The indie side of the game industry is more famous and successful than it has ever been. Fans and critics alike agree that indiegames likeHadesandHollow KnightproveAAA studios don’t house all the talent in the industry. On the contrary, there’s lots of indie developers out there making impressive games, in spite of the challenges that come with working independently. Another indie game that’s garnered praise even in the years of Early Access leading up to its recent release isHammerHelm,a city-building RPG about dwarves building up a new home for themselves, largely made by Jonathan “Calandryll” Hanna.
HammerHelmhas come a long way since Hanna started developing the game. Although he now works with a publisher, Soedesco, as well as many artists who have contributed toHammerHelm,the game started out as something Hanna developed all on his own while working full-time in the games industry. Naturally, that meant time to work onHammerHelmwas in short supply. Nevertheless, when Game Rant spoke to Hanna, he made it clear that the difficulty of finding time towork on his unique RPGwas a part of the process that he readily adapted to. He encourages other indie developers to be patient and pace out development, focusing on the process rather than the end result.
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“You’re gonna say ‘I’m gonna work on this, this, and this,’ and then you’re gonna work on something else completely for the entire week and those other three things won’t even get started. As long as you’re making progress, it doesn’t matter.”
Patience and dedication to the process is definitely important for indie developers of all kinds.Supergiant Gameshasn’t become a success by grinding out new titles as fast as possible; it takes its time to produce the high-quality games of all genres that it’s known for now. That kind of patience is certainly valuable for solo developers like Hanna.
Undertaleis another excellent exampleof a game likeHammerHelmthat only came to be because of one person’s dedication and patience to seeing the game through. Neither Hanna nor Toby Fox let the daunting burden of developing a game alone keep them from the project.
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It’s not just indie developers that can learn from Hanna’s words on the importance of patience and diligence. Some fans of AAA companies have felt dismayed at a seeming determination to rush games toward early release dates rather than letting them pace themselves in development.Cyberpunk 2077is an recent example of a company getting ahead of itself;CD Projekt Red is being hit by lawsuitswhile working to patch and improve the game about half a year after its release.
HammerHelmis a testament to the fact that, for game developers, patience is more than its own reward. Hanna says that althoughHammerHelmwas inEarly Access on Steamfor much longer than he initially planned, he doesn’t mind. The end result makes the years of work all worth it, and he looks forward to seeing where elseHammerHelmgoes from here. Considering all the praise Hanna’s work onHammerHelmhas received from players, it sounds like there’s plenty of fans excited to see how the game grows from here on out too.
“Whatever you think you’re gonna work on tomorrow, you’re gonna rathole to something else, and you’re gonna have fun with it hopefully, and you’ll have something better than when you started. And that to me is the only thing that matters - just keep making progress.”
HammerHelmis available now on PC.
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