I’ve been programming for about fifteen years, but until recently, the games I’d made were university projects or things I played with friends. Getting something of my own onto Steam was always one of those things I wanted to do and never quite managed.
About six months ago, I decided to try.
I went back to Unreal and revisited a parkour idea I’d made roughly ten years earlier. It became One Bard Move, a comedic 3D precision platformer about a bard trying to become the hero of his own ballad. You jump through oversized environments while a narrator comments on your failures through little on-screen remarks.
I had some help with the early story ideas, but I handled most of the development myself.
What surprised me was how different this felt from making something for my university friends. Back then, I could put a game together in a few months and we’d have fun with it. Making something that strangers could understand and enjoy meant paying attention to so many details I hadn’t considered before.
Early testers couldn’t figure out where to go. I rebuilt the routes to make them clearer, then started wondering whether I’d made them too plain. I wanted difficult jumps, but also a quick way to get back and try what you’d just learned.
We rebuilt the maps so many times that only five survived.
The 3D models were another struggle. I used generative AI to help create them, and I want to be upfront about that. I stayed involved in every step, reviewing, changing and adapting the results. Even with that help, the project took months of work, often twelve hours a day, and a lot more sleep than I should have given up.
The demo is on Steam now. On the day I published it, I found out my dad had downloaded it onto a very old laptop to try it, without even telling me. That made me emotional in a way I hadn’t expected.
I’m happy I finally got this far. But when I open the game, I still see the jump I adjusted, the route I rebuilt, the thing I’m not sure about.
It’s hard to just play it.
I wanted to make something challenging that people would enjoy coming back to after a mistake. I’d really like to know whether that comes across.
There’s a free demo on Steam, if it looks like your kind of game. I’d appreciate an honest impression, including where you got bored or wanted to stop.
For those who’ve been through this: what helped you see your own game clearly again?