Effective talk: How to be a solo dev
Year of Talk: 2022
Starting a project:
The beginning of projects is normally when excitement for said project is at its highest. The most motivation for it exists and normally makes someone start said project especially as a solo dev. It's also the easiest time not to continue it as there isn't much already done and the sunk cost fallacy hasn't kicked in.
By working on art from the start it helps make the project feel like a real game. Doing so will help make the game have a more appropriate feel to it and like it's progressing in the right direction. It's also better than just looking at a blank art style and generic boxes. The art doesn't even need to be super complex or the final assets. But the basics can help set up the scenes and get a better feel for how the project will look.
Planning out a list of 5-10 items that can help populate the world and are somewhat easy to make will allow the project to start getting its feeling and become a more unique project compared to other ones just starting.
At the same time, setting limits to what the game is or isn't will force you to be more creative as you would need to find a workaround to it or ways to make it more interesting. Things like no multiplayer, how long the story is or it needs to have x amount of locations to visit. This will still give you an unlimited amount of potential but won't overwhelm you with a lot of different things you could do.
Keeping the momentum:
Most projects start as a passion project or some sort of inspiration. It is important to find a way to keep a high passion throughout the project or find other ways to keep working on the project. Sometimes a small problem or feature that takes a while to work on can demoralize you and take away a lot of motivation for the project.
A solution can be moving to another area of development so that you don't have to worry about looking at that area for some time and almost recharge any willingness to revisit that area.
Platform Deals:
Having a polished prototype or alpha makes marketing a lot easier. Not only to publishers but also to the public. This lets you have an easier time communicating what the game will look or feel like. Will also let you start getting a following for the game which can show possible publishers that you are more likely to succeed if money or a deal is given.
It also helps the publishers know how well the game might fit with the publishers. Some tend to only extend deals to certain types of games and having a game that shows off that it does fit that category can make it more appealing.
There are a few ways of approaching how to find a publishing or platform deal. One way is by knowing someone who works at one of the companies or knows another person who knows someone. This will allow you to start a conversation quicker as you can more quickly start the conversation and become noticed. Another way is through conventions/events where you can present your game as one of the games or talk with publishers and platforms there. This is the possible way if you have some extra money to go to the events.
Many deals (Especially with platforms) will normally pay the majority of the money on release and very little upfront. This means that it might not help if you need money upfront but if you already have some money and need some extra at release to tie yourself over then it helps a lot. It is also not recommended to try and stop or annoy a platform because another one seems more viable. It's important to keep them all in your good grace in case you need them in the future for other games.
More platforms more problems
Each platform will normally have very specific requests before letting you release the game on the platform. Can range from specific FPS, accessibility features, other features in general, etc. It is useful to start off with a base platform so that you can concentrate on making sure the game works well on that platform before expanding.
A big pro of releasing on multiple platforms is that you can reach a wider audience that's interested in the game and can buy it. Which leads to a larger spike in sales and more money for your game. But there are a lot of drawback that comes with extra platform releases. It ranges from needing to spend a lot of extra hours to make the game platform ready, to the audience that is into other games, to new controller skem appropriate UI.
Something to think about also is release dates for the platform. An option can be all at the same time which can cause issues with needing to do debugging for multiple platforms at the same time. This can lead to a lot more hours needed for testing and extra work that could be used to improve the base game. If spreading out the release then it helps reduce the number of hours before release and it can help determine if there is enough demand for the game in other platforms in general.
Sometimes it might be worth it to find other people who can help with porting. As simple as hiring someone else or having a friend who wants to do more porting work on your project with you.
Post Release:
Many times there is a mismatch between your expectations and the reality of sales. Or reviews come in and the joy might not last as long as you hoped. It's important to take some time to come to terms and process the whole release of the game you've spent an extended period of time working on.
It is also important to find support from other devs as well as supporting other devs when they need it. Solo Development might mean that you don't interact with many other people. It's important to reach out to friends and other people.
Other points:
It is important to find other solo devs so that you all can work on your own projects but have people you can easily connect with. It can get lonely if you don't find other people who can hype you and you can show progress.
When working super close on a game you can lose context on whether the game is good or if there is stuff that needs improvement. It helps to have extra people who can test and play your game to help review it and give you more feedback. It's important to keep these people always rotating so that you can get a wide variety of feedback from different backgrounds.
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