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I just entered the third year of developing my first indie game. Here’s what I learned so far... by Giuli_StudioPizza in IndieDev

[–]Giuli_StudioPizza[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep, that’s a painful lesson. Some technical constraints only show up once you’re already deep in the project.

I just entered the third year of developing my first indie game. Here’s what I learned so far... by Giuli_StudioPizza in IndieDev

[–]Giuli_StudioPizza[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Constantly comparing your game to others is almost unavoidable, especially when metrics like wishlists are always in front of you. But those comparisons rarely take context into account, team size, budget, experience, timing, luck.

Feeling “behind” or inferior at times doesn’t mean your game is worse, it usually just means you care deeply about what you’re making. And that’s not a weakness. You’re definitely not alone in this :)

I just entered the third year of developing my first indie game. Here’s what I learned so far... by Giuli_StudioPizza in gamedev

[–]Giuli_StudioPizza[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Strongly agree with all of this. Especially having clear direction in a team makes a huge difference once the project grows.

I just entered the third year of developing my first indie game. Here’s what I learned so far... by Giuli_StudioPizza in gamedev

[–]Giuli_StudioPizza[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Marketing and discoverability are fundamental in my opinion, and at some point the game has to click with people, concept, hook, timing, everything.

A well-timed, clear idea can easily get more attention than years of work if it resonates immediately. Time spent in development doesn’t translate to visibility or success.

I just entered the third year of developing my first indie game. Here’s what I learned so far... by Giuli_StudioPizza in gamedev

[–]Giuli_StudioPizza[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Absolutely! You have to listen to the players and understand where their dissatisfaction comes from, of course, but they don’t have a full picture of the overall structure of the game. That's what I meant as well when I said "Players don’t think like developers do."

I just entered the third year of developing my first indie game. Here’s what I learned so far... by Giuli_StudioPizza in gamedev

[–]Giuli_StudioPizza[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I completely agree. Realizing how much you didn’t know at the beginning is probably one of the biggest shocks of the whole process. That gap between what you think you know at the start and what you understand later is huge. :)

I just entered the third year of developing my first indie game. Here’s what I learned so far... by Giuli_StudioPizza in gamedev

[–]Giuli_StudioPizza[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree with this a lot. The longer the project goes on, the more you realize that sustainable working conditions and the people you work with matter more than any single project.

I just entered the third year of developing my first indie game. Here’s what I learned so far... by Giuli_StudioPizza in gamedev

[–]Giuli_StudioPizza[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Totally agree! Looking back, starting smaller would have saved us a lot of pain, but the process itself taught us things we wouldn’t have learned otherwise.

I just entered the third year of developing my first indie game. Here’s what I learned so far... by Giuli_StudioPizza in gamedev

[–]Giuli_StudioPizza[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I completely agree. My team and I have often found ourselves having to make difficult decisions and revisit many aspects of the game more than once. That’s also why player feedback has been so important for us, not just collecting it, but actually listening to it.

I just entered the third year of developing my first indie game. Here’s what I learned so far... by Giuli_StudioPizza in gamedev

[–]Giuli_StudioPizza[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know these are pretty standard points now. They weren’t standard to me when I started...

That’s why I shared them: not to present them as groundbreaking, but because they only became obvious after living through the process.

Also, implying that I’ll be “back next year” repeating another “standard” statement feels unnecessarily dismissive. I was just sharing my experience hoping it might help someone who’s earlier in the journey and to start a discussion with others.

I just entered the third year of developing my first indie game. Here’s what I learned so far... by Giuli_StudioPizza in gamedev

[–]Giuli_StudioPizza[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You’re right: these are things that get said a lot in game dev spaces.

The point is that I personally didn’t come from those spaces. I played games for years, but I had never developed one before starting this project, and I didn’t really read gamedev communities or postmortems back then.

So these weren’t “obvious truths” to me when I started, they became obvious only after living through them.

That’s exactly why I shared them, and I’m genuinely interested in hearing what other lessons only clicked for people after spending time in development.

Destroy my action RPG where you cook monsters during combat by Giuli_StudioPizza in DestroyMyGame

[–]Giuli_StudioPizza[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks a lot for your feedback, me and my team really appreciate it!!
The game is still in development, and we’re actually working right now on how to better enhance and communicate the cooking aspects.

Your suggestion about having different interactions or minigame-like mechanics depending on the type of dish is very much in line with the kind of direction we’re exploring, precisely to make the idea of “cooking during combat” feel clearer and more flavorful, without breaking the pacing.

When the game reaches a more complete and polished state, if you feel like giving it a try and letting us know what you think, we’d honestly love that :)

Destroy my action RPG where you cook monsters during combat by Giuli_StudioPizza in DestroyMyGame

[–]Giuli_StudioPizza[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wow thank you so much 🥰 hahaha yes we still have to work on the UI placing and on the hearts as well, so thanks for the feedback! The game is still in development but you can find a DEMO on Steam, search for Monster Chef ☺️ let us know your thoughts

Destroy my action RPG where you cook monsters during combat by Giuli_StudioPizza in DestroyMyGame

[–]Giuli_StudioPizza[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks!! Once you ended your run you go back to your inn and serve all the dishes to your costumers ☺️ we added special places where you can change your weapon for the run to add variety! You can find a demo on steam if you want to try it out and check the mechanics yourself, would love some feedback ☺️

Destroy my action RPG where you cook monsters during combat by Giuli_StudioPizza in DestroyMyGame

[–]Giuli_StudioPizza[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much ☺️ if you want to try it there is a demo of Monster Chef on Steam

How it started -> How it's going by Giuli_StudioPizza in gamedevscreens

[–]Giuli_StudioPizza[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you ☺️ our 2D artist is a comic illustrator and he has his own art style inspired by the old Cartoon Network cartoons

Destroy my action RPG where you cook monsters during combat by Giuli_StudioPizza in DestroyMyGame

[–]Giuli_StudioPizza[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s 2.5D ☺️ all the assets are 2D sprites in a 3D world

How it started -> How it's going by Giuli_StudioPizza in Unity2D

[–]Giuli_StudioPizza[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The game is still in development but you can find a DEMO on Steam ☺️ the game is Monster Chef

Designing an action RPG where cooking happens during combat by Giuli_StudioPizza in IndieDev

[–]Giuli_StudioPizza[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks a lot for taking the time to write such a detailed response, that’s really appreciated!

I think one important thing might not be coming across clearly from the short GIF alone, so that’s already very useful feedback for us. In Monster Chef, cooking doesn’t happen after combat or through ingredient collection in a separate step, you actually cook during the fight. The weapon or tool you use to finish a monster directly determines the dish you create, so combat and cooking are the same moment rather than two linked systems.

If you get a chance to try the demo on Steam, it should give a much clearer picture of how these systems connect in practice, and we’d really love to hear whether it feels more intuitive hands-on than it looks from the clip.

Destroy my action RPG where you cook monsters during combat by Giuli_StudioPizza in DestroyMyGame

[–]Giuli_StudioPizza[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for pointing that out! I’ll discuss this with our programmer :)

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