2024 has come to an end. At the same time, I'm researching a path for my next game. Thinking about the next steps and executing them is a big challenge for a solo game developer. I'm looking for a direction to retain this lovely job in the long term. From my point of view, this is a battle for survival for any indie game developer (any team size).
Another year has passed quickly, and many things and calculations get done. There were no financial gains, but I still feel inner happiness when I look back on my personal growth.
They came from "Hogvalord: The Ranch" my second game, one of my completed milestones. I've gone through many things with this project and learned how to make a clear and focused game. Improving the project scope management is another thing I got. I realized taking notes is also important to keep myself from repeating the same mistake next time. Yep! It's a hard lesson.
Next, I finished "The Thôn" a spontaneous visual project for experiencing level and environment design. It's a short clip recording everything I could put into a level. I comprehend the benefits of drawing and level designing to creativity in a month.
I also made a small tool for level design that applied a procedural content generation algorithm. It's not a multi-purpose tool and only focused on the specific things in my own game. Any craftsman has his own tool, is it right?
Besides, I've studied game design by playing other games, such as Nobody Saves The World, Hades, Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, Valheilm, and Palworlds. They helped me to see my weak points.
2024 was a difficult time for the video game industry. I don't think video games are a printing money machine. We can not apply the mass production mindset to creating video games. We can not copy a proven successful game to make another successful game. That's why many AAA games failed this year despite spending millions of dollars. Another reason for the failure is AAA video game makers leveraged those games as woke ideology propaganda.
In conclusion, the solo game developer has a poor material lifestyle but fulfillment. Learning acceptance is the way to go on this path because things will change over time.
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