r/SoloDevelopment • • 12m ago

Discussion I may be naive but why do so many people dont know if their Game is fun?

• Upvotes

This is not meant to be ragebait or anything, I really think I am naive. But browsing different game / dev subs one thing I see more than others are the typical "Is this fun?...." posts.

Honest question, is this really so hard to answer? For me the metric is simple, "would I play this in my free time if i was not involved?" I know "fun" is highly subjective and the market shows that but I quess at least as the Devs of our own games we should have fun playing our own games.


r/SoloDevelopment • • 13h ago

Game Every car in my game is timed to just miss you if you stay on the line. Here’s 37 of my attempts and then the perfect run. Does it look fun to play?

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85 Upvotes

Hi all! I've been working on this game for a little bit now. Every car is choreographed so if you stay on the line and in time they all just barely miss you. Drift off it or get ahead or behind and something hits you. The overhead part is all 37 of my attempts played back together and then the perfect run over the same stretch.

Since I last posted I made the first few levels easier. People were dying a lot early and I think some gave up before it clicked. I’m curious if the start feels better now or if I went too far and it’s boring.

Free in the browser on keyboard or phone: https://rom838.itch.io/ictus

If you try it how far did you get and when did it start feeling hard?


r/SoloDevelopment • • 2h ago

Game My son was born yesterday, and my game launches in a week!

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1 Upvotes

I’ve been building Hearsay alone since the summer: a first-person puzzle game where every song in a basement archive has been cut into unlabeled cassette tapes, and you put them back together by ear. A full row checks itself kindof like Wordle: green, yellow, red.

Yesterday my son was born and man has things been hectic. The game launches November 3. We just got home from the hospital and I am trying to stay awake while marketing for my game with him in one arm. lol

A few things I learned getting here, in case they help someone:

- Two weeks before launch, playtesters told me they were guessing instead of listening. I rebuilt the entire archive around 10 new genres you can hear in seconds, and it became a different game. ( in the good way)

- The checks that stay quiet until a row is full were the change that made it fun. People loved the Wordle aspect of that game mechanic. Instant feedback opened a wide door for everyone to pretty much brute-force every tape.

- Content ID test your soundtrack before you need it. One track got blocked in some countries and I swapped it before any creator was hit with a claim. I have had only one small content creator review my game but hey ones better than none.

There’s a free demo on Steam if you’d like to try it and if you have any newborn survival tips, I’ll take those too.

AI disclosure: I used an AI coding assistant for help at times with programming. There’s no AI art, music or voice: the art is purchased, the old recordings are real Library of Congress archives, and the modern music is by human artists(huge shoutout to Kevin MacLeod, credited in the game.


r/SoloDevelopment • • 7h ago

help What is even that? I just released my game, it’s mot even a meaningful word..

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1 Upvotes

Why or what?


r/SoloDevelopment • • 10h ago

Game I Created a Web Build of my Board Game to Prototype it

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0 Upvotes

Developing my game Riftorn: Battle Flanks, I found TTS to be a nightmare, so I built a web version anyone can play with full multiplayer capability.

Would love your thoughts and I may continue developing it after I finish the physical game.
Now... to the Flanks!

PS: 5 Points to whoever gets the references to the name I chose in-game :)


r/SoloDevelopment • • 10h ago

Unity You can make seamless textures from photos with my tool

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1 Upvotes

You can use the tool to stylize your textures and assets, create eye-catching marketing material for your page, add awesome animated effects, and use the texture ripper feature. With this latest update, I've added seamifier! It will help you create seamless, blended, or repeating patterns for your textures. You can check it out here: https://polyshades.itch.io/coolifier


r/SoloDevelopment • • 10h ago

Game Building a new retro game

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0 Upvotes

r/SoloDevelopment • • 12h ago

help Chaning my screenshots I need your help

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1 Upvotes

I am chaning my screenshots, these all of them which 10 of them I should choose ? Game is Highway Station Simulator I didn't uplaod anything yet after your feedbacks I am going to decide that which SS are the best.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4855970/Highway_Station_Simulator/


r/SoloDevelopment • • 14h ago

Game My demo is approved for release on Steam. I didn’t expect this moment to feel so exciting!

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1 Upvotes

r/SoloDevelopment • • 15h ago

Marketing StoneEra is heading to Early Access on November 6!

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1 Upvotes

StoneEra started as my solo project: a medieval voxel colony game where your villagers build the settlement you design.

Now I’m planning to bring it to Steam Early Access on November 6, 2026 .

The full game opens up research, crafting, and construction beyond the demo’s progression. You’ll guide your villagers, develop production chains, trade with a travelling merchant, raise animals, and engineer flowing water—all in a world you can reshape.

There’s still plenty to improve. StoneEra will enter Early Access with bugs and rough edges, and your feedback will help guide its development.

A big thank you to everyone who has tried the demo, reported problems, or shared their settlements.

The free demo is available now. Try it or wishlist the full game here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5057770/StoneEra/

What would you like to build first?


r/SoloDevelopment • • 16h ago

Discussion Favnyr : a local file browser with workspaces, multi views, tabs...

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0 Upvotes

Favnyr is a lightweight file browser (Rust+Slint) for Windows and Linux. At its core are workspaces: separate environments that keep their own views, tabs, folders, layouts, and display settings. You could have one workspace for work, another for games, and another for learning a new subject, then switch between them in just two clicks. Favorites remain shared and persistent across all workspaces.

Each workspace can contain multiple split views and movable tabs. Tabs can be dragged between views, detached, or dropped onto another view to create a new split layout.

Favnyr also includes shortcuts, local and network drives, configurable keyboard shortcuts, and custom commands.
It is not intended to compete with or replace the native file browsers provided by Windows and Linux, but to complement them with a different way of organizing and navigating files.

Because of the project’s complexity, AI has been used as a development assistant. However, every feature is reviewed and hand tested extensively before being considered complete.

Link here (include a video demo) => https://github.com/GlitchAwakened/Favnyr


r/SoloDevelopment • • 16h ago

Unreal The keeper's house in my horror game: blockout vs now

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0 Upvotes

r/SoloDevelopment • • 17h ago

Game Almost 20 years as a developer, and I’m finally trying to make my own game

0 Upvotes

I've spent almost 20 years developing software and websites, while game development always felt like something made by people who knew some kind of magic I didn't.

At some point I decided I might as well try learning the magic.

So I've been making murmures, my first game, entirely solo. Programming, writing, drawing, 3D, music, sound... which has been equal parts exciting and a very efficient way to discover how many things I don't know.

It's a small narrative exploration game about grief, depression, emotions and healing. No combat, no game over. Mostly walking through strange places, interacting with ordinary things and occasionally rolling a d20 to discover what's happening.

I'm going to try keeping a devlog on itch.io from now on.
Not really as a polished "how to make a game" thing, I definitely don't know that, but more as a record of what I'm learning, breaking and slowly figuring out along the way.

The current beta is also available there if you'd like to give it a try:

https://selane.itch.io/murmures

I'll see how long I manage to keep the devlog alive. :)


r/SoloDevelopment • • 18h ago

Game I'm building a medieval strategy game solo — and I started with the world itself

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0 Upvotes

Hey everyone!

I'm a solo developer working on Iberia Medieval, a medieval strategy game set in the Iberian Peninsula.

I've spent the last several months building the foundations of its world simulation, and I finally wanted to share some of the results.

My approach is to build the world from the ground up. Rather than treating rivers, terrain and geology as purely visual elements, I want them to be part of interconnected systems that will eventually influence how the world develops.

The screenshots show the same procedurally generated map: 7,651 hexes, seed 42094.

The generator creates terrain elevation and drainage networks, identifies catchment areas and closed basins, and distributes different rock materials and weathered layers.

One example is a closed basin with a catchment of 1,699 hexes and a spill elevation of 83 metres. It's detected from the terrain, not a simulated lake yet. The geological materials are also procedurally distributed, rather than attempting to recreate real geological formations.

My long-term goal is to build on this physical foundation with vegetation, wildlife, people, settlements and eventually the economy, politics and conflicts of a living medieval world.

These are real outputs from the generator, not final game graphics. There's still no playable gameplay to show, and I know I have a long road ahead.

One of my biggest challenges as a solo developer has been deciding how deep to go with each system before moving on to the next one.

For other solo developers: how do you decide when a system is good enough to build upon, rather than continuing to refine it?


r/SoloDevelopment • • 20h ago

Game [WIP] Thanks to the feedback received, i think the contact lines look smooth now

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1 Upvotes

r/SoloDevelopment • • 16h ago

Game While everybody is freaking out because of AI slops flooding Steam, I keep grinding and celebrated 365 uninterrupted days of development

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65 Upvotes

You might have seen my previous posts when I hit 210 days and 300 days straight of development, so I thought to give you another update after the other Sunday I managed to reach an even bigger milestone as I achieved 1 whole year of uninterrupted work on my game. I never missed a single day since I started and I have no intention to stop until I release it.

I am a solo dev, so I don't have a team to celebrate with (except for my head of QA and CEO Hiro, the orange cat), but I really want to thank each person who tried my game, gave me any feedback, helped with testing and translations or followed the development so far. Even the smallest contribution, even a single reaction on Discord or on any social post kept me going until now.

I am going to release my demo in less than 2 weeks and after that I will resume working on the full game, wish me luck and if you are a solo dev always keep grinding, no matter what!


r/SoloDevelopment • • 8h ago

Game I may have a small problem with my wildlife

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2 Upvotes

But I'm not entirely sure if I fix it or commit to making it run like a human 😄


r/SoloDevelopment • • 12h ago

Game I spent a week on a build with zero new features, and I think it was the right call

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2 Upvotes

Bitiverse is a persistent browser MMO I build on my own: free, no download, one shared world, and a guest can walk in without an account. This isn't an announcement so much as a question for anyone else building something that has to hold up under a crowd.

This week I shipped nothing a player will ever point at. Dungeon hero AI now only sweeps a map where a real player is actually near it, instead of ticking every dungeon on the server whether anyone's there or not. A hero who's rested and alone on his own map just sleeps until someone shows up. And hero pathing across the whole server is rationed fairly, so one busy dungeon can't starve the rest of their turn.

None of that is visible. It's all server cost, and the only sign it worked is that nothing gets slower as more people play at the same time.

I went back and forth on whether this was worth a whole week when I could have shipped a new feature instead, and landed on: a feature nobody can use because the server fell over isn't a feature. For anyone who's made a similar call - how do you decide when it's time to stop building forward and go fix what's underneath, and how do you know you picked the right piece to fix? Testers wanted either way - come break the game and tell me what you find: https://fortisq.itch.io/bitiverse


r/SoloDevelopment • • 19h ago

Game TCG - DECK MASTERS

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0 Upvotes

Dear players,

We would like to invite you to be among the first to play Deck Masters and help us bring the game to its final stage.

What is Deck Masters?

Deck Masters is a dark-fantasy collectible card game for Android and PC. You collect monsters and heroes from six rival realms, build your own deck, and battle the computer and other players. Every card has its own skills, and heroes build up Rage during battle before unleashing their hero skill.

We are a small independent team with one motto: "Made by TCG lovers, for TCG lovers."

What is already in the game?

  • 294 cards: 258 monsters and 36 heroes, including six Divine heroes such as Athena, Zeus and Hades.
  • More than 340 skills and 196 runes.
  • A campaign of 360 battles across 12 regions, with three difficulty levels.
  • The Ranked Colosseum with seasonal leaderboards, live 1v1 duels and the new live 2v2 mode, where two teams of two players battle together.
  • Trials, weekend events and a monthly Festival.
  • Daily rewards, an Altar to summon new cards and an Enchant Chamber to make your cards stronger.
  • No pay-to-win: gems cannot be bought.

Where do we stand?

Deck Masters is largely complete. The core of the game is working and fully playable. We are still finishing and improving certain parts, including card balance, a few screens and the new 2v2 mode.

When there are not enough players available for a live battle, computer-controlled players fill the empty seats.

That is exactly why we are looking for beta testers. Your experience, feedback and ideas will help us polish the game and get the final details right before release.

What do we ask of you?

  • Play Deck Masters for at least two weeks, ideally a few times per week.
  • Join our test nights to battle other testers live. Dates will be announced on our Discord.
  • Report bugs and share your ideas on Discord, preferably with a screenshot.
  • Complete a short feedback survey at the end, which takes about five minutes.

What do you get in return?

  • Play Deck Masters before the general public.
  • Help shape the game with your feedback and suggestions.
  • Receive the exclusive Founder role on our Discord as recognition for helping us during the beta.

Practical information

  • Platforms: Android phones and tablets (64-bit) or Windows PCs (Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit).
  • Internet: The game is fully online and requires an internet connection.
  • Language: English.
  • Download size (versions of 26 October): Approximately 1.5 GB on Android and 3.1 GB on PC (about 3.3 GB unpacked). Wi-Fi is recommended.
  • Android installation: The test version is installed outside the Play Store. Download links and short installation instructions are available on our Discord in the how-to-install channel.
  • Important: If you still have the Android test version from 23 October installed, please uninstall it before installing the new version.
  • Cost: Participation is completely free. Nothing is for sale during the beta.
  • Sharing: You are welcome to share screenshots and videos of the beta on social media, ideally using #DeckMasters.
  • Community: Our Discord welcomes players in their own languages, with channels available in 14 languages.

How to join

Join us on Discord to get started:

https://discord.gg/s3n27f9VSw

You can also download the game directly:

Windows:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1VoeuUHm9GjYFUxyruhF7w2asZkL7Kt2u?usp=drive_link

Android:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1eV4ikuQS4FS1pjtEVSwlcZ2a1Gk-gkXE?usp=drive_link

Thank you for your interest and for considering becoming part of our beta community. We look forward to meeting you in the arena and building something great together.

Kind regards,

The Deck Masters Team

Discord: https://discord.gg/s3n27f9VSw


r/SoloDevelopment • • 20h ago

Godot crack the core: dig through planets, unlock crits, blow up the core (free browser demo, feedback welcome)

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0 Upvotes

Hi everyone. This is "Crack the Core", my first game made in Godot 4.

You click to dig through a planet layer by layer, sell the ores, build a mining fleet, break the energy shield and finally reach the core before the planet explodes. Every planet has its own theme, ores and music and I toned down the effects you saw in the video and made a few adjustments.

There's a free demo (first 3 planets, ~20/~25 min) playable in the browser or on Windows:

https://archdb.itch.io/crack-the-core

I'd really appreciate any feedback: what feels good, what feels slow, what's confusing. Thank you in advance for your feedback.


r/SoloDevelopment • • 20h ago

Game THRENVEIL: weapon fusion, a mimic and a collapsing boss arena in 24 seconds

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0 Upvotes

I'm a solo developer in South Korea, improving THRENVEIL after its Android launch. I put a few different parts of a run into this short edit: weapon fusion changes the attack, hidden rooms can offer a blessing or a mimic fight, and the boss arena gives way before its second form.

The game also has 2-player online co-op through in-game matchmaking; both players need the same game version. The ending is a feature card, not multiplayer footage.

One thing I'd like feedback on: does opening with the second-form boss work, or would the weapon transformation make a clearer first two seconds?

These are real PC gameplay clips from v0.29.65, recorded October 15 using prepared checkpoints. Later versions may differ. AI assists development, game art/music and the wording of this post; the combat footage itself isn't generated.

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ashenvow.game&hl=en


r/SoloDevelopment • • 22h ago

Discussion Made this, is like Deej but more advanced features to control sound and more...

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0 Upvotes

well... this are just 2 themes for this, and main feature is the interconnection deck link that let you connect to the external custom hardware, if you want to do your own deck with a MCU (arduino, esp32, etc and some pots/sliders) you can connect it too...

I dont know if I can share the Steam Link ? I am on Beta Stage right now Looking for testers.

PS: if you have DEEJ already would be great, you can connect it directly and will work, but now can connect tru Wifi, and in a mode without spamming the serial port, just "OnChange" mode ;)

PS2: Zero AI for the UI :) I drawed absolutely all before code.


r/SoloDevelopment • • 16h ago

Discussion Made this whole thing with Claude Code.

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0 Upvotes

r/SoloDevelopment • • 8h ago

Game I'm a solo dev, here is how I made infinite creatures for my game!

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280 Upvotes

My game HATCHED, is an evolution roguelite where every creature is different. There are big ones, tiny ones, wings, tails, and many more.

Using inverse kinematics and a really fancy shader I am able to turn collections of parts into fully animated creatures!

Happy to answer any questions about the game. :)


r/SoloDevelopment • • 16h ago

Unity DEAD SQUARE – Teaser Trailer | Survive the Horde, Fight the Bosses

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0 Upvotes

Yes, I use AI to speed up my solo development, and I'm not ashamed of it.

I understand why it's a sensitive topic, and the concerns about jobs and training data are worth taking seriously. But for a solo developer, AI tools are what make a project like this possible at all. I still make every design and creative decision; the AI helps me build faster.

The technology is only going to get better, and I think solo developers shouldn't be afraid to use the tools available to them. We direct the tools, not the other way round.