Creator Spotlight: From AAA to Indie: My Journey Creating Merge 67
I’ve been in the game industry for a long time, all the way back to 2002. I started as a programmer at Anino, which was the only studio in the Philippines at the time....
From AAA to Indie: My Journey Creating Merge 67
I’ve been in the game industry for a long time, all the way back to 2002. I started as a programmer at Anino, which was the only studio in the Philippines at the time. Since then, I’ve moved through companies like Accenture, co-founded Altitude Games in 2014, and eventually joined Revolving Games in Canada.
However, after a layoff last July, I decided it was time to try something different: making my own indie game.
Catching the Trend with Merge 67
I released Merge 67 on the App Store and Google Play this past November to test the waters. My goal was to ride a specific trend, the "six, seven" hand gesture kids in North America were doing.
While the merge mechanic is well-established, I wanted to put my own spin on it:
- Immediate Payoff: Most fruit-merge games have 10 levels of merging, but I limited mine to seven so players reach that "6, 7" payoff within the first minute. - Better Difficulty: Instead of a hard game-over, I made the difficulty scale based on the duration of play or the number of balls dropped. > It gets harder after 30 balls, and again after 60.
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## The "Notebook" Aesthetic
I wanted my game to stand out from the super-polished titles that all look the same, so I went for a look that resembled something a kid would draw in a notebook.
I actually drew all the shapes by hand using colored pencils and markers.
I then took photos with my iPhone or scanned them into the computer. It gives the game a unique feel, though I’ll admit that doing everything by hand made it much harder to add new features or UI elements later.
Lessons in Dev and Business
One thing I always advocate for is "gray boxing" — using placeholder assets to test gameplay first.
It ensures you focus on whether the game is actually fun without being distracted by fancy graphics.
On the business side, I initially focused on ads. I started with AdMob, but the fill rate was poor, so I switched to Unity Ads and saw much better results.
I’ve since realized that relying solely on ads isn't the best strategy; in-app purchases for skins would be better — but as a solo dev using hand-drawn art, that adds a lot of development time.
My Stance on AI
People ask if I use AI in my workflow.
For coding, I actually find it faster to write the code myself than to spend time writing a detailed prompt. However, I definitely recommend it for beginners who need help with best practices or generating things like character controllers.
Just make sure you actually understand the code it writes so you can debug it later.
What’s Next?
Merge 67 was a great experiment, but I’ve learned that for long-term solo development, I need to work on something I’m truly passionate about.
My next project will be a JRPG or a low-poly 3D game, heavily inspired by the origins of Final Fantasy.
Play Merge 67
Merge 67 is now live on Orange Games this week and players can participate in the Merge 67 Tournament to earn $ORNG.
Orange Games: play.orangeweb3.com