another app/game without them!
Surviving is the #1 priority in any business, iOS development is no exception but it is possible to get by with very little, unlike say taxi driving where you have to maintain a vehicle and pay extortionate rent and insurance. It's still a struggle with no money coming in, but £59/$99 per yer is a lot easier to find than the "few grand" that taxi insurance costs. And computers don't break down as much as cars, well mine doesn't! My first project I did have 1 co-worker to bounce ideas off, but this time I'm one-man-band all the way and it's much trickier without someone saying "can't wait for that lighting..." etc. Which really helps with getting features implemented instead of imagined for too long into the project. Instead you must push yourself consistently to get everyone's job done. Beta testers will be seeked from me with my next game, but alpha testing is where it's at and that for me is a lonely experience but I do have total control which does help in other ways when it comes to technical limits. Saying that, I did try the lens app which is mentioned in another thread (I think!), the lens which asks you to imagine what your game would be like without any limitations, does have me visualising something 'impossible' again...which I like to work towards!
publishing advice hi there,I worked as the markting direct in a mobile game publisher company. I would love to talk about how to stand out from all the apps and explore new markets with u guys.thx. [email protected]
Thank you for you guys posting your ideas here. In my opinion, the key is finding out your strong point. Accelerate by the effects of accumulation. As a coder, we'd be happy to reuse the source code written at previous projects. As an artist, you might have accumulate your art libraries. I have no idea that are the members in the bigger studios feeling more easy? Because they only need to cover a little piece of work.
The thing I like about doing all the coding/design/sound yourself is that when you are losing motivation or need a break in one area you can jump to another.
My personal experience so far suggests that if going one-man-band you should go for simpler experiences. Trying to cover too much by one person is usually not cost-effective. Make sure you allow yourself to focus on the pluses of being a lone wolf: - Attention to detail - Love - Personality Otherwise you can never match the bigger studios. The best example for the three points above is Tiny Wings. I am currently working on a title for toddlers (currently codenamed 'Burning Things' and hoping the simple gameplay can leave me with enough headspace for the rest.
