Hey everyone!
Today it is finally time to finish the long series of ‘Tale Tuesday’ articles about indie development. We’ve covered the topic in many aspects, going through general ideas, each stage of development and the final touches. It’s time to finally summarize everything we’ve covered. However, it is not the end of indie development topic yet! We’re still planning Q&A with your questions about indie development. If you have any questions, feel free to send them to us! And now, let’s jump into the summary!
First, we’ve asked ourselves if it’s tough to be a solo game dev. A simple answer to that was: it really depends. But why was it more complicated then we think? To quote: “When creating a game, there are several factors needed to complete it. Each requires a lot of attention and will be thought about during creation of any video game. We’re obviously talking about design, coding and graphics”. That means that on each stage there was some tricky parts to cover which may not always prove easy for a developer adventuring solo in the world of indie games. But, regardless of that, some continue and reach the next stop – deciding on engine and tools choices and general logistics of development.
“When it comes to logistics, there are two main concerns: ‘What game engine do I use?’ and ‘What tools do I use to make my job easier?'”. When it comes to the engine: “All game engines have different positives and negatives – in the end it will come down to what seems the most suiting for the creator and his needs”. Iguana Mercenary went through 2 engines and settled on Godot in the end. There are some other popular choices, such as Unity or Unreal Engine. When it comes to the tools: “You can use various tools that will help you with organizing your work. So what could you use?” – and here, there’s a lot to choose from. Google Drive, BitBucket (or GitHub), Jira (or Trello), Paint.NET, Blender, GIMP, other graphics software, Machinations, Twine – you name it! Whatever you need, you will probably find a tool for it. It requires some research, but you’ll get what you’ll need.
Then we were wondering if it’s expensive to be a game dev – and to put it short, you can go as low as $0 for your budget and manage to release your game. It will obviously be slightly different than what you could’ve done and achieved with a budget, but the article really showed that you don’t really have to have money ready in order to create your games and have fun.
After we’ve figured all of that out, it was finally time to move on to the details of indie development.
Game design was described first, and there were several tips that you should follow when designing your game:
- First of all: write down ideas that you find interesting
- Once you’ve decided on an idea – describe it
- Balance is very important! I cannot stress enough how important balancing your game is.
- Do not rush! Players will definitely feel it if you rush your game.
- Have fun with what you’re doing!
There are some troubling elements about game design. Most significantly, if the tutorials are put together well, if the mechanics behave in the game as intended, if the story is tied together well, if level designs are good. To this, the most common solution was to get a tester that has not seen the game and closely monitoring their behaviour and trying to understand why they’re behaving in a way they do and fix possible mistakes in your design.
The next thing in question was coding, which, as the article assured – you can learn quite easily. There are many free tutorials available that help you understand the basic concepts and mechanics behind it. There’s many possibilities to reach out for when you want to learn to code. However, it is a time consuming process and you will always face some difficulties, even when working professionally in the field. So, don’t get discouraged by your mistakes! It’s always a chance to learn.
You may be also wondering how to work with art for the game, and that’s pretty simple – you can either try your best and keep growing your skills, or if you really don’t feel like it, just get some free stuff on the internet. There are many website slike OpenGameArt that allow you to browse through thousands of possibilities, also such that are a public domain or require just a credit. You may also go for paid options if your budget allows that. But, if you’re brave enough, feel free to attempt to do art on your own! You may find it pretty fun.
In the end, it was all about making sure that everything is ready for your release and that you’re promoting the game in various places. Keep reaching out to people and talk about your game openly! It’s important to keep inviting the new audience.
And here we go! You’ve got yourself a game. If you’ve went through all of the previous articles, maybe you’ve found some words of encouragement to work on your own games. If you have any additional questions about something we have not covered, feel free to let us know. In the next ‘Tale Tuesday’ articles, we’re going to answer questions of the viewers. For now, that’s everything – thanks for reading!
Iguana Mercenary 