The genres I recommend for new gamedevs

[@Pariatech]

Art bring the players in. Mechanics keep the players in.

[@oriyus]

Without mechanics you don't have a game just nice pictures to look at. I wouldn't even start any sort of art before laying down ground mechanics with circles and squares in game engine.

[@MellowMutantX]

Well said

[@AnEmortalKid]

I chose a platformer for my first game , stuck with it and released it. I thought it would be quick but it took longer than expected. Now for my second game it’s time to make my massively multiplayer online 100% science based raccoon role playing game. I’m ready 😂😂😂

[@bookvee]

Raccoon role playing game? Interesting. You have approximately 2% of my attention.

[@KindSparkdev]

100% agree on the high end traps. Especially that the audiences for deep strategy games like 4X games can be very demanding. One of my first videos was a "Can I make a 4x game in 2 months" (Obviously you can't). But after the month were like genuinely asking "hey when do you plan on releasing this?"

[@RevolverOlver]

My first game was an endless runner (more like endless bouncer) on iPhone. To my surprise it didn't make any money whatsoever. My mom is still playing it tho, almost 10 years after I released it

[@soumen_pradhan]

Damn 100% retention rate.

[@udiptapathak13]

you have a lovely mother

[@gusty7153]

oh ya that reminds me. your entire point on roguelites reminds me how there are audiences probably looking for a particular theme rather than a particular genre. so all a developer has to do is focus entirely on a particular theme and then see what game genres are lacking in that particular theme. saw a comment once praising atlyss for being a furry game that's an actual game rather than yet another visual novel

[@mandisaw]

Themes and settings can be underserved, and have popularity highs & lows, just like gameplay genres. The research approach is similar - you'd want to understand what fans of that theme or setting are looking for, and how it's expressed across not just different games, but other media too (books, movies, visual art & music, etc). You do have to be careful putting X theme with Y genre, though, as it could end up as chocolate chip cookies with sea salt, or with pickles - both are unique flavors, only one is likely to sell though 😅

[@gusty7153]

​@@mandisaw well of course it depend on a lot on the theme in question. this also links to another tip of "make what YOU would want to play." as "you" were a fan of a particular theme, then "you" should know that theme well enough to know what would work and not work with that theme. also some themes are rather simple concepts that can be mixed and matched with other things. like furry, it's all about being an anthropomorphic animal...and that's all. there really is nothing else. furry can be plugged into anything involving character interaction. monster tamer in particular can be looked at as a theme rather than a specific genre. it's all about interacting with creatures in more nuanced ways than simply killing them as seen in typical adventure games and stories. it might be a bit more limiting concept but it can be expanded beyond just pokemon clones and vpets. and i've seen a few games coming out that do

[@mandisaw]

@gusty7153 Even those are broad & nuanced though - research is still essential. Just like playing games doesn't automatically translate to knowing how they're made, being a fan of a theme or genre doesn't mean understanding all the nuances and subflavors from a design POV. Anthros have lots of subcategories. More and less human, cute vs sexy, serious vs lighthearted, etc. If you're a player or reader, it's all too easy to just focus on the stuff you like. When you're making something for others, to sell, you need to have a much clearer vision of what you're making, and for whom. You're right that being a fan of a thing is a great start! It's just the start, though.

[@gusty7153]

@@mandisaw im a furry bro. i know all about anthros and all the intricate nuances there are. the entire fandom overall is about celebrating non-human character designs. in relation to videogames, they're the easiest thing to plug in since they deal more with character design rather than anything specific to video game mechanics. not every videogame needs to be an epic movie or novel series with dramatic and deep narratives, so you don't need to worry too much about those nuances of anthro characters. you do have to worry about is having a consistent art style. keep in mind this video is about tips for beginners. one of the most universally common tip is start small and simple. and i'm saying try focusing on a theme that can work with broadly with small and simple games rather than trying to force your way into a specific genre that's difficult. btw, i mentioned monster taming specifically to try and demonstrate that i already understood your argument

[@mandisaw]

@gusty7153 Ah, wasn't clear :) I think we're making similar points tho

[@warpstorm1988]

My first couple of projects were clones of older games because I already knew what they should do visually and mechanically it was more about learning how to go from point A to point B. My next project after that was a really basic wave attack 3D game to learn the ropes of a 3D environment and then my most recent finished game was a liminal space horror for a game jam. My current project is a board game adaptation.

[@Odisseia-hh2td]

9:48 take the hint folks... 😏 Even BG3 is doing it...

[@BlackJar72]

I started making a retro-FPS with roguelike aspects as a learning project, but had so much fun playing it myself that I released it on Steam -- where I'm still waiting to reach enough sales to reach the $100 threshold to actually get paid, after two years and a bunch of updates since release. Since then I've been torn between RPG and Simslike, RPGs being the genera I most understand (so far it looks like an open world RPG would be the easier option).

[@megasoniczxx]

I'm curious, what was the name of the game?

[@hypercynic]

Great video man! Absolutely agree with all the points. I started an open world game simply so I could have a sandbox to learn aspects of world partitioning and such (in UE5), but it was entirely intended to just be a playground to toss in new concepts and code, as well as testing collisions, materials, all kinds of stuff. My first actual release project is very likely to be a horror game for much of the reasons you mentioned, however I was always quite good at writing both poetry and just creative writing in general, so I'm going to put a lot more design emphasis on the story concepts and symbolism, while also just trying to learn how to make detailed environments in terms of a lot of physical details in the scene for realism, while also drawing back on the texture/model resolutions so I can pump out blender assets quickly. It's basically going to be a PS2 era horror game as that's where my favourites all come from. I also strongly agree with the idea of focusing on audio. As an audio producer, this is another place people just don't put nearly enough effort into. You can have an awful story, awful monster design and awful characters, but if you make a creepy soundscape and a lot of abstract sound effects, you can still create an incredibly creepy atmosphere. Take notes from Akira Yamaoka!

[@CubeDeveloper_Games]

aight, next one for me is gonna be an horror game which is something I've always dreamed of making. BUT, right now I'm working on a pixelart topdown soulslike that's gonna take at least 2 years to develop 😭 I've been making games for more than a decade now, so I'm confident that it will be worth it in the end, and I'm working with my very talented brother that helps me out with pixelart animations, designs, 2D handdrawn cutscenes and even music (he is also a reeally good pianist and composer). This is my dream, to one day be able to make games full time alongside him, and share our vision of art to the world to see, and I know we are going to make it. To all aspiring game developers, let your dreams guide you and look forward, this is a harsh industry to stand out in, but with passion, vision and a lot of patience and time we can truly make something beautiful

[@oldshamen]

There is a huge difference between devoloping games for a living - and generating games as a hobby. If you are a hobbyist: Make the game you are passionate about. It will not matter if it is a huge commercial succes. Do it because you love it. Not because you expect a fortune and fame at the end of it. Most games will never be a commercial succes - even if you analyse STEAM data to find the right genre. If you are doing games for a living, it makes a lot of sense to analyze the market to improve your chance of succes. You should also try to find a genre that you are passionate about becase it will be visible if you love the genre/game you are developing. Passion for a genre also means you would likely know what makes a game of the genre great. Play your strengths!

[@MoonwoodGames]

This was a really great video! I'm currently working on a dungeon crawling RPG. It's a lot of work, but I'm loving it!

[@imateria9088]

Hi, I don’t know-I’m struggling at the moment. I was developing a Pacman-style horror game with a racing element. It was very concise, with only one labyrinth map and a single "monster" hunting you. But I decided to switch to a friendlier and cozier "tiny" strategy game about exploring islands. The visuals resemble a digital board game. I’m trying to reduce my scope significantly. In most cases, the fear of wasting time, resources, and energy on any project feels overwhelming. Your insights are incredibly helpful and deeply appreciated. In any case, thanks for the videos!

[@ADITYA3GAME]

Are you a solo dev?

[@spacecowboy776]

i would love to play a pacman-style horror racing game; pls release it in the future. i thought of making a tron-like vehicle combat game but im still in the engine dev process. need good physics and sense of speed/danger before i go nailing down themes and story

[@snwdn]

My first game was a turn based 1v1 RPG roguelike. It was simple and it probably took 2-3 months. Next I spent about a year on a 1v1 real time strategy game with very simple mechanics. Several years later I'm now 14 months into a much more in depth multiplayer version of the first game. I don't develop for Steam though. Since I'm a web developer I just release to my own website and the games all run in the browser. I've never made any money from the games.

[@IsraelBelongToChrist]

Turn based rougelike😂

[@artkor214]

we just released "hazard days" it's a mobile extraction shooter, it's our second game, which we made in 12 months.)

[@mcoorlimDev]

I started with short arcade style games, giving myself a single week of development time to enforce a certain small scope. This was, in part, to learn godot, and for that it worked. I'm not sure if any of the games were something that would scale up to a commercial project for a solo developer, but I'm primarily a writer and narrative designer with some low res pixel art and programming skills. It would be easy to release good quality text adventures, but there's no market for it - at least not to justify the time invested. This year I'm shifting development to longer 3-6 month projects; given my skillset I'm thinking horror games are the most viable option, leaning on my skills to focus on environmental storytelling, and picking up enough blender along the way to make some custom assets.

[@joshua42777]

I'm in the beginings of making a racing game

[@Spectrum3900]

What do you think about making casual & arcade game as being the first game to make for indie devs?

[@mandisaw]

As a learning exercise, they're great! As a commercial one, not so much. Casual and arcade have moved almost entirely to mobile F2P, and there are some real behemoths in that space that normies just cannot compete with. But cloning and experimenting with the tight gameplay loops of casual and arcade are a truly excellent way to hone your design skills.

[@Nubian_King_RNM]

Well, personally, I see making a decent amount of small & simple to make fun games as working out in the long run, then trying to make the next indie game blockbuster

[@bigfin20]

idk I would say roguelites are far heavier on interesting systems than visuals. I'm not touching another vs clone with 3 upgrades for movespeed, attackdamage and range yk.. I would want something that's genuinely more interesting

[@roohomecom8345]

You are damn right, our company broke because of open world game which cost too much money but the sales is terrible. Was hype at first but later one people forget it. I am a solo dev now. Wish me luck guys

[@Kobold666]

If playing the game involves more than 1 computer, requires a server or multiple players, don't even think about starting to develop it. You can finish 5 great small singleplayer games or waste your time on one large multiplayer game that is never going to get finished.

[@cocomendos]

For me, I started last week learning Godot engine, trying to see if I can pull out a Tactics-like roguelike, but every time I think of it I realize I'm stuck on the tutorial hell

[@vladimirharamincic1204]

I am going for an open space life sim with horror story mode (singleplayer though), and horror will be released first before exploring other aspects

[@timithius7885]

Excellent video, it really shows how important it is to think strategically about developing games. 2025 is my year to get a proper game on steam, but first I need to get a not so proper game on steam - mostly as a learning tool, to better understand steam, but also just to have something shipped, something I can use to learn about marketing and CTR on steam. It's not amazing and it doesn't need to change the world. I'm hoping this strategy gets me a step, or two, closer to becoming a fully ripened Indie game dev... Thanks!

[@wdavis81x]

I chose third person exploration action rpg. I think had I left off the rpg part it would have been shorter dev time. Still would have been a lot! It's grown complicated even after recognizing some key areas that I could do some scope reduction. Spent a few years learning Unreal just so I could make this game and this year I pout 200 days into actually making it. Ended up taking that long just to mock everything up and get stuff working! A smaller game would have been wiser maybe, but I've stuck with this one because I'm passionate about it and enjoy making it.

[@aimupgames]

Cool video! I totally agree with that. I made three Hidden Object games as a starting point. While I had a lot of fun making them, it’s very hard to achieve financial success with these types of games. I'm switching to Roguelikes right now.

[@VyvyanTheGreat]

Btw, Congrats on getting the “Smitty bump” right in time for the holidays!

[@alessandr_0]

And if you do very well..., you might make it to the BiteMe Game Awards!

[@Lucas-gg9yb]

Only strategy games for coders? There's not other stuff for us?

[@Sonngohanda]

Simulation games like Factorio Not everyone can make those games unless you have a strong background in Maths, and low level programming to achieve the performance required.

[@mandisaw]

I mean, strategy is broad! 🤔Chris Zukowski also did a 2-part blog post last year similar to this vid, with suggestions based on skillset, written as advice to laid-off AAA devs. Management & strategy were high for coders there too, as well as roguelikes. I believe he suggested staying away from RPGs, and any genres that require significant art & dev-time, relative to finished playtime. [Edit: Article was from Nov 2023, "Part 2: What games should former AAA developers make when they go indie"]

[@nidungr3496]

People don't buy games just because the code is good. Also, the upcoming chatgpt version makes coding skills redundant. A game needs to be 1/ pretty and 2/ fun, nothing else.

[@Lucas-gg9yb]

@@nidungr3496 I am not talking about good code, I am not a huge fan of strategy games and I don't want to make something I'd not play.

[@Martinit0]

You could also get a job

[@Strammeiche]

I always liked tetris and started with tetris to learn the engine. My next one probably will be something 2d like roughly like vampire survivors to learn more mechanics and then I hope for a story light sandbox rpg style game

[@UlissesSampaio]

That first game looks dope. What is it called?

[@bitemegames]

No full game, it's just a soulslike prototype video, the developer never took it further though. -M

[@Jeretin_YT]

After making horror game in school, STAY A HELL OUT OF THOSE. It needs so much design, audio, environment etc. To make it good. Just don't.

[@socialkidmusic]

Don’t listen to this. GUYS. Horror is the best genre to start if you are new

[@JulienBertozzi]

Don't listen to this guys

[@digitaltectonics]

Nice video!

[@idnyftw]

I love horror but I realized I suck at writing horror.

[@josephbrandenburg4373]

This video should be titled "genres I don't recommend" and you've made like five of these. Misleading title

[@dakotah4866]

You know you're better off buying a printer machine that can print onto disc and just selling disc versions for a good price

[@mandisaw]

The real takeaway here is ppl should make friends! Having even one buddy with a complementary skillset basically opens up any genre. That said, my first commercial game was a drawing toy. The in-game art was procedural and math-based, leaning into my strengths in coding & math. A toy means you don't need narrative or much game design, really. Creative games for adults appeal to an underserved market - gotta go for that Blue Ocean strategy 🌊 Happy Holidays BiteMe peeps!

[@evolgenius1150]

MMORPG for sure. Best first game. 😂

[@sanathkomire4719]

I'm good at writing stories it's only thing I'm good at but I also i love horror. Most of stories i write are horror. Yes I but the problem is the horror you are describing is very different from what I write for example a survival horror like Re or some niche horror game with unique art concept and jump scares like choo choo charles.Or some horror game with ps1 graphics .But the horror i write is close to haunting of hill House , heridatory and The witch, Babadook and A mountain of madness territory it's story and character based it's very dense and rich visually also it's deliberately slow paced almost to the point of being meditational and boring in a game also it deals with psychological issues which is suited for films more than games . I can also really write just plain good drama other than horror . What genre should i pick should i go with this horror is it easy to implement in game

[@AdeelTariq0]

Go for it. Horror and VN are the two easy genres on pc. At least try it with a couple of short games. There is a big audience out there.l I promise. Do a short free game and see for yourself.

[@ultimaxkom8728]

??? He said horror is a great genre, didn't he? Even if he didn't, horror being great (beginner and otherwise) is still true. So do go for it.

[@sanathkomire4719]

@@ultimaxkom8728 yes a He said horror is great genre but the problem is the horror he is describing is very different from what I write for example a survival horror like Re or some niche horror game with unique art concept and jump scares like choo choo charles. But the horror i write is close to haunting of hill House , heridatory and witch territory it's story and character based it's very dense and rich visually also it's deliberately slow paced almost to the point of being meditational and boring in a game also it deals with psychological issues which is suited for films more than games . I should have elaborated that more sorry .

[@AdeelTariq0]

Horror is Horror. Just do your thing and you'll find your audience. Least you should try

[@ViewportPlaythrough]

as a writer myself, i get what you mean. also was in that point where i try to find answers by asking questions around. and like you would see, most non-writers would tell you what the comments here are telling you.. the thing you have to remember is, game developers doesnt think like us writers. for us, the story comes first, for them, gameplay comes first. i have had the chance to ask some questions to industry devs and the way they put it is, the most common practice before was the gameplay is built first, almost till the end of the game. little to no real writers would be on-board the dev production. the game directors and other people with higher roles would be the one really putting the story together. then when the gameplay is done and the devs think they are ready, only then would a real writer would be get on-board. that is, most of the time the task of the real writer is to stitch together whatever the devs has, mesh them together, try to make it a coherent story as possible, but most of the time it would just end up with a frankenstein because ultimately its just a mesh of intertwining ideas made by devs because they think its cool. surprisingly, this is true even for recent story heavy games like lets say the horizon series. then if you try to play some games for studying reasons, you would start to see where those 'story stitches' are do consider doing a plain ol' but trusty animation for now. then do consider doing visual novels after that, since its a very story heavy medium with some interactivity. im not saying you should give up on game dev, but trying those two would make you learn how to incorporate your written story to other mediums, which would, hopefully, help you get to your game genre answer. its not the end answer, but at least it is a step that you could take. another option that is worth trying is to find a separate game dev. you write the story, s/he do the game. its worth noting, specially if you are planning to make it as a professional that specialization is very important on game dev studios(that are not freelancers). so if you are not really interested in game dev as in developing the game itself, then you could specialize as a writer instead. same could be said with manga/comics, animation, visual novels or any other medium. if you are not really into making them yourself, it is worth thinking if you should find someone that would do them instead of you so that you could focus on what you really want to spend time on. dont get me wrong, you could do them in time if you really want to. but eating slowly while you are still unsure is better than biting a large chunk and finding out the hard way that its drowning you or getting you on the wrong path....

[@Stuntcomposer]

Why not just make games that you think is fun to make and like to play? If you are just in it for the money, you will most likely be disappointed. I would venture to say that most successful indie games are made by people that love games first and make them out of passion.

[@killorfill6953]

I think Chris Roberts over at Cloud Imperium needs to approach BiteMe to consult on getting their first game shipped 😂😂😂