Solo Developers
- Solo developer is a person who is capable to do several different occupations at the same time.
- The main dilemma: programming vs design
- There is always one side that prevails, and it's important to tailor your game around it
- Do you wanna make great design with simple code or a technically top-notch game with pure design?
Solo development requires effort above-and-beyond. Sleep is the first to go. Health may follow.
Games made by one person
River Raid
(1982)
(1982)
Tetris
(1984)
(1984)
Cave Story (2004)
Braid
(2008)
(2008)
Spelunky
(2008)
(2008)
Minecraft
(2011)
(2011)
Dust: An Elysian Tail (2012)
Flappy Bird (2013)
Undertale
(2015)
(2015)
Axiom Verge (2015)
Stardew Valley (2016)
Bright Memory (2019)
River Raid
- made by Carol Shaw
- published in 1982 by Activision for Atari 2600
- one of the first top-down shoot-em-ups
- sold 1 mil copies and earned awards for best action game
- the first game banned by Germany for military content
Tetris
- made by Alexey Pajitnov
- published in 1984 for Electronika 60
- "The Greatest Soviet Game"
- Alexey lost control over the copyright until 1996
- playing Tetris 30 minutes a day increases the thickness
of the gray matter in the brain
Cave Story
- made by Daisuke Amaya
- published in 2004 by Studio Pixel for desktop
- Metroidvania-like game made piece by piece (including tools)
- titled as "a game built solely for passion, not cash"
- took 5 years to finish
Braid
- made by Jonathan Blow
- published in 2009 by Number None
- a clue-less puzzle game with lots of references
- 1st version was released in 2005 with a simple artwork
- expressed the turning point of indie game development
Spelunky
- made by Derek Yu
- published in 2008 by Mossmouth as a freeware for PC
- a game that is "easy to hate and easy to love"
- one of the first rogue-like dungeon crawlers
- influenced by Super Mario games
Minecraft
- made by Markus Persson
- published in 2011 by Mojang Studios for desktop
- originated as a zombie survival game that never ends
- heavily inspired by Infiniminer
- one of a few examples of a successful Early Access Game
Dust: An Elysian Tail
- made by Dean Dodrill
- published in 2012 by Humble Hearts
- 2D platformer with combat, RPG, and exploration elements
- originated as a short film, took 4 years to finish
- Dean made full use of his experience from Jazz Jackrabbit 2
Flappy Bird
- made by Dong Nguyen
- published in 2013 by Gears for Android/iOS
- one of a few "viral success" stories
- became the most popular free app in the world
- eventually became the most hated game in the world
Undertale
- made by Toby Fox
- published in 2015 by Toby Fox
- one of the most enjoyable "alternative" game experiences
- the story changes depending on the player's choices
- started as a Kickstarter project with 1022% funding
Axiom Verge
- made by Thomas Happ
- published in 2015 by Thomas Happ Games
- a side-scroller that focused on both exploration and combat
- inspired by Metroid and Contra
- originated as a side project, took 5 years to finish
Stardew Valley
- made by Eric Barone
- published in 2016 by ConcernedApe/Chucklefish
- farming simulator with RPG aspects
- inspired by Harvest Moon series
- avoided Early Access and went public after ~4 years
Bright Memory
- made by Zeng Xiancheng
- published in 2019 by Playism for Windows/iOS/Android
- FPS hack-and-slash game
- had several licensing issues over stolen assets
- currently being remade into a full-length title
Honorable mention - Ultima Series
- open world fantasy
- laid the groundwork for most RPGs
- made by Richard Garriott (a.k.a Lord British)
- started as a student project in 1980
- evolved into MMORPG - Ultima Online
- ended with failed Ultima X project in 2003