{ Alex Itsios: Game Dev & Writer }

 As much as we hate them, cuts in game development are often necessary. If I’m being honest, I’ve never worked on a project where we didn’t have to make some tough decisions. You start with bigger aspirations—dozens of sprites, backgrounds, and CGs—only to realize that everything takes an insane amount of time and resources. Parallel Pulse was no different. The original vision for the game was something akin to TWEWY in terms of combat, but with a narrative more aligned with the Persona series, where you bond and hang out with friends. The game started as an action RPG, and until mid-May, I was set on this approach. But then reality hit—with each sprite taking way more than what I had initially thought it'd take. In a previous devlog, I gave you a glimpse of how much effort goes into creating a single sprite sheet. It goes without saying that this became a nightmare for me—and not just for the main character but for each enemy as well. Every enemy needed at least three animations, ...

Our culture is characterized by the pursuit of perfection, and video games are no exception to this. As the video game industry has grown, games have become increasingly polished and sophisticated. With this growth, smaller solo or indie studios have emerged, giving them the opportunity to make a living from their games. However, to make a sustainable living as an indie, you need fast development cycles. Imagine working on your game for six years, only to release it and see minimal profit. You might realize it wasn’t worth the time and switch careers. Or, on the other hand, you might dream of making a living from video games but realize you can’t sustain yourself for four to six years to complete your passion project, leading you to abandon the idea altogether. What if you followed an approach similar to that of game developers in the 80s and early 90s? Back then, development cycles typically lasted 6 to 12 months, and many games still managed to turn a considerable profit. Of course, ...

I won't deny that revshare projects seem very appealing to the majority of people, including myself. I started doing my first rev share projects when I wrote my first books. I didn't have much experience back then, and having another person check your manuscript didn't seem like a bad idea, especially in my case since I'm not a native speaker. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to have a very experienced co-writer as my partner, and the books we wrote were great, let alone the partnership being smooth. Unfortunately, things don't go that well in most cases, and if you’re thinking of doing revshare in game dev, well, the challenge is on another level. Most rev share projects I've joined over the years start with a phrase like this: "We're going to split profits evenly," or the person pitching the idea holds ownership of most of what's being produced. As we all understand, starting with the above mentality can never work out. If my kid came and to...

Let's face it: there are several game engines out there and choosing the right one can be tricky. Until a couple of years ago, I was juggling between Unreal Engine and Unity. Despite most of my friends who have worked in AAA games suggesting I go with Unreal, I always thought Unity had the most appeal because it was advertised for indie game developers. Then Unity messed up their pricing, and everyone suddenly started switching to Godot and Unreal Engine. Not many professionals changed though, and I’ll get into it below, but most hobby indie developers, especially YouTubers, saw this as a threat to the gaming community, and rightfully so. When this Unity mess happened, the decision was clear to me as to what game engine I should start learning: Unreal Engine. The game I'm making right now is a 2D JRPG inspired by Persona and The World Ends with You, but at some point in the future, I imagine I will switch to making 2.5D and 3D games. To be fair, Unreal Engine has a clear advant...

  After several months of developing the game, it's finally time for the first devlog. As you might have noticed, the game takes inspiration from   Persona   and   The World Ends with You.   To be honest, I was a bit hesitant about starting this devlog. The reasons are basically personal, and I wasn't exactly sure when it would be ideal to start something like this. I understand the reasoning of most people that you should market your game from the get-go, but there's no guarantee that your marketing efforts will pay off. As an indie developer, things are more complicated since you have to juggle between many things: from managing your team to actually developing the game. Time is precious, especially when you’re in your late 30s, with a kid ^ ^ Why did I start this devlog? Despite my initial concerns, I decided that starting a devlog would benefit me. Not necessarily because of marketing, but mostly as a way of expressing what's on my mind. It makes me feel bet...