Indie games made by one person. Part two (Topic)

Last week we put together the top brilliant indie games for you that were made with the blood and sweat of one person. By their example, we were convinced that it is not necessary to have huge funding and a huge staff of employees behind us (although let's admit that there would be no extra) to write your name in the column of great developers and game designers.

Today we will introduce five more independent developers who made their own games, and you should definitely get acquainted with their projects. By the way, in the first part of our article series we looked at some very cool projects and strongly advise you not to miss them.

5. Alexey Pajitnov and Tetris

And we will start this time with the Soviet Union, namely 1984. It would seem, what is so surprising about Tetris, and besides, now? However, he made a huge contribution precisely to the popularization of video games in society. Tetris became a phenomenon, everyone played it. In the list of the greatest video games, The Times magazine ranked him number one.

And it all started in Volume 84, when Alexey Pazhitnov, an employee of the Academy of Sciences, was improving artificial intelligence, trying to make him solve various puzzles. He tried to make the Electronika 60 computer solve pentominoes (the task is to put different figures of five cells into a rectangular figure). There was not enough computer power, and Pajitnov switched to a simpler Tetrimino puzzle. Hence the name. He came up with a simple mechanic of disappearing collected lines, and endlessly appearing shapes.

It's a pity that when all the USSR and the rest of the world were mad about the game, Pajitnov's name was forgotten due to copyright problems, but the situation was changed by American journalists from CBS, who introduced the creator to the world. He was able to make a profit only 8 years later.

4. Eric Baron and Stardew Vallye

Eric just graduated from university with a degree in computer technology. But he did not go to work on the profile, but began to improve his programming skills, and now he began working on his own game, which became Stardew Vallye. He directly borrowed the idea from the game of raising livestock, harvesting and other farm delights Harvest Moon, which, in his opinion, has long since slipped. He set out to make the perfect game for himself.

Eric admits that he spent 4 years on 10 hours a day on development, and in addition, since he did not get a job in his specialty after university, he worked as a service staff, checking tickets at the Paramount Theater. He did not give up the idea and showed it in the Greene light steam.

Gamers liked the game so much that it already had a fan base when it came out. It was the top-selling game two weeks after release.

3. Dean Dodrill & Dust: An Elysian Tail

Dean was an artist and his project was originally supposed to be a cartoon. However, he failed to cope with the load. But then a twist happened - Dean announced that he would make a game based on his idea. He began to study programming on his own, which was difficult for him. At one of the programming lectures, he met musician Chris Gecko, who eventually wrote the soundtrack for the game. Dean put together a prototype of the game and sent it to Micrisoft's developer competition, which won with a $ 40,000 grant and soon signed a contract making them a publisher.

In the end, he still hired a screenwriter, who tweaked the dialogues and the director, so that he would choose a cast for the voice acting. For the last 3 months of development, he worked 18 hours a day, which is why he lost weight. The game was released and loved.

2. Terry Cavan and VVVVVV

Terry was very fond of 8-bit games for the Commodore 64 as a child. It was by them that he was inspired, making the main indie project of 2010 VVVVVV. You just have to know that VVVVVV is one big beautiful joke on the laws of physics and puzzles to sweat. There is little to say about it, it's better to play once.

1. Ian Bing and Lost Soul Aside

It is worth saying that this game is more an exception to the rule, and more an example of how dreams come true thanks to efforts. The problem is that young Korean developer Yang Bing decided to create the game of his dreams, not just a platformer, but a full-fledged AAA project called Lost Soul Aside, all alone, inspired by Final Fantasy XV and Ninja Gaiden.

So in 2016, a trailer for the game appeared, in which we saw a beautiful picture on Unreal Engine 4. It demonstrated combat, different locations and interesting mechanics of interaction with the dragon that follows the GG, for example, the ability to merge with him and spread wings to fly. I wanted to play the game immediately, even though it was a technical demo version. After the video was published, job offers from large studios fell on him, and soon SONY announced that they were helping him in the development. Well, later Ian founded his own studio and the release is scheduled for this year.

By the example of these people, we see that if you have talent and desire, you should challenge the fate of a game developer. In the future, we will analyze the recipe for how to create an indie game.

The Topic of Article: Indie games made by one person. Part two.
Author: Jake Pinkman