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Good games created by few people

Zed Duke of Banville

Dungeon Master
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What should we count AOD as? Three? And what about Underrail?
As best I can tell from their credits, both Age of Decadence and Underrail involved more than 4 people just for design, programming, & art. :M

I don't want to play any of this shit. It seems my favourite games need studios with a dozen or more developers minimum to create them.
VADE RETRO ME SATANA
 

RapineDel

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I'm sure more people were involved in making them but Al Lowe deserves a mention for all the different elements he brought to LLS by himself.
 
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Kalin

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Seth Robinson - LORD, Planets, Dink Smallwood etc.

He did a very nice interview on Matt Chat, definitely my favourite episode.
 

Unkillable Cat

LEST WE FORGET
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Codex 2014 Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy
I'm sure more people were involved in making them but Al Lowe deserves a mention for all the different elements he brought to LLS by himself.

Thanks for reminding me. Check below to see how right you were.

MRY Primordia, where does it belong on this list? :obviously:

There are tons of good games from the 1980s that fit this criteria, whether it be one, two, three or four. So I'm only gonna name some of the bigger names from that era that have been overlooked so far (plus a few others from more modern days):

1 Man:

Manic Miner (1983), Jet Set Willy (1984) = Matthew Smith (including the music!)
Alley Cat (1983) = Bill Williams (RIP)
Attack of the Mutant Camels (1983) = Jeff Minter (most of his ludography is one-man projects)

2 Man:

Batman 3D (1986), Head Over Heels (1987) = Jon Ritman and Bernie Drummond
Space Quest 1 (1986), Space Quest 2 (1987) = Mark Crowe and Scott Murphy (the sequels had bigger teams)
Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards (1987) = Al Lowe and Mark Crowe (Crowe did graphics, Lowe everything else. (A Lowe-Crowe production!))
Aquaria (2007) = Derek Yu and Alec Holowka
Spelunky (2009) = Derek Yu and Martin Piecyk (the original freeware title, not the commercial 2013 release)

3 Man:

La Mulana (2005) = Takumi Naramura, Takayuki Ebihara and Houryu Samejima
 

warci

Educated
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Mar 6, 2018
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ftl - Justin Ma, Matthew Davis

also, the original graviteam tactics was done by like 4 guys, but it's hard to retrieve exactly who did what back in the day as the team has grown now.
 
Last edited:

Shinji

Savant
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Jan 10, 2017
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190799-karateka-commodore-64-front-cover.jpg

46205-prince-of-persia-amiga-front-cover.jpg
 

AdolfSatan

Arcane
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Dec 27, 2017
Messages
1,871
1
Pretty much everything Terry Cavanagh's made is gold: VVVVV, Super Hexagon, Naya's Quest, and his smaller games too.
There's Gorogoa, a game that flew under everyone's radar.
Jonathan Blow's Braid.
Fez was also made by a single guy, IIRC.

2
SubsetGames (FTL, ITB) consists of two guys plus hired hand for specific stuff. Don't know if this would count.
Dennaton Games, of Hotline Miami fame.

3
Final Form Games, the guys that made Jamestown.
 

Unkillable Cat

LEST WE FORGET
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Codex 2014 Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy
Jonathan Blow's Braid.
Fez was also made by a single guy, IIRC.

I looked up Braid while making my earlier post, the team is small but it's not a one-man team. Blow deserves the main credit though.
Fez is mostly two guys, though that squad of animators that's credited may take the team's size over four.
 

Tiospo

Learned
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Aug 1, 2018
Messages
129
John D. Carmack
Doom
Rage
Quake Wars
Orcs & Elves
Quake 4
Doom RPG
Doom 3
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Quake III
Quake II
Doom 64
Quake
Final Doom
Hexen: Beyond Heretic
Heretic
Doom II
Doom
Shadowcaster
Spear of Destiny
Wolfenstein 3D
Catacomb 3-D
Commander Keen
Shadow Knights
Rescue Rover 2
Rescue Rover
Hovertank 3D
Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion
Dark Designs III: Retribution
Commander Keen in Invasion of the Vorticons
Slordax: The Unknown Enemy
Catacomb II
Catacomb
Dark Designs II: Closing the Gate
Dark Designs: Grelminar's Staff
Tennis
Wraith: The Devil's Demise
Shadowforge​
 

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