From a Factorio modder to a solo game developer 👀 news - Complex SKY

Hey!

I’m Momosundeass (or Momo for short). I’m the solo developer of Complex SKY… and ex-Factorio modder

In today’s devlog, I want to dive into that last part a little because a lot of inspiration behind Complex SKY and my skills in game development were actually born inside the modding community. Maybe it’ll give you inspiration to get into the modding scene, maybe it’ll be a sign for you to get into indie development… Or maybe it’ll be a fun story about how Complex SKY came to be!

I think that the secret Krabby Patty formula for video game development consists of 3 ingredients:

• Unity tutorial
  
• Skills
  [*]Aaaand 10-ish years in the modding scene

My first steps in modding video games was in 2011. I started modding my favorite games; Minecraft and Skyrim. I was excited by the infinite potential of both of these games: not only are they massive in their default state, but they could grow even bigger through the help of the passionate community. Better graphics, harder challenges, completely new stories — everything you could possibly wish for!

Of course my first mods weren't as huge as Enderal, but tweaking stuff here and there for my personal taste felt awesome. However, I didn't took modding too seriously back then. The real deal begun when I found out about this game:

One day, I was browsing YouTube and stumbled across a video which introduced me to my true love: Factorio. Factorio had everything I liked about video games: complexity, freedom, and factories.

3 months later, I noticed that Factorio had mod support, and that's where the real fun began. At first, the Overhaul Mod instantly grabbed my attention. I enjoyed it but I disliked a few things, but then I thought: "Wait, I'm a modder, I can just tweak those myself". And so I did! And then I made more mods.

My goal was to increase playtime by creating a hardcore experience with limitless possibilities. I guess I'm mostly known in the community for making Bob’s Extended, Pyandon Tweak, and Easy Evolution. By the way, thanks to everyone who kept updating and tweaking these mods even further after I moved on to Complex SKY, it really warms my heart to see my silly tweaks live on!

Anyway, after a year of modding Factorio, I began feeling trapped within the boundaries of it and craved a greater creative outlet. At the end of the day modding is still about working on the foundation of others and I wanted to dive even deeper. Around that time, one of my most anticipated games came out: Anno 2205. It didn’t live up to my expectations, and after a disappointing playthrough I had a eureka moment:

Why not make a game with Anno’s visuals and Factorio’s complexity? Mind-bending, yet accessible.

Using my Bachelor of Game Development and PhD in Modding, I began to conceptualize Complex SKY. I wanted to stray away from 2D graphics and create a fully 3D game with a cozy atmosphere. And the inspiration for the game's plot and the whole gravity thing were influenced by the movies Patema Inverted and Upside Down.

It didn't take long to find out that making a video game from scratch isn't as manageable as I thought at first. I'm more of a programmer guy, so the prospect of doing literally everything else by myself started to feel daunting.

For art style I chose low-poly graphics, something I had studied at the university. For UI I did a lot of research on how to make it look sleek and approachable. And I asked a friend to help me with making music, so I hope this doesn't disqualify me from being a solo dev...

Anyway! While working on Complex SKY, I still continued modding Factorio as a hobby, which helped me get a better understanding of the game mechanics and how to implement them more efficiently.

After 2 years of hard work, I released the first demo on itch.io. Turns out, aside from skills and the Unity tutorial you also need a lot of determination, discipline and a bit of passion. I start by doing something for 2 minutes, then it turns into one hour and that grows into a 12 hour work day. I like implementing my ideas, testing them and then adjusting accordingly.

2 more years later, I released my first Steam demo. If you haven't played it yet, make sure to give it a go! It'll give you a taste of Complex SKY with hints at future mechanics. And if you did, thank you so much for playing! Thanks to your feedback I was able to catch several bugs and get a new point of view of my game!

And to bring it all full circle, I really want Complex SKY to have a mod support in the future. This isn't an announcement or anything, I'm still working on this game on my own and I have a lot more stuff higher on my priorities list (like finishing the actual game, for example!), but I'd be extremely happy if my game could make other players feel the same joy of tweaking stuff as other games did for me.

Thank you for sticking around! If you’re interested in discussing/following Complex SKY’s development, then make sure to join the Discord server, follow the Twitter account and wishlist Complex SKY on Steam!

P.S. I still make mods for Factorio to this day ;D