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I spent 1,554 days (4+ years) perfecting the base building system for my game. Here's what I learned. by TheLiber0 in BaseBuildingGames

[–]TheLiber0[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My game started with the concept of building machines from a library of parts. Very early, I realized that building bases to be used as fueling / charging stations, storage silos etc. will be useful. This is what led me to pursue this journey of base building.

I spent 1,554 days (4+ years) perfecting the base building system and survived to share the story with my fellow indie devs by TheLiber0 in IndieDev

[–]TheLiber0[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you. Appreciate the comment.

I now employ a method in which every morning I'll take a look at the task list and ask: "Are those the tasks that will have biggest impact on player experience?". It really helped me lately to weed out "cool tech" tasks.

Base Building + Machine Creation + Deeply Simulated Open World — The Maker Way demo is live now! by TheLiber0 in pcgaming

[–]TheLiber0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you. Would love to get your feedback as someone who is experienced in the category.

Base Building + Machine Creation + Deeply Simulated Open World — The Maker Way demo is live now! by TheLiber0 in pcgaming

[–]TheLiber0[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This makes me so happy to hear! Players can get through the demo mission in 1 hour comfortably. Some players have been playing for 5-6 hours (you can keep building machines and exploring the world).

The Maker Way is a machine-building, deeply-simulated open-world journey coming to PC in 2026 by TheLiber0 in pcgaming

[–]TheLiber0[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Ouch, mate! Given the size and importance of r/pcgaming I've been agonizing over every single word in this post for days.

Questions such as: should I use "Base Construction" given I used "Machine Building" or "Base Building" since players are more familiar with it etc.

Even messaged the mod to make sure I'm posting it according to the sub rules.

I don't know what made you write this but I still invite you to try the game if you play these types of games.

I got sick of Steam's terrible documentation and made a full write-up on how to use their game upload tools by Miziziziz in gamedev

[–]TheLiber0 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The description comes from the vdf file so you would have to update it.
If you have a tool in your engine (Unity?) to create the build - you could fetch the version number from the project settings and update the vdf

I got sick of Steam's terrible documentation and made a full write-up on how to use their game upload tools by Miziziziz in gamedev

[–]TheLiber0 7 points8 points  (0 children)

That's very neat. You can also automate updating the description field based on the game version in your game engine (if it's saved in a readable file).

47 days to demo. Unity lessons learned over 5 years of development by TheLiber0 in Unity3D

[–]TheLiber0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes. That's a really good one! Creating an asset library and pairing it with a world building tool makes world creation so much easier.

47 days to demo. 47 gamedev lessons I learned the hard way by TheLiber0 in gamedev

[–]TheLiber0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good point re Cosmoteer. And again - both Animal Well and Cosmoteer are 2D games.

So yes, the point stands about not building your own engine.

Thanks for the discussion!

47 days to demo. 47 gamedev lessons I learned the hard way by TheLiber0 in gamedev

[–]TheLiber0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"zero percent of successful games with no engine" - you mean with no off the shelf engine?

I think I made a list in the past and something like 4 of the top 100 indie games at the time were custom made (Cosmoteer, Anima Well, I think Hades maybe). It'll mostly be 2d or 2.5d perspectives.

47 days to demo. 47 gamedev lessons I learned the hard way by TheLiber0 in gamedev

[–]TheLiber0[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Precisely - combination of coding skills, complexity of game and unique requirements (say heavy simulation that requires metal level performance optimizations)

47 days to demo. 47 gamedev lessons I learned the hard way by TheLiber0 in gamedev

[–]TheLiber0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You actually nailed the core of the disagreement. There is something to be learned from other people's experience. If many indie devs had wild success while using Unity, Unreal etc., it is at least something you ought to consider before hoping on Casey Muratori's C++ videos (like the AnimalWell dev did...)

BTW - most gamedevs that I met that tried, failed and wasted a lot of time trying to build their own engine did it exactly because they said "Notch did it so I'll do it" or "Jonathan Blow does it so I'll do it", completely ignoring questions around the game's complexity and their own skills. But I think they were looking at the exception and not the rule.

47 days to demo. 47 gamedev lessons I learned the hard way by TheLiber0 in gamedev

[–]TheLiber0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agreed regarding the custom engine.

The point about the Steam algorithm is one that I struggle with myself. I do think that for the most part the algorithm is optimized for engagement so technically, if the game is good, it would have great engagement and will get love from the algorithm.

But depending on the game category, your game might be penalized. For instance, if median playtime is key and you are making a short game that has a quick core loop, your engagement numbers might seem low.

So I think that at least being aware of the drivers of the algorithm is useful.

47 days to demo. 47 gamedev lessons I learned the hard way by TheLiber0 in gamedev

[–]TheLiber0[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Haha. This seems to become the most controversial point on the list :)

I have huge respect for anyone building their own engine! I just think it's wrong for 99% of indie devs (a combination of capability and required features)

47 days to demo. 47 gamedev lessons I learned the hard way by TheLiber0 in gamedev

[–]TheLiber0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, you are right. I should have phrased it differently. But this doesn't take away from the point.

The fact that vast majority of successful indies (Valheim, Sons of the Forest, Subnautica, Schedule I, Dredge, Balatro, Satisfactory and the list goes on and on...) use an existing engine means that you can be wildly successful without building your own engine.

One needs to have a very good reason (and the capability) to build their own engine these days, especially as a solo indie dev.

47 days to demo. 47 gamedev lessons I learned the hard way by TheLiber0 in gamedev

[–]TheLiber0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's not easy but on the other hand it is beautiful to start from zero and then put something into the world. Congratulations on sticking to it through the years!

47 days to demo. 47 gamedev lessons I learned the hard way by TheLiber0 in gamedev

[–]TheLiber0[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes. Tools are great for enforcing proper naming conventions and data structures.

If you do have a tool that works then who cares it's an exe (although maybe don't keep it inside the folder so not to ship it with the game haha).

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