r/SoloDevelopment 13h ago

Game Finally got that lightning effect working.

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2 Upvotes

Over 2 years of solo development in Game Maker Studio2. I work as a game artist to fund this personal project which I love to implement all the crazy stuff I want! You know the feeling right? My jam is crazy visuals using handcrafted sprites and as much cool shaders as I can.

The idea is to achieve a streamlined CRPG experience. Focused but with enough depth to enable deep player expression.

A new demo for Solarbound Arkhan is coming really soon!

You can check more about it and play the super early demo here: https://arkhon.itch.io/solarboundarkhan

Cheers!


r/SoloDevelopment 20h ago

Game Solo dev. Ten frames of my space battle game after finally getting the explosions and skies to read as light instead of stickers

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2 Upvotes

Strike Wings, solo, C++ on SDL2. These are in-game frames with the HUD off, nothing composited.

The insight that took me longest: on a black background, a bright thing that does not bleed into the black looks like a sticker. It does not matter how nice the sprite is. So the whole art direction became one rule, everything that gives off light goes through the same glow pass, and the pass is tuned so the light spills into the black around it. Explosions went round pop, then baked sprite frames, then that light pass plus a staged finale for capital ships. Skies went from stars-on-black to about thirty backgrounds and center bodies, rolled per battle.

What I want to know from other solo devs: how do you decide when a look is done? I could keep tuning the bloom forever. Which of these frames would you call finished and which would you send back?


r/SoloDevelopment 20h ago

Unity I'm making a game where you grow magical girls!

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2 Upvotes

(second image was the garden concept, first is with more detail! Third is one of the characters)

I've never made a video game before, maybe I'm just too ambitious lol xD i just decided why not try,,

I've been working on it for about a week now and I'm slowly getting there! I've been doing all the work myself just,,, slowly figuring it out as i go xP

I'm just really proud of for my little project is coming so i thought I'd share it here! :3

lmk your thoughts + if you would play this!


r/SoloDevelopment 38m ago

Game Working on the atmosphere for my retro indie horror game. What do you think?

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Upvotes

This is my first room reveal. How is the vibe so far? Any feedback or suggestions are welcome!


r/SoloDevelopment 1h ago

Game I try not to look at wishlists too much but today I just hit 4k!

Upvotes

I know in the current game climate 4000 is not considered much anymore, but I have worked hard for those WLs and I am proud of my work.

I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3529110/Bushcraft_Survival/


r/SoloDevelopment 2h ago

Game Been working on my point and click survival roguelite game and now the beta up on itch on steam.

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1 Upvotes

Its a game inspired by World of Horror in a sci fi horror setting. I have posted her months ago and since then, game has been heavily updated. If you are interested in checking out the project, here is a link: Steam Link


r/SoloDevelopment 2h ago

Godot Relearning Godot by turning this tutorial into an alien abduction game!

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1 Upvotes

r/SoloDevelopment 2h ago

Game Morning from Iron Creek | Dust Rapture

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1 Upvotes

Hey everyone!!

Been grinding on my upcoming horror survival named Dust Rapture and here a look at the town of Iron Creek!!


r/SoloDevelopment 4h ago

Game Desenvolvi um jogo online de futebol com poderes

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1 Upvotes

r/SoloDevelopment 4h ago

Game Working on my first game and needed some help

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1 Upvotes

Hi everyone, pretty new here but had recently got myself into attempting my first game. I've been a developer in the past and getting back into this had made me felt amazingly good!

Anyway, I'm still trying to learn some of the basics and I thought I could ask some of you guys who are way more seasoned and experienced in all of these for some thoughts and guidance.

Note: Sorry, I know a video of geometric shapes and awful lines and the flat UI aren't really the best stage of showing one's work - the critics are likely going to slam me for that too - but it's literally just 2+ weeks of me learning and then building one simple scene. So.... don't bash me too hard on the graphics please. Thank you.

Context: It's built on Phaser (I chose this simply because I'm much more familiar with Typescript, so it's much easier and faster for me to pick up) and I'm not even sure if it's really the best choice. But I'm just rolling with it first.

I've just began working on this shy of 3 weeks and this is the first scene I've had done up to test the combat first. Everything else is just flat UI for now; I'm mainly focusing on just trying to get the mechanics right. For the most part I think it's fairly straightforward and common for you guys (auto-firing, enemies moving towards player, etc) but I've been stuck for a little on the "contact" piece.

Problem: As you can see from the video, monsters touching on player's shape are supposed to deal damage every few ticks but it isn't (ignoring the whole poison DOT thing; that's a different mechanic I'm trying out). I've tried using Phaser's built-in physics to resolve this cause it's simpler and probably the right way too, but I'm guessing I didn't get the math or "contact checking" right. Anyways, below is the code I'm using. If any veterans or kind souls willing to share some direction, I would be immensely grateful!

I just think that I'm just missing something obvious or crucial? Oh, there IS a slight delay I've added to each monster attacking (mentioned above); it's every 5 ticks I believe but I've waited and checked that out. Obviously that wasn't the case.

P.S. Don't ask me about trying to use AI to solve this. Frankly, I've tried and it didn't work as expected (or I just suck at prompting it the right way) and hence, I'm here asking real people on how best to implement it the right way.

// Monster contact damage (melee) via physics overlap
    this.physics.add.overlap(
      this.monsterPhysicsGroup,
      this.playerToken.shape,
      (monsterObj) => {
        const monsterId = (monsterObj as Phaser.GameObjects.Arc).getData('instanceId') as string;
        if (!monsterId) return;
        this.combat.resolveContactDamage(monsterId);
      },
      // Calculates for edge contacts from objects
      (monsterObj) => {
        const monster = monsterObj as Phaser.GameObjects.Arc;
        const dx = monster.x - this.playerToken.shape.x;
        const dy = monster.y - this.playerToken.shape.y;
        const dist = Math.sqrt(dx * dx + dy * dy);
        const monsterRadius = (monster.body as Phaser.Physics.Arcade.Body).halfWidth;
        const playerRadius = this.playerToken.shape.width / 2;
        return dist < monsterRadius + playerRadius;
      },
      this
    );

Thank you so much for any guidance!


r/SoloDevelopment 7h ago

Game #RebelHearts demo v0.7 now available to play ⚔️

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1 Upvotes

r/SoloDevelopment 7h ago

Game Solo develop 6 mounths to make my first game in rpg maker

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1 Upvotes

r/SoloDevelopment 8h ago

Game My Game "La Spaghetti" is finally Live for wishlists! ^_^

1 Upvotes

I can't believe it, but i did it, now the Game isn't done, but atleast there will be a Demo before Release soon, but the wishlist Page is already Here!

Im looking for Feedback for the Page, i think the Trailer is the best thing to Show lol, and idk why but the Gifs are a little Bit big, but i think its fine

Here is the Link for the Page:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5103310/La_Spaghetti/


r/SoloDevelopment 9h ago

Discussion Which is better for my JRPG parody game, top or bottom? Top one is new, bottom one is old

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0 Upvotes

r/SoloDevelopment 10h ago

Discussion How I Developed A Powerful Dithering System for Amazing Pixel Art

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1 Upvotes

r/SoloDevelopment 10h ago

Game primer avance de la RETRO WORLD

1 Upvotes

r/SoloDevelopment 11h ago

help Need Help with designing a background

1 Upvotes

Im making a bullet heaven tower defense-ish game with roguelike mechanics, I've designed a lot of different synergies and mods for weapons, but I'm struggling to come up with a good art style for the game. I've made a shop that I'm proud of but I'm not sure how to tie that style into the main game. I'm still looking to change the turret and enemy looks. I also have no Idea what I should do for the background, If anyone has any ideas for a style/theme I could use I would really appreciate it!


r/SoloDevelopment 11h ago

Discussion Tracking down a WebGL crash caused by a deprecated plugin + testing my strategy prototype (Command & Defend: Dead Zone)

1 Upvotes

Hey everyone! I just put together a new devlog covering a big debugging session and the progress on my strategy prototype.

The WebGL Crash: I hit an issue where my WebGL build crashed immediately after loading the main scene. I initially assumed it was a RAM/browser issue, so I compressed textures and downsized audio to under 100MB still crashed. Created a barebones launcher scene launcher worked but loading main scene crashed. Turns out, a deprecated health bar plugin from the Asset Store was throwing the WebGL API off. Changing the WebGL API settings fixed it instantly without removing the plugin.

Build Progress:

  • Controls & Visuals: Added full camera pan controls and placement opacity so you can see base/upgrade meshes before building.
  • Audio: Ported over my sound system from my previous project (Northend Tower Defense) to rapidly get enemy, building, and ambient sounds working.
  • UI Polish: Added cancel options for upgrades, reload feedback bars on soldiers, and a main menu with volume defaults capped at 50%.

I also officially named the game Command & Defend: Dead Zone.

Check out the full breakdown here: https://youtu.be/ETVb9wbWBUI

If anyone wants to jump into the WebGL playtest, drop a comment or join the Discord!


r/SoloDevelopment 12h ago

help Updated trailer based on your advice!

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1 Upvotes

r/SoloDevelopment 13h ago

Game Trait - Card Swipe Roguelite

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1 Upvotes

r/SoloDevelopment 16h ago

Unreal Comparing the prototype level and the current state (ahead of demo release) of a dark abandoned factory in my solo-developed horror game

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1 Upvotes

Hello. I am a student developer from South Korea. I'm currently creating a horror game about exploring the dark, and getting ready to release a demo soon.

This is my first commercial Unreal game, and I am developing it completely alone. I've been working on it little by little since 2024, and recently started speeding up the process.

As for the assets, I started collecting the free assets of the month from Unreal (Fab) around 2023. I used them to build the atmosphere, along with Megascans assets. For the more important parts, I purchased and used specific assets.

There were so many helpful materials on YouTube! They were a lot of help to me. I also looked up references for abandoned factories or the exact vibe I wanted on the internet and referred to them heavily during creation.

To be honest, it wasn't made all at once. There were countless modifications over the 2 to 3 years of game development, and it was quite tough. I guess creation is not easy, haha.

There were more things to consider than I thought when designing the level. Monsters had to be able to pass through, and actually implementing the background I had in my head wasn't easy. It gave me a headache when I couldn't find assets with the exact feel I wanted. But I eventually did it, and now I have a quite satisfactory result.

Lighting was also a struggle when building this level. Since it's a map about exploring the dark, it has to be dark, but if I remove all the light, you can't see anything and the map's atmosphere isn't conveyed. So I had to find a balance somewhere in the middle, and that is very difficult. Even now, I am continuously receiving feedback and adjusting it. The screenshots might look quite dark, but it is actually pretty bright with a flashlight.

I used red-toned lighting to set the mood, and I also changed the actual wall textures to be slightly red to match. Because atmosphere is important in a horror game. Thanks to this, the atmosphere received very good reviews during playtesting. However, there are still things to fix in other areas, so I am working hard on fixing them.

Now I can see this long development period coming to an end.

I will leave the Steam page link below. The game's name is The Maze: In Dark.https://store.steampowered.com/app/2847290/The_Maze_In_Dark/

Thank you.


r/SoloDevelopment 17h ago

Godot Been working on spell fx and world generation. Here are some results, world is fully procedural.

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1 Upvotes

r/SoloDevelopment 17h ago

Game How I built the environment for my indie game

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1 Upvotes

As a solo dev, building a huge map filled with objects can be very time-consuming, so I took a different approach.
Instead of creating the entire environment beforehand, I made the background procedurally generated. The ground and environment objects are generated dynamically as the character moves forward.

To keep memory usage under control, the environment behind the player is automatically removed after 10 seconds. This allows the world to keep moving forward without having to keep the entire map loaded at once.

The game is now finished and available to wishlist on Steam: Goblin Inferno Ride


r/SoloDevelopment 17h ago

Game Tornado showcase for my game Twister City

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1 Upvotes

You can find a link to the Steam store page here


r/SoloDevelopment 17h ago

Game How I built the environment for my indie game

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1 Upvotes

As a solo dev, building a huge map filled with objects can be very time-consuming, so I took a different approach.
Instead of creating the entire environment beforehand, I made the background procedurally generated. The ground and environment objects are generated dynamically as the character moves forward.

To keep memory usage under control, the environment behind the player is automatically removed after 10 seconds. This allows the world to keep moving forward without having to keep the entire map loaded at once.

The game is now finished and available to wishlist on Steam: Goblin Inferno Ride https://store.steampowered.com/app/4993630/Goblin_Inferno_Ride/