10 Incredible Video Games Made By A SINGLE Person
6. Braid - Jonathan Blow
Jonathan Blow developed Braid as his critique of the games available in the industry and the various trends he didn't care for. The project took him three years to complete, and he funded the whole thing with his own money.
Blow put the entire game together with rough artwork beginning in 2004 and was encouraged to develop the prototype further after he won the Independent Games Festival Game Design Award in 2006. That win garnered the attention and drive he needed to complete Braid, which ended up costing him $200,000 to finish.
While he did engage Webcomic artist David Hellman to finalize the look of the game, all of the development, as well as a fully-playable version, was created by Blow with his own (rough) artwork prior to final refinement and release in 2008 on Xbox Live Arcade.
Braid features a unique mechanic, which allows the player to "learn" from their mistakes and correct them via time manipulation. The overall style of a puzzle platformer makes this game an easy one to pick up and enjoy. It holds a Metacritic rating of 93/100 and earned Blow more than $4 million in personal revenue making it an incredible commercial success for the independent developer.