Inspiring Single Developer Games! [2018]

[@AskGamedev]

Check out part 2 of this series - the videos we forgot to mention and our viewers suggested! kzbin.info/www/bejne/nn67fHqAhrGihdE

[@joelsmith5795]

Hey you miss a Latino Indie Game Created by ONE Person Only !!! a Slander game just because of a $20 freacking dollars DemoTrailer !!! www.nintendo.com/games/detail/coqui-the-game-wii-u/

[@FerdieSwinkels]

I'm actually shocked that Stardew Valley wasn't on this list. For me personally, and I think for a lot of gamers, that game resonated on so many levels and inspired me so well to start making the games that I would love to play.

[@AskGamedev]

Great feedback! We had to make some tough choices as the video was getting pretty lengthy! What do you love about Stardew Valley?

[@FerdieSwinkels]

Haha well, that's totally understandable, although wouldn't have minded a longer video. I've played so much Harvest Moon when I was a kid that I immediately fell in love with the beautiful graphics of Stardew Valley when I first saw it. I love that the game is so calming and that I can always pick it up, without having to 'get back in'; it's seamless. From a developers perspective, I love how the developer has managed to make everything in the game feel so tangible. The graphics, the sound effects, the music, it fits together perfectly, without feeling like it is trying to be perfect too much. And THAT is something that I envy so much as a game developer, that perfect balance between graphics, audio, and design. In my perspective, Stardew Valley is a perfectly balanced game that made me realise that I still have a LOT to learn as a game developer.

[@FrancoisSchnell]

@@FerdieSwinkels Great video. I was also expecting to see Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone from Stardew Valley. He didn't find a job, teached himself, made a game (and music, and graphics, etc) which sold 3.5 millions copies by the end of 2017. Inspiring :) www.playstationlifestyle.net/2018/11/09/stardew-valley-creator-eric-barone-will-help-smash-your-creative-anxiety/

[@ulengrau6357]

Stardew Valley >>> Undertale... I was a huge fan of SNES RPGs, including Harvest Moon and Earthbound. I still don't get what is special about Undertale beyond a superficial gimmick, but I totally get what makes Stardew Valley special, even if I compare it to every single Harvest Moon ever released, of which I've played at least 80% in their totality (US and PAL versions only).

[@killerb2099]

I thought Stardew Valley was a shoo-in considering the troubled development and tremendous success. AskGamedev should've done like Spinal Tap and crank it to 11. :D Maybe it'll show up in a part two?

[@Acidima]

Rollercoster tycoon was made by one person???? I played that so many times I thought it was made by a whole team

[@CouchFerretmakesGames]

Yep. It amazed me too when I found out. He also did most of the game in assembly code which is like crazy...

[@manualvarado2212]

By one person, who programmed it all on assembly! I'm surprised they didn't stress that part on this video. Graphics were made by another person. It's mentioned on the Wikipedia article for the game :D

[@scpjij]

i had to pause the video and i can't go on. This is... impressive. And in ASSEMBLY!

[@manualvarado2212]

@@scpjij Yeees! It's amazing 💙

[@dmitri8117]

For those who don't know why assembly is a big deal, it's because it is a very basic coding language (that is different for each type of processor) that requires a lot of code to do even the most basic tasks; it's basically a moderate step up from writing 1s and 0s. Code written in other languages such as C++, Java, Python, etc can easily take 10+ times as many lines of assembly code for each line of code written in those languages. Even back then, writing an entire game in assembly was rare. Super Mario Bros that came out in 1985 took a team of people to write the game in thousands of lines of assembly code. The reason Chris Sawyer did it for RCT is because assembly is very "close" to computer hardware and thus can be used to make the best use of it, making the game run efficiently, if you know what you're doing. This was needed because the game had to keep track of thousands of people walking through the park, their thoughts, movement, actions, etc, as well as all the other intricacies in the game, without slowing down the limited hardware of the late 90s. Even today it takes a bit of know-how to make a game like that run well on modern hardware.

[@saiyamkhare320]

It's nuts to see the top two most highest grossing games were made by single developers..

[@devincory9695]

I'm surprised not to see the Touhou franchise at all on this list. That's the stuff of indie legend right there.

[@dreamingacacia]

it's Japanese game, it maybe a great series and really popular in specific group of people but it's not as well known in different group. Back in my younger age I'm the only one who know Touhou project and only know just by chance on random internet surfing, internet wasn't so popular like nowsaday you know ?

[@MotraZotra]

It's just an ad video pretending to be educational. They plug as much games they want to promote as they can.

[@dimensionalblade2778]

If they put Touhou it'd destroy so much soul of those pixel art using retard Indie devs. They haven't seen true graphical musical power of a solo dev and the difficulty is buggling.

[@Yoni123]

Some shmup game? Looks pretty bad

[@dylanr4854]

@@dimensionalblade2778 tf are you talking about?

[@jalbertgo]

I can't believe dust was practically made by just one guy, that's amazing

[@LemonEyesNL]

Stardew valley and Equilinox

[@theucrafter1666]

and oceanox by the one and only connor goddard who eats ants

[@manualvarado2212]

Oh but Equilinox is too recent. Actually, i think this video was uploaded when ThinMatrix launched it on Steam.

[@miauw8762]

Lol everyone knows about equilinox

[@indieprogress7170]

Thinmatrix!

[@hydraplays8156]

somer summer , ha! I clicked on this video because I thought it’d have equilinox

[@Nalyu]

What about stardew valley?

[@AskGamedev]

That another great title and we considered adding it! Unfortunately the video was getting lengthy so we had to make some hard choices! What do you like best about Stardew Valley?

[@Dax3nt]

@@AskGamedev fuck you stardew valley is better than everything else on this garbage list, aside from minecraft

[@xXbananaXxist]

Daxent lol chill

[@stevenarvizu3602]

Daxent who the heck enjoys playing a game where ur basically a gay farmer, just start a farm ya Nancy boy

[@aaronlad7697]

@@stevenarvizu3602 you think battle royales are good

[@SirRichard94]

You missed the greatest solo Dev Franchise. Touhou project. It's so big it has a Convention and a great fanwork scene in all kinds of media including other games and a ton of great music

[@AskGamedev]

You aren’t the only person suggesting Touhou! What do you love about it?

[@SirRichard94]

@@AskGamedev the games themselves are great, they make you enter "the zone" so you get some Zen feeling by dodging stuff without thinking. But the music also made by ZUN (the developer) is so good it has inspired countless circles in all kinds of styles from Jazz to death Metal, from JPOP to european folk.

[@brandonsantisteban9626]

Ricardo Rodriguez THIS WITH FORCE OF 1000 SUNS

[@LunarCrusade]

​@@AskGamedev Sorry if I'm a bit late, but I want to add more things about good things fromTouhou. First, the mechanics. If you try a few of Touhou iterations (currently at 16.5th), you will notice differences in scoring and mechanics. Gimmick in every single game means you won't feel bored with repetitive gameplay. Another important thing is... lore. Seriously, Touhou has a VAST and colorful characters, plus a solid and detailed world as background for the storyline. Those things make the game pretty immersive, considering it's just a vertical-scrolling STG. And since someone mention the music already, I won't talk too much about this. I bet you will quickly attached to them.

[@LunarCrusade]

@Drool Maybe this link can help you: en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Touhou_Project#Name_and_Concept

[@CinematographyDatabase]

Great episode, I'd been following some of these people on Twitter but I didn't know what their first claim to fame was

[@soraaoixxthebluesky]

Tetris Original: *Nice Game* Tetris Effect: “Hold my Decahexatris”

[@iKiwed]

This really motives me. I'm making a fangame all alone, which is not bad, but I hope to make an original game (the only problem is I'm not good at programming).

[@AskGamedev]

Check out this video we made on the best games engines that DON'T require any coding knowledge:kzbin.info/www/bejne/b6mqhmN5pttggJY

[@brokenmatrix366]

The stardew valley dev started the same way, he was bad at coding but he made it work. Someone who was adept with programming and pixel art would have likely completely the game much faster (he went through a lot of iterations for the art and it was hard for him to do all the coding stuff, having never done any real projects before), but like I said he made it work.

[@iKiwed]

@@AskGamedev Thank you very much! Last year I bought Game Maker Studio 2 and I find it really fascinating. I was able to make an experiment with a functional character and room, but I feel like the drag-and-drop feature is somewhat very limitating (I had to use some codes from the Internet to make a proper menu). Plus the community isn't very supportive when it's about drag and drop. I was a little disappointed at first, but I think the drag-and-drop feature isn't adapted to make a videogame, or at least it's just my impression. I'll give a try, again, but I guess I'll give more time into programming, even if I'm not good with it.

[@MrAdamSonicDX]

I can help you with programming and pixel art if you want to. I use GMS1 which is pretty similar to GMS2 ( in terms of programming language). I am also a beginner, but I know quite a lot of stuff about GMS. Also, nice profile picture, the Ace Attorney series is one of my favorites.

[@jsoc2424]

U d e m y

[@LumpiaMan]

Nobody: Me: What about flappy bird?

[@richardwright2544]

What about color switch 😂😂 both made on the same program

[@doik3266]

Bruh😂

[@anxthersxund8937]

"CubeH", better, bro.

[@lorrdy7640]

Dead meme

[@doik3266]

@@lorrdy7640 noxic lorrdy

[@JimmyGeniusEllis]

I’m a single indie game dev who loves everytime I’m inspired to understand someone can succeed alone while making games. I wished you made a whole hour of content just about this subject.

[@AskGamedev]

There are so many great developers that we probably could! Who are some of your favourite indie devs?

[@JimmyGeniusEllis]

Ask Gamedev Boot Hill heroes indie game for the Xbox 360 made by a single developer . That developer lives in Chicago. I happen to have met him several times including a few times at a game jam where we were making games all night.

[@GiboonCloudSmoker]

Paper please is such a gem.

[@dc37wwe2kmods]

Although Fez was mainly designed by one person (Phil Fish), he has a programmer who did all the coding (Renaud Bedard).

[@TedThomasTT]

Audio is a big part of the game which I think someone else did.

[@dc37wwe2kmods]

@@TedThomasTT Yes! I am actually a fan of it. It was made by Disasterpiece (Richard Vreeland)

[@gurekamsingh1074]

This channel is great it always motivates me and encourages me to work more on my game.

[@Neightr0]

"What better way to develop a game than to experience it in real life" Absolutely true. I think that's what inspires me most about the idea of game development.

[@khaa5zz81]

im trying to develope gta 6. gonna sign up for ISIS as intern

[@SevenDeMagnus]

Thanks. One man can make a difference. This is truly inspiring.

[@lorinagel8583]

Yeah, they were technically solo, but they had an engine and stuff underneath. Considering the type of game Wograld is, with 2 developers I think it is pretty impressive.

[@Bolurengginang]

Well there is also solo game developer called David Setiabudi in Indonesia who makes games like divine kids (RPG), 13 kingdoms (strategy), and many others.

[@Smi3tankoweCjastko]

Tetris *most sold game of all time* Minecraft: Im about to end this mans whole career

[@MaxSchmidGame]

My game is launching a third beta test soon! Cannot wait to push it out!

[@juhppug3873]

Ive heard that Undertale wasnt developed by Toby alone,there was apparently some people helping him.

[@Smokedship]

Thanks a lot for this video guys! Really helped me in getting back into finishing my game.

[@ZenoDovahkiin]

Take a shot everytime he says "none other than".

[@bakakaka.]

Honestly Undertale inspires me so much, not just the fact that it was made by Toby Fox alone but also because it was made in Gamemaker, which is what I used the most in high school as I studied game development :))) and well it's such a great game, fills me with determination!

[@Cruentus]

Ghost of a Tale is missing on this list. If you don't know about it, look into it. It is almost unbelievable, that it was deved by a single person.

[@Yee.Naaldlooshii]

"This title(Tetris) was quickly picked up by numerous platforms, some of which you may have heard of including Gameboy, Nintendo, Atari and Sega." ...Yeah I think we may have heard of those before xD

[@Inf4mousKidGames]

While i know people dont like to talk about this game for reasons.... What about FNAF?

[@andrewromitti2038]

Inf4mousKidGames Fnaf really didn’t revolutionize the gaming industry and wasn’t a tough game to make. While being very successful didn’t really have a place on this list

[@redbepis4600]

Scott did a good jod

[@juanrodriguez9971]

@@andrewromitti2038 The same can be said about undertale tbh

[@Haze01Smash]

You should have mentioned Cave Story's music. That game has an excellent soundtrack!

[@AskGamedev]

Want more Ask Gamedev videos on how to succeed as a solo developer? check out: Seven Gamedev Mistakes to avoid!: kzbin.info/www/bejne/a6mXgpKJhLGBaJo How to Make Money from Game Development: kzbin.info/www/bejne/in-7k3ytmst8fZY How to plan your gamedev project!: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l2jZi3mfe7GqY9k

[@brandonsantisteban9626]

Ask Gamedev You forgot *TOUHOU PROJECT*

[@AskGamedev]

@@brandonsantisteban9626 We've gotten a lot of comments on Touhou Project. We'll have to make a followup video :)

[@craziestcat5767]

I love Paper's Please, I didn't know it was solo developed, so cool

[@astinasheel]

As a programmer...this video gave me hope to make a game of my own..thank you

[@raulmabe4229]

Woa! These games are legendary, and the Rollercoaster in assembly 😮 Nice video it encourages me to finnish my own game!

[@AskGamedev]

Awesome! Good luck with finishing your game! Keep us updated with your progress :)

[@matthewjohnson3656]

Mine just released! It’s a full campaign RTS called Battlemore suited for people who enjoy the older c&c and Starcraft games!

[@haxpor]

Thank you! Big love that you took time to put programming language/engine that game made from as well. Keep rocking!

[@Matrixprogrammmer]

Equinilox a awesome game made by one person and was recently released on steam. He made everything from scratch. No game engine was used. took him 3 years to complete. i recommend everyone to check it out.

[@AskGamedev]

Hey thats ThinMatrix! We love his channel!

[@Devsplorer]

At last, I could watch this, another inspiring and informative video 😊 I like how you present that much information in a smooth way.

[@AskGamedev]

Thanks! :)

[@SweaterSwagg]

Lake Feperd (Sonic Before/After the Sequel, Spark the Electric Jester) would've been a great addition to the list!

[@MaskedImposter]

I will do my best to get on a future list! 😉 Thanks for the awesome inspirational video!

[@muscleman5266]

_He protecc he atacc but most importantly he watches askgamedev_ -overrused meme-

[@DevScape]

Awesome list! It's all so inspiring, knowing that amazing games like these are made by just *one person* wow

[@AskGamedev]

Yeah they're an amazingly talented group of people :)

[@agenthollands4140]

Undertale was absolutely not devolped by Toby. He mentions all the time how Temmy, yeah the dog, helped with art assests if not entirely made them.

[@Tarazed609]

«I remember everything, and it changes nothing !!»

[@KrazyRobot]

does anybody know what game is on the screen at 1:40? theres a pumpkin guy and a pink bunny creature xD

[@AskGamedev]

Hey Jack! That's Tetris Battle Gaiden (SNES).

[@KrazyRobot]

@@AskGamedev yooooo! Thank you !

[@wilpuriarts5895]

Very inspiring! I’m currently making a double-retro adventure game all alone. A tribute to early 90’s console games and 30’s Weird Tales -magazine!

[@KIKITO94]

What should I start to develop 2D or 3d games for beginners? Can u give me an advice and thanks

[@AskGamedev]

Hi KIKITO - Thanks for your question! Check out this video that we made on game engines. There should be one here that fits your needs: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pIXCamCmZpJkmbc

[@KIKITO94]

@@AskGamedev thank u

[@vinay1930]

This video was such an inspiration 😍 Keep making such videos..

[@DCUBE3D]

Honorable mention for Mat Dickie. Single handedly creating better wrestling games than the biggest brands in the industry.

[@lingendary781]

This just makes me feel even more discouraged because it makes me feel that I have to create a game as good or better than these to be noticeable...

[@dimensionalblade2778]

Then you better not know what Touhou offers.

[@Pixelon_]

Actually got to see Mike Bithell(Thomas Was Alone) speak in person

[@AskGamedev]

That's awesome! How was it?

[@eldermartins130]

My struggle to create a game is writing an original catching story, because every time I start something, there's a movie or a TV show that already has the same ideas I'm writing. It's hard to present a creative story nowadays...

[@tiktokexposed898]

think outside the box

[@progressivemusicnepal]

90s indie developers are true legendary, unlike today's indie game developers.

[@lucinar1429]

Conclusion: If you want to design indie games, be a programmer or artist. Game designers are not welcomed. 😂

[@alleyesonme1432]

Even tho they aren't welcomed i think it's pretty much important job. Btw, i also made a game, and it's truly hard to become succsessful ;( Link to my game: play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.HAELENT.BirdInvasion

[@damiankaleomontero496]

Markus Persson though?

[@kuuly3334]

How about Nelson Sexton who made Unturned

[@stanleyjones1935]

Would love to see a video explaining the ways to use The visual coding in Unreal and Unity I'm a indie developer I started earlier this year only discovered your channel a week ago and I've been learning C# on the side for Unity I later realised that there are visual scripting options. That video would be quite useful for new devs who might be Better in 3D designing or Art to take some pressure off of coding in their game. Uptill now your videos have been very informative. Wouldn't even mind watching your streams on Twitch if anybody of your team streams anything related to game Development. Cheers!

[@AskGamedev]

Thanks for the kind words Stanley! We haven't started streaming yet, but if we were to start, what topics should we cover in our streams?

[@stanleyjones1935]

@@AskGamedev First thing should be to get your KZbin community to know when your stream is and get them hyped up. If planned right you could have a amazing day showing your studio to the viewers. Get the viewers to cram ideas and create a small game like a old school snake game or shoot a target game it'll be exciting for your viewers because most your viewers are absolutely new to game development. Or you can have a expert from your team talking about a specific topic for a brief period of time for example 'Rendering techniques and how to increase frame rate' and to touch the niche in specific topics in game development.

[@AskGamedev]

@@stanleyjones1935 Those are great ideas! We'll need time to plan it out a bit more, but we'll remember these tips for when we do start streaming. Thanks again!

[@gamedevhq]

This was epic to watch!!

[@MrCramYT]

Tetris is no longer the most sell game, is minecraft now

[@AntiqueGear]

"Tetris" and "Minecraft?" Quit is with the blocks! (jk blocks are awesome)

[@itsrahp9162]

I'm annoyed unturned never made the list, shout out to all the free to play solo dev games

[@earphermes5538]

How about Starglider? 1986 produced by Jez San, 1 of the first open space games.

[@ACatWithACrown]

Very well made video, guys! Keep it up 👌

[@AskGamedev]

Thanks! Any feedback on how we can improve?

[@pokerrisker5135]

Hey I created a few games on gdevelop. Now that I have learned c# I want to make a real type of game. What do you prefer 2d or 3d? Also I am just 13 yr so can I do it?

[@AskGamedev]

Both 2D and 3D can work! What are you more proficient in? Have you made art before or are you thinking of buying your assets?

[@pokerrisker5135]

I am good at drawing cartoons. Started to learn blender but dropped in a week. Too hard. Though I think I can make good cartoons. What do you prefer for beginner?

[@derekmacneil5813]

2D is probably a bit easier but that kind of depends on the engine you plan to use. Any preference?

[@pokerrisker5135]

@@derekmacneil5813 yep, I want to use unity.

[@gardox3215]

@@pokerrisker5135 unity put a lot of effort in 2d in the latest years. Check out the 2d kit, but I suppose that you've already done it.

[@Oxmond]

Cool! Great list! Thomas was alone = ❤️❤️❤️

[@DonWoschto]

"Let's add an ad in the end so people don't actually use the inspiration we gave them but get distracted by the title we promote."

[@c0ldw0lf72]

What about the game before undertake. fnaf or another game star dew Valley

[@opensauce04]

"Gameboy, Nintendo" Really?

[@dacolib]

Daniel Bradbury I know this comment is 10 months old, but the NES is also called the Nintendo, so i guess that is what he meant

[@softwarelivre2389]

Also should be noted that Steam is not the same thing as a Linux version.

[@capnam_12]

0:17 *_Thanos when he snapped his fingers_*

[@latomate3322]

Great video! It's so difficult when you're only 12 and you want to start a project. I have a really good story but I'll sadly probably never gonna finish it because I have no way to receive money nor make good graphics. Nevermind, i'm keeping hope inside of me and i'll continue until I give it up all, which I don't want.

[@advancexz0]

I would add iconoclast and I'm shocked that its not Braid in the list, one of the most influential games of all times.

[@dot32]

STARDEW VALLEY how was Stardew Valley not in this video??

[@NielsRenkema]

too cool for this list

[@cockyautan1789]

Because you known it already without being mentioned. It's always in our hearts. Better put another game on the list, more informative.

[@corbynstarsmore6846]

@@cockyautan1789 Yeah, because nobody knows about Minecraft and Undertale. I'm glad they got to shed some light on these really unknown titles, rather than bring up Stardew Valley.

[@Imperial_Dynamics]

also Xbox One game Outlander, it was created by Greek programmer Anastasios-Antonios Toulkeridis alone

[@blueice3124]

Motivation to keep developing mine

[@Armaan8014]

My solo developed murder mystery adventure game - Rainswept - comes out in a month!

[@kitten9104]

I didn’t knew cave story. Was made by one person, this give me courage to create my game

[@AskGamedev]

That’s great! Do you have any feedback for us on the video?

[@kitten9104]

Idek, but you learned a lot , that some game that look like it was made with atleast 100 staff *cough miner raft was actu made by one person And also, can you make a video about gdevelop an free open source game engine plz

[@popespalace823]

@@kitten9104 Minecraft wasn't made by one person, it was made by a team of 10 people.

[@rehansiddique1875]

It really inspired me a lot and i am also learning game development and game design.

[@tofu7014]

here is a clear example of a “survivor's mistake” we see the winners, but we don’t know how many losers.

[@potatocannongb3328]

Top 10 characters that can defeat Thanos. Number 1: 0:16

[@pokengod1340]

can you say some game making software that can use by person linke me means 13 years old I download Gdevelop but I need time to learn it and make sure the softare should be free

[@BlackHulkGaming]

Poken empire king Ritam Biswas unity is free. Game maker you have to buy on steam.

[@theefiex]

What about stardew valley and banished ? Specially banished as it kinda defined the simulated city building game type

[@simonestarace5249]

Well I learn that if I will develop my own game I need to take some time for publishing it.

[@theom3382]

Hi, can I ask What Programs do you use to make these amazing videos?

[@AskGamedev]

Hey thanks for asking! We use Adobe After Effects for compositing, and Adobe Premiere for editing.

[@zjohnson870]

This is the first time people have ever been surprised by game developers being alone

[@DigitalProductsRamic]

New game Labyrinth Maze Runner on play store made by Ramic'n also should be on the list

[@OneSaile]

Interested beginners in making their own games, i'd recommend using Scratch from MIT labs

[@aleksitjvladica.]

Tetris, Prince of Persia, Shovel Knight, Undertale, Stradey Valley, MineCraft.

[@TheDomLouis]

Dust 7:01 was originally developed using XNA. BUT it was ported to non Microsoft platforms (Linux, MacOS X, PlayStation 4, iOS, Nintendo Switch) using the FREE MonoGame (monogame.net) framework, the OpenSource and cross-platform successor to XNA!

[@glassy5350]

Never knew Minecraft made by a solo player. Thanks man

[@popespalace823]

It wasn't made by one person, it was by a team of people. He's wrong.

[@WhiteDjayanegara]

LODE RUNNER ? It perhaps the first game that included a level editor with it.

[@themomchil5576]

Mister game developer I don't feel so good 0:15

[@peterbonnema8913]

Omg Roller Coaster Tycoon. I'm having such a nostalgia trip

[@_GhostMiner]

*1:45** not anymore*

[@coding-sp]

Plz make tutorials for "It's magic engine", download it on play store

[@IChroniclesofNerdiaI]

didnt minecraft start off as a game called infiniminer? or was it just inspired by?

[@NATONIOZ]

Toby had lots of help therefore its not a game made by a single person

[@nicky_tdbp5353]

Thank you so much for this video

[@AskGamedev]

Thanks for watching! Any feedback for us on how we can improve?

[@xiiitalons]

Really is too bad that it's taking me SEVERAL years to develop on my own. I'll get there... Hopefully.

[@AugerHybrid]

1999 Roller coaster graphics and memory handling at the seems unbelievable.

[@ihavegoodmemes2176]

I want to make an rts game but i dont know how to code but i was able to make an rts game using game maker studio