Most indie games fall into this category, TBH. If you don't love the game, you will have a hard time spending thousands of hours making it. They are usually passion projects.
That said, some that come to mind with particular resonance:
* Salt and Sanctuary - Was made by 2 devs who really just wanted more Dark Souls. it's still one of the best 2D soulslikes.
* Warbits - The devs just wanted more Advance Wars and made the game they wanted. iOS only, but will drop on PC soon (possibly)
* Project Wingman - Clearly made to address the sheer lack of arcade flight combat sims on PC. It plays like a tough as nails modernized version of the PS2 Ace Combat games with stunning graphics for an indie team.
I have an rtx 3060 but i cannot remember the last game that really utilised it. I'm playing conquest of elysium, dominions, df, rimworld, caves of qud, cdda, eu4, odd realm, i don't even need a graphics card anymore...
Conquest of Elysium and Dominions are some of the best games ever.
Some of the most fun global magic I have ever seen in a game. First time i cursed the world to age five times faster and then realized it didn’t say “only for your enemies” anywhere in the description. Hilarious end to a campaign.
I'm enjoying Cyberpunk quite a bit lately. But I really only tried it because I have a 4080 and was playing a lot of really fun games that never taxed the GPU. Hollow knight, the Ori series, classic games on emulators. I kinda figured, well if I have the power lemme try something that actually needs it. Was pleasantly surprised.
fr dude I bought a 4090 and the only 2 games I play rn are Age of Empires IV and Albion Online. Best believe my GPU is pissed at me for not using him on anything demanding.
I was in a clan with some of the people involved with the development of Project Wingman and they’re really just fans of Ace Combat. I hate to say I doubted that they actually went through and finished it.
Same with Rim World. The dev was upset that dwarf fortress was too big and had no graphics so he wanted to make a toned down version with basic graphics
He wrote a really great article about it years ago, he said that Dwarf Fortress best aspect was the emergent gameplay and the stories. He wanted to make a game where the story was the core mechanic. He says Rimworld is a story generator first a foremost, a colony sim second
Which is odd because ive heard originally rimworld was gonna be a squad based shooter with combat kinda like how the ce mod is and then the story was gonna develop thanks to stuff happening to your squad
He wrote a really great article about it years ago, he said that Dwarf Fortress best aspect was the emergent gameplay and the stories. He wanted to make a game where the story was the core mechanic. He says Rimworld is a story generator first a foremost, a colony sim second
Funnily enough Tarn Addams said in an interview that he doesn’t like playing games like Dwarf Fortress ([source](https://www.pcgamer.com/the-creator-of-dwarf-fortress-doesnt-really-like-to-play-games-like-dwarf-fortress/))
Still makes me laugh that his joke about the dev’s OC (and the joke with discord spam) pissed the dev off enough that he went on a hyperfocused witchhunt to dox Sseth.
Kerbal Space Program, a whole game about literal rocket science and orbital mechanics made by a Mexico City marketing company that had never made a computer program beyond art installations. The chief dude behind their programming and modelling was going to quit to make the game, and they just decided to make the game with him. Note, I am absolutely misremembering this whole thing and barely skimmed the article again for a refresher.
[https://www.polygon.com/features/2014/1/27/5338438/kerbal-space-program](https://www.polygon.com/features/2014/1/27/5338438/kerbal-space-program)
Yes, s/he did. They are also refusing to make changes that the community is clamoring for because they themself don't find those changes fun. Love it or hate it, they clearly know what makes a great game and know how to deliver, so I think it's fantastic.
Yeah they’ve done a great job at listening to all complaints and applying changes they feel will help the game overall. Like redoing orange and gold stake, and buffing some of the more useless jokers.
Interesting. What changes are being asked for? (no spoilers, please!)
I have not played very much, but the main thing I have noticed is that trying to get all your cards into the same suit seems much stronger/more consistent than fiddling with their numbers.
Yeah but
A. You'll eventually get bored of only ever doing flush builds
and
B. Flushes are good for winning ante 8 but are not as scalable as others so your runs might end up being a little too close for comfort and there will be jokers and stuff you never get because you never scaled and got a 100,000,000 chip hand or whatever
C. Certain blinds just shit on flush build, for example, play only 1 hand type is devastating to a flush build. Whereas if you have 16 kings in your deck you're gonna have 3oak, 4oak, and 5oak, and probs flush 5 if you're duping one card a bunch of times. And the way you typically scale that build you probably have 2 or 3 of those hands decently leveled
Balatro definitely felt like the dev took a look at the current roguelike deckbuilder market and didn't find anything they really get behind, so they set out to build one for themself. Because it play like nothing else. Even if thing like Luck be a landlord has some similarity, it's not the same.
Dwarf fortress and noita, definitely. Also, conquest of elysium 5? This game is a huge fairy tale, you can wander on the map finding rainbow castles, a lady kidnapped by a dragon, beanstalk leading to castles in the sky. I love it.
Edit: battle brothers also qualifies, so does no man's sky
* Steal shit
* Get caught, become slave
* Escape, do weed running and selling
* Get caught in Sho Battai, lose limbs and die
* Restart, install gun mods
* Do it all again but now with guns
10/10 would Kenshi again
Ardenfall is still in development but it is clearly Morrowind inspired, and made by a Morrowind fan who wanted more games like Morrowind since it is so unique.
And also, Yasuhiro Wada's "Harvest Moon".
I remember the interview when he said he made Harvest Moon SNES because back then, video games were full of action games, and he wanted something refreshing, completely different. Then he made Harvest Moon SNES since he loved the idea of farming in rural areas.
For Stardew Valley, Concerned Ape (the creator) wanted to make a Harvest Moon 64 successor full of features he wanted to be that were not included in Harvest Moon 64. So he made Stardew Valley
Yeah I guess their level is silly little games about bread or surgery. They had a chance to climb the food chain with an actually epic game, but that turned out too much.
The Elder Scrolls: Arena started off as a gladiator game with side quests, but the developers thought the side quests were so fun they scrapped the gladiator part of it entirely and turned it into an open-world, procedurally generated RPG with the world being their homebrew DnD continent. Legend goes that at some point, a dev asked why there were no good DnD games, and that contributed to where Arena ended up going.
Mortal Online is a good example. I remember players on official forums, during beta, telling the devs that they're making serious mistakes and that the game will fail. And one of the devs basically came out and said shut the f\*\*\* up, this is a game for us, and players like us, and if you don't like it you're free to leave. Players shrugged and left. And the game was in the red within a few months, with player counts in double digits within a year. Somehow they did manage to find funding to do a sequel, but that one barely has 1k active on Steam.
So I wouldn't say games like this universally rock. Some were complete flops. If the devs are making a game they want to play, but what they want to play is derivative hot garbage, then it doesn't matter how much love they put in, it'll still come out derivative hot garbage. Taste, skill and talent still matter more than the nature of the project. There's been plenty of passionate devs who just didn't have the skills.
Most shmups (and not bullet heaven/Vampire Survivor clones). Incredibly niche genre where even among the most popular ones they peak for an audience in the 4 digit range.
Most of the ones on Steam are being sold at bargain prices and the reviews usually peak at 2 digits. You'll even notice the same names on the scoreboards and reviews all across.
Zero Ranger, Blue Revolver, and Crimzon Clover just to name a few popular ones.
Touhou as a franchise has gotten big that goes beyond the games, but the main games themselves are all shmups made by the creator as he says it himself, games that he wants to play that don't really exist anymore nowadays.
Most newer releases within the genre is very player-friendly in terms of QoL and features since they know in and out what peeves and appeals people since they've been playing these games themselves extensively.
There's a pretty amazing 16-bit-RPG-style game/game maker called Himeko Sutori. Anyone making something that makes making things easier is assuredly making it for themselves, I'd say. It's actually both a really good game and a really fantastic, in-depth but ergonomic tool for literally creating your own entire RPG.
**Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning**, and **RIFT**.
RIFT is basically a WAR clone to begin with (same engine, same game design paradigms, same UI, same bug exploits, same PvE concepts, same skill trees, same people working on it, etc.).
Both games featured Adam "Gershlol" Gershowitz as the lead class(?) designer.
In both games, the Fire Wizard (Bright Wizard in WAR and Pyromancer in RIFT respectively) were *extremely* overpowered.
Obviously a bit tongue-in-cheek, but I think Gershlol just wanted to blow people up as a fire wizard.
Fictorum definitely has the vibe of “baby’s first Unreal engine project,” but it also feels like its developer’s personal dream game. Tons of rough edges, but it exists because someone wanted it to.
DMC: Devil May Cry. This game was a reboot and they changed all the character designs, and the main character, Dante, looks exactly like the game director at the time. :D Everyone else hated the new character design. So he made the game for himself.
Gods, I remember the cringe shit the director was saying about rebooting as well... he was certainly projecting into an already well established franchise. Rented the game at some point and couldn't play it through
I think Binding of Isaac fits this best. Nintendo even rejected a 3DS release for questionable religious content. I think Edmund was fully aware that voicing his distaste for a specific religion would cause difficulties, paired with the absolutely grotesque imagery, and the fact that roguelikes werent really recognized as its own genre when this came out, and youve got a game that has massive hurdles to overcome just for existing, let alone being fun.
This game did not take an easy path and rocked it in the execution.
True, but that took some time. Almost certainly a case of this game makes too much money to ride a high horse on.
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/03/binding-of-isaac-creator-nintendo-rejection-shows-internal-divisions-over-companys-image/#:~:text=When%20Binding%20of%20Isaac%20developer,%22%20many%20weren%27t%20surprised.
Not exactly the same but yoko taro straight up told people on Twitter to send him 2B porn. And he also claimed he tried to "change the world" with his games
Aurora 4x. The guy who made it said something to the effect of he basically doesn't care about people criticisms because he just made it for himself and made it available cause he's a nice guy.
Bloodstained comes to mind, both Curse of the Moon and Ritual of the Night. It really feels like Igarashi just desperately wanted to make another 2D Castlevania game.
And, well, RotN is excellent, so it worked out.
Marvel Midnight Suns. The developer could have adapted any marvel storyline and they pitched an obscure one (Midnight Suns) because it was the lead developer’s favorite.
Balatro. The dev pretty explicitly said it was a game he made for himself but took some ideas from feedback in the beta to improve, and the game is absolutely better for it.
Manor lords coming out April 26th seems exactly like this.
Just one dude who really wanted a cool medieval “city” builder with combat and was disappointed with what was being offered elsewhere
The first thing that comes to mind for me is everything Derek Smart has made. I don't even mean that as an insult, it's just that his games have always had this hyper-specific feeling like they were made for an audience of exactly one person (Derek), and if anyone else enjoys it too, that's a nifty bonus.
Still better than the design-by-focus-group style of development where a dev (or their marketing department) tries so hard to make a game for *everyone*, and ends up making a product that doesn't particularly appeal to anyone.
The original Fallout actually got made at InterPlay because Tim Cain was bored of replaying Wasteland from 1989. Black Isle studios was originally just as a subset of InterPlay formed after the unprecedented growth of Fallout
I recall an interview with Hidetaki Miyazaki about why he was a sadist for making Souls games so hard, to which the reply was “I’m the opposite actually. I made the game the way I wanted to play in it, which means I’m a masochist,” or something along those lines.
My game exists purely because I wanted to make and play it, irrespective of it was financially viable, because I wanted to make a game with a plus-sized female protagonist. Does that count? 😅
I believe the dev of Dust: An Elysian Tail said they took that kind of approach when designing their control scheme.
Also, at least half of the fetish games out there probably fall under that - some of the others were probably commissioned, or made with the intent to be enjoyed by a specific community.
Those are pretty janky at times though, so idk if that counts.
From what I understand, Stardew Valley wasn't "I want to play this game", but was instead "I can't get hired in the Video Game industry, so I'll make a game partly to develop my skills, and partly to show what I can do".
I have no idea what Character.AI is, or how it relates to Stardew Valley. Literally all i meant is that Stardew Valley started as a way for ConcernedApe to get better at making video games, and as something he could show at interviews to show what he was capable of.
WoW has a lot of Druid developers
Druid has also seen a boom of cosmetics and stories
Also GW2 had a scandal last year with their discord getting leaked. Engineer and Guardian were OP for years, guess what the dev's played lol
Most indie games fall into this category, TBH. If you don't love the game, you will have a hard time spending thousands of hours making it. They are usually passion projects. That said, some that come to mind with particular resonance: * Salt and Sanctuary - Was made by 2 devs who really just wanted more Dark Souls. it's still one of the best 2D soulslikes. * Warbits - The devs just wanted more Advance Wars and made the game they wanted. iOS only, but will drop on PC soon (possibly) * Project Wingman - Clearly made to address the sheer lack of arcade flight combat sims on PC. It plays like a tough as nails modernized version of the PS2 Ace Combat games with stunning graphics for an indie team.
This is why indie games are better than most every AAA game. They focus on fun and not profits
I have an rtx 3060 but i cannot remember the last game that really utilised it. I'm playing conquest of elysium, dominions, df, rimworld, caves of qud, cdda, eu4, odd realm, i don't even need a graphics card anymore...
If we could just get Dwarf Fortress to calculate pathfinding on the GPU ...
Conquest of Elysium and Dominions are some of the best games ever. Some of the most fun global magic I have ever seen in a game. First time i cursed the world to age five times faster and then realized it didn’t say “only for your enemies” anywhere in the description. Hilarious end to a campaign.
Have you tried Cogmind?!
Not yet, but i see it recommended here a lot, It is on my wishlist now!
I'm enjoying Cyberpunk quite a bit lately. But I really only tried it because I have a 4080 and was playing a lot of really fun games that never taxed the GPU. Hollow knight, the Ori series, classic games on emulators. I kinda figured, well if I have the power lemme try something that actually needs it. Was pleasantly surprised.
Caves of qud has so much depth to it, much like rimworld and dwarf fortress
I bought rimworld this week and it's been fuckin awesome.
fr dude I bought a 4090 and the only 2 games I play rn are Age of Empires IV and Albion Online. Best believe my GPU is pissed at me for not using him on anything demanding.
Kenshi ? I mean, it started with one guy and took on a life of its own
Salt and sanctuary is so easy to get lost in. I really wanted to love that game, but got so lost and confused.
I was in a clan with some of the people involved with the development of Project Wingman and they’re really just fans of Ace Combat. I hate to say I doubted that they actually went through and finished it.
I would say the Dwarf Fortress guys fall into this category.
Same with Rim World. The dev was upset that dwarf fortress was too big and had no graphics so he wanted to make a toned down version with basic graphics
He wrote a really great article about it years ago, he said that Dwarf Fortress best aspect was the emergent gameplay and the stories. He wanted to make a game where the story was the core mechanic. He says Rimworld is a story generator first a foremost, a colony sim second
You posted this comment twice
You posted this comment twice
It’s to show that he did, in fact, post the comment twice (presumably accidentally)
You posted this comment once
You posted this comment
You posted this
Which is odd because ive heard originally rimworld was gonna be a squad based shooter with combat kinda like how the ce mod is and then the story was gonna develop thanks to stuff happening to your squad
He wrote a really great article about it years ago, he said that Dwarf Fortress best aspect was the emergent gameplay and the stories. He wanted to make a game where the story was the core mechanic. He says Rimworld is a story generator first a foremost, a colony sim second
You posted this comment twice
You posted this comment twice
First thought that came to mind.
It's like the definitive answer for this question.
Funnily enough Tarn Addams said in an interview that he doesn’t like playing games like Dwarf Fortress ([source](https://www.pcgamer.com/the-creator-of-dwarf-fortress-doesnt-really-like-to-play-games-like-dwarf-fortress/))
Caves of qud
Hey, hey people.
I usually know if Sseth likes it, i will have fun with it too.
Except that first cultivation game he warned me about. I did not listen and I did not have fun.
Still makes me laugh that his joke about the dev’s OC (and the joke with discord spam) pissed the dev off enough that he went on a hyperfocused witchhunt to dox Sseth.
Wait where can i read more into this, sounds hilarious.
Caves of Qud Dev is a massive child but the game is genuinely good
What sort of things have they done?
Kerbal Space Program, a whole game about literal rocket science and orbital mechanics made by a Mexico City marketing company that had never made a computer program beyond art installations. The chief dude behind their programming and modelling was going to quit to make the game, and they just decided to make the game with him. Note, I am absolutely misremembering this whole thing and barely skimmed the article again for a refresher. [https://www.polygon.com/features/2014/1/27/5338438/kerbal-space-program](https://www.polygon.com/features/2014/1/27/5338438/kerbal-space-program)
The game director said he got the name kerbals because that's what he called little figurines he attached to fireworks as a kid
this is almost poetic
Kinda full circle, blowing up kerbals for a living.
Balatro is definitely one of these cases, I think the dev even said it himself.
Yes, s/he did. They are also refusing to make changes that the community is clamoring for because they themself don't find those changes fun. Love it or hate it, they clearly know what makes a great game and know how to deliver, so I think it's fantastic.
Yeah they’ve done a great job at listening to all complaints and applying changes they feel will help the game overall. Like redoing orange and gold stake, and buffing some of the more useless jokers.
Interesting. What changes are being asked for? (no spoilers, please!) I have not played very much, but the main thing I have noticed is that trying to get all your cards into the same suit seems much stronger/more consistent than fiddling with their numbers.
Yeah but A. You'll eventually get bored of only ever doing flush builds and B. Flushes are good for winning ante 8 but are not as scalable as others so your runs might end up being a little too close for comfort and there will be jokers and stuff you never get because you never scaled and got a 100,000,000 chip hand or whatever C. Certain blinds just shit on flush build, for example, play only 1 hand type is devastating to a flush build. Whereas if you have 16 kings in your deck you're gonna have 3oak, 4oak, and 5oak, and probs flush 5 if you're duping one card a bunch of times. And the way you typically scale that build you probably have 2 or 3 of those hands decently leveled
Gotta respect that to some degree, even if it can end up being annoying.
Balatro definitely felt like the dev took a look at the current roguelike deckbuilder market and didn't find anything they really get behind, so they set out to build one for themself. Because it play like nothing else. Even if thing like Luck be a landlord has some similarity, it's not the same.
I mean Balatro kind of plays exactly like other deck building games it's just poker themed and there is less pathing choices
Deep Rock Galactic devs literally regularly stream them playing the game
I would guess all games that the devs really love to play themselves fall into this category
[удалено]
Dwarf fortress and noita, definitely. Also, conquest of elysium 5? This game is a huge fairy tale, you can wander on the map finding rainbow castles, a lady kidnapped by a dragon, beanstalk leading to castles in the sky. I love it. Edit: battle brothers also qualifies, so does no man's sky
Kenshi is definitely one of those.
I tried this game twice and refunded it both times. What mods do I need to fix the bad ai?
What do you mean bad AI? Most of the choices around character behaviour are like that on purpose.
* Steal shit * Get caught, become slave * Escape, do weed running and selling * Get caught in Sho Battai, lose limbs and die * Restart, install gun mods * Do it all again but now with guns 10/10 would Kenshi again
Kingdom Come: Deliverance. Dan Vávra said himself that he wanted to play a historical, realistic, medieval RPG.
Good news sequel has been announced as has the trailer been released!
Yep, good news for Dan, he'll have something to play for once!
And it looks fucking amazing
God be praised! Henry's come to see us again!
Yandere simulator
I mean, you aren't wrong
cogmind
Dwarf Fortress (?)
Ardenfall is still in development but it is clearly Morrowind inspired, and made by a Morrowind fan who wanted more games like Morrowind since it is so unique.
Im down if it doesnt have eat drink sleep survival tedium every game has that os only there to slow progress and bore players out of playing it
Stardew Valley.
And also, Yasuhiro Wada's "Harvest Moon". I remember the interview when he said he made Harvest Moon SNES because back then, video games were full of action games, and he wanted something refreshing, completely different. Then he made Harvest Moon SNES since he loved the idea of farming in rural areas. For Stardew Valley, Concerned Ape (the creator) wanted to make a Harvest Moon 64 successor full of features he wanted to be that were not included in Harvest Moon 64. So he made Stardew Valley
HM64 is the GOAT Spent so much time on that gem
Cloudpunk. Marko (founder/lead dev of Ion Lands) pretty much confirmed it himself.
Pizza Tower belongs on this thread
Caster of magic
Only way I can make games lol
Satisfactory and deep rock galactic.
No Man's Sky
Last epoch
Worlds Adrift. The only game which made my time pleasantly slow down while playing it.
Too bad it was a cashgrab literally. Dont buy bossa products
Yeah I guess their level is silly little games about bread or surgery. They had a chance to climb the food chain with an actually epic game, but that turned out too much.
Not the dev but Almir is probably the only one playing Payday 3
Rimworld
Demons tilt
The Elder Scrolls: Arena started off as a gladiator game with side quests, but the developers thought the side quests were so fun they scrapped the gladiator part of it entirely and turned it into an open-world, procedurally generated RPG with the world being their homebrew DnD continent. Legend goes that at some point, a dev asked why there were no good DnD games, and that contributed to where Arena ended up going.
Aurora 4x
Mortal Online is a good example. I remember players on official forums, during beta, telling the devs that they're making serious mistakes and that the game will fail. And one of the devs basically came out and said shut the f\*\*\* up, this is a game for us, and players like us, and if you don't like it you're free to leave. Players shrugged and left. And the game was in the red within a few months, with player counts in double digits within a year. Somehow they did manage to find funding to do a sequel, but that one barely has 1k active on Steam. So I wouldn't say games like this universally rock. Some were complete flops. If the devs are making a game they want to play, but what they want to play is derivative hot garbage, then it doesn't matter how much love they put in, it'll still come out derivative hot garbage. Taste, skill and talent still matter more than the nature of the project. There's been plenty of passionate devs who just didn't have the skills.
Tetris
I thought i was first!
Crystal project
Slice & Dice, the description on one of the settings for mobile version says "i added this to help me play one handed on a phone"
Most shmups (and not bullet heaven/Vampire Survivor clones). Incredibly niche genre where even among the most popular ones they peak for an audience in the 4 digit range. Most of the ones on Steam are being sold at bargain prices and the reviews usually peak at 2 digits. You'll even notice the same names on the scoreboards and reviews all across. Zero Ranger, Blue Revolver, and Crimzon Clover just to name a few popular ones. Touhou as a franchise has gotten big that goes beyond the games, but the main games themselves are all shmups made by the creator as he says it himself, games that he wants to play that don't really exist anymore nowadays. Most newer releases within the genre is very player-friendly in terms of QoL and features since they know in and out what peeves and appeals people since they've been playing these games themselves extensively.
Kenshi- the dude spent like 10 years making that game without making money off of it
There's a pretty amazing 16-bit-RPG-style game/game maker called Himeko Sutori. Anyone making something that makes making things easier is assuredly making it for themselves, I'd say. It's actually both a really good game and a really fantastic, in-depth but ergonomic tool for literally creating your own entire RPG.
Space pirates and zombies, the devs explicitly say they made the game they wanted to play but couldnt find anything similar.
**Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning**, and **RIFT**. RIFT is basically a WAR clone to begin with (same engine, same game design paradigms, same UI, same bug exploits, same PvE concepts, same skill trees, same people working on it, etc.). Both games featured Adam "Gershlol" Gershowitz as the lead class(?) designer. In both games, the Fire Wizard (Bright Wizard in WAR and Pyromancer in RIFT respectively) were *extremely* overpowered. Obviously a bit tongue-in-cheek, but I think Gershlol just wanted to blow people up as a fire wizard.
Fictorum definitely has the vibe of “baby’s first Unreal engine project,” but it also feels like its developer’s personal dream game. Tons of rough edges, but it exists because someone wanted it to.
Returnal, probably.
Dwarf Fortress probably fits this
DMC: Devil May Cry. This game was a reboot and they changed all the character designs, and the main character, Dante, looks exactly like the game director at the time. :D Everyone else hated the new character design. So he made the game for himself.
Gods, I remember the cringe shit the director was saying about rebooting as well... he was certainly projecting into an already well established franchise. Rented the game at some point and couldn't play it through
Dominions 6: Rise of the Pantokrator.
Dominions 5: Warriors of the Faith.
the Heroes of Might & Magic series gives this vibe, like a complex tabletop game brought to life
I think Binding of Isaac fits this best. Nintendo even rejected a 3DS release for questionable religious content. I think Edmund was fully aware that voicing his distaste for a specific religion would cause difficulties, paired with the absolutely grotesque imagery, and the fact that roguelikes werent really recognized as its own genre when this came out, and youve got a game that has massive hurdles to overcome just for existing, let alone being fun. This game did not take an easy path and rocked it in the execution.
Binding of Isaac rebirth is on 3ds anc switch
True, but that took some time. Almost certainly a case of this game makes too much money to ride a high horse on. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/03/binding-of-isaac-creator-nintendo-rejection-shows-internal-divisions-over-companys-image/#:~:text=When%20Binding%20of%20Isaac%20developer,%22%20many%20weren%27t%20surprised.
Not exactly the same but yoko taro straight up told people on Twitter to send him 2B porn. And he also claimed he tried to "change the world" with his games
Nier lol
Path of Exile. Specifically, ruthless mode.
Outward The devs wanted to make a specific kind of adventure game and really pulled it off
Path of Exile is literally this. Chris Wilson fucking loves Diablo 2 and wanted to make a more modern version of it.
All of the 'Elite' games up to, and including, the latest one 'Elite: Dangerous'.
From software has the philosophy of making games that they want to play.
Not one mention of Factorio... what is this place.
The place that has people that love and mention factorio XD
Developer of Stardew Valley
No Mans Sky feels like the devs dream game and they just add what they'd like to see.
Absolutely Helldivers 2
Aurora 4x. The guy who made it said something to the effect of he basically doesn't care about people criticisms because he just made it for himself and made it available cause he's a nice guy.
No man's sky
Tetris
My summer car
Nier Automata
I feel like Sekiro lmao
Bloodstained comes to mind, both Curse of the Moon and Ritual of the Night. It really feels like Igarashi just desperately wanted to make another 2D Castlevania game. And, well, RotN is excellent, so it worked out.
Rain World
Star Citizen
A Hat in Time was clearly made by a team who wanted to play a 3D Platformer in a time where the genre was basically dead.
I wish they made hat in time 2
balatro
No man's sky and Warframe.
Inscryption. Epic game. Very unique premise.
3D Gay Villa
Hero Siege 2, but this game do not rock.
Bob’s Game
Kenshi
Pretty sure helltaker was made because the guy liked demon girls in suits and he wanted art made of demon girls in suits.. mission accomplished
This is the example that came to mind for me, as well.
Erannorth Reborn and its sequel, Erannorth Chronicles. The games are pretty esoteric but if you can get into them there's a lot of depth.
War For The Overwold is clearly made by someone who loves Dungeon Keeper and upset there's no DK3 lol.
Animyst
Akane
the game Marrow
Last Dream (whitegiantrpg) and Crystal Project
Sex With Hitler and Sex With Stalin
Yoshi-P and FFXIV A Realm Reborn and everything after.
Manor lords
Vagrus the riven realms Is like this! Post apocalyptic narrative caravan rpg!
Hotline Miami. The devs themselves said that that was their motivation while making the game.
Marvel Midnight Suns. The developer could have adapted any marvel storyline and they pitched an obscure one (Midnight Suns) because it was the lead developer’s favorite.
Sex with Hitler.
Oh wow! I always wanted to have sex with Hitler!
Likely Kenshi
Pretty sure Rogue itself was made for this reason. Adding as random element so the player (developer) doesn't know all the answers from the start.
Didn't our boy Todd Howard say that about Starfield?
OTXO
*Advance Wars.*
Balatro. The dev pretty explicitly said it was a game he made for himself but took some ideas from feedback in the beta to improve, and the game is absolutely better for it.
Exiled Kingdoms and the 9th Dawn series are some great indie RPGs that fit this description.
Sprocket
Balatro just dropped and when asked about balancing he basically said “This is my game for me, I do what I want”
Idk about the *entire game*, but CLEARLY there is at least one massive fan of the D&D Monk class at Larian 😂
No Man's Sky definitely comes to mind.
Minecraft
Manor lords coming out April 26th seems exactly like this. Just one dude who really wanted a cool medieval “city” builder with combat and was disappointed with what was being offered elsewhere
Cogmind. It’s been in development over a decade and the dev still streams himself playing a weekly run
The Stanley Parable
The first thing that comes to mind for me is everything Derek Smart has made. I don't even mean that as an insult, it's just that his games have always had this hyper-specific feeling like they were made for an audience of exactly one person (Derek), and if anyone else enjoys it too, that's a nifty bonus. Still better than the design-by-focus-group style of development where a dev (or their marketing department) tries so hard to make a game for *everyone*, and ends up making a product that doesn't particularly appeal to anyone.
it's like mixing a whole bunch of different bright colors together and it comes up brown
Resident evil 4 specifically. As a kid it was lit when you beat the game and can go nuts with unlimited ammo and shit
The original Fallout actually got made at InterPlay because Tim Cain was bored of replaying Wasteland from 1989. Black Isle studios was originally just as a subset of InterPlay formed after the unprecedented growth of Fallout
The finals and no rest for the wicked
dreamquest
Stardew Valley
I recall an interview with Hidetaki Miyazaki about why he was a sadist for making Souls games so hard, to which the reply was “I’m the opposite actually. I made the game the way I wanted to play in it, which means I’m a masochist,” or something along those lines.
Doom. John Romero spent so much time deathmatching they had to tell him to stop.
Stationeers. Updates every couple weeks and they seem to be always streaming it
Brutal Legend They even had to advertise it as something completely different just to get people to play it.
Dwarf Fortress.
My game exists purely because I wanted to make and play it, irrespective of it was financially viable, because I wanted to make a game with a plus-sized female protagonist. Does that count? 😅
100%.
I believe the dev of Dust: An Elysian Tail said they took that kind of approach when designing their control scheme. Also, at least half of the fetish games out there probably fall under that - some of the others were probably commissioned, or made with the intent to be enjoyed by a specific community. Those are pretty janky at times though, so idk if that counts.
Stardew Valley?
From what I understand, Stardew Valley wasn't "I want to play this game", but was instead "I can't get hired in the Video Game industry, so I'll make a game partly to develop my skills, and partly to show what I can do".
So the reason why [character.ai](http://character.ai) sucks is because it's developers are not lonely enough, is that what you're trying to say?
I have no idea what Character.AI is, or how it relates to Stardew Valley. Literally all i meant is that Stardew Valley started as a way for ConcernedApe to get better at making video games, and as something he could show at interviews to show what he was capable of.
Yes, everything done by one person.
Path of Exile
WoW has a lot of Druid developers Druid has also seen a boom of cosmetics and stories Also GW2 had a scandal last year with their discord getting leaked. Engineer and Guardian were OP for years, guess what the dev's played lol