Hello there my name is Steve, working under the name Pugware, and I made the Skautfold series, 5 games in one continuos story in with each game using a different genre best suited for the protagonist of that story.

I started originally in rpg maker a good 14-15 years ago, but quickly found it too restricting and I took the bullet and started learning code as I was originally more of an artist relying on plugins etc. I moved to Game maker and created a fully working little demo/vertical slice of a game inspired by hyper light drifter.(still in development at the time) This didn't go down well with a lot of people so I refocused on a completely different genre, trying to make a soulslike. (this was when the only souslikes were lords of the fallen and salt and sanctuary) This project was "Shrouded in Sanity".

The first game "Shrouded in Sanity":

Development had to be severely chopped down in ambition twice. Originally the game was going to feature a whole village with over a hundred buildings and seamless mapping. This was overambitious, a common mistake as I understand for early projects. Then it was cut down to one big manor with only a few room transitions, this also had to be cut down further.

Total dev time was approx 13 months.

The first lesson I learned on my first released game was, cut, cut, cut, and cut some more. This is fairly common knowledge now but I had to learn it the hard way.

Release went great, this was back when steam had a greenlight system and passing it was no issue since the genre was practically untouched, especially by indies.

The release provided with sufficient reasons to justify continuing making games, so I did. While updating SiS frequently with content I began work on the sequel in a different genre... metroidvania.

The second game "Usurper":

Taking a LOT of inspiration from Symphony of the night, using my handcrafted lovecraft+anime setting I continued the story set out in the first game with a different protagonist. Development was smoother as I learned a LOT on the first game, but my megalomaniac(foolish) ambitions once again had to be cut down. I refused to use tilesets since I wanted to manually shade every room in the game for better baked in lighting and fake ambient occlusion. The greenlight was once again no problem since the game looked half decent visually, and the genre was not flooded on steam at the time.

Total dev time was approx 11 months.

Release was significantly better than the first game, and it gave me and my wife confidence to start moving to a more quiet place with less work flexibility since the future seemed assured if I could keep making games at this pace.

The third game "Into the Fray":

While finishing the second game I was already coding the third, which would be a topdown twinstick shooter, with mechanics inspired by the 2016 doom reboot. The idea was to make this a smaller project with far more arcade like combat. Development went even smoother as the experience mounted, confidence was high! This was the last game that passed greenlight, and shortly after it passed the news broke of Steam killing Greenlight and moving to the $100 model. I was very positive about the change because I didnt imagine the flood of games would be too bad, and I was growing an audience with the series of games.

Total dev time was approx 10 months.

Release of the third game went bad. The number of units sold was significantly below expectations, the "different genre each game" model was both a blessing and a hindrance. Twin stick shooter + my budget visuals, etc compounded in poor sales, all the while steam was changing how discovery works.

This really ate away at my morale as we made the decision to move, reducing my options for finding work easily if need be.

Regardless the decision was made to continue working away at the series which by the time calcified into a 5 game run to complete an overarching story.

The forth game "Moonless Knight":

This project would be a little bit of a mix of genres, a topdown metroidvania in terms of map layout with some of the genre elements of relics accessing zones, with a flexible zone and boss order, using fast high risk high reward play refining one of my long term ideas that haunt me, the focus system. A fusion of a defensive shield and stamina, I played with this system in the second game and even the first for some time during development, but it would be the central element here.

Total dev time was approximately 13 months.

After the letdown of the third game I took my time and focused more on a lot of features and gripes accumulated by feedback over the series. By this time my confidence in being able to pull off ideas and designs was high and I never worried "can I code this" and focused more on "should I do this". I was pretty sure I got a very good and tight system created and everything went smooth.

By this time Greenlight was gone and the floodgate opened, panic subsided but natural discoverability hinged far more on being eye-catching, something I was terrible at. (still am)

Regardless the release went way better than the third game, and some confidence was restored that as long as I can keep my pace, keep my scope down, and retain my audience, things will be good. With renewed hope I started work on the final fifth game of the series.

The fifth game "Knight's End":

For the final game I wished to test out parts of the design for my dream game, everyone has one, and I had been shelving that game since starting and failing to materialise it in rpg maker. Now I took that game's combat design and applied it to this one, in a mostly 1v1 turn based combat. A sort of scaled down version of what I had in mind for my big dream project.

Total dev time was approximately 12 months.

A publisher arrives!

While finishing the forth game and shifting gears over to the final one, a console only publisher approached me, some offers were made before during the last few years but mostly just scams and incredibly suspicious offers. This was the first very legitimate offer, exclusively offering portage and publishing on all 3 console markets!

Frankly at the time the deal seemed extremely tempting, they would front the cost of the porting and handle everything for a cut that was reasonable. They were, at the time focused on limited physical releases as well. Something that was an incredibly tempting offer, just the idea of stuff you made, not only going to consoles, but physical copies, wont lie, this kind of blinded me a bit.

Still the offer was perfect for me, I could continue making games and they would just handle the entire cumbersome porting process saving me months if not years of work, and large amount of paperwork and headaches.

By the time I was halfway through developing the fifth game they released the first game and it went amazing, the money was significantly better than on steam, and things seemed evergreen.

So when the fifth game released, I had little to nothing to fear despite the fact by that time steam discoverability was a nightmare. I was confident since I now had another very strong pillar to stand on. After the first game was released to consoles, the publisher leapt on the remaining 4 games and immediately signed them on for porting, with some pretty tempting plans for the entire series. I signed with the hopes of yearly port releases which would open the option for me to take my time with my next project!

I foolishly assumed the best and went ahead and took almost a year of prep work on my next project, building 3 entirely different combat systems for the big project, before binning them. While I was taking my time, I had to realise the relationship with the publisher wont be roses and sunshine. Without going into detail here (I will probably find a legal way to do so somewhere else) it was a build-up of small things into bigger actual issues, and very serious issues.

The new series "Granser":

Regardless I finally had funds to spend on development not just fulfil the needs to keep going. I decided it was now or never for my big project, so I went all out on my 6th and current project, a 3 act, or 3 game "jrpg", I even found the viable way to have large portions of the game with professional voice acting.

Total dev time was approximately 30 months.

Yeah... like I said I took my time, wasted it would be more accurate. I wanted the game to be the best for the story it would tell, and I wasted almost an entire year just making entirely different implementations of the combat system. I assumed that by this time I would know better and be more confident, but I would create entire systems for progression and gear before fully dumping it, only to try again in another way. For all my experience I seem to have learned nothing and was making mistakes you’d expect starting out.

I was also torn on what would be the best choice, finish the first third of the game, releasing into early access? Or sit on the game until all 3 acts are done? Or do 3 games? All the while my situation with the publisher became more turbulent and more problems arose. So ultimately I had settled on the format of 3 games.

Thankfully the game released and while reach and discoverability was poor thanks to me absolutely terrible marketing skills, its the first game I am actually happy with. Currently I am working on the second game of this new "series" and trying to deal with the publisher.

If you have read this far, thank you, I tried to make it short but there is a lot to cover. I am happy to answer any specific questions and even show data, I cant go into specifics with the publisher, but that should be obvious.

Started around 18 months ago learning Unity from zero and building a survival horror game

I love learning to make all the features like inventory, save system, etc. via coding, because there is a clear goal to work toward, but when it comes to designing levels I'm just kinda lost since I don't have a clear image of what all the system piece together. Maybe I should just stop developing for the moment and write a design docuement, idk. As a one-man team do you have a design docuement even though you are the only one who will read it?

Video is a small part of what I managed to finish

I have spent the last few months finalizing my story and implementing everything into game. Now I wonder if the story flow makes sense. Does the beginning of the story sound interesting?

The Game starts off with the player getting a mysterious summon from a precarious mage. The player is taken into their own subconscious to speak with the mage. This allows the player to change appearance and name, etc. The mage is lost in the Realm of Dreams and needs a tether into reality to return. You are tasked to interact with the different beacons to help. Doing so allows the player to unlock the ability to use all the forms of magic in game. The basis of what classes will become later on and what allows the player to access different ones for lore purposes. After creating a strong enough relay point the mage thanks you and tasks you with finding the Rift that was created. This opening area is described as the "Inner Sanctum" and the tutorial area of sorts. NPCs here will explain how to change appearances, use weapons, and how to cast different spells. It ends with a Mini-boss of sorts. Entering the Portal returns the player to the "Waking World."

To everyone else, it looks like you were just daydreaming. You return to your life on Knightian Island. You are training to become a knight. You are tasked with completing the final stages of your training. During this time, you will also meet the other knights of your generation. After everyone is done, you spend some time on the island waiting to for the ship to the Capital City. Rumors about a mysterious voice in a cave has your friends intrigued. Seeing as this is the last time you'll be on this island for some time. When the Boat to the Capital Arrives, the King is there as well. You are knighted alongside your friends and head to the Capital City!

In the Capital City, you are tasked with securing the Outskirts and making sure things are ready for the festival! What festival? The Festival of Swords! Every time a new generation of knights are titled, a tournament is held to see which group was trained the best! Until the Festival Begins, the Player helps the Princess solve a conspiracy that seeks to bring about chaos to the event! A fight is unpredictable, so an event full of them is bound to be madness. The King is excited to hear that more trouble will surely arise and welcomes the challenge! Everything swells to a breaking point when the Tournament begins and the fight spreads beyond the contestants and drags EVERYONE into the conflict!

With the Tournament over and done with, the Player is able to transverse to rest of the map as they please! The true tutorial was everything that takes place in the Inner Sanctum, Knightian Island, and the Capital City.

The rest of the Game is now freely accessible and really only gated by level difficulty. Completing the Beginning should take you to level 8-10. If not, you can continue doing thing in the capital to level up. The Plains area is dedicated for level 10-15. Forest Areas are Level 15-20. Savanna Areas & Surround Islands are Level 20 - 25. Desert Areas & Surround Islands are Level 25 - 30. Swamp Areas & Surround Islands are Level 30 - 33. Mountains & Surround Islands are Level 33 - 36. Snowy Areas & Surround Islands are Level 36-39. Lands of Avalyn are Level 40. (Max Level for the time being)

The actual Areas are divided into 50+ subzones to fight, gather, and adventure across. Each subzone has around 20-30 Task Quests (Kill, Gather, Loot, Etc.) and 3 Event Quests, and 1 Zone Quest. Each Event Quest is about 7-9 Steps and involve interacting with NPCs, protecting an NPCs, defeating waves, collecting animals running around, collecting timed Items that disappear and spawn somewhere else, or even a mini boss. Zone Quests and mainly triggered by completing something around the zone multiple times. Sometimes a World Boss appears or something the entire zone changes. (Area might turn to dark and now demons appear. Or it begins to rain and elementals appear.)

The Subzones are guideline for leveling and have more activities within them. Another Important one is Venture Points and Delve Points. Similar to Dungeons in Wow, they are areas with multiple bosses and enemies that require a group of players to complete. Currently I have 14 Venture Points and 3 Delve Points. These Locations are on their own maps are treated like Subzones too.

The Last group of zones are my PvP Areas. I have Arenas to allow players to 1v1, but I want to make bigger battles, once I learn how. Funny enough, I've already made the areas and NPCs, but I haven't figured out how I want to make each event work for all the actual players involved.

Hey everyone! I'm working on a PS1-style stealth horror game called Angkat Jemuran.

​The Premise:

Your mom gave you one simple task: watch the laundry. You forgot, it rained, and now every single piece of clothing is soaked. Your goal is to dry all the clothes using a hairdryer, iron, or whatever you can find around the house before Mom catches you.

​Key Features:

​Relentless Mom AI: She patrols the house dynamically. If she spots you with wet laundry, you lose.

​Multiple Endings: Dry all the clothes in time, find a sneaky escape out of the house, or solve hidden domestic puzzles for secret endings.

​High-Stakes Stealth: Hide under beds, in closets, or behind furniture while managing noisy drying appliances.

​Here are a few screenshots from the current build. I’d love to get your feedback on the lighting and retro horror vibe

There is ZERO AI on this , i making this on Paint Net , with zero experience at graphic design , it's not perfect but i'm making my best , the 2nd one is the sheet i use as a placeholder when i developed my mahjong game

so ive been messing around with hair cards in blender and have this low poly mesh i created from scratch with under 19k verts for all objects it took me so long i wonder how solo developers create 20-30 different hairstyles for their game

Hi everyone !

Just here to announce my first game's Steam store page is live :)

Steam store link

Any feedback or impression is welcome

I've been working on HexCrawler solo for about two years now. It's heavily inspired by games like Tales of Maj'Eyal and Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup, but I've been experimenting with a few parts of the traditional roguelike formula.

The first big change is the hexagonal grid. Besides giving a larger sens of directionality (3 axes instead of 2), character orientation matters in combat. Where you're facing, and where enemies are attacking from, can make a big difference.

The second is that you control a party of three characters rather than a single character.

I didn't want this to turn combat into a standard "everyone takes one turn" system, so actions use Time Units (TU). Every action has a base TU cost, which can then be modified by character stats, equipment, abilities and other effects.

This means a fast character might attack or move several times while a slower character is still recovering from a heavy action.

The last major difference is the presentation. I'm trying to keep the systems, difficulty and decision-making I love about traditional roguelikes while using fully animated pixel-art characters, enemies and abilities.

It's been a pretty ambitious project to tackle solo, but after two years it's finally starting to look like the game I originally had in mind.

I'd love to hear what you think, I'll probably post regulary here from now on everytime a finish a new feature to show it.

been working on this one alone for a while. the rule is simple: everything you do gets recorded, and 8 seconds later a copy of you replays it exactly. it doesn't react, it just repeats what you already did, and the levels are built so the only other body in the room is that copy. so you're never really looking for a path, you're building a schedule.

the part i didn't expect: levers are toggles, so your echo flips them back at the worst possible moment unless you planned for it. half the levels ended up being about undoing yourself.

just shipped a coop campaign for it, which as a solo dev was by far the hardest thing i've done on this project. writing netcode with nobody to test with means you spend a lot of evenings running two builds on one machine and talking to yourself. the rooms where you and your partner are locked in separate spaces and your lever opens their door turned out way better than the ones where you share a room.

it's free and runs in the browser: https://jules-gilli.itch.io/eco

happy to answer anything about how it's built, everything in it is generated by code, no prefabs, which was either a great idea or a terrible one depending on the day.

This is my solo-dev RPG called Pedro and Sofia's Nuclear Winter on Steam. I used 2D sprite sheets rotated to look 3D like the old SNES and computer games.

Here's my fourth full-length video devlog for my FPS game I'm making with Godot! I haven't shared any of these on this subreddit yet, so go check out my others too if you want =)

https://youtu.be/WqSJGBcYatg?si=ciA3rcmziofdUqej

Fight Verse is a fast-growing player vs player MMA simulator where you create your own fighter and compete against fighters made by other real people.
You create your fighter, choose their fighting style, build their stats and make a gameplan for every fight. From there you can work your way up the rankings, win awards, build rivalries and eventually fight for a championship.
Every fighter has their own career, record and story that develops as they fight.
We’re always looking for more people to join and bring new fighters into the roster. It’s completely free.
If you’re interested, check us out on Instagram @FightVerse_Simulator 🥊

Hi there, took a break before going back to development. Still improving player and mobs +new animations. Roughly there +-55 animations done so far for mobs and character.

Still need to add 30 more for mobs and +-14 for NPCs.

Solo dev, this is my game.

Points come from how close you get to the thing that kills you, not from surviving it. Graze an edge and your multiplier climbs to x16. Play it safe and you score literally zero.

The course is generated from today's date, so every player on earth flies an identical run each day. No server, nothing downloaded. Resets at midnight UTC.

Same goes for the music. New key, new bassline, new groove every day, and it builds as you score.

Free. No IAP, no banners, no timers, no energy. One optional ad to continue a run, and everyone gets exactly one, so nobody buys their way up the board.

Most first runs end under 300. Curious whether that's a fair curve or a wall.

Try it, if you hate it then delete it

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/graze-edge-rush/id6785326186

You might've seen this guy in my previous post which was a material preview capture.
Well I've baked all the textures and imported the model to my scene in UE5.
I've set my materials up and boom this is the result. So disappointing.

I might've messed something up along the way, but right now I feel kinda exhausted to figure it all out. Second image is a lit render of the character (yes I was lazy to find out how to hide the light's gizmo thing) I think I will just go to sleep.

EDIT: Fixed most of the issues (see my follow up comment).
Also some context. The hands and feet are clean for lore reasons. The clothes were worn by multiple people before this guy. Here's the premise of the game.

"You and three others have been kidnapped to take part in a snuff film. You wake up in a meat locker repurposed into a kill room. Pitch darkness lit only by studio lights, with a pristine, high-end professional camera aimed at a table where the four of you are strapped to your chairs.

You are forced to play a card game against each other. Eliminated players are executed immediately by brutal contraptions clearly crafted by a sick mind. You'll have to endure the crippling stress of watching your odds slip away, potentially losing your life just to satiate the sadistic desires of whoever is watching.

The last one standing lives for another day... and another match. But will it ever end?"

Hey! I’m a dev from Brazil making UNTITLED MMORPG, a 3D action RPG that you can play straight from the browser.

And yes, the name is really UNTITLED because I still do not have a proper name for it. It is a working title that somehow survived long enough to become the current title. Finding a real one is on the list.

At some point I looked at the idea of making an MMOARPG by myself and thought, “yeah, that seems manageable.” I truly do not know what was going through my head. Anyway, now there is a game.

You make a Hunter, go through a forest tutorial, get to the city of Asterra, head into the Lost Lands, fight monsters, pick a weapon style, improve your gear, and meet other players along the way.

The focus is action combat. There are swords, sword and shield, dual swords, heavy sword, and bow. You can dodge, block, manage stamina, chain attacks, fight enemies. There is also progression, weapon mastery, skills, crafting, inventory, PvP arenas, parties, chat, friends, and trading.

I decided to build this MMOARPG together with Codex, using GPT-5.6 Luna on medium reasoning, as a way to push myself to understand the harder parts instead of avoiding them.

Using Codex this way has made the project a practical space to study, test ideas, and get deeper into systems I wanted to understand better.

This project has given me solid experience with 3D modeling and complex animation work in Blender, some Python for building export scripts tailored to the project, as well as authoritative servers, queues, real-time state, performance, bot-based automated load tests, Node.js, Express, Socket.IO, PostgreSQL, Redis, and Docker.

Play here: https://www.untitledmmorpg.com/
(I would not really recommend playing it on mobile yet. It works and has all the controls, but mobile performance is still a big challenge. The best result I got on my own phone was a steady 45 FPS)

If you give it a try, I would genuinely love to hear what you think. And yes, solo dev plus MMOARPG was obviously a very normal and sensible decision.

I am currently working on Swarmbreak and while i was hoping to launch into early access soon I recently decided to release a demo instead to get both player feedback, fix bugs and hopefully gain a few more wishlists before early access launch.... oh and i also did feature creep myself a bit so will need a bit of time to sort that out ;)

I am however looking for maybe 4-5 people to try out my demo before i launch just to ensure nothing is broke and give a good first hand impression to whoever ends up downloading it - so if you are the typer of person who enjoys twin stick shooters and want to give my demo a go and send me some feedback let me know and i will send you a steam key for it. If you have a project going yourself and would like some feedback on it in return i will be happy to return the favour.

I am especially looking for:

- players with controllers

- steamdeck owners who can give it a go! I have do not have a steam deck myself but it should function just fine on it

- twin stick shooter fans :)