Building a Mobile Game Without an Engine, a Budget, or a Clue
summary
Builds a one‑hand mobile RPG in native Kotlin without Unity or a backend, using Mapbox for the map, XML UI now migrating to Compose, AI plus Fiverr for art (icons cost €7, trailer €30), and Juny AI for large migrations. Ships with offline persistence, optional ads in shops and modest IAPs, gains ~40,000 downloads and ~3,000 monthly active users at peak, holds ~4‑star rating, and keeps total spend near €100 while iterating on tutorials, combat, and community features.
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chapters (21)
- 0:00Introduction
- 1:50Overcoming fear
- 3:55Time management
- 6:29Android native
- 7:56Against game engines
- 9:02Game concept & MVP
- 10:27UI & Mapbox
- 12:35Roadmap & features
- 13:19Soldier module
- 15:04Adding animations and battle improvements
- 16:28Data models & inventory
- 17:32Outsourced graphics
- 19:18Game lore & story
- 21:05Monetization & community
- 23:53Play Store prep
- 24:58Launch & feedback
- 26:45Community & plans
- 27:49UI modernization
- 28:32Lessons learned
- 30:16Kids & second game
- 32:44Start your own
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