How This Game Dev Sold 50,000+ Copies of His Game - Full Time Game Dev Podcast Ep. 006

I chat with Jason Smith who's game Cultic sold over 50,000 copies! You can get Cultic here: store.steampowered.com/app/16...
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► Wishlist Twisted Tower: store.steampowered.com/app/15...
► Learn how to make money as a KZbinr: www.fulltimegamedev.com/opt-i...
► What I believe: • What I Believe

[@thomasbrush]

Thanks for watching! Hope you learned a ton. Btw, you can get Jason's game Cultic here: store.steampowered.com/app/1684930/CULTIC ► Learn how to become a full time game dev, free: www.fulltimegamedev.com/opt-in-how-to-make-six-figures ► Enroll in my 3D workshop, free!: www.fulltimegamedev.com/opt-in-15-minute-3D-game ► Make your game instantly beautiful with my free workbook: www.fulltimegamedev.com/opt-in-instant-beauty-color-workbook ► Get my 2D game kit, free: www.fulltimegamedev.com/opt-in-2D-game-kit ► Join my 2D character workshop, free: www.fulltimegamedev.com/opt-in-2d-character-art-workshop ► Wishlist Twisted Tower: store.steampowered.com/app/1575990/Twisted_Tower/ ► Learn how to make money as a KZbinr: www.fulltimegamedev.com/opt-in-indie-game-income-workshop

[@ElianeGameDev]

I really enjoy these podcasts where game devs are talking together, it's always inspiring.

[@StudioYarn]

Those kind of talks are very inspirational. Makes me feel like all the hard work’s really gonna pay off. Thanks Thomas

[@squidshockstudios1486]

This was a REALLY good and interesting one! I could listen to you and Jason talk for hours.

[@thaptam]

I love this conversation, from the picking battle section to how solo dev could adapt to the hard life by being a generalist. I love the gun collection at the end of this video, especially when the gun owner doesn't want to harm any animal in the hunting game. This talking inspires me so much. I keep working with my solo dev path and wish I could survive until reaching a humble hit.

[@TYNEPUNK]

gluing stuff to guns is such a great idea, really the whole "kitbashing" idea that we use when we work with assets and tame them is the same thing. If you watch the making of red dwarf you see they just use household items stuck together and paint them. Basically there seems to be a moment where something stops being an assetflip and becomes kitbashing, and when it does you cannot even tell assets were used most times. I personally have no problems using assets so long as they look like they fit quite well. I made an entire open world game with assets and it looks great.

[@ariamohebi]

AMAZING! Please continue interviewing people!

[@fablefolk_studio]

Exciting interview, Tom! Although I haven't created a videogame that had so much success yet, I also enjoy making videos about game development. Thank you for the inspiration! 👍

[@tomorrowtodaylane]

Bro you have legit INSPIRED me to focus on working on my first Indie game. Full stop-- from no experience (just 10s of hours on Unity and hundreds on Unreal learning systems myself). 2024 will be a year I present the concept to an audience I truly believe it. Cant wait to be on the other side of a conversation with you one day 🙏🔥

[@hamzahgamedev]

First Courtney posted about Crimson Hollow, than Thin matrix posted about Home Grown and now Thomas posting this awesome podcast with Jason.!! What a time to be alive for a solo game dev like me haha.! 😇😇

[@eduardollerandez9936]

So happy to hear him say that he was going to work. And working on his game after work also because I'm also doing that right now and it's crazy draining but I'm hoping it will be worth it in the end.12 to 1am is my end time lol 😅😅

[@michalrv3066]

Great interview, very motivating. Thank you!

[@acafecat]

Checking off my life story list Started game dev at a young age - Check Got a little jump start in game dev during college - check Working retail and tech - Check Release a commercial game; guess that's the next step to the Brush/Smith method. I did almost release a game with plagiarized sprites so I get the want to do as much in house by yourself. I had paid an artist for a set of sprites and what I ended up getting was repaints from an older game and didn't know it until I was getting called out on Twitter...wasn't a great experience.

[@lukassedlak9511]

Hi Thomas, thanks for cool interview. Fellow game developer from Slovakia here so it got my attention when you've mentioned that you've visited Slovakia at the end of the interview. To explain the gun topic to you, in Slovakia guns are not banned/prohibited but it's extremely difficult to get to them, because you need doctors examination (mainly sight, and if your hands work), psychological examination, you need to take shooting course with the certified instructor and then be examined by the police if you are capable of holding your weapon and know how to prevent for example self harm etc. You can get weapon illegally but I presume that black market prices here are ridiculous. To answer your question why are Slovakian people so interested in shootings in America is that almost on daily basis we have on the news also some reports from America where people got shot, or mass shootings or other gun related crimes (mainly from TVs partially owned by US corporations) presumably because this hooks peoples attention, so that's why people tend to think that in US there is potentially wild west but with higher living standards then the old days :) Jokes aside I know that's not true, since I've been to America. I've visited mainly California - San Francisco and Silicon Valley when I was working for Cisco before going to game dev and for a while full time indie game dev.

[@thedevblog5916]

We need more gun show and tell!!!

[@Ata5ll]

Thanks for all your videos Thomas, I hope some time I can buy your course.

[@Lous_taunau]

this guy is the right representation of "if you want it, do it". Amazing podcast Thomas.

[@TheLegendarySandwich]

27:40 I can't believe how common this is

[@experts_sketch1051]

these podcast are really helpful., hey Thomas it be really really great if you mange to bring Zeekerss (developer of Lethal company) for one❣

[@wtmftproductions]

Large complex Blueprints are either out of ignorance or just showing off. Blueprints can be very elegantly simple and modular and respect the single responsibility principle.

[@vladdimitrov819]

Absolutely true. Sub graphs, collapse to function and collapse to macro are features more people need to use. It makes organizing things really easy!

[@kuregga]

One of the best podcast episodes on KZbin EVER. Not joking.

[@oliverrozsa1041]

We need more of these. Great content

[@spyxx]

Here is a good talk about indieGames.. thanks for sharing Thomas.

[@dougie119]

32:30 Thomas and I immaturely chuckle

[@vanceb98]

I don’t know if this matters to players not interested in game dev, but getting to know the developer really makes me interested in their game. I like knowing that the person who made the game is super down to earth and likable.

[@RPGAuthority]

Cultic chapter 1 was so amazing, one of the first games i actually finished in a long time

[@Jay-og4yb]

It was amazing was it? The trillionth game where you click on the badguys until they die was amazing? Why? It did virtually nothing different

[@ElectroGamesYT]

We need more of these. :)

[@orczan8533]

Love these interviews please make more

[@ItsJustJoe]

What an awesome way to start a Monday! Great insight from two great devs.

[@darkesnight]

The best way i explain to any programmer the difference between C# and C++, is C# is like tracing a complex drawing as to C++ is like freehand drawing. Unity has limitations as to Unreal when it comes to certian aspects. Yet whether you use either you'l get the same outcome. The question is are you able to freehand it or trace it? either way isnt wrong!! Ive been using unity for over 9 years and just switched to unreal. In my opinion I wish i should have learned this engine along while learning unity. Love the content keep it up and one day I'll be looking forward to our interview..lol.

[@alondite215]

Helps that it's an outstanding game that pulls all the right kinds of inspiration from all the right places. Classic shooter DNA with a dose of Resident Evil 4? Take my money.

[@fluffy6923]

1:28:00 I think, Unreal feels pretty cozy for a person who worked for 8 years in Unreal and did nothing in Unity.

[@PaulMucci]

Great conversation. I've done some work in unreal when modding Ark Survival but will probably never use Unreal to create a game. I explain it this way to others. It's like skiing for twenty years and then changing to snowboarding. You understand the hardware, have honed your skills and can do black diamonds with ease. Why would anyone want to go to a mountain and be stuck to the bunny hill when you already have the capability to use the whole mountain.

[@robthemod6580]

Great interview :)

[@TYNEPUNK]

great video, inspiring too. I just released a game worldwide on switch and pc after years of work. Guess the sales? 4 sales in a week. I just dont understand this industry anymore. May not even bother with xbox and ps5 ports now.

[@stealthwolf2011]

So this is the guy who stole Leon's jacket.

[@bonehelm]

1:38:19 Sorry to blow your mind but Unity already tracks everything with telemetry. They've had telemetry in Unity for many years. They already know how many installs. That's how they came up with the business decision to charge devs based on installs because they already know how much money they would make.

[@Harvino.YT24]

Love your vids

[@tokyoraven6261]

Now you got to interview indie makers of Palworld.

[@fluffy6923]

They don't speak English and they are more of an AA developer than indie. There's like 40+ people working on Palworld.

[@nickdevprod3667]

No streams?😢

[@SkribblerStudios]

Whats up from Sumter south Carolina! I agree, im passionate about small town life and community. Though i lived in the woods. (in cola now bleh). iv always wanted to do game development. Im working on a Vr project. rpg shooter, hopfully ha.

[@Sweepy_Games]

Please do a interview-summary video like with Cho Cho Charles developer!

[@MailmanHOF]

Full time mailman and father of 4 here, gaming since I can remember and want to start developing but don’t have a pc or laptop, any advice?

[@connorhagerty537]

Jason is badass and had some really great insight.

[@MosesMatsepane]

What is a tech school? Would an institution like M.I.T or CalTech be classified as a Tech School? Or is a Tech School a Trade School?

[@DaweHammer]

It is so interesting to listen to their experience about Unity vs unreal. How Unity feel so cozy. Because I have exact oposite experience with those engines. I find Unreal cozy to use and unity extremely frustrating. Because every time i want to do something in unity i finds out that i just can’t do it and i have to write it in shader languege for example or in material editor is too limited for me to do it in so i would have to buy it. But in Unreal I can do many of tohe things just fine with no problems. And that goes for shaders, animations, skeletal meshes, programing anything. I find it much easier than unity and just like they said cozy to use. 😁

[@rotub]

Me as an Australian when Jason started pulling out guns 👁👄👁

[@ga_s6]

would be nice if the vide had landmarks!!!!!

[@3kkousedflash246]

i have all three godot unity and unreal installed. i dont know which exactly to start with in fear someone pulls some bs like that again and dont recede it. ive played a little in unreal once for like 2 hours but i am beginner beginner

[@JusthadiKhalouf-xl9ck]

Best game dev content creator

[@fluffy6923]

13:49 If you want a game about hunting cryptids, play Witch Hunt, Skinwalker Hunt, BIGFOOT, Rake... There's more games with that premise, but quality of most other games in this subgenre is quite poor.

[@StaredownGames]

I'm a BAAAAD hopper. I start a new project everyday.

[@tonycalabro470]

What did his publisher do? Sounds like not much?

[@Andres-vo5uo]

Just realized you look like Greg Kinnear.

[@alfredorourke8715]

Honestly yall give me hope guess where I live near lol

[@nixantcreatives]

Damn a big one!

[@wtmftproductions]

Sub-titles turn me off especially in movies, and ESPECIALLY when they aren't an existing IP or a sequel! God bless it one of my favorite movies, "The Raid" is named "The Raid: Redemption" in the USA. Stupid title. Great movie!

[@1jerrycamacho497]

1:30:00 ...THERE IS RIGHT WAY TO SAY IT! GA...DOUGH!.. ITS FROM THE MOVIE: 'Waiting For Godot' (Brilliant Philosophy movie... totally check it out.) its a play on words because the movie has a moral undertone(God...Godot) as these two homeless men are waiting for...Godot... to arrive.

[@bioburden]

Serious question: Let's say you have a career earning you €60k - €80k/year (an experienced software dev in the US can easily earn $120k+) and assuming 50,000 copies sold at €10 each, that's €500k - then you have Steam's 30% cut (€150k) + the publisher's cut. So lets say you're left with something in the range of €250k - that's hardly an amount worth quitting your fulltime job for, right?! Am I missing something here?!

[@feliperibeirosilva900]

You are correct. and thats why there are so many bad games. most of them are made with love with no income and fail because of hardship or made only thinking about income and become souless trash.

[@bioburden]

@@feliperibeirosilva900 Right, but 50,000 units sold is seen as a successful game, and even seen as a metric for quitting your full-time job, but the math just simply doesn't add up with regards to it being enough to quit your full-time job.

[@user-ti6uh2hf5q]

125

[@LorneDev]

Cultic is basically what father would have been

[@popay0163]

🇲🇦♥️

I love your podcast always but the only thing what I can think about the ending is "USA people being USA people". I don't say Americans because there is a lot more in America than just USA.

[@SzymonAdamus]

Great, passionate developer, "Cultic" is an excellent game, but I can't stand the hosts who insert themselves into every bit of conversation :( Thomas, I have nothing against you, but you ask a question, Jason answers, and after a while you talk about yourself. Almost every time. I understand that it's your channel and your content. You build your brand, audience and sell your story and products. I get that. But from the journalistic side, a good interview is one in which the author understands that at that moment the guest is the most important, not himself. I wanted to stay longer on your channel because you do interesting things but this mentor-like self-centered style turned me off :( I keep my fingers crossed for your projects and the development of the channel, but I'm unsubscribing because of the above.