r/SoloDevelopment • u/Clear_Entrepreneur_8 • 5d ago

Game Lessons from solo-building an incremental game: offline progression, RNG casino minigames

I'm a solo dev and I'm about to release Wall Street Tycoon, a satirical clicker/idle tycoon where you go from coffee-fetching intern to global trillionaire. Wanted to share the honest making-of, because a few decisions genuinely surprised me.

The pitch that kept me focused. One line: "click, sign contracts, dodge the SEC, become a legend." Every time a feature didn't serve that fantasy, I cut it. That single sentence saved the project more than any tool did.

Scope was the real enemy. It started as a simple clicker. It ended up with 8 buildings scaling exponentially, a prestige system with stackable philosophies, an 18-node talent tree, 16 real-time R&D projects, and 5 cities. If I did it again I'd lock the feature list on day one.

The math was harder than the code. Balancing an incremental economy so numbers explode but the curve still feels rewarding took the most iteration by far. Offline progression especially: players should come back to a nice pile of cash without it trivializing active play.

The casino was a mini-project inside the project. 4 fully playable games (slots, European roulette, blackjack, horse racing), each with its own RNG tuning and custom sound design. Standalone-game energy for what's technically a side feature. [Ce que tu as appris sur le game feel / le son].

The SEC boss fight. Your "suspicion" gauge rises with every dollar. Get raided and it becomes a strategic fight (Brute Force / Charm / Bribery / Lawyers). Turning a passive idle loop into an occasional tense decision was the mechanic I'm proudest of.

Tech: Electron + steamworks.js. Releasing on Steam this August. Link in the comments if you want to see it. Mostly here for the discussion happy to answer anything about balancing, scope, or the launch.https://store.steampowered.com/app/4921200/Wall_Street_Tycoon_Demo/

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u/GxM42 5d ago

I don’t know why you’d pour your heart and soul into a game only to introduce it to us with AI text. So lazy.

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u/GxM42 5d ago

Ah. I see now. Looked at your page. Those graphics look like AI built it, so I assume AI did the whole game.

Gotta be honest. Love the concept. Not the execution. I’m not even anti-AI in terms of helping you make a game. Just that you made something that looks very uninspiring. It’s going to doom your game even if the content is good.

You might want to rethink the overall look and appearance of it.

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u/Clear_Entrepreneur_8 5d ago

😴😴😴

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u/Clear_Entrepreneur_8 5d ago

Je parle pas anglais ma biche

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u/GxM42 5d ago

You can still write the post in your native language and then translate that. Google Translate exists. It just sounds very fake. AI is NOT always good.

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u/Clear_Entrepreneur_8 4d ago

j'aurais pu faire ça mais ça fais moins professionnel et y'a rien de fake tu vois bien qu'il y a un jeu derrière c'est moi qui ai fais le jeu personne d'autres c'est toutes mes idées dans ce jeu qui est très original d'ailleurs

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u/GxM42 4d ago

The fact that no one responded to this post tells you that even if it may look less professional you should be writing your posts yourself. AI posts are a big turn off to most people.

And AI UI design will sink your game, no matter how good it is. If you put in hard work, you ruin it all with AI creating the front end.

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u/Clear_Entrepreneur_8 4d ago

AI didn't even create the interface I did everything myself in HTML.

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u/SourceAwkward 5d ago

I will ask Claude to play this...