Emily Sondering
Appearances
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
I think certain things that I really like about solo dev is actually how fast moving it is. So I thought that... Working with a team would be faster because you don't have to do every single discipline. But for example, in the game that I was working on, let's say we wanted to do a design for the main character. We would have a concept artist do 20 variations of that main character design.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
And we'd be like, okay, we like the eyes of this one and the ears of that one and the clothes of this one. And then she'd have to do like five more designs based off her preferences. And then this process could take a really long time versus for Lily's World XD. I'm the only artist or main lead artist. Right. And so I thought, okay, um, you know, I'm not gonna, you know, I approve everything.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
I don't have to go through all these rounds of feedback and it actually can lead to creative, creative solutions. So I do enjoy doing art, but I didn't want to do all the art of the main character. So I came up with the creative solution to use my face. So Lily's World XD uses real pictures of the young girl, which are of me as a teenager.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
And so in a weird way, even though I'm doing everything, the process of approval is so much faster because it's like, Hey, Emily, do you approve this? Yeah, I approve that.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
can just finish it actually a lot faster, surprisingly. And I think like one big benefit is that You know, I could do playtesting so much easier because it would take so long in my previous team to even get to a place where we felt comfortable enough to have others play the game and then give their feedback. Then, of course, we have to iterate on the feedback.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
But for me, because I'm just deciding it all, I can have so many more rounds of feedback because it's, you know, build, feedback, build, feedback, build, feedback. Like it's so much faster, actually. And I think actually the game is turning out better because I can just... rely on player feedback rather than getting in like five.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
I remember in my old team, we had this like three hour debate over whether a chicken should talk.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
Yeah, so in terms of music and sound effects, I've never done that in my life, and I know I would suck. So that was an obvious one to contract out.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
And I have been working with a programmer to help. They have helped me code a couple of the things in my game. So in my demo, there's going to be a dress-up game. They coded that. And then they also helped me code the tab system in my game. Cause the game takes place in a computer. So like how the web address works. And that's actually a very interesting story of how I met my programmer.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
So last year I went to the game developer conference and my flight got really delayed because of a storm. And so I was just sitting at the airport and then this person goes, are you saundering Emily? And it was someone who actually watched my videos. So we had this like two hour conversation at the airport and we were, we both live in LA. So many, many, many, many, many months passed.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
And I – so Lilith World XD is actually how I'm learning how to code. Before this, I've never coded. So as you can imagine, I suck. So in my Discord, I had this problem and I was like, hey, does anyone know how to code this? Yeah. So various people tried to help me, and every person made some progress on the issue, but didn't solve it completely.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
And then eventually, this person, Kirk, who had met me at the Game Developer Conference so many months ago, was like, do you want to just give me access to your project? And then the next day, just did it all themselves with no... Just like...
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
just took that initiative i was like wow do you want a job this is your job interview so i literally offered them the position right then and there and ever since they've been helping me with small tasks and also helping me bug fix which is truly the most painful part of my game that being said i am still programming my game unfortunately i did not yeah i'm still working on that
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
Yeah, so I am self-taught on everything. I did go to college, but I went to college for English, which is, I mean, technically I do. There's a lot of narrative in my game. But when I went to college, it was more for analyzing literature and not very much creative work. So I actually feel like I didn't really gain a lot of English skills from attending university.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
So I will thank UCLA, though, because they have a game development club. And that's what led me to making games. Oh, wow. So in that, they have students kind of teaching each other. So in that way, I definitely got a lot of mentorship. But I've never taken a course. I've never paid to learn anything. If I don't know how to do something, I Google how to do this thing. On YouTube.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
So I started just doing writing and games because that's all I knew as an English major. And then slowly I got to designing them. And I actually worked briefly for a mobile game doing some...
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
community management writing and design and that's actually how i got i actually so before i became a full-time indie game developer i actually also worked at meta for a while i actually got that job at meta because they saw me design for a mobile game and they thought oh maybe you could design a mobile app for us too so i just got into that more naturally and then in terms of other aspects
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
UI design, which is a huge aspect of my game. I just taught myself how to use Figma. In terms of Unity, I also just taught myself. I mean, coding, I had one friend. I was like, you know, about eight months ago, I was like, I need to learn how to code for this game. And I have a lot of friends who code. So I asked one of my friends to just come over and give me like a few coding lessons.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
And I just go, great, I'm going to figure the rest of it out myself. And then I just Googled a lot.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
I will say, so, you know, I get a lot of people asking me, oh, what should I major in in college? Cause I want to make games. What course should I take? And I'm just like, I literally didn't do any of that. I just YouTube university was the way I learned.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
Yeah, so hi, I'm Emily. I am a Los Angeles-based game developer and game dev creator. You might know me from game dev videos I post on Instagram and YouTube under the name Sondering Emily. I also previously did make a game called A Taste of the Past. It is on Steam and has over 120,000 plays, which was really exciting. That's awesome. And now I am working on my first horror game, Lily's World XD.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
Yeah. So I guess to tell the story of how I got started on social media, a few years ago, I made a game called the taste of the past and I wanted people to play it. So I thought, okay, short form video is popping up. And so I should make some videos promoting the game. So I asked people in my team who would like to contribute to making videos about a taste of the past. And everyone said, not me.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
So I was the one who had to do it. And I saw it as the biggest chore in the beginning. I hated it. I resented it because I don't know. I just like to sit in bed and be relaxed. And, you know, in the videos I have to pose weirdly and wear outfits and just, it felt very unnatural to me. And I did not like it in the beginning. A lot of people ask me, you know, like, how did you get started?
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
It's just like, I didn't want to get started. I was forced into getting started. So after a while, I realized that people weren't just interested in my game. Some people were like, oh, well, you know, you're the developer. How did you do this? How did you do that? So
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
For the first few months, I grew a small audience on TikTok by answering questions like, you know, how did I get started making games, advice for beginner game developers. And eventually I thought I should post one of these to my Instagram. My Instagram had 800 followers at the time. It was just friends, coworkers. It was more just to show them that I had been working on this thing for
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
So I reposted one of my videos. And then that video got 2 million views. I gained 6,000 followers overnight. And in three months, I gained 50,000 followers.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
So it was like, I guess, slow-ish in the first few months. And then it was like explosion. And... I learned to like making the videos, I should say. Eventually, I stopped seeing it as a chore. And yeah, I'm in this extremely fortunate position where I think for a lot of indie developers, getting that first initial hump of recognition is very difficult.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
Because there are so many games coming out, so much competition. And I think because of my social media following, it does really help that I have already a built-in community who is excited about my game. But that being said... You know, it doesn't guarantee that my game is going to sell a lot of copies or that people are interested.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
But it really has helped me get a gauge about if my ideas are in the right place. So actually, for Lily's World XD, this is even before I knew the title of the game. This is before I had any official art or anything. I just had the idea. I've always... I've been fascinated with games that take place in a limited surface.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
So for example, I made a game about a couple of years ago about that takes place in a phone. So I had this idea, oh, I should take place in a computer. And I'd really been getting into horror. So I thought, okay, a horror game that takes place in a computer. You know, I was coming up with some of the ideas, right? So I made a video just saying, hey, I have this new idea.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
It's the first time I'm going solo. And the premise of the game is you investigate a young girl's computer. It's set in the early 2000s. So you do things like chat on AIM, go through your cringy blog. You have, I recreate Friendster in my game. Everything seems normal until someone realizes you're not Lily.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
I showed off some of the early designs I had. Looking back, they were so ugly. I don't know why I felt comfortable sharing them. And then that video got 2 million views off just like a couple of really, really, really ugly designs and just an idea. And that's what validated to me, whoa, like this idea has legs.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
And I think that's one big benefit because for a lot of people, they actually have to make the game and then see if there's interest. I just made a video and I already know that Hey, there's an audience for this idea.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
I think one really awesome moment in my development is my game was showcased in the OTK Games Expo, which is run by that popular streamer organization, OTK. And so for that, I actually got to come in person and answer questions about my game. And I think there were about 50 games that were showcased. And at the end, they had...
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
five developers win $10,000 and then the top voted game would win a custom PC. And I won the $10,000 and the custom PC. What? What?
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
Yeah, and they would decorate it with the art of Lily's World XD. I haven't gotten it in the mail yet, but I hear it's coming.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
About eight months, which is crazy to even think that it's been that long.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
yeah so the idea for it came out of watching horror youtubers like what happened to reddit user r slash da da da or like the creepiest dark mystery and i always had this idea what if you were the person investigating that mystery for the first time or what if you were the subject of that mystery and that's what really spurred the idea of lily's world xd you find this young girl's computer and
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
At first, everything seems normal. It's very girly. It almost has like a kitschy aesthetic. You talk to her crush. You learn the inside jokes with her best friend. But eventually, you find messages addressed to you, the player. So it has fourth wall breaks. And you really dive deeply into this story about Lily's life and what has happened to her. I would say...
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
To compare it to any similar media, if you like the substance, you would definitely like Lily's World XD. It talks a lot about beauty standards, growing up, teenage angst, being chronically online. It is definitely a weird game, but if you're down to get weird, you should play it.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
Yes, I actually am. I have been compared to that game. I've played both games, by the way, and I enjoyed both. I would say that game was not the main inspiration game, but I really do like that. If I were to point to a main inspiration game, it's probably either Simulacra or Emily is Away. Ironically, I know the game is called my name.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
Simulacra is a horror game that takes place inside a phone, and Emily is Away is a narrative game that takes place entirely inside of AIM.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
Yeah, I would definitely say that every game I've ever made in my life is a self-insert for myself. And in Lily's World XE, I guess it is a literal self-insert because my face is in it. But it's also a metaphorical self-insert. So, for example, you know, Lily talks about things that she liked in the early 2000s. And those are all things that I also liked. She talked about insecurities.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
Those are the insecurities I had when I was a teenager. For me it was really important to actually put myself into Lily both like physically and mentally because You know, when I was a teenager, I felt very misunderstood. I felt othered. I felt I don't know. I just I never always fit in.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
And I think that that's what I want this game to be, to have teenagers play it and feel like it's OK to be themselves. It's OK to have weird niche interests and it's OK to not look a certain way.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
when i guess to get a bit deep here i grew up in a mostly white area and i was definitely made fun of for looking asian i felt super ugly because i was asian and it wasn't until college i realized like oh wait i'm not ugly i just people were just racist yeah um and
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
That is a very similar struggle that Lily goes into as in like not feeling beautiful, feeling these societal pressures that she has to look a certain way. And the game is about like strong female friendship and valuing oneself outside of just appearance. That's why it's very similar to The Substance if you've seen that movie.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
Yeah, well, I was really excited to recreate an early 2000s internet game. I know it's very ironic, but I actually do not enjoy the internet now. I am a content creator, but I don't like Instagram. I don't like TikTok. I don't like Twitter. I feel like all these social medias are becoming very homogenized. And now when you post on social media, it feels more like you're promoting something.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
I mean, hello, I am the biggest perpetrator of it. I am that. And it's less about just expressing yourself. And I feel like in the early 2000s, people would just post to post. They would overshare about their lives because they didn't care about stranger danger. They would share their art, their poetry, and they didn't care if it got a lot of likes or views. And I find that...
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
really pure and that's what i want to recreate in my game so you know in my game there's old forums you know she has a blog that you can read and it just feels really authentic versus i feel like the internet now is just so perfectly curated
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
Short answer, I don't. I'm just nervous all the time. Actually, so a couple of friends came over last night and one of my friends is like a professional coder. So I was asking her how to approach this coding problem in my game. And so we started playing it. And then I realized that there was a bug that I've never seen before. And I freaked out.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
And like, we, I was like, okay, let's just, you know, she tried to fix it. We couldn't fix it. And I was like, okay, let's just go to dinner. But at dinner the entire time I was thinking about this bug. Oh my God, why can't it get fixed? And I know like the bug was not the biggest deal in the world. And obviously I will get to it eventually, but it was just this nagging thing.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
sense in me why does that error exist in the game when it didn't before who put that in there it was probably me because i'm the one working on the project um i i don't handle my stress well that's a good answer no i mean that's a good answer
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
I definitely am a gamer. I feel like it's strange to make games without playing them. It's like writing a book without reading books or making movies without watching them. I typically play more independent, story-driven games. I've never been super into AAA, although I do really like The Last of Us.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
and my wife will tell me a whole story and then I'm just like yeah wait what what and I have no clue what anybody said the whole time because I'm running through everything in my brain same but I will I will say sometimes like I remember there's been a few times where I've had a bug and then I was like okay I need to not be a disgusting human I take a shower and then in the shower I think about the solution and when I come back the solution comes shower thoughts are some of the most productive thoughts out there that you're really a moment when you fix it in your head and then you're like
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
I will say like, okay, I don't think this is a good thing, but I do think that my anxiety and obsessiveness is probably what makes the game good. Because I think to be a solo dev, you have to be very self-motivated.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
So you need to be that type of person to think about the bug during dinner, because it's that important that you fix it rather than take things casually. Yeah. So I think it's good for the game, bad for my mental.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
Yeah, I have a lot of advice on this. My first advice is to just start. And what I mean by that is I get so many people asking me questions like, what is the perfect game engine for me? Should I make 3D or 2D? And it's like, don't think about these questions.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
Just pick one game engine, maybe read one article, watch one YouTube video about it, pick one, and then Google roll a ball tutorial game engine, and then just do that. And that's how you start. When I started making games, I never contemplated what game engine I should do because the people around me were just using Unity. So I thought, okay, I'm going to use Unity. No thought about it.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
I didn't even contemplate what else I should do. When I decided I wanted to learn how to program, I didn't look into what is the best expensive course. I didn't look into getting back into college. I just was like, okay, YouTube University, I'm going to Google basic Unity tutorial and then I'm going to watch that and that's how I'm going to make my game.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
Yeah, actually, before this, I used to only make cozy games because that was all I played. And then earlier this year, I discovered the indie horror game called Omori and it blew my mind.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
So I feel like more of the doing, less of the thinking, honestly, is a big advice. The second big advice I would say is to make a lot of bad things and be proud of the fact that you made a lot of bad things. I hear a lot of developers want to make the next Stardew Valley as their first game. And like, yes, I guess, you know, Concerned Ape did do that.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
But I'm not Concerned Ape and... You know, you're the point zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, one percent to be concerned. It was also in a very unique position because he didn't really make money during the production of Stardew Valley. He worked either not at all or part time at a movie theater and get a girlfriend who subsidized his life. So, like, unless you are in that extremely.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
I'm having everything paid for. And all you could do is work on your game full time. That's probably not going to be you. But that's okay. I think when I was making games, I was doing a ton of game jams. Game jams are where you make a game from scratch in a short period of time. And... Yeah, they were bad.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
And I honestly didn't care, actually, like because I would make them in a weekend and it was bad. I'd go, OK, on to the next one, on to the next one. And then eventually they got better because eventually I made A Taste of the Past, which actually started as a three day project. Actually, in fact, the vast majority of A Taste of the Past was made in three days.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
All I did was polish it up a little bit, add a new scene, fix a couple of bugs. And then that's what led to the Steam release, which led to so many other opportunities in game dev. So, yeah, be proud of making bad things.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
So good. And that made me realize the potential of horror to tell a really moving story. So after playing a few other horror games, another notable one I love is called Inscription.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
Yeah, so in terms of like maybe my next marketing beat, I don't know when it's going to happen, but I do have a demo that will be released publicly eventually. Actually, today is a very exciting day. So I'm hosting my first in-person Lily's World XD meetup where I'm giving a talk and then select participants will be actually to will be.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
Sorry, I'm giving a talk at UCLA and afterwards select participants will be able to play the demo early. which is crazy because right now I've only showed the demo to my close friends. So this will be the first time where people I've never met in my life will be playing the game and giving their honest feedback, scared, but excited. Um, and yeah, Eventually, the game will come out.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
I'm hoping for some time in 2026, but I don't want to say a date because if I don't say a date, I can't be late.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
And I decided, why not? Give my own hand at it. And that's really what led to Lily's World XD.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
Yeah, well, I would say now financial success matters to me because I do this full time. Of course, I want to have the money to continue making games. But when I started making games, I would say that I measured the success in learning. So actually, in a lot of the early games I did, I would try different things. So in one game, I was just the artist. Another game, I actually did music.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
I did music one time for a game and one game I did just the UI design. And so I was learning about all these different disciplines. which I actually do think now has helped me so much as a solo developer, as someone who now does every discipline. But I would definitely say, like, I'm the type of person where user feedback is super important to me.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
I think there are certain developers who think, like, I'm right because I'm the one making the game and I have the expertise. But I'm one where, like, the player is right. So if I think a puzzle is amazing and creative, but all the playtesters don't get it, it's confusing. It's not creative and amazing. It's bad.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
I remember when I made the Game Jam version of A Taste of the Past, one comment that I got was talking about how uh, this guy was playing all the games from other game jams. And he was like, I was, I went from playing a game about dogs to playing a game about dead mothers. And I'm crying like WTF is going on. And that is still one of my favorite comments to this day. I haven't screenshotted.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
And actually, so today when I'm going to give my talk, I'm going to actually have that review up and I'm going to read it out loud for everyone. Okay.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
Yeah, so by far the biggest thing you can do is wishlist Lily's World XD on Steam. If you are interested in game development or you love horror games and want recommendations, I make videos on my YouTube and Instagram, SonderingEmily. I also have a sub stack, SonderingEmily.substack.com. And Sondering is S-O-N-D-E-R-I-N-G.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
Which character did she cosplay? Because I have also cosplayed, and I'm wondering if we cosplayed the same person.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
Yeah, so horror is something that I got interested in over the last year. Before that, I'd never really played horror games. But in terms of what I enjoy in the horror genre, I specifically like psychological horror games. I'm not a huge fan of like Scary Monster in the Woods or Jump Scare. I like horror that gets under your skin and messes with your brain.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
And... Pushes the genre entirely. Outside of horror, I really enjoy heartfelt story games. So, basically the opposite. Horror that messes your mind or horror that touches your heart. Or games that touch your heart. So, some of my favorite games in the opposing genre would be Spiritfarer. Before Your Eyes is probably my favorite game of all time.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
It's a game that uses your webcam and every time you blink, it progresses the story. What? What a cool mechanic. Yeah, it's really cool. So... It tracks your eye movement when you play the game.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
But I will say it's more than just a gimmick. It works really well with the story and the message it's trying to tell. It's a game about life flashing before your eyes. So then that's why there's also the blinking element. But yeah, I would say I also really like management games. So I really like Cult of the Lamb. That was a great game.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
backlog man it's for that never ending it just keeps getting added to yeah i this is funny because this blinking game i feel like i just sit there and stare i'm like no i can't advance yet no honestly okay the thing with the blinking game is that you want to keep your eyes open as long as possible for the game and so my eyes end up hurting but then by the end of the game i'm crying because it's very emotional so i'm just like blinking and the game just keeps switching i keep blinking
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
Yeah, so actually before I got into horror games, I only promoted cozy games on my channel. And then eventually I started promoting horror and I expected there to be a drop off because the audience is now confused that I'm switching genres. But surprisingly, my videos about horror games do just as well as my videos about cozy games.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
I do think that they surprisingly share an audience, at least from what I see in my own video performance.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
Yeah. So the first one is actually I mentioned earlier, which is The Last of Us. Yep. So before that, I thought that games were just about violence or shooting or I thought about like multiplayer Call of Duty, which never really appealed to me. Also, The Last of Us came out when I was like 13 or 14. And so at that point in my life, games were a quote unquote boys club type thing.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
And it was when I discovered The Last of Us that I realized that games could be such a powerful medium for storytelling. And also, like, Ellie was one of the main characters. Girls can play too. So I got really involved in gaming after that. I... Was really into AAA at the time and then eventually made my way to indie.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
I would say like another moment that really solidified that I wanted to be a game developer was the game called Night in the Woods. It's a game about a young girl who drops out of college and goes back to her hometown and realizes it's the same but also very different. And that's actually something that I was going through at the time.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
I'd taken a quarter off UCLA, and I was back in my hometown, and things were different but the same. And I think that was really pivotal because it was the first time I felt that a game was actually telling my life story. Because The Last of Us, it's very relatable and touching, but I don't necessarily see myself in those characters. And it's also depicting a zombie apocalypse.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
Versus Night in the Woods, I felt like it was depicting my life and it just felt so special and I realized that I could use games as a medium to tell the story of my life or dreams I have or things that scare me or just, you know, it could be used as a vehicle to express myself.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
Yeah. I would say from a young age, I knew I always wanted to tell stories, but I was never sure of what medium. So in middle school, I would make these cringy short films. In high school, I was really into poetry. And in college, I thought maybe briefly I'd work in entertainment. I entered at NBC, realized it was not for me.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
And it wasn't towards the end of college that I thought, you know, I've always loved games. Maybe I should try making them. And that's when it really happened. really clicked to me when I started making games that this was the medium for me. And I think it really is about what you touched on, which is the player agency.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
I think it's so cool that instead of just admiring a character or watching them on a screen, you are the character. You make decisions as if you were the character. And I think game design can be really interesting in what it allows the player to do, but also what it doesn't allow the player to do to tell a specific story.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
Hello. Yes. I'm super excited that you guys have me here today. And what an epic intro.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
Yeah. Well, firstly, I do want to clarify, I don't do every single part of the game. I consider myself more of a mostly solo dev or like a solopreneur. Because, for example, like I hired someone to do some of the sound effects. While I am doing a lot of the art, like a couple things here and there, I've contracted. And I've also had someone help me code a couple parts of my game.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
But in terms of like what... you know, I would say the game is vastly solo developed. And in terms of like what led to that decision. So before this, I've worked in teams for every game I've ever made. And I was working on a game and it never ended up coming out, ended up being canceled. And I was reflecting on some of the failures of that project and why it failed.
Video Gamers Podcast
The Solo Dev Diary - Gaming Podcast
And I actually started Lily's World XC as just like my escape from that project I used to be working on. And The main reason I did it solo was honestly, it was just such a weird niche idea. I figured no one else would want to work on this except me. But ultimately, I actually have found a lot of joy in solo developing. Before this, I thought it would never be for me, but I'm really enjoying it.