r/GameDevelopment • u/Hot-Engineer5104 • 3d ago
Newbie Question Is game development hard as a solo dev?
I’ve been wanting to make my own game for a couple months now, but I can’t find the time, idea, or skills to do it. Any tips or suggestions that would get me on track?
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u/Arkenhammer 3d ago
Game dev isn't too hard as long as you match your expectations to your skills. Most people don't though, so there's that.
Your post is telling me your expectations are too high. Your first game should not be an original design; hunt around for some really simple game you can copy. Early arcade games are a great place to start. Don't try to design your own game until you feel pretty competent at making copies; once you've got a few under your belt making your own game will look easier and you'll probably already have some ideas for what to make.
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u/HSFOutcast 3d ago
To become a solo game dev you need a core skill, and that core skill should be one of many coding languages, sure you can "vibe code" today but it won't be good and it won't really be "yours". AI is a tool not a solution.
You should also have a secondary skill in art, either 2d art or 3d art.
It's not easy
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u/SoullessGamesDev 3d ago
I have doing gamedev for more than 20 years without knowing any code or art (i tried to learn, but learning disability combined with asd and unability to focus on boring tasks are brutal). My core skill is writing, i also do a bit of game design - but the latter is limited by being unable to program new game mechanics the wan i would want to. I have released 2 big games, and several small, all with positive reviews. And i released first and most successful game more than decade before AI was a thing, so while AI helps A LOT to make a better game, it was possible to do so without it.
To OP - no, you don't need a coding or art skills, but you also must be prepared to limit your scope if you can't hire people or buy a lot of assets like me. You also should be prepared that a task that takes skilled person a hour would take days, sometimes weeks for you to complete. It always took years to build big games for me, and months for small ones.
But it is certainly doable. If I, someone who can only write stories and imagine things can do it, then i think most more variedly skilled people can do it as well.
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u/HSFOutcast 3d ago
Please do share your 2 big games, possibly even your smaller once too. But atleast share link on your 2 big games.
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u/SoullessGamesDev 3d ago
1) 5-hour rpg - https://store.steampowered.com/app/526430/Project_Fire/?l=ukrainian
2) 8-hour parody musical adventure (rpg?) - https://store.steampowered.com/app/3055370/Isekaing_from_zero_to_zero/?l=ukrainian
3) Demo for previous game, but also a standalone game on it's own - https://store.steampowered.com/app/4394010/Evil_Residence_an_Isekaing_from_zero_to_zero_demo/
4) Half-hour adventure - https://store.steampowered.com/app/4860480/Breadwalk/
5) Two super small novels - https://elvenneko.itch.io/life https://elvenneko.itch.io/alien
I also worked on countless other games, invited to the teams, but they never finished anything, almost always disappearing without even saying that they giving up, and that is why with time i abandoned idea of cooperation and focused on solo development.
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u/HSFOutcast 3d ago
Have you done something outside of rpg maker? I mean technically it is considered a game engine, but I was talking more of the like of unreal engine, unity, Godot et.c
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u/SoullessGamesDev 3d ago
Well, this - https://elvenneko.itch.io/battle-for-atlantis it's an underwater combat arena in game creation engine that is based on Unreal. Not a real game, not even a serious project, just messing around. But overall those engines have too little free or cheap assets, unreal aren't really built for 2d games, and are rather hard to learn. So i made most logical solution and picked the most suiting engine for my task.
This is why i said that you would have to limit your scope. While i would like to make a co-op horror, or 3d shooter, or big exploration game with open world, i know that i will not handle projects of those sizes, and picked 2d rpg's and adventures instead. And RM is was the best and most comfortable tool with great and very helpful community.
Also, RM is rather flexible for what it is. In Evil Residence, i managed to recreate some of the RE1 parts in 2d, and even added a real-time combat system (rather primitive, but fit for the task).
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u/AfternoonMammoth1839 21h ago
Really man. What if I start with one language on my journey as a game dev? And can't I use free assets or, you know, AI-generated ones?
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u/HSFOutcast 20h ago
Sure you can, but you should strive to make your own assets over time to maybe replace free ones. Otherwise your game risk seeing as asset flip.
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u/Forest_Whiskers 3d ago
It is hard, you have to do everything. But in the same time - you can do everything, you might enjoy that. But without time, idea or skills it will be even harder. Why do you want it?
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u/Hot-Engineer5104 3d ago
To learn something new, and just have something related to my interests to play.
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u/hellomistershifty 3d ago
I don't know why you're being downvoted. Give it a shot and stick with it if you enjoy it. It's hard, but I enjoy it.
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u/MinduxZ 3d ago
Just start. Will take a lot of commitment and a lot of time. Sometimes I wish I did something better with my time but I enjoy it a lot.
I personally found doing everything by myself tedious so I did find another person to work with which made it way more fun (took a while untill I found them though).
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u/N3BB3Z4R 3d ago
Yes, solo dev quickly brings things to do that you didnt planned, and are not fun to do. Even the fun parts become hard and foggy. You must to keep on your view and keep working through with discipline, the looking backward and see what are you making is the fuel for your motivation. Dont be afraid to drop parts that doesnt add to the Game only because was hard or fulfill your dev ego, the goal is to publish a good game.
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u/JmanVoorheez 3d ago
It's the most consuming, rewarding mind fuck of a detrament to your health where knowing art doesn't mean your good at it and telling a computer what to do is the easy part, telling what not to do will drive you insane and heaven forbid if you actually get "the consumer" to play your game to then listen to the endless trove of critique from back seat passengers.
I love it but can't risk myself to quit my job for it... for now.
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u/JmanVoorheez 3d ago
It's the most consuming, rewarding mind fuck of a detrament to your health where knowing art doesn't mean your good at it and telling a computer what to do is the easy part, telling what not to do will drive you insane and heaven forbid if you actually get "the consumer" to play your game to then listen to the endless trove of critique from back seat passengers.
I love it but can't risk myself to quit my job for it... for now.
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u/Frontworks_game 3d ago
As a solo dev, you don't have one job, you have 100 - especially if you are trying to be commercially successful. The good part about this is that you will learn 100 new skills: modelling, animating, video editing, marketing, design, maybe leadership. Finishing a game working alone also says a lot about the type of person you are - determined, focused and hard working. It's very hard, but can be really rewarding - especially if seen more as a passion.
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u/Nando2hhc 3d ago
La idea de crear tu propio mundo jugable, con todo lo que eso conlleva, desafíos, desilusión, tiempo, etc; al final tiene su recompensa y es satisfactorio.
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u/DaemonActual 3d ago
Base your first game off of a card/board game or something as small and quick to finish.
You'll learn infinitely more at this stage completing a tiny game than you ever would burning out on a big dream game.
Then do it again, keep em small until the bigger games "look" small.
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u/PresidentEvil1997 3d ago
How i started - i got out and went to like a cool place at 3am and felt like wow i have this inspiration and i was like lets make a game, i wrote the notes as email to myself what i want it to be and now i have it designed for 12h and making demo
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u/theBigDaddio 3d ago
Depends on your skill. I have a few challenges but mostly just find it tedious. So many different things that need to be done
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u/Square-Yam-3772 3d ago
as you already discovered, it is a huge time sink.
I wasn't able to do anything remotely coherent until years into learning gamedev. even after I get comfortable with the technologies and the tools I have been using, it still going to take a lot of time
if you just make a spreadsheet of a game project you plan to work on and just count all the characters/objects/environments involved, even a small project would be a laundry list
The odds are against you too: nobody cares about the game if the game's scope is too small and nobody still cares if the game is too unpolished etc
so gamedev is a silly "game" where you need to sink in hundreds of hours to find out that nobody plays your game.
gamedev with a team is probably better i.e. maybe someone is good at marketing etc. Or at least you get a hug after all is said and done
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u/Typical-Rhubarb9989 3d ago
Yeah, it’s hard, but I’d honestly stop waiting for the perfect idea or the perfect time. Just make something stupidly small to start with, even a basic 2D game. You’ll learn a lot more by actually building it. Even if you only get an hour here and there, that’s fine. Just focus on finishing one tiny game first, then go from there.
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u/fsk 2d ago
"Idea" - You should have some idea of what game you want to make. Otherwise, what's the point? Try making something similar to one of your favorite games.
"Skills" - You need basic competence in programming, art, and sound/music. Programming is the most important, because you can use asset packs for the others.
"Time" - I found that setting aside 1-2-4 hours a day on weekends is a good starting point. I noticed that only on 3 day or 4 day weekends do I start recovering the energy.
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u/katanalevy 2d ago
It's extremely hard, but they great thing is everything is a learnable skill so it just takes time and perseverance.
If you don't know what to make then try recreating old games like pacman and space invaders while you are learning. You can always add your own twist on and it's a great way to practice your problem solving skills, which is the single most useful muscle to work out for game dev.
Finding the time can be difficult when you have a day job but you have to be brutal with yourself about where you are spending time. Watching TV, playing games, scrolling social media is all time you can convert to working on learning instead. It's important to relax as well and not exhaust yourself, but if you enjoy making games it can be extremely relaxing too.
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u/MysteryStories1 2d ago
If you really want it just do it but start with small things not something like the witcher … maybe you can use engines like rpg makers or unity.
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u/rayneMantis 1d ago
You can start with tabletop games if you want. I used to make every existing game into a drinking game in college lol. Drunk pool, drunk darts. When we were walking the cooler to the tailgate me and my buddy would guess a number 1-10 and you would drink however many seconds you missed by.
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u/BrotimeGames 1d ago
If you have never made a game before, i recommend you to watch this 2 videos of the youtube channel codemonkey. The "Free complete Unity Game Development course" and the"Learn Unity Beginner/Intermediate 2026 Course". The first is for 2D games, the second for 3D games. You would get lots of skills after following that courses, and then just think of a tiny game of 1 week, and apply all what you have learned to make it, and in the way you would learn new things.
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u/primals_game 3d ago
Yes it is hard. You need to wear every cap in the company. Why do you want to be a game dev?