Stardew Valley
Top 10 Games Made by Just One Person
Since its release back in 2016, Stardew Valley has taken the gaming world by storm. The farming simulator was originally built as a fan-remake of a Harvest Moon game by creator Eric Barone after he felt that the series had lost its way. He intended to group together all of the good parts from the Harvest Moon series and package them to produce the perfect game in the series. He quickly outgrew these initial plans and, after a successful response to the game’s Steam Greenlight campaign, he set to work finishing the game. The developer, otherwise known as ConcernedApe, released Stardew Valley on Microsoft Windows on Feb 26, 2016 to both critical and commercial success.
Since then, the game has sold over 3.5 million units across several platforms and is primed and ready to launch its long awaited multiplayer features. Stardew Valley blends elements of farming simulators, dungeon-crawlers, and dating sims to produce a solid experience which looks retro but built on very modern design principles. ConcernedApe has been teasing new content for a while now, but with the multiplayer update imminent, it’s clear that this game will still go on for a while yet.
Axiom Verge
Top 10 Games Made by Just One Person
Axiom Verge is the brainchild of indie developer Tom Happ which offers up an authentic retro Metroidvania experience. The game puts players into the shoes of a scientist trapped in a parallel world and tasks them with escaping. It is a clear throwback to the Metroid series, one which has been lovingly crafted by its sole developer Tom Happ. All of the classic elements you would expect are here, including a gradually revealed map, backtracking and platforming.
The stars of the game are the hulking Rusalki which inhabit the nightmarish world. Secrets play a big part in the game’s design too, which will no doubt tug on the nostalgia of many gamers. The pixel art is gorgeous, the weapons diverse and the story compelling. The whole thing oozes admiration for the games it is inspired by and manages to end up being just as good as any of them.
Tetris
Top 10 Games Made by Just One Person
Surely one of the most popular games of all time, Tetris is both effortlessly simple and surprisingly deep. The game was originally programmed and designed by Alexey Pajitnov, a Russian developer living and working in Moscow at the time. The game’s name comes from the Greek preface tetra-, meaning four, relating to the fact that every piece in the game is made up of four blocks, and Tennis, Pajinov’s favorite game.
Tetris is most notable for being the very first entertainment product to be exported from the Soviet Union to the US, where it was programmed for the Commodore 64 and IBM PC. Since its launch there have been many different spin-offs and iterations, with it appearing on almost every known games console so far.
Minecraft
Top 10 Games Made by Just One Person
Believe it or not, the media juggernaut that is Minecraft was originally developed by a single person, Markus ‘Notch’ Persson. The game was built to be a 3D crafting title heavily inspired by games like Infiniminer. The game progressively got larger and larger in scope, leading Notch to quit his day job and work on it full time. He went on to found Mojang using the money it generated during its Alpha test run.
Eventually, many more people were added onto the team to help develop the game but the core experience was solely built by Persson. It’s all ancient history now though, with Minecraft becoming one of the best-selling games of all time, spinning out into toys, books, and other media. Mojang was acquired by Microsoft in 2014 for $2.5 billion and the game has sold over 144 million copies worldwide. Not bad for a game initially developed by a guy in his bedroom.
Thomas Was Alone
Top 10 Games Made by Just One Person
Thomas Was Alone is a story-driven puzzle game developed by Mike Bithell in which players control a group of sentient shapes. The game tells an interesting story involving AI programs who gain personalities following an ‘event.’ The narrator is voiced by British actor Danny Wallace whose performance earned the game a BAFTA Award.
Thomas Was Alone launched originally as a flash-based browser game before Bithell decided to develop a more complete version built in the Unity game engine. After taking a job as Lead Game Designer at Bossa Studios, Bithell would work on Thomas Was Alone in his spare time, adding more intricate puzzles and platforming to the game. It eventually released for Microsoft Windows in 2012 and then consoles the year after. The game is particularly great in its use of minimalist shapes to convey emotion and narrative, a decision which Bithell says is inspired by artist Piet Mondrian.
Roller Coaster Tycoon
Top 10 Games Made by Just One Person
Roller Coaster Tycoon was very nearly not a game. Developer Chris Sawyer, who hated roller coasters at the time, had originally planned the title to be a sequel to his Transport Tycoon game. This was the plan right up until Sawyer suddenly became obsessed with riding roller coasters and wanted to make a game, which meant he could do so as research. So Roller Coaster Tycoon was born and the world was never the same again.
The title sees players designing, building and running an amusement park, and features a great level of detail and control. Several sequels have been released since then, solidifying the Roller Coaster Tycoon series as one of the most popular simulation games series of all time.
Legendary Gary
Top 10 Games Made by Just One Person
Legendary Gary is part-RPG, part-Saturday morning cartoon, part-acid trip. The game is developed by Evan Rogers who previously worked as a programmer on the excellent What Remains of Edith Finch. It tells the story of a nearly-30, unemployed dude called Gary who, among other things, is particularly into a video game called Legend of the Spear. The game is beautifully animated and sharply written as it moves from the real world to the video game one and back again.
There’s a surprisingly satisfying combat system, mini-games, and plenty of bizarre and wacky characters. Given the amount of heart clearly put into the experience it’s actually not surprising that it all came from one singular mind. The game touches on depression, love, and complacency while blending it with fantasy, sword-swinging action.
Braid
Top 10 Games Made by Just One Person
Braid is an incredibly important game. At the time when it released, there were very few ‘indie’ games as we know them today, let alone one which caused a stir like Braid did. The game is the brainchild of Jonathan Blow, who developed the game independently, pouring his life savings into it before releasing it on Xbox’s Live server. Braid is a platformer with time-manipulation mechanics and a deep, cerebral story.
The game paved the way for indie games to be considered alongside their big-budget AAA peers and proved the idea that video games could indeed be art. People were incredibly surprised to hear that this small game with retro visuals and a tiny budget was so damn good, an idea which seems trivial today. We’ll likely look back on Braid as being a huge turning point for video games and for that, along with the fact that it is a genuinely great game, is why you absolutely must play the game.
Undertale
Top 10 Games Made by Just One Person
Another game which eschews conventional video game tropes is Undertale, an adventure game developed and composed by Toby Fox. The game is an oddball masterpiece which challenges the idea of why we play games. The game can be completed without harming a soul, instead having the option to talk enemies down from battles. The puzzles themselves are fourth-wall breaking sketches which are never what they appear at first glance.
One of the best parts of Undertale is its incredible soundtrack which tips its hat to RPGs from the 80s as well as series like Castlevania and Mario. The game never does the obvious thing which is so wholly refreshing when compared to the relatively uniform nature of the industry. The writing is some of the best in gaming, guaranteed to make the player laugh out loud, something which not many other games can do.
Cave Story
Top 10 Games Made by Just One Person
Cave Story was developed over a five year period by Daisuke “Pixel” Amaya. It is a 2D platformer which features elements of Metroidvania and puzzle games. Cave Story originally released in 2004 for the Windows PC to widespread critical acclaim. Since then, updated versions of the game have been made for Steam and Nintendo 3DS.
Having seen success from porting the original, developer Nicalis set to work on a 3D remake of the game, published by NIS America. Cave Story 3D released in 2011 to good reviews with critics who praised its dedication to sticking to what made the original special. Cave Story recently released for Nintendo Switch too, meaning that it can now be played on several platforms.
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