Solo Gamedev: How to Build Successful Games by Yourself

My weekly snippets. Go to filiph.net/ for more info about me and my projects. Currently working on giantrobotgame.com/.
Derek Yu's article: makegames.tumblr.com/post/113...
The genre graph: howtomarketagame.com/2022/04/...
GDS Conference (for which I'm preparing this talk): www.gdsession.com/index.php
My slides: docs.google.com/presentation/...

[@jamicassidy7955]

I really FEEL this video. Years and years of gradually learning solo game dev in the background of life... Forcing myself to take the scope down to a quarter is very realistic and may actually lead to a finished project, rather than a 20 year struggle.

[@daveandrewsmith1]

Haha, well congrats to you, I’m 1 year in and blindly walking forward day by day, knowing that at some point the scope will have to change drastically but for now I’m willingly living in denial doing design and making art assets. I reckon the point when I take this stuff into unreal and realise I can’t code and don’t know blueprint will be the cliff edge. Best of luck with your project 👍

[@cercaapps8051]

So true, finishing is the most difficult thing (I'm there now). There is a saying I always have in mind "After you finish the first 90% of a project, you have to finish the other 90%".

[@mowglibeta]

I honestly can't believe I've been learning to develop games from KZbin for 4 years and never seen you, this is extremely informative and soo helpful for someone trying to break into the industry 👏 great work bro instant sub

[@isinghmitesh]

Loved the part of scoping and cutting things. Accepting resource limitations and focusing on playing the non-linear games a solo dev can win too

[@sporktank]

Amazing insights. Thanks so much for making and sharing!

[@nvrp]

Thank you for sharing! I am about to start a project. I needed this motivation and advice!🙂👍

[@ryzizub]

Love this! Thank you for sharing all of that

[@CappicheGames]

So glad I found this channel. There's so much helpful stuff in here I can take forward to my 2nd game. Thanks for your insights!

[@rafikR85]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experience 😊 I think its all worth it just for that feeling you made a game - fantastic work buddy - congrats ❤😊

[@raffantt]

amazing! Love your journey!

[@nhanth]

I love this video a lot Filip. Thanks a lot.

[@samoldfield9997]

thank you, sir. right now, I am working on my first game and your video helped me a lot.

[@paulocardoso5475]

Humble motivation. Very good video !

[@CaptainEric-gm6wo]

Thank again for sharing your experience with game dev, pls bring more of that and also flutter for game dev ❤

[@laybunzz]

Love the video. Interestingly, I'd say a lot of the same concepts apply to plain app development as well. Working solo on a side project will put a developer through almost the exact same journey and test of personal discipline and will power.

[@filiphracek]

Agreed! It's probably similar also with the genre point - seemingly every app developer is making a TODO app, and there are probably better things we could be tackling. (Although, what these are is even more of a mystery to me than in gamedev.)

[@user-vr9qb5rj4j]

Eeeeeee! My prayers were answered. Thank you, Filip!

[@SEGVeenstra]

Thank you Filip, very good, and honest advice! I recognize my current journey in what you said. This year I made the most progress, not by working more/harder, but by grooming the scope. I think that specially for part-time developers, being strict in 'managing' your project is key. At least for me it helped a lot when I started creating a 'backlog' and fill it with tasks. Because I can spend an average of 1 maybe 2 hours a day on my project, I needed these tasks to be small, so that I could actually finish them in one sit. These small tasks lead to small victories which help me stay motivated. It's also easier to get yourself started. Like after when I've just spend 8 hours coding for the company, make/have diner, get kids to bed, I don't always have much energy left. But if the tasks are really small, I can more easily tell myself: "Well just do this one thing and then stop". Sometimes I will just do that one thing, but often finishing that small task will get me back in the flow, and I'd might do another one. Either way, I made progress... Do you have some more tips and tricks on this regard? Maybe an idea for a next video 😉

[@filiphracek]

This is fantastic advice!

[@GabrielCosta-xr5vr]

Great video! I think everything you said also applies to solo app development. At least I got everything for me. I'm also kind of proud of one of my projects (MyTime, time tracker app) just be finished and with some users. Although is not a success in many terms, the finishing and releasing for me was everything

[@jajasaria]

All we need is someone who will motivate us to keep going. Thanks Filip

[@hawkgamedev]

What a gem of a video thanks.

[@user-hl8dj3lk2x]

Love it! Keep it up!

[@enricllopis9304]

Thanks for this video.

[@alexanderkulaev541]

Amazing video, thank you! Very humbling, honest, and deep. I'm just learning to create my own first indie game (Russian living in Russia here), and yeah, it's a platformer in 2.5D :) So your talk about scope is the most important part for me. I have to cut and cut and cut. Cause I have so many ideas. Oh man. Anyway, thank you!

[@tonykempson4331]

Personally, in my opinion, $1700 per month as a passive income stream sounds absolutely wonderful!

[@yogeshdubey2031]

Though i do not develop games, but I would appreciate your pov as a solo developer making anything, litreally you are an absolute gem...

[@Innkeeper34]

Díky za tohle video. Už půl roku pracuju na hře o které jsem si myslel, že by mohla mít jistý úspěch, ale v poslední době jsem měl pocit, že se to nikam neposouvá. Před týdnem jsem dokonce z prokrastinace začal pracovat na něčem úplně novém a měl jsem z toho skvělý pocit. Ale jak vidím, je čas se vrátit k původnímu plánu.

[@user-hl8dj3lk2x]

Done is better than perfect!

[@michalbezpalec]

Luxusní video 🔥

[@peekors8829]

Cool video. Thank you, Filip. Game dev it 's romantic. So have much power for new games.Stay cool😎

[@michaelpease2103]

I have a side gig making about $1700 each month. If I could get another $1700 each month from game sales for a couple years, in addition to my primary income (about $3K per month), I would be an extremely happy camper.

[@arthurmonteiroalvesmelo1841]

amazing!!

[@mileusna]

Good video. I’m not into games but I’m indie developer and almost everything here can be applied on any solo project.

[@TJ-wc3iq]

Excellent! Thanks! I would just add to that "Finish" part regarding loosing motivation. When one develops the game for a long time solo, one might loose the initial intention and can just drop it. That might be an incredible gem but nobody knows. Release even 80% of a game might be beneficial. And I would like to hear more about the feedback, that really matters, for good or for bad, for motivation or for... For a progress, `I'd say.

[@DomesticMouse]

You rock 🎉

[@stupidgameprizes]

Thank you Filip, specifically for showing us how your prioritize the features with the spreadsheet. Would you mind sharing a template version of that spreadsheet with us? If not totally understandable, just trying to see what else you have on there that can be useful.

[@filiphracek]

Thanks! I would have to clean it to make it into a template, and it's very idiosyncratic to my needs anyway. What you see in that slide is basically it, so I think I'd rather encourage everyone to make their own version according to their needs. You'll be done in 20 minutes and it won't have the cruft of someone else's work.

[@naza3519]

I started watching your videos because I’m developing an agroecology game with Flame, and I just noticed you are Check! I’m trying to learn the language, hardest thing I ever tried :_) Anyways thanks for sharing you words of honesty and experience!

[@filiphracek]

Let me just say that an agroecology game sounds like something I would enjoy! Not that I know anything about agroecology - but that makes me want to play the game that much more. Oh, and good luck with Czech. It's hard as hell even for us native speakers. :)

[@hpenvy15]

Thank you for sharing these advices, from a guy who never released a game. Considering what you are saying, to never really release a game, hits me. But I’m also thinking, that im not finishing games one at a time so that when i do, i have several semi-finished products that i can try marketing an sell in a shorter time period. I have 4 games that i loop back and forth between. The game im working hardest with i will release last since ive hopefully learned from the earlier released games. I dont want to release them ten years apart i rather have a “private” portfolio first. But i may need to reconsider this approach! Thanks again.

[@DavidSerranoIO]

Thanks for sharing this Filip. I'm curious what monetization mechanisms you've managed to implement to get the performance you show at the beginning. Good job.

[@filiphracek]

The game is paid ("premium"), with no other monetization. The only thing that makes the monetization a little more complex is that the game entered into Play Pass after it got about 1000 first sales (which is a subscription in which you get access to select premium games by paying about $5 each month).

[@elculoblanco]

Ah shit when I discovered your channel I actually had the idea to completely re-do my react native project in flutter 😅

[@nehal076]

Good idea

[@filiphracek]

Ha! If you've made any reasonable progress in React Native, and you think you can finish with RN (you probably can), then yeah, I'm afraid the correct thing to do is to finish in RN instead of starting from scratch. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@elculoblanco]

Yeah I was like 80% done with the mvp and getting into the grinding zone. Thanks! This was the kind of wake up call I needed :) @@filiphracek

[@pavsoor]

Awesome video! I just wanted to ask, before you moved on to the next project, were you tempted to work on adding an add-on or expansion pack to incorporate features that you decided wouldn't make the cut? How did you deal with that post-release? Wish I could attend the talk! You've taught me so much already, thanks from the UK

[@filiphracek]

To be honest, after I released Knights of San Francisco, I was _really_ done with it. It took a lot out of me to actually finish it, and I didn't have the strength nor motivation to keep adding to it. Now, 2 years later, I've gotten to a point where I can imagine working on a sequel, an expansion, etc.

[@user-fo5qv4ll6i]

Awesome 👍

[@ElZero010]

Gold as always, Filip. How are you using AI in your game dev workflow?

[@TheMr82k]

I'm quite happy that you're talking and documenting your journey recently. i have been following you mostly on your website for years on update but always had a curiosity like how did he do it? I hope you will keep documenting - I'm all ears

[@coderaven1107]

I am actually really interested in the prioritisation system and your spreadsheet. Could you shed some light on that specific system?

[@renecura]

I think these are great advice. You present a really logical and humble experiencia with realistic expectations, thank you for sharing. I have a question. Most of the "successful" solo gamedevs around the web give tips from having thousand of suscribers, do you think this was a key factor for your game?

[@filiphracek]

TBH, I don't think there was a lot of overlap between my audience here (or on Twitter), and the players of Knights of San Francisco. But it's hard to gauge. Sometimes, even a hundred early adopters can make your game jump over the fence from obscurity to some kind of success. What I know is that it's important to reach out. But I also know many developers spend way too much time chasing audience that's not really relevant. Like, I'd say that 99% of gamedev Twitter is just other gamedevs watching each other...

[@PietroYT]

This is all solid advice, but I'm curious about the most effective strategy for advertising your game. My concern is that simply launching a game on the Play Store or Apple Store might result in minimal visibility.

[@cristiancosneanu]

Saying again and then rising it to the Power of 2^2 makes a could run down my spine. :D. don't know if it is intentional or not )). Other then that, all good advice. Good luck with your talk.

[@Adez3]

The light have emotions too 🤣 , you should take care of it , or it will turn it self off again , nice video keep going 👍.

[@ZoXlikeLP]

the thing thats most hard for me is to find best practice solutions for things i wanna add to the game :D like an inventory or update system for my character etc. :D sure there are a lot of videos and forums for different topics but a lot of times im just lost xD do u have some good sources to find stuff like that? I was in Unity and now im using Godot :D

[@filiphracek]

I don't think I have a good answer for this. Like you, when I have a problem, I'm searching through the internet, and often find bits and pieces on random forums. What helped me was to realize that sometimes, it's more valuable and faster to 1) try to implement stuff myself, 2) learn about all the problems of that approach, 3) rewrite. This is imho better compared to 1) find and learn a best practices, 2) decide which is best for me, 3) implement it.

[@valkoinendev6328]

I also feel early on your are just not going to have the skill to exicute you all of your ideas much lest in a time frame or with the amount of polish you want so just start making and finnishing small projects then build the next idea a bit more and the next one put even more in. You get faster and exicute better each time.

[@DungeonWard]

Dobré video, dnes jsem na tebe narazil. Rád vidím dalšího relativně úspěšného českého vývojáře na mobily. Ještě k tomu zvládáš i yt kanál, na to už mi v mém part-time gamedev / part-time práci čas nezbyl. Gamebooky mám rád odjakživa (Lone Wolf a Fighting Fantasy), tak podpořím a tvůj vyzkouším. Přeju hodně štěstí do budoucna. Kdybys chtěl také sdílet nějaké zkušenosti či měl nějaké dotazy na ostatní české mobilní vývojáře her, tak máme i discord, kde nás solo vývojářů na mobily pár už je. Občas tam řešíme marketing či různé problémy ohledně nových změn, které požadují Apple/Google a sdílíme zkušenosti či řešení. Pokud bys měl zájem, tak se můžeš ozvat.

[@PashaRF]

Do you suggest flutter for game dev?

[@filiphracek]

Not necessarily. I have a video about why I use Flutter for my game(s): kzbin.info/www/bejne/nJfFdXVsjax7kK8si=R1Dd1n0F-ZtMs-Fi. By mine is a very special case.

[@acrobaticdaikon1264]

Well $1700 USD in my country Indonesia would be enough to run a family in luxury life. Thanks for inspiring me!

[@SEGVeenstra]

Why not build a part 2 of KoSF? That should give you some momentum again maybe?

[@hyungtaecf]

I think he wants to expand the game genre portfolio first. Probably he'll make a third project very different from the other 2 ones and then will think about sequels to his games.

[@filiphracek]

What @hyungtaecf says, plus it's not obvious how to make a sequel that doesn't feel like a derivative "money grab".

[@SEGVeenstra]

@@filiphracek I don't think that should be the biggest issue with your KoSF since it's mainly story driven. As long as the story is compelling, I think you're OK. Books are story driven and their 'gameplay' is the same.

[@laybunzz]

@@filiphracek GRAB! THAT! MONEYYYYYYYY!

[@sicilianmammalian]

Solo game dev is rough

[@franciscofeest6691]

2k a month would put me in 1% here hahaha

[@filiphracek]

Nice! Can you share the game?

[@franciscofeest6691]

@@filiphracek aahh I was talking about your income due to your game. If I made that aroud here that would put me on 1%, that's what I mean. Great video !

[@Furfire]

I will say that the article/point he references about finishing a game is in no way relevant anymore. The article was written before the now defunct steam greenlight program was even a thing. Less than a game a day was released on steam back then. We have the opposite problem now, dozens of shovelware and asset flip games being released daily. If valve doesn't make significant changes soon, there will easily be 100 games per day released on steam in 2026.

[@dakotah4866]

I'll be honest with you I can less about the money. I don't mind making money but it's not a priority

[@filiphracek]

That's a great approach. At some point, though, money is needed to justify the huge amount of time spent on a project. Family, rent, food - all these things need money, and unless you're making a tiny game, it's good to know that by working on the game you are bringing at least a little bit of money to the table.

[@dakotah4866]

@@filiphracek no I'm somewhat on my own I don't believe in rent and all that other stuff brother rather have a place of my own or just travel around in like a modified truck or an RV or something at this point. I'm trying to grow food myself or fishing or hunting the money is not really a priority. After extensive research it's more of a slave mentality to just give away your life to a 9 to 5 unless you're doing stuff for yourself but even then you got to get out of the false reality mindset and live within the moment not worry about all the other stuff of a house that isn't really yours and rent.

[@filiphracek]

@@dakotah4866 good for you, good luck!

[@Ash_18037]

The tagging system is fundamentally broken on Steam. I would take any graph/stats based on it with a VERY skeptical eye. Tags are not curated and refined over time by steam, any idiot can apply a tag and if enough agree it is then seen as reality. Simulation and Management are some of the most misused and therefore pointless tags on Steam, almost any game seems to be tagged with these at some stage. If you don't understand how bad it is, go to a game and expand the "More like this" section that uses tags to show "similar" games. Possibly the most useless so called feature I've ever seen. There are games that are almost identical in concept and gameplay that will not be shown because of the idiotic tagging system. By the way, I know you didn't create it but what an AWFUL graph that is. I cannot see how it get any LESS clear in conveying information. Exponential Y axis, utterly useless heading, unexplained where top 1%, top quartile etc actually begin/end, difficult to line up a genre with the vertical graph line. This graph is so bad I can only think it was a deliberate choice to mislead viewers, or perhaps just designed by an incompetent.

[@tolaut]

You're an absolute gem in the dev-world, Filip. A few years back i loved watching your content on the Flutter channel, but now i watch you regardless of topic because i enjoy your perspectives on things and your personality

[@filiphracek]

Thank you! You made my day. I try my best to just keep it simple and talk about stuff that I myself find fascinating and/or useful. I'm glad there are people out there who can appreciate it.

[@rashid.harvey]

100% agree

[@rmt3589]

What is flutter? This is my first time seeing him.