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Rethinking My Indie Game Development Journey: Lessons Learned, Market Realities, and My Next Steps

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When I sit down and think about the future of indie game development, well... I don’t feel confident, to say the least. I think I massively miscalculated both the state of the market and the potential for making a profit with indie games. As always, I want to clarify what I mean by indie games . I’m not talking about AA titles backed by publishers that are essentially smaller AAA productions. I mean indie games made with little to no budget. If you check my itch.io page, you’ll see that I’ve already published a dozen visual novels and narrative-heavy games, with Spellbound Hearts being the only commercial release. I think only a few of you know the story behind why I decided to make Spellbound Hearts a commercial game. The reason was simple: I enjoyed making it, and I felt it deserved a commercial release. But the most important reason was because I wanted to learn the process of publishing a commercial game on Steam so I’d be better prepared for my future projects. I did almost ...
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The Future of Cook or Be Cooked: Challenges, Strategy, and What Comes Next

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It’s been a while since I last wrote a long-form update, so I think it’s time to bring everyone up to speed. Well, at least the few people following me 😊 In the world of startups, there’s a saying: fail fast. The idea behind it is that the sooner you recognize something isn’t working, the better! It saves you time, effort, and money before sinking too many resources into it. And I think this applies to Cook or Be Cooked. Let me explain. My target audience for this game is female under 25, something I confirmed last year during AthensCon, a pop culture festival in Greece. Everyone in that target group who played it was excited about it and wishlisted it. Having that direct feedback loop is invaluable since it helps you understand whether your game has potential. The biggest challenge, though, is actually reaching that audience. For various reasons, I think it’s going to be extremely difficult for Cook or Be Cooked to gain traction without proper marketing. And honestly, I have no idea ...
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The Status of My Failed Spooktober Jam Game: Cook or be Cooked

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  ​ Hey everyone! I wanted to give you an update on my Spooktober jam game and share some news. ​ ​ ​ ​ So, here’s the thing: I wasn’t able to publish my game during the jam. There were a few reasons for this, but the main one was that it just wasn’t as polished as it needed to be. Despite that, working on the game was a blast, and I realized I wanted to take it further. That’s why I’ve decided to expand it into a full-fledged game, with plans to release it in 2025. Cover image of our Steam & Itch page To make that happen, we’ve essentially gone back to the drawing board. We’re programming everything from scratch to fix bugs and make the game scalable for a larger experience. Anis, our talented pixel artist is creating more assets and helping us refine the game’s vibe—imagine a spooky Harry Potter-esque atmosphere. We’ve already submitted a Steam page for review, and we’re also working on an itch.io page. I’m holding off on making big announcements until we have the final graph...
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Should you juggle between multiple game dev projects?

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I think the majority of indie devs juggle multiple projects, and for good reason. I want to talk about whether this approach is beneficial or not. You often hear people saying you should focus on one thing at a time, but I believe that what's right for one person isn't necessarily right for another. Humans are naturally inclined towards multitasking, not in the sense of doing two things simultaneously, but in the sense of breaking up your day to work on different things. You might spend a couple of hours on one project, then switch to another for a bit, and so on. First, let’s look at the issue of starting too many projects and how it might impact your ability to actually finish a game. A common trap is starting something new, working on it for a few weeks or months, then dropping it for a shiny new idea. I’ll admit, this has happened to me occasionally, but usually for reasons not related to the allure of a new project—sometimes life just gets in the way, and you have to reduc...
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Why I’m Participating in This Year’s Spooktober Jam

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  Before I explain why I made this decision, let me give you some context about last year’s Spooktober Jam. Participating in this jam has become a tradition for me—this will be my fourth time taking part. However, this time around, I’ll be taking on a different role. While I’ll still lead the project, I won’t be handling the programming. Since I don’t have much experience with the Godot engine, I’ll focus on what I’m best at: production and narrative design. The idea for the narrative of this game came to me last year, right after finishing our entry for the previous Spooktober Jam. I thought, “What if we did a twisted version of the classic fairy tale Hansel and Gretel, but with a humorous twist similar to  The Addams Family ?" And that's when the idea for  Cook or Be Cooked  was born. At first, I shelved the idea because I had other projects and personal matters to focus on, but the concept kept resurfacing in my mind—how the story should unfold and how the visuals...
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Switching from Unreal Engine to Godot: Why I Made the Change

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  It’s been about a month since I wrote a post explaining why I chose Unreal Engine 5 to develop my game. Now, after several frustrating months of trying to overcome engine-specific barriers, I’ve made the difficult decision to switch to Godot. It’s a bit embarrassing to admit this after all the time I spent learning Unreal, but some issues with the engine, particularly with 2D development, made it impossible to continue. I want to clarify that I’ve been learning Unreal Engine for a few months, mostly for 3D game development, which Unreal excels at. There’s no doubt that for 3D, Unreal is one of the best engines out there—if not the best. However, when it comes to 2D games, the situation is entirely different. Unreal Engine has so many issues handling purely 2d games that make the engine impossible to use. Let me try and explainthe roadblocks I’ve faced over the past few months to better understand why I’ve decided to switch. Camera Bounds The biggest challenge I encounte...
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Why Indie Games Aren't Smaller AAA Productions

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 This topic has been on my mind for months, but I was never motivated enough to fully explain why indie game development is vastly different from smaller AAA (or AA) productions. While, on the surface, it may seem like indie developers can borrow techniques from AA-AAA studios, the reality is entirely different. Having worked in both AAA and indie teams, I can confidently say that the only true similarity is that both create video games. But first, let me clarify what I mean by "indie game development." I'm referring to small teams, often fewer than five people, or solo developers, who work with little to no budget—unlike AA or AAA productions, where budgets can reach several millions. AA games, are indeed smaller versions of AAA productions, sharing many of the same workflows and resources. Now, let’s focus on why indie developers can’t simply borrow strategies from AA or AAA studios. The Small Business Analogy To put it simply, being an indie developer is like running a...
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