Today we’re excited to be spotlighting an incredible game made using Synty – No Plan B! Developed and published by GFX47, aka Sébastien, a solo indie developer based in France, and was released on Steam in April 2024.
Sébastien has been a solo game dev for over 8 years, releasing his first game GLADIABOTS in 2019. Although he works mostly alone, he typically collaborates with a composer to bring the sound of his game worlds to life.
Sébastien began working on No Plan B in late 2019. It’s a tactical planning game where players meticulously craft their squad’s strategy for intense close-quarters battles using a timeline system to coordinate every door breach, grenade throw, and room entry down to the second – then watch as their plan unfolds automatically in cinematic replays! The game features roguelike campaigns and standalone missions across four factions, including both heroes and villains.
No Plan B launched in early access on Steam in December 2021, and from there Sébastien worked closely with the community, refining the design and adding new content based on feedback. After more than four years of development, he officially released the full game in April 2024 and has maintained a Very Positive rating on Steam more than a year later.
The game’s development began with robustly prototyping the timeline system, and once that was in place, Sébastien moved on to building out the rest of the game, including his plan for the 3D assets.
Why Low Poly?
“From the very beginning, I knew I didn’t want the characters to have a hyper-realistic look. I wanted something more playful and less serious than what you usually see in this genre. I’ve always loved the low-poly style. Not just for its retro charm, but also because its abstract visuals leave space for the player’s imagination to fill in the details. That’s why I naturally gravitated toward low-poly assets for the game’s visuals.”
“I was already familiar with the work of Synty Studios and really loved their style. As soon as I integrated their assets into the prototype, it immediately clicked, I knew this was exactly the aesthetic I had envisioned for the game. I initially explored hiring a low-poly artist to create custom assets at that level of quality, but I quickly realized how rare that skill set is and it would take potentially months or even years to produce the same amount of content. So I decided to go with Synty’s assets, and later on, I incorporated even more from their collection.”
Sébastien says a key advantage of utilising Synty’s POLYGON assets was their modular design, which turned out to be a perfect fit for his level design and procedural map generation needs.
A Wide Variety of Assets
For the first prototype of No Plan B, Sébastien used the POLYGON Heist and Gang Warfare packs. Later on in development, the Military Pack was released, which was a game-changer thanks to its modular characters. “It really helped expand the customization options. As development progressed, I integrated the City Pack, Shops Pack, and Office Pack which added a lot more variety and diversity to the procedurally generated maps.”
Sébastien also built an in-game map editor that uses all the Synty assets, allowing players to create and share their own missions with the community. Thanks to the wide range of themes covered by the Synty packs, players have been able to come up with some really creative maps!
“That said, it wasn’t as simple as drag-and-drop. I had to develop custom tools to import the Synty assets and make them work seamlessly with both the procedural map generation system and the in-game editor. This involved everything from setting the right layers for different asset types (like floor surfaces, pathfinding obstacles, or furniture) to simplifying colliders and making sure the various doors worked properly with the gameplay mechanics.”
Hot Tip: “Test integration early in your development process, take the time to really assess your project’s specific needs, and don’t hesitate to build custom tools to help manage the huge amount of content they provide.”
Advice for Solo Devs
Sébastien encourages you to remember that game development is a long and often challenging journey, especially as a solo developer, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. His advice: take every shortcut you can to bring your vision to life, and don’t try to please everyone. Stay focused on what makes your idea unique, and do your best to avoid the biggest enemy of a solo dev: feature creep.
“I’d like to thank Synty Studios for their incredible work, which made it possible for me to bring my ideas to life—just as Unity did on the technical side. Without them, I probably wouldn’t have been able to create these games. I plan to keep using their assets, and my next strategy game, Echoes of the Architects, will feature the POLYGON Sci-fi Worlds pack.”
If you enjoyed this spotlight on ‘No Plan B’ and hearing some of Sébastien’s story and tips, then you’d enjoy being part of the Synty community of experienced and aspiring developers on Discord, Instagram, X or Facebook!
