Insights into a successful solo game-dev's journey: An interview with 'Bacon - The Game' developer
With Phillip Stollenmayer!
I had the opportunity to interview Philipp Stollenmayer, a 32-year-old indie game dev focusing on mobile games!
Philipp is my favorite mobile indie dev, with hit games like:
Bacon – The Game (20mn+ downloads, organic)!
As a curious game dev, I asked Philip about his journey and process of making ‘weird’ games that attract a huge audience! Let’s dive in:
How did you begin making games?
Well, it was ~10 years ago when I was pursuing Media Design and Arts and there was no programmer in my team to work on an assignment - so I took up the role and that got my interest in making games!
What kind of games do you like to make?
I have specific ideas and try to redo them with code and design until it feels good. I start experimenting with controls.
Choice of game engine: Solar2D, Lua
Philipp prefers to work on 2D games as it provides more creative freedom for controls and gameplay mechanics for short & sweet gameplays!
Why do you make games as a solo developer?
I would not hire anyone because you don’t know what to do tomorrow. I work on different stuff every day and most of my work is quite spontaneous. In the evening maybe I have other ideas than in the morning.
I would not know what to delegate to others or don’t have much work to give to others.
I make small ideas so I don’t need others!
For example, Pancake – The Game took me 1 day to prototype!
How did you come up with the idea for Bacon? How did it get so popular?
There was a trend of food porn on Instagram, where people were putting food on different things which kicked off the food series (Pancake, Burger & Bacon).
Instagram was flooded with ridiculous shakes and everything stacked on it, and people were loving this food porn category.
Bacon is Part 3 of the food trilogy games:
Bacon got more popular on IOS than on Android. The best part of the game is that the players relate to the game developer, and when the players finish the game - they receive a small gift from me (which I mail to them).
Bacon recently got popular in Taiwan with the #1 spot on the App Store via Threads, and I could see Philipp packing the gifts (75+/day), over the call, to courier to the players!
Bacon was also streamed by iShowSpeed and did rounds of social media over TikTok & YouTube!
What advice would you give to solo game devs?
What I say again and again is to test it and testing is important with people who are not into playing games.
Don’t blame the player when they react on the wrong controls or gameplay, instead analyze the reaction as feedback. Allow them to react to everything.
Feedback and playtesting are super important.
Do you think in today’s times it is possible to generate a living by making mobile games?
For me (Philipp), yes but I would not recommend anyone to drop stuff and start a mobile gaming career.
It worked out somehow for me, but after studies, I would suggest always choosing a safe job.
I still think there are plenty of opportunities for simple mechanic games when many developers focus on more complex games, what are your thoughts on it?
Well, I don’t thrive on maximizing revenue from my games. For example, I show one ad in 3 minutes in Bacon.
If I look at most of the hypercasual games, mostly the soul is completely missing because of factors like constantly showing ads, running many tests (a/b), and more.
This is not something I would like to do, I would like my players to have a good time when they play my game.
The story of Philipp and how he makes games is an inspiring journey for me as a game dev! I hope you enjoyed it too.
Do let me know how you found this interview by responding here.
Until next time,
Anul