Making Your First Indie Game (5 Tips for 2021 & 2022!)

your biggest threat as a game developer is always working on your baby but never giving birth let me show you how to give birth to your first indie game i've actually released two commercial titles pinstripe and never song on pretty much every platform bringing in six figures a year year after year in a variety of ways including publisher partnerships kickstarter platform deals and obviously game sales tip one is consider your hourly rate as a game developer and how that relates to your budget but thomas i don't have an hourly rate i'm not even paying myself i totally get that i wasn't paying myself for my first title i was actually working a full-time desk job probably just like you or maybe you're a student but this hourly rate will help you grasp what you're capable of let's go with 40 an hour let's say you work two hours a day after work or school that's 40 hours a month let's say it takes six months to finish your game that's 240 hours which is 9 600 bucks that is a tiny budget in comparison to breath of the wild a top-notch aaa title which cost around 120 million dollars to make so what have we learned here your first indie title should be a tiny little game like the game i made for pewdiepie it took 14 days but ultimately skyrocketed my career as a game dev and a youtuber and by the way the 2d game kit that i created for that game is totally free below you can use it however you want for personal games or commercial games click the link in the description it's my treat to you tip number two is don't make everything from scratch why well because of our previous point making games from scratch is expensive here's a really good example how much would it cost to create let's say six sci-fi weapons in blender my favorite 3d modeling tool think it's free think again always consider time as money because it really is if you're spending time you're probably ultimately spending money either now or in the future it would take you perhaps a full eight hours minimum to create six 3d sci-fi weapons at your hourly rate that's 400 bucks now if you're making a highly unique dream project i get it this kind of makes sense but this is your first title it's best to just get it done and we'll talk about this laws i fair attitude in the next point instead i'd suggest using assets from turbosquid sketchfab and last but definitely not least the asset store for example how much is a pack of sci-fi weapons on the asset store oh look here's six weapons for fourteen dollars they don't look terrible and you can just swap out the textures and now they look custom ninety-nine percent of players are not going to know you just did this you and i we're gonna know but but most people don't know ultimately that is three percent of the cost if you are making these custom look i hate to be so money focused but most game devs don't finish games because they just weren't thinking about the dollar figure time is money and hey if you don't agree time is at the very least mental energy most of us can't hold up for several years creating a single game trust me my first game took five years and it shouldn't have and i'll never do that again and keep in mind if you want to save time again my game kit is totally free below it'll save you weeks if not months of time if you're making a 2d game alright that brings me to my third tip don't make your first game your dream game your first game should be your crap game what i recommend is just to make a 15 minute game release it on hio and call it a day for some reason getting that first game under your belt is really meaningful let me know in the comments if you've released a crap game and how you've grown because of it also after releasing your first game you're likely going to learn your forte are you best as an artist a musician a storyteller a game designer for me i am a storyteller and an atmosphere designer that's what i focus on and i'll likely never change that focus i know this because i've failed in just about every other aspect of game development i know what to focus on for my games and what not to and ultimately how to convert that focus into income my next tip relates kind of to your next game and all future games once you've actually released a short crappy game you can focus on building your dream game but more importantly focus on building your dream game prototype i suggest only focusing on a prototype instead of focusing on a full game because well first it's much easier to produce a game in pieces as opposed to i don't know stare at the peak all day long hoping that you'll get to the top aka release a massive game that said the primary reason i suggest focusing on a awesome hyper polished prototype is simply because you can take this 15 minute prototype and actually seek funding from kickstarter publishers or just platforms like apple arcade or epic games no really i've done all of these things before actually finishing my games i just offered up a demo a prototype the platforms the publishers loved it and that secured enough funding for me to quit my job once you've secured funding for your demo finishing the game is actually kind of easy why because well you're obligated to legally and financially whether it's the kickstarter community demanding the game get finished or an investor waiting for your launch you're gonna get it done i promise money and legal obligation are the best motivators i know this whole getting funded thing sounds scary but it's really not when it plays out it's natural you're gonna have fun conversations with studios over the phone or discord you'll discuss the details of how much money you need to finish your game any revenue sharing that the platform or the publisher wants at launch and all that other legal stuff and you can hire a lawyer for a couple grand to help you iron out all these legal terms don't be scared take it one step at a time and watch a few of my videos below about publishers in the description okay last tip this one is huge begin building a community if you're an introvert like me this sounds pretty awful this community includes not only friends online that support you emotionally but also a community of fans that will support your game financially when it launches when it comes to my friends or the people i work with i prefer using discord most of my friends in the community are all on discord we support each other provide tips and we even trade work for each other if you're looking for a free community i suggest the dev lounge or the brachii server if you're interested in a paid community i have one called full-time game dev also my friend david whaley has a community called game dev unlocked i highly recommend that community as well but it doesn't matter whether it's a paid community or a free community so many friendships can be made on discord it's a great way to get plugged in almost immediately to the gamedev community now regarding your community of fans it honestly comes down to just posting on social media consistently almost daily with the proper hashtags awesome clips of your game or maybe devlogs on youtube or screenshots with each post i suggest a cta or a call to action simply ask the viewers of the post to wishlist on steam and also maybe to sign up for your email list for a free demo this fan building is all about consistency quality content hashtags and calls to action with the right efforts you'll have thousands of fans ready to buy your dream game when it's ready do not underestimate this point having a massive splash on launch with the help of your fans helps let steam or any other platform know that people like your game thus pushing your game further into the atmosphere during launch week those are my five tips thanks so much for watching guys please leave a like if you felt like i did a good job here and be sure to subscribe for more videos like this let me know below of any crappy games you've launched in the comments and how they've helped you in your career and also don't forget about my 2d game kit below it's totally free my treat to you cheers

Channel: Thomas Brush

Views: 456,343

Keywords: thomas, brush, Unity, Unity game dev, Gamedev, indie gamedev, indie game devlog, game devblog, making my first 3d game, Making a Game in ONE Day (12 Hours), how to make a game, computer programming, tutorial, how to, Programming a Boss For my Game, dani2, devlog, game, Indie, Game, Development, Tutorial, Tips, How To Make Games, My First Game, Game Design, Indie Games, How To, Start A Game Studio, Create Games, Develope Games, Video Game Design, Unreal, 2D Games, Platformer, Code, Games

Id: -FIu9SGvQZc

Length: 8min 41sec (521 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 10 2021