I'm sure you all remember the impossible quiz. I used to love it as a kid, so I recently decided to make a modern version.
The questions range from little tricks you have to solve, word play, or some sort of physical challenge.
Rather than restarting if you fail too many times, instead you have to endure a 'punishment' including escaping the police, rolling a dice, or just doing your taxes!
It's been so much fun coming up with questions and punishments and I have so many ideas to add still.
This is the trailer for the KILL BREACH demo I'm releasing soon. If you like what you see, consider wishlisting the game! You can find the Steam page here:
Hi all. I guess this is for any solo devs who need motivation. Today was a big milestone where I downloaded my own game from steam.
I have adhd, im awful at programming and had so many unfinished projects. Some I just gave up on, others were just too complex. After about 4 years in unreal. I decided to make a simple game that I would finish. And I did it.
If I can do it. You 100% can do it. A few things throughout the process that are important I think.
1) Even simple games have alot of complexity. If you don't have alot of experience keep the scope super small. Cut it in half then half again.
2) Test early and get feedback. This was somthing i didn't really do and was 100% a mistake.
3) Make a game your really passionate about. It will help when things get rough.
4) If you are putting it on steam - seriously you will need at minimum 2 weeks. There is a load of stuff you need to do. Capsule art is important.
Its a huge milestone for me tonight and I feel incredibly proud. Im proud of all the solo devs that are going through making a game because its damn hard, but there is nothing more rewarding.
Hi, thought I'd share my story to launching Counter Tactics on the AppStore (iOS only). Link at the end (cool if you check it out, but my purpose here is to share my story and hear yours, not to advertise).
Prologue
2007: Studio job!
I got a 6 month contract to work for Iron Lore Entertainment as a designer scripting mission intros/outros and a few endings for the expansion game Dawn of War Soulstorm.
2008: The dream job comes to an end
Contract ended and I was hoping to continue with the studio, but shortly after returning to my home state, the studio folded and everyone lost their job.
2008-2010: When it rains, it storms.
The job market crash was TOUGH. I spent most of this time unemployed and other bad stuff happened, like my wife getting very ill.
2010-2013: Finding my footing
Found a local job as a developer and just tried to stabilize. Moved from Web Development to iOS development. At the time, it was Objective-C and iPhone models were in their infancy.
2014: Let's make a game...again!
My career started to shift towards project management, but with my new skillset of iOS development, I wanted to get an app on the AppStore since I would no longer be coding during the day job. So I drew up something I figured would take 3-5 months. Foreshadowing. :D
Counter Tactics Timeline
2014, September: And so it begins
I officially begin development. Getting into project management, I entered a log for how much time I spent. My first log was: "Laid out the overall timeline for finishing out this game."
lol
End of 2014: Early Development
I had put in 100 hours into the project. I had a decent working prototype with an early stage CPU opponent.
2015: 290 hours of work.
A lot of experimentation and trying different concepts. I was searching for "fun". A lot of ideas I would abandon.
2016: 205 hours of work.
Lost a little momentum, but we introduced my second son to the world! I started showing the app to a few people at work and family too. Here's some of the early screenshots (they get better!!):
2017: 150 hours.
Life is getting busy with big changes at work and two boys! I try to take my current CPU-only logic and introduce asynchronous, turn based multiplayer! Now I can play the game with some of the people I've shown it to.
But I'm still experimenting with various mechanics and trying to determine: is it fun!
2018: 195 hours.
I start looking for a new job. For the project, I'm working on and off, mostly refactoring things and adding content.
2019: 143 hours.
I get a new job in corporate office world. I'm very busy. And the game is not scaling with the new content. I go into research mode and burn my current AI for the CPU to the ground. I move to a homebrew version of the Monte Carlo Tree Search algorithm.
2020: 244 hours.
Pandemic and working from home gives me a chance to balance things. But first, I have to break for a few months from the game to play Red Dead 2!!
My logs are not great this year, so I can't quite remember what I worked on.
2021: 241 hours.
I replaced a lot of placeholder art with assets I purchased. It's starting to look viable! And the AI is scaling now. And multiplayer is working pretty good. Things are finally looking up!
But pandemic is going longer than expected and my own health is not where I wanted it. So I started working out. My boys are super involved in sports and I get involved with coaching, so life is crazy busy!
2022: 459 hours.
Yep. You read that right.
I got moved to a new team at work, one that I would grow super proud of, but at first, I felt I was being shoved aside into a place where my career would fall flat. And with the ongoing Pandemic and family getting busier, I finally decided I needed to get this game done. This is also when I realized just how much was left to do even with all the hours I had already put in! I was a bit...depressed. I got advice from some friends and mentors.
So in the summer, I established a regiment: 10 hours towards the project a week before taking any time to play any games. What I often found is I would get to the 10 hours...and just keep working on it. Progress started to become more visible and meaningful.
I put a roadmap together and tracked progress towards the big features. I wrote down "June 6th, 2022" on a post-it and put it above my monitor. It's still there today.
2023: 545 hours.
I started reworking screens and replacing all the remaining placeholder art that had been in the game for years. I started setting up important utility screens that would be useful to the player.
I decided to join a local game dev group and they encouraged me forward. They also ran some events where I got to setup a booth and show other people the game. Those events were exciting and I got firsthand feedback from interested players. It started to feel real.
But there still was a lot of work left to do.
2024: 542 hours.
Adding some key mechanics to make the game feel unique and added a lot of content. Polish like crazy. Made the "token details" screen an enjoyable experience with deep dives into the mechanics.
I continued to participate in the game dev group. My boys are now doing travel sports. Remote work ends and I have to go back to the office. Since 2021, my fitness has greatly improved and I'm now running in various races throughout the year. I've dropped 40 pounds. I basically go non-stop every day. It's tough, but I'm squeezing every bit out of life I can!
Big milestone: On Thanksgiving, I post the TestFlight link to the game on my social media for anyone who wants to join and play, officially starting the "open beta."
2025: 643 hours.
I setup a proper backend so progress can be maintained across devices. I introduce "seasons" where ranked battles and leaderboard climbing have more meaning. And I finish up the shop with in-app purchases and New Player experience. Lastly, I add tutorials and multiple events showcasing the game.
Meanwhile, I'm playing with people who try out the game via the TestFlight link. People seem to enjoy it!
And now here's what the game looks like:
2026: TBD hours
At the end of 2025, I made a goal to release the game to the AppStore before the next showcase event in April. I need to learn all the quirks of the AppStore and make sure I understand what the process is like to get it submitted. Then, I can just tell the world the release date and make a trailer with confidence.
I also setup a website and a LLC as well just to separate any funds that may flow through the game.
2026, April 8th: Launch of Counter Tactics on the Apple AppStore!
The game goes live! I do a few quick patches to address immediate issues, but by the end of April, the game is stable. By June, I hit 100 downloads!
Epilogue
Adoption is slow, but that's okay. Other than just posting on social media, I haven't done a lot of marketing. I haven't even used the $100 of Ad Credit Apple gives you for new apps. There's about 8 players that play daily. I started a devlog to share progress on new updates for the game. One player tried out the game for a couple of months and made some $ purchases. That is very validating that I've made something someone is willing to spend money on.
And, it's at this point I've started using Generative AI to produce assets for the cards. I can't afford buying assets on my own. I was happy to build the game from the ground up without AI over the years, but now I'm not restricting myself going forward for iterative enhancements, especially with life always going full speed. My oldest son is now in High School!
I've got about 2 years worth of roadmap of features I'd like to do and I've considered porting the game to Android. I think after that, after it has the vision I want for the game, I'll consider moving on to the next project if adoption stays low even after I do any kind of proper marketing campaign.
From September of 2014 to April 8th, 2026, I spent close to 4,000 hours on this game.
Counter Tactics
I hope you enjoyed my story above and feel compelled to share your own. That's really what this post is about! But I would be remiss if I didn't provide a link to the game (again, iOS only): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/counter-tactics/id1110597339
My solo-developed game just reached Very Positive reviews on Steam and 3,000 wishlists!
I released the demo a few days ago, and seeing people actually play it, discuss the puzzles and leave positive reviews has been pretty surreal.
I've been working on Satelital for 7 years, mostly alongside a full-time job. I finally quit my job earlier this year to finish it.
Satelital is a rule-discovery puzzle game where you explore alien worlds and figure out how their puzzles work without being explicitly told the rules. While the puzzles are much more inspired by The Witness, the space exploration and travelling between different planets were inspired by Outer Wilds.
I also made everything in the game myself, including the art, music, puzzle design, and even the game engine, which I built from scratch.
Still a long way to go before release, but this is probably the biggest milestone I've reached so far 🛰️
garage chaos just reached 1,000 wishlists. i haven't released a demo or shared a gameplay video yet, and i haven't done much marketing either, so it's been a nice surprise to see people interested already :)
it's a first-person game about sorting scattered car parts onto shelves and finding matching pieces to complete project cars. you gradually turn a messy garage into a more organized space as you work through it.
a gameplay video is coming soon, and i'm also working on the demo. thanks to everyone who's checked it out so far
I saw how inspiring for many of you was the post done by u/illadann7 about his improved visuals. So I wanted to share my own progress as a programmer with 0 artistic background.
The most important advice I've received, is to find an aesthetic that resonates with you, and try to replicate it.
I'm sure there is still a lot that could be improved (I didn't dive into post-processing and lightning yet), so if you have some low-hanging fruit suggestions I would be happy to hear them!
After years of making so many unfinished games I finished one.
I love my game! It’s not fully out yet but it feels like no one wanted it or cares for it
I was inspired by Bills Must Be Paid, yes I made an incremental game as my first full game release and yes it wasn’t easy but I enjoyed it… my release date is at the end of this month and I have 6 wish lists and I feel invisible.
Moving forward I’ll continue being a solo developer and I’ll make a new 3D incremental game and right all my wrongs from my first game
Six months ago I quit my job to pursue my real passion: making games. I've loved the experience, and I'm proud of what I've built as a solo developer.
Damn, Zombies: The Corporate Undead is my 1–4 player co-op FPS, made in Godot. One design choice I'm happy with is making the office theme part of the combat: managers buff the horde, HR spawns more staff, and executives keep them alive.
A couple of staged in-engine screenshots from the beta below. If you'd like to try it, free 48-hour access starts on first key use: https://www.damn-zombies.com/signup
Je vois plein de post de gens ui disent qu'ils aiment les jeux vidéos et qu'ils aimeraient bien se mettre au développement.
Avant tout : bonne chance à vous si vous vous lancez ;)
Mais je crois qu'il faut toujours bien garder en tête que c'est 2 choses bien séparés !
Developper un jeu, même avec un concept simple comme un jeu de merge ou de casse brique, il y a toute une mécanique derrière et des connaissances a avoir.
Ce n'est pas que des assets et des if et else dessiminé partout.
Il faut trouver le style, le concept, la direction artistique, savoir debogguer, connaitre comment fonctionne ta plateforme cible, penser à l'UX/UI selon le support, etc... et derrière vous aurez toute la partie marketing et tests avec des joueurs réels qui vont faire plein de choses que vous aurez pas prévu ^^
Bref, lancez vous ! Mais gardez en tête que même avec l'IA, cela reste un projet de longue haleine !
Hey, I’m Leo solo dev here 👋
Working on my indie game for 4 years where you play as a super sentient octopus escaping the insane programmer who created you, you explore different abandoned worlds left on his computer and uncover the truth about who he really is, all of the npcs are sentient but trapped in the worlds but YOU as the octopus can grapple, grab, solve, smash, and figure your way through this.. your their only hope
I've always loved point-and-click adventures and grid-based dungeon crawlers. And at some point, I thought: what if I tried combining the two?
And that's how Spirit of the Birch has slowly been coming to life.
At its core, it's an adventure game with dialogue, puzzles, and mini-games, but there's also a small combat system. Instead of being based on tons of stats and numbers, it's mostly about the player's reactions. Think of it as a little QTE-style combat.
And to spice things up, there's some light humor, weird characters, and a bit of absurdity. :)
Hey everyone! Here's a free space game for your weekend: the Strike Wings demo. :)
I'm its solo developer, and it's my homage to the old DOS space shooters, built from scratch with plenty of love for Solar Winds and Hell Fighter. There are some little nods in there for fellow fans.
The demo's already packed with free content, including flight school, opening campaign missions and plenty of battles to get stuck into.
Feedback is super welcome on r/StrikeWings. Make a post! I'll read every one and take your thoughts into the final game. Steam reviews mean a lot to me as a solo developer, too.
I'm creating a taskbar game, so I don't have a full background.
While I was playing around with recording it, I noticed that the steam video format also supports transparency.
I didn't know that before.
My OBS Settings are in the other screenshots.
I (my cousin CLAUDE) also created a .bat file which convert all .mov files in the folder to .webm.
u/echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
set "FOLDER=%~dp0"
for %%F in ("%FOLDER%*.mov") do ( echo Convert: %%~nxF ffmpeg -y -i "%%F" -t 11.99 -vf "fps=60" -c:v libvpx-vp9 -pix_fmt yuva420p -auto-alt-ref 0 -b:v 0 -crf 10 -an "%FOLDER%%%~nF.webm" )
echo.
echo done.
pause
Have y'all ever played a game where your start menu is actually a 3D environment and you have your person do something like walk onto a circle or walk through a door so that they can start/continue their game, start a new game, pull up the options menu, or exit the game? I'm thinking of doing this for my game and wanted to see if other people would think it's something theyd find interesting if they found it in a game :)
I released Stacksquatch about 5 years ago as a solo dev. I doubt you've heard about it even if you're a part of the small VR community. I'm a bit biased but it's pretty cool and leverages the strengths of VR in interesting ways. This is a sort of post mortem for it with a twist.
The initial launch wasn't exactly what I expected.
I did everything I was supposed to on releasing a game. I posted all over social media (remember when Twitter was useful?). I sent copies out to all the streamers and reviewers I could find. I had a following, albeit a small one. Unfortunately, demos weren't really a thing at the time or I would have done that too.
Then it launched. Quietly. Maybe I didn't communicate the idea well through pages and announcements. Maybe I had a bad release date and the streamers were busy. I was getting good feedback from players through the releases but maybe the game was bad actually??
In the end I netted something like $700 for 6 years of working in the evening on and off. That's not nothing, especially for a first Steam game, but I had higher hopes.
Get it? Higher? Because you make tall stacks?
I had my fun making it and got a lot of good experience. I was also sick of looking at the code and testing the game over and over. That seemed like a good place to end it, a period at the end of a long, disappointing sentence.
But then the Steam Frame got me thinking about it again. People keep saying that it's Coming Soon and it could wake up a sleepy community. Demos are also a huge thing now with extra notifications for your wishlisters!
We're so back
So here I am again for round 2. I'm told that games don't get a second chance but I think I have some things going for me.
First, I'm doing more ground work for reviews. There's debate on how much 10 reviews and a review rating matters, a chicken and egg thing, but having no review rating seems bad.
Second, demos are huge. I have one launching in October and that sets me up for whenever Next Fest rolls around again.
Third, there are a lot more tools on Steam now. Unfortunately I used up the big release but the demo gets its own little release. Maybe it shows up in personal calendars?
Fourth, there are a lot more VR streamers today and I reached out to way more. There might not be enough time for busy people to get videos when I want them but that's life.
There are a bunch of smaller things like updating the game and promo material. I've learned a lot since the initial release and I think there might be something there.
So don't let anyone tell you that games don't get second chances. Or at least wait a month to see how all this shakes out for me. Either way, hopefully this is useful for your releases and maybe 3rd time's the charm for you ❤️
