The Great Game Dev Delusion
Вставка
- Опубліковано 19 вер 2024
- ➤ Make 2D Platformers - u3d.as/2eYe
➤ Make and Sell a Car game easy in Unity - u3d.as/1HFX
➤ Wishlist my game - store.steampow...
➤ Join the community - / discord
➤ Support on Patreon - / lostrelicgames
Other videos you will like:
The True Path to Getting Good: Advice for Dame Devs
➤ • The True Path to Getti...
A Day of GameDev Chaos | Devlog
➤ • A Day of Game Dev CHAO...
How Nintendo saved my game from Disaster | Devlog
➤ • Nintendo Saved my Drea...
Subscribe for Unity and game dev tutorials
bit.ly/2MpZ1ao
#gamedev #motivation
New Unity Asset I released for easily making platformers: u3d.as/2eYe
Wishlist my game: store.steampowered.com/app/1081830/Blood_And_Mead/
I started my game dev journey this year. Thank you for the info.
Thanks for the video man. During my last year of college I heavily shifted from illustration, into 3D via Blender, and a year after that I began self teaching myself coding to make games, once my 3D skills lead me to wonder if I could make a game.
The path has been long, and I’ve evolved much as an artist and game developer, but I think I needed to hear this.
I’ve been comparing myself to others lately and it was slowing me down. Like maybe I should be developing faster??!?
But, in reality I have a FT job, and the best part is I haven’t stopped.
I must learn to love the pain of growth.
Great video. But one correction is needed. When media makes a video/article/whatever about a kid in China who allegedly earned $50,000 PER DAY, making an Android game, or when a kid makes some other sum (while in fact it was his father) that's not because it "sounds glamorous". There's this old misconception that news outlets are chasing sensations. While in fact most of the times media is paid to create sensations out of nothing. In this example, let's say Google wants more games for their platform Android. Because that's the simplest way to attract more youngsters to Android, rather than competing iOS. They also want apps to be cheap (free) if possible. Because that also attract users, especially youngsters who never have money.
Well, one approach is that Google pays developers to make games. But that's expensive. It's much easier to create an illusion among devs that it's easy to get rich making Android games. And that anyone can do it. Even some 12.y.o. from Nonamistan. And voila... hordes of dev start making tons of apps. Mostly crap, but quantity leads to competition, and competition leads to 2 things:
1. Greater number of quality games, since it's the only way to make some money.
2. Lower prices, mostly freemium or ad-supported, as that attracts more customers.
And that's why the media rolls out those stories. If you could trace the money, you'd probably find out that Google paid the journalists (and anything passes as "journalist" these days) to push those stories about magical success. It's an old tactics known from the era of gold rush, where to inhabit a certain area, you just needed to spread a story that there's lots of gold there, you just need to dig a little bit and you're rich. It's the same old tactics of promotion (but actually, it's cheating).
I guess im asking randomly but does anyone know of a tool to log back into an Instagram account?
I was dumb lost the login password. I appreciate any tips you can offer me!
@Joseph Emilio instablaster :)
All I want to do is see the game I really want made to be made, so I'm going to make it. Period.
THANK YOU!! Thats what we are doing :D
Get out of my head!! 🤣
Good luck, man. Keep at it. Enjoy it.
Also, rest your ligaments.
Exactly the kind of mindset I have toward this.
same here. And I will make that game by 2025 (2030 at the latest). But I'm not gonna use my own money because I'm very poor. I will just find a company that needs a proven to work type of game (the type I'm working on), and let them struggle with the making and marketing of the game. All I want is 10 million $$$ for myself after the game sells xD
This video actually motivated me to open up Unity and get back to work after procrastinating for nearly a month.
Launching my first game in a couple of weeks. My target is one dollar. If I can make one dollar I will consider it a success.
Tell us the name and where to find it
Issac Ashley don't sell yourself short
@@xoli4228 You both are Isaacs 😂
Never give up bro, what's your game called?
Just commenting to get to know the game so I can get it to my wishlist
I never even thought about money...I just wanted to make a game that I wanted to play...Money was never a factor for me when I decided to be a game dev
yepyep same
Same for me, I just want to learn how to make a game. I've always had a few ideas that I just want to see created, money or not.
Same! I will never make a game that I myself wouldn't find fun, and I never expect to make any significant money off of them anyway. It's just fun to create stuff and cool to know it will exist for others to potential find enjoyment with it as well. That's a better reward in my opinion.
I wonder if it makes fun to play your game normal after spending thousands of ours on development
@@Schoko4craft I think it should. If you make a game that by the end isn't fun to play for you anymore, id argue it wasn't the most fun to begin with.
Being a hobbyist is always something to consider. It doesn't matter if you fail. And you get to make interesting projects.
Tough words, but true words. As someone who at 39 years just started their game dev journey, this is sage advice. The part about enjoying the journey is something that I teach to my kids all the time. Life is about the process, respect it and work hard. Good luck to everyone grinding ;)
I love the relevance of your username
I'm 39 too, seeing more people at the same age starting now is encouraging.
41 here, let's go!
40 here and starting my first serious attempt at developing. Lol
40 here, lets go boys! I loved this video, I see so much truth in this... Indie game dev is not an easy path follow, you really must put love in it, persistence and have a solid plan, even more to old guys like us...
Some people wake up and listen to motivational speeches before starting their day.
I make sure I'm depressed as hell.
The biggest depressions come from failed false expectations. You are doing great by preventing that happening
be careful, it's about balance. if you are the type to be over confident than what you are doing is good. if you are the opposite though, you are certainly shooting yourself in the foot
You made me laugh sooo hard 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Pay him no mind. Working for someone you are guaranteed 40k - 120k per year. Releasing multiple games with you and a few developers is where the big money is at though
I laughed a lot harder at this then I probably should have. :S
"Dead men tell no tales" applies to almost anything. Learning from failure should be as relevant as learning from success in my opinion, but failure is something we usally run away from, like always.
Great insights in only 20+min! Thanks!
Failure is more informative if you have the balls to pay attention.
Iirc this is called survivors bias, basically that you sometimes the lack of something tells more than the presence of it
Even the devs that have big hits usually have a ton of games before it that had very limited success in their catalogue. Consistency and never giving up is the only path to success, and even then it is not guaranteed. BTW what you are saying is true in almost every single creative endeavor.
UA-cam suggested me your video. Apparently its algorithm was alarmed by my latest excitement about videogame development, ahaha
Thank you for your video, luckily I was already in line with your perspective: what matters is the process of dev, and what you learn and experience through it.
UA-cam cares ♥️
All true. I think some of the misconception may also come from the fact that in many ways game dev looks a lot like general software dev. It's really important to remember that as a game dev, even though you're using a pc instead of a musical instrument or brushes, you're still an artist and are attempting to enter the entertainment industry. And the financial and job security levels are comparable.
Also the competition and the fact that you actually need at least a little talent (and a lot of luck).
really no. If you are savvy in programing as c# or even better c++, or in animation side in python as Technical animator and rigger you can find ok job in the industry and use opportunity to also learn earn money and work.
@@tomislavtomic7184 well, if you want to work solely as a programmer or generally as a technical specialist, this certainly is true. but, if you really are chasing the proverbial dragon of being a solo/indie gamedev then you really are knee deep in the creative field.
@@tomislavtomic7184 its like the difference between a sound engineer and the band making the album. They are very different things!
I am one of those people who worked 3 years on one game and sold 20 Copys on release day lol. The ones who bought it, liked it most of the time, but nobody knows that this game exist. Even when I tried to market it well and write many many emails and stuff like this. I loved to make this game, but man it was a tough road with couple of mental issues durring the whole process deving the hell out of it by my own. Indie devs have only a couple of chances: 1. Your game is truly brilliant, the idea is new and speaks to a huge audience 2. You got very good connections to big media influencer 3. You have won a lottery ticket (which is like actually playing the lottery)
I just took a look at your game. I don't say this to be harsh, but it looks extremely bland. If that's you taking your best shot, no lottery ticket is gonna save you.
If you release a game, you usually only have a chance in the month you release. That's where you sell most of your copies. Even if many people download and play your game, they'll quickly move on to the next thing. Everyday tens of thousands of games, most of it trash, is released. So your game will most likely just drown in a sea of mediocrity. It's like Google searches, people only click on the first few links they see, at most they'll go to the second page.
That's why marketing has become more important than ever. You have to push your game to the front page for people to see it, otherwise they won't.
Also, you need to worry about the competition and trolls and haters. If they see your game first, they'll downvote it and if your first rating is 1 star, then nobody else will want to touch it.
Many successful people become successful by buying their first 1000 or so likes. Only after reaching a certain threshold can you expect a snowballing effect.
@@MHjort9 Bit judgy for a one-man passion project
@@futuregamer25 yeah but he is right.... I only watched the two trailers but just can't see a reason to even try it out. There is now world (implizit/explizit) or Story which would suck me in. Instead it appears to be a collection of gamesystems that just don't add up to a complete whole thing.
@@MrDasfried That’s just how indie games work. No matter how great they are, you aren’t going to enjoy most of them, because they target their individual niches. Just because you wouldn’t personally enjoy something doesn’t mean it’s bad, it’s just not tailored to your tastes.
Funny thing is even back when I was a kid, I thought games were masterpieces that combined so many things I love, i.e technology, art and story telling. I tried to make games as soon as I got my own computer, I downloaded a game engine called 3d rad and I started to mess around with it. Although the engine came with several assets that you could use to make a functioning game without ever needing to make your own scripts, I realized that I had to learn a lot before I could start making anything worthwhile. It kind of discouraged me because I was young and thought it would be so easy. Fast forward a couple of years, with a couple of years of self taught programming under my belt, I decided to give it a go again. You and a couple of other UA-camrs have helped me take what I learned and start applying it, helping make my silly childhood dream come true. Just the fact that I can now think of something right now and make it into a game would have blown my kid mind and still does blow my mind to this day. Thank you for helping me get here, man.
My fiance and I started our own little studio to start making games months before the Pandemic started. It has been a dream of mine since I was a kid. I had one project I worked alone on for years before I finally started learning more about Game Development. So, finally after a ton of work(Free) I am almost ready for a demo to be made, but I grew tired of my project and needed a break from it, so my fiance pitched a idea to me for a smaller game we could make together while on break from my other project. We started work on it the very next day, worked around the clock for months in order to get a fully working demo. We are now about to do an early version of it for sale soon, it will be our very first game that either of us has ever worked on. We are excited about the product we made because it is special to Us, and she came up with the idea. I hope we will make some money eventually, but it will never beat the feeling of Creation. I, personally feel paid when someone sees what we have accomplished(Being 2 noobs) and says Good Job! Greatest feeling ever! Great video that is so truthful! Thanks.
Ive been working on my game Dwerve for 3 years. If it fails its going to be very hard on me. People have no idea how hard it is for most indie devs.
How you afraid of failure, and you already succeed in your campaign with a rate of %500?
Start planning now. -- the statistics aren't in your favor.
Better not fail, I'm a backer 😉 Seriously though, Dwerve is great so far, and I have full faith in it being a great game, so hopefully it finds critical and commercial success once it's complete!
@@DessieDoyle Haha it will be good but fingers crossed youtubers play it.
I've been following for a while and I think it looks really fun. I can tell it must have been a massive amount of work and I'm sure it will work out great!
I promise I'll buy it when I have the money spare :)
As an indie game dev, this is one of my favorite videos. Thank you for this brutal reality check. This lights a fire in my heart for some reason.
when he said "if you pick up plastic bottles on the street... you'd probably come out on top", that hit close
I'd say that if you want to make games, you need to have income elsewhere. Ultimately game developers are artists, and artists are know to starve
Yes, but thats just a romantic fantasy, you dont need to force that on yourself or anybody else. You can be an artist and also make good money.
I can't believe how delusional I've become. Thank you for this. I needed it.
You just have to aim for $1 a day of ad revenue and then you can retire in a country like Eswatini.
Crazy how quickly a dream can turn into delusion. I needed this too, I wasn't expecting to get rich or anything, but I also needed to realize that my games aren't that special, my skills aren't that great. My skills and ideas have SO much room to grow, and that's honestly exciting.
@@synthemagician4686 Even if your skills were the best, your product would most likely drown in a ocean of games. What most people ignore is the importance of marketing. That's even more important than the quality of your games.
I respect people who do game dev after work, I remember as a student, I was thinkg about my game whole day at school, looking forward to work on it as soon as I come home, but when I came home I was exhausted, mentaly and physicaly. I made most of the work when I was sick at home.
Yup this happens to me everytime. Luckily I got a lot of the crappy stuff done with so its pretty fun to work on it now. Full release coming out end of december.
Good luck! Wishing you a good launch
Being able to tell whether your project will be a success or not is a skill in itself. Knowing what excites people is a very powerful advantage. Most people are not successful because they don't take the time to tap in to what makes something appealing. If you hit a certain level of quality, aesthetic, game feel, marketing etc. then you can safely bet your game will AT LEAST break even. It takes years of studying the successes and failures of others and yourself to be able to determine whether something will draw people in or get washed into obscurity.
Beautifully said mate
This!
You need a healthy "hope for the best but expect the worst" attitude when making indie games. Don't bank your financial situation on optimistic sales projections, especially if it's your first release.
AAA studios fail there with all the advantages at times. So no matter how many don't bank.
It’s about having fun
Yep. A few very lucky developers "break through" and some can even retire on what they sold at first. These people are VERY, VERY LUCKY. Sometimes what they made isn't even some super high quality thing. Right place, right time, got picked up by the right streamer, etc.
The first commercial game I made did quite poorly. Got bad reviews. In total, sales were less than what I spent (around $2,000). And that's on Steam.
That was years ago though. I'm looking to do a No Man's Sky style turnaround on that in addition to the new projects I'm working on being of much higher quality. I'm gonna keep plugging away.
@@SkeleTonHammer what was the name of the game?
Really if you don't have any experience making games, your first game might not be the greatest. You can't go on a 10 mile bike ride if you don't know how to ride a bike.
Game development is the most taxing experience I've felt as a programmer. Not only do you need to code, you need to do every aspect of a game. Areas that the traditional developer would not have experience in great lengths.
I love you analogy of the suitcase in the garbage bin. I entered GameDev 3 months ago with the simple goal of building a like-minded community and sharing my experience in learning GameDev from scratch to help inspire anyone that was passionate about games to give it a shot. I just hit 300 subscribers within a couple of weeks and I feel like having 300 people to share knowledge with and support me during development is more valuable than 300 sales of a finished product.
Thanks for the video, it's great advice that applies to every single creative industry.
"Straining our eyes at 3 am" - I feel called out
Damn. Great work, again.
I spent the last 12 years working (with reasonable success) in theatre as a writer, and the experience parallels.
Keep doing what you do
"A lotto winner will describe lottery tickets as a verifiable smart investment."
Really good and honest talk, love to see it.
I’ve been wanting to make a game for half of my life. I recently got serious and started my first project. Thank you so much for this video. I had already decided to make my game free to avoid that “making money” mindset and view it as a passion project on my bucket list, to learn and challenge myself. I wish you success, but more importantly, happiness and enjoyment in your journey.
And how is it now?
I love the music bed you chose for this... Such a good idea and technique.
Your skins flawless mate. Easy on the ears and easy on the eyes mate!
The destination is just the cherry on top, the journey is the sundae underneath it. You could spend weeks, months, years trying to catch a feeling that will only last a moment, or you could spend those weeks, months, years taking in and enjoying those moments along the way. Thanks for attending my Ted Talk and thanks for the video.
The same exact words can be said for Musicians, Actors, Writers, Painters, Small Business Owners, Dancers, Singers, UA-camrs, comedians, and etc.
pretty much anyone who has made or created anything ever.
omg so true. thank you for the reminder.
Some things in life come down to luck. People preach hard work and passion, but people don’t talk about luck. Life is unpredictable.... good luck everybody.
No such thing as luck
@@Phoenix-gz9xb it exists and it's very important
@@ganimol9691 It exist about as much as the tooth fairy
@@Phoenix-gz9xb What do you call like he said in the video the success of flappy bird? Or many such games?
@@ganimol9691 its not luck just because he said it lol flappy bird was different. Challenging, but simple. Its never luck. Just like the first tree. If it wasnt for advertising and GIFs it would have never become what it was. Even the dev said that. Luck is about as stupid as life being based on evolution. Let me just end the convo with that. Respect. Have a good one.
Thank you very much for this video, I needed it. Since last year I was wondering why I left my game projects pending. You made me realize that, I was doing this for the wrong reason. For some "easy money", but it was devoid of fun... So I never finished it... And because I was pushing myself so hard to do this small, quick money projects first, I actually never worked on the one actually care about, yet bigger, but that makes me feel like Time doesn't exist anymore, that wakes me in the middle of the night because I have an idea or find resolved something.
Your video made me remember why I've always wanted to be a Game Dev and that's not for the treasure chest.
Having found my path again, I shall resume my journey.
I wish you the best, bless you
Just wanted to thank you for this inspirational video mate. Absolutely loved your mountain hiking analogy and will be something I remember through my own game dev journey.
Im a newbie to the dev scene. Ive been trying to learn the bare basics on Unity for about a month now. Thank you for giving me a realistic outlook on creating games early on.
The words are important to hear. I'm getting into game dev soon hopefully. It's good to come at it from the right angle. I'm going to subscribe for this.
I absolutely loved your speech! Especially the mountain and treasure chest example at 13:00! It is always about the passion and love for the games you are making because game creation in my opinion is not just difficult but can be really stressful and it takes a lot out of you, I'm sure many of us indie game devs can relate. Your project gets more daunting as it progresses and finishing it becomes a problem, that where our passion and determination comes in to complete it properly.
And at the end, we can look back and say we enjoyed this fulfilling journey and are proud of what we have achieved no matter the results!
Another important factor to point out here: like indie filmmakers, many indie-solo game devs are artists, not business people. They approach their game from an art stand-point and often times ignore or lack the knowledge of marketing, business plans, company structure, etc.
In almost all cases of successful small indie development becoming a success - it is by a developer or a small team of developers that first and foremost treated it like a business - because it is. This idea of 'if you build it they will come' is often floated by dreamers and not by real business people. A real business-person knows that to get people to come, you have to market a marketable product.
There are cases of indie devs 'hitting the jackpot' off of sheer luck, but then that is also true in any business - that does not mean you have any great odds of being that success story.
BOTTOM LINE: You CAN make money in indie game dev, as long as you treat it like a business. DO NOT approach this thinking you'll make a game in a month and sell a million copies on steam. NO business works that way. You'll need to support your business with your own money for at least a year, and then you should start seeing slow and incremental profit.
Treat it like a business. PREACH.
Hey man. Thank you for the video. I'm so glad I came across it. It's incredibly humbling for me. :)
I am really happy and humbled to have heard this fairly early on in my game development journey. I will sit at my desk around the same time tomorrow and get back to work despite it. And I think that is sort of the point.
100%
I have been trying to make games for the past few years and have never finished a single one, great to watch this kind of video and make sure I have negative confidence in anything.
dude...
i felt so connected when you spoke about the people that were guaranteeing you their games would be a massive success as i started to chuckle and then you did, too. it really felt like we were laughing together :D
great talk! thank you!
I've already grown out of this delusion so this was actually a calming video to watch for me. Everything he said about passion is true. I immediately tried to write my dream game and found out it was not possible as many do but during that process, I found that I absolutely loved developing games. I still have no money from game development but have been doing it for about 6 years because I love it and to be honest I was feeling a little lost but when I watched this and saw how his eyes lit up when he was talking about how amazing it is to combine the love of gaming with art and engineering it clicked like "That is exactly it". If you don't absolutely love every one of those aspects of game development I would say it isn't for you, but you will find out a few months in when you realize you are in way over your head and you have a choice to either give up or find out how to solve problems and love doing it. This video will probably ironically be evergreen on UA-cam.
Thank you for this. I am a newbie that got in it just because it came my way. I started learning on the side as a hobby. I set out a path saying that my huge game I want to make I won't be able to do until later on after learning. The mindset of waiting 10ish years to make sure I do everything right. Though I started seeing and hearing get rich quick, quickly make a game, or you don't need to code just make the game. So I started to second guess myself and started to fall off my path. I started rushing my learning and my games started to fall apart. Hearing this I almost cried because it confirmed what I knew starting out. Start slow, get a job, keep your head down and learn. Once you are ready and confident show the world the game you have been waiting to make. So again thank you for saving me the heartache and reminding me of my path.
This is my first time seeing this channel and i can say this was a really powerful video. I cant wait to see what else the channel has to offer!
Finding this channel and especially this video on my own journy and its great motivating. Realistic views, some good comparisons, own exp, a lot of honesty and truth. Should be pinned in the "dev log journy"-area :)
"Study, discipline".... Those are golden forgotten words. And even they are far from enough. Thank you for video. :)
I love your metaphor of game dev being like going on a hike. It’s long and slow and takes a lot of effort, but the views, sense of accomplishment, adventure and community make it all worth it. I’m definitely learning that. Thanks for helping us keep perspective. I hope you’re find success with your projects.
When I started learning game development I thought I would get rich quick, but I quickly found out that there's no money in it, still I can't stop doing it because it's so fun!
Yeah.. you gotta do it because you WANT to do it.
That is the secret he's telling us.
I'm making a game because I've been playing video games my whole life, and I want to make my own.
I want to pour all my creativity and brain power into something and forge with my own hands something that has never existed before. Something uniquely mine.
I'm making my game for ME..
If they won't make what you want to play, then your only choice is to be disappointed, or to make it yourself.
And that's exactly what I'm going to do.
And if I finish it and other people want to play it too, then more the better.
I'll have already impressed my friends and maybe even my parents.
(but probably not on that last one lol. My Mom will most likely be like: "Wow, that's great, but did you get a job yet?")
@@chaosmastermind same for me making games is art not some money making machine
@@justacasualgamer1957 I mean, don't get me wrong. I'll take the money.
But I doubt anyone will ever play my game anyway. So that would be a miracle if it did happen.
thats what i like to hear
ye
I found this channel completely by accident, and I watched a few vids for kicks. But this one, this one hits close to home.
I'm not a game dev, I'm a writer. Been doing it for a long time, about 10 years give or take, and I've mostly only done it for fun. Hell, for 6 of those 10 years I didn't even post my stories anywhere, they sat on my harddrive for me and me alone to enjoy. And let me tell you, the message in this video is the truth no matter what industry you're trying to break into. If you don't have fun doing it, you're better off not even starting. When I published my very first original story at the beginning of this year, I wasn't aiming to get rich from it. I wasn't aiming for clout, for large followings, for tons of comments or book deals. All I wanted was a single like, a sign that someone out there read what I spent time writing and enjoyed it.
And you know what? I got my like. I got about 300 likes and a few comments. No book deal, no following overnight begging for more, but more than I dreamed of and more than I expected. And if I wouldn't have gotten a single like? It wouldn't have mattered, cause I had fun writing that story. I'm no J.K. Rowling, I'm no E.L. James, but I never expected to become them overnight.
I've since made some money on that story in the form of a narration request (don't blow your load, it wasn't a metric ton of cash or anything), and the narration itself is doing very well on youtube in terms of likes and comments. But I don't consider it a success, and I don't consider myself a success because of it. It wasn't organic growth, people didn't come for my story but instead for the narrator. And do you know what I want and expect for my next story? A single like.
this is a beautiful mindset i love it
The starving game developer, joining the ranks of starving filmmaker, starving artist, starving writer etc 💀
Until the starving politician joins the ranks nothing will be done
@@zoompt-lm5xw What should be done? Communism? Should people not have the right to decide what they spend their money on?
It's not a new trend either. TotalBiscuit made a great video about this topic over 5 years ago, people were already talking about the "indiepocalypse" back then. ua-cam.com/video/Q4F-zdpFb9I/v-deo.html
@@rykehuss3435 devs need to popularize code. And doing so, would even make them a distribution channel they controlled.. If more humans knew coding, we would be completely closer to post scarcity because of robots. The constraint is educating people about coding.
@@zoompt-lm5xw thats just an opinionated homeless man
This is real-talk that one may not want.. but absolutely needs. Thanks brother! Was really insightful.
So true, in every aspect. I myself have been involved in game dev for over 15 years, and the commitment, investment, and the amount of work required is often over looked, and underestimated. I still work on games, but it is by no means any source of income for me. Thank you for pointing these things out Lost Relic. This is a reality check for sure, and every Indie game developer should watch this video and understand just how "deep" the game dev world really is.
Entrepreneurial advice(I need to follow more): "Getting lucky" isn't really something that happens. Each attempt has a chance for success, and you win by rolling that dice as much as possible. If success in 1 in 50 chance, roll 200. Make enough chances so that one success is statistically guaranteed.
Though, for my mountain of failed side hustles I need to make more attempts at, game dev is a hobby. I definitely would appreciate making money from it, untimately, it's a fun sidequest in my life's journey. I love it, and I want to bring my creations into the world. This side quests gives me knowledge, skills, and tools for taking on the main storyline, but ultimately, it doesn't bring me closer; with the exception of mental health benefits, networking, and content possibilities.
Damn, it was hard to swallow, but in the end I am feeling confident in keeping doing it. The part about "passion" really hit me well because that's what I feel, passion for the entire process and in gaming itself. Thanks for the video
I'll be done with my CS degree in about 2-3 weeks and all I want is to pursue indie dev. I got that degree only to have something to fall back on if game dev doesn't work out. In the past couple of months I felt like it was the wrong decision to finish my degree first, because then I'd have had time to do game dev on the side in the past years. With uni and my job there just wasnt much free time left. Reading stories about game devs not even being able to break even or how hard it is to survive as an indie dev I'm glad I did it. I'm pretty hyped about going back into game development though and your videos are a great asset. :)
That was an advice from a sincere heart.
As I am getting older (late middle age), my passion is fading away.
But, in recent years, I started considering game development as a hobby, never to expect a dime of it.
For anyone wants to make money from game development, you need to have "many" things but the most important thing is: MARKETING. I would say spend 90 percent of budget on marketing, not development.
My first game ever was never released to the public, and never will be. It was a game I made just for me and my friends. 10 years later I still had my friends hit me up and want to play it. This is what started me towards really trying to be a game dev. I don't expect money, I know my games will get virtually no exposure, and I'm by no means a great game dev, I'm just learning all these new programs and tools. But it's fun. The best I honestly could hope for monetarily is for my games to serve as a portfolio that might get me an internship, and possibly get me a job in the field that pays more than what I already do. For me, if even one person likes a game I made and it's a classic in their book, I have succeeded.
This talk is so true and applies to virtually every creative endeavour in life. Be practical first.
Very true, it took me 3 years (2 years Dev, took a 1 year break in between) to develop an iPhone app game that I worked on as a side project. Made $30 from it yet I took it off the App Store after 2 years as I had to pay $99 per year to Apple to keep it on the App Store so overall, I made a net loss of approximately $170 and hundreds of hours. Still, was a great learning experience and I have no regrets but the hardest part for me, was persistence and not giving up. That enthusiasm soon starts to dwindle after spending countless nights. So overall, do it for the passion and interest, not for the money.
This is why I decided to move into the asset creation instead of my own game project
Well i have to say your explanation made me complete the whole video , while I was looking for other types of videos but your videos is quite simple run video to watch while I do my researchers . Keep making it , good luck man
I don't want a Lamborghini. I just want to make ends meet doing something I love.
Is that feasible?
Man, I feel the same, at least if possible keeping a steady source of income would be my first priority if I'm grinding on the hours continuously
It's definetly possible, but you'll have to wait a while before that happens.
Very good video! As you said, the journey should be what's really important for the devs. I actually released a game this month that has not reached a huge success but it's totally ok. I'm not looking for money or anything particular I just want to see people enjoy (or not) playing my game, and this has been the case so I'm satisfied, now I just want to make the best out of my game so I continue to work on it by fixing bugs and changing /adding content but the journey already brought me so much confidence, knowledge and joy seeing little streamers play the game live that I don't really need anything else.
How dare you crush my naive optimism! But also thank you haha
I been learning in my spare time for fun, I just love games and wanna learn as a hobby. rather just keep my main job and use game dev as a creative outlet. totally agree with this
youtube recommendations finally got it right. This is the first video I see from you and I subbed.
Even though I'm not looking to become a game dev, I could really see your advice being used in any sort of business venture that could stem from a hobby
Whether you're writing a book, making software, or in a music band, it takes 10 hard years on average to be the next 'over-night success'.
and that's for the 1% who actually make it...
@@Coeurebene1 i think nowadays its closer to 0.1% who actually make it given the abundance of hobbyists that now exist as the tools have become more readily available.
I'm glad to see this, I hope all the game devs out there find success, we can do it!
I have always been making games for fun since the time I did them on scratch, so what is interesting I never had that kind of a mindset. The only mindset I had was: "if I enjoy playing people's games, why don't I make a game so I make at least a single person entertained".
This video really hit me in the feels. Had some tiny "success" on Roblox back in 2013 when I was 12 years old. Made an RPG game that wasn't even ready to be played, but the dice rolled and I woke up one morning and I saw 300 people were playing my game! I've never been able to get anything resembling success since then and that platform has changed so much; I've gotten discouraged from game dev because of it. I've tried to take up other hobbies, but none are as fun as game dev, so I'm still making games. You said it so well. It's very difficult to turn a creative endeavor into cash in general, let alone in the indie space. But if you really love doing something that excites you, grips you, that reason enough to keep doing it and be happy to enjoy the journey.
We only see success, all the buried unfinished game are left unnoticed
The dire cousin of survivorship bias...
Or is it survivorship bias itself?
In statistics it is called "the survivor bias", after statistic analysis done in WWII planes that survived their mission, without taking in consideration the planes that didn't come back.
I'd say it also falls under the "representativeness heuristic."
Great video. I appreciate your voice and this message. This "get rich quick" sentiment tapers away as we get older and gain experience I've found, which I think is why platforms like Roblox target younger and younger audiences -- it gets these young minds used to the idea they just need to work harder next time and tries to glamorize the occupation to distract from compensation issues, which desensitizes us to the culture in the workforce for those that chase it even in a professional non-indie setting.
I've been working on my game for 4 years now. During that time I've been selling some of the assets I created for it, and now Im living on a 6 grand per month passive income. I enjoy the time I spend on it almost more than anything else. Even if it doesnt make money, the smiles it brings when people see it in VR is worth it.
6K a month from only selling assets? That is incredible! Are these assets on the Unity Asset store or?
That's pretty insane, tbh.
yeah thats a ridiculous amount of passive income
Great job.
Wow, I could listen to you talk all day, you transmit such a philosophy, your voice comes to me full of wisdom.
great factspitting video.
thanks for telling people the truth ...
I didn't know people tought that indie Devs made a lot of money
@@comikawn5147 u sure you're not high
@@comikawn5147 nice drugs👍
Aww they deleted the reply, I want to know what it said :(
7:25 "Jokes are one of the biggest selling points for a game" - Me just now
Love your content, this honesty about indie game development is appreciated as it becomes more rare these days, there are so many cheap dream sellers on youtube these days :), keep it up!
Your analogies are scary accurate, especially the hiking one. Good thing you made this. I think a lot of potential game devs really need to hear the realities of game development and how absolutely miniscule their chances of success are. Doesn't mean they shouldn't try but they just need to know how truly grueling it is.
3:01 those are cliches tho, no one is forcing you into these unhealthy habits
Yeah but that’s the fun part!
@@ZachTheHuman Caffeine usually makes me sleepy :D and even though I tried to make myself love coffee, It ended with me just having one occasionally but never becoming addicted to it. Same for tea, except I dont like tea.
I keep coming back to this video to keep myself on the right track.
Thank you.
The delusion behind people believing game dev is easy comes from educational institutions advertising it towards gamers. It's become such a massive issue especially when they advertise it towards going into Indie development :/
This was a great video. Got a thumbs up and subscribe from me! I’ve loved game dev for years, but I’ve never once actually gotten to the finish line and published anything, because as you say, it’s a long and hard process. And I’ve never been able to dedicate enough time to actually finish up one of my projects(which have definitely decreased in complexity as I’ve learned more). But it is a fun process, and I’ll probably never stop entirely, even if I never actually publish a game.
im sorry for being harsh but this just translates as sad, broken and frustrated. When you compare the bussiness and profit side of game industry as an artform with music industry let alone fine art industry or just any other artform just cmon. Still in game development there is waaayy better chance of success simply because of the large and direct economy structure that is supporting it vs the quantity and quality of the assets on market. Games are art and its most definitely one the more profitable art careers you can choose from. After all it comes to bussines side of things. If you aproach it that way with all of its complexity from development, to marketing and post release actions (as its crucial in any art career), you have gzillion times better chance of success with making a killer videogame than recording an amazing album or painting a set of amazing paintings. Its not easy, art is not easy. Its hard as hell actually but please dont discourage people. Also the stereotypes of grinding game dev chugging coffee at 3am are ridiculous. Thats all personal failiure of priority setting, timemanagment and project coordination. Please dont tell kids its normal to be unhealthy. I would much appreciate if you rather teach people that the craft is much more than just fun, passion and romance,. As any other professional art career its hard work, discipline, bussiness, marketing, targeting and very VERY risky investment of time, energy and money. Please be more careful with what you put out as i can imagine this can be even damaging to some excited, passionate yet weaker aspiring developers. thank you and all the best to you
Thank you for Sharing this with us. It is a great lesson to be taught by someone whom knows what it really is like out there in the Indie Game Dev world. I myself Started , for my first game , over onto Unreal Engine , It was and RTS . Had a great vision for it but never got round to finishing it as I am working on it solely. I dropped out for abit. Beginning of this year I started with another , Open World Survival and hope to finish and also launch it onto Steam . This particular game I am busy with right now has really changed my mind of developing a game. See your input and and after a few hours sit back and overview what you made/implemented . That right there is the peak of the treasure chest you mentioned in the video . Loving everything you do from day 1 to your game/project. Pure Passion.
Previously, I was imagining that I might encounter that Flappy Bird situation where my game would blow up so quickly so much that I'd get permanent brain damage from all these people and companies making low-effort naughty content without me being able to stop that.
And then I'd remove all official channels to download and play the game in hopes that everything would cool down, only for everyone to download an archived version of the game and continue milking it.
Now that I have watched this video, I feel safe that this will never happen to me.
I like your voice so calming, especially with the music!
Thank you. A samurai has no goal, only path.
Your channel is gold..i only found about it recently but i love it! What you're saying in this video is the absolute truth, and not many devs on yt would bother to say the truth because they prefer to sell videos on how to make video games...and that makes me admire you so much more! I am one of the people that have took the decision to become a software dev years ago in order to make money and be able to afford to make games as a hobby. If one day i make it big sure i could drop my main job but..that..as you say is kinda wishful thinking so i am not counting on it, all i know is i love making games,the whole process of it,the sheer amount of different things u have to do to make a game on your own etc..and i have been passionate about it for as long as i can remember, so i will keep at it and maybe one day who knows!Maybe i will make a game that people love as much as i do, and THAT is ALL i want! Love to all of you guys following your passion out there!
I can say from my own experience. 10 years ago, when few people have Android phones, I started creating Android games, and got 1.000.000 installs with zero marketing. I just publish and people start downloading the next day. But every new game I created, although more polished than the previous, get fewer and fewer downloads. Today, an indie can spend many months in a single game, with beautiful graphics, and still easily have 50 downloads or less if you don't market it.
Is this because of the algorithms used on the store now? Even searching the exact name of your new game you'll be down at number 100 or 200 with other games with different names all shown first.
I was surprised that there is no way to see newly released games either. They have a section "new and updated games" but every game in it is already popular and has loads of reviews. It should be named, "Already popular games that have updates recently" instead.
Ive found that until i advertise a google play game, with google and give them money, then my game will have zero downloads. For an ad supported game then that means paying google for the honour of giving away a product that hosts other peoples ads that they have also purchased from google.
And all the while you are at the mercy of google, either demonetizing your ads or pulling your game without warning, killing your revenue along with the needed momentum of your game downloads that you have been paying them to promote.
As you can probably tell, i absolutely loathe google at this point.
@@vrgamestudio294 You forgot mention 30% cut of sales on google/apple markets!
@@whimsical_travesty ha yes of course plus shall i throw in the USA sales tax added for non USA developers meaning you're lucky to get half of the revenue for your hard work and risks taken. There is a reason google, microsoft and amazon founders are the richest people on earth and that we indie developers struggle so much.
I figured that this video was going to be on this, and I wanted that, and it delivered. Very nice video
My experiences with taking game dev seriously for the past 4 months:
- A feeling of constantly drowning
- See above
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
But in seriousness, it really is fucking hard. I finally started to show people the game I've been working on and I've been getting good feedback, but there's so many things I still need to learn, things to try, etc. But I do enjoy the gruelling process of constantly learning and I hope within a month or two I might be able to release the game as a small $2-5 game.
Good talk. Applies to every creative field. What you're describing is survivorship bias - a cognitive bias to focus on the winners, and underestimate the amount of work and luck that went into winning (while ignoring the other 99% of losers, who you are statistically far more likely to join).
Success is definitely possible. But everything in life takes hard work and dedication. There's no easy path.
I've kind of accepted this. I'm in gamedev because I love making games, and I wouldn't want any other job. After graduation I'll work for a studio, for experience and living wage, but the goal is indie for the love of video games.
Pay attention to your contract then, some companies won't let you do something on the side
@@maythesciencebewithyou I think you've misunderstood me. I was referring to studio work being a stepping stone before I feel comfortable going (solo) indie.
After 30 years of gaming and at times working with the game industry I am starting my own game studio. This was born from my wanting a game I was testing to do well and writing up a report to them. Before the day ended my list was closed as not bugs. I'm going into this because I love gaming and my boys may love my games as well. So my first one is my take on that game I was testing. I do not expect to make any money. But as a retired backend developer I find every day wonderful as I take each snap step forward. It is the love of programming, the love of gaming, and the love of learning new things that inspire me. Not money. I moved to Colombia to live on social security so I don't need work or income, just fun while my wife is at work. My game design document continues to grow as I see other games, my story excites me as I see it grow, and a recent archeology trip gave me ideas for survival tools based on real tools made in the 1800's here in Colombia.
I treat game development like a hobby. Instead of playing video games in my free time, I make them. I'm releasing my first game in a week and I don't really care about it's profit.
I would suggest those who are actively building a game, or thinking of becoming a game developer full time, to get a full time job and build a game on your off time. Of course it will take longer, but your brain wont be focused on adapting your tastes toward a 'money making product' which allows your creativity to run wild. And if you feel you wont have enough time to design a game if you work full time, take it from a full time website developer with 2 babies to take care of, you can and will find time if you really look.
Jim Rohn once said: "I asked a man - 'How much did your TV cost?', he said 'About $450'. I told him 'You're wrong...It probably cost you more than $12,000 a year.'
Figure out what you want in life and throw away EVERYTHING that is getting in your way of accomplishing that.
I enjoy making games as much as I enjoy playing them (and I have enough board games to make some game stores jealous 😁).
Due to a disability, I am not likely able to ever release a game commercially, but I still make them. If I am lucky, I can get 2 to 3 hours a week to work on games spread over the whole week. But I still enjoy making them enough to do so.
I don't make games because I want to make money, I do it for the passion and enjoyment. To me it is a hobby.
Love to hear that and respect for doing so even if you have major obstacles in your way. :) Wish you and the rest of the gamedevs out there all the best with your future game(s).
Im creating games as a pure hobby of mine too. I think you really need to consider why you are doing things, sometimes you can ruin your best and most joyful hobbies when you monetize them in some way or another.
Eyyo, also a disabled developer here. I also have no idea if I can make a living, I'd love to, but otherwise I'll just keep teaching myself and making the best things I can. I make video games, tabletop games, comics and illustrations, but I'll probably never be able to live off of them, not unless our society is drastically reshaped.
It's a rough position to be in, but good luck to you. I hope you can find whatever success looks like for you.
A fellow disabled here. Working on learning enough to get my game concept done.