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@peterbelanger4094
Ай бұрын
The dream is dead only when you say it is. The game industry was nothing but indie in the early days, in the 80s & 90s. For some of us older devs, it's all that we know. Doesn't matter if the game makes money or not, I'll still be making them. It's all I know. I've been making games since the ascii slots game I made on my Radio Shack trs-80 pocket computer in 1984. What else are you going to do? just sit and grumble about how that AAA game isn't up to your own personal standards, as....JUST a gamer? As long as other devs keep making buggy, or just plain bad games, I will be stomping off and getting my frustrations out making my own, instead of just whining. Once you know how to be a dev, it's tough to just go back and be a gamer. It's only the money part that comes into doubt.
@EricTheVillager
Ай бұрын
"People's dreams never die" - Marshall D. Teach
@LifeWithRokas
Ай бұрын
Niceeee, one piece
@Zorrio
Ай бұрын
i have this exact scene in the manga pinned on my wall
@hamzahgamedev
Ай бұрын
Not gonna lie, things are getting pretty hard right now.. My game Sky Harvest was featured by Steam for a week, which got me 1.5k wishlists, interviews with 2 KZitemrs and an exclusive interview with IGN. Even after this, Publishers are reluctant in signing the game. Moreover, they are CLOSING their publishing houses (Humble Games, Versus Evil). It is a scary time guys..!!
@MrChambers
Ай бұрын
I disagree, more publishers are looking for games now than they ever have. With AAA slowing down production a lot of publishers are looking to pick up indies to fill the inevitable gaps in the market. Humble Games closing was a complete shock and I think that's more of the exception than the rule in the current indie landscape. Right now a lot of people are scared, and I think that fear will drive a lot of people out of the market. I don't believe you should ever let fear drive your decision making, that's what leads to a life of regret.
@hamzahgamedev
Ай бұрын
@@MrChambers I really hope you are right and whatever you said is based on some data and not on speculation... The thing you said about fear, I 100% agree with that brother.! Never give up no matter how hard it gets.! 🔥💪
@philippe6918
Ай бұрын
Disagree, there are just certain genres that publishers are looking for since these games do well. Your game needs to REALLY standout visually or have deep replayability
@danielr7599
Ай бұрын
Nah, differnt markets AAA dying cuz of free games, and people have less time to play. Also doom scrolling , youtube and twitch not helping. The indie ecosystem is pretty much that , small eco system that is at best 5% but probably 2% of the billions the game industry itself is.
@jasonford7481
Ай бұрын
I am an indie game developer. I have pitched my game to 20 publishers with in the last 3 weeks. Trust me, publishers are not making offers like they used to.
@CeNuSiuLAnimeMagia
Ай бұрын
The indie game industry is thriving like never before. The game industry has changed in a way that benefits small game creators, making it much easier for a small team to develop a game. It's ironic how AAA games, despite their huge budgets, often underperform, while small teams can create amazing games simply because they are passionate about their work. As an MMO enthusiast, I've noticed that big studios haven't made a good one in years, so now I'm more inclined to play small, exceptional indie games rather than unplayable AAA titles. I even started a Steam curator page to support indie game developers in any way I can.
@raskolnikov6443
Ай бұрын
Most indie games are flops financially. It’s an incredibly oversaturated market. There are many. People usually play the few gems (though sometimes a good game gets lost as well) that come out every year among the countless of indie game releases.
@camelm3istr
Ай бұрын
STRAIGHT FACTS
@Dragonking1984
Ай бұрын
@@raskolnikov6443 This is true but the same can be said for almost every market these days. How many movies come out in a year & how many of them do you see? How many songs? How many books? This is how it works The more competition the more the gems stand out.
@JoshiGrim
Ай бұрын
@@raskolnikov6443 saying "few" is an understatement. There are SO many people playing video games. Whilst yeah a lot of indie games are flops there are large number of successes. And were not talking your valheim and palworld type of successes either. But successful probably enough to make the next game and make a living.
@mr-r0m4n
Ай бұрын
The dream is about to do what you love. And this dream cannot die.
@bardragoon4992
Ай бұрын
Dead is ultimately subjective here, but it certainly is a lot more difficult now that it has been in the past. Which is interesting considering game design itself is easy to get into than ever before. Most indie devs, myself included, tend to have a "real" job in addition to development. It's just very difficult not too. I've seen countless talented but perhaps misguided devs go full time indie dev and end up having to go back to more mundane work due to unexpected costs. For example, in America a lot of indie devs don't take healthcare costs into consideration when they quit their job. Couple this with a shrinking pool of investors and a dwindling interest in kickstarter projects (which I can't say I don't understand why with so many scams and failures over the years) and it can be much harder to find funding. Ultimately indie itself has also changed which is what really helped to "kill the dream" so to speak. There are a few reasons for this: 1. AAA and AA has experienced massive amounts of layoffs. This has lead to more inexperienced and freshmen devs struggling to make these AAA games without proper guidance from their more senior staff and AAA has taken a huge hit because of it in terms of credibility and causes even more layoffs. This also means extremely experienced devs are suddenly thrown into the indie wilds when there aren't enough AAA jobs (or the desire to even go back to a AAA job). So now you have what we would traditionally consider an indie dev team made up of industry veterans. Whose games are often far beyond the scope and ability of an average indie team in terms of sheer experience. This scews the perception of what an indie game normally is and leads me to number 2. 2. Indie games have become so successful that they are no longer afforded the leniency they once were. I've worked on games and with other devs who have worked on indie titles in the past where the game itself was what we would consider average, but got good reviews because people were more willing to see past an indie game's flaws and instead enjoy the game for what it was. There is still some of this sure, but far far less than ever before. Anymore people are expecting a high level of polish and functionality for an indie game as they would a AA title, especially given the scewed perspective by number 1. Now there is still some leniency in my opinion, but the bar has been raised much higher than in the past. 3. We struggle to even define indie anymore. For example, last year most articles and a lot of people touted Dave the Diver as an indie. Most developers looked at it and said, "no that's a whole studio and massive publisher??" People still consider Hades indie. Some people say if you get kickstarted you aren't really indie. Some say you have to be a solo dev. Some say you can't pay an artist to make assets for you or you aren't a real indie dev. Some still say you have to make your own game engine. There's just no real consensus anymore and when you as a solo dev or small team are suddenly thrown into the same group as Hades II, what chance do you really have? I'm not sure there is a way to fix this, but I'm just saying the landscape for indie devs is so different from a decade ago when I started and I can't imagine how daunting it feels to fresh graduates or newcomers. This was longer than I intended, I apologize for not being more concise.
@FranksCreativeCorner
Ай бұрын
Wow, you have a great insight on this. I'm new to game dev and I just want to start out for fun, but a part of me also wants to profit from the games I'll make, so I'm still kinda in the process of figuring out stuff, but ultimately I'm grateful to you folks who put your knowledge out there for us to learn and feel that we're not alone in this.
@Aptruswaldo
Ай бұрын
I wish I could give you more than just one like
@mpo48
Ай бұрын
no game should be allowed leniency. your game needs to be good and polished and it needs to work no exceptions.
@shadowplayer8738
Ай бұрын
@@mpo48understandable but in terms of aesthetics and music I think we should not put a high bar especially getting funding or finding the right talents require time and that also costs money. Like FNAF the first one, if I’m not wrong the music is from a public domain and the graphic aren’t like AAA. Yet so many people liked it and it began to grow. I just think that the idea and experience is more important rather than certain “polished” aspects. Also, the game obviously have to function right, if there’s bugs then fix it but as long it’s not broken then I think it’s should be good
@mpo48
Ай бұрын
@@shadowplayer8738 I'm not talking about aesthetics and music. I'm talking about making good games that are fun to play. game devs are not my friends and i have no obligations to not shit on them if they make a game that's bad, janky, or just feels horrible to play. not being a part of the corporate gaming industry doesn't give you a free pass to churn out whatever garbage slop without consequences
@orangelimesky
Ай бұрын
It's not dead for full-stack developers who can draw/code/design. If you're a one-skill kind of dev, then yeah it's going to be very hard.
@iojourny
Ай бұрын
Oh hey, that's me. Funny enough, I'll be full time solo developing a game (among other things, like freelancing) starting October.
@CharlieConcepts-pw9ur
Ай бұрын
If you make games using Ren'Py, then you can get away with being a dev who just knows how to draw. The code you need to pick up is super easy. You can just use free music as well. And if the drawings are good, then people don't mind if the writing is a little sub par. So if you're okay with making VN's then you can do a lot more with less.
@present_artist1033
Ай бұрын
Some strategies may be dead, but talented individuals will always have a way forward ;)
@DCatGameDeveloper
Ай бұрын
Just make good games, with eye-catching visuals (there's a recent trend towards cuter things), interesting gameplay and a story that doesn't make the player drop in the first two hours, forget about those negative and dramatic videos that only serve to make things even more difficult and fill you with anxiety. People are bored with the same games with generic graphics and gameplay, there's always room for highlights or differences.
@Jay-og4yb
Ай бұрын
Its not dead. Sure a lot of indie games come out but how many plain suck? How many are completely uninteresting? How many dont market? How many are clones? You just have to put in some effort to make your game known now. People always want more content.
@thecreativemediastudio
Ай бұрын
Great info! how to get the kickstarter going in the first place is something I’ve been waiting to see you talk about with devs
@HunterLawson_GameDev
Ай бұрын
Props to that dude writing "success" backwards
@squidshockstudios1486
Ай бұрын
SO proud of Josh. What a great dude.
@thematteblackstudio
Ай бұрын
Amazing story! Proud of this team, very inspiring :) Thomas, I would love to do a chat like this with you about my Kickstarter experience and share LUCID's story, tips and tricks as well! Itd be an honor. Keep up the great work my friend, all the best!
@SuPeRNinJaRed
Ай бұрын
Kickstarter is definitely an interesting one these days (and as Thomas has mentioned before as to why he didn’t do one for Twisted Tower) no hate to Kickstarter but if you’re not a “Project KS Loves” then chances are you won’t make it (I backed Layers Deep in the first few days when it made the front page) but what they don’t tell you is most projects fall off into the dark recesses of Kickstarters search... the best ones stay on top, like I said I don’t knock them for doing it that way (honestly it’s to protect their brand from all the terrible projects out there, which to their credit it’s super easy to launch a project, but if you don’t get noticed by then you are basically dead on arrival) Congrats though for getting funded, it’s still more viable than ever but you just gotta do it right!
@EpicBuildDevs
Ай бұрын
Well, I got here from the email list. Which I haven't been reading for so long lol...
@connormcaneeley3480
Ай бұрын
Honestly with the sheer amount of indie games being released (many high quality), I'm feeling pretty discouraged about the indie game dream..
@calebkrauter4027
Ай бұрын
No it's not dead. I need to make my games and make lots of money first.
@MateHall
Ай бұрын
thanks for this video man , good to see hope !
@mahkhardy8588
Ай бұрын
Still working on my crap racing game, gotta finish it, hobby project 🤷♂️ ...idk.
@elujinpk
Ай бұрын
Did I miss the part of how to build a mail list? I'm working on a game and wondering. I don't just start kickstarter than build the list from that do I? Any advice is appreciated.
@zitronekoma30
Ай бұрын
They said pushing it a ton on reddit and twitter as well as mailing influencers etc. for them to also promote it
@elujinpk
Ай бұрын
@@zitronekoma30 cheers!
@mathewomolo
Ай бұрын
if you have a website, you can request for email list sign ups.
@rosepainting8775
Ай бұрын
What if we raised $50k from kickstart and then our project failed, do we have to return money?
@BanXxX69
Ай бұрын
Palworld: „Am I a joke to you?“ 😂
@marcelslofstra2157
18 күн бұрын
I develop games in my free time. As much as I’d like to be able to live off that, it’s not really realistic for me - and I couldn’t handle the stress and anxiety. My day job funds my hobby.
@danielr7599
Ай бұрын
"Valid" 48K is not joke, but its low amount for most of the west world, if you count tax, kickstater cut, he probably see 60-70% max , from 65% , its 31k$, split by 2, its 15.5K , lets say they working on it for a year, this is around 1k$ a mount, even in east EU its below min wage. can it help you out? yes probably. cant it push you to the finish line? maybe? depends how long you need. if they need 2-4 months to finish the game, yes this amount is amazing, if they need above 6 months its not enough. also, even if the game realse and they make 100K in profit(around 200K in revnue 30% steam + ~20% company tax), so 131K$ in profit total, they already did 6 months, and lets say it took them 6 months extra, so 12 in total, the made ~2.5k$ a month, or 65k$ a year, its nice salary, but its just covering a year of work! they need to make 3-4 times this amount to make them have 2 extra years to make there next game or two, and hope each one of them will make it. is it worth it? maybe, i am working on my own things. is it profitable? most likely not. is kickstater dead? kind of yes, its rare to see games pass the 100K$ mark this days. do i recommend going indie? no, you fighting 15K games on steam each year, plus gamepass, epic free games, humble bundles, and steam sales (now more than 8 of them a year), while also fighting free games as well as content free games aka roblox, fortnite, minecarft , where there is so much to do and you "stuck" in them for years. the game they making look nice, a bit empty compere to the competition, and feel unpolished.
@jasonford7481
Ай бұрын
I agree with you one hundred percent. I think Thomas got this one wrong. But i understand why he wants to encourage more deves to get into indie gaming. He is trying to build or maintain his audience count. But I think it would have been more accurate to have said that the indie space is if not dead, it is definitely in decline.
@danielr7599
Ай бұрын
Its alive and there will be games , but it will be like book, a side huslte, unless you top 5% or top 1% that make enough to live from it @@jasonford7481
@mathewomolo
Ай бұрын
@@jasonford7481 i think this was more of marketing this specific game. clever
@jeanlue
Ай бұрын
This single video has all the tools to allow you to succeed ❤❤❤
@omerfarukbykl6097
Ай бұрын
Thomas please make more tutorials on making art assets, implementing them and programming basic mechanics. So basically making basic mechanics and producing them in a polished way that would be fun for steam audience. So that people can make quality games and earn money.
@omerfarukbykl6097
Ай бұрын
The problem with dream game ideas is; we can imagine amazing games but that doesn't mean we can make amazing things. For that we need to practice. If your previous work is not even game jam standard, you'll probably struggle making a great steam release even if you imagine an amazing game in your mind. Because it's not what you think, it's what you can make is the product, mostly.
@MafutaGames
Ай бұрын
Interesting Interview. I am working on some elementary and beginner tutorials. My goal is to get new game makers working on their games without having to code a single line of C# code.
@chinkram
Ай бұрын
9:20 is inspired by over the garden wall bruh, i wouldn't say its that unique and different. (altho i really love it)
@JoeTheis
Ай бұрын
Great insights in this video. I think I stumbled into "build for the trailer" by accident. Lucky!
@DavidMadeThis_YouTube
Ай бұрын
That's a great point that wishlists is pretty much an emailing list. I didn't use kickstarter as I'm still working another job full time anyway but I pumped as hard as I could on Steam and released my power engineering game with a bit of success. I do wonder if kickstarter would have been a good marketing platform on its own, ignoring the fund raising side...
@TheRealJackArthur
Ай бұрын
I'd actually go as far to say, there's probably never been a better time in industry history to be an indie dev!
@Jkdkrbkwmef
Ай бұрын
yeah because everyone complains about AAA games and the microtransaktions
@rosepainting8775
Ай бұрын
Thank you for encouraging, and I have a question, I am more into mobile games. Do you think there is a future for Indie mobile Game Developers?
@TheRealJackArthur
Ай бұрын
@@rosepainting8775 Absolutely dude. Mobile gaming has never been bigger!
@Jkdkrbkwmef
Ай бұрын
@@rosepainting8775 also there are a lot of „trash“ mobile games with ads and stuff so that means if you make a good one which is maybe paid you can easily stand out from the rest or even become a apple arcade game
@blast_processing6577
Ай бұрын
With the way new GPUs and APUs are primarily targeting the AI market, I'd argue the indie market could potentially be on the verge of taking off as people settle for less pwerful GPUs and APUs, especially if indie developers aim for SteamOS and ChimeraOS compatability.
@islandonlinenews
Ай бұрын
Art never dies period.
@FFTVYoutube
Ай бұрын
Lol I'm making a mobile game called doggy blocks. I'm not getting any funding 😅
@idklol4197
Ай бұрын
Nooooo you cant do a kickstarter without having a demo NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@GroomLakeStudiosAU
Ай бұрын
I am currently running a kickstarter for my game and I have a demo but unable to even get people to try the demo....
@under_dev
15 күн бұрын
Never! Very good tips!
@RadikalizedEternally
Ай бұрын
Easy answer no where near dead it’s just began in 2024 it’s easier than ever before from developing needs to making models characters animating if you put the work in anything is possible weather you want to be a singer, race car driver whatever shoe of your talent that’s what life is bout PBP an your dreams will turn reality weather 2 man team or 6 man team it’s not bout the numbers anymore but the creativity within in PERSON💪🏽
@hotworlds
Ай бұрын
Tools and distribution are easier and cheaper than they have ever been. You can spend zero dollars making a game and sell it as an amateur now and even get it on consoles. You used to have to know C and pay a bunch of money for tools. Used to have to get votes for greenlight and now you can just pay the cost of a week of groceries. And before you say it's expensive to hire artists, people are more forgiving of crappy graphics than ever before too. Mascot horror all looks like amateur garbage and it sells like hotcakes. Vampire survivors. Among us. Minecraft. You don't need to pay thousands of dollars to get art like that. Kickstarter projects barely release anyway, not a single game I helped fund has ever come out. That's why they don't get funded anymore. It's barely a barometer for success. But I guess if your main goal is to make money without releasing games it would be a success in that sense.
@MxzStudio
Ай бұрын
Well I don't think is dead. I just finished my first game. In Canada we have CMF that help etc..
@DannyPatrick
Ай бұрын
Layers deep, lets go!!
@jeanlue
Ай бұрын
Thank you Thomas
@becomeplayer1
Ай бұрын
Email is dead.
@brianbrown7074
14 күн бұрын
This game looks good
@yveseboo5057
Ай бұрын
Nothing to worry about. If it die, it will just respawn at the last checkpoint so... 🤷
@jasonford7481
Ай бұрын
proof that it is dead or at least in decline. 3 years ago if you had interviewed a dev who was successful on Kickstarter they would have had $100k + funding. Now in this video its only $48k funding. Still a lot of money but not near as much as it used to generate.
@musicrocks0138
Ай бұрын
Some people took advantage of kickstarter and now no one trusts it
@GiantsOnTheHorizon
Ай бұрын
Not sure if Kickstarter is even real because you pretty much still have to market your own campaign. If you use paid ads for that what you’re bringing in is a small fraction of the actual return.
@Lucky_9705
Ай бұрын
Indie games are too iterative in their current state. They are starting to feel like older games being reskinned as something “new”. We need new games.
@EmeraldWizardStudios
Ай бұрын
I think the change I feel personally is the long standing admiration of AAA studios is slowly withering away, thanks to companies deciding to spearhead their operations with political and social influence which gamers do not want to see in their games. On the contrary, indie developers and studios are rising and producing games that aim to capture the essence of what games meant to us, pure fun and experience without prioritizing "board margins" over quality content.
@MontePikkalo
Ай бұрын
LOL, its alive now more then ever. Steam's revenue last year were record 9 billion dollars. You dont need crowdfunding, you need dedication and hard work , you can make a game for almost free. as long as you have money to survive you can develop a game. Not to mention if you "must" get funding , you can still make a good demo and then get funding but I dont think you need it, you need hype, a good game and steam, thats it.
@danielr7599
Ай бұрын
Check where all this 9 billion goes, how much to 'new indies' and how much going on unicorns. Hades is not indie...
@musicrocks0138
Ай бұрын
@@danielr7599 Yeah, especially first-time indie developers. Of course, all indies have it ROUGH. I’m just making my goal be to finish the project instead of make a ton of money.
@UltimatePerfection
Ай бұрын
No it isn't. Why would I Palworld sell so well if indie games were dead? And Balatro???
@ultraozy4085
Ай бұрын
The AAA giants are falling they're focusing on woke ideologies making ugly looking characters and boring game play theers never been a better time for indie games
@billy6427
Ай бұрын
What are Examples of "Woke" games ?
@SoloGameDevid
Ай бұрын
Bro puts his course in the same video of him talking shit about indie devs.
@KoreanSpy
Ай бұрын
"i did that multiple times i maDE MONEY MULTIPLE TIMEZZZZZZZZZZZZ" HEY 3 TIMES YEAH THATS ME USE THIS EXACT FORMULA ITS CALLED MY BRAIN
@owenlim225
Ай бұрын
if my dream dies, everyone goes along with it (in game ofc)
@Sourge_GR
Ай бұрын
Yeah right dantes
@Definesleepalt
Ай бұрын
Who let Dante out of his cage ?
@BanXxX69
Ай бұрын
❤😂
@Alexindiegamedev
Ай бұрын
It's hard especially when you are a solo dev like I am cause no money for a team.
@viscid09
Ай бұрын
If you believe in your game and your dream, it doesn´t matter how long you will need to end and launch your game even if you are on your own. For example you can look at the single developer of Manor Lords and how long does it takes to launch his game... Be patient and keep doing and you will make it 🙂💪
@MrRafagigapr
Ай бұрын
If you cant do it solo why would you think a team would be a better just get experience while solo and fix the biggest mistakes now instead of later , google and amazon started in a garage , not a team in a cozy office
@cybershellrev7083
Ай бұрын
Golden nuggets of info in here. designing a game with the trailer in mind helps me focus on the important features & put aside the redundant ones.
@NaudVanDalen
Ай бұрын
The average indie game developer earns significantly less than a minimum wage worker. It's basically a hobby for most people. You're not gonna make the next Minecraft. Make games to have fun, but don't expect more than a few hundred dollars a year of profit.
@PySnek
Ай бұрын
Don't expect a single dollar. Expect that you pay sever hundreds to create a polished game. Because that's the truth. Only a very, very small fraction breaks even. Especially if you're not good in marketing (this includes a youtube video like the one here). Introverts have it really hard in die indie scene nowadays.
@PySnek
Ай бұрын
*several
@surpriiise
Ай бұрын
developing a game with trailer in mind its not a great take in my opinion, several indie devs that makes dev blogs or are just indies promoting their game has done this before and its just taking a route on the development where you are making a game with no real vision. A game its not the same as a website, I been on both sides, and each product have his own objective. A website for a game needs to be functional and straightforward, a game is a whole concept involving from music to graphics, some games try to be a simulation or just a story. Trailers can be made in a lot of ways. The trailer can be adapted to your game, in reverse its very difficult and not a great way to do game dev. (in my opinion)
@GameCreatorOfGod
Ай бұрын
Is The Indie Game Dream Dead? No, not even close. You do not need much money to build a game in Unreal.
@samuraischultz
Ай бұрын
Wow, I can't wait until I can get on your guys' level and become full-time. Great video!
@holyavatar2277
Ай бұрын
Well, I'm also a full-time indie, luckily I already have a brand (Dead Age) that's doing quite well. But the market has of course reduced it significantly compared to, for example, 8-10 years ago. The video was definitely cool, the idea with the influencer was good and congratulations on the successful Kickstarter campaign. (wishlisted ^^) One more question that came to my mind, in case anyone is reading this. When should you actually start this Kickstarter Wishlist pre-campaign before it really gets going? Is it possible a year in advance?
@idklol4197
Ай бұрын
how many times are you gonna make this video bruh
@JP-do5tc
Ай бұрын
How much runway does that $48,000 actually buy after taxes, Kickstarter fees, etc?
@thelasttellurian
Ай бұрын
BS double commercial
@quaker5712
Ай бұрын
Every Thomas Brush video in a nut shell.
@TheMapaSoft
Ай бұрын
I am working the in the video game industry for more than 22 years now and I can tell you that Indie is dead. Of course, you will always find exception ( like this guy in the video ) where he had to work like "dog" ( from his own words ).. By the end of the video, you learn that he had a successful Kickstarter, but after ? The market is soooo crowed with games, on many devices, it it so difficult. The golden era of Indie if far behind us now. With the AI on the horizon, the future do not look promising at all. Good luck to all of you who are still following the Indie path.
@nathanielalderson9111
Ай бұрын
It's not dead, but we are at the bellcurve saturation point.
@smallbluemachine
Ай бұрын
Indie devs might have overestimated the demand for metroidvania pixel-platformer puzzlers. But I have no idea, I can only look at the shadows on the wall of the cave and wonder. -Braid Remastered tanked.. how's Animal Well doing?
@DaveUnreally
Ай бұрын
It's better to have parts of a game that make the game look like it's more complete than it is, than you spend over a year on a demo that people might not play. Something I learned after my my bigger game failed to get attention.
@garen591
Ай бұрын
I like how people keep saying the indie game industry is dead. GOOD, its time to weed out the extra baggages in the industry and let the only determined developers make it. At this era, its the solo developers that will shine. Those that can code, design, art and market
@jtenzgames
Ай бұрын
Being a full time indie dev one day would be awesome. Seems very hard to do though with how competitive the gaming industry is. Much respect to the guys that bust their butts and make it work
@steveevans9154
Ай бұрын
So much to learn. Need to balance that with creating actual content. It requires a lot of energy with no guarantees
@pushingpandas6479
Ай бұрын
crowdfunding is dead due all the scam games
@maxelized
Ай бұрын
"you didn't just click launch right? tell my you had a strategy" i feel attacked
@alectravis-daugherty3095
Ай бұрын
I funded because of Alanah Pearce to be honest
@bioburden
Ай бұрын
$48k does make you a full-time game dev, but for how long (realistically)?! We need to stop pushing this fake narrative.
@thomasbrush
Ай бұрын
How is this fake? $48k is totally enough to finish your game and get it on Steam
@bioburden
Ай бұрын
@@thomasbrush Yes, this is true. But then what?! You'll have likely blown through the money in no time (in this case there's two of them working on the game). I'm not being negative just to troll or anything, so please don't misunderstand my apprehension here. I just can't see this as a viable option to quit my job (web dev - which pays way more, indefinitely) if the alternative is to simply enter a never-ending Kickstarter & publisher-begging meat grinder. Of course if your game does exceptionally well, you'll likely have a few years run-way, but that's rare and then you're back to square one again. Kinda like what happened to you dude - you had a track record of successful games and still struggled to find a publisher for Father (now Twisted Tower). I get it, it's part of the process, but a once off payment of even $100k wouldn't be enough to make me quit my job in the hope that I'd have a hit game on my hands. Maybe if you're young & single (ie. very little responsibilities), but as a husband & father with a mortgage etc., it's just not a viable career path or a sensible decision imo. For those in a similar position, keeping a full-time job and working on a game on the side is the more sensible option. Sure it'll take longer and you may have to make some other sacrifices, but you wouldn't be risking your family and your house on the whimsical success of a game. But hey, maybe people like me are simply too old to pursue such risky endeavours, who knows?! Happy to discuss further.
@calebkrauter4027
Ай бұрын
Can't wait for the full interview!
@LawsOnJoystick
Ай бұрын
your very vain
@quaker5712
Ай бұрын
Talk, look at myself on the screen, fiddle with my magnificent hair, talk, look to the gods, fiddle with hair, look at screen, fiddle, talk, look. The dude loves himself.
@Strelokos666
Ай бұрын
The more you force gamedev the more u r making it dead honestly. Shhh. Let's all live by ourselves and keep doing our dreams.
@VistaLargaGames
Ай бұрын
Flat gaming is dying thanks to triple A . Indie dev are the new “third party” especially with all these acquisitions. Vr is the savior. I said what I said. 😂
@jamesofallthings3684
Ай бұрын
I get the feeling your "out of money" is not others out of money. You can always just grift KZitem.
@loopyslop
Ай бұрын
I guess I never saw crowdfunding as a viable option, ive always worked full time in other industries while working unpaid for indie teams
@leothelion5035
Ай бұрын
I think people in here are misunderstanding a lot of economic principles. No, the market is still good. Yes, there is a bit of saturation. Also yes, we are in a bad economic moment. Videogames are nice, having money to eat is nicer. You cannot use a specific moment of global economic crisis to ascertain the future of a industry like the indie one. Why? Well... because you can jump in the wagon whenever you want in time. Yeah, right now might be a bad moment to do releases, but there is a difference in that and the whole industry dying. We are in the 2008s again, so people is adjusting their spending. It's just that, give it a year or two.
@danielr7599
Ай бұрын
with AI and automations , who knows? the crsis can stay for longer. also , even on good economics 2 years ago, avarge indie made less than 10K$ , 10K$ for a year of work is kind of a joke. look at orange pixel games, he also have a youtube, he makes nice small pixel art games, making him 40-70k$ a year, for years now, as him there is many others, but most making 1 -2 games and thats it, closing it, and back to day job. making games fulltime is hard, when its all or nothing on a game its even harder, when you most likely make less than 100K$ a year its even harder to approve (unless 1 man, 12 months and its out). and like i said in other post, you getting 1-2 games a week from epic, couple other in game pass, and humble bundle give you 10 games for 30$ each month, and there is more and more goutcha games , free to play, and eco system (robloxs and fortnite) that have content for days. steam sales, it used to be 2, one in winter one in summer, now its 10+ sales a year, and AAA games getting to 70-90% within a year. with so many games, why buy new onces from unkown peason? when do you get time for it all?
@leothelion5035
Ай бұрын
@@danielr7599 AI and Automatizations is being proven awful in all regards, both for programming, art and story. It doesn't work and a whole lot of issues are rising. Is a matter of time that bussinesses need to backpedal, because their investments are not paying at all. Also, as I said, yeah, there is market saturation, but I also think that you want every videogame to be a big hit... and that ain't how it works. Look at the FNAF creator: he had made dozens of games... that sell basically nothing until FNAF. He was working a day job and doing this as a side hobby... but that's it. Then he got pretty good at making videogames, and voila! Now he can live from it. I'm not saying everybody is going to be rich if they follow the same work ethic, but if you are getting better you are bound to grow the number of fans you have, and more people will buy your games... but that it's not even the point here. What it illustrates is that videogames are art: you get better with the years... it's not a matter of doing something from one or two years. It takes an awful lot of time to get to a point in which you are doing something remarkable. How good is the dude making 10K a year? Or the guy doing 40k-70k? Because that is a big factor here. Problem is we have a very big ammount of bad games and an oversaturation of iterations of other concepts. If you add to that the fact that right now people cannot spend a dime... well, even a booming industry feels hopeless. Roblox in particular is a bliss of a game (you can create content for it, so if you want to do that as a side hustle, you can.) And it is possible that gatcha games end up in the gutter seeing the new chinese legislation that is being imposed. Is a matter of time that it reaches Europe, The rest of Asia and the States, cause those games aren't sustainable and a big part of the gamers community is starting to be sick of them. Yeah, these are not the best times, but they will get better, judging everything in a bubble and economic crisis is always going to look darker than reality. (Not saying that things aren't bad now, but with all the action that is happening now in the videogame and animation industry I'm hopeful. If the union thingie goes the same as with actor and writers, there's hope.)
@itzhexen0
Ай бұрын
Internet begging.
@GordonSeal
Ай бұрын
It doesn't help that Steam is not a good platform for indie gamedevs, since they opened the floodgates to everyone and aren't doing any quality control or selection on the games published. That means you need to do a lot more marketing to get through this flood of cheap, bad games or outright asset flips - which completely negates the advantage Steam has with its "biggest market". And considering that you, as an indie dev, for all the work done, will only keep about half of the selling price, after Steams cut and taxes, it's really has become a risk to go fulltime indie dev. That means most indie devs will work for less than minimum wage, often for years, and not ever see any substantial reward. Kickstarter can help, but how many people are still willing to do crowdfunding these days, after being let down so many times? Or how many can even afford to do it, in this economic situation, for that matter? Building a small, loyal community who supports you along the path of your development - similiar to how Starsector has been doing it, quite successfully - has become more important than ever. On the plus side, it also makes you less dependent on Steam or publishers.
@nuclearbeeberman
Ай бұрын
I think it's dead. There are two options now either you make what I call Bullshit games (stuff that are super crazy but bad games like choo choo charles or lets date everything) or you make stuff that can only be done with super experienced teams. the last option has a super high risk.
@philippe6918
Ай бұрын
Cope
@Sourge_GR
Ай бұрын
What about publishers ? Can't you make a demo and pitch it to get some money?
@speedwaylabsdev
Ай бұрын
Choo Choo Charles is a bad game?
@David-Bernal
Ай бұрын
Games like choo choo charles can be good games, but most of them definitely aren’t.
@Sourge_GR
Ай бұрын
@speedwaylabsdev I thinks they mean comparing it to hollow knight or other actually good indie games, for a game made by one guy the quality is impressive tho
@Draekdude
Ай бұрын
I bought this came because of the Alana poster, so it worked! Then I watched some of the dev videos.
@anon3118
Ай бұрын
Make MULTIPLAYER games with other indie devs and you might have a shot
@ahsanrazakeerio
Ай бұрын
Hey" Thomas Sir Please Reply Me Question :- Is Indie Game Dev Is Hard Or Not ?
@zaidlacksalastname4905
Ай бұрын
Yes
@igorthelight
Ай бұрын
The answer depends on SO many things ;-) * Are you talented in art or coding? * Do you have friends that could help? * Do you have free time?
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