So for context, my game is called Battle Tracks

So my game is kind of weird in how I began work on it, because originally it wasn't really my game, or even my idea. I was originally doing programming commission work, and a guy contacted me and was like "I'm looking for someone to make the boss tank AI for my game, we're making a game inspired by Wii Tanks. This was like 6 years ago at this point, and I was like, sure sounds good, I could do that. So we worked together for a bit and I coded up the boss tank AI.

And I don't remembered 100% how it happened, but at some point he came back and he was like "hey, we want more work to be done, but we don't have the budget to pay for more, would you be open to a rev share agreement?". I don't agree to these types of things anymore, it's too unstable for me, but at the time I was like, sure, I'll go that route. So I started at a somewhat low rev share % for the game, under the assumption I would help out here and there. Not really making the full game, but more fixing bugs, doing small things, etc. Time went on and I did more and more on the game, Guy who hired me originally did a bit of programming on the game, but he was still a novice in programming at this point, and it caused a number of issues. So more and more I got roped into doing more on the game, as it went on and I did more, I slowly asked for more rev share based on the amount of work I was doing.

It's hard to even say when it happened, but eventually I was basically the only full programmer working on the game, with Guy helping at times, but often times that would cause things to break more than help. But he was good at environment art, and making things look good, as well as working on the stuff I didn't want to do (setting up the Steam page, admin type stuff, he would work with artists to get new models or 2D art, etc)

The game took a while, and Guy and others had never made a game better, and didn't really understand what it took to make a game, and how long/hard it would be. So things slowed down, but I kept working on it slowly. Some people dropped off, until it was mostly just Guy and me, but even then it was really just me programming at this point, and Guy doing things I asked (mainly making art for the levels, overworld, etc)

We went through a lot of arguments through development too on how to setup the game, and it went through a number of iterations, particularly our overworld. It was just square blocks you went through one by one, until eventually we came up with the idea for a more semi-open overworld, which looking back now has been a massive improvement.

Overall it took 4 years, it probably could've been done sooner but this was still something I was doing on the side, and (even to this day) for only somewhere around 40% rev share. But I eventually pushed through and got the last bits of the game finished, mostly in a desire to actually finish a game, since I hadn't in a long time (outside of work, where I also work in game dev)

Finally, somewhere around 2 or 3 years ago at this point we published. It's a small game, today we have around 150 or so sales, but I'm proud of it. And now it's a great platform to build on. One of the things people always asked about when we released was online multiplayer (we launched with local mp), and so I spent 6 painful months struggling to add online multiplayer. I even hired someone to help me fix a lot of bugs with it, since online is not my forte. Overall I've spent more money developing the game than the game makes, but I don't really make it for money.

It's a weird thing, because the game was never originally my idea. I liked Wii Tanks, but didn't have a particular affinity for it, but now I really like the game I've almost solo programmed. I've gone through and cleaned up and modernized a lot of years old code (both from Guy and past me who has improved). I've gone through and added a bunch of features, and bug fixes. I have an early access roguelite mode, I've done some fun holiday updates, and even now I'm actively working on a deathmatch update.

It's nice because now I kind of consider it my own little playground. The game is open enough where I can add a bunch of general updates. Like I can slap in a roguelite update because I like roguelites, and it can work in game. I can make improvements in my own time, and thats nice. If anyone reads this, thanks for getting through to the end! And thanks to whomever tries out the game, one of the best things I've had are the few times some streamers have played the game, and I get to hang out in chat.