Barty's Adventure

Dev Spotlight: Chapter III - Barty's Adventure

Barty's Adventure is a Metroidvania set in the world of children's toys. Rescue the three puppies to stop evil from occurring once more.

Can you tell me about yourself and your journey into game development?

My gamedev journey is a recently new one. I've always had a creative hobby (playing music, writing, etc.) but I'm a full-time government employee in a non-artistic/non-coding field. In 2019 I started messing around with really basic coding, and was instantly hooked on how I could create something fun, silly, and simple from scratch. And since then I've been working almost every day at getting better and completing my first game. 

What inspired you to become an indie game developer over any other type of developer?

Gamedev just seemed like the natural fit. Like I said, I have no background in code or art, but I've been a lifelong gamer and I've always had an overly ambitious hobby. I recorded a crappy album in college, wrote and partially edited a novel, and released a small gaming podcast. As soon as I started making very simple text games, I realized that it was the perfect blend of logical/technical skills and creativity, and it only makes sense that it would grab me as hard as it has.

What can you tell me about your game (Barty’s Adventure)?

Barty's Adventure is a cozy, time-loop metroidvania set in the world of children's toys. In it, you play as Barty Bear, a teddy bear on a quest to find the three lost puppies in order to prevent the Colic from occuring once again. The game blends the customization and NPC relationship building of cozy games with the exploration and discovery of a metroidvania, wrapped in a three-day time-loop. Inspirations include Majora's Mask, Toy Story, Stardew Valley, Chicory, Hollow Knight, and Deathloop.

You responded to my initial post with being in "mid-stream development". How long have you been working on your game and how much longer do you estimate it's going to take?

I started development on Barty's Adventure when I started to learn to code, which is also when I found out that my wife and I were expecting our first child. This life-changing news really shaped the game with ideas of stuffed animal themed characters and house-based biomes coming naturally. I worked on it sporadically for the next few years, but really sat down and projected a development plan at the beginning of 2022. I've been grinding since, waking up a few hours earlier than the rest of my family to get some work in, and then getting back at it a couple of nights after work as well. My hope is to be able to release it by the end of 2025, but everything seems to take longer than originally expected in gamedev.

Are you using crowd-funding platforms or just working on your game when you can?

I am currently not using crowd-funding, and I'm just plugging away as much as I can given the full-time job and wife/two kids at home. I am interested in Kickstarter someday, but I would need the community and support for BA before I'd be willing to give it a shot. I would imagine nothing would be more demoralizing than a failed Kickstarter. 

What advice would you give to an aspiring indie game developer who is just starting out?

Be like Nike and just do it. You can study and learn and copy tutorials all you want, but even if you have no code experience, just make something. My first game was a text box where my wife had to guess how many tacos I was thinking of. And I felt so proud! I made it! So just get in an engine and make anything would be my top advice.

Shortly after that though is to make what you want. So much advice online is to not make your dream game first because you'll get burnt out or it will be bad. Maybe! But if a dream game is what motivates you, then go for it. Just keep in mind to iterate and include what you're learning in the project itself. Go make what you're excited about, since that will be motivation alone to keep going.

What are your plans for the future beyond your current game?

It kind of depends on the game's success. My ideal would be that BA is successful enough to allow me to transition into gamedev full time, and then work on DLC and possibly a sequel, both of which I have too many ideas for. If the game is less than successful, I want to say that I'll stick with gamedev, but I need to be realistic as to how my mental state will be after that event. BA has been a huge part of my life for years now, and for it to end poorly would be something I'd have to take time to process before diving back in on something new.

For more information about Barty's Adventure, check out itch or twitter for the most recent updates.