Why some game developers choose to go solo

This is an age in which indie development and publishing is so accessible that you don’t even have to leave your bedroom to get it done. As a result, independent studios are sprouting up overnight like mushrooms, and a developer looking for a job can often be spoilt for choice. So what drives a developer to go solo over joining a company?

Some people say that the real reason is because solo devs find it tough to work with others. But that’s a blanket statement. Here’s why these two Singapore-based developers have chosen to go at it alone.

Family pressure

26-year-old Keh Chin Leong recently released a side-scrolling shooter for mobile called We Are Not Alone. An application consultant with an IT company, Keh started working on the game in 2011 when he was still in university, finishing it four years later.

At university, Keh could only work on the game during holidays and in between his studies. “I basically spent a lot of weekends to work on the game. Really a lot of weekends burned, even til now,” he says. When he started a full-time job after graduation, he received assignments that required him to work on weekends as well. Keh also found it difficult to find reliable artists who could deliver what he wanted. While We Are Not Alone is finally live, it’s still missing key features like a multiplayer mode. Keh is working on this.

It doesn’t sound like going solo has many advantages. So why did Keh go down that route?

“I had ideas for starting my own startup in Singapore, but finding the right partner to work with is difficult,” he says. “Joining a startup came to my mind next, but the lack of game-related experience was a barrier for me. Another barrier that stops me from really going all out to starting up is the lack of family support.”

Keh studied IT rather than going for a gaming diploma due to it being one of the only courses available based on his exam results. He explains that while he could’ve switched to another line of work after graduation, he stuck with IT as he found himself a good programmer. “I didn’t have much of an idea of going into a gaming course as my impression of the gaming industry in Singapore was that it wasn’t really popular, and I wouldn’t be able to find a stable job,” Keh says. He also had to contribute financially to his family, and had to look for a more stable source of income.

Personal goals

Ori Takemura, co-developer of the mobile puzzle game Shapist and founder of Qixen-P Design, is also a solo developer. While he had a partner-in-crime for the development of Shapist, Takemura says he’s now flying solo.

“Sometimes I want to experiment, just do crazy things, keep changing the concept, and the goal is very product based. I want to get experience about design and human emotion, not necessarily money, during those times,” he explains. “The only possibility to do those is either to have a developer who is as passionate as you are about your design practice or do those small things yourself. So my choice right now is to balance projects by doing those that may sound crazy by myself.”