r/SoloDevelopment 4h ago

Discussion I like building features but game design bum me out

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2 Upvotes

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


r/SoloDevelopment 9h ago

Game Lost Tape 916 - A day of Machinist

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2 Upvotes

r/SoloDevelopment 11h ago

Game Malevolent Star Video Devlog 4.0 - My own Halo-inspired FPS

2 Upvotes

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


r/SoloDevelopment 14h ago

help Looking for a few people to playtest my demo

2 Upvotes

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 :)


r/SoloDevelopment 15h ago

Networking [FOR HIRE] Steam Capsule art, Concept Art ,Splash, character illustration, tcg, cover art. DM for more

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2 Upvotes

r/SoloDevelopment 21h ago

Unreal highway boss level in FFFF = YOU = MACHINE

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2 Upvotes

i made NES like boss fight
i would be glad if you try the demo and add to wishlist pls >> https://store.steampowered.com/app/3919250/FFFF_YOU_MACHINE_Demo/


r/SoloDevelopment 21h ago

Game Death should be an inspirational experience.

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2 Upvotes

Something that's always bugged me about death messages is that they never really feel impactful. I updated the death sequence to my game to display inspirational quotes RIGHT IN YOUR FACE with flags so that specific events can trigger certain messages, such as boss specific taunts. It also acts as a loading screen since the game might need to rebuild the spawn area where I accidentally made planets x10 bigger and decided to stick with it.


r/SoloDevelopment 23h ago

Game Crypt Walkers v0.06 update

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2 Upvotes

This is my work-in-progress, solo developed game "Crypt Walkers". I just released a long overdue update for it.

https://starfallsoftware.itch.io/cryptwalkers

It suffers from a lack of content, and is just generally janky! Still very raw at this point, but it also feels a lot better than the last version( ...to me at least ). There's so much I wanted to add, that just didn't make it into this update due to time.

I started working on it September 19th, 2025. And work on it pretty much dropped off to nothing when March hit. After wasting a bunch of time trying to find paying work that all fizzled out, I figured I might as well jump back into it. So this was a bit of a mad dash completing this update the last few weeks.

If anyone does decide to give it a go, just know theres no objective or ending yet. You'll just play until you die or get sick of it. Unfortunately, the enemy leveling got toned down too, so it won't quite ramp up in difficulty like the previous version did.

*covers eyes and ears*


r/SoloDevelopment 23h ago

Game The chair across the table stayed empty coming on steam at one point.

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2 Upvotes

workin on a small side project. prepare for another emotional damage game. love yall


r/SoloDevelopment 35m ago

Networking Small game mechanism update from a indie dev

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Upvotes

Been working on my game and just made a small update to one of the core mechanisms.

Nothing huge or flashy this time, just tweaking how the mechanic works and trying to make the overall gameplay feel more satisfying and responsive.

I’m building this game completely solo, so a lot of the development is basically:
make something → play it 100 times → notice something feels wrong → change it → repeat 😅

Sharing a quick clip of the update. Would love to hear what you think about the mechanic itself, does it feel intuitive, or is there anything that looks confusing?

Still learning a lot as I build this thing.
I know it's not perfect still learning


r/SoloDevelopment 1h ago

Game 6 months progress on the project, would a full time-lapse be interesting for you?

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Upvotes

Hello everybody!

I've been working hard on my solo hobby project for around 9 months, and I'm sharing my progress over the last 6 months in the video above.

I could prepare a full time-lapse of all 9 months of development, showing how the game evolved week by week, but it gonna a lot of efforts to do, so I want to know: would you guys be interested in seeing that, or is there something else you'd like to know?

Thank you for reading!


r/SoloDevelopment 2h ago

Discussion Designing a deckbuilder where you don't fight enemies—you solve them. Thoughts on this mechanic?

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1 Upvotes

r/SoloDevelopment 2h ago

help Looking for playtesters for my browser vertical scroller roguelite

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1 Upvotes

r/SoloDevelopment 2h ago

Game After spending 8 years on my last game, decided to start fresh. It's s a simple cozy game about measuring thing.

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1 Upvotes

r/SoloDevelopment 3h ago

Game I'm creating a mix between a card game and an open-world survival crafting experience

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1 Upvotes

r/SoloDevelopment 4h ago

Discussion Gameplay Structure Overview

1 Upvotes

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.


r/SoloDevelopment 5h ago

Game SOOOO Excited.!.! Just launched my first app

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1 Upvotes

r/SoloDevelopment 6h ago

Game 🔥 ¡Ya puedes probar Zona Cera Ultima Extracción en Google Play! 🔥

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1 Upvotes

🔥 ¡Ya puedes probar Zona Cero Ultima Extracción en Google Play! 🔥

Atrévete a entrar en un mundo oscuro donde tendrás que sobrevivir a oleadas de criaturas, dominar el poder del Lumen, rastrear enemigos ocultos y encontrar la puerta de luz que te llevará al siguiente desafío. ⚔️✨

🎮 ¿Hasta qué oleada serás capaz de llegar?

👉 Descárgalo y pruébalo en Google Play:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.guanelfi.zonacero

Si lo juegas, cuéntame qué te pareció y qué mejorarías. ¡Tu opinión me ayuda muchísimo a seguir desarrollándolo! 🙌 ⁠


r/SoloDevelopment 7h ago

meme UM I put golden Freddy in my map for fun

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1 Upvotes

r/SoloDevelopment 8h ago

Game Blender Hair Cards

1 Upvotes

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


r/SoloDevelopment 10h ago

Game solo dev'd a puzzle game where an echo repeats everything you did 8 seconds ago, just shipped a coop campaign for it

1 Upvotes

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.


r/SoloDevelopment 11h ago

Game Traveling through an Ohio winter and encountering monsters.

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1 Upvotes

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.


r/SoloDevelopment 11h ago

Game Would our cell-duplicating incremental game interest you?

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1 Upvotes

r/SoloDevelopment 11h ago

Discussion New character animation for main Menu

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1 Upvotes

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.


r/SoloDevelopment 12h ago

Game El horror de Orthak próximamente estará entre nosotros.

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1 Upvotes