Community Question of the Week: Would you rather be a solo game dev, work on a small indie team, or work on AAA games at a large studio?

Each week we pose a question to our game developer community on the Microsoft Game Dev Discord. The beating heart of our online developer community, our Discord server allows developers to connect with each other, share their projects, get support, and network with peers in a thriving discussion space.

This week’s question is: Would you rather be a solo game dev, work on a small indie team, or work on AAA games at a large studio? 
 
Marlon “Nolram” Wolfersdorf: “As someone who is currently a solo freelancer, the ideal space to work in would be somewhere between indie and AA. It would be nice to have enough resources to complete large projects, but without the overhead or risk-aversity of a large studio. Since I'm a tech nerd I would love to have a custom engine team too, though I'm aware that business-wise that is an unpopular option.”

Pijinguy, currently working on Blast-a-Finn: “Absolutely to work on a small indie team. I can never do solo development because that is way too many talents that I would need and that I don’t have. Working with a few people gives the project “baby status” to me: all of us feel deeply involved in very important parts of the game, and the amount of love put into the project is palpable. The trust for each specialist to do their thing and do it right is exciting and so rewarding. I love my team ❤️” 

Thomas “fehaare” Gravgaard, Lead Developer of Bird Island Studio: “I have worked both solo and on small indie teams and I prefer the latter. It is much easier for me to get stuff done. It is too easy for me to lose focus when working solo. I have not tried working in real AAA, but I doubt that I would enjoy it as I would probably be too far from where decisions are being made. I like to work with a team where everybody can be heard, and people really feel invested in the game.”

Tyler “Coffee” Merker, currently working on Bow-Bots: “I've watched a lot of really strong indie titles make a decent dent in the play space only to lack the feature support and QoL that even a small team could potentially bring, and eventually lose their momentum to bug-fixes, new feature requests, and general crowd management. I think there's a very strong case to be made for working in teams, even if it means you cannot immediately pursue your passion project, and I really hope something is done soon to make finding and creating skilled teams possible. 

There are a LOT of professional developers out there that have experience and work ethic who cannot team up simply because there is no capital to back them, and I think it's really dampening our industry. Game Jams and the like are fun diversions, and they can lead to cool success stories, but there's a lot of room in the market for different titles right now. The niches are growing wider and wider, and I just want to see more come out of the indie-darlings and solo-dream pushers that are all floating around out there looking for a way to connect and make bigger things than they can manage alone. Because the reality is, with rare exception, making great games by yourself is hard. It may take a decade of your life to accomplish what a team of three can do in two years. So yeah. I have enjoyed my time working in small teams, and I live by it as the way to do this.”

Amirtha “Chaak” Krishnan, currently working on Tooth and Nail for this year’s lowrezjam: “Small teams are insanely talented these days and, given enough time, they can pull off what large teams can accomplish too. Solo dev was exhausting for me and I did it for two years. I might do it again, but only for projects I don't mind taking my time with, because I have witnessed firsthand what amazing things happen when a bunch of people sit down together and decide ‘let's make games!’. It's truly beautiful.”  
 
Joel “joelwm”, currently working on Everpets:  “My knee-jerk reaction is to say I prefer being a solo dev since that's all I’ve ever known, but I think a small team of very like-minded individuals would be wonderful! I would love to find them. 
 
Never AAA dev though. I prefer a structure where everyone involved in a creative project knows each other on a decent basis. I like the idea of small groups of people who are all matched based on their interests and skillsets. For instance, maybe a group of solo devs making anime games, where each person excels in a different development field (i.e. scripting, 3d modeling, writing, etc.). They could each work on their own projects, but meet weekly to both show their current progress, then set goals to meet for the next week. If one person has a question about another person's expertise, they can support each other and get support in return.”

Danjel “Skyarcher” Ricci, founder of Commuter Games: “While working in the game industry in middle sized teams, I always thought that was not where I wanted to be. Arguably I never had the chance to work in famous studios, but it always felt jarring giving everything for a game that was thought up by the boss, for the boss. After some years, I went fully indie/solo and that was the sanest choice I could make for myself, despite having to manage everything by myself. Now I work mostly solo since I have some close friends helping with art. This is the way for me.” 

Jana “2DPixx” Ochse, 2D game artist: “I feel the most creative ideas are generated in the indie space and I love games that are created out of true passion with mostly a small team of people having a message to bring across in some way or shape. Something that spoke to them and was close to their hearts. In that sense, indies will always be great. That said it also depends on the project scope and general mindset. Indie games are not all too great when you have people around who dream too big, essentially committing themselves and others around them to an idea of doing battle with the big players instead of just creating with other skillful and passionate minds. Stories like that seem doomed to fail and I would not want to be a part of that.

When it comes to AAA companies, I would say you can have a great and passionate experience as well. It is just not the center of attention in that realm. Maybe if you have a well-organized structure and the right people around at the right point in time it can also work out fine. I would just say it becomes harder to control. Regardless of the space you will always have to look at the people offering work and know yourself very well to decide what is a comfortable place to be.” 
 
Want to join in on the fun? Visit the Microsoft Game Dev community on Discord to hang out with us, we’d love to see you there!

Image from Downtown Club, Commuter Games.