How I would approach gamedev (if I had to start over)

[@Gambit-YT]

Wow, I did not know about the steam keys and not being able to place reviews. That info is SUPER valuable. Thank you so much!

[@SmellsLikeRacing]

They can write reviews, but they just don't count for anything.

[@JamesACoote]

If I was to start over today (as opposed to 2011 when I first started), I'd clone a lot more games for learning purposes. I made the mistake of trying to create entirely novel games right from the start, before I had learned game design. Cloning a game implies it's never going to be a commercial release. So abandoning it doesn't come with that sunk cost feeling while also teaching what made that game good, and moreover, what parts contributed more or less development time. It teaches scope much better than making a single big overly scoped original game and then having to cut back, abandon it, or struggle through to the finish over many years. Related, often the advice given to a newbie developer is to finish and ship their first game or a failing game because "you'll learn all parts of the process". But many indie devs, myself included, then get dragged into a "do everything" mindset: Because in gamedev you can often see ahead - "if I don't do this, the reviews will suck and the game will flop" - it can feel like not doing even the tiniest thing will invalidate the steps further along in the process. Whereas if you really want to learn about the latter parts of the gamedev process, especially self-publishing, you can just chuck a game jam game on Google Play or Steam as a throwaway for practicing on. Cloning is also measurable, and can be timeboxed and gamified at the same time - Can I clone level 1 of xyz game in 2 weeks? - As well, at some point you'll start consistently hitting those challenges and find almost by accident you have something you could actually release. Especially if you're a programmer substituting art by using Unity Asset Store. But even if not, you're only an art reskin and a name change away.

[@threeqs2424]

Great advice

[@MonkeyMind69]

I appreciate this input. It helps a lot and takes the pressure off of just diving in and learning. Thanks!

[@QwertyQwertz]

Cloning is a really good idea. I've just started getting into game dev and have been worrying a bit about how I'm supposed to start an actual project once I have the skills required. This will definitely take the pressure off so I can learn at my own pace

[@meffius_]

How do you approach cloning games being an artist? Clone assets?

[@JamesACoote]

@@meffius_ Just realised my advice is very programmer-centric. Practice being an art director, because on most indie teams, chances are you're going to be the one and only artist, which means you're art director by default. You want to be able to look at an existing game and pull apart the different elements that go into creating the visual atmosphere/vibe (lighting, composition, camera angles, etc) as well as the individual assets. Then practice that by recreating a scene or even just a screenshot from another game. Or make something new but in the same style. Cloning individual assets is less important than the ability to "make more of this", something that'll keep coming up in your career. But yeah, I'm not an artist so caveat emptor.

[@thomasbrush]

LOVE your channel

[@philbertius]

Tooling is important not just from a time perspective, but from a “flow”, design iteration, and ability-to-see perspective. You’ll catch so many issues you wouldn’t have otherwise if you can actually see them, and fixing them is easy when you can iterate quickly. Designers push tools to their limits, and better tools take you to higher limits.

[@raphaeld9270]

That's a good point. Makes me thinks of "Glamorous Toolkit". They are pushing for "Moldable Development" which is continuously making small tooling as you work to make better decisions. 👍

[@1LastGameStudio]

Thanks for the good advices. If I was to start over today, I would definitely start with a really smaller game. I started with a "Faster than Light"-like game, thinking it was a reasonably small projet. But it was not. After 3 years of work on it (as a side job), I'm only starting to see the end of it.

[@juneru2]

8:33 this is very important I think especially for indie games. Many indie games look so same-y or boring so standing out with cool visuals will definitely help setting a game apart from others. I imagine starting a game with the goal of making a fully-fledged demo is the best way to go. Like make the base mechanics, have one or two pretty levels, then build off from there.

[@kawaiianthony8090]

I cannot find it but there is one GDC talk, where the person said participating in game events are not just for getting people to play your game, but to build connections with other game devs, and use the footage of people interacting with your booth as promitional material to show how exciting your game is.

[@MichaelChisholmChizzieRascal]

I think the advice should be don't take your first ever game to a big event, once you're on the level when you are getting a steady income from your games and you can budget for big events I'm sure they're useful. There are probably cheaper ways to meet other Devs.

[@objectshowfan362]

​@@MichaelChisholmChizzieRascal Yeah. Like Game Dev Lounge, for instance (It's a discord server based solely around game dev).

[@TheMiszla]

I disagree about going to the events point. I think as an indie developer, if your game still doesn't look too finished, you should definitely go to events, but not with a booth, but as a participant and give the game away to people who are eager to play it. Get a booth only if your game is almost finished, or at least the first part of it is really really polished. People don't wishlist games that look like prototypes.

[@SenkaZver]

Yeah, YT is a good idea. I think another tip for aspiring devs is to really, really think about the market. What do you want to make? What do people want to play? Small concessions to marry the two will lead to greater success. And with success comes flexibility to lean more towards what you want to make.

[@mattrobb3566]

Excellent, thanks. My weakness is going through Tutorial Hell forever! And trying to become an artist and a modeller, but really I'm a programmer so none of the art or the models were good enough. Finally procrastination! Watching great videos like this when I should be deciding on how to implement a complex mechanism in my current App; once again I'll pretend this was just me doing something useful during a coffee break!

[@cetx]

Invaluable insight. Thank you! (And I appreciate that you start your sample devlog at 0 and not 1)

[@kingofmane8968]

I'm also a game dev and can say this video is gold for any new/aspiring ones. Only improvement I can recommend for videos like this are summarizing your list with... well, a visual list haha. Something like a summary list would be great :)

[@HickyGreen]

I start with my Studio in parttime and make a channel from pre-start but in german. I learned a lot from your Studio. I wish your Business the best and i hope you have a great release by the next game

[@nedraHarden]

I’ve always done the opposite as a programmer. When I did tutorials I learned nothing, when I look up what I need I retained it all

[@QuintonmcGaming]

tutorials dont hellp me either

[@xkoan-yy7lg]

@@QuintonmcGaming just seems like you guys are doing tutorials wrong then. you can't passively watch them. do it with them, then if its a 10 hour long tutorial, every 30 minutes have a secondary project that you take a break to re implement what you just learned from scratch but in a new context. you have to holistically frontload knowledge as well as be able to look things up when you need them to truly learn optimally.

[@ZahrDalsk]

This is the way. Problem solving is what makes the brain retain information. A tutorial never impresses that necessity on your mind.

[@susanb.8285]

​@@xkoan-yy7lg I think it depends on the tutorial. If the tutorial doesn't explain why you're doing something, then you don't really learn what you need. But if the tutorial does explain the why, then they are very valuable. It also depends on how much experience you have with coding. I got nothing out of tutorials at the beginning because I struggled with the coding as a total newbie. But now that I've learned a bit about coding, tutorials help a lot more.

[@caseycu]

This is really good advice. Not everyone would be so open and honest about their mistakes. This video is a real service to those trying to get into indie game dev!

[@MrKingJavo]

My first game was a huge success. I know people always say your first game won't be a commercial success, but that's not always true if you burn the bridge behind you and build a quality game.

[@Jeroxia]

Good shit bro! Can't wait to talk about it in your SUPER AWESOME ACTIVE DISCORD THAT EVERYONE SHOULD JOIN

[@JJSmalls]

Discord? Why?

[@Lucas-gg9yb]

In relation to that "Do research topic" i'm kinda of the opposite of what you were, i watch and reads too much tutorials and i make too much overpreparation and i struggle to simply start doing, sometimes i even research about errors that could happen in my code and the solution to them but it hasn't happened yet because i don't even began! My biggest enemy today is my mind, i'm always thinking i don't have the skills or i'm unable to do the game i'm thinking about doing.

[@dafff08]

its a true point. before actually getting deep in to a subject, start small first. learn and practice the basics just so you can do at least something. only then start study the subject more thoroughly, since it wont overwhelm you and the stuff you do know will help you understand it better. game development is a visual medium. given how complex certain aspects can get, if you dont know how to do the simplest things, informations about details wont help a bit and will fade in to obscurity rather quickly.

[@vast634]

Visuals: make a "pretty corner" type of nice looking scene early, that has good textures, models, lighting and post processing. Its does not need any mechanics yet. But that does not need to be the setup you actually develop the game in. Especially when its mostly about mechanics at first, a low poly prototype environment / blockout is actually better, so you dont spend time on visuals when they are not the focus. Use the pretty scene as reference when implementing the visuals later in development.

[@AvectaInteractive]

So logical and smart to not start your game from a game jam directly. Also gives you the chance to fix some of the issues you know about but didn't have time to fix for the jam

[@AwkwardSpecimens]

You guys HAVE been inspiring - thank you!

[@TheRealWebbyBoy]

Great video man. You make a lot of good points, some of which I'm glad to say I've already been doing (game dev as a side, putting the tools in, asset management) & others I'd not even considered (steam keys & pirating).

[@RewdanSprites]

It's good to see you guys learning and growing. Well done. I also made a ton of these mistakes and more 😅. Edit: As I've reached the end of the video I should probably answer your question: I started over three years ago mostly solo. The only other person in my team is a musician so that puts a lot of work on me. I did hire a couple of contractors (for marketing and level backgrounds) as those are my weakest areas. I spent far far too long on my game but at least it's releasing soon. The good news is people enjoy playing it but... Really bad genre choice for steam and some other things but don't want to rabbit on for hours.

[@anytng999]

When you say "bad genre choice for steam", do you mean that there isn't a significant audience for it?

[@RewdanSprites]

@@anytng999 There are audiences for various genres on steam but some are oversaturated or don't necessarily fit the PC market and might be better for consoles etc etc.

[@deadhunter_dev8622]

I'm currently still learning from mistakes :D Have been for the last 34 years lol. My first proper project is getting very playable and am thinking about the Marketing side of things.. which I have no experience in! I'm doing it all solo but there are so many facets to game development it requires a few skill sets at least. Still I'm loving it :D

[@JoachimPileborg]

There are a couple of things that I feel was right, for me at least, and that was to not do my "dream" game immediately. That got hammered into me quite early by quite a lot of different channels and videos. I also think it was a good idea to put the current game I was working on on-hold when I got the idea to my current game, mainly because the scope is even smaller (which is another thing everyone say). And the third thing is that I started, and started over many times, until I got something that I felt happy about and that seemed to work. Lastly, being of no artistic talent at all, I didn't even try to do anything myself when it comes to the art. Everything in the game is an asset I bought. Even almost all of the code-heavy things like controllers etc. are assets I bought (mainly because of other issues that I won't go into here). Now for the things I feel was *not* right, and the main thing is that I don't feel I got the Steam page up early enough. The art for the page is bad (using a sub-par AI image generator), and that I spent way too much money on assets I don't need. I'm a kind of hoarder and "completionist"... Got to catch them all kind of guy. I also feel that I *should* have made some kind of devlog. Not weekly, definitely not, but maybe monthly. I might not have reached far, but anything is better than nothing. And it would really be ore of a "studio-log" like BiteMe is doing, and less of a single-game devlog. The problem with that is that my progress is really varying, some weeks I can get a lot done, other weeks nothing (again going back to the other issues... 😋). Oh and my planning kind of sucks. Partly because of the unreliable nature of my progress. I'm going to have to postpone the release to Q3, but with a demo or early access or similar in Q2 at least. Enough ranting for this time. Good luck to all aspiring developers out there! Don't give up, there are solutions to everything, and you're not alone. And keep on watching BiteMe and their videos, they have great advice. 😁

[@LundisGameDev]

I think I should have hired a concept artist early on to give me some ideas for the art style. Or just think more about the art style myself. I learned so much from studying my commissioned steam marketing art once I finally got that. But at the same time I really needed a lot of time to find my game mechanics, so it wasn't like I was wasting time for the first 9 months. Another stupid thing I did was to make my backend infrastructure way too fancy. I had to scrap all of that because the hosting provider was highly unreliable. When I switched to another hosting company, I cut my monthly server costs down to a third by keeping it much simpler. I had my head in the clouds regarding how many players I would be getting once I launched my game. But honestly there is probably not much I would do significantly different. I have been sponging knowledge constantly, and that's the most important part I think.

[@muzboz]

Good video, with some good thoughts and insights there. Nice one! All the best for the future. :D

[@View619]

Not going full-time with limited dev experience would have been a better choice, I imagine. We all love to chase a dream, but diving in head-first without a plan is asking for failure.

[@View619]

​​@@renobutters Yeah, most dev channels are just running on survivorship bias. It's rare to see one where the studio failed financially, even after giving it their all. Helps to remind you that game dev is a very risky career choice.

[@whilefree]

Awesome tips. Specially the tooling thing. I would highly suggest beginner game dev to forget his dream games and learn how to properly manage a project and maintain OOP principles. Yeah, you may spend several months on making the tools and learning project management. But after that you will work 10X faster and more efficient...

[@anonimowelwiatko9811]

Making utilities that you can bring to other projects. Ideally.

[@whilefree]

@@anonimowelwiatko9811 Yeah. Actually I've made many videos on the subject in my KZbin Channel, and even created an addon. But I'm a Godot user... you know... In my opinion Reusability is the number one priority an indie team or a solo dev must follow. If you can reuse it in later projects, you'll be a game-making beast in no time.

[@Am3ricium]

I wouldn't say you should throw your game jam game or a prototype in the trash. What you probably should do is either refactor the hell out of it, or remake it from scratch with better architecture in mind, before adding anything new. Same point, different wording.

[@Schrello1]

Thats amazing :) Love this video. Thanks for sharing your experiences. I feel the point of laging conacts in game development and speaking about it. :D I wish there would be some local gamedev groups in brussels :)

[@bitemegames]

There are? twitter.com/otaru_bxl games.brussels/events-and-calendar/ -M

[@bassemyounis5437]

Great video once again! I'd love to hear about the story where your game get leaked by curators.

[@bitemegames]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/kKHNlpujjq-Kr6c -M

[@pilotdawn1661]

Very helpful. Thanks!

[@aharon672]

Homie isn't getting a lot of sleep. Those dark eyes don't lie. Take care of yourself man.

[@bitemegames]

Ran out of moisturizer, I sleep plenty. -M

[@robertsaget9697]

THIS IS FINE!!! 😂

[@ringo2715]

I will say my eyes look like that all the time, have since I was a kid. A lot of people say I look tired and it's not typically the case. Just the way my eyes look.

[@chychywoohoo]

Damn that's offensive

[@Lacotemale]

​@@ringo2715Same here. Even when I'm full of energy I look tired in my eyes.

[@jomabab]

When did you create a business? Did you know how to do all that (LLC vs Inc or whatever they have in Belgium/EU)? I think the business side would make for an interesting video.

[@davidstaffell]

The business side of things is rarely something that game devs / creators are good atn

[@threeqs2424]

Great video and advice. Thank you.

[@chaoskid1024]

I just finished making a "deluxe" version of a game I submitted for a jam. Problem was, when I made the original, I had haphazardly slapped everything together, not expecting I would ever go back in to make extra levels. So when I went back in to do them anyway, things were way more difficult than they needed to be. Player wasn't an instance-able scene, levels were difficult to design with the screen size, the game had no way of knowing which room you were in - the issues went on and on. What should've taken at most two months instead took three!

[@mcbride967]

I would say that learning as you go is not a mistake. I'm a huge fan of this approach. I think the issue was you forgo the other rule. Learn your fundamentals! So with things like Blender, only learn the parts of blender you really need, but don't skip out on the fundamentals. If you lean too far into "learning in advance" then you'll just end up learning lots of things that aren't useful. For example: I need to do leet code and coding challenges to learn how to code. Not very effective. Learn the fundamentals of coding, then learn as you go. For example, graph theory isn't fundamental to coding and it's in a lot code challenges. But if your a web dev, you'll never need it. But as a game dev, you might. So learn the fundamentals first, never skip. After than, learn as you go. That's my philosophy anyways. Great video! Standing on the shoulders of the giants before you is also a great idea too!

[@Ranger8744]

15:35 "...Forever alone!" Ouch😐!! 🤣🤣

[@DarkDiaspora]

Thank you that was great advise from your experiance. I went the route of learning everything and I am still stuck in that place and just want to start creating now. Finished Blender courses, still working on gamedev courses, but I find that if you move from one area to another to study you miss out on the practice of the other skills you have learned and dont get enough practice in the elements you have already studied. So perhaps a good split is learn, then create and create. I opened unity today and after making a couple of basic games could not even remember how to add an GameObject as Blenders hotkeys are so burned into my brain, Hahah lol at myself. Didint take me long to get back to adding the object.

[@Hidden-1-3]

You just need to focus on one thing for a period of time. Then move into another thing when you feel you reached a decent level in the first one.

[@Sarx-vw5oq]

Prototype to production resulted in a hell project when I still worked as a programmer. It's truly a disaster. You get the impression you know more about what you're doing than you actually know.

[@HextechStudios]

What you said: "Start a KZbin channel where you teach people to do gamedev" What I heard: "When there's a gold rush you're better off selling shovels than you are looking for gold" 😆

[@bitemegames]

Because I like this comment so much, I'm giving you an exclusive discount on my "zero to hero gamedev" course, only $497 instead of $997! Get yours here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/moLaZapvjMyLmbM

[@HextechStudios]

@@bitemegamesHad me on that first half ngl 😆

[@YouTonyx]

Thank you for the video. As an aspiring game dev those videos are pure gold. Out of curiosity, are you of Italian descent? I know in Belgium it's quite frequent and the way you move your hands made me think you might be one of us... Best of luck for your studio!

[@bitemegames]

No, I am 100% Belgian, not a single Italian chesthair on my body. -M

[@YouTonyx]

@@bitemegames Well.. you certainly learned how to speak with hands, though! :D

[@nikwalz3429]

Thanks for this video :-)

[@stevemyopinion423]

Remember for a team there a huge difference between being paid. Vs volunteer I mean if me and 4 friends work on a game for free. I can't complain of they don't want to work much.

[@furkannarin2844]

valuable insights dude. thanks

[@lawrence9713]

You can put any visuals on any game project tbh. You have a prototype/greybox/alpha, then you just have to replace all the grey boxes or prototype models and done. You definitely need a clear vision for the art style/visuals. And saying that GC wont give you wishlists isn't set in stone. If you have an appealing looking game you will get wishlists. GC is all on visuals

[@HipBlooD]

This video helped me a lot. I currently have nearly every Main mechanic that i thought of done, but my map looks like…😅 the Problem is: I love to develope or 3d modelling stuff, but map design i really have to learn more. And if another here is looking for creating a small team (and maybe can speek german) hook me up! :D

[@b00y00]

I thought so, I think I wanna buy assets on store but my game background is in Indonesian school, sadly there are no high quality assets that match to Indonesian school and I spent months to make the assets :(

[@mxjxn-art]

Great vid ❤

[@christopherfrancique9912]

thanks bro, best of luck with your games

[@Joshtbelt]

thank you for that info

[@anonimowelwiatko9811]

I don't know what Item is in Unity but isn't that why you make abstract classes, structures, factories to be able to add new element at fly? (without special feature that needs to be scripted of course) As for research. I believe that learning iteratively is actually correct and natural thing to do. Expanding your knowledge over things you will not need in long time if ever is waste of time and you might forget it sooner or later anyway.

[@sealsharp]

It's not about objects/items your create in code. ScriptableObjects are a way to built assets are intended to be immutable at runtime so that instances of gameobjects can share them. It's made with designers and artists in mind, that's why it's primarily UI based, but with a small bit of code you can build yourself nice tools to work with these.

[@anonimowelwiatko9811]

@@sealsharp I believe ScriptableObject is like Script in Godot? So each Gameobject has it's own state and doesn't share parameters but script itself? And you can change these parameters in editor?

[@sealsharp]

Not exactly. It's really hard to explain without using words that then again only make sense to people who already know unity, but i'll try, haha. Scripts in Godot are components on GameObjects, the Unity thing to that would be MonoBehaviours. Thats the composite pattern. Those are on GameObjects, instances that exists in the hierarchy tree. ScriptableObjects do not exist in that hierarchy. They are not on gameobjects, they are assets but they can be referenced by gameobjects and prefabs. It's more like the Database in an RPG Maker game. You can visually build immutable content. When i came from pure programing to Unity i found that it slightly "okay...why?" but within the workflow of how assets, serialization, cooperation between devs, it makes sense. And i don't think that says much more than my last attempt, lol. Well. Have a good evening sir :-)

[@philbertius]

ScriptableObject is anything but want to exist independently of any GameObject, but still have editable properties, game hooks, etc. Can also use them as “better enums,” no concerns with removing existing ones shifting every number by one.

[@bro-rubro]

i disagree with the "focus on the visuals" part. it is easier to attract viewers but to mantain players it really is about gameplay. visuals take a lot of effort, and when you do a great art for a game just to find out the core idea isn't that great can misdirected energy. prototyping with ugly art is crucial since, if it's fun being that ugly it sure is a great idea. love your content

[@PHeMoX]

I think the problem is in how their first game just had completely terrible graphics for the type of game it is. Anything in the builder genre, needs to have satisfying art for players to really enjoy the full experience. It's really more than 50% of the experience. For what their game is, it didn't need to be in 3D either. This dev refuses to fix this issue and now think they should have focused on just a 'visuals first' approach. It's very telling of how inexperienced these guys really are. And no, being a game dev for x amount of time doesn't make them experienced enough to really have any of the opinions they share as some kind of 'best practice' or legit advice. I have no clue why they think they're experienced. Which legit success did they achieve? Released a game that failed...? Also, prototyping is 10000% crucial, where the main idea is to scrap stuff that doesn't work. Not enough indie devs do this, despite thousands of recommendations along the same lines. Any game project should start small. People should build and finish projects that are fun/work, discard stuff that doesn't work and prevent feature creep. Last but not least, make it a solid experience that doesn't feel like a bedroom programmer's 'first game'. Forge Industry has balance issues, becomes a waiting game and becomes boring. The game has way more issues than just the visuals anyway. And for some ridiculous reason they think they stood a chance in this genre of videogames.

[@bro-rubro]

@@PHeMoX I agree with everything. I'm not trying to make them feel down or incapable. But many times I have found the same issues related to what a valuable experience really means. They are a team and have many hours dedicated to the craft, however I feel that the misguided focus is something that keeps them in the same quality of context. This means that whenever they fix a problem, it is the wrong one. Which keeps them from moving forward. In other situations I had this feeling of "they don't value prototyping enough". And I see this happen over and over in many different devlogs. Everyone is tempted to quickly post online content when the unseen planning phase really takes a lot longer and is even more crucial. With all that said, I really appreciate their effort and perseverance, however it feels lacking perspective of what gaming really is when they're too focused on the enterprise aspect of the company. I guess that's just how the online communities work. Cute visuals and comforting tips and tricks are always well seen when in reality things are difficult and require sensibility.

[@sealsharp]

Damn, that algorithm is hungry. ++

[@RealCoachMustafa]

14:02 That game looks amazing! I wonder who made it? 😎

[@Bryanox7]

go make a video

[@dcdales]

0:21 why does it say "estimated revenue"? Shouldn't KZbin know how much they're paying you? Weird. Anyways, great videos! Thanks!

[@bitemegames]

It's a bit of a weird thing, because it calculates the "true" revenue about a month later, when it goes through the Google Ads dashboard (where the payout happens), the KZbin one underestimates by a few dollars, but nothing really substantial. -M

[@flamart9703]

Hey! Do you make videos about your new game already?

[@bitemegames]

We're a bit too early for a full on devlog about Guild Architect yet, and we don't have a Steam page for it yet. Expect a full on devlog in a bit more than a month probably. -M

[@AaronBynum]

So many great insights.

[@VforVictorYT]

Where is the line to ship small games, should all join the Hidden Cats epidemic?

[@Surkk2960]

Other than my inability to comprehend code, I do think trying this solo is definitely not helping either. I can also say I have an education in game development and no, it didn't help, still flopping like a land fish when it comes to building anything. I honestly still want to pursuit game dev, just still tying to figure out how is the problem now.

[@PHeMoX]

It's because most education in game development completely sucks. Especially those that focus on game design. Generally taught by people who never created anything successful. Too many outdated ideas. I don't mean to trash your education or general progress in life, but anyone who thinks you can create games without some fundamental programming knowledge will end up deeply disappointed. The best thing, assuming you're going to stick with trying this solo, is to dive into the world of programming and start learning that.

[@Surkk2960]

@@PHeMoX Don't worry, I think my college was trash as well (to the point they got a class action lawsuit apparently). I honestly do wish they focused more on the programming basics so I might be able to understand it solo. Until then, forcing myself to understand it is how I will have to do it, though it's making me hate doing it. oh well :\

[@MehmetSarkd]

Since your game got pirated maybe you can do a video what to do when you get pirated (as a small/solo indie studio)

[@PHeMoX]

Short answer: Can't do anything about it. Generally it's simply not worth the time investment. There are tricks with making games 'phone home' for authentication or requiring user accounts in order to be able to play the game, but most endusers hate that stuff. I would argue that for indie games specifically, if a game is priced in a fair way, and if the game is any good, the right audience will want to support the developer in a more natural way. You'll always end up with people who can't or won't spend money on your game. I wouldn't look at those as 'missed sales', because they would probably never buy your game. The other natural way of encouraging legit purchases is in providing the best updates, free content patches and all that for those who actually bought it.

[@MehmetSarkd]

@@PHeMoX is DMCA'ing at least the first results in Google useless/time consuming? I guess it is since I can easily find AAA pirated games

[@-C69-]

What equipment/software are you using for producing your KZbin videos?

[@bitemegames]

I use a Sony ZV-1 camera, Rode Wireless Go 2 Mic, and edit using Premiere pro. -M

[@alexanderkulaev541]

Thank you for the video! Can you tell what books are standing on your desk? Very curious to learn and find them for my own education!

[@bitemegames]

Have you seen this yet? kzbin.info/www/bejne/qZ67aKala994aNU It covers pretty much all the books in the background that aren't art books from games/artists. -M

[@alexanderkulaev541]

@@bitemegames Cool, thank you so much! :) I will watch it. Btw, your accent seems interesting to me, as I'm Russian and it very much reminds me of Russian accent. Is that right, are you fellow Russian game dev?

[@bitemegames]

No, we're from Belgium, but don't worry, you're not the first one puzzled by my accent! -M

[@alexanderkulaev541]

@@bitemegames Cool, thanks for letting me know! I love Larian and Divine Divinity (yes, that old game), btw :)

[@ringo2715]

Building good tools is such a hard thing to grasp when you first start out. You want to SEE the game as soon as possible but you have to fight that urge. Take the project seriously and spend time on tools in the beginning. All the greats mention it and I think you have to learn it first hand. If someone is at the point in their game dev journey where they can understand how important it is you need to focus on your tools.

[@bruceburnett5372]

I'm probably taking a year off now to go back to work. GD is great but a bird in hand... And I think there is a flood coming. Quality level has gone up due to AI. It just hasn't hit yet. So quality will become generic. Unique qualities of indie may save the day. So I'm in no hurry. I want to see what happens. I've decided to compartmentalize it, so I can keep at it, until I get some cash to hire somebody to help finish it properly. It's not in me to purposely make something of poor quality.

[@MrQuaidReactor]

Been making games for 10 years now and man I would have did things differently, however I'm stubborn so I did finish them all and release them. Main things any indie game dev needs to do is to first really understand what you can realistically do. Knowing that will help plan out games that you can finish. Also you need to make sure the game is fun, as you build keep checking that, have people play it and make sure it stays fun. Stick with the plan, feature creep is a real issue, both for small and large dev teams. There should be a dedicated phase, prototype phase where you get the core systems working alone and with each other, and maybe look at a few more complementary systems, but try to stick to the main ones. Start small your first several times. I like prob most others hear that and still don't follow it. I would have released 10 games by now had I did that, instead of 4. Remember completing a small project may not bring in millions or much at all, but it gives you so much more in experience. Last and one of the most important pieces (Sadly) is marketing. With the number of Indie games coming out, the amount of money AAA spend on advertisement, it all plays against you, so your going to need to market as soon as you can. I recommend like said here to have a day job where you can spare money, and pay for decent advertisement, it can make or break your game.

[@lloyd011721]

can you expand on the part where your game can be pirated because of steam curators?

[@bitemegames]

I made a whole video about it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/kKHNlpujjq-Kr6c -M

[@dreamingacacia]

Talking about "Research". While I'm not agree with that part. If you don't even have the 101 of the specific subjects, then taking a course for the fundamental is a good idea. But if you already have basic ideas, then by study on "Demand" is the best possible thing especially when you're such small team or even working solo. You don't have time to "know everything". If I need an advice for myself in the past, then it'd be to "stop caring what others think". At the end nobody would be there to help you. It's not like how the fake society promised.

[@segamai]

Very, very grateful for getting your channel recommended to me by colleagues of yours (with "Hub" in the name). I hope you blow up because it's very impressive how you've been able to build such a strong channel in between everything else you have going on.

[@bitemegames]

I am very confused with the hub, I only know one hub, and I'm pretty sure that's not the one you're referring to? -M

[@olitheone]

What's the relation between Steam Curators and piracy?

[@bitemegames]

Have you seen this yet? kzbin.info/www/bejne/kKHNlpujjq-Kr6c -M

[@olitheone]

@@bitemegames I just did, thanks for the recommendation and the helpful videos 💪🏻

[@marcapouli7805]

If I could meet my past me begining to learn game dev, I would explain him it is not possible at all, not matter how much work and efforts he will produce, and that it will waste entire years of his life.

[@DANTE-iw6zy]

what is that game in the thumbnail

[@miguelmyers8929]

what is your advice if you're a solo dev stuck on a specific problem and have to hire an expert to help solve the problem?

[@ShawnRay]

So I code on an IPad in a car for 8 hours a day due to circumstances… what advice can you givee? 😢😂😅❤

[@snofhi]

I'm really wondering how you are able to work full time as a game dev, looking at the profits from your last game. Your studio must be running at a loss for now right?

[@View619]

They're burning through savings, that will likely continue until they are forced to shutdown. The reality is that the majority of indie devs don't turn a profit, let alone enough to remain full-time.

[@SpaceGoatboy]

What did he mean about it being pirated by ... steam curators? I didn't understand that and sounds important :)

[@bitemegames]

We made a full video about it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/kKHNlpujjq-Kr6c Basically, a curator (impossible to point which one) was given access to our game before release, thinking that they would help. But instead a pre-release curator version ended up online on piracy sites. -M

I also recommend making tooling for your game. Especially if it can be generic. My teammates ran out of steam, and now the Godot addon I made for the game has more success than the game itself.

[@you8just]

why exactly shouldn't you release in the Steam Summer Sale? would you just get burried?

[@bitemegames]

Yeah, since the new event store page looks completely different, with much less focus on new releases. Also, a lot of AAA games and other succesfull indies go on (steep) discount, you will have to compete with that as a full-priced game. -M

[@you8just]

@@bitemegames Thanks, you saved me alot of pain.

[@simonecosci565]

This might be a strange question, but where does the thumbnail pic come from? Is that a game you're working on?

[@bitemegames]

No, all our thumbnails are Midjourney generated, to have a consistent style. I'm not a good 3D artist -M

[@fillobob8372]

wait wait what is the thing about steam curators and pirating??

[@bitemegames]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/kKHNlpujjq-Kr6c -M

[@thelaw3536]

Didn't know about piracy

[@joshnevel1504]

Unreal has most if not all the needed tools built in. Go unreal,

[@JJSmalls]

Just make a game engine!

[@steen_is_adrift]

I've been loving the switch myself. But I will say this. The unity documentation is crap. But things like chat GPT are pretty good at filling in the gaps since it's just c#. In unreal there's virtually no help out there, and chat GPT is utterly worthless since there's literally no documentation to have trained on. Everything I've had to learn in unreal has been a slog of trial and error and watching utterly awful tutorials that set you up for failure but at least pointed me in the general direction of the systems I needed to use. Both engines have their up sides.

[@davidhenriquez4939]

Your content is being very helpful to me. Thank you! I wanted to ask you two questions, in case you have the possibility of giving me some answers... 1) I like coding. I have intermediate/advanced knowledge of programming (not games). I am currently following the study plan offered by the Unity page (Unity Learn and its different Pathways). What is the best way you recommend for me to learn and improve programming for Unity? I often see proposed to simply start making games, Google what you need, and learn as you go. But I wanted to know if you have any better suggestions than this. 2) What is, let's say, a minimum profit that I could expect with a halfway decent game? I ask because the economic situation where I live (Venezuela, in Latin America) is quite different from that of the USA, for example. I am currently earning $400 a month, which is insufficient, but places me among people who earn at least something decent here. So my question is, how easy would it be to beat that mark? Because I don't really need much more than that initially to dedicate myself full time to this. Thank you for any answers you can give me.

[@joantonio6331]

"I wasn't aware that your game has to look good"... R'lly? dude do not get caught up with all those redditor who justify their game looking like trash by bringing stardew valley... The very first thing I started working on even before I had an idea of what the game will be was visual

[@davidstaffell]

Yeah, what a bizarre thing to say

[@Leomerya12]

Game Dev really can bring people together. I have better relationships with people in the Netherlands and Norway than I do here in San Francisco.

[@1990Nagaraj]

Hello, Lots of Love and Respect from India. I am a game dev, currently working on a vr game. I need to check few VR games that made $3000 in first year. Is there any way to find these kind of games? Please help. Thank you

[@WebtoonPirate]

Idk but the game looks uhmm...fug

[@shroomedup]

Taking game dev advice from a 22 review mixed game with DOS graphics, lol

[@DieHashtagBrudis]

4:56 wtf bro! You good? Is everything allright? It's just a workbench! What tha hell did you do? It just keeps going on and won't stop 😂 Edit: Ok. I just realized...why in name of fucking jesus christ would you ever put every logic in only one script!?? Come on. This is not a GameJam problem. It is missing programming skill. Sorry to be so harsh but it's true. If I would've seen this, I would thrown all over the table and start over. Or at least refector everything that is usefull to seperat scripts. So that you can reuse them for other stuff and not do it all over again for example item generation 5:01

[@Ehren1337]

And you forgot two more things, talk to community ask for suggestions and send your games to youtubers to review it for you. Get the results even harsh critical comments and fix it. Dont be closed minded about things either.

[@TheAnonymousLemur]

Games get pirated because they are either too expensive or not accessible. Make them accessible and it won't get pirated.

[@myprivatechannel1695]

I see you from the outside, and for me are clear the reasons why you don't succeed yet.

[@DARK_AMBIGUOUS]

My advise is to never use asset packs because then the game isn't "your game". Also it takes away the soul of your game because there are going to be 100+ other games with the same objects as yours.

[@Azzavhar]

Brilliant video 😁 Thank you 👍