This video was very insightful. Game development is outside of my knowledge base and I found this information very valuable. I am interested in developing a Bible study game for my faith-based brand. I have so many people telling me that I can do it myself, but after watching this I am confirmed that it will not only take a team of people, but multiple layers of funding and delegation of duties to develop, Market, and get a following for my game idea. Thank you.
So glad it was useful for you :) I think you can always develop a 'prototype' game with ease if you got the skillset, but to make it commercial you'd definitely need some finances behind you - depending on where you live, there's a range of government funding schemes which back prototyped games, especially if they have cultural merit like your idea sounds (Canada has the Canada Media Fund, UK has UKGTF, etc). Outsourcing a team to work on it with you for split revenue shares is also a way to accelerate the dev process, so there's some options out there! Good luck! :)
@@AntlerStudios 🤯 More AMAZING information that I would not have considered because I didn't know it even existed. Bless you for serving the community by sharing your experience and knowledge. 👏
Hi Emily/ Antler, Great video and hope Project Grove is going well! Just a quick question that's sort of related to the question of funding indie studios. It's rare to see a fully 3D game from an indie dev such as yours, but even rarer (it seems) to see 3D linear indie games with a fleshed out combat system in them (e.g. 1st/ 3rd person shooters). BPM: Bullets Per Minute is the only counter-example that comes to mind, although this used procedurally generated levels. Would you be able to comment on why this is? Is it simply a trends thing - e.g. the continued popularity of retro pixel platformers on Kickstarter means that most indie devs simply follow the money - or is it due to technical limitations? Is there something about making 3d combat-centric games that makes them that much more difficult to make for a small studio rather other types of games? If this is the case, would cutting corners on the graphics, say, free up enough resources, or is it just that much easier to make pretty looking games than it is ones with combat, because of all the work needed with AI, weapon balance, modelling, rigging etc etc? Guess it wasn't such a quick question looking back on it, but thanks in advance for any perspectives!
Hi There! So sorry we missed out this comment! It's quite hard to say as there could be a variety of reason. 3D games typically can require more personnel (rigger, modeller, animator, etc) as well as still needing 2D art work too. For this reason, it's a smarter decision to go with 2D games if your studio size is smaller. We're fortunate that our designer, Tom, is a bit of a master of all trades (one of those rare gems!). We also started our game out of a university project - we didn't do any prior market research or actually think too deeply about the technicalities of making an indie game. We just had a cool idea and had a year at university to play around with it! Trends can also play a role in the decision - certain genres spike and tend to get more games following those trends (I guess in the hope to catch the wave whilst it's still there). It could also be that the peeps making those games just like the genre themselves - you can't work on your indie game if you don't love the game you're making, though there will be plenty of times you start to hate it! I'm no expert on shooter games but one title which springs to mind is Shotgun Farmers, I think that was made by a solo dev and as it was low-poly probably made his development journey a bit easier. I think there can be a fallacy in games that 'art sells', and it does; but when you see titles like Loop Hero smashing it, there's a lot to be said for clever & satisfying game design. I guess it comes back to the theme of this video - it's all about scope and scale. Be realistic with what you can achieve, in the the frame you actually want to achieve it by, is probably a huge deciding factor in why indies make the games they do. I know we'll definitely have a different mindset after we ship Project Grove as we've learnt so much along the way about the practicalities of making a game with a small team size - we're only four part-time devs! So the short answer to your question: it a mix of team size/scope/market trends/the dev's genuine love for such genres. Thanks for the great question, I enjoyed answering it! Em
First of all you are so cute :X ( kawaee and etc ) I hope I meet you and your team soon in one of your grand opening of one of your games as CEO of 40Gamers ( hopefully I release my game soon)
You prolly dont give a shit but if you guys are stoned like me atm you can watch pretty much all the new movies and series on instaflixxer. Been streaming with my gf for the last weeks xD
![Crowdfunding Secrets | 6 Devs That Hit Their Goals [2020]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/xkH5NemDPSY/mqdefault.jpg)
Fantastic video! Thanks for the info and... I've seen my avatar when you were talking about the fantastic discord server Games Marketing Essentials!!
Thanks Bee! You're an inspiring dev & your contribution to the GME community is epic
Thanks for your insight, really interesting!
So glad you found it helpful, it was such a maze for us at the beginning of our journey!
Interesting video!
The game looks really nice as well :)
Thanks Yannick! Hope it gives everyone a good insight into funding as an unpublished indie :)
This video was very insightful. Game development is outside of my knowledge base and I found this information very valuable. I am interested in developing a Bible study game for my faith-based brand. I have so many people telling me that I can do it myself, but after watching this I am confirmed that it will not only take a team of people, but multiple layers of funding and delegation of duties to develop, Market, and get a following for my game idea. Thank you.
So glad it was useful for you :) I think you can always develop a 'prototype' game with ease if you got the skillset, but to make it commercial you'd definitely need some finances behind you - depending on where you live, there's a range of government funding schemes which back prototyped games, especially if they have cultural merit like your idea sounds (Canada has the Canada Media Fund, UK has UKGTF, etc). Outsourcing a team to work on it with you for split revenue shares is also a way to accelerate the dev process, so there's some options out there!
Good luck! :)
@@AntlerStudios 🤯 More AMAZING information that I would not have considered because I didn't know it even existed. Bless you for serving the community by sharing your experience and knowledge. 👏
Amazing content. You're awesome!
Thanks so much Tomas! Glad you liked the vlog :)
Do you guys have any particular game conferences or trade shows you would recommend?
This was extremely helpful thank you so much!
Thanks for the kind words :D
Useful links we used :
twitter.com/GMEcommunity
ukie.org.uk/a2f/UKGamesFund
steam-revenue-calculator.com/
steamspy.com/
twitter.com/LaurenSMoses
Hi Emily/ Antler,
Great video and hope Project Grove is going well! Just a quick question that's sort of related to the question of funding indie studios. It's rare to see a fully 3D game from an indie dev such as yours, but even rarer (it seems) to see 3D linear indie games with a fleshed out combat system in them (e.g. 1st/ 3rd person shooters). BPM: Bullets Per Minute is the only counter-example that comes to mind, although this used procedurally generated levels.
Would you be able to comment on why this is? Is it simply a trends thing - e.g. the continued popularity of retro pixel platformers on Kickstarter means that most indie devs simply follow the money - or is it due to technical limitations? Is there something about making 3d combat-centric games that makes them that much more difficult to make for a small studio rather other types of games? If this is the case, would cutting corners on the graphics, say, free up enough resources, or is it just that much easier to make pretty looking games than it is ones with combat, because of all the work needed with AI, weapon balance, modelling, rigging etc etc?
Guess it wasn't such a quick question looking back on it, but thanks in advance for any perspectives!
Hi There! So sorry we missed out this comment!
It's quite hard to say as there could be a variety of reason. 3D games typically can require more personnel (rigger, modeller, animator, etc) as well as still needing 2D art work too. For this reason, it's a smarter decision to go with 2D games if your studio size is smaller. We're fortunate that our designer, Tom, is a bit of a master of all trades (one of those rare gems!). We also started our game out of a university project - we didn't do any prior market research or actually think too deeply about the technicalities of making an indie game. We just had a cool idea and had a year at university to play around with it!
Trends can also play a role in the decision - certain genres spike and tend to get more games following those trends (I guess in the hope to catch the wave whilst it's still there). It could also be that the peeps making those games just like the genre themselves - you can't work on your indie game if you don't love the game you're making, though there will be plenty of times you start to hate it!
I'm no expert on shooter games but one title which springs to mind is Shotgun Farmers, I think that was made by a solo dev and as it was low-poly probably made his development journey a bit easier. I think there can be a fallacy in games that 'art sells', and it does; but when you see titles like Loop Hero smashing it, there's a lot to be said for clever & satisfying game design.
I guess it comes back to the theme of this video - it's all about scope and scale. Be realistic with what you can achieve, in the the frame you actually want to achieve it by, is probably a huge deciding factor in why indies make the games they do. I know we'll definitely have a different mindset after we ship Project Grove as we've learnt so much along the way about the practicalities of making a game with a small team size - we're only four part-time devs! So the short answer to your question: it a mix of team size/scope/market trends/the dev's genuine love for such genres.
Thanks for the great question, I enjoyed answering it!
Em
First of all you are so cute :X ( kawaee and etc ) I hope I meet you and your team soon in one of your grand opening of one of your games as CEO of 40Gamers ( hopefully I release my game soon)
haha thanks :D
I would love to see what it means to be an artist at an indie Studio (3d artist, concept artist)
You prolly dont give a shit but if you guys are stoned like me atm you can watch pretty much all the new movies and series on instaflixxer. Been streaming with my gf for the last weeks xD
@Shawn Koda Yea, I have been using Instaflixxer for since november myself :)
What's the marketing discord ?
Games Marketing Essentials (GME). They're on twitter too @GMEcommunity :)