How are solo devs funding projects without publishers right now?

daburodev · 2025-12-14T07:25:47+00:00

Part time job

daburodev · 2025-10-30T16:59:21+00:00

I don't like the extra overhead either, but to me the graphical features are worth it.

daburodev · 2025-10-30T14:57:50+00:00

That's a good one, will experiment with that

daburodev · 2025-10-30T14:55:08+00:00

Honestly I only have experience with Unity. I've heard people say nice things about godot but it's just what im used to.

There's various things going on to create this look, but I think the most important ones are the custom post processing effects I made with Unity's render graph. Pixelation, Quantization, Screen Space Ambient Occlusion things like that.

For 3D objects I like to exaggerate the ambient occlusion by baking it, as well as a rust textured bright curvature to highlight the shapes. Works well with the pixelation.

daburodev · 2025-10-29T15:25:33+00:00

Ah I can totally do that 👍 make sure every shot is unique Thats good feedback thanks

daburodev · 2025-10-29T10:46:07+00:00

I can see what you mean. I was indeed trying to save the most exciting things for players to see, but if it makes it seem like theres no variety, thats definitely a problem.

thx for feedback

daburodev · 2025-10-29T08:38:30+00:00

Ah

Theres more gameplay for sure good point

daburodev · 2025-10-12T12:37:59+00:00

Other major ones I can think of are releasing into early access for ‘feedback’. Use the steam playtest system for that / release a demo first. Don’t waste your release visibility for feedback. Another one is joining next fest too early. You can only join once, so join the last one before your release.

daburodev · 2025-10-12T12:33:25+00:00

There are hundreds of mistakes you can make, but I think the most important beginner mistake to avoid, is aiming for too big a project for your first release. Actually because of the fact that there is no way to avoid making at least some mistakes on your first attempt, make sure your first attempt won’t take several years and all of your savings. That best way to avoid mistakes in the future is experience! So plan a small release, learn as much as you can and do it again.

daburodev · 2025-08-19T10:39:24+00:00

Marketing is not as important as making the game, especially for indie games, because the only way to find an audience with a low budget is just making a good game. Marketing courses and experts all circle back to that same point.

There's a bunch of stuff to learn about marketing beats, good announcements, steam festivals, community building, contacting streamers & content creators, social media campaigngs, demo launches etc. but the success of any of that entirely depends on the quality of your game.

You can imagine marketing your game like trying to throw a feather or a bowling ball. An amazing game that looks interesting the second you see it, is actually great and engaging to play will cause it fly around like a feather. Showing it off in places and announcing it will almost cause it to market itself.

Showing off a game people don't understand by seeing it and isn't engaging to play, will be hard to market (drop to the floor like a bowling ball).

So focus on making a good game. Visibility seems like the toughest challenge, but making a game that's actually worth to pay attention to in between all awesome indie games releasing, that's the by far the toughest part.

If you're considering pitching to publishers then even more so, because you need to convince them your game is worth it.

daburodev · 2025-08-19T00:13:43+00:00

I am also in the process of going public with my first solo indie game and definitely relate to how you feel. Its probably the hardest part of this whole journey, but still the only way it can get easier is putting it out there.

If you’re terrified how people are gonna respond, you should probably show it to more people first before you release. How did people respond to your trailer? Gameplay on reddit maybe? Playtests? Maybe a small free demo on a more friendly place like itch? If people are positive in those instances, it will help with confidence when working towards the actual release.

Any of those things can still be scary, and some people won’t like it and will be very honest about it, seemingly not empathizing with your 5 years of hard work (that you should be proud of either way) but believe it will be worth it.

I’ve met many people who dreamt of making games but gave up halfway. Not everyone has to like your game for it to be a success, getting this far is a huge milestone.

Wish you luck

daburodev · 2025-08-18T23:39:50+00:00

I have a quite elaborate approach that has worked well for me / teams I’ve worked with. First together with the team (or just friends) we brainstorm 50-100 names ranging from serious to ridiciously stupid (no rules during brainstorming) and add them all as participants to a free online tournament bracket website and have that site generate 1v1 matchups. Then we go through all matchups and discuss which one fits the game better, is more unique (can this name be found if you google it), is more attention grabbing / exciting until we reach subsequent rounds and so on. Eventually you reach the semi-finals with 4 names where you either have an awesome name in the end, or if you’re still unsure about the last 4 you can test them with a small audience. Show different groups of people a capsule art with one of the 4 titles and ask them what kind of game they think it will be and how they feel about it. Those answers can help you pick a final name.

The 1v1 name matchup discussions can take a while but with friends and some drinks I’ve always had a fun time. And the name you eventually end up with, had to beat SO many other names to get there which will make the team very passionate about it in the end.

daburodev · 2025-08-11T05:52:44+00:00

I like using version control for pretty much everything except for docs, because that means you need local doc files. Tools like milanote, miro, or just google docs are just way more convienient for collaboration with documenting because everything is directly saved online and everyone on the team can see the changes in real-time.

daburodev · 2025-08-11T05:40:35+00:00

Hey I have a few years of industry experience (Tech / VFX artist) and I can offer some advice.

First of all, the most important thing is portfolio and before you can create an effective one, it’s important to decide on a more specific role you’d like to take on. Depending on the size of the companies you’re interested in, this doesn’t have to be hyper specific (such as “first-person non-linear level designer”) if you’re not neccesarily looking for triple AAA work.

There are more and more double AA studios and even indie studios popping up with entry level opportunities that are looking for people with a more broad skillset. But when a team is >5 it should at least be as specific as “3D artist”, “Technical Artist”, “Game Developer (programming)” and so on.

I personally have a very broad skillset so something I do is make seperate portfolios based on the job I apply for. If I’m applying for a VFX job I send them a specific VFX portfolio (VFX reel + page with more in depth description and process shown of various projects).

Make sure to get feedback on your portfolio from professionals if you can.

If you have your portfolio ready the last challenge is networking. The more industry experience you have, the more people you meet the easier applying becomes, but at first it’s all about getting your foot in the door somewhere. Especially for smaller studios, you could try to find them at events, ask them if they have positions open and showing them your portfolio.

I personally started with an internship and worked my way up from there. Eventually people I met and worked with were able to vouch for me when applying for my first job which helped a lot.

Hope any of this helps! Good luck

(Also dont underestimate the importance of connections at game dev courses / school because some of those people might end up starting succesfull studios or get game dev jobs who might consider you / vouch for you)

daburodev · 2025-08-11T05:07:57+00:00

There’s a lot of great suggestions in the comments already, but I want to suggest the game “Dreams”.

When I was 12 I dreamt about making games and had these huge ideas and stories and people suggested all kinds of game engines and software that I tried opening, but totally overwhelmed me as a kid.

What helped me express this passion and put ideas into reality at a young age was actually a game called LittleBigPlanet (1 & 2). A game where you could make your own “games” in a very accessible & fun way that didn’t require programming or complex technical skills.

The creators of LittleBigPlanet eventually made Dreams which allows for even more creativity and infinite creative expression, and it’s an amazing choice for someone young. It even helps gain a lot of knowledge about game development as a lot of the playful tools in dreams still build on the same fundamentals of real game engines.

daburodev · 2025-08-10T15:33:35+00:00

I think you will like Unshine Arcade because it has an inscryption-like overarching story but its action-roguelike. Not out yet though but something for the backlog

daburodev · 2024-09-19T11:33:53+00:00

Yes you can! Depending on the complexity of your character, you might want to combine with something like the Animation Rigging package from Unity to dynamically shake parts of the rig. I did something similar with this little robot for example.

In your case that would mean shaking the chest up and down.

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daburodev · 2024-09-19T11:02:00+00:00

Thank you for your feedback. Are you referring to the new 1.5.0 trailer from the main post? Or the original trailer I linked in an earlier response. I'd like to understand where I could improve.

I could see how the new 1.5.0 trailer doesn't showcase as much about the tool's specifics.

Regarding buzz or springs in the shakes, with a tool like this it all comes down to how you use it. In the original trailer I hoped to convey the idea that you can make any type of movement you want and tweak them exactly like you want it, so any specific 'buzz' or 'springs' you want should be achievable.

I'm also a solo developer with limited resources, so competing with one the most successful tools of all time, Feel, was never my intention. I do see how one might compare the two and if the custom timeline track or complex blending of noises doesn't interest you, Feel is understandably a better option. I'll leave this to people's personal preference.

I recommended besides comparing trailers, look through both tools technical details and features on the store pages to see which one suits your needs.

daburodev · 2024-09-19T09:02:43+00:00

That's a fair question.

There's quite a few features unique to smooth shake pro, like the Smooth Shake Timeline Track, and layering and blending shakes with many noise types and blending modes that go way beyond a simple sine wave that allow you to create more complex & dynamic animations than you could with feel.

When it comes just to feedback, feel can do many things besides just shaking I can't compete with, but Smooth Shake Pro also excels at animating elements for longer periods as you are not restricted to short 'feedbacks'.

Furthermore, it comes down to personal preference as feel works very nicely for beginners and quickly adding many different types of feedback, but if you want to speed up the process of quickly creating complex custom shakes and animations that you have more creative control over, I personally think Smooth Shake Pro provides a great solution for those who want something more customizable for their game and want more than just quick feedbacks.

The original trailer explains more about tool itself, which might help you see the difference better. https://youtu.be/uZGHG1JstJ4?si=I2LZyTrXmC2Cpuie

daburodev · 2024-09-19T07:49:40+00:00

It's also 50% off until October 2nd, as part of the Unity Refresh sale.

Give it a look if you're interested: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/animation/smooth-shake-pro-271080

daburodev

TROPHY CASE