Three years ago, the Dane Lasse Zacho Malver had no idea about programming, now he celebrated his game on the homepage of Steam. On Reddit, he shared how he accomplished it.
What kind of game is this? In October 2022, Lasse Zacho Malver released his auto-battler Mage and Monsters. In it, you play as a wizard and command an army to crush hordes of monsters.
With 91% thumbs up from a total of 567 reviews, Mage and Monsters is rated “very positive”. Currently, it is 25% off and available for €2.96 on Steam until May 2nd. If you opened Steam yesterday, you might have already seen the game with the Minotaur in the title image, as it appeared under the specials on the homepage.
Behind the game is a single developer, the Dane Lasse Zacho Malver. On Reddit, he shared how he went from being a complete programming novice to the homepage of Steam.
From Philosophy to Unity
How did the story become known? In the Gaming subreddit, Malver proudly shared a photo of himself and his game on the homepage. He revealed that he didn’t even know how to program three years ago.
The post gathered 107,000 upvotes and received numerous comments where users congratulated the developer, praised the game, and asked him how he pulled it off. We have embedded the post here:
How did the developer achieve this? In the comments, Malver explained that he has no technical or at least mathematical background. Rather, he studied English and philosophy. He took his first steps in programming with this Unity tutorial on YouTube.
The developer says he just felt he had to try it; otherwise, he would have regretted it forever. He won the starting capital through online poker. He was always aware that he could fail, but he didn’t have a problem with that.
To others pursuing similar projects, he advises simply to work on it a little every day. You never know what you’re capable of until you try.
I did my best to get a little closer to completion every day. I knew I would be disappointed in myself if I gave up on the project. And if I ever want to make a career out of it, I need to be able to finish projects.
However, he also warns: The path to financial independence as an indie developer is rocky and long.
Malver already released the free-to-play title Calturin and Clone in 2020, followed by Calturin in 2021. When Calturin didn’t sell well, he used his acquired skills to work for others in game development.
Especially for smaller developers, it is complicated that Steam takes 30% of every purchase. Many devs and gamers are upset about it. However, YouTuber Bellular, who recently released his own game on Steam, explained why he has no problem with it.
The “greedy” Steam takes 30% of every purchase – indie developer says: “We are very happy with it!”
