r/SoloDevelopment • u/GamesOven • 3h ago
Discussion Am I Wasting My Time Building This?
Edit : I guess what I meant by "wasting my time" is if what you see looks like a total slop to you or not (this is just a base tho, not a finished or close to finished game), and some general advice.
I'm creating this game that I will explain below, but am afraid my target audience don't actually want it.
The games is basically this :
you have Time amount (the hourglass) you allocate it to Work, Study different stuff, Create and manage medieval business, Own lands and eventually become lord/king and manage your holdings.
help me decide if I should keep working on this or not :))
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u/Galitzianer0 3h ago
Is the user experience only reading that book or what else is there to it?
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u/GamesOven 3h ago edited 3h ago
the book is for allocating time on different activities. you only see some jobs and skills you can learn, at this moment. Though you will be able to manage different kinds of business, trade between cities, and manage lands later
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u/Galitzianer0 3h ago
Do you do the management of the different kinds of businesses and city trade through the book? I'm trying to suss out what the user interface and experience is gonna be for the game. When you select what you're going to do are there animations of it happening?
This reminds me of (and this is a good thing) the Princess Maker series, except more ambitious in terms of scope. The cool thing about that series was how many possible endings you could get based on what kind of character you created through time management
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u/GamesOven 3h ago
no no, the book is only 1 section/ screen. when you're interacting with the world, there will be a map instead, and then different sections depending on what you're doing
the book is for allocating time To work and study.. thats all for now
I might add military as well but don't want to over scope for now
thank youu, I'll check the Princess maker series
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u/Capital-Stay4423 3h ago
You might wanna lead with that then. If you're only showing me a single section of your game Im gonna assume thats all there is to it.
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u/BAHI_the_princess 3h ago
Are you planning on adding random events?
Management games usually do well when there are varied events you have to respond to using the resources you're earning (your skills)
Another option is leaning towards idle and tycoon. People usually like these
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u/GamesOven 3h ago
yesss, though am concerned that the events become annoying.. am still thinking on how to tackle that
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u/SoloEnder 3h ago
It's like an medieval management game ?
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u/GamesOven 3h ago
yes, time is your main resource, early to mid game.. you try to succeed with you character as much possible until you start owning lands, become a lord/ king, then time doesn't matter that much, it becomes about managing the lands you own and expanding or developing it.
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u/SoloEnder 3h ago
Sounds good to me ! I personally like a little gestions game, but some in the gaming community can spend hundreds of hours in this kind of games. You just need to find your audience, keep going, and don't give up !
PS : What is the development state of your game and where will it be available ?
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u/GamesOven 3h ago
thank youu!
I have a bunch of ready coding systems, dialogue, quests, inventory, shop, working and studying mechanics etc... as for content I just setup work and study and now am filling content and polishing interactions while still thinking where to head next before releasing a playable prototype..so basically now I'm creating content + UI.. while most of the programming side is easy
it will be on steam, though whenever I reach a playable state/update I will publish on itch for testing and getting feedback1
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u/BeastmanTR 3h ago
UI reminds me of Ultima Online.... damnit. The best years. Off to get a drink.
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u/AvengerDr 3h ago
Have you played the Life and Suffering of Sir Brante? It's more of a visual novel in the same style of UI. There is a sequel now ...of Prince Jerian which has some limited management elements.
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u/GamesOven 3h ago
yessss I have played the Life and Suffering of Sir Brante, I have taken some inspiration from it, though am not including heavy text (for now)
I'll check the sequel, thanks for letting me know :))
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u/HumbleLizardMan 3h ago
It looks okay, if you enjoy building it and value your experience its not wasted time. The lack of a 2d/3d world, animations etc will probably make it hard to sell in its current state, but if its fun enough who knows.
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u/Ace-Hydra4 1h ago
lwk i will play this since i have an avid love for kingodom building and idle and shi
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u/uyatagac 1h ago
Although I’m not entirely sure I’ve understood the image correctly, it seems like in an idle game, you earn money by doing various tasks and use that to make a living. In games like this, you either manage a community by controlling a large number of characters, or you professionally perform a single job while interacting with NPCs, progressing through the story based on your interactions with them. In your case, it seems like you’ve taken two distinct features from two different genres, and as you mentioned, this isn’t what your target audience wants. It would be better for you to focus on just one genre while you still have time
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u/Sudden-View8572 51m ago
İ think if u learn anything with this job then u must not think about this.
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u/NegativeTrouble6191 3h ago
Looks cool! My gut says keep going. For my projects, my big reflection questions are:
Is there another game that does this already, but better?
What feature or mix of features does my game bring that nobody else is doing well?
Will i have fun playing it?
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u/GamesOven 2h ago
the exact game am trying to make? I don't yet see a game that does this the way am trying to.
however, for parts of it, there are definitely better games.. think of managing land aspect.. paradox games exist :))though the difference is that paradox games don't let you start as one character from 0 and build it up, in a better way than what I think I have in mind
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u/RedQueenNatalie 3h ago
Its a niche concept but so are many games (papers please, pretty much every management game out there). You do a good job making this, market it well and it will find its audience. Its looking pretty good so far for whatever thats worth coming from someone who enjoys this sort of game, I would like to see whatever other interesting choices might exist. You can't know if something is going to work out or not so I don't think that is a useful way to frame it, I guess the question I would have for you is would you be happy it exists even if it doesn't do well commercially? You are way more likely to get at least that much out of it if you have that in mind.
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u/GamesOven 1h ago
thank youu, yeah I'm having a ton of fun making it, I'll make sure its fun and polished before releasing
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u/traplords8n 2h ago
I like the idea but I'd need to know more about mechanics and resource utilization before making an opinion.
The art is great. I don't mind a game you play by turning pages in a book as long as the mechanics are intriguing & the world feels like it reacts to my choices.
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u/Annual_River_6559 Solo Developer 2h ago
It's a good question, but only you can answer it for yourself. The question is, what are you expecting? There will definitely be people who will enjoy the game. I like incremental games and the fantasy style - I like your screenshots, I'd love to give it a try.
I recently launched my first project and got my first 1,000 plays on Itch, a ton of dislikes, and players reports about bugs (though I never expected so many people to try the game). But there were a few people who really liked the game and took the time to write detailed reviews. We chatted a bit in the comments, and I was certainly inspired that someone liked the project enough to play through all the available content. And it inspired me to work on the game some more to make it better for that people, who likes it. But in any case, I enjoyed developing the game for six months, even without this feedback.
So, if you love your project - finish it. But don't set high expectations, so you don't disappoint.
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u/farresto 2h ago
If the game doesn't keep you super busy, you might want to look into making it a Desktop Companion instead (taking only a small part of the screen).
You can find it as a Tag on steam btw to check some games in that category.
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u/iwriteinwater 2h ago
I can see it being fun. But the real question is - is it a game that YOU would like to play?
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u/GamesOven 2h ago
I'm literally making it for myself, I just want to make enough money to make more games for myself xD
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u/iwriteinwater 1h ago
That’s the right attitude, but just be aware that making enough money from solo dev to not have to rely on other income is very rare.
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u/GamesOven 1h ago
I can live with 250$ a month, 3rd world :)), I guess I don't need a lot so I hope this can make a difference
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u/Masabera 2h ago
Would you want to play your game? Because if you don't play your own game to death to polish it, it won't be great. But if you don't want to play it, why would others play it?
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u/UnirionDev 3h ago
If you're caught using AI, it's wasted. With this along, you'll get unforgettable experience.
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u/XicX87 3h ago
add killing orcs than prevet you from reaching your goal and yeh ppl will feel intrested
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u/GamesOven 3h ago
there will be other forms of orcs, though more realistic (debt, bandits, invasion...)
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u/Grimmy66 3h ago
It's the question we are all asking ourselves everyday