Picking the correct game idea is kind of one of the most impactful decisions you can make as a game dev and over the years I've figure out a few types of games I'll never make, but ultimately the best strategy is to follow your own fun and make that game. Checkout my upcoming game Hexagod: store.steampowered.com/app/3059390/Hexagod/
Puzzle games are rough because a puzzle that most people can solve that's also fun and rewarding is a razor thin margin between "so easy it's not even interesting" and "so hard it's not even worth the time". Genuinely good "aha!" moments are also really difficult to create, but the puzzle games that really stand out in my memory tend to have at least one massive discovery that reshapes your entire understanding of the game. E.g. Fez, Tunic, The Witness, etc. I can't even imagine how hard it is to come up with that sort of mechanic in the first place, let alone integrate it into the game in such a way that the player can appreciate what they've already experienced through this new lens.
If you don't know, Stardew Valley was one guy obsessing over this game for five years while his patient girlfriend paid the bills. He banked millions, so the bet paid off in the end, but there's a price to be paid to follow in his footsteps.
While true, more than 2/3rds of all indie games make less than $10,000 USD. Games like Stardew are the exception. Be carefule if you also intend to spend 5yrs on your game.
I'm making a competitive multiplayer game for my first (commercial) game. However its turn based, which makes cheat prevention easier, and I don't have to worry about lag so servers don't have to be per-region and such. I agree with all your points though, I don't think its feasible for a solo dev to develop and manage a competitive multiplayer community correctly if its real-time.
@@Chex_Mex its like fighter planes in 2d. You plan your moves and watch your planes fly and shoot each other. I dont have any videos up about it yet, only from my last project which was singleplayer. Whats your card game like?
@@SuperEssenceOfficial oh that's really cool. It reminds me a bit of games like frozen synapse, toribash, and the more recent example of YOMI Hustle. My card game's based around the theme of SCPs, analog horror, and basically the "new weird" genre as a whole. Scifi meets lovecraftian horror in a lot of ways. Main novel idea is a secondary deck, where by attaining influence points which you do through a new stat on minions, you can draw from this deck for more powerful cards. I'm using magic's combat system with the digital aspects of hearthstone like discover, stitching minions, etc.
@@Chex_Mex yes! I've seen all those games. Mine is also simultaneous. You can add me on whatever if you want to play it, ill add you to the demo. Interesting sounding game! are you doing it in an engine? in unity theres a card game template I'd like but youd have to modify it a lot
Agreed! I tried to “just make a simple game” but couldn’t stick to an idea. I was always drawn to the challenge of 3d platforming. Learning the physics and vector math is *fun* to me, and seeing it take shape is exciting.
Nooo.. RPG Sitting here and making my RPG, but I making RPG because when I was young it was a dream to make my own RPG so I'm sitting here and making itn ow, but yeah, it takes so much time, already 1+ year here, and gonna be longer for sure!
Great vid ! I can truly relate ! My first game is a highly "not recomended to do" a .... mega combo consisting OF a puzzle-action-platformer with VR :D I'm so I trouble right? Not exactly... One thing that I've learned is... VR development is hard on my face so I made my game non-VR and now my deveopment is boosted timewise. It is my dream game and if someone, someday finds it fun for them -> my goal will be reached. That being said, my second game will be much much more simple.
I think my favorite genre is going to bed and sleeping until the 23rd Century. I'm so tired of getting nowhere with my complex ideas and my poor programming and modelling skills, I think I'm just going to make short and simple narrative walking simulators in Unity using PlayMaker and other people's assets.
I think people gravitate to making a platformer because it's "easy" (to get started at least). But outside of a learning project, i don't think that should ever be the primary deciding factor. You gotta like what you're making. I probably will never make a platformer myself for the same reason: I suck at them, and I don't find them fun.
lol me clicking on this video thinking “he’s going to say platformers isn’t he” I’ve clocked in over 400 hours on just playing TetherGeist during development and certainly still counting 😅
Anything that combines too many elements or genres (e.g. immersive sims/FPS/puzzle/RPG games like Deus Ex or adventure/puzzle/combat games like Zelda). Try making just one of these genres first. It's very hard to get the balance right and aside from that takes way more work to make a multi-genre game.
You know, if you had learned another natural language like Italian or Japanese as a child there would have been a good chance, that now you wouldn't suffer from dyslexia with that other language. ;-) Well, you choose programming... good choice!
You can _literally_ make any kind of game with any kind of game engine. The biggest lie in game dev is to pretend some engines could not be used to make game X or game Y. Engines are just tools. What you build with them is 100% on you. There are very very very few real examples of what is not possible with a certain engine and you'll most likely be then looking at big core features that are missing to support things like a huge MMORPG game or some foundational support for 3D because you're using a 2D-only engine. But even then, given enough technical skills and programming know-how you could (theoretically) add all of that yourself. And nothing is stopping you from picking a different engine, many of which are free. Limiting yourself to a genre you prefer to develop is excellent. Nothing wrong there. However, in terms of what is profitable or commercially viable, I would never limit myself. For example in mobile gaming there are vast amounts of more 'simple' games you could make to earn additional revenue with. They wouldn't ever be your dream game projects, but it would allow commercial success. I also think multiplayer games can be extremely interesting. But getting it secure and to run decently is a challenge.
Edit: I think that link got my comment deleted. It had 60+ examples of games that required custom engines. This isn't a lie. There are dozens of examples, not a few. The tools you use matter, and if the tool you need doesn't exist... then you have to make it. The unfortunate truth is most Indie Devs aren't creative enough to need to make their own engine. Most borrow successful ideas instead of innovating them.
Picking the correct game idea is kind of one of the most impactful decisions you can make as a game dev and over the years I've figure out a few types of games I'll never make, but ultimately the best strategy is to follow your own fun and make that game. Checkout my upcoming game Hexagod: store.steampowered.com/app/3059390/Hexagod/
There is a type not covered... Rythm/Musical games genre!😅
Currently exploring that and trying to mix it with other types!
Puzzle games are rough because a puzzle that most people can solve that's also fun and rewarding is a razor thin margin between "so easy it's not even interesting" and "so hard it's not even worth the time". Genuinely good "aha!" moments are also really difficult to create, but the puzzle games that really stand out in my memory tend to have at least one massive discovery that reshapes your entire understanding of the game. E.g. Fez, Tunic, The Witness, etc. I can't even imagine how hard it is to come up with that sort of mechanic in the first place, let alone integrate it into the game in such a way that the player can appreciate what they've already experienced through this new lens.
100% I bet it's very easy to make puzzles that are impossible and puzzles that are trivial.
If you don't know, Stardew Valley was one guy obsessing over this game for five years while his patient girlfriend paid the bills.
He banked millions, so the bet paid off in the end, but there's a price to be paid to follow in his footsteps.
While true, more than 2/3rds of all indie games make less than $10,000 USD. Games like Stardew are the exception. Be carefule if you also intend to spend 5yrs on your game.
@@G4M5T3R Absolutely!!!! The odds were pretty good that he'd put in all that work for so many years and get little to nothing in return.
He worked part time as well at a cinema iirc.
I'm making a competitive multiplayer game for my first (commercial) game. However its turn based, which makes cheat prevention easier, and I don't have to worry about lag so servers don't have to be per-region and such. I agree with all your points though, I don't think its feasible for a solo dev to develop and manage a competitive multiplayer community correctly if its real-time.
What's the game concept if you don't mind me asking? I'm also making a turn based card game (though not commercially) so curious to hear :)
@@Chex_Mex its like fighter planes in 2d. You plan your moves and watch your planes fly and shoot each other. I dont have any videos up about it yet, only from my last project which was singleplayer.
Whats your card game like?
@@SuperEssenceOfficial oh that's really cool. It reminds me a bit of games like frozen synapse, toribash, and the more recent example of YOMI Hustle.
My card game's based around the theme of SCPs, analog horror, and basically the "new weird" genre as a whole. Scifi meets lovecraftian horror in a lot of ways.
Main novel idea is a secondary deck, where by attaining influence points which you do through a new stat on minions, you can draw from this deck for more powerful cards. I'm using magic's combat system with the digital aspects of hearthstone like discover, stitching minions, etc.
@@Chex_Mex yes! I've seen all those games. Mine is also simultaneous. You can add me on whatever if you want to play it, ill add you to the demo.
Interesting sounding game! are you doing it in an engine? in unity theres a card game template I'd like but youd have to modify it a lot
I could not imagine ever making a competitive online multiplayer game haha
Even a small one is "lifelong project" territory for a solo dev. Anything bigger needs a small team minimum, IMO.
Why?
I've really been enjoying these like small podcasts
Enjoyed the video! Would be nice to see one about which genres you feel you'd most want to target in the future.
I enjoyed hearing your take on this!
Agreed! I tried to “just make a simple game” but couldn’t stick to an idea. I was always drawn to the challenge of 3d platforming. Learning the physics and vector math is *fun* to me, and seeing it take shape is exciting.
Nooo.. RPG Sitting here and making my RPG, but I making RPG because when I was young it was a dream to make my own RPG so I'm sitting here and making itn ow, but yeah, it takes so much time, already 1+ year here, and gonna be longer for sure!
Good luck with your project! Make your younger self proud.
@@foldupgames thanks 👍 Yes that is the goal .
I’m very much the same with puzzle games. I LOVE efficiency puzzle with multiple solutions like Opus Magnum.
Great vid ! I can truly relate ! My first game is a highly "not recomended to do" a .... mega combo consisting OF a puzzle-action-platformer with VR :D I'm so I trouble right? Not exactly... One thing that I've learned is... VR development is hard on my face so I made my game non-VR and now my deveopment is boosted timewise. It is my dream game and if someone, someday finds it fun for them -> my goal will be reached. That being said, my second game will be much much more simple.
I think my favorite genre is going to bed and sleeping until the 23rd Century.
I'm so tired of getting nowhere with my complex ideas and my poor programming and modelling skills, I think I'm just going to make short and simple narrative walking simulators in Unity using PlayMaker and other people's assets.
I think people gravitate to making a platformer because it's "easy" (to get started at least). But outside of a learning project, i don't think that should ever be the primary deciding factor. You gotta like what you're making.
I probably will never make a platformer myself for the same reason: I suck at them, and I don't find them fun.
lol me clicking on this video thinking “he’s going to say platformers isn’t he”
I’ve clocked in over 400 hours on just playing TetherGeist during development and certainly still counting 😅
I agree that designing puzzles are difficult
Anything that combines too many elements or genres (e.g. immersive sims/FPS/puzzle/RPG games like Deus Ex or adventure/puzzle/combat games like Zelda).
Try making just one of these genres first. It's very hard to get the balance right and aside from that takes way more work to make a multi-genre game.
I'll always make games I'd play.
1:52 Whoa that's a great insight: maybe the perfect person to make a game in a particular genre is someone who hates that genre. 🤯
So now that you know what not to do, what should you actually do? :)
Need a composer or sound designer? :)
You know, if you had learned another natural language like Italian or Japanese as a child there would have been a good chance, that now you wouldn't suffer from dyslexia with that other language. ;-) Well, you choose programming... good choice!
I think you a word in the title 😆
Dyslexia strikes again! Thank you :)
@@Aarimousgreat video, definitely agree on most of these points! Designing puzzles is HARD
Don’t ever make a football game!
Why not?
@@saulnores3477 You'll go broke!
@@shawnwignall3094 I thought you were going to say that they are hard to make. I think it can sell well, but it has to be made perfectly well.
Also don’t ever make a football game.
Why not?
@@saulnores3477 Because you'll go broke!
You can _literally_ make any kind of game with any kind of game engine. The biggest lie in game dev is to pretend some engines could not be used to make game X or game Y. Engines are just tools. What you build with them is 100% on you.
There are very very very few real examples of what is not possible with a certain engine and you'll most likely be then looking at big core features that are missing to support things like a huge MMORPG game or some foundational support for 3D because you're using a 2D-only engine. But even then, given enough technical skills and programming know-how you could (theoretically) add all of that yourself.
And nothing is stopping you from picking a different engine, many of which are free.
Limiting yourself to a genre you prefer to develop is excellent. Nothing wrong there. However, in terms of what is profitable or commercially viable, I would never limit myself. For example in mobile gaming there are vast amounts of more 'simple' games you could make to earn additional revenue with. They wouldn't ever be your dream game projects, but it would allow commercial success. I also think multiplayer games can be extremely interesting. But getting it secure and to run decently is a challenge.
Edit: I think that link got my comment deleted. It had 60+ examples of games that required custom engines.
This isn't a lie. There are dozens of examples, not a few. The tools you use matter, and if the tool you need doesn't exist... then you have to make it.
The unfortunate truth is most Indie Devs aren't creative enough to need to make their own engine. Most borrow successful ideas instead of innovating them.