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‘Solo dev’ games made by lots of people

dock

dock

Game Designer
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Nov 5, 2017
1,386
People on this site often refer to games by solo devs which are made by teams of 10 or more people. Mobygames is filled with examples like this.

The Manor Lords website refers to the game as 'Hand crafted by a solo developer' despite the Epic Mega Grant and the long credits sequence. PC Gamer just put up an article about this, but it isn't unique to this game, or even this developer.

The SpiderHeck developer explicitly told contributors that the would not be credited for anything, even translation, because the main developer wanted to push his game as solo dev.

Which games do you think are solo dev, despite evidence to the contrary?

What's the largest team for a game that gets referred to as a solo dev game?
 
LiK

LiK

Member
Oct 25, 2017
32,201
OG version of Cave Story was literally one dev who worked on it for years, iirc.

I don't remember if anyone else contributed.
 
Celestial Descend

Celestial Descend

Corrupted by Vengeance
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Aug 15, 2022
3,543
When I see "solo dev", I just assume one person handles everything except VA, music, QA and localization.
 
Mesoian

Mesoian

▲ Legend ▲
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Oct 28, 2017
27,045
Yeah Remap did a segment on this this past week on their podcast.

Like...give people their credit where credit is due. I know Toby Fox made the "1 man game" ideal sexy, but if you're not actually doing that, it shouldn't be your core marketing identity.
 
RROCKMAN

RROCKMAN

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
10,899
Cave Story is legit solo dev, Tho Pixel is now working with someone else so his more recent games are duo dev IIRC
 
Blizz

Blizz

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,434
This sort of goes back to the argument of what gets classed as an indie game, Stardew Valley was made by one person but in reality his wife worked to sustain them both for years so ConcernedApe could work on the game full-time.

How exactly is receiving an Epic MegaGrant or any sort of funding invalidating the statement? People who wish to work on these projects full-time need some sort of backing, unless you come from a rich family or live with someone supporting you.
 
balohna

balohna

Member
Nov 1, 2017
4,274
A solo dev that paid some people to help is a bit different from a team pretending to be a solo dev. Like a solo programmer is eventually gonna contract an artist to make the game pretty. It's not the same as having that artist on the project as an employee or partner.
 
OP
OP
dock

dock

Game Designer
Verified
Nov 5, 2017
1,386
Blizz said:
How exactly is receiving an Epic MegaGrant or any sort of funding invalidating the statement? People who wish to work on these projects full-time need some sort of backing, unless you come from a rich family or live with someone supporting you.
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The grant is often intended to hire contributors, which is exactly what happened. Lots of people worked on this solo dev game.
 
GiantEnemyCrab

GiantEnemyCrab

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,697
When I saw Manor Lords I would never believe for a second that a single person made everything. Maybe in 50 years but not in 5.

Even 'real' solo devs buy some parts of the game's assets because I don't think there are many people that can do everything themselves (artworks, textures, music, sound effects, writing, QA, tools, programming etc.)
 
Kazooie

Kazooie

Member
Jul 17, 2019
5,103
As a gamedev who made two solo projects (and one with my best friend): You are probably not super talented in every aspect, so you may buy (in my case) music and some art assets and you give credit for it, but they were not made within the scope of the game. I feel that it is fine to still count that as single developer games. Of course, there are more strictly single person projects where absolutely everything is made from scratch by just one person, but that's probably pretty rare.
 
Blizz

Blizz

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,434
dock said:
The grant is often intended to hire contributors, which is exactly what happened. Lots of people worked on this solo dev game.
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So what roles are we counting and why? Since playtesters are devs as well, any game that had playtesting stops becoming a solo dev endeavour if someone else created all the other content? Unless only certain roles count as developing a game but then you're falling into another conversation.
 
CloseTalker

CloseTalker

Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,452
It is a shitty habit. Manor Lords is a good example of everyone, including many on this forum, drinking the "solo dev" kool aid. Dude contracted quite a bit of work out with his mega grant. Not to say he didn't take on a huge amount of work and shouldn't be incredibly proud, but let's not frame it in a way that's at best incorrect, and at worst completely ignoring the work of other people.

Blizz said:
So what roles are we counting and why? Since playtesters are devs as well, any game that had playtesting stops becoming a solo dev endeavour if someone else created all the other content? Unless only certain roles count as developing a game but then you're falling into another conversation.
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If more than one person had a hand in making the game for whatever reason, it ain't a solo dev lol. I'm more curious to know why people want to try to bend over backwards to find ways to attribute work to only one person, it doesn't make the game any better and really only functions as a PR angle. If multiple people contributed, then it's not a solo dev project. I feel like it's not that complicated?
 
dude

dude

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,725
Tel Aviv
"Solo dev" is not a literal term. It usually simply means a game that has been made mostly by 1 person for most of the development, and there's no permanent team or joint decision making regarding the project as a whole.
Obviously, no work, in any medium, is made in true vacuum...

If you're a single person, who put everything on the line for this game you believed in - I think it's fair to call it a "solo dev" project, even if you hired help or got help from people at your publisher.

I do think it's super shitty if "solo devs" are downplaying the contribution of anyone who helped bring the game to market - Be it QA, play testers, people working at the publisher etc. etc. They were all part of the game development. But TBH, I've not encountered that yet I think.
 
elenarie

elenarie

Game Developer
Verified
Jun 10, 2018
10,091
I don't think there is much point bothering about this, to be honest. People that actually work on games know that is is almost never a solo effort, let the public think what they want, doesn't really matter.
 
Pocky4Th3Win

Pocky4Th3Win

Member
Oct 31, 2017
4,187
Minnesota
Lots of those porn games on steam are made by solo devs because 90% of them use the same assets from some store (feel like I have seen the same dude as the MC in almost all of them, lol).
 
c0Zm1c

c0Zm1c

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,228
Well, there is a tendency among the press to attribute the creation of Thief and Deus Ex to just Warren Spector.
 
CloseTalker

CloseTalker

Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,452
elenarie said:
I don't think there is much point bothering about this, to be honest. People that actually work on games know that is is almost never a solo effort, let the public think what they want, doesn't really matter.
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lol really? If I worked on a game that became as ridiculously popular and acclaimed as Manor Lords and all of the common language around it insinuated that it was developed by one person, I'd be annoyed.

I absolutely do not think that it's common knowledge that "solo dev" means that the project was spearheaded by one person with a lot of help. I've had conversations with people about games like Undertale, and they were definitely under the impression solo dev meant a solo dev, which I don't really blame them for because the truth is a lot less sexy and sounds much more like how every other game is made.
 
hyouko

hyouko

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,271
Blizz said:
This sort of goes back to the argument of what gets classed as an indie game, Stardew Valley was made by one person but in reality his wife worked to sustain them both for years so ConcernedApe could work on the game full-time.

How exactly is receiving an Epic MegaGrant or any sort of funding invalidating the statement? People who wish to work on these projects full-time need some sort of backing, unless you come from a rich family or live with someone supporting you.
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He did actually also work as an usher in a movie theater for at least some portion of the project, which I believe is why one of the updates features a movie theater that you can build in town. But even if it once was a solo project, large parts of the updates have been team efforts (everything multiplayer, lots of the Ginger Island content, etc.), and I believe the in-game about page acknowledges those contributions now?
 
Dervius

Dervius

Member
Oct 28, 2017
5,008
UK
The Falconeer seems closer to this than some, and is overtly advertised as a solo project by Tomas Sala.

There are other people involved in the project in different capacities, including many from the publisher, but straight up development seems solely credited to him.
 
JoeInky

JoeInky

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,519
I've wonder whether I technically fall under Solo dev or not?

As I've basically always done the art, design and programming myself, but I've had to commission people to make music for every game I've ever made (It's just not my wheelhouse), but for the most part this has always been after the bulk of the game has been done and the musician has had no input on the actual game itsself.
 

Corum Jhaelen Irsei

Member
Feb 18, 2019
110
c0Zm1c said:
Well, there is a tendency among the press to attribute the creation of Thief and Deus Ex to just Warren Spector.
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"There's a tendency among the press to attribute the creation of a game to a single person," says Warren Spector, creator of Thief and Deus Ex.

www.ign.com

Deus Ex 2 - IGN

Not only did the original Deus Ex walk away with our own Game of the Year Award; it even managed to snag the same honor from our readers. By all accounts Warren Spector's open-ended take on action and role-playing games was a huge boost for the industry. The fact that it was set in a dark...
www.ign.com www.ign.com
 
RROCKMAN

RROCKMAN

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
10,899
digit_zero said:
The original freeware version of Cave Story was a legit solo dev, but any modern version at this point is not
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I was referring to his actual personal releases. There is a big gulf in looks and gamefeel from The console ports of Cave Story, that garbage 3d version, versus something like Kero Blaster
 
Palas

Palas

Member
Oct 29, 2017
1,932
If playtesting makes a game not count as solo dev then beta reading and editing make a book not count as solo writer. Which, sure. I'd agree. But go all the way.

Empowering and acknowledging the collective work behind any cultural product, even to the point of demystifying the "solo dev" as just a new rendition of the "troubled/overworked genius" archetype, shouldn't mean not acknowledging most of the creative work behind some game is done by just one person.

Like basically by definition ZUN can't playtest Touhou. Doesn't mean those aren't games made basically entirely by him.
 
SoneaB

SoneaB

Member
Oct 18, 2020
1,196
UK
Pocky4Th3Win said:
Lots of those porn games on steam are made by solo devs because 90% of them use the same assets from some store (feel like I have seen the same dude as the MC in almost all of them, lol).
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One the one hand I'm glad to be part of the 10% who makes her own assets (At least art/programming wise, I get help with music). On the other I never actually play most of that stuff. Is it really that bad? I see a lot of wonky art and 3D stuff that looks like it was made in DAZ but I can't say I ever see the same assets being used outside of some RPG Maker games.
 
Blizz

Blizz

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,434
HellofaMouse said:
everything? if you work a single minute on something, you should be credited. and at that point it stops being a solo dev game.
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But that's exactly my point, which makes the 'solo dev' games term mute by default since it's almost impossible for someone else other than one person to be credited.
 
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