Difficult Decisions to be Made... More Harsh truths and Honesty | Indie Game Dev

I think this 90 day challenge is a nice idea that can bring some excitement to your channel and business. A tip is maybe you could've teased this at the start of the video, because it's exciting enough for people to stick around to the end to hear about it.

That's a great challenge! Whatever ends up being the final result it is guaranteed you will learn a ton. Best of luck!

I wouldn’t quit my job unless I got a publisher deal, that’s a little insane to burn through savings and not knowing if my game is even going to succeed or not.

From a game developer to game developer, here's what I've done to work towards the SAME dream you have which is to make games for a living and this is an idea that has worked for me: I drive a school bus to accomplish my goal. Everyday, I work from 6 am to 8:30 am in the morning and work from 3 pm to about 5:30 pm in the evening. So thus, between 8:30 am to 3 pm, I get a VERY BIG six to seven hour break EACH day. So, guess what I be doing within that 6 to 7 hour break!! I work on my game and not only do I work on my game, I could go back to sleep or basically do anything I want between that time. And $25 per hour in the Midwest USA is not bad and I get paid every week. Plus, I get weekends off, summers off, I will have Spring Break next week, I got Christmas off, Thanksgiving off and all kinds of holidays that schools normally get off. Thus, that's more time to work on my game if I need (or go traveling). And there is a HUGEEEEEEE shortage of school bus drivers or CDL drivers of all kinds. With a CDL B school bus license you could go anywhere you want to go. The hard part is studying to get the CDL and getting used to driving that big bus (or truck). But, such could be done within a few weeks and it's not hard after you get used to it. So, while I'm trying to accomplish the same goal as you, this is how I have a bit of income coming in. And even still, driving a school bus is kind of fun too. It can be an ideal job for gamers. Driving a bus can be A LOT like playing a video game lol. That coordination that you got from playing video games could be monetized lol. And while I'm driving, I sometimes play video game music in the background. And even more, the students I transport are pretty cool!!! Because, guess what: They're gamers too. So, when you mention Mega Man, Metroid, Street Fighter etc., a bunch of those students will know what you're talking about. And we're always talking about games on the bus. And we might go see the Super Mario Brothers movie that's coming out. So, it's win win. And not to mention it's great getting out and traveling around sometimes and getting some fresh air and take in some warm weather while having fun driving around. Thus, this is just the what I've been doing to accomplish the same goal as you. And this is just my 2 cents.

nice videos bro... as someone who had the same dream as you, and someone who quit college and came back home with $150 in his pocket to try and make video games... I realized in the very beginning that making a game that will sell and have a steady income is not that easy when you lack a ton of other skills like marketing... that's why I started selling digital products like courses, then I opened my game dev studio for mobile games, did that for a while but it didn't turn out the way I wanted... now I'm launching my asset store for game developers, and we're also going to launch our first game soon... I didn't record any making of the game nor did I talk about it because I learned to make money in other ways... Most game dev creators and other creators in general do this... in your first video where you talked about finances and such you mentioned thomas brush, he does the same thing, in fact I strongly believe that he makes more money from selling his courses than he's ever made from selling his games so that tells you something... The only way to sky rocket quickly in the game dev space is to have viral videos like Two Star did with choo choo charles... dani was on a good way to make the same thing but it seem to me he was kinda stuck between being the game dev mr beast or actually creating a game which ended in a burnout where he's not doing anything at the moment... All in all, you need something to sell and not depend on youtube or patreon or something similar to that... also I think you're investing too much time in your videos which at the end of the day don't go viral, I had the same problem and I'm talking from experience and good heart to help you out... just turn on the camera and start talking and that's that... Also, if you need any help, advice or whatever, I will gladly help you out just reach out to me [email protected]... I've been doing this fulltime since 2015 so I know a thing or two about making this work...

As a solo dev, who has a playtest on Steam, I would recommend that you put your main game on Steam as a playtest. Set it up as an open playtest so players can get right in to try what you already have. I work in Unreal so I'm not familiar with how Unity does patches. I don't think the 90-day challenge is the way to go if you're short on time, make the really tough decisions about your game and kick it out the door. Do early access if the core of your game is there and all that's really needed is more levels/maps for your game. I'm certain your game is far better than you're giving yourself credit for, but you won't know this until others get a chance to play it!

I know of a local game studio that does contract work and freelancing jobs for about one year until they have saved up enough money to work on one of their own ideas for about one year. Their own ideas always fail so they always get back to contract work after releasing one of their own products. But only until they have enough money to try it again. Of course their games always drop something and even their old games are selling every now and then, so they don't have to do as much contract work as the first time. You could apply the same. It's pretty save to work that way and while working for others you gain quite some experience on the cost of someone else.

I don’t think the 90 days challenge is the way to go. Not for a new game anyways. It would be better to spend 90 days creating a vertical slice of the main game for players to demo and Wishlist. The benefit is now you also have a demo for publishers and even Kickstarter - 3 birds one stone. You’re also not thinking about the stress of the release of the new game and handling bugs and other issue which will definitely pop up from a 90-day game. Answering customers, fixing issues, maintaining forums. Worst case: the new game doesn’t sell well you’re going to be discouraged and then also think you wasted 3 months and the clocks ticking down. Hopeful case: you make enough money from new game to make back money you lost from the 3-month dev time and living expenses and then some for more time to focus on main game. Best case: it goes viral and you're set to fund main game for 3 years you think it needs.

This is why I'd say that being a software developer first is better, then steadily build income streams using your skills as a dev before quitting everything and working on your passion projects. But this is my opinion. I applaud you guys for your decisions and I can understand the struggle. Best of luck, and I can't wait for the Steam Next Fest. Will definitely give the game a try when it launches❤️

I came across your channel last night and a lot of what you discuss resonates deeply with me. I am also an indie developer, and i just passed the 1 year mark of plunking around. I hardly ever come out of lurking to post, but let me just say this: based off of what i've seen so far you've got an eye for polish (looking at your awesome flaming grapple skill as an example - man, that thing rocks!). Do NOT sell yourself short. When playing other games, it's easy to think "Oh man, I don't know if I have it in me to do something like this". But take a step back and look for things that you could and have already done better. Once i started filtering everything through that glass half full lens, it was shocking how many commercially successful games i've played that i can now see some pretty complicated systems and say "Wow, I actually implemented that in one of my projects, and mine is much better."! Or, "Wow, they never figured out problem X and it is still glaringly present in the their release". One last note, In one of your other videos you mentioned that you got sucked into a black hole of fixing stuff. Last year's you created something and current you can code so much better. I think there was a garbage can and some mock puking. I have recently caught myself doing this all the time. I like to think of this as a "skill level up." YOU guys got this, and are doing awesome work. :) Hang in there!

I did notice your channel is a lot about psychology behind motivation and persistence and some tutorials. Or at least, those are the videos YouTube is feeding me. While tutorials are helpful, I don't think mainstream audience is interested in them that much. What I'm thinking is, maybe show progress of the game, some creative challenges and obstacles, the thought process behind some gameplay decisions. Try to get feedback on game mechanics, look and feel and other elements. Include the audience. Make it all easily digestible, try to transmit your excitement for the game so viewers can get excited for your game. After watching more than couple of your videos, I honestly have no idea what the game is about, how it plays and what any one level looks like. I know a lot about struggle, psychology behind pushing such a project and risks you took. These videos are great too, powerful reality check, but maybe concentrate on presenting the game itself a bit more. I know, I know, nobody asked me for advice. However, I'd like you to know that it comes from a good place, and if anything feels harsh, it more of a "English is not my native language" issue than it is on purpose. I feel for you guys and I wish you all the best. Cheers!

Did you speak to anyone else before making such a life-changing mistake? It really is a mistake, too. No matter how great your game is... This was a naive decision. A noble one. Fun. But not feasible.

i always thought that the actual point of making a youtube dev blog was to expand your audience and put eyeballs on the game. Never thought this was about the money… but seeing how little it is, yeah, its brutal out there :(

Good Luck for the project, even more for your lives. I just want to point out that those youtubers with 100s thousands of subs that you talk about have your same amount of videos not because they're lucky or more appealing or just blessed by the Algorithm, but because generally they put on private or remove the older videos in order to leave only the best to be seen, like in a cool shop window. Probably they had undreds of videos that just didn't do well enough before they start to get traction... By the way, I can relate with everything you say and I feel the same, except I've decided to stay calm and wait for my game to form naturally till the end, even if it's going to take years... It's hard to resist the inpulse of just sacrifice everything else and work full time on my things, but I know that if I would do it, I would just burn in advance the cances of succeding... I really hope that you guys will find the solution your way...

I thought I was the only one, can't even play games anymore without sizing up their systems to see if I'd be good enough to implement them. Really ruined playing games for relaxation, impossible now.

"This is gonna be so much fun" seems like foreshadowing lol. I'm excited to track along with your progress making the game! Your videos are also so well done. I don't understand YT as well as I thought I did but sometimes things just pick up seemingly out of the blue. But even if that never happens, it's easy to tell you're building an actual community. I've seen even the smallest communities do mighty things. Much love brother, you've got this. As far as I can tell, you're doing everything right.

I think we're seeing the logical conclusion that people were warning you about all the way back in the beginning. While there's definitely no right way, many indie devs opt for the infinitely safer route of keeping their day job and working on that first product. See, they create the first product, then they start the studio, after its success is proven with that first product. You skipped that step, and it has obvious consequences that you're running into. I know that this sounds harsh, but you should plan for eventualities that you yourself have talked about. - There is a chance the game is not done in 2, or even 3 months. - There is a chance it makes no money I definitely get the appeal of making games, I'm doing it too, I just wish you had been smarter about how you went about it. Starting a new project in hopes it miraculously saves the studio, and then that project being -- for lack of better words, *just another action platformer*, it's not looking good.

You guys and Jonas are my favourite game devs on YouTube. I'm currently studying Games Design and Art and always have your videos on in the background now and again. I think the best thing is that you're realky realistic when it comes to the process of developing a game but also extremely motivational.

Game dev is brutal. Unless you are incredibly lucky and/or are already rich. The amount of unpaid hours beginning game developers throw in every week would be criminal in any other industry. At least you aren't alone! Good luck my friend.

Definitely looking forward to seeing the process behind this challenge! And I really hope this pays off for you and your family. I keep thinking of ideas for a big game I'd like to build and the more I think about it and the more game dev channels I watch the more I realize that I think it'd be smarter for me to create smaller games first. Especially since I'm lacking the experience necessary for a large project anyway. I hadn't even thought of them as portfolio pieces to prove to potential publishers. That's really smart as well. Anyway, good luck, man!