A Year in Indie Game Design

What I Learned Building Games Solo

I believe games can make the player part of an interactive story, one where their decisions help tell the tale they are playing.

One year ago today, that belief led me to create Average Joe Hero, my indie game design company. 

Well, that and the fact that I’d been telling everyone I wanted to start making games for so long that my wife finally told me if I didn’t start doing it, she’d find a way to shut me up about it.

I had an idealistic dream, and numerous times through the past year I considered giving up on it. 

Somehow, despite what felt at times like an unrelenting slog, I got here, to the first anniversary of something that once existed only as an idea.

On day one, I had exactly two things: one marginally popular card game, Skarlybones, and a conviction about what I thought the gaming world was missing.

No logo.

No website.

No audience.

No industry connections.

No place to go but up.

So, I got started creating and building. 

Early Indie Game Design

By February I was in business, with the first version of the site up, sporting a shiny new logo. I had created social media accounts, and began trying to figure out how to not make a complete fool of myself as I posted.

What no one really prepares you for is how hard all of that becomes when you’re doing everything yourself — especially while real life refuses to pause.

I discovered how hard it is to be creative while sitting in a hospital room for a few weeks. 

I learned it’s almost impossible when that stretches to five months.

I discovered launching a web app game takes far more planning than the entirely too optimistic month I initially gave myself. Going from concept to design to coding and launch, then promoting, posting, and sharing it with people, in one month.

What was I thinking?

Learning While Doing

And I learned that while coming up with ideas for games is easy, turning them into something real — something that might be actually playable and fun for anyone other than me — requires time, testing, and talking to actual potential players.

A LOT of talking.

Building an audience, developing a voice, learning social media, creating videos and artwork  — those are each jobs of their own. Jobs I started from scratch, with no shortcuts and no guarantees.

This was all a bit more than I expected. I know I’m an introvert, much more comfortable designing a game interaction, illustrating a character, building out packaging, or coding a database while blasting techno music in a cold dark room. Being in front of the camera and talking about myself and the things I produce — that is a new kind of difficult.

Social Media and Indie Game Design

To this day, the hardest part of this job I’ve given myself is being a social media promoter. I’m so self-conscious about what I produce I end up spending much, much longer putting it together than it really should take.

And what I’ve done so far on social media isn’t what I’m capable of, but that’s what 2026 will be all about, right? This next year will be all about developing new skills and finding my own voice on social media, much like I’ve developed my own illustration style.

The goal this year is simple — find more creative ways to design new experiences for that small cadre of folks like me who love intricate games that tell deep and mysterious stories, and find the best ways to connect to them. 

I’m excited about the projects I’m right now bringing to the table for folks to play.

Last year I set myself up with a pair of two-week game design challenges. The results of both of those will be out early this year. What is the most surprising thing about both is they offer a different type of experience in card games than anything I’ve done yet. 

That’s proof to me that design challenges are great to break yourself out of creative boxes. I’m planning on doubling the number I do this year.

And talk about challenging myself to go even further, Year Two of Average Joe Hero will have me launching a community-centered online strategy game that mixes Conway’s Game of Life with Tic-Tac-Toe, called Tictactotium. 

One year as Average Joe Hero taught me that making games isn’t about having the right idea, it’s about staying with an idea long enough for it to become real.

This next year is about going deeper, not wider, in my exploration of games. It’ll be about making stranger, tighter, more intentional games. I’m going to find the people who enjoy peeling back layers, who like complexity disguised as simplicity, and who want to feel like they’re discovering something ,not just being sold something.

And we are going to have fun. I’m still learning. I’m still building. And if I’m doing this right, some of what’s coming this year will surprise me as much as it will surprise you.