Solo Dev Syndrome: “Wait... did I already fix this asset or not?”

Development Asset Creation
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It starts simple.

You’re deep in the zone.
You open a mesh. It looks… off.
No notes. No versioning. No checklist. Just that familiar indie dev dread.

Suddenly you’re asking yourself:

  • Did I already fix this UV stretch, or was that just in my head?
  • Is this LOD good to go, or did I mean to revisit it later?
  • Wait… is this actually the final texture, or just named FINAL_FINAL_THISONE.png?

And the worst part?

You’re the only one on the team.
There’s no one to blame… except past you. :sweat_smile:

:video_game: As solo devs, we spend weeks crafting every prop, texture, material, and mechanic — but somehow still lose track of what’s done, what’s pending, and what broke mid-iteration.

So here’s my question:

How do you keep your asset-level sanity?

  • Do you write it all down in Notion?
  • Use comment blocks in materials?
  • Live dangerously and try to remember it all?

Would love to hear how others are staying organized — especially when juggling 3+ roles solo (dev, artist, QA, barista).

Let’s share pain points and survival tricks.

Also, what’s your worst asset filename? I recently found mine:
SM_TempleDoor_FINAL_FINAL2_USE_THIS_ACTUAL.umap :upside_down_face:

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Absolutely—I feel you 100%! I’ve been in that exact same spiral more times than I care to admit. Last week I opened up what I thought was “Final” terrain mesh… only to realize three hours later I’d never actually applied the fix I swore I did. By the time I tracked down the right version I’d lost half a day, forgotten what color palette I was using, and ended up with three almost-identical files named Terrain_FINAL2_REALTHISONE.obj, Terrain_FINAL2_REALTHISONE_v2.obj, and the legendary Terrain_FINAL2_REALTHISONE_FINAL.obj. :man_facepalming:

It’s gotten so bad that I once shipped a build with completely mangled LODs—players saw full-detail trees at 500 meters out, and my framerate collapsed like a house of cards. I spent the next 48 hours in a caffeine-fueled code/texturing frenzy to un-break everything. Solo dev syndrome is real, and it turns the simplest mesh tweak into a full-blown archaeological expedition through your own file structure!

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