Hi, I'm Nico, an indie game developer from France. I've been working on my first title, Dreamed Away, for the past three years.
I have a background in software engineering with 20 years in IT, and for Dreamed Away I do all the programming, art, music and SFX.
It started when my second child was born, almost three years ago. I wanted to tell a personal story from the point of view of two young siblings being separated by forces outside their control. I also wanted to express my joy, my doubts and sometimes uncontrollable fears as a parent. The throwbacks from my own childhood and how I saw or imagined things when I was 8 years old myself.
I also immediately knew it had to be an RPG, and it had to be pixel art. Simply because it's the genre I've always cherished, and I wanted to pay homage to the games I loved, and still find time to occasionally enjoy.
Game development is incredibly difficult! Everything has to work and fit together, from the storytelling, art, game design and mechanics, music, sound effects, etc. A single piece that doesn't fit and everything falls apart. But I find it really fun and rewarding as well.
I'm currently finishing the 4th chapter out of 6, and I'm planning for a release Q1 next year.
I initially dabbled with various options, from tiny libraries to Lua Love2D, and finally settled with Godot. Godot is easy to pick up yet it's surprisingly powerful. It's also lightweight and open-source, so it quickly became clear it was the obvious choice for me.
I would say time management and scoping. RPGs contain a lot of content, which is usually used only once. Sure you build mechanics and systems that are reused many times, but each time you make a new cutscene (oftentimes with custom animations or music, etc.) it's a one-time piece of content you likely won't be reusing for the rest of the game.
We live in a time where we can learn pretty much anything online, and beginner-friendly (and open-source) game engines like Godot, Defold or even Love2D make it even easier.
Also, you don’t have to be a skilled artist to make games, lots of successful games have a very simplistic yet impactful art style.
I had lots of fun playing Lily’s Well recently, and the game has amazing reviews on Steam, yet its pixel art is incredibly simple.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1919900/Dreamed_Away/
-Nico
❤️
