Devlog #2 - Small Team, Big Changes

Hello again, and welcome back to another Ring Rave devlog!

One of the questions I’ve been asked a few times is how I can find the time to develop a game completely on my own.

The obvious answer is: it’s challenging.

As a solo developer, there are only so many hours in a day. Every feature, every bug fix, every concept, every balancing decision, every line of code, and even every Play Store screenshot is something I have to create myself. Unlike larger studios, I don’t have dedicated programmers, artists, designers, QA testers, or marketing teams to rely on.

But there’s another side to the story.

Being a one-man studio also means I can move incredibly quickly.

Fast Decisions, Fast Updates

One of the biggest advantages of working alone is agility. There are no lengthy meetings, approval processes, bureaucracy, or production pipelines. When players tell me something isn’t working, I can often start improving it immediately.

Since being approved for production on the 6th of June, I’ve published six new updates in just 29 days, that is a new update every 4.8 days. Every single update has included changes directly informed by your feedback, suggestions, and criticism, alongside features I already had planned.

Seeing players actively shape Ring Rave has honestly been one of the most rewarding parts of development so far.

Listening to the Community

Perhaps the biggest example of this came with Update 1.5.2.

During testing, a number of players told me that the ad break between levels were detracting from an otherwise great game. While ads can help support free games, I never wanted Ring Rave to become frustrating because of them.

So I made a decision.

Every single autoplay ad has now been removed from the game. The banner ads had already been removed in a previous update.

The only ads remaining are entirely optional and only appear if you actively choose to watch one for a reward. If you don’t want to watch ads, you simply don’t have to.

It’s a change that wouldn’t have happened without honest player feedback, and I think Ring Rave is better because of it.

Finding the Right Difficulty

Another challenge has been balancing the game’s difficulty.

Creating difficulty that feels rewarding instead of unfair is surprisingly difficult, especially because different players enjoy different levels of challenge. A huge shoutout goes to my incredibly active testers from Brazil 🇧🇷, who have provided countless insights and balancing suggestions, screenshots of bugs, and screen recordings of impossible levels. Several of the recent difficulty adjustments are a direct result of their testing, suggestions, and incredible engagement.

It’s amazing to see players from around the world helping shape Ring Rave into a better experience.

The Biggest Challenge Isn’t Building the Game

Ironically, building the game isn’t the hardest part anymore.

Getting people to actually find the game might be even harder.

There are thousands of games released every year, so first impressions matter enormously. Even if players would enjoy Ring Rave, they first need to find the game and be convinced, based on the Play Store page, to give it a try.

Based on advice from both players and fellow developers, I’ve completely redesigned the Play Store images to better showcase Ring Rave’s gameplay and make it much easier to understand at a glance.

Hopefully this helps more players discover the game—and gives Ring Rave a better chance to grow.

Looking Ahead

One of the things I enjoy most about solo development is that Ring Rave doesn’t have a fixed roadmap carved in stone.

Your ideas genuinely influence where the game goes next.

Whether it’s new game modes, power-ups, skills, quality-of-life improvements, balancing changes, or completely new mechanics, I’m constantly taking notes and experimenting with your suggestions.

Every update makes Ring Rave feel a little more like the game I originally imagined—and more importantly, the game that players want to keep coming back to.

Thanks again to everyone who has downloaded the game, left feedback, reported bugs, or simply spent time playing.

Every comment helps.

If you’ve made it this far…

…in my second DevLog, thank you so much.

I have one small favour to ask - please consider voting for Ring Rave in the current Launch campaign! Simply press the Launch button in the menu - and upvote Ring Rave. Thank you so much for your support.

Cheers!

Eike from Piggy Bank