{ Alex Itsios: Game Dev & Writer }

  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...

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 ...

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 ...

  ​ 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...

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...

  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...

  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...

 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...

 ​It’s been a while since I last updated my devlog, and a lot has happened over the past few weeks. First, I had the incredible opportunity to attend Gamescom this year, where I was given a booth to present my game. Shortly after returning, I faced some personal and family issues that required my attention. Despite these challenges, I’ve had time to reflect on my experience at Gamescom, which I’ll share in this post. Now, let’s get into the nitty-gritty of my experience from Gamescom this year and whether it’s worth participating as an indie developer. First, let me clarify what I mean by "indie developer." This term is used quite broadly these days. An indie developer could be someone with no budget, working alone or with a small team, or it could refer to a team working on a AA game with a budget of $10 million. In my case, I’m referring to indie developers with little to no budget, and I’ll discuss what value Gamescom can offer for developers like us. Gamescom Steam Festiv...

 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...