Hello, Reddit. After two years of active development on my debut game, I wanted to take a moment before the final release this spring to reflect on some key mistakes I made due to my inexperience in game development.

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One of the most challenging aspects I've faced is the process of presenting and explaining what I'm working on. It would have been much easier to just hand a fully functional game key to someone than to try and condense the vast array of elements and concepts that make up Artman (the project title).

The reason for this lies in the unique nature of the game I've set out to create. It's incredibly difficult for me to provide precise references that align 100% with the experience I’ve brought to life in this game development adventure. Nevertheless, by the end of this post, I’ll include a link to an article that provides a full breakdown of the gameplay features and a brief personal backstory.

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My first mistake, which could have been a fatal one in hindsight, was deciding to develop the game initially in Swift, with plans to focus on an Android port only after releasing the iOS version. I’m really grateful to my second developer, whom I brought onto the team, for recognizing the futility of this approach in time. Although, we still spent a couple of months building the initial prototype with this technology.

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My second mistake was placing excessive trust in an old acquaintance I brought on as a technical collaborator for the game. At that time, I hadn’t yet quit my full-time job to fully dive into the development of Artman, so I relied on the hope that he would fulfill his commitments diligently.

Unfortunately, the lack of oversight led to a sad outcome after two months. One day, my new partner asked me to send his salary in advance for the month due to some sort of emergency. I transferred the money via Binance and jokingly mentioned that he shouldn’t get tempted by trading in futures contracts.

Who would have thought that not only would this person fall into the trap of quick earnings, but, as it turned out, he hadn’t written a single line of code for the game in those two months. That was the most disheartening part. It was a sobering experience for me. My bet was on sincere enthusiasm and collaboration, but when I shared this story with a friend of mine, he called me a fool, saying that, first of all, there's no such thing as partnership when you're paying someone a salary, and second, no one will work on your idea with the same passion as you do - and that's perfectly normal.

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My third misstep wasn’t a serious mistake per se, but in the context of being an indie developer where every dollar counts, you have to be more cautious with your budget. I paid $1,800 to a sound designer to create a single long track in the style of Michael McCann’s Deus Ex soundtrack.

Unfortunately, while the track was of good quality, I won’t be able to use it in the game. If I had an action-heavy gameplay style with characters wielding guns, it would have worked perfectly. In the end, I found a collection of amazing music pieces that are much closer in tone to the atmosphere of the world inhabited by Adam Jensen and JC Denton.

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My fourth mistake occurred during the voice recording process. Throughout development, many aspects were redesigned and improved, introducing new gameplay elements that required me to rethink all the dialogue I had written for the main characters. Unfortunately, this realization came after I had already made multiple trips to the studio to record voices with live actors.

However, that wasn’t the worst part - it was frustrating, but just an extra expense. The real issue came with the first two actors. When selecting candidates, I should have done more than just look at their portfolios. I should have arranged trial recordings to ensure the actor was a perfect match for their role. This wasn’t done, and I hastily gave the green light.

The next truly awful moment, which nullified all the previous effort, was the sound quality. I wanted to book a proper studio for the recordings, but the male voice actor insisted we go to his friends, who promised to do everything much cheaper (recording and mastering). When I arrived at the studio, which felt more like an underground rock-and-roll club, I instinctively sensed something was off. I should’ve pulled out right then.

When I received the materials, I was deeply disappointed by how poor the sound quality was. After spending $3,500 on the recordings, I ended up using AI for $50 a month to produce a quality far superior to what we had recorded with the live actors. Again, it was a hard but valuable lesson.

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Now, let’s talk about the classic mistake many indie developers, including myself, make: the complete lack of marketing and community-building before the release.

However, I want to highlight a few points that might clarify why I didn’t engage in communication with a potential audience. Since I took on the responsibility for game design, art, narrative, UI, and all the producer tasks, I physically didn’t have the capacity to dedicate any time to marketing.

To manage all of this workload and avoid burning out after 12-hour daily workdays, I made the decision to prioritize digital free rest after each full day of sitting behind a computer. For two years I focusing on mental health first and foremost. Only after the game’s release, when all the creative tasks were behind me, did I plan to take the first steps toward engaging with the world.

From a marketing perspective, my task is further complicated by the fact that it’s a mobile game. There’s no opportunity to create a Steam page for wishlisting, let alone the niche concept behind Artman.

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Despite all the mistakes and challenges I’ve faced, I’m truly excited that very soon I’ll have a fully realized project in my portfolio that I can proudly present as a true representation of my abilities as a game designer.

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I’ve dreamed of entering the game development industry my whole life, but living in Ukraine and dealing with the specifics of the local market, it was a path that seemed out of reach. If Artman doesn’t help me carve a way to new projects based on my own ideas, at least I’ll have the opportunity to connect with a studio and dive back into the corporate vibe (I left my full-time job to pursue this long-held dream, as balancing game development with regular work would have been nearly impossible).

Of course, I would love for the final 1.0 release to include all the ideas and content I originally envisioned. However, to achieve that, we’d need at least another year of intense work. Therefore, I’ve decided to release the game at the end of spring and gradually update it with contextual additions to ensure the project fully aligns with the vision I had in mind.

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Thank you for your attention! 💙 Here’s a link to a long read with a full overview of the game.

Hey everyone!
I’m excited to share the early access of my new game, House of Haunting Memories, a psychological horror experience where you play as Josh, a man trying to escape his troubled past. But as the nights grow darker, so does his mind.

Key Features:

• A gripping story about guilt, grief, and the consequences of unchecked despair.
• Dual perspectives: Play as both Josh and Detective Derek, uncovering the truth from two sides.
• Hidden secrets, cryptic puzzles, and a haunting narrative that keeps you on edge.

Play the Early Access by clicking this link.

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The gimmick of my game is having a bunch of elemental towers that you can combine with other elements to get new elementals, with every combination of elements being possible, but I have no clue what to call it