How to start a gamedev YouTube channel

"These guys are more KZbinrs than actual gamedevs" - Some random commenter.
So let's talk about how we grew to where we are now, and how you can do it faster/better than us.
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Timestamps:
00:00 Start KZbin
01:09 Why even?
01:24
03:02
05:19
07:41
09:58
11:57
14:38
15:53
17:36
---
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[@gameboardgames]

Another great video! Thanks, honestly this is my favorite indie game dev subscription, always look forward to the steady new content. To answer your question at the end, I thought about making YT videos, but my biggest blocker there is the thought that I'd put all the effort into the time and creation of the videos, but they'd still be mostly invisible and never get any traction. I'd worry I'd never get the ball rolling, and get noticed enough to even start developing an audience. As a solo-dev I gotta wear all the hats, and my big fear would be spending so much time on making a video that never gets even a 100 views.

[@TESkyrimizer]

that happened to me before, spent a week on a devlog that only got 20 views. really tried to make it good too but alas it is harder to get views than it looks now u replaced the problem of promoting your game with the problem of promoting your YT channel

[@LioGoesIndie]

I can relate to this too, even when I actually went with the "good enough is good enough" type of thought, it still ends in 2 days of creation for a video (cutting and editing process takes so much time for me, maybe I do Something wrong). Best video also only got 60 views. It's also a bit easy to say, just upload something. I feel like the algorithm is totally confused by now, as my videos don't quiet found an audience and keeps exploring, sure, but as you said above, it feels feels like just burning time away for nothing. So the feel I have is, strategy optimization of what my channel should really show and every random thing uploaded is toxins to my YT channel and makes it sick. Maybe I'm overthinking, but this is what I am feeling.

[@Jeroxia]

The Discord Server Marnix is plugging genuinely is a very welcoming and charming community. One of the best in the game dev sphere I have found.

[@Arrayonex]

Just a couple small questions, what is the size right now? And also I am pretty new to discord so I don’t know how to join it. Can I get like a link to it or something to check it out?

[@alefet.8861]

True. I joined the discord server because of the youtube channel, but I stay in the channel because or the discord xD

[@bitemegames]

It's about 2.100 people right now, and you can find the link here: discord.gg/WSus22f8aM -M

[@RealCoachMustafa]

Did your grandma watch your 18+ game genre tier list?

[@surenh421]

I appreciate the authenticity behind your video. Awesome Content keep it up!

[@error17_]

Lavalier mics are GOATED, you are very smart getting it

[@CappicheGames]

I appreciate this video a lot. I'm new to the game dev journey but this has motivated me to take the plunge into documenting the process on KZbin, thanks for another helpful video!

[@ceottaki]

I've been waiting for this one for a long time! :)

[@0xAquaWolf]

Amazing content, i have began my youtube journey and i had to accept that its a long term game and the Chinese proverb you quoted at the beginning about planting the tree is why i started because i was interested years ago and i wish i would have started now but, now is the best time to do it. Thank you for the motivation i'm really grateful that i ran across your channel, keep up the great work your really inspiring us aspiring game developers with practical and real world advice.

[@JJSmalls]

Awesome content, keep it up.

[@envo9059]

Thank you for inspiring me to start my gamedev journey :)

[@RancorousGames]

This was great motivation for me to get going on my second devlog, thanks! Anyone got any favorite videos about editing to share? My last video had too few cuts

[@bitemegames]

It's a long one, but it's really solid: kzbin.info/www/bejne/m5uYgZSje9WqbK8 -M

[@stewpidasohl]

Helpful info thank you

[@KuittheGeek]

I will say that I do appreciate your transparency. I have a channel that I created a few years ago, but I haven't been posting to it for a while. I have only recently gotten into game dev myself, but when I do get more confident in my skills that I can actually do something and make a game that I could release, I will revive my old channel. I am hoping that I will have a little bit of a leg up from already having one started that has almost 1000 subs at this point (most have been over the few inactive years), but I do also suspect that once I start posting content that is slightly different from what it was, I will lose subs. But to answer the question about not starting, or in my case not picking it back up, I am still learning game dev and it is currently a hobby thing. I might want to transition to it as a career, but I fully acknowledge that I need more time and more experience with it. I work full time and I have a small family to raise, so I can't just dive into learning things for hours and hours a day like I used to when I was younger, so I have to take my time. And that is OK. I have to keep making constant and steady progress, then I will get to the point where I can reasonably make a jump and it won't upend my family. As a side note, I appreciate and think it is interesting that I just came here from a Thomas Bush video where he mentioned your channel, just to see you talking about how you used his channel to get some of your start.

[@dobrx6199]

Great video 🤘

[@Shiroze]

Hi Marnix Grandma

[@Dardasha_Studios]

The reason I created a KZbin channel is to document my process. I cannot even post links on my description due to unverified.

[@TESkyrimizer]

about the face thing: i am worried about leaving a permanent record of my failure if this thing turns out to be a complete flop financially 😂 that would be kinda embarassing tbh like recording a cringe memory for the world to see

[@AbsurdlyMurley]

Whether or not the product flopped financially, the fact that you went for it and completed development on a game would be admirable in my opinion. Way more people would respect your effort than judge the monetary outcome.

[@slackamacgaming6721]

Look at the channel name...it's a Troll channel...don't listen to these guys...

[@AbsurdlyMurley]

@@slackamacgaming6721 BiteMe Games?

[@sataStrike]

Realizing you made a complete flop game sounds like a good KZbin video :)

[@mandisaw]

"Radical Transparency," I like that 😄 Safety & audience-mismatch are my main reasons to avoid doing a channel. Very different risk profile for women/ppl of color - boosts the number of weirdos & hate comments to a point where it can tank your numbers & your spirits. And then there's the audience issue - I could talk about geeky intermediate/advanced programmer stuff, or interesting history/folklore, worldbuilding & game design tidbits, but those all have pretty niche audiences. Good for behind-the-scenes extras in the leadup to launch, or post-launch, but not necessarily enough to build up a sustainable studio-channel following.

[@Uhfgood]

I'm doing KZbin exclusively for my game's devlog -- That being said, I'm not necessarily trying to market my game, I might even release it for free. So the point will be for the KZbin channel. Making the game so I can build a KZbin channel, but then doing a KZbin channel to help me build my game. I'm going to be pretty open about the whole game, so spoilers, puzzle solutions, everything, because it's not so much about the game, even though it's all about the game, if that makes sense. I'm going to be making my channel for people that like to know how things are made, people that like behind the scenes footage, movie audio commentaries, that sort of viewer. My only issue is whether I should start it's own channel, or whether I should just use my existing. I got a hunch that I started getting less views on my old videos because of certain political views I held, and wasn't shy about voicing in other video comments. So we'll see

[@flymacseamus3474]

This is becoming very meta

[@grindalfgames]

I do have a youtube channel where I post clips and trailers and gameplay videos of my games. But I dont speak on it. But even at that point a YT channel is worth having because you can post video clips for linking and posting in other places. Im thinking that for my next game I will do a devlog. I know its not the most popular but I think its a good place to start.

[@whilefree]

You can actually make a headset or any cheap microphone sound good with some EQ editing and noise removal. Just make sure to record in a silent room with no echo. That's what I do, and to my ears, my audio quality is "good". Not perfect, but "good".

[@KindSparkdev]

So, wild question. Do you guys think you could give me tips on my channel? I stopped uploading regularly about a year or two ago and I have some videos unlisted but they're in playlists. I feel like I'm too boring / I don't do a lot of editing and that's why I'm kinda sucking at it. I could definitely use some help lol.

[@user-py8kj5ve4y]

Hey! Here’s my opinion. I only watched a bit of your latest public video, but here’s what popped out to me The audio itself isn’t too bad, but your recording style lacks some professional quality. Stuff like taking a breath super loud, coughing, lip smacking, etc. should be edited out. It also doesn’t sound like you have a script. Maybe you planned out a general outline on what you wanted to say, but it comes across like you hit record on OBS and talked off the rip. The visuals also seem that way too. I noticed you edited images onto the video sometimes but it’s still lacking I think. Also your thumbnails and video ideas didn’t seem too interesting to me. Anyways I hope this helped. I don’t wanna sound too negative because there were some decent qualities but it’s more useful to just list the stuff you can improve on

[@KindSparkdev]

@@user-py8kj5ve4y Thanks! Appreciate the feedback

[@KindSparkdev]

@@user-py8kj5ve4y And yeah a lot of what you said is pretty spot on. I used to script, but I would deviate so often I stopped doing it. I might try again with my next video.

[@dustyyyyyyyy7]

I work with clients almost everyday, but when it comes to recording video or voice for KZbin, I absolutely freeze up. All the confidence and charisma I might have at work disappears as soon as I start recording :/

[@thedeveIoper]

What I have started to realize is that completing the game itself is only 17.3% of the work. There's so much more that goes into it for a commercial product.

[@RockyMulletGamedev]

Hello to Marnix's gramma 👋

[@blindsidedgames]

I've started and stopped a couple of times, because my expectations have been unreasonable, example trying to make a video every day, or just expecting it to take 3-4 months instead of 12-18

[@GGFTV]

I have a KZbin strategy that I don't know if it will work or not. But I just had a blowup on my channel by Remaking an old game in UE5 (Toy Story 2). While obviously I can't sell that games I am hoping the audience I am building will care just as much about my next game as they do about TS2. We will see later if it is a good plan or not. For reference, my video about TS2 just passed 100k views and gave me 4k subs in less than 3 weeks

[@bitemegames]

It reminds me of this channel, which got popular by doing a UE5 remake of Pepsiman: www.youtube.com/@YahyaDanboos/videos. It's definitely not the most efficient, but can give you a good boost in numbers. -M

[@GGFTV]

@@bitemegames I agree with that. I think I will also find that my Patreon-per-sub ratio will be lower than other channels

[@mikedolan03]

Can you recommend some mic brands?

[@bitemegames]

Ulanzi on the low end, DJI and Rode on the higher end. -M

[@mikedolan03]

@@bitemegames thank you!

[@RealLifeGlitchEntertainment]

Hi grandma Marnix!

[@maxodev]

I'm afraid that I will dedicate my time to it and then life will come my way and I will stop, afterwards it will be hard to come back because I will be critical of myself for not doing it, putting myself in a position of paralysis state. And like many other mentioned, it's not my job, it's a hobby and I'm already doing games for hobby, so making videos will take my time away from making the game... so another analysis paralysis... I don't know.

[@LukasOsouch]

So your grandma has seen your Adult Only tier list? 💀

[@bitemegames]

She's not on Patreon luckily -M

[@nerdmassa9086]

How old are you, if i may ask?

[@marnixwyns]

23

[@nerdmassa9086]

@@marnixwyns You're very knowledable and wise for your age! This channel is really taking off and I'm sure yo'll bake some great games!

[@ultimaxkom8728]

@@marnixwyns ... Ah f-

[@lennihuopa]

Marnix you have beautiful face bro

[@ProxyDoug]

I would say show your face if you're talking about the studio, but if all you do is devlogs, then you can just show the game and other related footage.

[@slackamacgaming6721]

No...I already don't have enough time...

[@ultimaxkom8728]

Just download more time

[@jasdebi9372]

You guys are starting to look like scammers lol, instead of making a proper game you think you can tell other people how to make their games?

[@whilefree]

And where is "your" proper game? They are just sharing their experience and they never claimed to be "perfect". We are following their journey, an authentic, honest, transparent one of course.

[@TESkyrimizer]

they have shipped a commercial game so thats better than like 80% of hobbyists

[@dobrx6199]

They aren't claiming to know the perfect way to make games or something, they're just sharing what they've learned from their time as gamedevs.

[@ultimaxkom8728]

Ragebaits are indeed effective, but in case it wasn't: You dismiss the message and instead attacks the messenger.