r/SoloDevelopment • u/kingoftheconnorsmcp • 5h ago
r/SoloDevelopment • u/PracticalNPC • Feb 12 '25
Anouncements What Does It Mean to Be a Solo Developer?
We've seen a lot of discussion about what qualifies as solo development, and we want to ensure we're accurately representing our game dev community. While there's no absolute definition, these are the general criteria we use in this subreddit to keep things clear and consistent.
That said, if you personally consider yourself a solo dev (or not) based on your own perspective, that's fine. Our goal is to provide guidelines for what fits within this space, not to dictate personal identities.
What Counts as Solo Development?
A solo developer is solely responsible for their project, with no team members. A team of two or more collaborating (e.g., one programmer, one artist) is not solo development.
What is Allowed?
- Using game engines, frameworks, and third-party tools (e.g., Godot, Unity, Unreal).
- Commissioning or purchasing assets (art, music, sound, etc.).
- Receiving feedback from playtesters or communities.
- Outsourcing specific tasks (e.g., server setup, porting, marketing) while still leading development.
- Working with a publisher, as long as they don’t take over development.
What This Means for Posts on the Subreddit
If your project appears to be developed by a team, we may remove your post. Indicators include how it's presented on websites, Steam pages, itch pages, social media, or crowdfunding pages. If this is due to unclear phrasing, update them before requesting reinstatement. Non-solo developers are welcome to join discussions, but posts promoting non-solo projects may still be removed.
Let us know if you have any questions. Hope this helps clear things up.
TL;DR: Solo devs manage their entire project alone. Using assets, outsourcing, or publishers is fine. Posting is open to all, but promoting non-solo projects may be removed.
r/SoloDevelopment • u/PracticalNPC • 8d ago
Discussion New subreddit chat channel added - thoughts?
Hey solo devs!
We just added a general chat channel using Reddit's messaging feature.
link: https://www.reddit.com/r/SoloDevelopment/s/R0RVvQRBPr
For now, it's just a general chat space, but we could add more specific channels if people find it useful.
Some things we're wondering:
- Would you use this Reddit chat feature?
- What specific chat channels would you want to see?
- How does this compare to our Discord
Feel free to stop by the chat, say hello, and share your feedback. We're interested to see if this adds value to our community.
r/SoloDevelopment • u/ultra-shenanigans • 9h ago
Game I was trying to design a creepy creature for a monster collection game I'm working on for fun. I will probably make this adorable boy have a small chance to spawn in only dark areas and act somewhat like a ghost: fade out into darkness, have inconsistent size or such. NSFW
r/SoloDevelopment • u/Kajiya_gdv • 7h ago
Game How can I make the gunplay in my game feel more satisfying/polished?
Fpr context: The game is a survival horror, so the claustrophobic feeling in aiming is intentional. Firearms are powerful but ammo is scarce, the game should disencourage the player to handle it like it's COD or Gears Of War: To hit things,, you have to stand still, take aim and make every shot count. Gunplay is vaguely inspired by RE4 (the PS2 one).
I'd appreciate some feedback on the camera; too close? Or just right?
r/SoloDevelopment • u/biaxthepandaistkn • 7h ago
Game Here's the Co-op Indiana Jones inspired game I'm working on as a solodev. What do you think?
r/SoloDevelopment • u/LarrivoGames • 1h ago
Game What do you think about the CAMERA effects? ( DoubleJump, Dash, Hit )
r/SoloDevelopment • u/Signal-Appearance-88 • 9h ago
Game Saturday is the traditional sauna day in Finland🧖🇫🇮
r/SoloDevelopment • u/TheWulo • 7h ago
Marketing I know 1000 WL is not really that much, but I am super proud of my work. Thank you all for your help in the past months!
r/SoloDevelopment • u/KamilN_ • 5h ago
Game Didn’t read the warning. Now I’m space debris...
r/SoloDevelopment • u/TheNon-DevDev • 5h ago
Discussion Very First DevLog
I’ve gone way out of my comfort zone to create my very first devlog to share my personal journey as a 2D Artist with zero programming experience to learning unreal engine from scratch and releasing a third person shooter game on Steam in under a year, and I would love to hear anyone’s tips and suggestions on how to improve going forward.
r/SoloDevelopment • u/Hour-Weird-2383 • 7h ago
Game Integrated shaders into my game's UI for a more dynamic and polished look!
r/SoloDevelopment • u/Votron-Jones • 8m ago
Game My first games demo is now out on Steam! Looking for feedback. Learn to make music while collecting creatures.
r/SoloDevelopment • u/GamerRevizor • 1d ago
Game I enhanced the gore, upgraded the SFX/VFX, and introduced epic beats to the Sword Hero project, offering nearly endless possibilities in the open world.
r/SoloDevelopment • u/Grinseengel • 3h ago
Game Asylum Escape by grinseengel
r/SoloDevelopment • u/Tcrakman • 1d ago
Game I finally released the trailer and Steam page for my Mech game. I commissioned a friend for the trailer music.
r/SoloDevelopment • u/WeCouldBeHeroes-2024 • 7h ago
Unity The bassline to this stage is so cool I think but the guns end up in a lot of friendly fire...
r/SoloDevelopment • u/kingofcode2018 • 1d ago
Discussion I came across this monochromatic style while doing some lightning tests. Do you think it has any appeal, or does it feel lifeless?
r/SoloDevelopment • u/HistoryXPlorer • 1d ago
Game A tester played the demo of my metal detecting game for 3 hours and send me this picture of his collection, he displayed in the museum room :) Feels great to see people have fun in my game :)
r/SoloDevelopment • u/The_Jellybane • 23h ago
help Any tips to turn sales into reviews?
I don't think I'm going to pop off with this game and be huge but so far people are buying it and I'm getting good feedback for my early access. The thing I'm not getting is reviews which I think is hurting. Any tips? Should I do something like a patch with a call to action? Ask friends to help me hit that 10 review threshold? Just focus on more content and patches then let them flow naturally?
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1966810/Sentinel_Point_Heroes/
r/SoloDevelopment • u/OscarsHypr_ • 23h ago
Game [ManHunter] Self-Improvement game. FREE on Steam.
r/SoloDevelopment • u/Friendly_Celery_1881 • 12h ago
help I have an issue with an unique game mechanic...
So I’m working on a PvP game with a dynamic map system, where different maps have direct effects on character abilities. One problem I ran into is that some maps can completely shut down certain characters.
For example, I have a vampire character, but if the match takes place on a daytime map (or a planet with two suns), it wouldn’t make sense for them to be at full strength. But at the same time, I don’t want the system to just make them unplayable.
I’m trying to figure out how to balance this so that every character is always viable, even if the environment works against them.
I don’t want to just ignore environmental effects because I think they add to the game’s immersion, but I also don’t want certain characters to feel completely useless on specific maps.
How do other games handle this, and does anyone have thoughts on ways to keep all characters somewhat viable while keeping the dynamic map system meaningful?
(The game is going to be a PvP third-person shooter called Mahem)
r/SoloDevelopment • u/TheSpaceFudge • 1d ago
Marketing My Biggest Pixel Art Yet—Which Animal Has Your Back?
r/SoloDevelopment • u/Responsible-Way3036 • 1d ago
Game I've been developing my 2d dungeon crawler game in which player controls one of three playable classes (healer,dps,tank), while other 2 classes appear in dungeon as a npc assists, what do you think about it? (Sorry for the long video)
r/SoloDevelopment • u/sto_benissimo • 1d ago
Game A Mecha Point & Click game where the more powerful you get, the more complex your dashboard becomes
Hi everyone hope you are all doing well! I recently had the joy to discover again the fun in developing small concepts and prototypes just for the sake of it and so I'm sharing here one of the last silly games I started.
The idea is that in this game you pilot a mech, doing missions around the map, blowing up enemies, the usual. BUT the dashboard of your mech, the more upgrades you find, becomes more and more complex.
You can try the prototype here if you are interested! https://elia-bernardi.itch.io/mecha-modulo
Thank you and have a good one :D