3 years of burnouts, doubts and reboots. But my game finally got a demo

Hello everyone! I'm an indie developer. I'm 18 years old at the time of writing this, and I just released a demo of the game I've been working on since... 2022. Three years ago, I started my dream project, and the journey to this point has been a rocky one, to say the least.

I'd like to share how I dealt with burnout, why the game took so long to release, and what helped me finally get it to a point where I can show it to players. Here's what it looks like now and where you can try it out:

How it all started

2022. I'm just starting to get interested in gamedev, I'm 15-16 years old. Pandemic, distance learning, free time. I make simple prototypes, just for myself.

And then an idea comes up: "What if we make table tennis as a full-fledged RPG? With leveling, quests, an open world and a plot?" The idea seemed simple and brilliant at the same time. I immediately dove into the code, started making basic gameplay, drawing graphics, writing dialogues.

This is what the first character looked like:

And everything went well... for the first couple of weeks.

First burnout. Then the second. And so on...

I broke the main rule of gamedev, took on too big a game as the first project.

With each passing day, the motivation was getting less, the features were getting more. I did something, then gave up for months. Then came back again. Added a new interface. Then gave up again. Every year I returned to the game and still gave up, added something new, but these bursts of motivation gave progress very slowly. So the development stretched out for 3 years, which flew by very quickly.

In fact, I was constantly at war with myself. Periods of enthusiasm were replaced by burnout, and burnout - by the desire to finish at least something.

How the game has changed over the years

The footage I captured during development helps me reconstruct the entire chronology of events. On August 23, 2022, something similar to what we have now is already looming.

On January 10, 2023, the first developments of the open world appeared.

And on December 31, 2023, the game doesn't look much different from the current version, but the amount of content is simply incomparable.

Where has everything changed?

And now it's September 2024, the new school year, and I'm 18 years old. I was faced with a choice of where I could go to study completely, go to a good university and live a stable life, or still fulfill my dream. As you can see, I made my choice, at the age of 18 I decided that I would finish this game. All these years, I haven't just been sitting either, I've raised my level quite well in art, programming, and game design. I've done some projects too, but none serious. And so, having a good level of knowledge, a full understanding of why I'm doing this, and an unfinished gestalt, I resumed development.

Almost a year has passed since then. And so, in the spring of 2025, I finally released a demo.

Conclusion

I would like to end all this with some kind of morality... But to be honest, I'm just glad that everything turned out that way.

Yes, it might be more logical to start with something small - to make a ready—made game in half an hour, release it, gain confidence, and only then take on a larger project. Maybe then I would have had the game on Steam a long time ago. Perhaps the way would have been easier.

But then it wouldn't be this game anymore.

And I've been living with that for a few years now. As I grow up, this idea grows with me. I truly believe in her. I know exactly what I want to see in the finale. And that's why I'm continuing.

Now, for the first time in all this time, I feel like I'm standing on solid ground. I don't just hope that I will finish the game, I know that I will finish it.

And even if the path was long, scorched, and winding, the main thing is that it's mine.

Any opinion, comment, review, suggestion or bug report is worth its weight in gold to me.