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