Building my first mobile game from scratch in Tasmania, Australia 🇦🇺
Hey everyone!
I'm Marty from Tasmania Australia and I'm currently building my very first mobile game called Tickle n' Peek.
I've never made a game before and had absolutely no coding experience when I started. I've been learning Godot with the help of ChatGPT as I go and somehow I've managed to turn an idea into something that's actually starting to look and play like a proper game!
I've also started my own little indie game studio called Pocket Pixel Labs.
Tickle n' Peek is a colourful tracing game with a few twists to make things interesting. It's been a massive learning experience and I'm hoping to get it onto the App Store soon.
I've attached a screenshot of the main menu so you can see what I've been working on. Still plenty to do but it's getting there!
I'm really just here to meet other people doing similar things, get some feedback and hopefully learn a few things before my first launch.
Would love to hear from anyone else who's built their first game or is currently working on one. What's something you wish you'd known before launching?
Hopefully Launching November 2026
Cheers from Tassie!
Replies
Welcome Marty, cheers from another solo app maker! Two App Store details worth knowing before launch. First, check the name early: App Store Connect refuses an app name already used by another app with a 409 error, so reserve yours before the art and the studio branding lock it in. Second, the name, subtitle and keywords are indexed as one set, so do not repeat a word across them, every repeat is a slot wasted. And the description only changes with a new version, while the promotional text can change any time, so launch news belongs in the promotional text. Good luck with Tickle n' Peek!
Welcome, Marty! Going from zero code to something that plays like a real game is a big step. I haven't made a game, but I put my first apps on the App Store in September, after years of only building for the web. What I wish I'd known: plan for the review as its own step, and don't set a launch day before you've passed it. Good luck with Tickle n' Peek!