Why Create A Vertical Slice Of Your Indie Game?
Вставка
- Опубліковано 13 вер 2024
- Wishlist Night Run on Steam: store.steampow...
In this video Matt and Sam discuss what the pros and cons of creating a vertical slice of your indie game are.
This is an edited excerpt from the Episode 3 from the Thousand Ant Podcast which you can find the full version of here:
• Thousand Ant Podcast: ...
---
Learn Unity and game development with experienced indie game developers. Subscribe for tutorials, devlogs, and gamedev advice uploaded weekly.
Visit us on Discord, ask questions and share your work: / discord
Follow us on Twitter: / thousandant
Visit our website: thousandant.com
+1 to all of this! Vertical Slices are so so so important. If you have a bad vertical slice, idk if you'll all of a sudden have a great game at the end lol
Totally agree Graham. Hope you're doing good!
Really cool hearing about the process and the goals around the vertical slice from an Indie developer
Thank you!
This is a great option for Independent Developers to showcase the vision they are creating! I will be doing this on my own project! My only gripe about VERTICAL SLICE is the AAA studios doing it with FULL RELEASES. ( Patch, repeat, patch, repeat :)).
Skate Story is looking great 👍
Hell yeah
Such an informative video.
Thank you! Glad to hear it was helpful!
Thank you for sharing your insight with us
Great content guys, keep it coming please!
Thanks!
Very cool. I've been voicing a similar opinion as just "lets bring back episodic games" as in DOS fps games. Make a first episode as shareware, put it out there, and if it gets positive reception decide if it's worth developing additional paid episodes.
From what I've been able to determine it is a viable strategy again. Just look at games like ultrakill. Moreover here are some nice reads on the subject (written by Chris Zukowski): howtomarketagame.com/2020/03/30/should-we-be-marketing-games-like-it-is-1992/ , howtomarketagame.com/2020/05/05/did-warriorbs-use-of-prologues-fail/
yeah we talk a bit about this in the full podcast episode, the dynamic of folks doing "prologues" for free on Steam to get visibility, then dropping the premium game. It's an interesting strategy.
This was so helpfull thanks sam!
I've played some very nice free demos and prologues recently; Webbed, Backbone, Party Animals, Tunic. The only skating game I've played is Skateboard Park Tycoon like 15 years ago, but the juice of Skate Story and the unique setting/narrative has me interested. Ultimately it comes down to whether I enjoy the gameplay though, so are you planning to release something like a demo?
I doubt that’s decided yet, but maybe Sam can answer
I've found working on a vertical slice also forces you to plan the game properly, you can't simply skip a part of the game (e.g. art for example) which is super nice in getting an idea of the scope of your game. However, that might actually be a problem for some starting devs, as they might not have sound designers, funding or artists on board yet. What would you recommend in that case, is it worth it to pursue a vertical slice even if part of the vertical slice will have to be completely overhauled at a later point?
I think a vertical slice approach may not be appropriate for every team. Maybe try using placeholder assets to get something "close". Thanks for checking it out!
@@ThousandAnt No problem, the content is good, I'll keep watching!
I can't imagine they expect your vertical slice to be gold master quality. It just has to represent a complete product. After all, if the game's still in development, then anything can change at any time.
Yeah I think it needs to demonstrate „something like the final quality“.
Working on my VS now. its the only way to work if you know what you are doing
super great! s2 s2 s2
Don't waste resources on creating a vertical slice, build an MVP instead. Your goal should be to prove market demand quickly, not to please publishers.
The layer (vertical slice) for this skate game seems detached from the audience. Is GD a skateboard rider? Because THE MAIN thing in a game about skateboarding - is awesome TRICKS that are hard to learn in real life and of course CUSTOMISATION of the skatepark or whatever in this game instead. Everyone who loves skateboarding understands it. I don't think the investor who knows this will give money.
I know, mb your game will have custom parks and cool tricks, but you have to SHOW this in the vertical slice FIRST OF ALL and on the background "how the character actually moves and how levels look like"!
Gm... If your audience 12 age kids that don't take seriously about skateboarding, this would have sense. Okey, I just live this comment here and come what may.
Good comment