was wondering this what do you guys think about being a Solo Dev and making a 3D UE4 game which will be a 2.5D side scroller shooter, but like a good game not just a bad game but one that would be worth playing, like say a Metal Slug Clone.
Mainly for Steam because I found out that Mobile doesn’t really have any money among the millions of free games.
My aim is to make either a platformer or a FPS title, one that I would love to play, I am a very picky gamer and few games satisfy me, so I have a good metric to judge my game on which is myself. I have my plan on marketing etc already worked out it will be done during the development of my game to finish.
I am giving the game development time a total of 5 years to complete. Now 5 years is a lot but like I said i really wanted to make something good.
I am no expert but I think it is possible to do especially with ue4. If a game is completed by just one person, it obviously doesn’t have to sell a million copies to be sustainable like AAA studios require. I think one person can do it with everything available now, especially if they worked 70-80hrs a week doing it…With a small investment there are templates to get a start and everything…
If you keep the scope fairly low and your skill set is diverse enough, it can definitely be done. I wouldn’t say it’s “fun”, but it can be done.
Personally, I’m aiming for a level of complexity (the AA space) on my game I could never fully realize without a small team, but I’ve been working on a publisher greenlight demo and first public trailer (intended to be released at the same time) for about a year and a half – the last two months of which has been full-time. And despite about 11ish years of experience across a number of disciplines, it’s still hard as hell both in development, mentality, and overall optimism for the thing. Not having any team members on a project is just not that great.
But, that’s me, so that may or may not be the case for you.
Anything is possible so long as your are committed. Just go into it with the understanding that nothing will ever truly go as planned. If you come to grips with that, and are determined to see your project through then it’s only a matter of time. =)
Hi thanks everyone, Since 2016 I have been learning programming and Blender 3D, how to create stuff like low poly models etc. I am nearing the point where I will start making my game, but its a lot of work because you have to actually have the knowledge of how to do these things.
Later this year I want to start work on my game, UE4 has these templates that are so complete in comparison to Unity 3D where you have to purchase it or make it yourself and it seems like its never enough, UE4 just comes with everything already done in those templates its so much easier to just follow up from there.
I do have another idea, instead of the metal slug clone I would like to instead try my hand at FPS game such as HUNT Showdown. I want to create a single player survival horror game similar to HUNT showdown but with RNG loot. At 1 person developing this game I don’t really see what I have to lose because anything I make and any number of copies I sell will be pure profit, if I manage to sell enough copies of a a UE4 game after 2 years of development for $10,000 then that would actually be a huge financial success, and from what I have seen on steam spy, really low quality mobile type games tend to make $5000 in the first month of its release, I already have a Day Job though its not in the tech field but the benefits are I have loads of free time and its only Monday to Friday with 1 month vacation a year and it pays more than minimum wage. The point is it pays the bills as I do this on the side, and I have enough time while at work to learn stuff on my phone watch youtube tutorials etc.
I will attempt both the platformer and the FPS as a demo and see how much work it actually is and how well I do.
Metal slug clone solo he says. Forget about getting it done this century man. To go that far with it you need more help just to cut the time down to a reasonable amount. If you don’t mind spending 10 or 12 years making the game solo then yes it CAN be done but I strongly advise seeking some others to help make this happen a whole lot sooner.
First 5 years goes by fast so since game design is more about the art stick with it’s done when it’s done.
Second game development is about the ride and the completed game is the reward so if you get easily frustrated having to solve problems there are easier ways of making a living, and more money.
On the other hand if you love to solve problems then game development can be something to enjoy
I find it odd that people here are so encouraging on this topic, if this was asked in Unity forums the responses would be “you are wasting your time because you have a 1% chance that your game would succeed”
But then again I decided to make a FPS game similar to half life. I think this is a much more realistic goal
Usually when you see those “my game didn’t make any money” or “my game was a flop” thread on Unity and you actually looked at the game, they are always mobile type games that not even the developer would play cause the quality is so bad and is not interesting
I think for a game to succeed, besides marketing offcourse is that the game actually has to have some quality put into it, and also it has to be interesting and fun. If it isn’t a game you would care to play then I think it should be no surprise that nobody bought it.
