How to get money from a publisher (with just a DEMO)

Thank you so much for the great questions about publishers, funding, and how to start your game studio! Keep 'em coming. Reddit link below!
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[@thomasbrush]

Thanks for the questions! If you want to ask more questions on our subreddit, click the link in the description. ► 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

[@bwulf]

Hey Thomas, any chances of giving special discounts for someone who lives in a country that U$D is almost 6 times his local currency's value? I want to buy your course but It's more than a minimum wage around here lol

[@jojobrojoe593]

Sir yes sir

[@jojobrojoe593]

@Jefferson Kelvin why would you do that dude

[@AaronGwynaireGameDev]

I was quite lucky with my game. My publisher approached me after following the game for a good while and I finally signed my contract at the beginning of February this year :) Very stoked to be finally working full time on my game! It can happen, but it requires commitment (have already been working on Neyyah for 2.5 yrs with another 2-3 yrs to go), passion and drive! :)

[@greencubegames]

Im doing my game on my free time since 2020, of course if on free time, but I will get the tips from this video and make a good presskit and try out publishers

[@GemTappX]

It's been 2 years since you posted this, any updates?

[@BrandonDoran00]

Im loving the Assassins Creed Animus sound effects, it brings me back to my childhood

[@maks.youtube.ALT1]

Very well edited. Not over the top, not too boring, just right!

[@TheBugB]

I was actually about to make a joking comment about your shirt and then you were like “is my shirt inside out” and I was like oof thomas beat me to it lol

[@anshpudaruth5549]

As a total newbie to indie dev, I might need to write some of this down 🤣. Great advice, thanks Thomas

[@AnikenSkiwalker]

Man. You are giving me confidence. I appreciate what you are doing for the community. So much of us want to do this for real but the emotional mental barriers can be the difference of a game ideal to an actual game.

[@fmproductions913]

This video is so packed with useful information in such a short time, thanks for sharing!

[@sofi_mek4771]

Such a great video, thank you Thomas. And can you please show us your new desk setup.

[@studiomalaka]

Thanks for sharing, Thomas. Your content, as usual, is pure gold!

[@jamesmccracken1045]

Im huge fan of your videos man! Keep up up the hard work! 💪🏻🔥

[@BlackKnifeGames]

Haha as soon as you asked if your shirt was on inside out, it cut to an ad. Perfect timing there

[@ChooseMongoose]

Great information Thomas!

[@jordan4longshaw]

Thank you for all the info, it really does help push people in the right direction :-D

[@ReeceGeofroy]

Such an awesome video. DEFINITELY going to rewatch this 50 times when I end up reaching out to publishers! Thanks Thomas 🔥

[@JC-jz6rx]

im a web dev that lurks within the game dev area, really like your website : D its sleek as heck

[@hiiambarney4489]

You are lurking huh? You might end up getting some contracts down here... People are really desperate and outsource everything, especially smaller teams.

[@marcoszanre]

Thanks for the tips and great explanations!

[@PandemoniumGameDev]

Great tips, thanks for sharing!

[@DJDeon0]

Thanks Thomas! You're a legend!

[@GemTappX]

Life changing. THANK YOU!

[@moradelshorbagy4173]

Good Job on getting verified. Also, I Love ur vids!

[@NewHopeGames]

Great advice here Thomas👍👍

[@JustDaZack]

Great video with great advice! :)

[@shazboi]

Lovin this qna series keep goin

[@graphicx1000]

Nice thanks just thing l was looking for : )

[@B_Carr007i]

Great Advise thanks

[@rockzonestudios901]

Hey Thomas! It's David. I just wanted to personally say thank you very much for taking the time to make this video. It has amazing tips and things I hadn't known about. I will take and use this advice when approaching them

[@thomasbrush]

It was a great question David. No problem.

[@sanketvaria9734]

Good point. I should start building trust with myself then, because if I don't trust myself on working with discipline and doing my best then how can others will.

[@papafhill9126]

Gosh, yea the point of the game being less polished, but the dev being more polished is so true. I was interviewing people over the last month for a support role for my company and even if their resume wasn't polished, they didn't tick all the boxes from a background standpoint, what I noticed was the more presentable and well spoken a person was, the more a liked them and trusted that they could learn what they didn't know to fill the gaps. Other people with good resumes but they themselves were unpolished set off red flags to us.

[@sebaspi]

Thanks Thomas you are really helping an entire generation of indie devs lol.

[@bunz5911]

hi Bro, from the deep inside of heart thanx

[@LegndGames_YT]

This is really solid advice Thomas and aligns with what we've found out too. One question I have regarding the demo is: We are for example making a procedural open world sandbox crafting survival game and how would you handle a demo for that? It becomes much harder to "polish it" since everything is procedural and the game is a sandbox game. Thoughts?

[@Darckrun]

Make a static world for the demo and condense the content into a smaller area so they get to experience more stuff. Idk if he will ever answer but that's what i thought could work

[@mr9293]

@@Darckrun I think that's a good idea too. Maybe a bit of both? Static for experience and procedural for showing off what's actually going to happen?

[@RainOn2SunnyDay]

Don't show off the procedural side at all, just leave it as one of the features, like a one liner, instead show off the survival aspects and vastness of the open world, think no man's sky

[@universalgraphics7331]

My 2nd Sensei, Teacher, Master. 1st: Broken Owl Gaming = For Playmaker Visual Scripting and Other Technical Problems 2nd: Mr. Thomas Brush = For Life Goals, Counseling, and Mainly Arts

[@itsME-dc4vm]

Nice thanks ;D

[@scalebit2869]

Nice video bro

[@itsgamingmoonlight3400]

Oh how convenient i just lunched my demo lol

[@Player-kg1ds]

Lunched? XD

[@itsgamingmoonlight3400]

@@Player-kg1ds :)

[@MikhailYT]

Same!

[@Uncle12341..]

Love it

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

Great video! I feel like I've heard you say "six figures" a lot and "a hundred thousand" came up here again. Is this some kind of industry standard arrangement? Has that been your experience? Or is that an aspirational number?

[@Level-ts7xl]

as someone who has been trying to get a publisher for my indiegame in the past couple of years, i can say that it is REALLY hard to get a deal, even tho you have a good demo. my demo is fairly polished, about 15mins long and gives the player a good idea of what the game is all about. but most publishers want a nearly complete product before signing anything if you're new in the field.

[@prikshitchaudhary2659]

Hope this will help me one day

[@oainsh]

About recouping marketing costs - now that is an interesting topic I have not considered. Always assumed, it just automatically adds onto whole budget that needs to be recouped. Interesting... Any other resources where this is discussed?

[@DarthLifeAlex]

It was hilarious watching this video, while I was playing Breath of the Wild at the same time. It kept tricking me, because the sound effects are from the game. 😂

[@aayushsharma9913]

Hey sorry to ask this but I am trying to learn how to make games but I don't know where to start or what are the process to create a game , I do know about software needed but I want to know what I need to learn so that I can create my own game

[@NVIKELO]

You said that your a buffoon but no way, you just allocate all your brainpower to what matters, making the best indie games!! - this message is brought to you by inside shirt gang

[@user-ch7yu6ig5o]

good video

[@jizzmaster8657]

i have a question what can you say to like complete beginners like 2/10(skill rating) developers what should we do where should we start?

[@JanBostl]

Using LinkedIn to contact publishers also works

[@buddiosgaming8541]

Still you are a professional

[@Tn-games21]

i would to ask you about publishing game in nintendo switch it's free or paid like steam and i don't have a publisher so how?

[@vdkivani8915]

best pc build for 3d game dev?

[@imtiazsabree6562]

🖤🖤🖤

[@cameronroman506]

Always wished I was good enough to make this stuff.

[@pineappleparty1624]

jus DOOOOOO IT!

[@burningapparatus5211]

pretending to be a professional is a great way to get a publisher, and luckily pretending is the only thing I'm good at haha. please send help

[@amirrezahashemzadeh9839]

hey thomas im 18 and i planned to work on my games after my university exam. i want to know how to make my games public that more people can see it

[@dmcgames6453]

Tik tok

[@TimeMaster01]

Just putting it out there. Various webcrawlers will find your email and spam you if its clearly visible on your website. Also people will try to send you various offers for the website with this email. However, locking them behind authentication/login like twitter, linkedIn, or perhaps even your own website, this will reduce this number of random emails. The more influence you have, the more spam you will have.

[@Rockysbeats]

Oh hello there mr brush! let me ask you this now, what are the chances of making a hit game first try with no previous experience of game development?

[@iustin1174]

Hi, I'm Justin, a kid who wants to launch his first commercial(puzzle) game on the Play Store(because it's cheaper and easier than IOS). I can't turn to a publisher to help me whit the marketing because I'm not 18, but I barely have time to work on it and even less time to do a marketing campaign because of school. What should I do? What are the fastest ways to attract attention ??

[@discerningacumen]

Hi, Thomas. Do you know why a game publisher dislikes reviewing a game that has once been alive on App Store? And the publisher I proposed to is willing to marketing-test my game on their portal which will make the game alive on App Store. If it failed the test, I should go to another publisher. I'm worried that this prevents plan B which is looking for another publisher.

[@DarkVideos]

387 dollars? In my country i have to work 3 months to get that money :(

[@wundervas]

Which country?

[@DarkVideos]

@@wundervas Argentina :(

[@wundervas]

@@DarkVideos You come from a beautiful country! You deserve better; I read about the struggle of your people and stand in solidarity with you. Greetings, from Greece :)

[@DarkVideos]

@@wundervas thanks you so much!

[@Chevifier]

second recommended video: "You dont need a F-ing Publisher" by GDC lol

[@Videogueimeiro]

And how do I know if a publisher is trustworthy?

[@RedaHaskouri]

i need to create 2D game like LIMBO with BOLT in Unity .. any help ??

[@Moby41]

Yeah, use this site called Google to find the answers you need. Good luck!

[@xbaneet3969]

@@Moby41 lmao its true though

[@xbaneet3969]

if you have an idea of what you game you wanna do (in your case a plataformer) search for a tutorial on youtube and start there you'll find a tutorial for anything you wanna add

[@RedaHaskouri]

@@xbaneet3969 i have idea and i create my assets .. but i have many problems . and i cant find solution .. how i can create a puzzles .. how i can create a special animation of character with different places in different ways .. i have problems of technics things .. how i can changes between scenes with a player action.. oh i cant create a puzzle game .. any link or videos can help me ?

[@DJDeon0]

​@@RedaHaskouri Heyyy, legend! Check out Tom's course! You'll probably get the best help here man. He uses Unity just like you. It's in this video's description in case you missed it :)

[@3dniaseerat522]

Do you publish games? If so let us know please..

[@vcdgamer]

At the 6th minute of the video, you talked about presenting awards, interviews and credibility..... Well, what do I do if i've got nothing of the sort? I'm sorry if this comes off as too blunt, but that's an issue that's been bothering me for a long while. How can I prove I'm good enough or trustworthy if I've never gotten an award or acclaim proving that?

[@JelowGames]

$387.00 for his full time game dev course I think Im still sleeping

[@lewisjones1915]

Animus sounds.

[@Peter_Siri]

That moment we realize your shirt is worn inside-out seems to get your point across

[@alexvee3952]

So this question might make me sound stupid, but here it goes... how do you start an indie game company if you're not really a programmer. I already have a team of people: we have backgrounds in scriptwriting, sound design, music production (for soundtracks), photoshop, business, and some coding experience; but the one person on our team that has some coding experience doesn't really have the time to code the demo on his own. I've personally tried coding, but I'm more proficient in the music/sound design, and photoshop aspects. With all that said, does anyone have any insight on this? I really want to make games, I just need a second pair of eyes. Thank you...

[@Zeemis]

Find a new programmer who can commit time to program for you.

[@anonymoustroll8062]

Hello I have Question About that Demo. I think it's dangerous to give Demo to publishers? There's a chance that they copy your game

[@anonymoustroll8062]

I saw someone post in Facebook that. He Give Demo to a Publisher and the publisher say that they will check it. after a month he saw his game in AppStore in beta

[@graphicx1000]

Oh Thomas please if you could you please give us a sample of a contract

[@brannonharris4642]

Screnshots? And then you said no typos. Lmao. Okay, thomas. Double check your work. XD

[@eramires]

Summarizing this video, RUN AWAY, if you can avoid like the plague. hehehehe xD

[@StigDesign]

I think all this is true but is this also with License/ get permission to get to use real brands like car brand in racing game, should i have a big/good demo to show? i tried with one car brand and they only said that they have license deals with big gaming company... -i stated that i was a indie game maker makign a racing game without cops or destruction(i know they dont like that). - also i stated how much i loved the car brand and had history(Positive History) with it for most of my life. - but all i had was some devlogs of Photos and videos Not a Polished Demo(But am getting there). :)

[@pineappleparty1624]

You should try something else like go karts. Something without copyrights. You need to be making a lot of money to pay for that. I have only seen brand name cars in AAA games. I have also seen AAA games with fake car brands so that tells you something.

[@StigDesign]

@@pineappleparty1624 Yes that`s true :)

[@anirudhashrith7526]

Hey Thomas I am an indie dev I really want to start a kickstarter campaign but crowdfunding is not available in india except for medical purposes.So pls help me!!!!!!!!!

[@dylanroemmele906]

Move out of India 😆

[@gamepass505]

2:20 And that was when I realized that everything is a big lie

[@connerh1382]

Thomas: IT'S SATANIC. Also Thomas: Shows Minecraft screenshot

[@_Yes_Its_Me_]

A

[@Antidote_Studios]

:O I never commented so early on a video before

[@noxabellus]

ah yes make sure your *screnshots* are professional

[@romeprince11]

This makes no sense. If the game is already got all the information you said, there is no need for any publisher? Normally not even an alpha is what's presented to a publisher. If you have a website, a steam page, all that? Why would you get a publisher?

[@Skyvastern]

Whether professional or not, you do look like a Greek god of gamedev lol

[@jim_carry]

good content but can you just say you make games instead of "i make games for a living"? sounds less pretentious imo