Indie Amazing games created by one guy in a basement

[Tavernking]

Too many cooks spoil the broth. Also no need to waste time in meetings discussing and explaining thigns to others. That's why so many great games are made by lone basement dwellers

 

[luj1]

Too many cooks spoil the broth. Also no need to waste time in meetings discussing and explaining thigns to others. That's why so many great games are made by lone basement dwellers

It's crazy but true

large teams with million dollar budgets produce turds

meanwhile one guy in a basement produces a classic

 

[Vic]

Too many cooks spoil the broth. Also no need to waste time in meetings discussing and explaining thigns to others. That's why so many great games are made by lone basement dwellers

It's crazy but true

large teams with million dollar budgets produce turds

meanwhile one guy in a basement produces a classic

Survivorship bias.

 

[MF]

Although my heart aches that Titan Outpost hasn't been mentioned yet, I'm going to take a hit of copium and say it's because I don't have a basement.

I'd like to add Starsector. Alexander Mosolov is mostly a solo dev I believe.

 

[ValeVelKal]

Since this thread doesn't seem limited to RPGs, I feel compelled to note that I had created a similar thread in General Gaming about four years ago: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/good-games-created-by-few-people.126264/

The number of developers excludes music/sound, QA/testing, and similar positions; I more or less limited it to design, programming, and graphics.

1 Person
Akalabeth (1980), Ultima (1981), Ultima II (1982), Ultima III: Exodus (1983): Richard Garriott
Missile Command (1980): Dave Theurer
River Raid (1982): Carol Shaw
Alley Cat (1983): Bill Williams
The Lords of Midnight (1984): Mike Singleton
Tetris (1985): Alexei Pazhitnov
Doomdark's Revenge (1985): Mike Singleton
The Faery Tale Adventure (1986): David Joiner (including the music!)
SimCity (1989): Will Wright
Prince of Persia (1989): Jordan Mechner
Captive (1990): Antony Crowther
Another World (1991): Eric Chahi
Nahlakh (1994): Tom Proudfoot
ADOM (1994): Thomas Biskup
Papers, Please (2013): Lucas Pope
Paper Sorcerer (2013): Jesse Gallagher
NEO Scavenger (2014): Daniel Fedor
Grimoire: Heralds of the Winged Exemplar (2017): Cleve "Cleveland" Blakemore
Return of the Obra Dinn (2018): Lucas Pope

2 People
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord (1981): Andy Greenberg & Robert Woodhead
Galaga (1981): Shigeru Yokoyama & Toru Ogawa
Elite (1984): Ian Bell & David Braben
Boulder Dash (1984): Peter Liepa & Christopher Gray
Emerald Mine (1987): Klaus Heinz & Volker Wertich
Space Quest II (1987): Mark Crowe & Scott Murphy
Dark Heart of Uukrul (1989): Ian Boswell & Martin Buis
Exile (1995): Jeff Vogel & Andrew Hunter
Natuk (1999): Tom Proudfoot & Dave Gerry
Dwarf Fortress (2006): Zach Adams & Tarn Adams
Super Meat Boy (2010): Edmund McMillen & Tommy Refenes
Salt & Sanctuary (2016): James Silva & Michelle Juett Silva

3 People
Rogue (1980): Michael Toy, Glenn Wichman, & Ken Arnold
Pac-Man (1980): Toru Iwatani, Shigeichi Ishimura, & Shigeo Funaki
Archon (1983): Anne Westfall, Jon Freeman, & Paul Reiche III
Might & Magic (1986): Jon Van Caneghem, Michaela Van Caneghem, & Mary Ellen Bloom
Sid Meier's Pirates! (1987): Sid Meier, Michael Haire & Arnold Hendrick
Perihelion (1993): Gyula Szentirmay, Edvard Toth, & Zoltan Vegh
World of Goo (2008): Kyle Gabler, Ron Carmel, & Allan Blomquist
Knights of the Chalice (2009): Pierre Begue, Kelly Brake, & Marcel Králik
Hollow Knight (2017): Ari Gibson, William Pellen, & David Kazi

4 People
Battlezone (1980): Ed Rotberg, Jed Margolin, Howie Delman, & Roger Hector
Seven Cities of Gold (1984): Dan Bunten, Jim Rushing, Bill Bunten, & Alan Watson
Space Quest (1986): Mark Crowe, Scott Murphy, Sol Ackerman, & Ken Williams
Leisure Suit Larry (1987): Al Lowe, Mark Crowe, Ken Williams, & Chuck Benton
Dungeon Master (1987): Doug Bell, Mike Newton, Dennis Walker, & Andy Jaros
X-Com (1994): Julian Gollop, Nick Gollop, John Reitze, & Martin Smillie
Geneforge (2002): Jeff Vogel, Andrew Hunter, Brian Snoddy & Linda Strout
Braid (2009): Jonathan Blow, David Hellman, Sean Barrett, & Edmund McMillen
Legend of Grimrock (2012): Petri Häkkinen, Antti Tiihonen, Juho Salila, & Olli Pelz
Ghost of a Tail (2016): Lionel Gallat, Cyrille Paulhiac, Paul Gardner, & Jerome Jacinto

Uh, if you go back to the early 80s more games are solo things than the opposite.
Typically :
- Galactic Empire 1979, Galactic Trader 1979 and Galactic Revolution 1980 (Doug Carlston), went to found Broderbund with his brother
- Galactic Gladiators (1982) and Galactic Adventures (1983) (incredible early RPGs) - Tom Reamy
- Eastern Front 1941 (1981) : Chris Crawford
...

When it is not 1 person, than it is two : Reach for the Stars (Roger Keating & Ian Trout), Wizardry I (forget the names), etc...

 

[c u in da ballpit ashren]

Out of This World / Another World.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Another_World_(video_game)

I didn't know this somehow and I love that game.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Although my heart aches that Titan Outpost hasn't been mentioned yet, I'm going to take a hit of copium and say it's because I don't have a basement.

I'd like to add Starsector. Alexander Mosolov is mostly a solo dev I believe.

no combat meant a lot of people avoided it

I still have yet to play it

 

[c u in da ballpit ashren]

Hotline Miami. Made by 2 people who consulted bandcamp synthwave artists, very close friends, but one of them already had experience making his own games in GMS2. Nothing took off until Hotline Miami though. They did their publishing through Devolver.

Katana Zero. One guy who wanted to do film and tried, who applied for jobs at companies. They didn't take him so he made his game while slacking off in college, he worked on many to not put his eggs in one basket, and the only two that I know came of it were Tower of Heaven which was free and haven't played, and Katana Zero. He tried contracting work with artists for Katana Zero but they never remained dedicated enough to finish the task, but eventually got it out, and published it, also, through Devolver.

 

[Ladonna]

Not an RPG, but the original Warlords was made by Steve Fawkner. He did the systems, coding etc for the next two, and cleaned up the 4th to be playable (but never as good as the others sadly).

 

[Dhaze]

Tangledeep, entirely created by Andrew Aversa.

Tales Of Maj'Eyal, created mostly by Nicolas Casalini, with help for the visuals and music.

 

[TheDeveloperDude]

Masters of the Unknown Worlds

This wins!
Because it has been made by one guy and have been played by one guy.

 

[perfectslumbers]

Grimoire is arguably the best RPG ever made and was made by a single dude in his basement. If only more people had 20 years to code in their basement the RPG scene would be absolutely thriving

 

[Darkozric]

The Sea Will Claim Everything
Barrow Hill
The Last Crown
Scratches

 

[c u in da ballpit ashren]

The guy who made Populous. I distinctly remember him. He's in particular interesting because unlike other examples of solo devs in this thread, who mostly had *some* kind of practical experience coding, this guy was legit an amateur who started out with a dead end business that wasn't his that was sending beans to the middle east when he pretty much stole a computer intended for another company to work on Populous. The whole gameplay loop only happened because he didn't know how to code something, and that performance would shit itself if he didn't go around it somehow.

 

[c u in da ballpit ashren]

This thread could also go in depth and mention amateurs who were solo deving. Might even motivate the lazy aspiring devs here.

 

[Gregz]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/408400/Swords_and_Sorcery__Underworld__Definitive_Edition/

by Charles-cgr

 

[Gregz]

you guys know you can check the credits before posting fake info right?

I think the spirit of this thread is a good idea. Almost everyone has to hire an artist and a music guy.

 

[Acrux]

Rollercoaster Tycoon

 

[kangaxx]

Another World (1991): Eric Chahi

This was made by one person?! Impressive.

 

[Gunnar]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/613390/DUNGEONS_OF_CHAOS/

 

[mindx2]

Didn't see Knights of the Chalice (1 & 2) mentioned! Beans and roots seemed to sustain the man in his basement to create some good games.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Since this thread doesn't seem limited to RPGs, I feel compelled to note that I had created a similar thread in General Gaming about four years ago: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/good-games-created-by-few-people.126264/

The number of developers excludes music/sound, QA/testing, and similar positions; I more or less limited it to design, programming, and graphics.
...
2 People
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord (1981): Andy Greenberg & Robert Woodhead
...

Uh, if you go back to the early 80s more games are solo things than the opposite.
Typically :
- Galactic Empire 1979, Galactic Trader 1979 and Galactic Revolution 1980 (Doug Carlston), went to found Broderbund with his brother
- Galactic Gladiators (1982) and Galactic Adventures (1983) (incredible early RPGs) - Tom Reamy
- Eastern Front 1941 (1981) : Chris Crawford
...

When it is not 1 person, than it is two : Reach for the Stars (Roger Keating & Ian Trout), Wizardry I (forget the names), etc...

Wizardry is the first entry under two people. And there was a criterion for the games listed to be particularly good, though certainly there are any number that had yet to be listed in that thread, and several more published since then.

Another World (1991): Eric Chahi

This was made by one person?! Impressive.

Yes, Éric Chahi was single-handedly responsible for Another World's design, programming, and art, though not the sound or music.

 

[MF]

no combat meant a lot of people avoided Titan Outpost
I still have yet to play it

I'm sure many people did, but if that's somehow because they expect a visual novel it would be a shame. It's got deeper mechanics than a lot of RPGs with combat.

I think the spirit of this thread is a good idea. Almost everyone has to hire an artist and a music guy.

Yeah, fair to include games created mostly by one person. I did literally everything outside of VO -and even a lot of that-, but that's extremely rare and wouldn't make for a very long list in terms of relatively modern games.

 

[Agesilaus]

The Dwarf Run - cool RPG Encounters: The Game made by some guy of nondescript east-euro (?) origin in his basement.

Theseus: Journey to Athens - made by an Agesilaus of kwan origin in his garage

ser please, don't call me american, I merely live here

 

[Van-d-all]

Rimworld.

Even back in Kickstarter Tynan had already worked with Alistair Lindsay for music, and way before 1.0 it was already Ludeon Studios with 2 additional programmers and 2 asset artists.