I hope you're going to make more of these blogs, I'll be curious to hear more of your thoughts on indie games!
I have heard about GRIS before, though the genre of games it belongs to isn't one I actively seek out myself. Personally I do rather like your proposed Mind type of games, whether that be character-driven (visual novels, Taming Dreams), lore-driven (walking sims) or logic-driven (turn based RPGs). Those seem to make up most of the games I play, barring forays into Body sorts of games when playing platformers.
You're actually more unique than you might think for making games solo! While people often attribute a game to one sole creator or a small group of creators, the truth is most of these people have others helping them out or the team in question is much bigger than the 'lead team' of sorts.
People often talk about Undertale as Toby Fox's game, and it's true he did a lot of the work on Undertale, but he also had a team of people helping him with some parts, such as artists, programmers or people brought in to help create particular sequences.
Even the creator of the Epic Battle Fantasy games has someone else who does the music for all his games. Sonny also had music composed by someone other than Krin himself.
Honestly I can hardly think of other developers who do indeed make games totally solo. Craig Stern from Sinister Design made some of the Telepath games solo, I think, but his recent titles have commissioned art.
Of course there's nothing wrong with not working alone, but I hope this helps put into perspective your exceptional position. It really is impressive that you've made games like MARDEK, Memody: Sindrel Song and Taming Dreams all by yourself!
I also recently finished my own overview of games I've played in 2019. Perhaps one of the games there interests you. [LINK]
3
Tobias 1104~4Y
It's sort of annoying then seeing Undertale come up on things like "5 MOST INSANE GAMES MADE BY A SINGLE PERSON NUMBER 3 WILL MAKE YOU CRAP YOUR PANTS", if that's not even the case... Oh well, at least it makes me feel special?
Sinister Design... That brings back memories! What's he up to these days? I remember he contacted me once, during the Taming Dreams time maybe? I don't remember him doing his own music, but maybe that's just memory issues yet again. I do remember Epic Battle Fantasy and Sonny having separate composers though.
Personally I think it's super impressive that I do everything myself, even if I feel like a narcissist for saying so, but it seems like surprisingly few other people seem particularly impressed by it? Maybe they just don't realise what it actually entails.
I meant to comment on your blog last time you mentioned it, but I felt it was worth more than just a quick reply and annoyingly never found the time to write something out! I wish I had more time now, but I don't want to just say nothing again. I LIKE THE PURPLE AND THE YELLOW. You're also consistently funny in your posts in a way I wish I was in mine! I've not thoroughly read this review post though because that's a lot of games, and I think I will play a few but I'll read what you thought of them after forming my own impressions, I suppose!
2
Maniafig219~4Y
Craig Stern, the guy behind Sinister Design, is currently working on remaking his most recent game, Telepath Tactics, in a new engine. It's the game I'm currently playing and I follow the guy on Twitter, so I know a thing or two about the development process.
He had Kickstarted the game in 2013 I believe, and actually raised $40,000, and released it in 2015, though the game had a lot of weird engine-related bugs such as inventory issues and slowdown. Most have been patched out of the game since, but the slowdown still happens if battles take long enough, I actually ran into the problem myself earlier today during a 90-minute long battle.
Hence why he's remaking the game in a new engine, though re-using a lot of the assets. He actually posted an update three days ago, so it's still ongoing. I'll link the Kickstarter here just in case. [LINK]
He also Kickstarted a separate board game based on post-apocalyptic cult warfare, though I don't know too much about it myself since I'm not really a board gamer.
It's interesting to hear he did reach out to you! I think it would be a good idea to reach out to him some time, he seems to be pretty deeply into the game dev scene and he definitely knows a thing or two about running a Kickstarter campaign, he could have all sorts of interesting insights. You two also seem to have similar ideas about wanting to express statements and say things with games as well as push boundaries.
I'm happy to hear you like the blog! Don't worry about not commenting, it's very rare I get comments on there anyway, just hearing someone say they like it already makes it feel worth it! Don't sell yourself short on your humour though, you're funny when you try to be! I laughed at the way you described the holidays during your Christmas and New Year's Eve blogs!
The purple and yellow colour scheme is the scheme I used way back in the old days of Fig Hunter back when you could still manually edit text message colours using tags! I mostly go by purple on sites that let me pick colours these days, but in my heart I am purple and yellow.
1
Tobias 1104~4Y
That sounds like a VERY good place to start, so I'm glad you've mentioned this! If he's already aware of me, and he's had clear success at Kickstarter and has links to communities, then I feel that contacting him should maybe be my next step forward if I hope to break out of the cocoon I've trapped myself in. It's all about connections, after all...
That Kickstarter page seems so intimidating though! The sheer amount of information on it, I mean. Do people really want that much to read? Maybe they do; there's definitely a lot I need to learn about all that.
I haven't read it all - though I probably will later when I can devote time to it - so does it mention what he's making this in? He used to use Flash, didn't he?
I'm glad to hear he's still actively creating. It sounds like all my contemporaries from the Flash/MARDEK days have stuck with their courses and done well with it though; I feel like I'm the only one who didn't!
FOR NOW! BUT JUST YOU WAIT!!
I feel like I need to start following more people in general; I don't think I follow anyone on Twitter or anything, largely because comparing my life to others' just gets me down and impairs productivity. But I should start following people and blogs and communities and things...
I remember your purple and yellow comments from the good old days!
I have heard about GRIS before, though the genre of games it belongs to isn't one I actively seek out myself. Personally I do rather like your proposed Mind type of games, whether that be character-driven (visual novels, Taming Dreams), lore-driven (walking sims) or logic-driven (turn based RPGs). Those seem to make up most of the games I play, barring forays into Body sorts of games when playing platformers.
You're actually more unique than you might think for making games solo! While people often attribute a game to one sole creator or a small group of creators, the truth is most of these people have others helping them out or the team in question is much bigger than the 'lead team' of sorts.
People often talk about Undertale as Toby Fox's game, and it's true he did a lot of the work on Undertale, but he also had a team of people helping him with some parts, such as artists, programmers or people brought in to help create particular sequences.
Even the creator of the Epic Battle Fantasy games has someone else who does the music for all his games. Sonny also had music composed by someone other than Krin himself.
Honestly I can hardly think of other developers who do indeed make games totally solo. Craig Stern from Sinister Design made some of the Telepath games solo, I think, but his recent titles have commissioned art.
Of course there's nothing wrong with not working alone, but I hope this helps put into perspective your exceptional position. It really is impressive that you've made games like MARDEK, Memody: Sindrel Song and Taming Dreams all by yourself!
I also recently finished my own overview of games I've played in 2019. Perhaps one of the games there interests you. [LINK]
Sinister Design... That brings back memories! What's he up to these days? I remember he contacted me once, during the Taming Dreams time maybe? I don't remember him doing his own music, but maybe that's just memory issues yet again. I do remember Epic Battle Fantasy and Sonny having separate composers though.
Personally I think it's super impressive that I do everything myself, even if I feel like a narcissist for saying so, but it seems like surprisingly few other people seem particularly impressed by it? Maybe they just don't realise what it actually entails.
I meant to comment on your blog last time you mentioned it, but I felt it was worth more than just a quick reply and annoyingly never found the time to write something out! I wish I had more time now, but I don't want to just say nothing again. I LIKE THE PURPLE AND THE YELLOW. You're also consistently funny in your posts in a way I wish I was in mine! I've not thoroughly read this review post though because that's a lot of games, and I think I will play a few but I'll read what you thought of them after forming my own impressions, I suppose!
He had Kickstarted the game in 2013 I believe, and actually raised $40,000, and released it in 2015, though the game had a lot of weird engine-related bugs such as inventory issues and slowdown. Most have been patched out of the game since, but the slowdown still happens if battles take long enough, I actually ran into the problem myself earlier today during a 90-minute long battle.
Hence why he's remaking the game in a new engine, though re-using a lot of the assets. He actually posted an update three days ago, so it's still ongoing. I'll link the Kickstarter here just in case. [LINK]
He also Kickstarted a separate board game based on post-apocalyptic cult warfare, though I don't know too much about it myself since I'm not really a board gamer.
It's interesting to hear he did reach out to you! I think it would be a good idea to reach out to him some time, he seems to be pretty deeply into the game dev scene and he definitely knows a thing or two about running a Kickstarter campaign, he could have all sorts of interesting insights. You two also seem to have similar ideas about wanting to express statements and say things with games as well as push boundaries.
I'm happy to hear you like the blog! Don't worry about not commenting, it's very rare I get comments on there anyway, just hearing someone say they like it already makes it feel worth it! Don't sell yourself short on your humour though, you're funny when you try to be! I laughed at the way you described the holidays during your Christmas and New Year's Eve blogs!
The purple and yellow colour scheme is the scheme I used way back in the old days of Fig Hunter back when you could still manually edit text message colours using tags! I mostly go by purple on sites that let me pick colours these days, but in my heart I am purple and yellow.
That Kickstarter page seems so intimidating though! The sheer amount of information on it, I mean. Do people really want that much to read? Maybe they do; there's definitely a lot I need to learn about all that.
I haven't read it all - though I probably will later when I can devote time to it - so does it mention what he's making this in? He used to use Flash, didn't he?
I'm glad to hear he's still actively creating. It sounds like all my contemporaries from the Flash/MARDEK days have stuck with their courses and done well with it though; I feel like I'm the only one who didn't!
FOR NOW! BUT JUST YOU WAIT!!
I feel like I need to start following more people in general; I don't think I follow anyone on Twitter or anything, largely because comparing my life to others' just gets me down and impairs productivity. But I should start following people and blogs and communities and things...
I remember your purple and yellow comments from the good old days!