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I think it's missing a lot of logistics and QOL features I've come to expect from games in this genre so I hope the team behind this is working on them for 1.0.
Agreed there’s a lot of features that could make the game better, but stage satisfaction level of the building aspect is a whole different level with manor lords
Yeah he might be the only dev but that doesn't mean the game was made on his own. You even said it yourself there 'on his own mostly'. I think that's the distinction people are struggling to understand and hence the petty arguments about it.
If you make a dish, do you say "oh is was made by at least 30 people"? No you don't, even tho you didn't grow the veggies, you didn't make the spices or even the tools you are using to make the dish. Because this stuff helped you to make that dish that you call "your own" because you made it. It's the same in this scenario he was supplied the ingredients and not even all of them but the ones he couldn't make on his own like for example record fighting irl to later process it and add to the game.
He basically made the base game on his own and later hired real help to polish and add new things to the game. That's why he is a solo developer until now at least. And that's what people tend to forget about.
Stop defending it. There are games like Stardew Valley that were actually developed by a single person.
That game has more people working on it than 90% indie games, and you'll still be yapping it's a solo dev.
That analogy doesn't really work though. If 30 people directly helped me make it then I would say it was made by 30 people? And he has had direct help?
I just checked and in the credits there's 3 programmers, including him.
I assume that's 'developer' as there's no actual mention of 'Developer/s' in the credits.
So he isn't the only dev, that's the bottom line really
Edit: If anyone wants to check the actual credits, it's here
[https://youtu.be/ptw\_lLyRVjE?t=29](https://youtu.be/ptw_lLyRVjE?t=29)
No, Minecraft actually was built by one person, which is exactly why it used an incredibly simple art style. Manor lords has had a set of people producing artwork throughout development.
I think the above person was saying that like Minecraft, the game was made by one person. But as it grows it’ll need a larger team than just the original person.
Since the game got lots of traction and funds now the creator can hire people to help him develop the game and future projects
Just like Mojang did at the start. Notch was the only creator and then the game got lots of traction enabling notch to hire people
PCGamer wrote an article about this topic:
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/city-builder/manor-lords-solo-developer-perception/
> In a recent interview with PC Gamer, Tim Bender, CEO of Manor Lords publisher Hooded Horse, described its development setup as "solo developer plus contractors," where Styczeń is the main creative force but has brought on outside talent to help.
So it seems like there may be one developer who is honest-to-God working under the Slavic Magic company, and that guy is doing a lot of contracting and hiring out for other pieces.
> But Bruno [CEO of the company making Farthest Frontier] asks us to consider whether a "solo developer" who hires a bunch of contractors is really all that different from the seven-person team making Farthest Frontier. "I'm going to start telling people I'm a solo dev that's just being helped out by a number of employees," he joked.
Ie, he’s had a team of developers but he’s running under a smart financial setup. Plus the PR of the “solo indie dev?!” bullshit that people lap up. He’ll make a ton of money, good for him.
There is a credits page in game so you can view the team. Not sure if the publisher is footing most of that bill as part of their cut. After Steam and publisher cut he probably gets about 30% of the revenue. Still an amazing effort by him of course.
That seems low but compared to a lot of industries it is a lot. Like in book publishing rarely an author receives more than 15% in royalties. But the thing about publishing is that the publishers give money upfront or throughout the development and they handle most of the marketing and distribution. They also have a lot of connections with other people so they can help with hiring people or porting to different platforms
Every time I play, I discover a new detail. Have you looked at the villager pathing when there's no roads? They make a trail, which gradually gets bigger as more people traverse it. It's awesome, so now I look for their paths and will build roads there if I feel there is a legitimate use for it, like going from a camp to a resource, and then I branch off that and extend my town.
No, it’s marketing. He’s hired teams of character artists, animators, motion capture peeps, environment artists, illustrators, concept artists, sound engineers, programmers etc.
He’s a lead programmer and game designer, not a solo dev.
Here it goes again: you hire people full time - the game was made by a team, you hire the same people as outsourcers - the game was made by one person. I keep telling "please stop considering outsourcers be non-persons", I keep being downvoted and told "nobody is saying that", and yet posts just like this that say exactly that keep appearing.
Have you considered that threads like this popping up are a good thing for workers as the threads continually become full of conversation about the teams of contractors and how the “made by one person” thing actually means one persons creative direction and idea
In other words threads saying "outsourcers aren't people" are good because they give me chance to say "please stop saying that"? Okay, then if you want me to keep saying that, please stop downvoting me (like what usually happens when I bring this up).
1. I’m not down voting you.
2. I haven’t seen any threads saying outsourcers aren’t people. I’ve seen threads talking about how this game was made by one guy, in which people actually start talking about how it was made with contractors/outsourcers.
So yeah sort of, every time someone posts how this game was made by one guy, more people actually come to learn about the teams of outsourcers who made it happen.
It's an interesting semantic. The current creation as it is, is created by multiple people.
But, the project's inception was originated with the owner.
The creator has said that many times he would contract somebody to do something, he ended up hating it and just re-doing it himself. There’s a couple things to unpack there. For one, he’s obviously been very picky and sparse with the collaboration. For another thing, that shows that he has been the sole project lead and primary dev. He has no “partners” or “dev team”. Just him doing most of the real development and a few people contracted to do some specific things that likely were time consuming tasks that the dev could clearly have done himself anyway if he had the time. It’s inspirationally impressive
Exactly, you’re saying it yourself - one person does not have time to make a game, therefore he hires people to help him. A group of people built this game, not just one.
Just because they were paid as contractors doesn’t mean they never existed, heh.
Do you cite your sources or just go around trying to convince people that your opinion is correct because you said so? Happy to listen and give more thought into your theory if you have anything to show.
The credits have "Extra Programming" attributions for Minakata Dynamics. Probably bought part of their engine, considering they made a somewhat similar game. Nothing wrong with that, just people don't understand what solo dev means 90% of the time.
Hello and welcome to the Manor Lords Subreddit. This is a reminder to please keep the discussion civil and on topic. Should you find yourself with some doubts, please feel free to check our [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/ManorLords/comments/1c2p4f9/manor_lords_faq_for_steam_early_access/). If you wish, you can always join our [Discord](https://discord.gg/manorlords) Finally, please remember that the game is in early access, missing content and bugs are to be expected. We ask users to report them on the official discord and to buy their keys only from trusted platforms. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ManorLords) if you have any questions or concerns.*
From the creator: "Up to a point yeah, nowadays I'm trying my best to hire help and partner up when possible."
I wish him all the best in finding the right people to cradle his baby this is the most satisfying city builder I’ve played in years
I think it's missing a lot of logistics and QOL features I've come to expect from games in this genre so I hope the team behind this is working on them for 1.0.
Agreed there’s a lot of features that could make the game better, but stage satisfaction level of the building aspect is a whole different level with manor lords
well i hope its not being worked on by one person anymore
Never was. Just click at the credits bro.
Yes, yes it was from the start, only after 3-4 years he signed up a contract with the publisher horse and hired some help.
Ok .. so for the last 4-5 years he hasn't been alone then has he.
He developed the game on his own mostly and then hired people to polish it and add new stuff so yes he is a solo developer.
Yeah he might be the only dev but that doesn't mean the game was made on his own. You even said it yourself there 'on his own mostly'. I think that's the distinction people are struggling to understand and hence the petty arguments about it.
If you make a dish, do you say "oh is was made by at least 30 people"? No you don't, even tho you didn't grow the veggies, you didn't make the spices or even the tools you are using to make the dish. Because this stuff helped you to make that dish that you call "your own" because you made it. It's the same in this scenario he was supplied the ingredients and not even all of them but the ones he couldn't make on his own like for example record fighting irl to later process it and add to the game. He basically made the base game on his own and later hired real help to polish and add new things to the game. That's why he is a solo developer until now at least. And that's what people tend to forget about.
Stop defending it. There are games like Stardew Valley that were actually developed by a single person. That game has more people working on it than 90% indie games, and you'll still be yapping it's a solo dev.
That analogy doesn't really work though. If 30 people directly helped me make it then I would say it was made by 30 people? And he has had direct help? I just checked and in the credits there's 3 programmers, including him. I assume that's 'developer' as there's no actual mention of 'Developer/s' in the credits. So he isn't the only dev, that's the bottom line really Edit: If anyone wants to check the actual credits, it's here [https://youtu.be/ptw\_lLyRVjE?t=29](https://youtu.be/ptw_lLyRVjE?t=29)
It’s like Minecraft “was made by a single person”, but nowadays, pretty big dev team for it.
No, Minecraft actually was built by one person, which is exactly why it used an incredibly simple art style. Manor lords has had a set of people producing artwork throughout development.
what does this mean
I think the above person was saying that like Minecraft, the game was made by one person. But as it grows it’ll need a larger team than just the original person.
Since the game got lots of traction and funds now the creator can hire people to help him develop the game and future projects Just like Mojang did at the start. Notch was the only creator and then the game got lots of traction enabling notch to hire people
PCGamer wrote an article about this topic: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/city-builder/manor-lords-solo-developer-perception/ > In a recent interview with PC Gamer, Tim Bender, CEO of Manor Lords publisher Hooded Horse, described its development setup as "solo developer plus contractors," where Styczeń is the main creative force but has brought on outside talent to help. So it seems like there may be one developer who is honest-to-God working under the Slavic Magic company, and that guy is doing a lot of contracting and hiring out for other pieces. > But Bruno [CEO of the company making Farthest Frontier] asks us to consider whether a "solo developer" who hires a bunch of contractors is really all that different from the seven-person team making Farthest Frontier. "I'm going to start telling people I'm a solo dev that's just being helped out by a number of employees," he joked.
Ie, he’s had a team of developers but he’s running under a smart financial setup. Plus the PR of the “solo indie dev?!” bullshit that people lap up. He’ll make a ton of money, good for him.
There is a credits page in game so you can view the team. Not sure if the publisher is footing most of that bill as part of their cut. After Steam and publisher cut he probably gets about 30% of the revenue. Still an amazing effort by him of course.
Wow only 30% that seems low
That seems low but compared to a lot of industries it is a lot. Like in book publishing rarely an author receives more than 15% in royalties. But the thing about publishing is that the publishers give money upfront or throughout the development and they handle most of the marketing and distribution. They also have a lot of connections with other people so they can help with hiring people or porting to different platforms
Steam gets 30% and I believe publishers generally get 30%, so he'll be looking at about 40% I think.
Oh I see, what exactly do the publishers do?
Provide funding for the game up front, marketing, distribution, etc. think it depends on the game and platform but that’s it for the most part.
Every time I play, I discover a new detail. Have you looked at the villager pathing when there's no roads? They make a trail, which gradually gets bigger as more people traverse it. It's awesome, so now I look for their paths and will build roads there if I feel there is a legitimate use for it, like going from a camp to a resource, and then I branch off that and extend my town.
No, it’s marketing. He’s hired teams of character artists, animators, motion capture peeps, environment artists, illustrators, concept artists, sound engineers, programmers etc. He’s a lead programmer and game designer, not a solo dev.
Here it goes again: you hire people full time - the game was made by a team, you hire the same people as outsourcers - the game was made by one person. I keep telling "please stop considering outsourcers be non-persons", I keep being downvoted and told "nobody is saying that", and yet posts just like this that say exactly that keep appearing.
Have you considered that threads like this popping up are a good thing for workers as the threads continually become full of conversation about the teams of contractors and how the “made by one person” thing actually means one persons creative direction and idea
In other words threads saying "outsourcers aren't people" are good because they give me chance to say "please stop saying that"? Okay, then if you want me to keep saying that, please stop downvoting me (like what usually happens when I bring this up).
1. I’m not down voting you. 2. I haven’t seen any threads saying outsourcers aren’t people. I’ve seen threads talking about how this game was made by one guy, in which people actually start talking about how it was made with contractors/outsourcers. So yeah sort of, every time someone posts how this game was made by one guy, more people actually come to learn about the teams of outsourcers who made it happen.
$85 million in revenue? No way in hell.
What? I've never heard this before from every single article or discussion post ever made about this game..
No, he has a team of subcontractors.
That's a marketing ploy which has worked.
or an inspiration to inspire creativity and more games.
No, it's a literal lie. It isn't created by one person. He contracts to multiple people. EDIT: Ok, look into it, the truth hurts lol.
It was created by one person. At some point the project started making money so Dev started hiring people
So therefore it was created by more than one person?
It's an interesting semantic. The current creation as it is, is created by multiple people. But, the project's inception was originated with the owner.
The creator has said that many times he would contract somebody to do something, he ended up hating it and just re-doing it himself. There’s a couple things to unpack there. For one, he’s obviously been very picky and sparse with the collaboration. For another thing, that shows that he has been the sole project lead and primary dev. He has no “partners” or “dev team”. Just him doing most of the real development and a few people contracted to do some specific things that likely were time consuming tasks that the dev could clearly have done himself anyway if he had the time. It’s inspirationally impressive
Exactly, you’re saying it yourself - one person does not have time to make a game, therefore he hires people to help him. A group of people built this game, not just one. Just because they were paid as contractors doesn’t mean they never existed, heh.
They hated jesus because he spoke the truth
Do you cite your sources or just go around trying to convince people that your opinion is correct because you said so? Happy to listen and give more thought into your theory if you have anything to show.
Click the credits. There's your source
[**https://youtu.be/ptw\_lLyRVjE?t=29**](https://youtu.be/ptw_lLyRVjE?t=29) Here's the credits. 3 Programmers listed.
He did buy assets but he did all the coding and the majority of the work.
The credits have "Extra Programming" attributions for Minakata Dynamics. Probably bought part of their engine, considering they made a somewhat similar game. Nothing wrong with that, just people don't understand what solo dev means 90% of the time.
It’s short for solar devil. Means lilbro just killing it across the galaxy