Why You're Working Too Hard (But Not Too Smart) On Your Solo Indie Game
And how to avoid the mistakes I learned the hard way.
There's nothing worse than spending months, or even years on a project, only to realize that all your work was for nothing.
You spent so much time and effort building a game, only for no one (or only a very small group of people) to end up playing it.
Did I just describe your situation?
Believe me, I learned this lesson the hard way.
And I don’t think there's anything more sad than a game that goes unplayed!
I spent every day working on my 2D platformer game for six months.
The result was that only my close friends and family bothered playing it.
Sure, they all said it was fun — but why wouldn’t anyone else play this game?
And why do other games made in less than a month, or sometimes even a weekend, suddenly explode with popularity and become best-sellers?
Don’t focus on the wrong things
It’s easy to blame the world for not understanding the genius of your game, but its important to reflect and ask yourself if it’s a game anyone else actually asked for.
Start by understanding what people want — and then build what they want!
That's step one.
Too many developers begin with a random idea they get one evening and try turning it into a game.
For me, I thought the idea of a snowball flying around like Angry Birds on levels inspired by Getting Over It would make for a cute and fun game.
But in retrospect, I can easily see the flaws of my own game.
I didn’t know whether I wanted my game to appeal to children (first-time gamers) or hardcore gamers who expect a challenge.
The game’s controls feel better executed as a mobile game, but the levels have the depth and complexity of a PC game.
And I prioritized adding an excessive amount of levels over polishing the look and feel of just the best ones.
Sure, it’s a creative idea for a game — but in a way, it’s too creative.
That’s because people prefer familiarity and comfort.
A gameplay experience that is so unique you can’t compare it to a different game or even pin it down to a genre will confuse most people.
Even if I wanted to find an audience for this unique kind of game — which I could do — it’s an uphill battle from the start.
So what should I have done instead?
I should have decided on my target audience — for example, kids who enjoyed playing Angry Birds — and crafted a similar game that would appeal directly to them.
What did they like about the game? What did they dislike?
Then, I would design my game around what that target audience wants.
Don’t waste time and effort
You also need to understand that you don't actually need to spend years on a project.
All of us only have a limited amount of time to spend, and we need to use it wisely.
You can spend only a few months, or even a few weeks making a successful game.
It's all about the end result. Not the process.
In my case, I spent my time and effort on the wrong goals.
I should have focused more on creating a highly polished but short experience rather than making 30 levels, 25 of which most players won’t ever see because they get bored.
It’s important to remember that sales are driven by what people see on your store page, and so if they don’t see anything that excites them, they move on.
It’s better to release a shorter game that knocks players’ socks off than one that puts them to sleep.
Flappy Bird is the best example of a game that takes almost no effort to make (now the subject of an infinite number of gamedev tutorials) and yet became a viral success.
Sometimes, simpler is just better.
That’s because all that matters is the end result — not how you got there.
For example, ask any gamer whether they care what engine or programming language their favorite game was made in — they’ll tell you it doesn’t matter.
In fact, they might not even know what a game engine is!
As long as the game runs smoothly and is fun to play, that’s all that matters.
It doesn’t matter whether you create your assets by hand or purchase them from the Unity Asset Store — as long as the player enjoys the game.
But I know where you’re coming from — just like you, I enjoy the process of writing my own code and drawing my own graphics.
If you’re a creative type of person, you might argue that the process of making the game is precisely what makes it a piece of art.
And that may be true — but if your goal is to make money, then you have to be more concerned with the end result.
As a creative person, it’s easy to dismiss a game that was made in a short amount of time as lacking substance.
We want to believe that the effort we put into something is proportional to the result we get from it.
That’s what seems “fair” to us — but is it a realistic expectation?
Or is it some kind of defense mechanism we use to protect ourselves from the idea that someone else could have made a “better” game using a smaller amount of time and effort?
Don’t be someone who hates others for their success.
Congratulate them, and see how you can replicate their success in your own life.
Turn the situation around and look at it from their perspective.
Isn’t it exciting to know that you can see better results in a shorter amount of time?
You’ve been too hard on yourself this whole time — and now you know how to win.
True game design is finding fun in simple things
As game designers, it’s our job to find out what people want to play.
And when we do our job right, the market rewards us.
Sometimes that means we make games that aren’t exactly creative or expressive, but are simple games with mass appeal.
Complex games aren’t inherently bad (in fact, they can be extremely profitable), but as a solo developer, it’s going to be infinitely harder for you to make them.
That’s why I believe the most important decision is made at the very beginning of your project’s life cycle: what type of game you choose to make!
Your game could take you one year of development, or two or three. or it could take you six months, or three months, or maybe just one month.
It’s all about understanding what your target audience actually wants, and then being able to deliver it to them!
If your initial idea isn’t something people actually want — then the project is doomed from the start.
And if you’re mid-project and realize it's not working out — pivot to a different idea.
Do the work to figure out what players actually want, and give it to them.
And then they’ll give back to you.
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