How I made my FIRST GAME and how much MONEY I made - Devlog

I started on my first game about two years ago and this is the story of how I made it. I also tell you how much money the game made and what I learnt from making it.
Wishlist my game:
store.steampowered.com/app/2511160/Cleanup_Squad
Follow me on twitter:
/ jensven1
Software I normally use:
Engine: Unreal engine 4
3D software: Blender 3D
2D software: GIMP
Music and Audio: Reaper
Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio
Song Names: Hackers, New Beginnings, Glitch in reality, End Credits
/ @whitebataudio

[@JonasTyroller]

Lovely. The YT algorithm was finally so gracious to show this to me. Nice video. :)

[@JensDev]

Glad it found its way to you Jonas, the algorithm has started moving in my favor! Thanks a lot :)

[@changedev.198]

Well the algorithm doesn't understand I searched for 'Jens' and not 'Jeans' 😂

[@pravardhcv490]

I'm glad there's finally a game developer who doesn't try to just blindly copy dani's jokes. Great video!

[@JensDev]

Trying to do my own thing but taking just some inspiration from other creators, thanks a lot! :)

[@themonocleguy371]

yup exactly, it's funny the first time I hear those "thicc" jokes or "hippity hoppity your code is now my property" but after hearing so much of them it becomes boring

[@pravardhcv490]

@@themonocleguy371 I know right!

[@kwombat5306]

Who's dani?

[@coolraygaming]

Right! So many people who are wannabe Danis

[@grogdizzy5814]

I love your sense of humor. Thank you for the laughs and for sharing the great video

[@changedev.198]

If that was your first game, you are seriously talented...

[@JensDev]

It was my first game! (Except for that witness game haha).

[@OcnarfPro]

It was also my first

[@sverige7586]

@@OcnarfPro what?

[@blinkachu5275]

Skilled*

[@ORTyOW]

@@blinkachu5275 bruh

[@itzderpdoodle6937]

Cool stuff, definitely subbing! Can't wait to see what else you make!!

[@JonLarsen.]

A few minutes into the video I realized that it was a game tested by Jonas, nice. Really interesting to hear about "failed" releases, as mostly you just hear about the good ones. The game looks good, and it could have a lot more potential. But as you already know and said, your first game is all about harvesting experience, more than creating a super awesome blockbusting AAA product. I wish I could do that as well, but currently I am just slobbing through my 10+ years project which I think is fun to make. Hopefully one day I will come up with a smaller project and gain the same experience :) I'm really impressed by your 3D modeling. It is such a huge advantage for making games. Keep up the good work!

[@JensDev]

Yes, I believe it is important to share all experiences so that people are aware your first game(s) most likely won't be a huge success. To me it's more about learning and having fun though :) Sounds like a dream project in the works after such a long development, hope you'll get it done! :) Thanks a lot, it was really a joy for me to get back into using blender after such a long time and do some modeling. It's probably my favourite part of making games!

[@bingoae8413]

You are awsome man !! you inspired me, i hope things works well for you new coming game

[@BuvesaGameDevelopment]

Great to see your progress on the game and video, keep going ;)

[@JensDev]

Thanks a lot, will do :)

[@HH-xi7vh]

@@JensDev cost the game for free

[@arasbuilds611]

Wonderful videos once again. you are now my favorit swedish youtuber. Keep up the good work and quality. 💪

[@JensDev]

Gotta improve my videos further now with that title :o Thanks a lot!

[@VJ4rawr2]

Amazing video. You're a really good presenter. I watched the whole thing and enjoyed it.

[@JensDev]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@deviouspolarbear4707]

It looks amazing and motivates me, very cool!

[@ASMRaphael]

Such a wonderful and super epic video to watch :) I enjoyed it so much! :)

[@JensDev]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@ITGirlll]

You game devs seem so fun, y’all are making me want to switch to game building now! 😊

[@laytonvicars4606]

I like this type of videos. They are very inspiring.

[@sabih__]

ngl the false witness game was such an incredible idea ngl. this video was pretty inspiring 😊

[@local9]

I've always looked at game development and dabbled in it, just never set out to make anything. Inspirational.

[@kltorvanger]

Great video for inspiration. Thanks man :)

[@fourletterwordgames6135]

What a journey! Keep up the good work!

[@JensDev]

Thanks a lot!

[@_georgesh]

Great game but even better video here! Sjukt bra jobbbat. Blir spännande att följa din utveckling!

[@sursomsatan1225]

Lugna ner dig Jimmy

[@kirbofn524]

Bra editing och mega bra humor! Subbad direkt.

[@halfbakedproductions7887]

I've literally just downloaded your game after stumbling across this vid. It's actually quite good fun, even if you "pick up" the hitchhiker by simply crashing into them. Great job and much more polished than I was expecting based on what was shown here.

[@JensDev]

Thanks, it's some skilled hitchhikers that can jump on at speed ;)

[@LunarAxe]

how can you download it?

[@BitsOfCoding]

That was pretty cool. The game looks kinda fun.

[@jacksondanielles3347]

Love your personality

[@Blinkers2007GameDev]

Bra jobbat. Hoppas också mitt första release blir såhär bra

[@thetwobros24]

yo bro, really thankya. Big respect

[@kmfsuavin]

man i love your channel, Nice vídeo !

[@JensDev]

Appreciate it, coming with a new video in a day or two! :)

[@MemeMonke551]

Thats amazing! Im making my second game soon. I hope it will turn out just as good

[@JensDev]

Thanks, good luck with your game!

[@SDev]

Amazing, bro!!

[@JensDev]

Thank you! Appreciate it!

[@rashidregiste-charles5514]

Very impressive. Amazing game idea. Your game is a success with the time and work you put into it. I don't even have the software to make a game. Congratulations to you.

[@JuanSumChninezeFue]

Why not? Most game dev software is free to learn how to use.

[@ya-ilya]

It's rare to see someone new on gamedev KZbin who's both a programmer and a 3D artist!

[@doctordescargas]

Thanks for sharing your journey. Greetings from LATAM 🙂😝👌

[@theanalyst9629]

I tried it lol, it's enjoyable man

[@xAdypt]

Seeing league of legends with a controller gave me neuralgia. Also dope video👍 can't wait to see the multi-player game you're working on

[@Abdullah.Masrur]

Downloaded ✅

[@avospelar8899]

Hej Jens Bra Vid😊👍

[@drawmaster77]

Fun video, love the humor. That was like my just like my first game too, except I've made an alien shooter. Had sick graphics though.

[@zenniegames]

very good video actually haha I thought you were a youtube channel with 100k subs. Now subscribed and happy :)

[@JensDev]

I'm working on it haha ;) Thanks :)

[@jonmcf2592]

It's cool time well spent!

[@JensDev]

Thanks a lot :D

[@DylanHedger]

Man Equlinox was the best game dev serious I ever found. I watched when he was working on his RPG

[@Kennyisgoated]

lol I like your channel your super underrated 1st ;)

[@JensDev]

Wow u so fast :o Thanks :D

[@Kennyisgoated]

@@JensDev Lol

[@gabriellecabato7629]

this inspired me and gave me a good lesson what not to do stuff.

[@JensDev]

happy to help! ;)

[@YahyaDanboos]

Really interesting game idea, for a first game I would totally call this a success even if it didn't make any money

[@JensDev]

Thanks! I agree, my intention in the beginning was not to make money off the game, it would have just been a bonus :)

[@TheChipmonks]

Whatever, but this was motivating. Thanks man ❤️

[@thegaming4886]

why does this channel only have 3000 subscribers? Your videos sre really good and you deserve more followers!

[@JensDev]

Thanks a lot, really appreciate it! :)

[@leoedwards4179]

Bra jobbat hehe

[@kevincrinklaw7422]

LMAO so the carmageddon thing takes me back. Played that game a lot. Warped my fragile little mind.

[@freeus6085]

You should start your own game jam event and invite us to compete! Good content man!

[@JensDev]

That would be cool! I'm going to look into that :)

[@dogeminedoge]

I like your content

[@Chris_t0]

niec video good to see game dev videos that dont make me feel like shit ahahah, good job man

[@JensDev]

Thanks! Not everyone can win all the time right? haha

[@phille8176]

Snyggt Jens! Din engelska är ju super bra, kunde aldrig tro att du var svensk 😅

[@ohtheyloveme]

Love it

[@kaushik4038]

liked video just because you used blender.....good work...keep up

[@cvspvr]

that's a really pretty van

[@Bylem_]

cool idea, I've made 2 endless run games but also thinking about something car related :D

[@ORTyOW]

😳😳😳Happy to hear that you switched to Unreal Engine

[@patryk3772]

I propose to make two large invisible buttons for changing the direction of drive on both halves of the screen

[@slurve0h]

You've made more money on a video about your first game now. Impressive!

[@merian21]

good video thank you

[@JensDev]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Tomasz3kk]

This game looks very good ;)

[@tomeberhard74]

Actually great for a first game! Maybe spend a week to 1) do in-app purchases for car upgrades and remove the ads, and 2) make it player vs player? Learned a lot thx for the vid.

[@T8T-]

Awesome video! Do you work on your games full time, or do you only do it part time and have a traditional job as well?

[@JensDev]

Thanks! Only part time, I work full time with something totally different :)

[@computercrazies]

Jens... try making a mode that is next to impossible and challenge a few youtubers that people like to watch get frustrated and or beats insane hard type games. Examples of what to look for is "Jump King" and "Getting Over It" and those are the KZbinrs you want to sucker in with your almost impossible mode. That is just one angle but I do know many ways to hype a game.

[@dynamisticality998]

I've actually played this game lol, i remember playing it on my phone... crazy

[@JensDev]

Yeah actually, it doesn't have that many downloads, how did you find it? :o

[@carlosemiralonso7997]

I like that you show us real experience and not some fabricated story. The way the video goes, well is entertain to watch and is only 10 minutes. So i would see more videos whenever youtube recomends me your channel (yeah, sorry, not sub/follow here).

[@me-ld2gq]

Him: "I switched to unreal." Me: now thats quality content. Subbed.

[@JensDev]

Haha, honestly a game changer for me to work in unreal, don't think I'll ever go back to unity!

[@me-ld2gq]

I never used unity but i just started using unreal and i love it. Especially the bluepeints. They feel so good and intuitive to use.

[@JensDev]

@@me-ld2gq Yeah, the stuff I can produce with unreal would have taken me so much longer with unity and the process is really enjoyable too!

[@ActionGamingLegends]

@@JensDev I also worked with unity first and then switched to unreal engine 🤣

[@657rem1]

I literally did the exact same thing haha 😂

[@jenssundqvist17]

Nice name! Och snyggt spel ;)

[@johnterpack3940]

You can start with your dream game so long as your dream game has smaller bits you can complete to see things working. Maybe if you're making an FPS you can begin with the shooting. Work on targeting, firing, and getting targets to react. Don't worry about movement, health, reloading... just shoot stuff. Then you can add other bits.

[@b4rtmod]

Definitelly, one step at time.

[@MrZero-se6hb]

I have downloaded your game right now, few suggestions from me after playing game for about 2 minutes are; --->The smoke/dust effect ( not smoke coming from car, I am says about the smoke/dust which randomly generates on map as your car passes) is bad, may be it shouldn't be their or Smoke should be less. --->Everything is very small, I see car, trees and other things very small, I think I need to zoom-in to play this game. --->The game is Difficult, I have not succeeded in going far in game. Even as a Beginner I think 🤔. --->Too much Adds. Adds should be less.

[@deanwilliams433]

I like in the end where you said now you are making a multi-player horror game.... mistake #2 coming up

[@cgbasic808]

cool

[@aryanx3405]

Congratulations KZbin started to recommend your video

[@MikeCore]

niceee

[@hazedraisin2198]

I thought he was replacing the coins with pedestrians you run over 💀

[@plazadz2322]

From my experience as game developer the most important ASO Try find what people search and make game for it

[@jeremyallen9624]

As far as the game itself, it's simple, but decent. But people really need to stop flooding the game market with these high-school projects.

[@dawoodahmed5793]

I m a medical student and i started learning game dev n coding during vacations , it was a lot more fun and intresting tho i didnt make amy game cz i was learning c# , then vacations ended , and i went back to medical studies , but whenever i open yt, it recommends me these game dev videos which r just awosome , and i really want to make games now , waiting for vacations 😂 i will make a medical game

[@Mohd_Zaid_khan]

Any updates?

[@mamasabjbbestcakeinjb5631]

Dear all new producers - don’t give up on that hope of making good soft

[@kclark5382]

Almost 4 minutes in and already surpasses the gameplay mechanics of Big Rigs lol

[@sursomsatan1225]

Hiding inside the couch eh.. yeah that sounds about right with how people responded to the fearmongering

[@___Mahmood___]

NEXT TIME YOU WILL MAKE MORE!! BEST OF LUCK FOR NEXT GAME ON UNREAL ENGINE.

[@ryuoni1966]

🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@juliangjulien]

Nice video but what was the reason for you to switch from Unity to Unreal Engine after spending all that time using Unity for your mobile game? I know that the workflow can be similar but I’m curious.

[@JuanSumChninezeFue]

Because it has better graphics and optimization.

[@happybirthday873]

This guy was actually funny 🤣

[@AlekMat]

I will play your game !

[@yanasitta]

Will you be releasing the SHYT UI library as open source?

[@liam.4809]

I’m currently making my first game, mobile game but I’m still proud

[@muhammadobaidullahhashmi4334]

Do you know unity then already or you learned that from vedios while making the game??

[@Eagervul]

Here's one for KZbin's bots to chew on. Great content, cheers!

[@frosthoe]

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences, ups, downs and helpful advice. Nice Vid. Subscribed. Now I can make my post apocalyptical, roller skating stripper, Zombie Survival Crafting Engineering FPS MMORPG! ( with Cat Heros !) And Voxel based Too !!! Player is a roller skating stripper, caught in a galactic radiation storm, fortuitously shielded while riding the subway after a long night strip skating, she emerges, into dawn, and a world forever changed....Imagine 7D2D + Space engineers set in post apocalyptical Elder scrolls/Skyrim but 2030 technology world setting. ...did i mention strippers?

[@speggeri90]

Jätte bra mycket spelar Jens gubbe. Vörlåta mig jag talar inte bra svenska jag är från Fineland. Jag tycker om ge dig pengar men jag har inte pengar. Skål! And no, I didn't check with google translate. Sue me. Looks great!

[@JensDev]

Inte illa alls, tack för komplimangen! Själv vågar jag inte ge mig på finska 😅

[@kamilaltug5670]

Bro, I have some game ideas for mobile but dont like C# at all but everyone says if you go into mobile, you should focus on Unity. On the other hand, UE seemed to me like increadible. What I want to do is to create VR/AR and mobile games so what do you suggest to me? I'm hard worker man and no problem with coding but like creative/art side much more but scaring to fail in 3d Mobiles if I use UE since I'm solo developer for now. Any help would be appreciated!

[@PigJarHut]

Download both go through a basic game tutorial (flappy bird clone or similar) and see which one you prefer

[@JensDev]

I have not made any VR/AR games so I'm not sure what I would recommend in that case. I personally prefer Unreal because in my case I work much quicker in it, but I would try out both to see.

[@Harsh_Singh1111]

lol I like your channel too your super underrated 2nd ;)

[@JensDev]

Hey thanks! I appreciate all the support :)

[@Harsh_Singh1111]

@@JensDev Lol

[@SeiRann.]

Playing LoL with a controller love it

[@victorcallender1311]

Ads are no joke. They make gamers very angry. The ads must not be "interrupted ads". Patience is important. Do am ad for every 5-10 game games or 5-20. Eventually more players will stay and keep playing, therefore increasing your money... but you'll need to wait. You just also work on a life saver so you can tempt your gamers to watch a full ad. Pay for KZbin ads, Google ads, bing ads if you jave enough money. Setup a quick and cheap website also when you earn enough... then just keep developing the game bigger and bigger. Find a way to make it multiplyer by turning players to race each other until 1 is left. When holidays arrive you can create the game to drive away from holiday monster such as a Christmas monster.

[@Leqend]

Hi Jens. Do you have any videos that you used to make this game. Also what’s programming language do you use.

[@Leqend]

Hi jens can you tell me what programming language u use

[@blouberguy4647]

Turns out you can play league with a controller thanks man !

[@IntellectualAbyss]

Jens I have a question, what would be the best game maker for IPhone I can’t seem to find any good game maker engines for it would u have any recommendations?

[@JensDev]

I created my game in unity and it works to create iphone games too, differences should not be that big

[@m4rt_]

Hello from Norway.

[@JensDev]

Hello neighbor!

[@rorygillen1]

just hopped on playstore to download this.

[@JensDev]

Was it any good? 😅

[@RinoaCraft]

How did you learn how to publish it?