[STEAM] The best games developed by a single person

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This week, Destructoid is made possible by Boot Hill Bounties, a throwback RPG in the style of 16-bit classics like Chrono Trigger and EarthBound. Gather your party and head out on a massive, spaghetti western adventure, now available

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. This is a sponsored post.





In honor of the Switch release of Boot Hill Bounties, we're taking our hats off to games developed by a single person - or, at least, mostly by a single person. From Papers, Please to Stardew Valley, we have seven games that show just how far the determination of a developer can go.





Games are rarely brought to market by a single person, though, so keep that in mind as we make our way through. For instance, Boot Hill Bounties developer David Welch received help from chip-tune extraordinaire Jake Kaufman on the game's soundtrack, whose credits include Shovel Knight, Shantae and the Pirate's Curse, and DuckTales: Remastered.

The Challenges of Solo Game Development

Video games are challenging to design. Drafting the story, programming gameplay systems, creating art assets, and recording sound effects and voices are just a few of the many pieces in the game-design puzzle box. It's an arduous process, and even game publishers with teams numbering in the hundreds and access to millions of dollars in funding

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. So imagine how difficult it must be for one person to make a game with little to no outside help.





Without access to the same wealth of resources big-name game publishers have, solo game developers have to face all the challenges of designing a functional and fun game alone. Luckily, the best one-person game dev teams make up for their lack of resources with indomitable enthusiasm and a willingness to seek out the knowledge and support they need to make their dreams a reality.

How Solo Developers Overcame Development Hurdles

Many of the games we've listed below were made by people willing to play the long game. They took years, even decades, to learn the skills that helped them reach their goals. Some studied programming in college, while others used self-tutoring courses like Codecademy to teach themselves how to turn strings of numbers on a computer screen into virtual experiences loved by millions of players.





Of course, gaining experience won't make it easier to pay the bills that inevitably come in during the game design process. One way solo game developers have gotten around this hurdle is through crowd-funding. The rise of crowd-funding platforms like Patreon, Ko-fi, and Kickstarter has made it easier for developers to get the funding they need to bring their games to life.





That said, every video game begins with a good idea, and the ability to convince people that your idea is worth betting on is an essential skill in any indie developer's toolkit. This is why

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work to create a social media presence, building a solid rapport with their potential fanbase. Some devs do this better than others, but the gaming public generally appreciates the effort.





Now that the preamble out of the way, let's check out some of the greatest success stories in indie gaming.

Boot Hill Bounties – David Welch

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Boot Hill Bounties takes the tried-and-true formula of 16-bit era JRPGs and brings it into a whole new setting. It's an isometric RPG with up to 4-player co-op in the style of Final Fantasy III/VI and EarthBound. However, it ditches the high fantasy setting, favoring a Wild West spin.





Boot Hill Bounties came out on Steam a few years ago, but it just recently released on Switch, and the classic RPG experience pairs perfectly with Nintendo's handheld. Even if you haven't played its prequel, Boot Hill Heroes, you can still play Bounties. Welch developed the game with past and new players in mind, allowing anyone to jump in on the spaghetti western action.





Welch founded Experimental Game Studios to work on games that capture the same spark that made him fall in love with titles like Final Fantasy III/VI and Chrono Trigger. After releasing Boot Hill Heroes, Welch started the development of Boot Hill Bounties, eventually counting down to release day with 50 unique blog posts.

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, colloquially known as the Corral Countdown, provide a rare glimpse behind the curtain of a solo game dev.





When he looked back on the experience, Welch said, "The great thing about being a solo dev is that you can be proud knowing that the work is entirely your own, but that can also be scary." That's an impressive feat, given the breadth of content in Boot Hill Bounties.

Undertale – Toby Fox

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Stardew Valley was created by Eric Barone, who released the game under the alias "ConcernedApe." Originally intended as a way to bolster his resume, Barone set out to create a "fixed" Harvest Moon, feeling that the series had "gotten progressively worse after Harvest Moon: Back to Nature."





What started as a side project to show what Barone was capable of quickly grew into something much *******. Although Stardew Valley is a very different game than Undertale and Boot Hill Bounties, Barone still

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. Growing up, his older brother introduced him to Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, and EarthBound.

Papers, Please – Lucas Pope

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Axiom Verge started as a side project for Petroglyph Games engineer Thomas Happ. Petroglyph Games is best known for its work on real-time strategy games like Star Wars: Empire at War and Grey Goo. Starting in 2010, however, Happ began work on Axiom Verge, hoping to release it that same year. It wouldn't be until 2015 that the game would see the light of day, though.





Instead of just a small homage to Metroid, Axiom Verge turned into a true spiritual successor. Following the release on PC in 2015, the game has since been ported to countless other systems, including the Switch, Wii U, Vita, and PlayStation 4.



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