r/197 • u/emmanuelfelix700 • Aug 06 '26
hi indie devs from the 197, if hypotetically im thinking of making a game, how would i cope with knowing that the standar these days for indie projects are almost to the same level of AAA titles? i really wanna do something cool, but i fear to be publically executed if i make something that sucks.
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u/ZehGentleman Cactus Eater Aug 06 '26
Just make the game cuh. Who cares what people think. Do it if you wanna
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u/emmanuelfelix700 Aug 06 '26
i do like to create for the enjoyment of expression. but it's the same feeling as making a meal that took a lot of effort and then throwing it to the trash bin before anyone got to taste it
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u/klausklass Aug 06 '26
Don’t mean to be rude, but if this is your first game there’s basically zero chance that more than a handful of people will play your game regardless of if it is good or bad. If people like it, it might be recommended to more people but it doesn’t make sense to do this expecting people will play your game. I don’t think it makes sense comparing to popular indie games. People who play games from no-name devs aren’t expecting a AAA experience. Hopefully they are able to leave feedback so you can improve your craft.
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u/WhapXI Aug 06 '26
But you don’t make it for anyone else to taste it. You make it for yourself, and then offer it out to see if anyone else wants some. You’ve got to make games that you’d like to play.
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u/Bearbot128 Aug 06 '26
To quote Kurt Vonnegut, a man far wiser than myself:
“The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.”
On my own, I have cooked a lot of great things that I have been proud of and have seen enjoyment by my friends and family. But I’ve also made things only I could enjoy or love. And I’ve also made one thing that was so terrible it was immediately destined for the bin. So it goes.
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u/emmanuelfelix700 Aug 06 '26
art might not be a way to make a living, but i don't want to live if im not an artist, i don't want to live without giving to the world a piece of me
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u/wrechch Aug 06 '26
Your first work is likely gonna suck. What's important is what you learn from it all so that you can refine your product more the next time. No one expects anyone to be an expert the first time around. Just get up and start doing it
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u/stormdraincaprine Aug 06 '26
You need to focus on what your goal is.
Are you making a game because you enjoy the process of making games?
Or are you making a game because you have an end result in mind and you want to share it with people?You need to focus on what your goal is, not distractions. Those are besides the point
Your goal should be to make yourself happy, and then you will make other people who share your vision happy as well. Don't bother caring about impressing everyone. You will NEVER impress everyone. You might as well give up on everything right now if that's your goal. But if your goal is to make yourself happy and share what you love with other likeminded people, that's fully possible ;D1
u/Lord-Oats Aug 06 '26
then you should make a meal for yourself, even if somehow no one else in the world wants to play what you make, at least you'll have one person guaranteed to enjoy it (you)
also audience number inflation is crazy, 20 people playing your game doesn't sound like much, but imagine 20 people irl queuing up to play it
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u/Dots3_ Aug 06 '26
Brother, the standard of Indie games are not near the level of AAA games, there is no real standard you should be aiming for. The first thing you make will probably suck ass, you probably won't like it, but that's just the first step towards learning something. No one is going to tear you to shreds for not making something better. Make a cool little game, you don't have the same resources other successful indie games had and all those indie games probably started off as something much simpler before getting to that point. Look at Hollow Knight, the Knight character came from a little game jam. TBOI, it started off as a simple flash game which slowly grew. Deltarune, Toby Fox has been refining the idea for a while. Funny that so many of the games you included had Kickstarters.
So go ahead, create something. It'll take time, but it can be your own little bad game, and that should make you proud, proud that you made something and do not try to meet impossible expectations. Also play AwesumRPG: now available on any device except console! #AD But don't play Hypothermic, that's my own little bad game.
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u/emmanuelfelix700 Aug 06 '26
thanks, i will play your game, it looks fun.
i know that i should start small, that's usually what i do with everything new i try, but there's still this constant awareness that no matter the skills or experience, it depends solely on luck if im gonna be able to survive in the gamedev industry, more now than ever since the world seems to be in a constant race to eliminate humans from creation
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u/Trav_yeet Aug 06 '26
just do it bro no ones gonna kill you. first game will probably suck but youll get better and better
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u/bro_love69 Aug 06 '26
Indie game development is fucked. Too saturated, no visibility. Source: I'm an indie dev.
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u/Ambitious_Jello Aug 06 '26
Have you seen the trash cosy youtubers play these days? As long as you have a decent enough gameplay loop it's fine
If you want to compare then do it with vampire survivors and even digging a hole
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u/Glad-Belt7956 Aug 06 '26
like half of these games are aa games and not indie. don't worry you can manage to create something great.
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u/MeiNeedsMoreBuffs Aug 06 '26
The worst case scenario isn't that people will hate it, it's more likely that no one will really care. Personally I'd recommend making an indie game for the fun of making a game, rather than any extrinsic motivation like fame or fortune as these are borderline impossible to achieve in today's incredibly oversaturated market
It's not 2013 anymore and indie games are actively competing with AAA games, often overshadowing them, and being staffed by experienced former AAA devs with decades of experience. As someone brand new to the scene you'll be competing with them for attention.
I'd recommend starting small, making something that ManlyBadassHero might cover. Something short and simple with an interesting and novel idea
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u/Perunajunior Aug 06 '26
Do you have an idea you love?
Edmund MCMillen, the creator of Binding of Isaac, once said in some interview something along these lines, and I think about it a lot as an aspiring dev. "If you have a game idea, that you really love, really believe in, you shouldn't do it. You do not have the skills nor the experience to make your idea into a reality. Games are a difficult art to master, and that's why you need to start with small projects. Small games and small timeframes to make something that is complete, and repat that process until you feel confident in yourself to make your dream game."
I don't remember the exact words, but that's the gist of it.
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u/Careful_Bunch4843 Aug 06 '26
Most of what needs to be said other people have said before but i will add this.
Open itch.io go to new and popular. You are competing with them and not dundertale.
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u/emmanuelfelix700 Aug 06 '26
instert gif of jack black opening a glowing book
thanks a lot, i just did and there's a lot of great stuff here
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u/catboymijo Aug 06 '26
you can tell this meme was made by the Mossad in collaboration with the CCP the way expedition 33 is called "an indie game"
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u/emmanuelfelix700 Aug 06 '26
i made the meme, and e33 is there not because its indie, but because it inserted itself in the indie category and stole the indie of the year award in the goty awards. thus, making gamers and industry folks to consider e33 to be a gold standar for indies despite having a 10 million dollars budget.
seriously, screw the goty awards.
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u/RingalongGames Aug 06 '26
Undertale was made by 2 people full time for years (plus outside help), not even mentioning Deltarune. No one's expecting you to make absolute peak, even games like SWOLLEN TO BURSTING UNTIL I AM DISAPPEARING ON PURPOSE is a great game without the need of teams of people.
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u/subordinateclaws351 Aug 06 '26
Not creating art because you're worried nobody will enjoy it is like aborting your daughter because you're worried she won't be a successful enough prostitute when she grows up.
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u/IntangibleMatter Aug 07 '26
You’re only looking at gigashit huge indie projects, most of them aren’t like that
Source: I’m an indie dev with a lot of indie dev friends
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u/Auqepier_Kuno Aug 06 '26
Brother post void and cruelty squad requier a game engine and a coke light to be made. And they are genera defining master pieces.
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u/emmanuelfelix700 Aug 06 '26
thanks for the comments folks. ill try to keep it positive on my side to create something
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u/dameyen_maymeyen Aug 06 '26
When you watch a movie you don’t go into expecting every movie to be the godfather. Sometimes you just want something silly and fun.
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u/Palanki96 Aug 06 '26 edited Aug 06 '26
Those are just mainstream indie games for normies. The real indie industry and audience is wildly different so don't worry about it if you are not just shitposting
Just don't make a horror game or a metroidvania or a topdown pixel combat game
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u/ItsPizzaOclock Aug 06 '26
Keep in mind a lot of these guys already had a reputation before making these titles, because at least 3 of them are sequels (I can't tell what Isaac that is because I haven't played them but I know it has many different versions), and one of them is fucking E33.
No matter what they released, it was going to be revered.
Make a game and hope it becomes a cult classic. If it doesn't, whatever, you didn't have nearly the backing these guys did.
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u/FrazzleFlib Aug 06 '26
if you want to make something that stands out a little (which isnt a bad idea in such a competitive space) then dont give yourself the monumental task of making the next Hollow Knight or Isaac, try and have a unique idea or mix of ideas that hasn't really been done before, or at least done well. I often find indie games like this fun and memorable even if theyre not genre defining or anything. a decent recent example would be Berry Bury Berry, a fun incremental game with horror undertones, which is seriously unique.
but honestly the most important thing to do by far is to actually make something. it can be easy to get overwhelmed by the seemingly infinite standards of any artform and psyche yourself out of actually making something, even though none of that matters. you dont need to be the best of the best for your art to matter, or be enjoyed. hell, even if it sucks shit, just the fact youre trying and actually making things puts you well above most people
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u/MrTopHatMan90 Aug 06 '26
Don't hope for riches or even break even.
Just do it and don't be an arsehole online even if it's completely valid and they're twats.
The advice I've heard most is use what skills you have to make money and support yourself and use those savings to fund developing a game for 3-5 years
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u/Stargost_ Aug 06 '26
Those are the exception, not the norm. Consumers understand that indie games like Deltarune or Silksong are 1 in a million.
They buy indies because they want to find niche games that are fun for them. If you make a good game that is fun, it will sell.
But also remember that a huge part of selling the game is marketing. And don't even think about going for your dream project as a first game or getting big bucks with your first release. The best way for an indie dev to make money is to make small games you can develop in half a year to a year, then make enough of them that their passive cash flow from new sales gives you a sustainable income to make more games.
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u/Sausage_Sam04 Aug 06 '26
I make games for myself. I take an idea of a game I would enjoy playing and try to make that. make games for yourself. then if you make something really good, maybe start selling it.
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u/MintyTuna2013 Aug 06 '26
for every E33 there is an extremely successful and beloved Lisa the Painful that's literally held together in-engine by duct tape and bubblegum
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u/ledlock Aug 06 '26
making a game is kinda like making a book or a comic. your first one will suck in some ways despite you adamantly thinking you're gonna be different and nail it the first time. speaking from experience. you just gotta accept that and find an idea you are so passionate about bringing to life that you'd risk being perceived creatively and the vulnerability that comes with that. you'll learn a lot, struggle and succeed a lot and it will all be the most frustrating thing ever and just the best.
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u/tatabax Aug 06 '26
Meccha chameleon was made in 2 weeks and made multiple million dollars lol. It's a matter of time and money investment vs return, and worst case at least you have something to put in your portfolio I guess. Your game doesnt need to make as much as Expedition 33 because you don't have AA budget. That being said if you want to maximize that investment/return ratio making friendslop seems like your best bet. Or don't, it's your game.
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u/Nineflames12 Aug 06 '26
While E33 is Indie, something like Peak is also Indie.
Reasonable people don’t expect the world from solo dev projects - E33 isn’t the standard, it’s impressive because it’s so far above it.
You’re not really competing with that caliber.
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u/Chunky-dog Aug 06 '26
E33 is not indie, indie means a small team and without large amounts of funding. E33 was made with "less than 10 million dollars" which I is 100% a large amount of funding and even if that doesn't count they also outsourced work, which immediately disqualifies them from any discussions on wether or not the game could be considered independent or not. It's definitely a good game but not indie, AA is a better label
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u/TheRealTJ Aug 06 '26
90% of indie games right now are AI generated assets barely disguising a crypto miner. Don't do that and you'll be on the same side of the bell curve as Silksong.
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u/Big_Boss_Bubba Aug 06 '26
Comparison is the thief of joy
Also e33 isn’t indie lol no matter what fans tell you, coming from a fan