7 Years of Indie Game Development - The Making Of Sapiens

Share my 7 year journey as we look at how a hugely ambitious but successful game is created by a solo indie dev, from the first concepts to the early access release on Steam.
It's been a long and at times difficult process, filled with many obstacles and breakthroughs. The development of Sapiens has changed my life. I've learned so much and grown both as a developer and a person. But there is still a lot of work to do, and I'm looking forward to leading Sapiens to its full potential, through Early Access and beyond.
Sapiens is available now on Steam:
store.steampowered.com/app/10...
Thanks again to everyone who has helped along the way.
Here is a link to ThinMatrix's channel, as mentioned in the video:
/ @thinmatrix
This video contains music from the original Sapiens Soundtrack by John Konsolakis, www.johnkonsolakis.eu
Some other music tracks in this video are created by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
Sapiens website: playsapiens.com
Follow on twitter: @playsapiens and @majicDave
Sapiens Discord / discord
Developer website: majicjungle.com

[@ecel_style]

I don't know you at all, but in the publishing scene at the end, when I saw your family standing behind you, experiencing the same excitement, supporting and applauding you, I realized what a beautiful family you are, what a good father you are, and you did this for your family. sometimes you don't need to know, but I felt you closely my friend, you have accomplished something very nice, considering the family support and living conditions for many years, you have finally overcome the difficult paths, you have been a great source of motivation for me, congratulations

[@taylorvance]

Just piggybacking to affirm most of this, with a caveat on "you did this for your family". That's not necessarily true, and it's no less admirable if it's not. You can do things for yourself even if you have a family, and that doesn't detract from the nobility of this pursuit, nor your love for your family. Rooting for you!

[@KalinduAragorn]

same.. It was so pleasing to watch that part. I was smiling without even knowing.. Great job!

[@computergames3918]

at the end i was also excited especially the kids, i am thinking they probably very excited too which is very amazing to think! and overall it's just exciting really... it's like you are also him being excited about it being release by clicking a button 😃

[@guz2371]

Fantastic game with seemingly endless potential. Other games in this genre feel outdated in comparison. Impressive for EA release.

[@heckyes]

UGh. It's an Electronic Arts published title :( jk.

[@MarkTDKKnight]

@@heckyes EA = Early Access

[@heckyes]

@@MarkTDKKnight jk = just kidding lol. I know :D

[@MarkTDKKnight]

@@heckyes gah - you got me!

[@skrynscrafting]

such wholesome interaction

[@janikcodes]

Your reaction to the release at the end with your family was so fucking wholesome. Congrats! You are living the game dev dream

[@jasonboyd782]

That's not a very fucking family friendly comment! >:(

[@vmdone8352]

I'm also an Indie Game Developer, but develop games for mobile phone. After two years of hard-working, I've completed publishing two games on Android and iOS stores: Squid Cannon, Twitch Balls. I will continue to develop more games as it's not only my favorite but also my ambition to be successful in Game Development.

[@missnae703]

I’m addicted to this game!!! You gave me the game I’ve wanted for years! Thank you 🙏🏾

[@thing4826]

31:50 I really like the name Sapiens that you landed on. Because that name isn't JUST prehistoric humans. It is a game about Sapiens. It could be prehistoric, medieval, modern, future, or anything. Because of this you aren't stuck with only cavemen. It can go as far as you want and the modders want.

[@Blinkers2007GameDev]

Its amazing

[@whannabi]

Let's goooo

[@computergames3918]

interesting! makes sense

[@randupe2403]

​@@computergames3918does sapien mean humans because, homosapiens, homoerectus, homosyphlius.

[@rayquazaboladao]

​@@randupe2403 Sapiens means sage

[@cykboy3254]

much respect for not giving up, we all know how hard that can be as a gamedev

[@dred_dreamr]

I discovered this project literally a few hours ago, and now just minutes ago you upload a video discussing launch! I have missed so much, but I’m very much looking forward to release!

[@squeakybunny2776]

I've always loved his devlog about how he did the clouds in particular. I recommend watching at least that one.

[@Blinkers2007GameDev]

same

[@Rotaka]

It’s been an amazing journey to follow ! Absolutely crazy to think I was just 9 when you started work on this- congrats on the early access launch !! :D

[@Arkenald]

Been one heck of a ride watching this project for the past few years and finally seeing it come together! You've made something really special and I wait to see where you go from here!

[@Einulf_]

congratulations! not sure when i started watching your channel but this has been a really fun and exciting journey. The game is rock solid and i can't wait to see what the future brings

[@2-joabella655]

Dude its been amazing to follow the progress for so long, and then actually see it come out and get to try it, it makes it fell so much more special, and the game is really fun too, congrats!!!

[@pavelkraynyukhov1990]

Very inspirational. Love the last part of the video with release and the family is around. Best of wishes! Keep up creating.

[@alancarter7663]

Congrats mate! It’s been great to see this grow over the years, very inspirational. Huge respect from Melbourne.

[@wilhelm992]

been following your videos for a veryyyyyy long time, happy to see its in EA now been busy with work

[@ClanHawkins]

This was a fantastic journey and thank you for first doing it and documenting it and then of course sharing it all with us! Thank the kids and your mrs! what a team!

[@enochfrederickson2900]

Such an amazing game, and it’s been awesome to follow along for the past couple of years.

[@theRealDaveWard]

Congrats man! Been watching you on and off for a while. Hope your game release is going well.

[@roadtovostok]

Hi Dave! I have followed this project and your devlogs since 2019 and hats off to you. Great video, awesome journey and the dedication to stick with the project is really respectable from the perspective of indie game developer. I wish all the success to you and Sapiens.

[@Sharpe27]

Playing your game right now and loving it! The scale of the world and the potential is mental hope u keep going with it

[@Novemtails]

Congratulations for your hard work, your video is amazing

[@MrFeudal]

Been playing this game for the last week and it's brilliant! I'd love to see some sort of interaction with Rivers and the "terraforming" that can be used to create Sapien-Made Canals and such! Looking forward to the future updates 🙂

[@finn9233]

I follow your journey since a very long time. You achieved something amazing. Congrats. I will look forward to explore the game ♥

[@dumonyu5027]

I've been watching from the beginning. It's fantastic to finally be able to play it. You're an inspiration to us Devs just starting our journey!

[@joaco545]

Following the development of Sapiens has been a lot of fun, I hope the game continues beeeing developed for a long time And really, well done making the game (its amazing) and pushing through past the honeymoon period of the development process

[@onedeadsaint]

I've been here since the 5 year video. looking forward to playing this when my new PC gets here. hopefully by the end of the week I'll be enjoying your labor of love!

[@GlenBixley]

Congratulations on the successful release Dave, your hard work has paid off. This is just the beginning, Good luck and thank you for giving us all a great game.

[@Siminfrance]

Well done man, this is a great game and I am glad I followed the progress over the years. I wish you all the best with this and all your future plans

[@PreDawnHydra]

Throwing in the songs used in the blockheads was very nostalgic! Congrats on the game will definitely be picking it up! Followed this game for a few years amazing to see all the progress that has been made really well done!

[@austenfurneaux7125]

I don’t think any video I have ever watched has inspired me as much as this, I can’t wait to make something as incredible as this. Amazing video and an even more amazing project, off to buy it now. Cannot wait to see this game grow!

[@Beriol9]

It has been an awesome experience following you all these years, and I can't wait to see more! :)

[@ChrisRadsby]

Congratulations to you and your fantastic game :) Love the hard work and humble attitude, you're an inspiration and the fact that you have a family and still working so hard, it can't be easy! Also , great video seriously, summing everything up like this, makes for a really kickass story. All the best from Sweden!

[@richardcarroll-elvistribut8429]

Congratulations Dave on a truly excellent game! I've been having a blast and really looking forward to future additions. Hope you get great success from your solo work.. so well deserved! ;)

[@PDF4711]

This is simply amazing to watch. I only started on the original playlist a week ago - and I have watched the entire list during that week. Big congratulations on the entire journey. I am a bit envious on actually committing fully to a project - especially of this magnitude. Just purchased 😇👍🏻

[@carlosdyer1113]

I have been following your progress for a while, it awesome to see the progress that you have made.

[@Lord_Shmesh_The_Squishy]

Thank you for showing us your journey. I've been following quietly since it was first brought onto steam to be wishlisted.

[@jkewlo]

Just purchased it!! Im excited to play it and support your hard work.

[@jarrahtree5130]

Wow what an incredible video! Watched the whole thing and it was truly inspiring. Last I saw of this was when you got that first big view spike! You've really achieved something extremely special

[@somrender]

It is truly an amazing journey to have been with you for the past 4 years. I remember when I was 17 and started my Blender journey and said this game is going to be unique and I still think it is. I can't wait for the near future when it has multiplayer, vr and more. keep up and thanks for the game

[@LHInstrumentals]

The scale of this project is unreal. The amount of effort and problem you must have had to overcome during that development time is insane... Really well done. I can see how much this means to you. Good job my friend 🖤

[@MattCameron69]

Hi Dave, just spend the last few days playing your game having come across it on Steam. Been really enjoying it, but then I came across this video. I had no idea one guy built this on his own. Blew me away to find that out. Fantastic game awesome work, thank you for making it.

[@pavelino17]

Thanks for this great game and also the documentation of your journey, it motivates me to keep going with my own App. Looking forward to more content and stuff to do in Sapiens.

[@DanishKingKong]

Insane work! I'll go grab it from steam soon. Such a passion project - i Love it.

[@xzippyzachx]

Very inspirational journey! Glad I could watch it happen!

[@_emory]

It’s so good to see hard work and dedication, I will definitely be picking this up from the shop Thank you for this, this is MASSIVELY inspiring

[@wukerplank]

Very interesting, thanks for compiling this! And congrats on the launch!

[@azrhyga]

Very awesome work!! Very good job documenting all and working on the game of your dreams for more than 7 years :D Good luck with the game sales and I hope than all goes well!!

[@Devilin-Pixy]

Thank you for the wonderful opportunity you have provided, allowing us to follow along. Makes it all that much more special and inspiring. Not often do you get a chance to get this close. Appreciate it, looking forward to the road ahead

[@pixellips]

Looks exactly like a game I'd like. Thank you for your hard work and congratulations for the release. Off to get me one! Cheers!

[@rafaelmesaglio1399]

This is the absolute best pubblicity imo. I've seen the reviews, many lament the lack of content, but they clearly don't understand the work that went behind this. I might not get around to play your game very soon, but i decided to contribute, all the best

[@indieprogress7170]

Awesome. Great dedication over the years! Great to see how you've progressed!

[@vid2422]

wow, the dedication you have man, it's trully impressive! the longest I've worked on a project was for about 1 year I can't even imagine spending 7 years on a project without quiting or loosing track of what's what, and you documented the entire thing as well, This channel is a gem! and I'm sure gonna go back and watch the entire series and learn from it. I hope to see this game one day on steam or other platforms because it deserved to be seen and played for all the dedication and time you put into it. keep it up!

[@fabianandersson8956]

This is so wholesome and inspiring even though I know nothing about game development, so much passion and effort will definitely buy this game when I have a pc again sometime! Great job man!

[@thing4826]

This is a long one! Looking forward to watch it.

[@Phuturer]

absolutely great - love how you kept grinding

[@simonmueck]

congrats! following your videos for a couple of years now. fascinating how long ago some changes happened :) Keep up the great work! Cheers Simon

[@dighidon7207]

Beautiful game Dave! I wish you the best with this game and many other you'll make along the way! Great video as well.

[@fev4]

I remember watchin the first devlog about 4 years ago, and then this fell of my radar. But now looking at this, the whole journey.... WOW, I'm truly amazed.

[@2dspaceadventuregame952]

This was very enjoyable to watch. Good luck with further development.

[@Jonaleko]

This is incredible. I first played the game on the Steam Next Fest earlier this year and the 3 day demo made me so eager to play the full thing. I bought it right after launch and have been playing a bit every day ever since. The game was already amazing enough on its own, being so much fun already and having so much potential to future additions, but now knowing its full story it got even better. What you've done is really inspiring and motivating, thank you so much for the game you're developing and for sharing its history! I'll be sure to follow this journey from now on, all the best to you!

[@lonelyfloat2582]

I looked back at your channel and I totally used to play blockheads when i was a kid, about 7 years ago. my mind is blown

[@simeonbeaumont3051]

Very proud of your journey, your passion is amazing. Keep it up!

[@sp00l]

From one Kiwi developer to another, congratulations on the release! So cool to see more Kiwis getting their games out on the global stage. I loved watching the uploads over the years it was amazing to see all the progress being made. So happy the game has finally released and that it has been received every well, can't wait to see where it goes in the future!

[@athanoskerensky6778]

I've been following along for quite sometime, admittedly I haven't been a good youtube user by supporting your videos but I'll definitely be buying your game!

[@magesalmanac6424]

BIG Congratulations 🎉 for all the hard work, effort, and time you put into this game. I hope it has been a rewarding experience. This is the best game I've played all year. 🎉

[@AMNESIALEMON93]

Been looking forward to this for years, looks amazing. can't wait till I can get a new PC

[@vitabella4915]

I'm sooooo excited!! Just purchased/downloaded the game. Found out about it today and already in love. I can't believe the amount of work you put into this. I think that the sky is the limit for you with this one!

[@askarby]

I've never seen your channel, or mentions of your game. Viewing this summary has made me very interested, and you've just made yourself a new "follower". I'm looking forward to following your progress on the game. Good job and best of luck on your game.

[@yathomaheads]

Non-I-just-had-an-unsolicited-idea comment: I've been watching this dev process for several years now, and it's been an absolute delight to follow along. Every time a new video pops up on my feed, I drop everything to see what you've been up to. I've been holding off on picking up the game for procrastination reasons, but it's been on my wishlist since that was an option, and I'm really excited to play around with it. All the best to you and yours, and thank you for putting something beautiful into the world. :)

[@HumunculousInPants]

You are incredibly inspirational. Thank you for your gifts to this world!

[@Skeffles]

Congratulations! It's fantastic to see how well this has gone.

[@MATTERSGAMES]

Been watching you work on this since the beginning and I’ll be getting the game soon!

[@henningKO]

Congratulations, Dave! And major thanks for taking the time to put out these dev logs and dev round-ups! It's encouraging to hear realistic figures of just how long something takes. I wondered do you work a day job too?

[@JamieRead3dArtist]

Always hugely inspirational seeing the process and hard work solo devs put in to their games. Great video, congrats on the EA launch!

[@johnjackson9767]

Congrats, Dave. Very inspiring work to see just how far you've taken this project from 7+ years ago.

[@tresmith5224]

Just found out you made Blockheads. I put so many hours into playing that game on one of my first smart phones I got as a teenager. That’s awesome!

[@amineaitsaidi5919]

That is so cool !!! I didn't know either !

[@DesertCookie]

Huge congratulations. It's great seeing this long journey come together. I missed much of the past two years of videos and came back to a quite different game than I remember seeing. Still the game I fell in love with years ago though. I must've Sri led across your channel around the time tou were replacing OGL with Vulkan. I hope this journey continues to be a fun one for you.

[@skellr]

Nice work! I'm compiling programs with half of my cores/threads and the game still runs smooth as butter without messing with priority. Thank you for the work you put into performance, i think it will be a solid base for the future. Best wishes!

[@gregwaste2594]

I can;t believe I've missed this devlog series. I didn't know about the game till now. Looks absolutely fantastic!!!

[@SebastianGraves]

Really great video man, and fantastic looking game. Your love for game development really shows. Well done.

[@skyhybrid]

Just had this video pop up in my recommended and I thought it looked familiar. You mentioned the algorithm picked up your "4 years of dev" video and it clicked, that's the video I saw 4 years ago. Amazing you're releasing!

[@rwwkv6]

it's been great following along the last few years, congrats on a great game and successful release :)

[@greendroid6339]

It is very emotional to see you in real finally (theres was only a voice). 7 years.... wow. I remember the generation of the planet and the making of seasons. It's been a while I haven't seen the videos. It is now a huge amount of work and the resukt is brilliant. You can be proud of you. REally. Congrats.

[@henrikfredriksen4735]

came over from thinmatrixs channel, and look what ive found! Another goodie

[@hansenbee123]

Love the idea of what this could become! Keep ur passion alive ! =) Will def buy this to try it out.

[@wapane7721]

I teared up a little seeing the clip of your family gathering around to watch the game be released :') Going from watching these devlogs for years to actually being able to play the game and enjoy it for hours myself has been an amazing feeling, great job sticking with the project for such a long time and I'm excited for it's future!

[@MetricZero]

Been following you for years. Congrats man.

[@lettuce5385]

I forgot I was subscribed from a couple years ago but I am absolutely blown away by what your game has become.

[@computergames3918]

i think i know that feeling too and it's just amazing to feel it 😃

[@nnnooowwwaaayyy]

Dude , this is amazing! As someone who really values music in games, hearing that theme song was a great moment. This is the first video I’ve seen, hoping there’s more to watch about this game

[@brokenholiday]

Amazing progress!! Just bought the game, can't wait to see where you take this 😁

[@gilodis23]

Truly an inspiring journey, thank you for this

[@bosveldgaming]

Mate you definitely did not fail with this one!! Awesome game, in fact it is my new favorite to play. Thank you very much for this.

[@dmitrykonev6756]

Wow ... just wow. Spent about 30 hours in first three days after purchase. Special thanks for the way the stars rotate at different part of the planet. 5/5. All the best to ya with the future updates. Thumbs up!!!

[@Kittenayngel]

I can't stop playing this game! I can't wait to see the final product (and maybe expansions?) No rush, I am here for the long haul. Thank you so much for such an awesome game!

[@cloglobster]

Thank you so much for this video. It's so interesting to see the process of making a game like this. I couldn't resist buying the game as a result.

[@Chubzdoomer]

I was already blown away by this game when I played the Next Fest demo, but this just gave me a whole new appreciation for it. What an awesome documentary! Thank you for sharing your entire journey with us.

[@GameForThought]

It was a joy to watch this. It was so interesting to see the cascade effect during the game development. You made an entire world, which leads to the idea of many tribes, so a multiplayer. You made the grass look nicer, so everything else also changed. It feels like it is not you who are developing the game, but the game is itself coming to life through you. You are the medium, the Hermes of your own game. Another unrelated point was you saying how you had to make your own engine - you could have opted for using Unreal or Unity, but that would make things easier and you wanted things to be harder, otherwise, you wouldn't feel the passion to do it! That was very stoic of you! Congratulations on the game!

[@xTheWolfman]

I've watched all the videos in this play list and I have to say I am greatly impressed with the dedication you have for this project. Sapiens is a fantastic game with unlimited potential and playability. I've watched about 100 hours of play throughs just to see where different players took their tribes. I'm very much looking forward to the first added content release and following the growth of Sapiens. Civilization is the game I have played the most with 2,000 hours in Civ 5 and probably 10,000 hours overall the versions, I can see myself spending uncounted hours in Sapiens. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication and all that is to come.

[@michaelsabicer5658]

Dude you are a good speaker and an amazing game designer keep it up! Loving the game so far have a small village of my own taking it a day at a time!

[@thing4826]

16:45 I like the idea of standing commands! I also like how RimWorld has a forbid command that if you don't want people to interact with something you can forbid them from doing it. That way you can have some standing commands to harvest your wheat fields for example but if you have some decorative bushes, trees, wheat, etc. Around you can forbid them from harvesting it. Edit: 42:40 hmm... I can see how automation can lead to you not really having a lot to do and that makes sense. For farming though I really do believe you should be able to automate it. Food is something that is passing and going all of the time by the day and so is something your Sapiens should be able to automate. Or else as you get larger and larger towns (or even just multiple) you will have to spend far too much time simply managing the food they have. At the moment food isn't an issue but that is only because it is FAR too easy to survive. Seasons pass quickly and plants never die. So after harvesting a few banana trees (for example), after you plant them you now have a infinite food source that when under a roof almost never rots.