As a solo game developer, I have dedicated many years to this lonely journey. My life feels like an RPG. I constantly strive to gain EXPs to improve my skills or unlock new abilities. I think there are two main skill branches in the video game industry. One is game development skill, and another is game selling skill. Each one has some subskills. Self-training is a daily routine when you choose solo game development as your career path. You can only depend on your own skills to create the games you want.

Game design has been my passion since I was young. I had a vision of creating my own masterpiece that would be a huge success. I wanted to combine the best features of different games, such as A from X, B from Y, and my original Z. To me, game design was a rewarding job.

I thought a game designer only needed excellent ideas and others would be willing to build my game. That was my ignorant thought in my teenage. Actually, nobody around me at that time could program video games. I recognized the first obstacle on my game developer path. I had no other option except to learn game programming. That's the first one.

My game programming skills improved gradually. I could make some simple games and tried various programming languages. Video game programming became my main job unintentionally. But I still could not make my favorite genres, such as ARPG or city building. I felt unsatisfied with my games. I saw many uncomplish aspects and mistakes in them. My gut told me that I did not have enough game-designing skills. I need to learn more about game design. It's the second one.

I was temporarily content with my daily job and considered game development as a hobby. But I thought I should be more serious when this hobby grew bigger. I took the challenge and followed the solitary path of a solo game developer. I tried to create a game, sell it, and hope it would become a sustainable income to keep going on this path. My first game failed without much surprise. It made me realize improvement in marketing is unavoidable. So marketing is the third important skill of a solo game developer.

It's very challenging to master the above skills, but I still enjoy the learning progress. I keep pursuing this path as long as possible. Your support of my games is a big encouragement to me. I'm willing to answer any questions. Please don't hesitate to leave your comment!