I started solo-deving on games full time in July of 2022.

My first year was all about game jams - I mostly worked in one monorepo (russmatney/dino), from which I submitted 10+ (tiny) games and worked as many tools and prototypes.

In my second year, I pushed for steam releases. Dot Hop launched on March 2024, and Dino launched a few months later in June.

In the second half of 2024, I pushed for more collaboration! I led Team Moonstorm through the launch of Rapid Eye Madness in late October as part of the Indie Game Academy’s Level 3 program.

In November, I built Carving with Care with Cat Tale Games - more to come on that in Q1 2025!

Below I’ll dig into each game, grouped by team.

Once a silly name for my solo-dev work, now a fully fledge one-person LLC!

Beyond the games listed here, there are more games and prototypes available on my itch.io page.

A short puzzle game. Try to find a path connecting all the dots!

Dot Hop launched with 72 puzzles (12 on 6 ‘worlds’). I hope to increase this number on a per season basis, once I’m past the mobile release.

Originally implemented as a PuzzleScript game called Flower Eater.

Status: Launched
Platform: Steam
Date: March 2024
Next step: Mobile release
Engine: Godot

I’ve covered Dot Hop in video as well:

• A Tour of Dot Hop
• Dot Hop Game Trailer

Dot Hop on Steam | Dot Hop on itch.io | Dot Hop code on github | Dot Hop docs (wip)

Dino started as a Godot monorepo. It has featured several games and prototypes, including a small metroidvania (hatbot), some platformer and top down experiments (shirt, spike, etc), a short beat em up (super elevator level), and even an early version of Dot Hop.

I covered this early phase of Dino in a video devlog: Dino ‘So Far’

In the build-up to Dino’s launch, the mechanics from these games were refactored into reusable components. Dino launched with a few game modes supported by some basic procedural level generation.

Next up: creating and honing the content - I’m recreating some of the original game jam ideas using the proc-gen system, and toying with various player and enemy mechanics.

Dino is a convenient sandbox for prototyping both mechanics and game libraries. It had several Godot addons, which have so far been broken out into Log.gd and Bones.

Status: Launched
Platform: Steam
Date: June 2024
Next step: More content (level editor, enemies, player abilities, etc)
Engine: Godot

Dino on Steam | Dino on itch.io | Dino code on github | Dino docs site

A few small web games. For now, a wordle clone.

I hope to build up some more interesting games here soon! For now, play all the wordle you want.

Status: Live
Platform: Browser
Date: November 2024
Next step: More games!
Tools: ClojureScript/React

Web Games

The Moonstorm Clerics were formed as part of the Indie Game Academy’s 7th Level 3 Cohort. Rapid Eye Madness is our major release, but we’re also quite proud of how Wicked Peak turned out after only a few days of development.

Rapid Eye Madness is a cozy horror microgame bonanza. See if you can survive all the microgames, and keep playing to unlock all the audiolog-lore.

Status: Launched
Platform: Steam
Date: October 2024
Next step: More microgames!
Engine: Unity
Tools: Wwise
Team: Moonstorm Clerics

R.E.M. on Steam | R.E.M. on itch.io

A short platformer with a grapple mechanic, built for IGA’s Level 3 weekend game jam.

Status: Launched
Platform: Itch
Date: July 2024
Engine: Unity
Team: Moonstorm Clerics

Wicked Peak on itch.io

A team formed from connections made across IGA classes in 2024.

Inspired by “Strange Horticulture but Wood Carving”, Carving with Care is a cozy rune-carving game. Use your book of runes and careful carving skills to enrich the lives of your customers.

Status: Launched
Platform: Itch
Date: November 2024
Engine: Unity
Tools: Spine2d, Yarn, FMOD
Team: Cat Tale Games

Carving With Care on itch.io

Play as Zohran across NYC neighborhoods, collecting constituents and listening to their stories.

Status: Launched
Platforms: Steam, Itch
Date: November 2025
Engine: Unity
Tools: Ink
Team: Antifun Bloc

• Zohran’s Run on Steam
• Zohran’s Run on Itch.io

A Godot Metroidvania, coming in 2025.

Check out my “Listen” prototype devlog

Status: In development
Engine: Godot
Tools: FMOD

So far, Blox is a tetris and puyo-puyo implementation.

The next step is to prototype a few different ideas:

• “Lazy Tetris”
  • removing a the time-pressure component
  • Would a ‘clicker’ tetris be a fun ‘background’ game?
• “Balatro-Tetris”
  • Applying deckbuilder roguelike mechanics to some tried and true block-faller games
• “Set Tetris”
  • a block faller with rules similar to ‘Set’

I’m not making enough time for this project at the moment :/

Status: Prototype on itch.io
Next step: Prototype Roguelike mechanics
Engine: Godot

Blox on itch.io | Blox code on github

For a long time I was calling this “The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Beat Em Up”, and other times a “perpetual” beat em up.

The idea is a sort of Animal Crossing <> Beat Em Up - an idea that makes sense in some ways and is kind of crazy in others. Move to an apartment in the big city, meet your neighbors, defend your territory, build up your reputation!

Too early in dev to share much more! Stay tuned.

Status: In development
Next step: Hone Beat Em Up fighting mechanics
Engine: Godot