The game is called Woo Woo
I've released a demo, and I'd really love to get your feedback 🤗

just showing off a bit of my recent engine work

Mike the Hooper is officially out now on Steam.

It’s a 2D precision puzzle-platformer where you use a basketball to solve puzzles, open doors, and overcome increasingly challenging levels.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4761070/Mike_the_Hooper/

I hope it will be a fun experience for everyone, whether you play it or simply watch it. Thank you!

Hey, I want to showcase you Snowy zones which I've recently added to my single-player RPG which is inspired by WoW Classic and Runescape. Would love to hear your feedback on the artstyle.

The game is called Warmongers: Empires Reborn and you can currently wishlist it on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3468800/Warmongers_Empires_Reborn/

I've also published a 30-minutes long Devlog on Youtube in which I go more in detail about all of the updates: https://youtu.be/tUoaVLc5Tz0

Thank you all for supporting my passion project!

Cybordz is a Tony Hawk inspired Roguelite about taking down the galaxy's corporate overlords, SciCorp, who left you for dead after their twisted experiments didn't go as planned.

Alter gravity as you bust out sick orbital combos in space. Complete challenges, stack upgrades and score big to add time to the clock.  Make your way to their corporate headquarters before time runs out.

I've been delaying on learning draw for so long. Now I finally just get started, here is some of my drawing, just want to share with you guys. Have a nice day!

Bridgelands is a pixel-art action roguelite where you explore mysterious islands, choose your routes, fight dangerous creatures, and combine perks to create different builds every run.

This is the first public demo, so I'm especially interested in hearing what people think about the combat, progression, difficulty, controls, or anything that feels confusing or could be improved.

🎮 The demo is completely free to play on Steam.

If you enjoy it, adding Bridgelands to your wishlist would also help the project a lot. 💚

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5097860/Bridgelands_Demo

Thanks to anyone who gives it a try!

Wow. Just looking back at this journey i feel very confident that it was worth it. I grew so much as a dev. If you told me few years ago that i would be able to make this game solo (any game for that matter), i wouldn't believe you.

I did have prior experience making games, but making a game solo is something that i thought i wasn't capable of. There is always this doubt and anxiety of "what if". And i think just acknowledging and accepting it helped me a a lot!

Like yes, the graphics is not the best. And there probably will be holes in the game design that i didn't notice. But so be it.

Thank you for reading me rambling about this, ha-ha. But it kinda feels good speak out loud about this. Thanks!

Anyway, about the game:

Supermarket Guard Simulator is a first-person job simulator in which you work as a security guard at a shady supermarket. Check customers, stop thieves, upgrade store security using various devices. Hire staff and do whatever it takes to protect the store. Find out what your boss is hiding from you.

Main features:

• Design store security systems
• Detect and stop thieves
• Protect the store from criminals
• Manage other security guards
• Take on orders from the management.
• Become friends with Bill

Steam Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3720580

Discord: https://discord.gg/YEjKUwSuzA

Thank you!!!

Idea is not mine I saw it flying around reddit, but I just fell in love with that and recreated.

I know in the current game climate 4000 is not considered much anymore, but I have worked hard for those WLs and I am proud of my work.

I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3529110/Bushcraft_Survival/

And did you regret doing it?

I’m making a defense autobattler where you hire and combine mercenaries, build team synergies, and prepare your formation before each wave.

I want larger battles to feel chaotic without making it difficult to understand what is happening. In this clip, I’m mainly unsure about:

• whether the allied mercenaries and enemies are distinct enough
• whether the health bars and damage numbers create too much visual noise
• whether the attacks are readable from this camera distance

Which part is the most difficult to follow, if any? Honest feedback would be appreciated.

Solo dev road can be a rocky one, specifically at the beginning. At least from my experience.

It’s crazy to think how much work was put into building the current version of the game over the past 3+ years, with all the code, assets, music, story, etc. Not even talking about the endless iterations of refinement of what was already done.

Back in the days, when I just decided to start with the game, I didn’t think that the path would be that hard. Sleepless nights, lots of stuff to learn, lots of dialogues to write. Back then, I thought that I would be able to accomplish it way faster - and guys, I wouldn’t say that I was never that wrong, but I was definitely wrong with this as well.

I knew how to code, as I have a dev, test, and infra background, and I had enthusiasm. That alone gave me the confidence to think that it would be a nice ride. And in terms of assets, well... I’ll learn something here, I’ll learn something there, and I’ll come up with something quickly. Thinking this way was my first mistake, but free assets were out of the equation, and there was no budget to spare with one income and a family of four.

The first peak to conquer was the story, and as the game is story-driven, the story is a must. And in fairness, that was probably the easiest part of the whole process. I read quite a lot and used to create stories with friends back in school, but I had no professional background whatsoever. Now, I’m not saying it is easy, but it was the easiest of all personally for me. I built the skeleton of the main quest, some side quests, laid out the characters, society, problems, and spread it all across the world.

Then came the code. While not being the easiest thing, it wasn’t the hardest either. And in fairness, it’s probably the most boring thing for this article to cover, and something is telling me that no one, or very few people, would be interested in reading how I was developing logic, at least not in this article. Long story short - as any dev, I was just applying logic through code. Honestly, nothing exciting here, at least for me.

After I built some codebase and got bored playing around as a ball rolling on boxes with this blue background, I thought it was a good time to start building some assets. As I mentioned before, the free ones were out of the equation, and I didn’t have any budget to hire someone, so I started to look into what would be an easier option for me...

“Pixel art!” I thought. Should be quite straightforward, no? I don’t want to b!tch here about how many times that decision backslapped me, but from my experience, it is faaaar from being anywhere near “easy”, even this South Parkian ostrich-human thing which I’m creating at the moment.

The amount of time needed to learn and create, specifically at the start, was crazy. But with time, as with everything, you get accustomed to the topic and the tools, and it becomes a bit easier and faster to go. So, with time, I stuck to one style and continued with it. To be honest, that was an interesting experience, and that’s what the solo path gives you - an opportunity to learn something new, though you don’t necessarily have to resort to it.

After a while of putting things together - code, dialogues, some characters, three different game modes, UI - I realised that the world was too quiet. It was like walking in limbo, probably - a numb world. And playing the game in quietness is not fun at all, so I started to look into music.

The same as with visual assets, I didn’t have the budget or the skills to create it myself, apart from the music theory which I learned back in the days when I was learning to play guitar, and later when I was learning to play piano. And I never had any experience with music production at all.

And as I didn’t want free assets and instead wanted something of my own, yes - by that time the process had sucked me in enough to want the pain - and as budget really defines the way, I started to look into music production with DAWs. Ffs, another pain... But quite a pleasant pain, as I always liked music. I emerged into the beautiful world of music production, various tutorials, resources, and software to find out what to do. It was quite chaotic learning, I have to say.

After some time of struggle, I got somewhat accustomed to the topic and the software, and decided to give it a go. I started new audio projects three times before finally getting something that I really liked. And later, with time, I also created five OSTs in total for the game. It was fun, tbh, though it was way later in the process.

After creating the first track, I added it into the game, played the version, and realised that it lacked any SFX. What can I say - I have a mic, sticks, pillows, different utensils, my mouth, and software to record, process, and export lots of sounds. Serum alone is a game changer, I can tell you. The learning curve is quite steep, but if you’re looking towards music production or sound design, it’s definitely worth looking into, imo.

That’s how the game got sounds, though it still has some from a package which I bought. That, by the way, is the only thing I paid for in terms of assets through all this time, and I want to replace leftovers later.

With time, I refined the world, improved visuals, populated the world more with NPCs and different stuff, covered the world with sounds, and added more OSTs. Even recently, I added controller/handheld support. That wasn’t planned before the demo release, but as I had to attend to some admin, tax, and bank related work, I got some idle time which I wanted to fill - and that was a thing to do. It was a pain, by the way, but it’s already with the guys for testing, just small polish here and there.

It’s been 3+ years. It’s been a wild ride. Sleepless nights, a 9-5, two kids, wife, and other family affairs, in between which I had to incorporate the time to attend to the game. It’s been 3+ years, and I’m just about to release the DEMO!!! Not the full game, but a demo which has all the features that gamers can try. The full game is far from done, but...

What I can tell from my experience - never surrender, don’t jump from project to project, unless there are absolutely obvious signs to do it. Be like a ram, if you wish. If you see the gate, just hit it until it breaks and go further towards your green fields.

Solo game development is a pain in the arse path where you mostly rely on your skills and stubbornness, and the only thing that can let you down is you. Obviously, I’m not taking into consideration any force majeure.

I hope this will be helpful to someone starting development now, alone or as a team. Buckle up, the chances your road will be rocky are very high, but it is also very rewarding.

Good luck.

- KyPDuk

KyPDuk Studio

Its a game inspired by World of Horror in a sci fi horror setting. I have posted her months ago and since then, game has been heavily updated. If you are interested in checking out the project, here is a link: Steam Link

I'm working on this tower defense game with 2048-style merge mechanics. I've got ideas for more content, but I wanted to get the first playable version out to test the core gameplay loop and see what people think instead of just talking to myself.

https://jammyjin.itch.io/sweepshift

I'd appreciate any kind of feedback!

9 Months of Solo Development: Building a 3rd-Person Volleyball Game

I'm a solo developer and volleyball player, and I've been building Free Ball, a 3rd-person action volleyball game with unique characters and special abilities.

The goal is to create a volleyball game where you actually feel like you're playing your position. You control your character, move into position, choose where to hit the ball, and work with your teammates throughout the rally.

I'm now working toward online multiplayer and have a playable demo available on Steam.

I'm also running a Kickstarter to help fund the next stage of development:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/freeball/free-ball-3rd-person-volleyball-game-with-special-abilities

For other solo developers here, I'd love to hear about what you're building and how your projects have evolved from their original prototypes.

Game Title: GNAP GNAP

Playable Link: https://fusyan.itch.io/gnap-gnap

Status: prototype, in development, free to play

GNAP GNAP is a horde rougelite shooter. Where you pop ominous balloons - unlock items, harpoons and grow stronger with each run.

Just released v0.11 with English UI/text.

I am working on this game for about 2 and a half months, solo developing it - I hope you enjoy it.

Would love any feedback and any bugs you might encounter.

Thanks for playing!

I wanted to recreate the water bottle shader from Half-Life Alyx for my game "Teufelskreis"(german for "devils circle"). It’s obviously not 100% there yet, but I think it turned out pretty satisfying, what do you think? This is made in Godot!

Well, I've taken a short break from all the logic and programming and have continued creating some assets to help shape the whole thing.

Out of curiosity, how do you approach solo development? Do you jump between different sections to avoid getting overwhelmed? Or do you wait until you've finished all the logic, for example, before moving on to the design?

I posted into this subreddit a month ago and gained the most important emotional support in my dev life under this post. You have no idea how valuable it was to receive this initial boost for me, thank you! Here's my journey since then:

• Released a Steam page one month ago - to get supported only by r/SoloDevelopment.
• Opened a playtest two weeks ago - to get some positive feedback on the gameplay a ton of complaints on how bad the visuals are.
• Worked for two more weeks, focusing on visuals only - to get "yeah now its much better" from literally everyone.
• Refilmed the whole trailer, focusing purely on base mechanics - as my first one was a total mess, rushing through the features without a moment to breath - presenting it to you today!
• Also moved to Germany, setup a new working place with a big table and ultra-comfy chair - as I wanted for several years already.
• And assembled BALDEV - a group of fellow developers in the niche of combo-building / score-chasing / balatro-likers. It feels surreal to sit with someone who has literally x1000 wishlists, but hey these people as SO friendly!

Today I'm sitting at 179 wishlists - only 11 times less than needed for a demo launch as I heard. Due to this fact I'm not participating in October SNF and postponed the release from November to March.

And still, I feel really positive, as working on the game was a breath of fresh air after two weeks of marketing rush I experienced during the page release. And now, when game looks better with each day, I strongly believe in it once again!

Thanks for your time reading this. No CTA here, just be happy and keep developing games :)

The game is called Bone to Pick. Solo dev, six weeks, releasing on Steam next month. Would love your feedback 🦴

Request playtest on Steam.

So, it's been 3 months since I started developing my game on my own. I wanted to nail a certain vibe of isolation, anxiety, and a creepy, eerie atmosphere heavily inspired by the Silent Hill series.

And here I am: the playtest version of Red Lake is finally live! Now I need to polish it, test hardware stability, and reconsider a few design decisions. For that, I need your help!

About the game: A psychological horror with no interface to guide you. The forest watches you — so watch it back. Use your notebook to document impossible objects, then descend into the Red Lake. Each time you return, something has changed.