From Dream to Reality: 9 Years of Consistent Updates to My Indie Game

Production practices I've adopted while building Pixel Art Academy over 9 years:
- Reverse flowcharts
- Development sprints
- Task prioritization
- Alpha release mindset
- Making space for non-essential, high-impact tasks
- Planning everything
- Solving on paper first
- Class diagrams
You can wishlist Pixel Art Academy: Learn Mode on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/2330360/Pixel_Art_Academy_Learn_Mode
Music by HOME:
home96.bandcamp.com/album/resting-state
Keep in touch:
Discord: discord.gg/mngNfvTwG6
Twitch: www.twitch.tv/retronator
X: retronator
TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@retronator
Instagram: retronator
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:31 Reverse flowcharts
2:45 No deadlines
4:02 Sprints, not deadlines
6:27 Practical application
11:25 Alpha mindset
12:01 Enjoy the details
14:32 Plan everything
14:55 Class diagrams
15:36 Outro
#indiegamedev #gamedev #solodev #gamedevelopment #gameproduction #indiegame #programming #project #projectmanagement

[@sips3812]

oh my goodness, 9 years! I wish you well, Retronator!!!

[@Retronator]

Thank you so much for the warm wishes. It'll be many more interesting years to come for this project with new content and fixes coming with hopefully swift pace.

[@AllmightyLoki]

Next semester I want to create my first small game, so this was very interesting to hear about! Can't wait to play Pixel Art Academy once it's out!

[@yyuriykiss]

Man, that's absolutely terrific. What an astonishing achievement

[@nguyen2048]

Thank you for sharing what you learned! Good luck and I look forward to playing your game!

[@anthonymoloney3671]

Thank you Retro. I'm an original backer, and it still makes me smile to see how much work you are putting into your project. Really good suggestions and tips for development.

[@Retronator]

Thank you for believing in this project way back then. It had to find its way, how to best carry out the production, but I think it's on a good track now.

[@Vladonozes]

This should have millions of views! You are doing an amazing job! This is so interesting and just so crazy to me. Thank you for putting it out!

[@Retronator]

Thank you for letting me know! I'm just glad you find it interesting or useful, I will be happy to record and edit the other 3 parts as well.

[@ChristianSasso]

Congratulations, you are an amazing game designer!

[@rymdlingen]

So many good points and take-aways in this video, thank you for sharing your process!

[@ragemachinist]

Congrats! That's an incredible feat!

[@BasHasibuan]

I randomly clicked on this video. Your game seems perfect for me right now, I'll check it out. Keep going! I admire your resilience!

[@Mittzys]

9 Years already!!!

[@BlueCubeSociety]

As someone who _wants_ to work on a game since many years, but never really comes around to it, this is inspiring. Thanks Matej

[@KurtisM-wo9px]

Absolutely in the same boat, the time is now.

[@KurtisM-wo9px]

Trying to learn a few new skills myself, but it's things I've wanted to do for a while. Hopefully one of them would be worth sharing and helping others that are interested in the same stuff.

[@LyncDev]

Keep up the progress, and I wish you the best for your game!

[@mari-annalepasson2420]

Thanks for sharing your process in such detail! I need to bring more of this kind of method to my mad process. Also, redefining "alpha mindset" lol :D

[@iridelombardi]

Really interesting process as a graduating game developer!!! good luck with your efforts!

[@r.g.thesecond]

For all the dislike I have towards Google, TH-cam recommendations is something I can't complain too much about. I'm delighted to have ended up here. Games with a clear focus, dedication, and full of character is what indie is all about. Not to mention all the resources on pixel art rendering and creation that you have on your channel for free. (Which, as a coder, is secretly what makes me even more excited to try your game) Instant wishlist.
EDIT: I just played the demo, and my only complaint is that there is a slight performance degradation when zooming in too much, and game got a bit jittery on the wide canvas in Hand tool tutorial. I don't have the best PC, so I urge you to add an option for a smaller render viewport.

[@Retronator]

I tried to address some of those performance issues, but I haven't found a perfect solution yet. I think it should be a bit better in the new version, but still not as smooth as I want. It's especially a problem on HiDPI displays. Unfortunately I have other performance issues that are higher priority, so I need to address those first, but after the game is released, I will take the first months to just improve all the smaller stuff like this that people report. Definitely giving this issue a boost then. Thanks for trying it out and reporting!

[@Retronator]

The tools that I use:
codecks.io (task tracking)
linea-app.com (note taking)
www.drawio.com (class diagrams)

[@uropig]

very informative

[@MCPCStudios]

I'd really love, if you had the time, to delve more into the reverse flow chart planning process. I'd reckon for a lot of game developers such as myself, if can make the process of planning features easier rather than frequent sidetracking as a result of loss-of-scope.

[@Retronator]

I'm not sure how much more depth there is to the process. I did do some digging now, apparently reverse flowcharts were introduced by Barbara Sher in Wishcraft: How to Get What You Really Want. In turn, this was mentioned in the book I read,, The Renaissance Soul: How to Make Your Passions Your Life. But at least in the one I read, there's not much more mentioned than going over the process with a practical example. But if you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to reflect on them from my own experience.

[@AnkobiaStudios-bs4vg]

Why doesn't it open on my steamdeck?

[@Retronator]

I don't have a Steam Deck unfortunately, so I wasn't able to test it there yet. Are you trying to run the demo? Someone in the past said on Discord they were able to run it, although they had to remap some keys. If you're willing to give the release candidate a try and you're tech savvy, let me know and I can get a test version for you. You can find me on Discord here: discord.gg/mngNfvTwG6

[@LevitskiSRGE]

5 minutes in, I don't even understand the product.

[@Retronator]

Yeah, sorry about that. It's not meant as a video explaining the game, most people following here know about it already as I talk about it all the time on this channel. This video is meant to share my production practices, which are agnostic to precisely what kind of game it is. You can check out the website to learn more about the game itself: pixelart.academy