fatpossum

fatpossum

Sharing my story: made games without knowing what I’m doing

Hey everyone, I’m 36 and just wanted to introduce myself. Years ago, I dabbled a bit with batch code and GB Studio. Around 2023, thanks to ChatGPT, I started playing around with Python for fun - first with Pygame. Eventually, I got hooked on a project and decided to use Kivy, since it seemed simple enough for my idea (even though I honestly barely understand what I’m doing).

I’ve realized it’s probably better to learn programming properly from the ground up rather than just copy-pasting stuff. I even have a great Python book, but I’m just not reading enough. My code structure is a total mess.

At first, I wanted to release my project on Android - figured the Play Store only costs $20 once, so why not? To test things on my phone, I started a simpler side project, but that quickly became too much because a) I lack real knowledge, and b) I get lost in useless details. I also learned that mobile games aren’t as easy as they seem, so I decided to shift the main project to PC.

Still, I kept working on the mobile game, but that wasn’t possible without outside help. I noticed that things running fine on PC can look completely different on mobile - and what works on one phone might break on another, depending on the code. Total chaos! Meanwhile, yet another side project popped up.

After investing quite a bit in a Kivy expert from India (who also struggled with my messy code), the next big hurdle was publishing to the Play Store. That alone turned out to be a whole different beast. Honestly, if I had known all this beforehand, I might not have started.

Anyway, both apps are now on the Play Store, though no one really cares about them - which is fair. They’re simple and cost a dollar/euro in richer countries. I just wanted to try my luck and maybe earn a little through ad-free games (I’d love to quit my social job one day - but that’s another story :D).

Still, I’m proud to have made it this far - with a lot of help. Now it’s time to focus on the main project, though the planned release for August 8, 2025 (World Cat Day) probably won’t happen. I’m going through a tough time personally and don’t have the energy to finish it right now. Maybe I should’ve started with something less complex - this game is packed with complicated formulas.

If you want, feel free to check it out. By the way, I used AI-generated graphics in both games. I know some people criticize that - there’s definitely room for improvement - but I enjoy using it for my projects. I’m also happy to send out free Android codes if anyone’s interested. And if you have ideas for beginner-friendly coding projects for someone with limited brain bandwidth, I’m all ears :slight_smile: Feedback and honest opinions are more than welcome!

Here are my games (well, one of them is more of a button meme app):

:left_arrow_curving_right: Purrfect Galaxies (Steam)
:left_arrow_curving_right: Meowglider (Android)
:left_arrow_curving_right: Mobile Doomer Simulator (Android)

First Post!

AstonJ

AstonJ

Nice one, congrats!

You may want to look at creating iPhone or Mac apps too - I built one quite a way back with MacRuby (now rubymotion) and I set it to the lowest cost (99p at the time) and iirc it was earning about £40/£50 a month and it was a very simple app: Have you made or worked on a macOS app? - #2 by AstonJ

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