The Journey of Making Munch O Crunch Run — My Indie Game Dev Story (Part 1)

I’m coming close to the finish line with Munch O Crunch Run, and wow, what a journey it’s been. I started a fresh Unity game development project back in late February 2024, and now I’m just weeks away from hitting that big launch button.

A few months into development, a friend introduced me to the concept of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), and that became my mission. My goal was simple: get the game to a point where everything works as intended, release it, and see what people think. From there, I could tweak, adjust, and improve based on real feedback.

The beauty of the MVP approach is that your indie game doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to be good enough to test the waters. That way, you don’t spend years building something nobody actually wants. So I set myself a goal: finish all levels by Christmas 2024, spend early 2025 fixing and polishing, and launch around late February or early March. That would give me roughly one year to make a complete mobile game from scratch.

At the time, I was still new to programming. I took a Udemy course to get up to speed, while also studying Game Design at the University of the Sunshine Coast. I spent countless hours drawing every character, trap, enemy, environment, and item in the game. By Christmas, most of the levels were finished and nearly all the art was done.

But when I kept playtesting, I realised the game didn’t feel that polished. I found myself comparing my work to AAA games, studios with teams of artists, programmers, sound engineers, directors, animators, and testers. Meanwhile, I was just one guy building everything from scratch (except for the music and a few sound effects). Still, I couldn’t shake the question: How can I make something that truly stands out? I know I’m not competing against AAA companies, but to players scrolling through the App Store or Google Play, that doesn’t really matter. They just want a fun, high-quality mobile gaming experience, whether it’s made by one person or a hundred.

Finding Munch O Crunch Run in a Sea of Similar Games

As I explored other mobile games, I started noticing a trend that made me a bit disappointed, so many of them looked and felt the same. The same UI layouts, the same gameplay mechanics, even the same 3D/2D models and assets, just re-skinned over and over. It felt like everyone was using the same asset packs or following the same Unity tutorials.

Now, I’m not claiming Munch O Crunch Run is completely different. It’s a 2D side-scrolling platformer, probably the most popular genre ever made. The mechanics are familiar: you run, jump, and try to reach the finish line. But even within 2D platformers, so many games look similar, cartoony pixel art, generic characters, basic traps.

That’s why my biggest prayer is that my character, Munch O Crunch, stands out among the thousands of other indie platformers out there.

The Challenge of Polish and Performance

When February 2025 came around, I knew I still had a lot more to do. After playing a bunch of other games, I realised mine needed more! More polish, more character, more charm. So I started refining every level, adding new details, enemies, and variety.

Of course, there’s always a trade-off. Adding more detail and effects increases the file size, which can be a big deal in mobile game development. A good rule of thumb is to keep your game under 150MB, since most players don’t want huge downloads. Google has a 200MB limit for games on the Play Store, while Apple is a bit more generous.

There are ways around that, like releasing a base game with extra downloadable packs, but it all affects how you manage your art, animations, and performance. I wish there weren’t size limits or hardware restrictions, but the truth is, most people don’t have the latest high-end phones. So I had to find a balance between making Munch O Crunch Run look amazing and keeping it running smoothly on all kinds of devices.

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Almost There

From February to October, I’ve been giving this game everything I’ve got, reworking every level, adding more characters, and giving Munch O Crunch Run the love it deserves.

It’s been a huge learning curve and one of the most rewarding projects I’ve ever taken on. I’m almost there, and I can’t wait for you to play it.

Andy Cox