It takes great confidence to start developing a game. It takes even more to create a game solo, and with no background in game development, or any related degree. For Melbourne-based developer Jake Houston, what he had was ample confidence, access to the annals of the internet, and a drive to succeed. After eight years of chipping away at Game Over – A Musical RPG??, an adventure inspired by Undertale, The Stanley Parable, and Stardew Valley, Houston has finally launched his completed vision.
What’s most remarkable about Houston’s journey is that his background actually lies in music theory and psychology, far removed from game development. Speaking to GamesHub, he admitted he only had “limited” computer skills before tackling the project that would become Game Over.
Currently, he works as a sleep scientist, with odd hours allowing him to work on building other skills in his free time. Despite a lack of formal education in related areas, he knew he could develop a video game, and with the rise of great solo-made indie games in the late 2010s, he was simply inspired to try.
The solo development renaissance
“When I first played [Undertale], I thought, if one guy can do that, I can probably do something similar,” Houston said. “It took me considerably longer, because he [Toby Fox] had a bit of practice, and I didn’t. But … seeing the indie development scene, seeing solo developers like [Eric Barone of] Stardew Valley and knowing that it can be done, I thought, well, I could probably do that.”
Over a number of years, Houston began slowly forming the basis of Game Over, taking whatever time he could to learn new skills and flesh out the game. Part of this work was done during the “five to six hours of pretty much quiet” that accompanied his job as a sleep scientist, while monitoring signals and taking care of other responsibilities. When his role shifted, he also gave up weekends, and occasional time with his fiancé Elise, to get it done.
Once he started seeing significant progress and growing his skill set, he was determined to forge ahead, to “get it done.” The internet proved to be one of the most powerful resources in this quest. Any problem he had during his development journey could be solved with a simple Google search, or popping into a developer Discord chat for help.
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“Someone out there has made that mistake,” Houston said. “Knowing that, know there’s this tome of information available, it fills you with hubris. It fills you with [a feeling of] ‘I can take on anything.'”
Initially, Houston hadn’t planned to create the entire project himself. He knew he wanted to develop a game, but he didn’t necessarily envision tackling the work alone. On previous projects – musicals, sketch comedy, and podcasts – he had worked with a collaborator, and had hopes of corralling his aid once more. But divergent paths meant Game Over became a solo idea, and that Houston would need to create his own vision, with his own skills.
“I thought, if I can’t find anyone to help me with the specific vision I really wanted, then I could just crack on myself, and see if I can do it.”
Ironically, Houston ended up permanently siloing himself, as he built such a “weird system” for Game Over that one person briefly hired to help couldn’t figure it out – so, he really did need to “crack on” and keep moving, to figure the game out for himself. At the very least, he eventually saw the positive side of having complete control over his own creative work.
“I didn’t have to comprise anything,” he said. “I didn’t have to run anything by anyone. I could be confident in knowing that if I had an idea that was kind of iffy, I could try it and see if it works without having to run it past someone. I could test everything I wanted to test. I also had the benefit of practicing everything.”
Practice makes perfect
As Houston told GamesHub, not only did he have to learn all the tools of game development, he also had to work on his artistic skills. With Undertale being one of the core inspirations for this musical RPG, he wanted to focus on pixel art and minimalism in design. That meant having to learn the basics of this art style, and then continuously working to make it better.
“I’m not an artist,” Houston admitted. “Yeah, I can draw it. I can slap together something fairly nice-looking. But I wasn’t confident. I remember one of the first things I drew, it was ghastly-loooking. It was a sofa … it looked like a dinosaur. It was just heinous.”
Over time, Houston was able to build his skills, and eventually, he went back to fix a lot of his early work, to redraw it with a fresh approach. Unfortunately, this also required object re-implementation and redoing Game Over‘s physics, but even though this added to the development time frame, Houston is proud of his efforts.
“At the end of the day, I get to put my name on the credits. Just me. Which is nice. And if people like it, that’s great. That’s a good ego filler.”
As he told GameHub, the process of iteration certainly had its downsides, particularly as the work and scope of Game Over expanded. But he remained motivated throughout the experience, consistently inspired by the desire to create something new and original, by his own hands.
While it’s typical to hear of creatives having multiple projects on the go, with each left hanging by another, Houston had a heads-down approach that worked well to shuffle the project along.
“I purposefully had to stop looking at other indie developers’ games, because if I listened to the Undertale soundtrack, I got infested with the frustration of ‘I have to work on mine.’ There were games I couldn’t play because I knew that if I did, it would stress me out, knowing that game exists and I haven’t made my game yet.”
To push himself through more challenging patches of development, Houston leant heavily into the Pomodoro method of working – switching between periods of 15 minutes working, and then allowing rest, before continuing the cycle.
“By the time you’ve done the third Pomodoro of half an hour, you’re in that flow state,” Houston said. “If I can recommend anyone anything, it’s a Pomodoro timer, because once it’s set up and running, by the third time you’re in it, you don’t have distractions anymore.”
Connecting with peers
As well as being self-motivated, Houston also had a social support network to guide him through the long development of Game Over. That included the support of his fiancé, as well as the wider game development scene within Melbourne. As we’ve extensively covered at GamesHub, Melbourne’s games industry boasts plenty of talent, with a strong focus on networking and support.
“It’s incomprehensible how nice people are, and how helpful people can be,” Houston said. “Melbourne is such a strong scene … Australia has a huge scene, larger than I think it proportionally deserves, and it’s great.”
Thanks to the support of VicScreen, Houston was even able to show off Game Over during PAX Aus, further connecting him to local developers and his audience, allowing for hands-on feedback.
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Looking to the future
Throughout this process, from developing Game Over as an early idea, to gathering the skills needed, to marketing it and eventually releasing it, Houston clearly learned a lot about himself, and his capacity as a game developer. Even lacking the background to create games, he was able to find a path forward, and now, he’s looking to a bright future of fresh, creative directions.
With Game Over – A Musical RPG now released into the world, Houston will take a short break from creating games, but it’s clear he already has his eye on what’s next. Speaking to GamesHub, he mentioned a future game more distinctly inspired by The Stanley Parable, as well as a musical about Māori war chiefs, developed in collaboration with friends.
“I want to always have a project on the horizon, or least on go, so that I’m always working towards something,” Houston said. As he told GamesHub, his desire to create rarely sleeps.
Game Over – A Musical RPG is now available on Steam.
