Solo Success: How to Actually Ship Your Indie Game

Solo game development is challenging, often feeling like an endless uphill battle. Many aspiring developers get stuck in development hell, never shipping their first game. The key to success isn’t just talent, but a disciplined approach to scope and execution.

Start small, genuinely small, with your first project. A common mistake is to attempt an epic open-world RPG as your debut. Instead, aim for a single-mechanic arcade game or a short narrative experience.

Successful indie games like Flappy Bird or Among Us started with incredibly focused core loops. These examples demonstrate that simple concepts, executed well, can achieve massive reach.

Perfectionism is a silent killer of projects. It’s easy to get caught in an endless loop of tweaking minor details while the core game remains unfinished. Embrace the concept of ‘good enough’ for a first release.

Your goal is to ship, not to create a masterpiece on your first try. Each shipped game is a learning opportunity, providing invaluable experience for future projects.

Feature creep is another significant pitfall. This happens when new ideas are constantly added, expanding the project beyond its original scope. Define your core mechanic early and stick to it relentlessly.

If an idea doesn’t directly serve that core mechanic, put it in a ‘future ideas’ list for a potential sequel or expansion. Don’t let it derail your current project.

Building everything from scratch is inefficient, especially for solo developers. Leverage existing assets whenever possible to save time and effort. Asset libraries offer high-quality resources that can accelerate your development.

Whether it’s 2D sprites, 3D models, or sound effects, using pre-made assets frees you to focus on unique gameplay elements. Wayline’s Strafekit offers a wide range of royalty-free assets for this purpose.

While planning is crucial, don’t get bogged down in excessive documentation. A concise Game Design Document (GDD) helps maintain focus without becoming a burden. It acts as your project’s compass.

Tools like Blueprint can help you quickly structure your game ideas into a professional GDD. This ensures clarity on your vision without over-planning.

Get feedback early and often, even if your game is in a rough state. Solo developers often shy away from showing unfinished work, but early playtesting identifies fundamental flaws before they become major problems.

Iterate based on this feedback, even if it means cutting features or rethinking core mechanics. External perspectives are invaluable for spotting issues you might overlook.

Building a public presence for your work is vital, even before launch. Share screenshots, GIFs, and devlogs to build anticipation and gather early interest. Platforms like Twitter, Reddit, and Discord are excellent for this.

Your unique Devpage allows you to showcase all your projects in one place, whether they’re on Steam, itch.io, or just in development. This is crucial for building a portfolio and a following.

Shipping a game, even a small one, is a monumental achievement. It teaches you more than any tutorial or course ever could. Focus on completion, learn from each project, and keep building.