That’s my dad :) and I’m at university studying game development and programming now. I doubt I’ll ever make a hit either but I’m inspired primarily by him to make games and I’m excited to see where it leads!
wow i remember watching this when it came out and now your here. all of highschool and stuff went by for you i guess lmao hope your doin well fam. gl ♥
This guy is a winner. He might not have had a hit, but he has all the characteristics of someone who has. Excellent speech, and not only for making video games!
@@jb-kx3rk they get the messiah syndrome, they think because they've succeeded every single thing they do is vindicted and justified, even the way they stir sugar in coffee
Bożydar Sobczak Most I'm rich videos nowadays " i took 100 dollars and bought a book/attended a seminar and now I make millions after 1-3 months of hard work. I published a book/hosted a seminar to explain the books I read/seminars I attended. Give me money"
While a lot of them indeed made the most of very lucky opportunities presented to them, guide on how to exploit opportunities available to the common folk (& compensate for losses) would be much more widely applicable
I always looked down at the type of games Jake makes, but understanding the process he goes to as an independant developer really makes me respect those working in the field.
Clicked this link thinking it was a short video, realized five minutes in it's almost an hour long.... ended up watching the whole thing anyway. Very interesting. I love to see real talk about the realities of being an indie game developer.
Excellent, excellent talk. Young Devs, learn from how this guy keeps it down to the facts and figures. Track your own work. Keep focus. Pick your battles.
Thank you, Jake. I used to be in management in videogames and I'm now contemplating moving into doing my own thing, although with more humble (yet rewarding) scale. Your talk was way more interesting and inspiring than the usual success cases, or crunch & burn stories. All the best
Glad to hear it. Yeah that was the idea, to make people aware that indie dev rocks stars are rare, failures are very common, and that sustainability is a realistic goal (imho). Anyway, good luck!
Mr. Birkett thank you for showing the reality of actually being an indie dev and not a shining indie rock star ;). I personally wanted to share with you (and other youtube folks) my personal indie gamedev look at things. I am a 24 year old guy who miserably failed to complete college after a full year of retrying exams and having to quit because it was taking too long (and too much money), the thought of not having a degree (I was gonna become a software engineer) and thus not being able to find a job for myself was very very depressing. Now the irony is, while I was still in College, I was starting out in gamedev, I was worried gamedev would ruin College but.... College ruined College, with layoffs and all the abusive people taking the high chairs, making it hell for everyone. At the same time I was headbutting against College, I was pursuing gamedev further and further, I have managed to release two niche shoot-em'ups on Steam so far (Zenohell and Zenodyne R). We all work on equal shares and in total our "company" has made around $10k revenue since October 2015, fortunately we all have jobs (outside me, my misfortune or fortune depending on how you look at it, is that I have a disability fund due my diabetes and schizophrenia, that's how I keep bills paid). Many have questioned my style of game development, as in sticking as low as possible in the budget department, I personally do most of the work in my team, I do all the gameplay programming, I often draw the missing art elements my artist can't do properly like backgrounds. I love to keep it as low budget as possible, I love to keep the scope small but try to make a better game each time in that small scope. In total we have only spent $300 on our stuff, $100 for Steam Greenlight fee and $200 for the tools. Those teammates are also currently my best friends too ;). WE are currently in process of releasing a smaller shoot-em'up (intended for quick coffee breaks) called Fire Arrow Plus, by that I mean we are going through Valve verification stuff. And we are in process of making two shmups both stated for 2017, completely different from each other because our goal is to try to make something different with each product. I'm not saying no to making more mainstream games eventually. Infact i'm busy learning C#/Unity and C++/UnrealEngine right now and got myself Udemy courses on them to speed it up. Because one day i'll probably branch out into other genres. Either way, your talk has inspired me to share my gamedev story :) thank you so much!
Thanks for sharing! Those games look cool, I love old-skool Shoot 'em ups. I just bought the bundle. Well good luck with your next games. I look forward to seeing them.
"Do not make decisions out of desperation" God that hit hard. One of the hardest lessons I've ever had to learn. Got a big old scar on my knee too because of making choices when I was desperate
@@sean7221 ohh. I guess if your interested I road a bike (or rather tried to ride a bike) with faulty brakes. Down a hill. I didn't make it very far before flying over the handle bars and smashing my knee into concrete. All because I had a job interview 15km away I planned to attend. Having 10 cents in you bank account kinda makes life hard. Can't afford food. Cant afford transit. Can't afford ambulance bills when you need to be rushed to the hospital. Being unemployed and desperate is brutal.
@@catisthebest46 Its mostly meh. I found a gig job making furry porn games. It pays but not very much. Less than min wage so while I'm working and making money for once I also can't afford to live anywhere and hence am living with my parents. Maybe one day I will actually earn what I am worth. Or I'll just be stuck living with my parents until they eventually die.
When we realizes that not everybody can be that 'guy' who made millions of dollars with his game overnight , thats when we can actually get things in perspective and work on getting practical results , pretty much what the guy talked about in the video . This was an amazing talk and this seriously helped me manage my expectations for my future and so i gotta work to thrive, whilst making that hit ;D . This is ! the reality of the industry and i can say this applies to other industries as well . Thanks to everybody involved in the making of this video , it is inspiring , honest and powerful .
This video was just randomly suggested to me, and i ended up watching all of it practically! Great speaker with good insight for anyone whos thought of being a game dev
huge respect for this guy. at first i scoffed at the match-three stuff he showed but after watching i appreciate what he has done, how he has done it and why he does it. not everyone needs or even wants to be a big game dev
The first talk in a while I can remember that I watched the entire thing + the questions, thanks so much for your story. Every year for the past 4 years I have built a prototype and worked on it for so long and failed because I was maintaining a full-time programming job, and because I was trying to re-invent a new type of game. You made the right move by making match 3 games because people will always want to play match 3 games as much as every gamedev wants to deny their existence. You seemed to know very early on that platformer/physics type adventures take orders of magnitude longer than simpler games. I have finished a Blackjack card game this year and while making it multiplayer was tricky as hell it was definitely less stressful to build something that already has a proven loop for the player.. best of luck on your blockbuster hit Jake!
100%, most game developers have no idea whatever the fuck they did right except made a good game and being able to stay happy/surviving in a flooded market is a better achievement, cause it shows a consistency of quality.
Yeah my life goal is to be able to make enough money from a normal job to have a good amount of savings all the while making games in my free time until I can ideally live off of the games and then quit and just make games and chill forever
It's now 2021 and I'd love an update on how he's doing. I'm not a developer at all, I'm one of those casual gamers who buy his games to play on pc. I'm a 58 year old woman; which is an important demographic for the types of games he makes. I was a member of BigFish for years (and so was my mother). I have several Grey Alien games including Unwell Mel which is an understated hilarious and fun match-3 game. Unfortunately I can no longer play match-3 games (due to dizziness issues) so I never bought any of his other match 3's. His original Fairway Solitaire is one of my all time favorites, it's sweet and simple and challenging. I return to it again and again (I"m so glad I still have it, as it's pretty much impossible to download anymore. There's a newer one called "Fairway" made by BigFish, which I can't stand, which sort of overtook the original, sadly.). I recently finished Regency Solitaire which I bought some time ago from BigFish. Then I got an email from Grey Alien about Ancient Enemy being on sale (that one is newer and isn't discussed in this talk). While looking around for that, I found out about Shadowhand. Long story short, I bought them both, and just started playing Shadowhand which is my first foray into the "RPG solitaire" type. Fun! I've always liked the idea of the husband/wife team of this developer and like supporting them. This talk solidifies those feelings and I'm proud to say I'm a long time supporter of Grey Alien games. Keep up the good work, Jake and Helen. --4/4/21
That was a great comment to read. Its great to read from people like you who like the work which is done. I hope you have a lot of fun in the future as well with games!
As an indie game developer. If i could speak to this guy throughout my game development journey, i believe ill be a success. Hes got a whole lot of knowledge.
@@jmanpolo5611 Not every,we live in a post-scratch world. As much as it may pain you, there is a plethora of ways to make games without writing a single line of code yourself.
Great talk. Not glamorous or hard-hitting, just a realistic examination of his career. He's had understandable failures and maybe a few regrets, but on the whole a reasonable amount of success and longevity. Good analysis of how he consistently found ways to achieve his goals by adapting, improving and gearing for the long haul. Makes it feel attainable to have a modest career as an indie games creator without selling your soul.
After watching indie game the movie, this was exactly what my thoughts were, "Great and motivational to see the successes but what about the failures along the way?" Thank you for sharing this side of the coin too, and... Respect man, nothing but respect.
Wow what an englightening talk. Its great to see this realistic talk being given, and the humor really allowed for everything to be taken kind of light heartedly but with a knowledgable undertone. I had no idea that there was such a market for casual PC games (even if it is dying now).
An excellent, realistic talk. One of the things I have seen whilst studying for my Msc is that young people aspiring to be GameDevs are not taught about the struggle of 'making it'. Whenever we get industry guest speakers it is rather brutal yet eye opening in regards to the likely hood of being successful. . Keep going, creativity is not a race.
I've been gaming for two decades now, I never tried to get into developing and I don't intend to ever do it, but I absolutely love GDC Talks, they're amazing and make me fall even more in love with the medium and the people behind it.
At 46:40 there's a question "why did you develop 3 match 3 games?". He said: for every game you can only realize a fraction of possible features. So every game which uses the engine is a place to add features which did not made it to the last game. I think it's a good way to improve on game mechanics. I've played many games which only had one or two installments. I always though "what if the dev had add this or that? the game would be much more interesting".
You know, that's one of the reasons I became a game developer. I would have moments like that all the time. But if it's your game you can actually do something about it! It's an amazing feeling.
This was a fantastically inspirational speech. Regency Solitaire and the new game Shadowhand seem to be in an entirely different league, and Shadowhand actually looks really really interesting from a more "game mechanic" and style perspective, compared to the Match-3 genre that dominated his body of work. I would have to point out though that a large majority of his work seems to be in a different sect of gaming than I am used to. Most of these games, as he pointed out, were for "casual gamers". I would really like to know how well this information translates to developers who are making games for less casual game audiences.
My guess (just a gamer's guess) is for the less casual crowd you probably either need production value through the roof or some serious innovation, which while requiring all of the dedication and love for one's craft, also requires you to be gifted with either the right eureka moment at the right time or the type of money that indies can only dream of. I mean, we as gamers are spoiled senseless right now. This is the golden age.
Remember what he talk about artists? People usualy are afraid to pay artists, but some of the best indie games, relly heavily on art style, thats why i, that work whit digital art, start to learn how to make games, to me is a logical path, and is always good for any developer had an artist around.
"in order to be authenticate in the games that you create, you need to connect to something in yourself" True. And not just in game development, but every aspect of life.
I've only watched the first 3 minutes of this but I really really wish more influences in creative fields spoke like this guy. Being realistic is so much better for your health and happiness- and the longevity of your hobby/career.
Fantastic talk! Really interesting even though a fair amount of it was confirmation of things I already suspected. As someone trying to make their first game, there's a lot of stuff to take note of here. Especially the idea that your first game probably won't be fantastic, no matter how passionately you might believe so at the time of making it. But regardless of that, just getting it out of the door, one way or another, is important.
Coming back to this video just to address some stuff. The first being I really appreciate this guy for sharing how he managed to survive as an indie dev for over a decade, as the unfortunate truth is many indie devs fail (being an indie dev is a business at the end of the day, and most businesses fail). The second being that whether or not you like the games he develops is irrelevant, he made games that kept him financially stable by sticking to reality instead of reaching for the sky and having his wings melted off just like many other indie devs (even then his games seemed fine to me, but I like match 3 games since I find them relaxing). The third being that he never gave up, even when things seemed bleak, and that's my favorite takeaway from this video.
Love the videos, but @GDC can you please convert the audio to mono on the videos with stereo issues, listening on headphones gets ... interesting somtimes
I really can't believe someone made a good living from remaking match 3 games...like that blows my mind. I'm glad he stuck with it and was able to make a living doing what he loves.
I needed this. I don't really have any aspirations to be super rich or "successful" - I just love to make games, and committing fully to it without needing a day job to survive is all that I really want.
how one of my favorite talks, it really shows what the long game is and coming out of the struggles. What a journey best of luck and what an awesome talk.
Jake Birkett, you are a god among men. Great attitude, great businessman, great inspiration. Keep showing people how to live their dream man! You rock!
Was watching some Mass Effect Andromeda vids, and got here just by wondering, and stayed for the whole lecture. I have nothing to do with indie game development, but as a mobile/web developer, I got really inspired.
i feel sorry for the camera man .. but this guy was the best talker i've seen in GDC and funniest one :D his tips was really helpful to understand what the person can go through when he enter such market tips like this from someone who suffer to make his way alone and waste part of his life to learn this experience and give it to us is Gold
This is so true!!! I just finished a game I spent the last 3 years developing and just barely made $600. Absolutely loved creating it, but definitely not something you get into for the money.
What a wonderful speech. This is real life for most of us, who want to work on things we like, even if you are not a game developer, his themes are universal.
as someone who has been trying to do this since he was in middle school and now finally making the complete jump (11 years later), i really appreciate everything in this talk. thanks Jake!
I love hearing his very honest experiences on working independently as well as understanding the rhythm of life occasionally requires reevaluation and adjustment. I've worked for others, and independently. While there is a money difference between the two I will take working independently first over working for someone else.
As someone who had been on and off working on game projects for years never to actually release anything, this has inspired me to collect some ideas, and scale down the size of a few of my older abandoned projects and release them with a smaller content base and work on improving until I get the end goal I originally was shooting for on my first release of each idea.
I clicked on this talk as a whim, something to listen to while working, thinking that it was gonna be another decent game dev talk but after listening to the whole thing i have to say its one of the best talks ive heard in a long long time. I work in animation and this feeling of either working on a hit or dying in a ditch really resonates with me personally. Its reassuring to think that there is a life you can live between the margins and thats okay. Thank you for this talk and i hope that theyre still going strong!
This is by far the best game development video from a business standpoint. I can relate to this as I released a game last year and started to see significant increase in traffic this year. Social media is great way to promote game and also adding social elements to game increase the lifespans of it.
Fantastic talk. Lot of respect for Jake. Pure tenacity. It was super interesting hearing about why he didn't want to do free-to-play, he seems to have his heart set on making good games, not just selling a bunch of units.
Isn't that the basis for pretty much any business in a market economy? Convincing people to buy your stuff! Doing things to appeal to consumers. Wow, sounds devious when you frame it as "abusing human psychology" ... Makes me sound like a monster for setting up a lemonade stand for thirsty hot passers-by when I was a kid. I abused their psychological dependence on sugar and their deep seated instinct to stay hydrated.
This talk was great. I don't develop games but so many of these points generalize into any independent endeavor so they still inspire my own efforts. Best wishes to you man!
I LOVE this guy, and what a wonderful and helpful talk. Very inspirational! Also: I agree, we need to sort out our shitty healthcare here in the US. You should have the freedom to take risk and try to be an indie dev, without worrying that you won't be able to care for yourself or a loved one if they get cancer, that's unacceptable. Having that taken care of will massively boost entrepreneurship, small business, etc, etc, which is the backbone of American business.
@Darren Munsell How you managed to come to that conclusion from what Jake said is beyond me. Those are wildly negative and disrespectful comments to be throwing around.
first time i heard his voice "Oh i think know this guy", when he mentioned Xmas Bonus I realized he's the guy i've been listening to in an audio podcast wayy back.. Great talk!
![100 Gamedev Tips for New & Aspiring Game Developers [100th Episode Special!]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/oANuTmm9cpg/mqdefault.jpg)
That’s my dad :) and I’m at university studying game development and programming now. I doubt I’ll ever make a hit either but I’m inspired primarily by him to make games and I’m excited to see where it leads!
THIS IS SO WHOLESOME
all i have to say is that your dad is a funny man and you should be proud of him
He is awesome person! Wish you luck!
Your dad is awesome
Literally one of few people whom i benefited a lot starting indie game dev just hearing
wow i remember watching this when it came out and now your here. all of highschool and stuff went by for you i guess lmao hope your doin well fam. gl ♥
This guy is a winner. He might not have had a hit, but he has all the characteristics of someone who has. Excellent speech, and not only for making video games!
He needs to learn to stand in one place
Ma O No, the cameraman should’ve considered zooming out.
@@EnderTitan correcting myself.
Standing and making a speech publicly is not EASY.
@@mao4324 you didn't correct yourself. Your previous statement has nothing to do with difficulty
"You're not special, nor is your game, you'll never ship a hit"
Devs: *Cheers*
Yay
its refreshing to hear someone closer to your level tell you the truth than someone who made it big feed you more bullshit
It just makes me wanna fight harder
@@jb-kx3rk they get the messiah syndrome, they think because they've succeeded every single thing they do is vindicted and justified, even the way they stir sugar in coffee
@@InfinityDz if their games successes are continued it's justified
nothing but respect for this guy. ESPECIALLY after hearing his reasons for not doing free to play.
When did he speak about his reasons for not doing free to play?
From 46:05 up to 46:35
Yeah? You're cool with him adding back doors into his game?
Thanx! :)
@NickelCityPixels
I can't tell if you are kidding. You are aware that was a joke right?
Actually hearing from people that didn't make it big gives me motivation :)
They are more realistic and less magic oriented.
But I want to believe in magic....
Do you believe in Life after Love?
I believe in Life after League, League after Love, but no I do not subscribe to the notion of "Life after Love"
I feel the same. It's some real talk, but it's also very inspiring in context to my own struggles.
Stories like that are so interesting. Big Success stories sounds like instructions how to win in a lottery - so usually are worthless.
Bożydar Sobczak Most I'm rich videos nowadays " i took 100 dollars and bought a book/attended a seminar and now I make millions after 1-3 months of hard work. I published a book/hosted a seminar to explain the books I read/seminars I attended. Give me money"
While a lot of them indeed made the most of very lucky opportunities presented to them, guide on how to exploit opportunities available to the common folk (& compensate for losses) would be much more widely applicable
I always looked down at the type of games Jake makes, but understanding the process he goes to as an independant developer really makes me respect those working in the field.
Aside from being a successful game developer, he's a really good presenter. Never a dull moment in his speech.
Clicked this link thinking it was a short video, realized five minutes in it's almost an hour long.... ended up watching the whole thing anyway. Very interesting. I love to see real talk about the realities of being an indie game developer.
lol same.. Some reason I thought it was 5 mins, but 50 minutes long! Great video though!
Yuppp! Just did this right now 😅 very great talk!
Saw this comment five minutes in.
Same happened to me, lol just getting started, got some Blender and Unity Knowledge so far, and stioll going for more :3
@@Billcomesback excuse me, friend. Can i ask you for what purpose are you learning blender?
Excellent, excellent talk.
Young Devs, learn from how this guy keeps it down to the facts and figures. Track your own work. Keep focus. Pick your battles.
That's a good summary, thanks!
Thank you, Jake.
I used to be in management in videogames and I'm now contemplating moving into doing my own thing, although with more humble (yet rewarding) scale.
Your talk was way more interesting and inspiring than the usual success cases, or crunch & burn stories.
All the best
Glad to hear it. Yeah that was the idea, to make people aware that indie dev rocks stars are rare, failures are very common, and that sustainability is a realistic goal (imho). Anyway, good luck!
Mr. Birkett thank you for showing the reality of actually being an indie dev and not a shining indie rock star ;). I personally wanted to share with you (and other youtube folks) my personal indie gamedev look at things.
I am a 24 year old guy who miserably failed to complete college after a full year of retrying exams and having to quit because it was taking too long (and too much money), the thought of not having a degree (I was gonna become a software engineer) and thus not being able to find a job for myself was very very depressing.
Now the irony is, while I was still in College, I was starting out in gamedev, I was worried gamedev would ruin College but.... College ruined College, with layoffs and all the abusive people taking the high chairs, making it hell for everyone.
At the same time I was headbutting against College, I was pursuing gamedev further and further, I have managed to release two niche shoot-em'ups on Steam so far (Zenohell and Zenodyne R).
We all work on equal shares and in total our "company" has made around $10k revenue since October 2015, fortunately we all have jobs (outside me, my misfortune or fortune depending on how you look at it, is that I have a disability fund due my diabetes and schizophrenia, that's how I keep bills paid).
Many have questioned my style of game development, as in sticking as low as possible in the budget department, I personally do most of the work in my team, I do all the gameplay programming, I often draw the missing art elements my artist can't do properly like backgrounds.
I love to keep it as low budget as possible, I love to keep the scope small but try to make a better game each time in that small scope. In total we have only spent $300 on our stuff, $100 for Steam Greenlight fee and $200 for the tools. Those teammates are also currently my best friends too ;).
WE are currently in process of releasing a smaller shoot-em'up (intended for quick coffee breaks) called Fire Arrow Plus, by that I mean we are going through Valve verification stuff. And we are in process of making two shmups both stated for 2017, completely different from each other because our goal is to try to make something different with each product.
I'm not saying no to making more mainstream games eventually. Infact i'm busy learning C#/Unity and C++/UnrealEngine right now and got myself Udemy courses on them to speed it up. Because one day i'll probably branch out into other genres.
Either way, your talk has inspired me to share my gamedev story :) thank you so much!
Thanks for sharing! Those games look cool, I love old-skool Shoot 'em ups. I just bought the bundle. Well good luck with your next games. I look forward to seeing them.
"Do not make decisions out of desperation"
God that hit hard. One of the hardest lessons I've ever had to learn. Got a big old scar on my knee too because of making choices when I was desperate
How did you get the scar, story time?
@@sean7221 ohh. I guess if your interested I road a bike (or rather tried to ride a bike) with faulty brakes. Down a hill. I didn't make it very far before flying over the handle bars and smashing my knee into concrete. All because I had a job interview 15km away I planned to attend. Having 10 cents in you bank account kinda makes life hard. Can't afford food. Cant afford transit. Can't afford ambulance bills when you need to be rushed to the hospital. Being unemployed and desperate is brutal.
@@thejoblesscoder how's life now. I hope it's good for ya
@@catisthebest46 Its mostly meh. I found a gig job making furry porn games. It pays but not very much. Less than min wage so while I'm working and making money for once I also can't afford to live anywhere and hence am living with my parents. Maybe one day I will actually earn what I am worth. Or I'll just be stuck living with my parents until they eventually die.
@@thejoblesscoder What engine do you make these games on?
When we realizes that not everybody can be that 'guy' who made millions of dollars with his game overnight , thats when we can actually get things in perspective and work on getting practical results , pretty much what the guy talked about in the video .
This was an amazing talk and this seriously helped me manage my expectations for my future and so i gotta work to thrive, whilst making that hit ;D .
This is ! the reality of the industry and i can say this applies to other industries as well .
Thanks to everybody involved in the making of this video , it is inspiring , honest and powerful .
Its true but he never even tried to make a hit, instead went for a less riskier route. I doubt he dreamed about making match-3 and solitaire games.
Man this dude rules. Hearing this guy talk actually gives me hope that this can be a realistic career without having to get a "lottery" hit.
This video was just randomly suggested to me, and i ended up watching all of it practically! Great speaker with good insight for anyone whos thought of being a game dev
yeah, same thing here
same, 3 years later
Pan left.......pan right........pan left.........pan right........
that triggered me a little bit. The speech was really good though. Respect the guy
it gets better but my word was that hard to listen to at the start
TRIGGERED!!
Nah, you need to put up a wall on both sides so you don't do that or something to lean on..
Or maybe just do a wider shot..
O C D hehe
didn't even notice or got bothered by it
i noticed it in the audio in the beginning,
huge respect for this guy. at first i scoffed at the match-three stuff he showed but after watching i appreciate what he has done, how he has done it and why he does it. not everyone needs or even wants to be a big game dev
The first talk in a while I can remember that I watched the entire thing + the questions, thanks so much for your story. Every year for the past 4 years I have built a prototype and worked on it for so long and failed because I was maintaining a full-time programming job, and because I was trying to re-invent a new type of game. You made the right move by making match 3 games because people will always want to play match 3 games as much as every gamedev wants to deny their existence. You seemed to know very early on that platformer/physics type adventures take orders of magnitude longer than simpler games. I have finished a Blackjack card game this year and while making it multiplayer was tricky as hell it was definitely less stressful to build something that already has a proven loop for the player.. best of luck on your blockbuster hit Jake!
Thanks! And best of luck with your endeavours.
Very inspiring! To me this guy is a complete success.
100%, most game developers have no idea whatever the fuck they did right except made a good game and being able to stay happy/surviving in a flooded market is a better achievement, cause it shows a consistency of quality.
Yeah my life goal is to be able to make enough money from a normal job to have a good amount of savings all the while making games in my free time until I can ideally live off of the games and then quit and just make games and chill forever
@@fossforever512 preach 😌🙌 I'm just now figuring out that I'll be on that path and it already feels good.
It's now 2021 and I'd love an update on how he's doing. I'm not a developer at all, I'm one of those casual gamers who buy his games to play on pc. I'm a 58 year old woman; which is an important demographic for the types of games he makes. I was a member of BigFish for years (and so was my mother). I have several Grey Alien games including Unwell Mel which is an understated hilarious and fun match-3 game. Unfortunately I can no longer play match-3 games (due to dizziness issues) so I never bought any of his other match 3's. His original Fairway Solitaire is one of my all time favorites, it's sweet and simple and challenging. I return to it again and again (I"m so glad I still have it, as it's pretty much impossible to download anymore. There's a newer one called "Fairway" made by BigFish, which I can't stand, which sort of overtook the original, sadly.).
I recently finished Regency Solitaire which I bought some time ago from BigFish. Then I got an email from Grey Alien about Ancient Enemy being on sale (that one is newer and isn't discussed in this talk). While looking around for that, I found out about Shadowhand. Long story short, I bought them both, and just started playing Shadowhand which is my first foray into the "RPG solitaire" type. Fun!
I've always liked the idea of the husband/wife team of this developer and like supporting them. This talk solidifies those feelings and I'm proud to say I'm a long time supporter of Grey Alien games. Keep up the good work, Jake and Helen. --4/4/21
Here is his most recent interview, posted about 2 weeks ago: ua-cam.com/video/yBpXAEaWZT0/v-deo.html
@@mna226 Thanks!!
That was a great comment to read. Its great to read from people like you who like the work which is done. I hope you have a lot of fun in the future as well with games!
@@tigriscallidus4477 Thank you! I'm glad you read and appreciated my comment. I still love Grey Alien Games!
Thanks for taking the time to comment! I really enjoyed hearing about your perspective :)
As an indie game developer. If i could speak to this guy throughout my game development journey, i believe ill be a success. Hes got a whole lot of knowledge.
As an artist myself, it's good to hear that we have some value for once hahaha.
you should give credit to yourself more, without you, a game would just be text
@@epokal1
that's a bit of a stretch
a dev can make a game by himself but not a designer
@@afroyed3295 maybe a talented designer also can make a game since there is new technology for non scripting engine
@@slicingcucumber6504 every engine.. uses some sort of scripting...
@@jmanpolo5611
Not every,we live in a post-scratch world. As much as it may pain you, there is a plethora of ways to make games without writing a single line of code yourself.
Best advertisement for moving to Canada I have ever heard.
we need more reality checks like this
Great talk. Not glamorous or hard-hitting, just a realistic examination of his career. He's had understandable failures and maybe a few regrets, but on the whole a reasonable amount of success and longevity. Good analysis of how he consistently found ways to achieve his goals by adapting, improving and gearing for the long haul. Makes it feel attainable to have a modest career as an indie games creator without selling your soul.
Dude's a natural comedian. Will be rewatching this one for the entertainment value alone (unless I die before I get to it), no question.
After watching indie game the movie, this was exactly what my thoughts were, "Great and motivational to see the successes but what about the failures along the way?"
Thank you for sharing this side of the coin too, and... Respect man, nothing but respect.
Well Spent 1 hour of my life. Thanks.
Haha! lol if you wouldnt have mentioned that i propably wouldnt have even noticed that and watched the whole thing! now im off, bye.
+ItsOvaNinethousnd Good riddance.
Wow what an englightening talk.
Its great to see this realistic talk being given, and the humor really allowed for everything to be taken kind of light heartedly but with a knowledgable undertone.
I had no idea that there was such a market for casual PC games (even if it is dying now).
It's not dying mate.
Specifically casual games on PC are dying as the players moved to phone and F2P games. But general PC gaming is doing fine.
An excellent, realistic talk. One of the things I have seen whilst studying for my Msc is that young people aspiring to be GameDevs are not taught about the struggle of 'making it'. Whenever we get industry guest speakers it is rather brutal yet eye opening in regards to the likely hood of being successful. . Keep going, creativity is not a race.
I've been gaming for two decades now, I never tried to get into developing and I don't intend to ever do it, but I absolutely love GDC Talks, they're amazing and make me fall even more in love with the medium and the people behind it.
Geeze 11 years? I start shaking after 11 hours without a hit.
Damn bruh, switch to subs.
hahaha what??
So unexpected... so awesome.
K, so please list the hits. thanks
@Miguel Nobrega haha its legal now so I eat the stuff. Inhaled for literally 50 years and eating it is the way to go. Have fun.
I don't make games, or generally sit through hour long youtube videos, but that was fascinating. Thanks Jake!
Me 1 hour ago: "I won't see all the video, just 5 minutes"
me, now: "4:00 am and gotta go to college tomorrow, this was worth it."
Marcelo Potty *today, also it’s 6am right now
This is so true 😂
At 46:40 there's a question "why did you develop 3 match 3 games?".
He said: for every game you can only realize a fraction of possible features.
So every game which uses the engine is a place to add features which
did not made it to the last game.
I think it's a good way to improve on game mechanics. I've played many games
which only had one or two installments. I always though "what if the dev had
add this or that? the game would be much more interesting".
You know, that's one of the reasons I became a game developer. I would have moments like that all the time. But if it's your game you can actually do something about it! It's an amazing feeling.
Baldurs Gate 3 was built upon the success of previous titles by the game developer. It works!
This was a fantastically inspirational speech. Regency Solitaire and the new game Shadowhand seem to be in an entirely different league, and Shadowhand actually looks really really interesting from a more "game mechanic" and style perspective, compared to the Match-3 genre that dominated his body of work. I would have to point out though that a large majority of his work seems to be in a different sect of gaming than I am used to. Most of these games, as he pointed out, were for "casual gamers". I would really like to know how well this information translates to developers who are making games for less casual game audiences.
I know my wife would love Regency Solitaire, she loves Pride & Prejudice and French art styles
It's on sale on Steam RIGHT NOW! ;-)
My guess (just a gamer's guess) is for the less casual crowd you probably either need production value through the roof or some serious innovation, which while requiring all of the dedication and love for one's craft, also requires you to be gifted with either the right eureka moment at the right time or the type of money that indies can only dream of.
I mean, we as gamers are spoiled senseless right now. This is the golden age.
yeah "lightening in a bottle" basically.
Remember what he talk about artists?
People usualy are afraid to pay artists, but some of the best indie games, relly heavily on art style, thats why i, that work whit digital art, start to learn how to make games, to me is a logical path, and is always good for any developer had an artist around.
"in order to be authenticate in the games that you create, you need to connect to something in yourself"
True. And not just in game development, but every aspect of life.
I've only watched the first 3 minutes of this but I really really wish more influences in creative fields spoke like this guy. Being realistic is so much better for your health and happiness- and the longevity of your hobby/career.
Definitely one of the top talks so far. Ty :)
MY GOD THE CAMARA MOVING LEFT AND RIGHT IS POSSIBLY THE MOST ANNOYING THING I HAVE EXPERIENCED IN LIFE! - great talk though
Right? Why didn't he just zoom out
i got used to it after 30 minutes lol
Try listening to this with headphones. There's more than just the camera moving. It needs to be mono!
CAMERA WINKLED. didn't ecpect to see the Muscle around here
@@MrGencyExit64 Windows 10? Type "Mono audio" in to Start Menu, click the option, turn it on :)
Fantastic talk! Really interesting even though a fair amount of it was confirmation of things I already suspected. As someone trying to make their first game, there's a lot of stuff to take note of here. Especially the idea that your first game probably won't be fantastic, no matter how passionately you might believe so at the time of making it. But regardless of that, just getting it out of the door, one way or another, is important.
Well said.
Coming back to this video just to address some stuff. The first being I really appreciate this guy for sharing how he managed to survive as an indie dev for over a decade, as the unfortunate truth is many indie devs fail (being an indie dev is a business at the end of the day, and most businesses fail). The second being that whether or not you like the games he develops is irrelevant, he made games that kept him financially stable by sticking to reality instead of reaching for the sky and having his wings melted off just like many other indie devs (even then his games seemed fine to me, but I like match 3 games since I find them relaxing). The third being that he never gave up, even when things seemed bleak, and that's my favorite takeaway from this video.
Love the videos, but @GDC can you please convert the audio to mono on the videos with stereo issues, listening on headphones gets ... interesting somtimes
^ This, please.
@MrBorderdown No you can't.... but please prove me wrong with regards to Win10, I had to install a 3rd party application.
No you can't. Windows is a fucking dipshit.
Wait, really? I mean I can make my headphones do it I think, but... really?
my ears wept in joy ... thank you guy/gal
ok i'm putting pumpkin in my game now
gold pumpkin?
Fuck YEAH! Why didn't I think of this?
Gold pumpkins that burst candy!
And getting a cat
A cat that must find a gold pumpkin to use as a candy basket.
this guy was a good speaker
I really can't believe someone made a good living from remaking match 3 games...like that blows my mind. I'm glad he stuck with it and was able to make a living doing what he loves.
I needed this. I don't really have any aspirations to be super rich or "successful" - I just love to make games, and committing fully to it without needing a day job to survive is all that I really want.
That talk was just amazing. Congratulations sticking with it for so long, you rock!
i respect this guy. shit i might go buy that spooky game
obviously
I love that he quoted Jeff Vogel. Exile and its sequels are the main reason I considered making games of my own.
how one of my favorite talks, it really shows what the long game is and coming out of the struggles. What a journey best of luck and what an awesome talk.
Jake Birkett, you are a god among men. Great attitude, great businessman, great inspiration. Keep showing people how to live their dream man! You rock!
Man the crown were really supportive in this talk. Every crowd should be like this
Was watching some Mass Effect Andromeda vids, and got here just by wondering, and stayed for the whole lecture. I have nothing to do with indie game development, but as a mobile/web developer, I got really inspired.
This is such an important talk. Apart from the message and rich experience he shares, the delivery is golden, too. Quite a talent!
This is one of the best GDC talks I've seen so far
Great, honest, talk.
If you make enough to be living comfortably while not having a boss, doing what you want, that is already success.
i feel sorry for the camera man .. but this guy was the best talker i've seen in GDC and funniest one :D
his tips was really helpful to understand what the person can go through when he enter such market
tips like this from someone who suffer to make his way alone and waste part of his life to learn this experience and give it to us is Gold
When I feel depressed, I always return to this talk
I love how he quoted Jeff Vogel, who made my favourite RPG games when I was younger! (Geneforge)
Jeff later told me that he didn't come up with that (just used it) and it's a quote from someone else, but I can't remember who.
The wife cooperation is so wholesome.
This is so true!!! I just finished a game I spent the last 3 years developing and just barely made $600.
Absolutely loved creating it, but definitely not something you get into for the money.
I hope you're still making games. :)
Might I ask what your game was called?
I think it’s fun as side job or hobbies. It’s difficult to make a living supporting family.
Lucky you haha. I was in the same boat, 3 years of development, but I made 4$.
What a wonderful speech. This is real life for most of us, who want to work on things we like, even if you are not a game developer, his themes are universal.
as someone who has been trying to do this since he was in middle school and now finally making the complete jump (11 years later), i really appreciate everything in this talk. thanks Jake!
As a fledgling Indie developer I want to say thanks so much for this talk!
this man is forged by pain, i think and i respect that
This was both incredibly informative and just downright hilarious!
I love it, going to share it everywhere!
This to me is one of the most valuable and entertaining talks from GDC, thanks for uploading, and thanks for your presentation!
Thank you for offering an insightful, down-to-earth speech on a topic that frightens those of us that are new to game development.
really down to earth guy , quality talk !
Went and bought some of your games just because of this. Good luck.
I love hearing his very honest experiences on working independently as well as understanding the rhythm of life occasionally requires reevaluation and adjustment. I've worked for others, and independently. While there is a money difference between the two I will take working independently first over working for someone else.
Informative... great talk
dude... one of the best speeches I have seen in a while. This guy gives a lot of inspiration even for non-game-devs.
Only just discovered this in 2019. Fantastic talk.
Blown away by how good this talk is. Lots of good advice and smartness!
As someone who had been on and off working on game projects for years never to actually release anything, this has inspired me to collect some ideas, and scale down the size of a few of my older abandoned projects and release them with a smaller content base and work on improving until I get the end goal I originally was shooting for on my first release of each idea.
Good luck!
I come back to this talk every once in a while, and it really keeps me going. Thanks.
I clicked on this talk as a whim, something to listen to while working, thinking that it was gonna be another decent game dev talk but after listening to the whole thing i have to say its one of the best talks ive heard in a long long time. I work in animation and this feeling of either working on a hit or dying in a ditch really resonates with me personally. Its reassuring to think that there is a life you can live between the margins and thats okay. Thank you for this talk and i hope that theyre still going strong!
One of the most inspiring speeches over the subject. Truly amazing. 2nd time watching from start to finish.
Love this guy's energy. Real chill, cool guy.
5 till 10 videos. And this one is completely the best for me. Great job to this guy
Best talk I've seen in a really long time
Why do I watch this twice a year? Better watch it again to figure it out.
“thankfully we live in canada, which has health care, those of you in the US ... unbelievable “
Thanks for taking the time to do this talk!
Yeah, great talk. Really useful, "basic" info - Jake seems like a really nice guy. Great work!
One of the best GDC talks I've experienced. Great message. Salute to this man!
TED talks for game devs
Not really, this is far more high quality than TED talks, which are just dreamy bong smoking, kumbaya feel good seminars.
@@DasAntiNaziBroetchen calm down
This is by far the best game development video from a business standpoint. I can relate to this as I released a game last year and started to see significant increase in traffic this year. Social media is great way to promote game and also adding social elements to game increase the lifespans of it.
Holy shit. I literally just played Shadow Hand like 2 months ago. Really amazing getting some pokes inside of the sort of Indie developer who made it.
I clicked on this video not expecting to listen to the whole thing. Thank you for sharing this presentation.
Fantastic fellow! Glad I watched this! Really good insight!
Starting out as a new indie developer, I found this very encouraging. Thank you.
Jake, thank you for sharing this with us all!
Fantastic talk. Lot of respect for Jake. Pure tenacity. It was super interesting hearing about why he didn't want to do free-to-play, he seems to have his heart set on making good games, not just selling a bunch of units.
That man deserves much respect for his view on abusing human psychology to get money out of them.
Isn't that the basis for pretty much any business in a market economy? Convincing people to buy your stuff! Doing things to appeal to consumers. Wow, sounds devious when you frame it as "abusing human psychology" ... Makes me sound like a monster for setting up a lemonade stand for thirsty hot passers-by when I was a kid. I abused their psychological dependence on sugar and their deep seated instinct to stay hydrated.
@@AdamsOlympia no, you abused people’s compassion towards a kid trying something. Nobody needs your shitty lemonade.
This talk was great. I don't develop games but so many of these points generalize into any independent endeavor so they still inspire my own efforts. Best wishes to you man!
I LOVE this guy, and what a wonderful and helpful talk. Very inspirational! Also: I agree, we need to sort out our shitty healthcare here in the US. You should have the freedom to take risk and try to be an indie dev, without worrying that you won't be able to care for yourself or a loved one if they get cancer, that's unacceptable. Having that taken care of will massively boost entrepreneurship, small business, etc, etc, which is the backbone of American business.
@Darren Munsell How you managed to come to that conclusion from what Jake said is beyond me. Those are wildly negative and disrespectful comments to be throwing around.
Does it run on newer equip? ARCs other games do not
imagine indie dev in China
first time i heard his voice "Oh i think know this guy", when he mentioned Xmas Bonus I realized he's the guy i've been listening to in an audio podcast wayy back.. Great talk!