Many game developers are chasing the dream of money and fame. We’re constantly told that we need X amount of wishlists or Y amount of active players to be ‘successful’. There are so many required big numbers for all your personal, creative, and technical feats to be taken seriously. But there’s another more rewarding path that takes less effort and provides way more success, in my mind: The game made for just one person.

The best gifts are the ones that are bespoke and made with the kind of love that can’t be bought at a store. Every year I make a few games for friends and family. These games are much smaller in scale compared to my publicly released games but way more personal. The great thing about making these projects is that I don’t feel the immense creative pressure that comes with my other projects. These are made for people I know deeply, so potential critique isn’t a concern. The reactions to these games are always special moments in my life. Seeing someone I love connect deeply with something I made for them is pure joy.

If you have any type of game development experience, I highly recommend you try making a game for someone in your life. I’ve made these projects using tools I usually don’t use, such as bitsy, Gamemaker, Downpour, and even just pen and paper. It doesn’t need to take a lot of time. You can treat it like a game jam. Don’t worry at all about polishing the experience. If they don’t play video games, they won’t even see any of the jank (and anyways, jank is kinda endearing). Since you won’t be releasing this to the public, you can go ahead and use copyrighted material. Maybe there’s a song you both have fond memories associated with, or an inside joke that involves an intellectual property. Have fun with the process and don’t overthink it.

Success to me isn’t measured in numbers. To me, it’s all about sparking feelings of awe, wonder, and human connection. What better way to do that than the gift of a personally crafted game for the ones who matter most to you in life.

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Resources

Collection of free gamedev assets - Danny Hawk

Open source, experimental, and tiny tools - Everest Pipkin

The Generous Space of Alternative Game Engines (A Curation) - Nathalie Lawhead