Hey. I've played the game for a short amount. There are three things I want to point out: 1. I have not seen a single add, even though I returned to the main menu and I played the game ~10 rounds with max 28 points. 2. I don't see a clear pattern why the game ends, which is kind of annoying and makes it harder to improve 3. I would really love to see more statistics at the end, not only the total points. For example it would be really interesting to see the overall accuracy. Additionally: It would be really nice to see much clearer when you hit the circle perfectly. For example change the colour of the circle. Overall: really nice game and artwork! :)
I add myself to the number of people who never had any adds. Also on my device, the option to watch an ad and continue the round is greyed out! I agree, that its kind of hard to understand the mechanic behind the black-out (end of game).
Yo! This is the big one - I tried to cover everything I learned over the last 9 months of building Blink. If you want insight into certain parts of the dev process, here are some timestamps: 0:45 - Getting Organized 2:02 - Development 10:43 - Monetization 12:57 - Release on iOS and Android If this video helped, feel free to drop a like, it helps me out! Thanks for watching!
Would love to see a Post Mortem after a month of how the Monetization went. Not that I'm into making a game for the money AT ALL. but still kinda curious.
Much respect! I know how much work and time it needs to develop a solid game with nice mechanics and content. I´m also developing a tower defense game since a year now.... it´s hard if you want to have something special. Maybe someone is interested in joining my community?
This is more of a general overview of how to. Each step/phase of development is briefly gone over. Each step(source control, artwork, gameplay, etc...) Can easily be another YT video. This YTber mentions one separate video tut(unity + git tutorial). This is a well polished and edited video and I would definitely enjoy more indept videos on each step(game development milestone). This YTber deserves way more patronage.
DevDuck: "having a more diverse source of feedback early-on in you game's life cycle can really make a big difference in how fun your game turns out" Me: *stares at Wollay*
UA-cam probably recommended your channel because I just started learning unity. You are exactly my goals right now. I love these videos. Really helps people like me who are in the frustrating early stages of learning.
Yo this is really really informative and its kinda crazy that you have already completed this whole process! I literally watched every bit of it :D congrats and glhf in the future
Nice work! Regarding Monitization, When I play a game and they start bombarding me with ads, I'll play for 5 minutes then remove the game. So according to me you did the right choice. keep up!
I liked your approch, but the best ad implimentation i've ever seen was when someone added no manditory ads into their app, they added an option in the options menu to play an ad with a little message mentioning that they would like you to watch some ads to help them out but you don't have too. That made me really happy and i watched the entirety of a number of ads for them
I've been randomly following some of your Dauphin videos but did not understand much of the coding and stuff. I entered the GMTK 2021 Game Jam and only did the Godot tutorials. After that I watched the video where you implemented the interactions and conversations on Dauphin and understood it better. Then I watched the revenue this game brought you from another video and after watching this I just bought your in app purchase. You deserve it.
I'm still in the start and abandon projects stage... i dream too big and get frustrated when its not working. its good to downscale and start small and simple but i often go "oh that would be cool to add" and my tasks pile up and... it gets abandoned. start small and dont upscale with new ideas until the game is in a good state.
Pro tips: 1. Shut up. Stop bringing in new ideas. 2. If you fail to do step 1, save those ideas for future games. 3. Pixel art is easier to make and use.
@@galaxydoes8034 Yeah, new ideas mid development or early on further complicates things and delays the project. I'll keep pixel art in mind next time. I'm currently working on a program (not a game) and im trying to keep it as simple as possible. it might help me in game development later once i learn to stick to the starting plan and NOT add more unnecessary complications before its "done".
@@darkshadowsx5949 Another quick way to make a game is this one engine called Godot. You don't even need to know how to code to make games with it. _Hope this helps!_
@@ryanrichardson4056 sometimes projects simply don't click with me personally and I end up abandoning them. Sometimes one does click and I get quite far with it, organising and planning is very important for a successful project.
The game is really cute. It's also very motivating to hear you talk about the development process, especially that you had little experience with it and managed anyways. Regarding ideas for monetization: Perhaps you could have an ad pop up if you lose with a rather high multiplier. Let's say you're at x8 or x10 and then get eaten. A window tells you, that by watching a quick ad, you can continue were you left off (or with a slight decrease to your multiplier if you fell it makes the progression to easy). We humans don't like it when lose something we worked hard for, so some people might be inclined to watch it. And by only triggering the ad with a high multiplier you don't pester players that are just starting out or those that slipped up early on.
Wow, you're providing tons of information here! The release part was the most helpful for me, as I'm also going to do that in the near future. Looking forward to see what you have in mind for your next project! :)
I'm working on a mobile 2d rpg kind of game, I'm learning unity for a 4 month after I quit web development. Almost done with it, and thinking about making a video about my journey
This may be *really* late, but I'm so glad I found your video, I was recently told that I was put on a 4-year waitlist for a programming course at my local vocational school, but this kind of reignited the spark of self-learning. Thank you
@@josh6444 are you an experienced game dev? I'm a total noob still learning JavaScript and how to implement a sprite into a game. I'm super exsited about it but it's complex. At the moment I'm doing all of this off my phone cause i dont have a computer or anything. Hahaha ugh. So much to learn.
Fantastic man. Your series definitely has motivated me. Beyond just to complete my first game. I'm motivated to being a better person in health, productivity, organization. You just have your shit together and were both the same age in the same field with similar hobbies. Mad respect. Look out for my Tower Archer Defender game coming soon. 😊
That's so awesome to hear. I feel like I lose sight of it in some of my videos, but my goal is absolutely to try and promote and inspire a healthy lifestyle and balance. Can't wait to see what you build!
Maybe there could be a Deep sea level that’s pitch black with an angler fish with giant squid tentacle as a threat. Aquarium level, simple one, with colorful neon fish, gold fish, koi? the light circles are instead bubbles. Threat is a net/darla at the glass staring. play as Nemo with his lucky fin.
Great to see that you didn't neglect any element of the gameplay! The touch of psychology/music theory through the sound was really nice and convinced me to subscribe. Looking forward to seeing what else you produce in the future!
Downloaded and played it. I liked it! Pretty smooth gameplay, really easy to understand, and it's got that little something that makes you want to keep playing :) I'll review it in the Google Play Store for you!
Very helpful, and very motivating. I've been trying to do the same thing for years. I've never been able to motivate myself enough to get the ball rolling. This was exactly the video I needed to watch. Thank you!
This is awesome! Congrats on the release! Although I am not doing mobile games, it was cool to hear your thoughts and opinions of monetization. Can't wait for the next project!
Thank you for this! I just got my $1,000,000 idea a couple days ago. I plan to build it as a card game first, then port it into unity as a card game app.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I too have been plagued with unfinished project for way too long to mention (17 years) but I am on the right path now. I hope I can share mine too...in 9 months ;)
This is a very insightful video. Good to see how proud of your project you are. I hope I get to experience that same feeling soon. Keep up the videos and good work.
This video was really helpful, informative and inspired me to make a game. I'm gonna make videos on youtube just like you where I will track my progress.
When you popped up on the screen, I couldn't help but think the shirt you were wearing looked REALLY familiar. Then I looked down. It's more worn down, but I'm legitimately wearing the same shirt.
I am not good with english so I am sorry for any mistake. I was looing for a dev example how to put your game acessible in mobile stores and I found your video. So, after I watched your video I played your game and it was very interesting. With a few adjustments to be implement in your project it was a nice play. Thanks for the video and the explanation about the creation process. It will help my studants to see how and know: it is possible to make games with a few things.
Great job on the release! Played it and I really like the core mechanic. Just a few things I noticed/suggestions: The sound is very quiet (compared to the ads and other apps), I had to turn my volume all the way up to hear the music notes. Another thing is I'm sometimes not sure when I miss a circle, some more visual feedback for this would be really helpful. I know there's the lower note that plays, but my brain doesn't notice unless I listen for it. But maybe this will get better as I play it more. Finally, I remember you tried this and weren't a fan, but I would really love it if you could move the firefly by touching and dragging anywhere in the scene. For one I can't see the awesome new bugs I've unlocked because my finger is covering them up! But also, it feels way more natural to play mobile games with my thumbs instead of my pointer finger, and I feel like this feature would allow me to do that. Overall great game and the art is very well done. Can't wait for the next one!
Thanks for this excellent feedback! I agree with all of it, especially the bit about the controls. Having your finger cover up the insect was a problem I grappled with throughout development but ultimately decided to ignore. I will absolutely be improving controls for my next game.
Thank you for this video. It is inspiring. It was recently that I decided to adhere to anything I start before I move on to the next project or hobby. I am glad to have seen this video to motivate me. I wish you the best of luck on finishing your next project.
Super cool dude. Glad to see your creative process. I work full time as a chef and am back in school trying to enter the medical field. But my true passion is in art and game development. Watching this gives me hope I can actually do this!
Hey man, really great video. I love seeing this type of stuff, very inspiring. 9 months may seem like a long time for a game, but a lot goes into it. Great job.
If you´re doing everything for yourself (graphics, code, ideas, animations, balancing, bug searching, &&&...) it takes tons of time. I am still working on my game for a year now...
@@andrewmartin2341 So true! If you have time you can take a look at my project arrivalofbeasts.com and also join my discord server. I am always open for questions or cooperation :-)
I appreciate your effort as a full-time engineer as well. I loved your game. A few feedbacks: - It’s hard to move the bug by tapping right on it which requires me to reach everywhere on the screen with a single finger, you can use relative coordinates to move bug even I don’t tap on the bug. - Matching circles is not satisfactory enough, You can give feedback with colors of circle when I get closer to a perfect match. It can turn into red if I exceed for example. - You can add some different mechanics such as obstacles to harden the match which will require users to go around. - Having in-game currency and buying those skins with this currency would be more motivating in my opinion. Good luck :)
Lovely work. You committed to project, you learned skills along the way and - most important - released it. That way you can focus on the "updates" and progression to enhance the game from play testers instead of spending 2 years with a unfinished project to never release it. Also visuals are pretty stunning, well done : ) Better to release 5 project over a span of 2 years to learn. Instead of being stuck with your first project for years
Hey Ben, great video. I see you have your machine specs in the description; make sure to add amazon affiliate links next time, it might help you supplement your income a bit. This becomes more impactful the bigger your channel gets.
Obviously, I don’t like ads, but I would actually like to support you and I’ve never gotten an ad after playing the game for a couple days. Usually, I just play again until I don’t want to anymore, and then just leave the app, without ever going back to the main menu. I think you did a much better job on the arctic fox game because it’s not too many ads and you can even turn them off.
If you have 365, use Planner instead of Trello. If you have Notion, there's great in-built tracker boards on that, too! All that said, for development, Linear is an absolute beast (especially if you need a bit of extra features for a small team).
On month 11 of my first indie dev journey, making a similarly scoped game. My game's called Palava, it's all about trying to stop an angry volcano erupting by feeding it tribute items. You've got a cool game theme! subbed :)
Dude. Thanks. I used to build Flash games, and could program in ActionScript3. Now I want to build a game in Unity, but it seems so overwhelming. Since I'll have to learn Unity and C#. This helps. Thanks.
Hey Ben. I have yet to release anything outside of my friends group personally so great job on getting your game out. I checked out the game on Android. I noticed you haven't implemented leaderboards yet. I know the leaderboard option you tried before looked like crap but creating a custom leaderboard isn't very difficult. It just takes some simple server and game code and some UI to render it in. If you wanted to talk about how to do a custom one, feel free to reach out and we talk it over. Again, great job and keep up the great work!
Very informative video, great to see your process and even better that you've finished it to your own content. Not a very common milestone with solo game devs haha!
Small suggestion for your video description: make sure to not have two links on lines below each other. Assume you have a mobile viewer, make sure you don’t have a problem clicking the correct link, so always have spacing between links.
Your progress and consistent uploads have been great!, congrats again on the release and the insight to your development and post release was great......I should stop slacking and upload more lol....looking forward to more video dude!.
did you use a UI gameobject (eg. Canvas->Image) for the bug or just a regular game object? Also I feel like the bat that kills you is a bit unbalanced. The player barely has enough time to react cuz of how quickly it appears on the screen. I would suggest a blinking Alert sign at the spawn point a few seconds before the bat spawns. or perhaps if the game was portrait which I felt it probably should have been (filthy casuals don't have time to flip their phones), you could have the bats slowly decend from the top and maybe even slightly track the player. And powerups, why no powers up? or something to tempt the player from only filling the circles. Like maybe a different coloured circle that adds even more brightness but the size is quite small so the player has to react quickly to get it. Overall, after adjusting to the difficulty I found the game quite fun
This is really great feedback, thank you! I completely agree with all of it. I didn't even think about a lot of these things while creating Blink, but I will absolutely bring these ideas to my next game.
It's difficult releasing your very first game. Most people quit right before they finish. Good job on your first game. I'm almost done with mine, just need to make google play services working.
Hi Ben, Congratulations on your first game. I played it on my android device. Great idea. The controls was good. The concept too. But personally not much into the pixel art. Keep it coming. Looking forward for more from you. We(Me and friend) are looking forward to creating our own first game. Your videos was very helpful. Cheers. 👍😊
Thanks Pranav! Really glad my videos are helping out. Pixel art was a great place for me to start learning some art skills, but I think I will definitely be going in a different direction for my next project.
And for all those asking "but how do I make a game, gimme the secret." The answer is in the first 10 seconds of this video. You tell your brain you are going to do it and then you actually do it...just do it. The same way when you want a pizza you figure out the how, what and where and you get it.
But I don;t know how to plan a game. I don't know how to make assets. I don't know how to make background. I don't know how to make the things move in 2D. I don't know how to make other things pop in and out of existence. Hell, I don't even know how to plan to make a game.
@@baabaaer that's exactly why you have to make the decision to do it and start taking action. As with any new skill...thinking about how to think about doing it will only leave you spinning in circles. Whats important is learning all those things through experience, trial, and error. Good luck! It's an amazing experience watching your skills grow like magic.
@@baabaaer think of a game. break it down to its core fuctions (eg move character, show leaderboard, load sounds, calculate number). create each core function once in a seperate project to learn it. now youve learned all core functions create a project where you combine them all. if you want to start right now take your idea and break it down in to really small pieces. take one piece that you think you could learn in 1 day and learn it in 2 days. do this again on the next day and again and again....... congrats you just became a gamedev.
Leon Abels I also suggest looking at games from 2-day long game jams. I understand that devs who join game jams have probably been in the industry for at least several months or a year, but it's inspiring to see how they create those games in such a short amount of time. LixianTV streams the process of him developing games. It's kind of refreshing to actually see the process, to actually realize that devs aren't just placing boxes together to make the game work.
Hello from Ukraine) The game, although simple, has something to think about) And it’s also good for explaining every detail in your game! Thank you very much) Also subscribed to your channel) continue on)
Congrats on your first game, looks really cool :). This was a motivating video with some good info! I hope to make my own game in the future, but there is still a long way to go. Currently learning python and blender.
@@DevDuck Thanks! Blender seems to be getting more attention these days, probably because of version 2.8, and I find it quite fun to use. There are many good tutorials on youtube and many good addons online.
Good job! Doesn't look like the type of game I'd play, at least not in its current state. Doesn't look as fun to me. (I know others have said the same below so I'll try to leave some constructive criticism :D) Suggestions: - Try Adding some AI to the Bats/Enemies? Like have it slowly chase you instead of shooting in one direction. - When it's day have Birds eat you, and at night Have Bats eat you? - It was hard to notice but I think like around 11:29 , you should have it so if you leave the circle it resets. - Maybe add some weather? some snow? some rain? little clouds passing by? Either way Congratulations on finishing a game and publishing it!! Good luck man.
Hey thanks for the feedback and suggestions! Going into this game I knew it wouldn't appeal to everyone - the gameplay is just too simple. But it served as a great project to learn unity / the process of releasing on mobile. Thanks for the congrats! And BTW - there is snow and rain :D
Ive had a game idea sitting around in my head for so long but I had no idea how to have light in a 2d game, and light plays a very important role in the games story, so Im gonna take a look at your tutorial to see if it helps me with it.
I really like your way of thinking, I would have plugged the pad in and copy it over... but if you can commit to git you allready knocked out a couple of little tasks...
the circles should appear big and then shrink over time. So not only the player must click right in the center of the circle to maximize the points but got be faster to get the maximum point possible. Then just speed things up according to the player progression. as it is it really seems a bit dull. For the art and style you really did a great job! All things considered :)
forgot to mention, a type of dynamic you can do, is that when the circles shrink it takes away the time countdown( if time gets 0 game over) when making points reward player with more time. So the can be combos given more time then just completing a circle perfectly, that is, a circle appear big and have a little bit of time for player to get it 100% then right after it will begin shrink and faster it will shrink the long you take to get to the circle. So those adds will really push any one's limits and really make the score mean something as it will add more fun and dynamism to the game. Also making it more challenging between yourself or other players. So who really is fast and focus will get the highest score, isn't that fun? to find a fastest people in the world? i think it is!
Really cool video man, super informative and helpful for people who are looking for information about releasing their own game! :)
Daddy dani :O
I recognize you and your name but I don't know where from
@@rawrthedinosawr9659 just click on his profile pic, and you'll see his 200k channel.
T H O N K
Drink your milk! :O
Hey. I've played the game for a short amount. There are three things I want to point out:
1. I have not seen a single add, even though I returned to the main menu and I played the game ~10 rounds with max 28 points.
2. I don't see a clear pattern why the game ends, which is kind of annoying and makes it harder to improve
3. I would really love to see more statistics at the end, not only the total points. For example it would be really interesting to see the overall accuracy.
Additionally: It would be really nice to see much clearer when you hit the circle perfectly. For example change the colour of the circle.
Overall: really nice game and artwork! :)
I add myself to the number of people who never had any adds. Also on my device, the option to watch an ad and continue the round is greyed out!
I agree, that its kind of hard to understand the mechanic behind the black-out (end of game).
Yo! This is the big one - I tried to cover everything I learned over the last 9 months of building Blink. If you want insight into certain parts of the dev process, here are some timestamps:
0:45 - Getting Organized
2:02 - Development
10:43 - Monetization
12:57 - Release on iOS and Android
If this video helped, feel free to drop a like, it helps me out! Thanks for watching!
This is soooooo freaking great. Very informative. all in 9 mins. Can u go deeper in each topic? In separate videos?
Would love to see a Post Mortem after a month of how the Monetization went. Not that I'm into making a game for the money AT ALL. but still kinda curious.
You forgot to mention the business license and bank account requirements.
Much respect! I know how much work and time it needs to develop a solid game with nice mechanics and content. I´m also developing a tower defense game since a year now.... it´s hard if you want to have something special. Maybe someone is interested in joining my community?
How much time did you save for doing the project over the 9 months?
4:19 "my friends help me identify bugs..."
"dude there is a bug in your game?"
"where?"
"right on the screen"
*facepalm*
I would like but it’s on 69
@@kouro6894 now the number was 121 . im so sorry
This is more of a general overview of how to. Each step/phase of development is briefly gone over. Each step(source control, artwork, gameplay, etc...) Can easily be another YT video. This YTber mentions one separate video tut(unity + git tutorial). This is a well polished and edited video and I would definitely enjoy more indept videos on each step(game development milestone). This YTber deserves way more patronage.
Thanks so much for the kind words!
DevDuck: "having a more diverse source of feedback early-on in you game's life cycle can really make a big difference in how fun your game turns out"
Me: *stares at Wollay*
Congrats on the release! I love the devlogs and insights you bring to your process. Best of luck with the game and I can't wait to see what's next.
Hey thanks! Appreciate the kind words.
Very happy I found this this evening, just decided to reboot an old idea I’ve had and it’s time to finish a project at long last!!!
Go for it!
UA-cam probably recommended your channel because I just started learning unity. You are exactly my goals right now. I love these videos. Really helps people like me who are in the frustrating early stages of learning.
Yo this is really really informative and its kinda crazy that you have already completed this whole process! I literally watched every bit of it :D congrats and glhf in the future
Nice work! Regarding Monitization, When I play a game and they start bombarding me with ads, I'll play for 5 minutes then remove the game. So according to me you did the right choice.
keep up!
I liked your approch, but the best ad implimentation i've ever seen was when someone added no manditory ads into their app, they added an option in the options menu to play an ad with a little message mentioning that they would like you to watch some ads to help them out but you don't have too. That made me really happy and i watched the entirety of a number of ads for them
I've been randomly following some of your Dauphin videos but did not understand much of the coding and stuff.
I entered the GMTK 2021 Game Jam and only did the Godot tutorials.
After that I watched the video where you implemented the interactions and conversations on Dauphin and understood it better.
Then I watched the revenue this game brought you from another video and after watching this I just bought your in app purchase. You deserve it.
I'm still in the start and abandon projects stage... i dream too big and get frustrated when its not working.
its good to downscale and start small and simple but i often go "oh that would be cool to add" and my tasks pile up and... it gets abandoned.
start small and dont upscale with new ideas until the game is in a good state.
Pro tips:
1. Shut up. Stop bringing in new ideas.
2. If you fail to do step 1, save those ideas for future games.
3. Pixel art is easier to make and use.
@@galaxydoes8034 Yeah, new ideas mid development or early on further complicates things and delays the project. I'll keep pixel art in mind next time.
I'm currently working on a program (not a game) and im trying to keep it as simple as possible. it might help me in game development later once i learn to stick to the starting plan and NOT add more unnecessary complications before its "done".
@@darkshadowsx5949 Another quick way to make a game is this one engine called Godot. You don't even need to know how to code to make games with it. _Hope this helps!_
DarkShadowsX5 so what you’re trying to say is that you’re a quitter don’t worry me too
Yea my first project idea was to create a first person fast base shooter like overwatch....
We all know how that ended
The amount of projects i've started but never ever finished is a really long list! Glad you found the motivation to finish one!
Louis Greenland i can relate there. it’s so easy to start but not to continue
@@ryanrichardson4056 sometimes projects simply don't click with me personally and I end up abandoning them. Sometimes one does click and I get quite far with it, organising and planning is very important for a successful project.
The game is really cute. It's also very motivating to hear you talk about the development process, especially that you had little experience with it and managed anyways.
Regarding ideas for monetization: Perhaps you could have an ad pop up if you lose with a rather high multiplier. Let's say you're at x8 or x10 and then get eaten. A window tells you, that by watching a quick ad, you can continue were you left off (or with a slight decrease to your multiplier if you fell it makes the progression to easy). We humans don't like it when lose something we worked hard for, so some people might be inclined to watch it. And by only triggering the ad with a high multiplier you don't pester players that are just starting out or those that slipped up early on.
Wow, you're providing tons of information here! The release part was the most helpful for me, as I'm also going to do that in the near future.
Looking forward to see what you have in mind for your next project! :)
Really glad it helped, thanks for the kind words!
I'm working on a mobile 2d rpg kind of game, I'm learning unity for a 4 month after I quit web development. Almost done with it, and thinking about making a video about my journey
Go for it! Learned a bunch just from reflecting on things.
Let’s see it
Bohdan sure would be interesting
Bohdan I’m thinking about making a mobile rpg game too
Sweet video man! I love how much effort you put into your videos!
This may be *really* late, but I'm so glad I found your video, I was recently told that I was put on a 4-year waitlist for a programming course at my local vocational school, but this kind of reignited the spark of self-learning. Thank you
I like seeing more game dev UA-camrs like you helping growing devs. Keep it up!
Juicy particles
@@josh6444 are you an experienced game dev? I'm a total noob still learning JavaScript and how to implement a sprite into a game. I'm super exsited about it but it's complex. At the moment I'm doing all of this off my phone cause i dont have a computer or anything. Hahaha ugh. So much to learn.
Fantastic man. Your series definitely has motivated me. Beyond just to complete my first game. I'm motivated to being a better person in health, productivity, organization. You just have your shit together and were both the same age in the same field with similar hobbies. Mad respect. Look out for my Tower Archer Defender game coming soon. 😊
That's so awesome to hear. I feel like I lose sight of it in some of my videos, but my goal is absolutely to try and promote and inspire a healthy lifestyle and balance. Can't wait to see what you build!
Maybe there could be a Deep sea level that’s pitch black with an angler fish with giant squid tentacle as a threat.
Aquarium level, simple one, with colorful neon fish, gold fish, koi? the light circles are instead bubbles. Threat is a net/darla at the glass staring. play as Nemo with his lucky fin.
Great to see that you didn't neglect any element of the gameplay! The touch of psychology/music theory through the sound was really nice and convinced me to subscribe. Looking forward to seeing what else you produce in the future!
Thank you!
Downloaded and played it. I liked it! Pretty smooth gameplay, really easy to understand, and it's got that little something that makes you want to keep playing :) I'll review it in the Google Play Store for you!
I may be a rapper but I am a game developer as well, so I just downloaded your game, I love supporting and playing other indie developers games
Very helpful, and very motivating. I've been trying to do the same thing for years. I've never been able to motivate myself enough to get the ball rolling. This was exactly the video I needed to watch. Thank you!
That's so great to hear! Thank you!
This is awesome! Congrats on the release! Although I am not doing mobile games, it was cool to hear your thoughts and opinions of monetization. Can't wait for the next project!
Thank you for this! I just got my $1,000,000 idea a couple days ago. I plan to build it as a card game first, then port it into unity as a card game app.
🤔
0:05 Goddammit your desk setup looks gorgeous.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I too have been plagued with unfinished project for way too long to mention (17 years) but I am on the right path now. I hope I can share mine too...in 9 months ;)
Congrats man. And thanks for the inspiring look back.
This is a very insightful video. Good to see how proud of your project you are. I hope I get to experience that same feeling soon. Keep up the videos and good work.
This video was really helpful, informative and inspired me to make a game. I'm gonna make videos on youtube just like you where I will track my progress.
When you popped up on the screen, I couldn't help but think the shirt you were wearing looked REALLY familiar. Then I looked down. It's more worn down, but I'm legitimately wearing the same shirt.
I am not good with english so I am sorry for any mistake.
I was looing for a dev example how to put your game acessible in mobile stores and I found your video.
So, after I watched your video I played your game and it was very interesting.
With a few adjustments to be implement in your project it was a nice play.
Thanks for the video and the explanation about the creation process.
It will help my studants to see how and know: it is possible to make games with a few things.
Great job on the release! Played it and I really like the core mechanic.
Just a few things I noticed/suggestions:
The sound is very quiet (compared to the ads and other apps), I had to turn my volume all the way up to hear the music notes.
Another thing is I'm sometimes not sure when I miss a circle, some more visual feedback for this would be really helpful. I know there's the lower note that plays, but my brain doesn't notice unless I listen for it. But maybe this will get better as I play it more.
Finally, I remember you tried this and weren't a fan, but I would really love it if you could move the firefly by touching and dragging anywhere in the scene. For one I can't see the awesome new bugs I've unlocked because my finger is covering them up! But also, it feels way more natural to play mobile games with my thumbs instead of my pointer finger, and I feel like this feature would allow me to do that.
Overall great game and the art is very well done. Can't wait for the next one!
Thanks for this excellent feedback! I agree with all of it, especially the bit about the controls. Having your finger cover up the insect was a problem I grappled with throughout development but ultimately decided to ignore. I will absolutely be improving controls for my next game.
Congrats on the release. Thanks for sharing your game dev journey!
Thank you for this video. It is inspiring. It was recently that I decided to adhere to anything I start before I move on to the next project or hobby. I am glad to have seen this video to motivate me. I wish you the best of luck on finishing your next project.
Same
Super cool dude. Glad to see your creative process. I work full time as a chef and am back in school trying to enter the medical field. But my true passion is in art and game development. Watching this gives me hope I can actually do this!
Nice work setup. Good luck with the game
Congratulations man, you have inspired me so much!
Thank you, that's so awesome to hear.
Wow man this game is pretty dope! I love it :D Keep on creating! Can't wait for updates and maybe new game :D
You r too good man! Luv ur efforts .... Hope you get all ur dreams come true!
the videos are really high quality .......man you have multiple talent...... the game felt close to osu (game) .... just with a little different
Congratulations on your release papi, I can't wait to see your next project. Best of luck on your future endeavors :)
Hey man, really great video. I love seeing this type of stuff, very inspiring. 9 months may seem like a long time for a game, but a lot goes into it. Great job.
Also, the game looks deceptively easy. Not as easy as it looks lmao.
Thanks so much!
If you´re doing everything for yourself (graphics, code, ideas, animations, balancing, bug searching, &&&...) it takes tons of time. I am still working on my game for a year now...
@@50Gameplay yeah any game with a bigger scope than this will probably take a lot longer.
@@andrewmartin2341 So true! If you have time you can take a look at my project arrivalofbeasts.com and also join my discord server. I am always open for questions or cooperation :-)
this desk setup tho. ikea doors are so good
thank you, you give me more motivation to start my gamedev dream
Really enjoyed playing Blink! Keep working on great ideas.
Thanks for the support!
First things first #congrats on game . This game look very nice dude. i like the color combinations and going to try this...
Thank you!
I appreciate your effort as a full-time engineer as well. I loved your game. A few feedbacks:
- It’s hard to move the bug by tapping right on it which requires me to reach everywhere on the screen with a single finger, you can use relative coordinates to move bug even I don’t tap on the bug. - Matching circles is not satisfactory enough, You can give feedback with colors of circle when I get closer to a perfect match. It can turn into red if I exceed for example. - You can add some different mechanics such as obstacles to harden the match which will require users to go around. - Having in-game currency and buying those skins with this currency would be more motivating in my opinion. Good luck :)
Great work and thank you for your insight on all the behind the scenes work needed in publishing a game.
Thanks for the support! The publishing part was more work than I anticipated but I'm glad I've learned how to do it.
Very cool to see your process ! I'm not a developer but it's eye-opening to see the work that goes into creating a game.
Great video man, thank you for sharing the whole journey! Congrats for releasing the game 💪🏻🔥
Thank you!!
Lovely work. You committed to project, you learned skills along the way and - most important - released it. That way you can focus on the "updates" and progression to enhance the game from play testers instead of spending 2 years with a unfinished project to never release it. Also visuals are pretty stunning, well done : )
Better to release 5 project over a span of 2 years to learn. Instead of being stuck with your first project for years
Great video! Thanks for sharing! 👍🤓
Btw - we also use Trello for our team task management but I still prefer Asana for my personal daily to-do list 😜
Hey Ben, great video.
I see you have your machine specs in the description; make sure to add amazon affiliate links next time, it might help you supplement your income a bit. This becomes more impactful the bigger your channel gets.
You mentioned this before and I failed to act on it. I’ll see if I can get this set up! Thanks for the support Nick!
DevDuck np Ben, I mean well :)
Obviously, I don’t like ads, but I would actually like to support you and I’ve never gotten an ad after playing the game for a couple days. Usually, I just play again until I don’t want to anymore, and then just leave the app, without ever going back to the main menu. I think you did a much better job on the arctic fox game because it’s not too many ads and you can even turn them off.
I liked your approach 🙂 Very inspirational, Helps a lot
Great job, man! Looking forward to your next project/development journey. :)
Thank you! Me too :D
If you have 365, use Planner instead of Trello.
If you have Notion, there's great in-built tracker boards on that, too!
All that said, for development, Linear is an absolute beast (especially if you need a bit of extra features for a small team).
This is the best channel to ever exist i love it soooo much!!!
Awesome video, I've just started learning Unity and your video has given me some motivation. Thank you.
Super happy to hear that!
On month 11 of my first indie dev journey, making a similarly scoped game. My game's called Palava, it's all about trying to stop an angry volcano erupting by feeding it tribute items. You've got a cool game theme! subbed :)
Dude. Thanks. I used to build Flash games, and could program in ActionScript3. Now I want to build a game in Unity, but it seems so overwhelming. Since I'll have to learn Unity and C#. This helps. Thanks.
Hey Ben. I have yet to release anything outside of my friends group personally so great job on getting your game out. I checked out the game on Android. I noticed you haven't implemented leaderboards yet. I know the leaderboard option you tried before looked like crap but creating a custom leaderboard isn't very difficult. It just takes some simple server and game code and some UI to render it in. If you wanted to talk about how to do a custom one, feel free to reach out and we talk it over. Again, great job and keep up the great work!
we think so similar. I am too making my first game in unity and it has fireflies too.
Very informative video, great to see your process and even better that you've finished it to your own content. Not a very common milestone with solo game devs haha!
Small suggestion for your video description: make sure to not have two links on lines below each other. Assume you have a mobile viewer, make sure you don’t have a problem clicking the correct link, so always have spacing between links.
Great point. Will do!
Was a great video man ! It is also very easy to understand you, you speak very clearly, which is perfect for french guys like me hahahaha.
Your progress and consistent uploads have been great!, congrats again on the release and the insight to your development and post release was great......I should stop slacking and upload more lol....looking forward to more video dude!.
Thanks for the kind words!
did you use a UI gameobject (eg. Canvas->Image) for the bug or just a regular game object?
Also I feel like the bat that kills you is a bit unbalanced. The player barely has enough time to react cuz of how quickly it appears on the screen. I would suggest a blinking Alert sign at the spawn point a few seconds before the bat spawns.
or perhaps if the game was portrait which I felt it probably should have been (filthy casuals don't have time to flip their phones), you could have the bats slowly decend from the top and maybe even slightly track the player.
And powerups, why no powers up? or something to tempt the player from only filling the circles. Like maybe a different coloured circle that adds even more brightness but the size is quite small so the player has to react quickly to get it.
Overall, after adjusting to the difficulty I found the game quite fun
This is really great feedback, thank you! I completely agree with all of it. I didn't even think about a lot of these things while creating Blink, but I will absolutely bring these ideas to my next game.
It's difficult releasing your very first game. Most people quit right before they finish. Good job on your first game. I'm almost done with mine, just need to make google play services working.
Hi Ben, Congratulations on your first game. I played it on my android device. Great idea. The controls was good. The concept too. But personally not much into the pixel art. Keep it coming. Looking forward for more from you.
We(Me and friend) are looking forward to creating our own first game. Your videos was very helpful.
Cheers. 👍😊
Thanks Pranav! Really glad my videos are helping out. Pixel art was a great place for me to start learning some art skills, but I think I will definitely be going in a different direction for my next project.
"...centered around monetization", then Banner ad......Brilliant! Also, damn your house is clean, almost "yeah, we don't use this room" clean!
Ngl, the meta made me chuckle
Looks like even a simple casual game will requires many months to complete. I am planning to start making one too. ☺
This first one did, but I think my next project will go wayyy smoother!
And for all those asking "but how do I make a game, gimme the secret." The answer is in the first 10 seconds of this video. You tell your brain you are going to do it and then you actually do it...just do it. The same way when you want a pizza you figure out the how, what and where and you get it.
But I don;t know how to plan a game.
I don't know how to make assets.
I don't know how to make background.
I don't know how to make the things move in 2D.
I don't know how to make other things pop in and out of existence.
Hell, I don't even know how to plan to make a game.
@@baabaaer that's exactly why you have to make the decision to do it and start taking action. As with any new skill...thinking about how to think about doing it will only leave you spinning in circles. Whats important is learning all those things through experience, trial, and error. Good luck! It's an amazing experience watching your skills grow like magic.
@@baabaaer think of a game. break it down to its core fuctions (eg move character, show leaderboard, load sounds, calculate number). create each core function once in a seperate project to learn it. now youve learned all core functions create a project where you combine them all.
if you want to start right now take your idea and break it down in to really small pieces. take one piece that you think you could learn in 1 day and learn it in 2 days. do this again on the next day and again and again....... congrats you just became a gamedev.
Leon Abels I also suggest looking at games from 2-day long game jams. I understand that devs who join game jams have probably been in the industry for at least several months or a year, but it's inspiring to see how they create those games in such a short amount of time. LixianTV streams the process of him developing games. It's kind of refreshing to actually see the process, to actually realize that devs aren't just placing boxes together to make the game work.
Dude pretty cool, such an inspiring video!
Man, really liked your video, thanks for sharing your journey! Was wondering about how many hours per week you devoted to this over the 9 months?
Hello from Ukraine)
The game, although simple, has something to think about)
And it’s also good for explaining every detail in your game! Thank you very much)
Also subscribed to your channel) continue on)
Your video taught me a lot and gave me inspiration. Thank you! :D
Oh man you really gave me encouragement boost thank you
Very useful video, thanks. But really expected more about learning/using Unity considering the title^^
Congrats on your first game, looks really cool :). This was a motivating video with some good info! I hope to make my own game in the future, but there is still a long way to go. Currently learning python and blender.
I'm about to start with blender too! Good luck!
@@DevDuck Thanks! Blender seems to be getting more attention these days, probably because of version 2.8, and I find it quite fun to use. There are many good tutorials on youtube and many good addons online.
Good job! Doesn't look like the type of game I'd play, at least not in its current state. Doesn't look as fun to me.
(I know others have said the same below so I'll try to leave some constructive criticism :D)
Suggestions:
- Try Adding some AI to the Bats/Enemies? Like have it slowly chase you instead of shooting in one direction.
- When it's day have Birds eat you, and at night Have Bats eat you?
- It was hard to notice but I think like around 11:29 , you should have it so if you leave the circle it resets.
- Maybe add some weather? some snow? some rain? little clouds passing by?
Either way Congratulations on finishing a game and publishing it!! Good luck man.
Hey thanks for the feedback and suggestions! Going into this game I knew it wouldn't appeal to everyone - the gameplay is just too simple. But it served as a great project to learn unity / the process of releasing on mobile. Thanks for the congrats! And BTW - there is snow and rain :D
Ive had a game idea sitting around in my head for so long but I had no idea how to have light in a 2d game, and light plays a very important role in the games story, so Im gonna take a look at your tutorial to see if it helps me with it.
Nice video, well done on finishing, making a game solo is very hard. Btw very nice office.
Hey thanks!
This is inspiring! I’m going to download Blink now and try it out! 😀 🐝
Great vid! Love the process discussion!
Just subbed. Awesome video. Thanks for sharing this valuable information.
Great video and great advice! Thanks for sharing dude.
Thanks for sharing and congrats on the good work!!
Thank you!
Fantastic video, we appreciate the effort! Let's get this man more subs! 🔥 #subscribed 😃
Great video! I downloaded the game and it is pretty fun
Nice, the steps you took are well organized.
I really like your way of thinking, I would have plugged the pad in and copy it over... but if you can commit to git you allready knocked out a couple of little tasks...
It allows me to be productive with my iPad when I’m totally remote and have no access to my PC. I just love the workflow!
Thanks, It was very enlightening :-) Compressed good package of tips.
Danke für deinen Erfahrungsbericht.
the circles should appear big and then shrink over time.
So not only the player must click right in the center of the circle to maximize the points but got be faster to get the maximum point possible.
Then just speed things up according to the player progression.
as it is it really seems a bit dull.
For the art and style you really did a great job! All things considered :)
forgot to mention, a type of dynamic you can do, is that when the circles shrink it takes away the time countdown( if time gets 0 game over) when making points reward player with more time. So the can be combos given more time then just completing a circle perfectly, that is, a circle appear big and have a little bit of time for player to get it 100% then right after it will begin shrink and faster it will shrink the long you take to get to the circle. So those adds will really push any one's limits and really make the score mean something as it will add more fun and dynamism to the game. Also making it more challenging between yourself or other players.
So who really is fast and focus will get the highest score, isn't that fun? to find a fastest people in the world? i think it is!