Why I Chose GameDev

To be able to explain why I chose to give Games Development a go, I probably need to start at the beginning.

Growing Up with Gaming

So, at the beginning, there was the Big Bang ... I know, you've heard it all before, so I'll skip ahead a bit.

I grew up in the 90's, when smartphones were science fiction and home gaming was a fairly new concept.  LEGO was the creative toy of choice, and TV was full of fantasy, science fiction, and hope for the future (that worked out).  Even documentaries were about discovering the world around us, not how much damage "we" as a species have done to our planet.

The first games console I played was a SNES, and while we had a few games for it, Mario games were the main pastime.  The next one after that was an N64, my brother had a Gameboy Colour, and when PlayStation became a thing, we eventually had one of the 1st generation ones as well.

This meant I grew up gaming.  Not like it is today, with online multiplayer, realistic 3D graphics, or paid dlc and in-app purchases.  A game was just a game.  They were sometimes simple, without a difficulty setting, and you only played to get a high score.  Others had a story for you to discover as you played; turning the page with every button press or interaction.

Growing up in this period of hope and fantasy, driven by technology, naturally gave me an interest in technology.  It also gave me an appreciation for story telling, regardless of the medium of the story being told.

To me, games themselves became the pinnacle of creativity and story telling.  By providing a medium where art, music and writing can be combined into an interactive story that can played.  With the most complex games needing to be played multiple times, in different ways to see different outcomes to the stories they contained.

How I Started GameDev

As time went on, the gaming industry evolved, and I kept growing and learning.  Eventually, I found myself working in the IT industry, and had the opportunity to learn bits of programming, from concepts, to UML, to needing to use different languages for different tasks.  At that time I didn't think of myself as a developer, but was confident that I could review most code, from most of the common languages, regardless of the differences in syntax.

Eventually, my career took a regression, and I found myself working a simple retail job (which I still do).  At the same time, the most popular games released today are rarely about interesting stories, or even just chasing a high score, they're about playing online and paying for the best items and equipment.  While it is fair to say that is the current gaming market, I prefer single player games.  Either story driven games, or sandbox games.

So, with a bit of spare time on my hands, and a general understanding of development practices, I decided to start looking into learning how to make games.  My aim, besides hopefully making money, is to get to a point where I can make the kind of games that I would want to play.  Games that have a story, games that take more than 5 minutes to play, and games that feel worth playing.

To me, this made some kind of sense, and proved to be an interesting challenge.  Over the years, I had been exposed to coding, digital art, 3D modelling, audio software, video editing, project management, testing practices, data management, and so many other subjects that relate to the activity of making games.  I'm not an expert in any one of these areas, but have a basic working knowledge that can serve as a basis for learning about each subject as I need to.

As time has progressed, I have learned that it is not always as simple as it seems, but because of the broad basic knowledge I have, I am yet to come across a knowledge or skill gap that seems insurmountable.  The variety of types of work in how I make my games, while sometimes a challenge to organise, keeps the experience of making games interesting and enjoyable.  If I get bored, or stuck, in one part of the work, I can work on a different part and go back to it later.  Meaning I'm always moving my projects and ambitions forwards.

As it stands today, I'm still learning, but I am improving, and the projects I'm working on are becoming more complex.  Closer to what I would expect to see in a game.  Closer to the ambition.

So that's the story (so far).

Follow me on icth.io and x.com

itch.io - https://crazyhoundgamedesign.itch.io

x.com - https://x.com/crazyhoundgames

Changes to Blog because ... Google

I've had to make some changes to my blog following Google, which runs Blogger, not liking the reposting of my own posts from Itch on Blogger as well.

This apparently results in a policy violation where Google thinks I've "stolen" my own posts, and considers them to be inappropriately duplicated.

As a result of this, and in an attempt to remedy this violation, I'm instead including links back to the original posts from my Itch account, rather than duplicating them here.

My overall aim in duplicating the Making the Dream Work series was to eventually transition to using this blog as my main blog for my GameDev activities.

As Google requires the information on this blog to be "unique" and for it to "add value", the Making the Dream Work blog series will now only be hosted on my Itch account, and future blog posts and series not related to my Itch games will only made on this blog.

Apologies for any inconvenience or confusion.

About the Making the Dream Work Blog Series

The Making the Dream Work Blog Series is where I discuss and explain how I'm trying to go from a simple hobby developer to what will hopefully be a published, earning developer.

While there are a lot of tutorials and pieces of information on how to make a game or submit it to a platform, there seems to be little discussion around actually going from a hobby developer to turning the hobby into a career or business.  As a result, I have had to figure things out as I go, and I wanted to keep a record of the progress, and the steps I have had to take to go from being a hobby developer to getting an app onto a more marketable platform.  I'm doing this partly for posterity, but also in the hope that someone else might find the information helpful for their own aspirations.

If this idea interests you, feel free to give it read.  I'm also open to any feedback and questions.

Links to "Making the Dream Work"

Part 1 - https://itch.io/blog/987779/making-the-dream-work-part-1

Part 2 - https://itch.io/blog/1019562/making-the-dream-work-part-2

Part 3 - https://itch.io/blog/1062858/making-the-dream-work-part-3

Part 4 - https://itch.io/blog/1095061/making-the-dream-work-part-4

Part 5 - https://itch.io/blog/1101760/making-the-dream-work-part-5

Indie Dev Interview: Alnutmob Studios

 

Logo (c) Alnutmob Studios

Alnutmob Studios is an Indie Dev Duo currently working towards their first release with a "monastic management and trade simulation" game.  Their current focus on making a complete game, from mechanics to polish, and their desire to respect the player experience is an approach that already draws your attention to their game, even though it's still in production.

Follow their progress at @Alnutmob on X (twitter).

Project Experience

Games Released: 0 (working towards first release)
Game Jams Joined: 0
"Proof of Concepts": "A Few …" (systems, resource loops and UI to test ideas and refine main projects)

Current Project

Alnutmob Studios are currently developing a medieval monastery management and trade simulation game.

Current Project Game Art (c) Alnutmob Studios

In the game, players will oversee a community of monks who brew beer, manage production, and trade with nearby cities. The game focuses on balancing faith, labour, and profit — turning devotion into craftsmanship and survival.

The game aims to reflect medieval monastic life in how monks were not just followers of faith, but craftsmen, farmers and producers.  It is inspired by real world monastic breweries in breath-taking locations such as the Meteora monastery in Greece.

Meteora Monastery, Source: Wikipedia

The game is also special to the developers on a personal level.  They want to share the feelings of awe and inspiration from real world monastic sites, and the quiet satisfaction and comfort that comes from simulating the daily life and growth of a monastery.  This is helped along by the implementation of the mechanics and the visual level design, where a slower, more thoughtful approach to management can draw you into a world where care and consideration leads to success.

About the Developers

Team Size: 2
Team Experience: 2+ years

The team at Alnutmob Studios has been working towards their GameDev vision for a few years.  Focussing on learning and experimenting with GameDev, they have taken a very considered approach, resulting in their current project which is being designed with the player in mind.

They decided to get started in GameDev because games combine everything they love - from art, design and storytelling, to the creation of systems and mechanics.

Regarding games, Alnutmob Studios believes:

"They’re the most alive form of creativity we’ve found."

As well as it being a childhood dream for them to be able to make games.

Alnutmob Studio's Favourite Part of GameDev

• "Seeing the world come alive through systems.
• Learning new things all the time.
• It is one of the hardest challenges we have ever faced but in a good
• way.
• Enjoying the process of making and playing our games."

Alnutmob Studio's Hardest Lesson Learned

"Finishing is harder than starting. Scope control, polish, and patience matter more than ideas. Don't give up and focus on enjoying the experience rather than being stressed out."

Alnutmob Studio's Best Tip

• "Respect your players. Don’t release something unfinished and promise to fix it later.
• Build something complete, even if it’s small. Passion shows through polish.
• Manage your time well, you don't need to add everything into the game, add quality and try to stick to the 80/20 rule. Keep things simple and,
• Most of all, have fun!"

Follow Alnutmob Studio's on X: @Alnutmob

About CrazyHoundGameDesign

CrazyHoundGameDesign is a solo indie game developer just starting out and learning the challenge of game development.  CrazyHoundGameDesign currently has one game uplaoded to the Google Play Store, and has participated in several game jams over the last few years.

Please follow CrazyHoundGameDesign, and if you would like to have your own experiences showcased here, you can contact CrazyHoundGameDesign on x, @crazyhoundgames, or by email at crazyhoundgamedesign@gmail.com

Follow me on icth.io and x.com

itch.io - https://crazyhoundgamedesign.itch.io

x.com - https://x.com/crazyhoundgames

GameDev: There's no Cheat Code for Success

Earlier, while having a look at X.com (formerly Twitter), I came across a post by another solo indie dev explaining how finishing a game as a solo indie dev doesn't really get enough praise.

Finishing a game as a solo dev deserves way more praise than it gets.

— CodeRed (@CodeRed_dev) October 18, 2025

It got me thinking about my own journey, and that I am, myself, nearing that point of finishing the process of making a game.  As much as I would like praise, £1 million, and a standing ovation, it's not realistic.  My only real hope is that it gets some attention and that people enjoy playing it.

I have taken the relatively safe option of making a game that is quite simple in terms of design, mechanics and graphics.  It looks as it should, plays as it should and is a "game".  It might be simple and, while based on an arcade classic, has been built from the ground up.

All over social media, I see people trying to make games and make progress, and the inevitable idea of imposter syndrome happens when I see people who have invested time and money into their projects.  They look closer to the sort of games you see being released everyday.  They're normally 3D, with a fleshed out world, more mechanics than you can shake a stick at, and have probably been worked on for several years at least.

As much as I want to get to the point of making those sort of games, my own circumstances prevent me from being able to allocate the time required to make everything they seem to have in their games by myself in a way that would keep the process fun.

My own view on this is that, because I am starting with nothing, that I should start small.  Release a simple game, learn the process of polishing, testing and releasing my games, then make the next game a bit more complex, and then the next one after that.

I want to get to the eventual point of doing this full time, but I also want it to succeed.  To make it succeed, I need to learn the process, and improve my own methods as time progresses.

I also find myself realising that most of the developers making their games for years and working towards the idea of a fully fleshed out world with loads of mechanics that I end up seeing, normally have used their own savings to take time off work to be able to make their dream a reality, or to purchase services to help them make their games.  I also see others that spend years on a game, only to drop the project for some reason or another.  And then there's others that realise that to really find some success, they need to think about what success means to them, and then reshape their activities to work towards that vision.

I started this journey with nothing, and really I still have nothing from it at the moment.  My vision of success however, is to be able to use game development to support myself.  To do that I need to release games and have those games earn some money.

I don't expect my current project to make me millions, as I've said, it's a simple game based on an arcade classic.  My financial outlay for the project is just the $25 fee to become a developer on Google Play.

I have not bought assets, software, code or anything else that is used throughout the lifecycle of the project.  I made all of my own assets (apart from the fonts), coded the project from the ground up, and I am planning, initially at least, to rely on social media to market the project.

While I know my time has value, over the last 2 years, I have been learning.  This project was originally aimed at being a personal test to see if I could make a game in a day (I got most of it together for a rough prototype).  So, while my time has value, it is almost like an investment at the moment.  The realisation of the value of my time will be when I can release a successful game and use it to support myself.

So, for my game to be successful for me, it only needs to make $26 US.  After that point, any money made by the game is raw profit for me to invest in game dev, or keep for myself.  This view comes from the idea in business that for a business to be viable, it only needs to make profit, so $1, or £1 of profit for me proves the concept that I can make money using game dev.  After that point, making more money is just about refining the process, from generating game ideas to completing those games for sale and publishing.

As it presently stands, I make all of my own assets, and write all my own code.  I will use sample code to get in idea of how to do things a certain way, but will then rewrite, tweak and adjust the code to fit my own purposes.  This is more work, but it means everything I create is unique, and it also means that I own it.  If I end up with a successful game, or project and I want to be able to make branded products, I can, if I want to reuse assets in other games, or media, I can.  If I want to look at selling the assets themselves, or the IP, I can.

Follow me on icth.io and x.com

itch.io - https://crazyhoundgamedesign.itch.io

x.com - https://x.com/crazyhoundgames

Monster March is in Closed Testing

 

Monster March, my first attempt at making a game Android and Google Play store is now in its closed testing phase; a requirement of Google to be able to publish games under an individual developer account.

With it being my first ever Android app, I decided to go for a game that would be simpler to build to allow me to focus on the process of getting an app published on Google Play.

Monster March is a retro style arcade shooter based on a classic, with gameplay that gives all of the nostalgia of the original.  The overall aim is to keep increasing your High Score.

If you want to mix it up though, you can use the options to make the game as easy or as difficult as you want, from changing the number of enemies, lives and bunker resets.

The game itself, while based on a classic, has been built from the ground up with custom sprites, sound effects and music, and the ability to change up the game with a variety of options to adjust the layout of enemies, and even a "Revenge" mode that breaks the original strategy for beating the classic this game is based on.

The testing period is expected to run for 2 weeks until 27th October 2025, with a hopeful release date a week or so after that.

If I manage to successfully publish this game, I hope to be able to publish a few more over the next year based on some of the games I have made for game jams, and maybe look at finishing off a few of the experimental projects I have previously started to help me learn how to make games.

Follow me on icth.io and x.com

itch.io - https://crazyhoundgamedesign.itch.io

x.com - https://x.com/crazyhoundgames

CrazyHoundGameDesign Blog Started

 

Welcome to the new blog for CrazyHoundGameDesign.

This blog will be used to communicate my various gamedev activities, from participation in game jams, to new releases, trailers, and planned activities.

If you stumble across this blog, I hope you find something useful.

If you have a look at my games, I hope you get some enjoyment out of them.