
Of the $15,000 that he initially asked for, the game ended up raising $70,000 from more than 2,300 donors. The original goal was completely funded in only two days. “I originally was not going to do crowdfunding, but people kept asking for ways to contribute to the game, and there were parts of the game I really wanted to get professionally done, like the soundtrack and illustrations.”Īnd the decision turned out to be the correct one. “I’d say due to popular demand I went for a Kickstarter, and it was one of the best decisions I’ve made,” he said. Moon Kang said it was this community of supportive fans and developers that led him to Kickstarter as way to find additional funding for One Step from Eden. It is so cool to see other teams’ games become a reality.”

Small dev teams supporting each other ranges from sharing insider knowledge, giving feedback and following development to sharing posts and just hanging out. “Everyone is so passionate and driven. I don’t know where else you’d find people like that. “I’ve met with so many other small dev teams, online and in person at events like PAX and GDC,” Moon Kang said. He admitted that solo development can be lonely, but he celebrated the community of independent developers who have helped him along the way. He said that the independence allows him to have freedom from communication issues and puts the responsibility of completing the game squarely on him. But I’m not phased by it a lot of my favorite games are made by just one or two developers.” I feel that it is extremely difficult to find someone who will be as passionate and determined as you are to work on your long-term project. “I hadn’t had too many chances to collaborate with others on development aside from a game jam or two. And Moon Kang is just fine with his situation.

In an industry where large teams of hundreds of developers create the biggest games, a one-person studio is a rarity. Moon Kang had much the same attitude about being a solo developer. Though he admitted he had to do an “entire restructuring” of the project at its beginning, he discussed the development to be one of growth and positivity. And, according to him, it’s been a fruitful experience. But One Step from Eden has marked his largest undertaking.
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He has since developed multiple games, including a minimalist couch co-op shooter called Astral Gun and an Android puzzler called minBlue. “Eventually, I moved on to GameMaker in high school, and then Unity in college, making small games and prototypes as a hobby.” “My first experience with game design was the Map Editors of StarCraft Brood War and Age of Empires,” he said. Moon Kang’s history with game development began in his childhood, creating maps in real-time strategy games, before moving on to more advanced tools as he got older. “I really missed that and had been waiting for someone to bring it back, but it just was not happening, so I decided to make it myself.” “ had a really unique real-time grid combat system and introduced me to ‘deck-building’ in a video game before I even realized what that was,” Moon Kang said. One Step from Eden changes and modernizes the concept, fleshing out the deck-building aspects and turning the experience into a rogue-like one However, there hasn’t been a new Mega Man Battle Network game in at least a decade, so the core idea is due for a reimagining. Both games involve frenetic grid-based combat featuring recharging weapons. “Eventually, it gained traction and a lot of awesome fans, which let me know I had something special.”įor One Step from Eden, Moon Kang said a big inspiration was the classic Game Boy Mega Man Battle Network series, released on the Game Boy Advance.

“I had a really fun time working on it,” he said. Moon Kang said he began working on One Step from Eden in his senior year of college at a game jam, which is a collaborative event where devs plan and create games within a short amount of time. In the weeks after the show, he talked to me about where the idea for his game originated, how he has managed its development and his experience doing it all on his own. He is also terribly kind and seems to have an enormously positive attitude about his development experience and the community that has helped shape his game. Moon Kang, a 25-year-old Rutgers University graduate based in Pennsylvania, is developing One Step from Eden as a one-person studio. So much so that after I played my demo and saw no one was in line behind me, I asked Moon Kang if I could play more. One Step from Eden demands a great deal from your brain, and I loved my time with it.
