I’m writing this hoping it’ll help other game devs out there, especially new ones and maybe even give Unity devs something to nod at.

So… I’ve been an indie game dev for over 7 years now, mainly doing 3D stuff. My skills started getting serious about 4 years ago same with my marketing side and both have been leveling up ever since. My motivation? Started from good ol’ GTA San Andreas (like many of us, probably).

We be talking of 3 projects with a few chaotic detours in between and each one taught me something brutal but necessary.

It’s Just a Story

You can find it on Steam (it’s free). A single-player horror about a man trying to survive and find a cure to an epidemic while piecing together who he really is.

Took 2 years to make… and yeah, it was trash. Buggy mess, bad story presentation, terrible lighting, worse marketing. Basically a dev nightmare in Steam form.

What I learned:

NEVER GIVE UP. The first year was hell. Everything looked broken, I was lost, my notes made no sense, but finishing it still taught me more than quitting ever would.

TREAT EVERY PROJECT AS A LESSON. You’ll pause, restart, and probably cry a little, but make sure you learn every time.

MARKETING IS JUST AS HARD AS DEVELOPMENT. Actually, maybe harder. But it gets better with practice. You don’t need a “crazy-ass capsule” (yeah, those fancy ones you see on Steam). You need marketing and convincing skills. Learn them, trust me.

PROTECT YOUR PASSION. You started this out of love. Don’t burn yourself out trying to be perfect. Go slow. Learn. Enjoy.

My Princess and the Four Heroes

Now this one... a massive anime-style open-world game. My stupid ambition told me, “Yeah, you can totally solo this!” Spoiler: I couldn’t.

It was meant to tie into an anime idea (not naming it, people steal ideas faster than Unity loads scripts ). It had multiplayer, open world. But halfway through, I realized: this was too big. I was learning multiplayer at the same time and basically drowning.

So, I paused it. Painfully. Instead, I made a smaller multiplayer game: Stranded Island (also on Steam). Technically finished, but optimization-wise? Nah. Bug city(crazy bugs) . Still, I learned what I needed: proper multiplayer systems, logins, in-app purchases, and cloud data management. Even made an NSFW game later, closed it down, though. Didn’t want to be “that” dev.

Nightfall: A Girl’s Tale

This one’s my current project, still in production. I dove deep into shader coding and custom SRP for this one. It’s horror again, but this time based on a true story. It’s been a ride, one that feels like all my past failures were the gym sessions leading up to this.

And yes, I’ll go back to My Princess and the Four Heroes someday. Now, it doesn’t feel impossible anymore. I can literally map out its systems in my head. Feels like I’ve leveled up enough to finally make it right.

Final Thoughts

Game dev is a constant fight with yourself, your patience, your ambition, your limits. Every project teaches you something. If your big idea feels too heavy for your current skills, don’t drop it completely. Just park it, make smaller projects, and level up until you can return stronger. That’s what I did, every game I made gave me a skill I’ll need for that big anime game.

I’ll talk more about my current game later. Till then keep creating, keep learning, and for God’s sake, don’t give up mid-build.