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Experimenting, Failing, and Learning: My Road to Making Better Games

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It’s been a long time since I felt that good about my game development journey. I’ve learned a bunch of new stuff in Unreal Engine and Dialogic/Godot over the last couple of weeks that keep me focused and motivated. As I mentioned in my previous devlogs, I’m focusing on two projects to get myself accustomed to new engines and tech. Let me give you a quick breakdown. Rogue Shifters I’ll start with Rogue Shifters. This project is basically a precursor in terms of learning and technology for Parallel Pulse. I want to develop a full-blown visual novel in Dialogic, creating systems close to what I’m going to need for Parallel Pulse. Initially, I wanted to mimic the exact same approach by having multiple bubbles on the same screen. It seems that making this type of setup would need a lot of code implementation, making things extremely hard for me to proceed with my game. The solution is simple, and I can pretty much do it with workarounds, having only one bubble at a time within t...
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How AI Convinced Me to Keep Making Games

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With Cook or Be Cooked coming up next on Steam, and me having released roughly a dozen games so far (admittedly the majority of them jam games), I had decided to stop doing game development and potentially cancel Parallel Pulse . What changed my decision was the arrival of new technologies—specifically AI—and my shift toward solo development for the majority of my projects. Why this change of heart, you might ask, and why is it that AI convinced me to continue down this path? The reasons are several: solo development for indie games is more possible than ever. A single person who’s a generalist can now develop full games by themselves. It’s cost-effective and faster compared to traditional development. And finally, one person can now compete with teams made up of a dozen or more people. Experimental VN style made with AI in a PC-98 aesthetic. It’s the kind of niche project I’d normally never pursue since it wouldn’t reach the market. There’s a lot of talk about AAA replacing people ...
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Roadmap Update: From Steam Launch to Future Projects

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  It’s been roughly seven months since the last update, and with the upcoming release of Cook or Be Cooked on Steam, I think it’s necessary to update everyone and also put my thoughts in order. Cook or Be Cooked Cook or be Cooked Key Art The project wrapped up production around January of this year and is ready for release. Although I was planning for an earlier launch, I wanted to give the game the chance it deserved and see if it could get a strong release. I’ve presented the game at Athenscon convention last year and the people who played it really loved the story and the artwork, which motivated me to apply to Gamescom through the Hellenic Film & Audiovisual Center. The game was selected in the top 10 from the Center, giving me the opportunity to attend the biggest convention in the world once more. This time I focused on finding a publisher as well as participating in the Steam event, hoping to gain several hundred or even thousands of wishlists, which could boost the...
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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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