Eight years in development and over 1 million units sold. Solo creator of hit survival life sim Dinkum talks development and upcoming Nintendo Switch edition 

Dinkum is a hit multiplayer life sim-meets-survival game set in a rugged world inspired by the Australian outback. Following its Early Access debut on Steam in 2022, the game has sold over 1 million units, quickly building a loyal community. In April this year, Dinkum officially left Early Access – and now, it’s coming to consoles for the first time, with a Nintendo Switch release set for November 6. 

AUTOMATON recently spoke with James Bendon, Australian hobbyist-turned-developer and sole creator behind Dinkum. Bendon told us about the long development journey, the challenges of working alone, and his future plans for the title. 

Notably, Dinkum spent nearly three years in Early Access before its official release. Bendon admits that this far exceeded his original one-year plan. Part of the reason behind this was that he’d “underestimated how hard game development is.” As Dinkum’s player base grew way larger than anything he’d expected, Bendon felt overwhelmed. “I wanted to make sure that the updates were as good as they could be. And I had to ensure the integrity of players’ save files,” he recalled. Another factor was the sheer potential to expand the game’s systems. “Really, I could have stayed in Early Access forever, there’s no limit to how much you can add to a game like Dinkum.” 

Still, after four major seasonal updates, he felt ready to call the game complete. “After the winter update, I felt like, oh, this game is complete. I could truly admit that to myself.” 

One of Dinkum’s defining qualities has been its responsiveness to what players want. Bendon says he’s been constantly watching streams, reading feedback, and weaving user ideas into updates. However, he’s also been taking care to keep these additions true to his own vision for the game. A small but memorable example came from a highly requested QoL feature. “One of my favorite features that was heavily requested was the ability to move chests. Eventually I settled on a little hand trolley. That way, I fulfilled the request while also adding an extra gameplay experience.”  

Developing Dinkum almost entirely alone took around eight years. Bendon says the upside of working solo was being able to move fast and have the whole project in his grasp. “You know your codebase so intimately you can add features very quickly.” However, he also came to experience the downsides to this approach after Dinkum launched. When faced with critical issues that needed solutions as fast as possible – like players experiencing save file problems, Bendon had no one to turn to. “I had to reach out to other developers to try and solve the problem. But if I had a team, I feel like they could help carry that burden with me or even assist me.” 

As a huge Nintendo fan with thousands of hours playing platform classics like Splatoon and Zelda, Dinkum’s release on the Switch is a dream come true for Bendon. To make sure the port looks and runs top-tier, he received the support of publishing partners KRAFTON and 5minlab. With the upcoming Switch edition and further content updates already in the making, Dinkum players have a lot to look forward to. “I think I could keep developing Dinkum as long as there’s someone playing it.” Bendon says. 

Dinkum is out now on PC (Steam). The Nintendo Switch version is scheduled to launch on November 6, 2025.