(How To Succeed) At Indie Game Development

In this series I'm always sarcastic and pointing out how to fail, but for this special episode, I say it like it is, and show you how to succeed. This time there is no sarcasm (okay maybe a little) and only helpful advice.
Discord: / discord
Twitter(x): / theartindi
itch.io: artindi.itch.io/
Contact:
[e-mail]
Music:
Doh De Oh by Kevin MacLeod
Link: incompetech.fi...
License: filmmusic.io/s...

[@Enbynails]

Imagine the video being ten seconds long where he just says "if you'll never try, you'll never fail, and that's how you fail at failure" and that's it.

[@Artindi]

ha ha.

[@SawBSketch]

@@Artindimake this an april fools / joke upload

[@coolj4334]

👍

[@shedewzehandehoch1440]

And 1 more second for "Be creative"

[@SomeUsernameSomeoneElseTookIt]

azumanga gang

[@jonathanjohnjohnson]

One monitor, playing games; the other monitor, KZbin open with How To Succeed premiere. This is peak.

[@robotzr.8348]

crazy

[@Artindi]

@@jonathanjohnjohnson that's how it's done! :D

[@fullmetallic1634]

A third monitor for decoration and you can call yourself a Lead Project manager

[@bluesillybeard]

Four: one for discord, one for music/YT, one for emails, one for code.... 100% distraction, 0% work. (:

[@MintBunHunter]

Left eye: gamedev tutorials Right eye: concept art + gdd Left ear: engine documentation audiobook Right ear: chris marketing guy podcast Third eye: future possibilities

[@name-h7x]

this video is a monumental moment in the gaming industry

[@Artindi]

@@name-h7x of course...

[@Jacob-Jack]

I initially expected the "how to fail at failure" to be you trying to give sarcastic advice that accidentally loops around to being good with you constantly going "oh wait... that's good advice!" buuut, here it being actual straightforward advice while still having funny visuals and other usual sprinkles was a very welcome surprise!

[@Artindi]

The fun thing about this is I didn't draw a single new frame, it was all stuff from past episodes. :)

[@Mustfa-cb7tl]

@Artindi I noticed that as I person who watched all the series 😂

[@Foxerski]

@@Mustfa-cb7tl me too

[@immortalsun]

But that’s all his videos.

[@Foxerski]

@@immortalsun babdabduplon

[@That-KidDo]

That watermelon was animated very well!

[@Artindi]

why thank you. :)

[@DragoPl0183]

I remember you from lighting stream

[@CircleGuyAndEnemies]

This is revolutionary! Holy crap, i love failing at failure!

[@Artindi]

It's kinda fun to fail at failure sometimes, instead of just failing. :)

[@qoombert]

how to fail at sneak peeks

[@2misterieus321]

lmao thats so niche tho

[@pickyphysicsstudent201]

A more general "How to fail at advertising" might be better.

[@ooaktree]

reveal the whole game, or the main plot twist inside of the sneak peek/teaser

[@CapnBlud]

It's a reference to yesterday's stream ppl smh

[@thethe5355]

how to fail at changelogs

[@artman40]

Some more tips: Game feel: A good game feel can also double as a the invisible UI. Screenshake can be used to notify something happening offscreen, loudness and punchiness of a sound can indicate damage, enemies showing damage removes the need for health bars as focusing on the enemy itself gives you an idea how much health they have left etc.. Art: While I don't recommend using generative AI to make art for you (tech is not there yet), it still can be very valuable for prototyping, placeholders and trying to decide in which direction you want to take your art. Music: You can often use genres others don't expect to make your music more memorable. Also, if you don't want to use few-note riffs as leitmotifs to tie the soundtrack together, you can use other elements such as soundfronts, instruments or even time signatures. First game: Tile-based puzzle games are also excellent at being first games as it makes it very easy to see how different mechanics interact. Plus they're much simpler to code. Arcade game: If you add scoring system, ensure the game rewards the most skillful play with the most points, meaning that try to avoid situations where you can farm points. Puzzle games: While adding extra fluff consistently to make your levels more complicated than they appear, sometimes adding some extra steps outside the "main trick" in the level makes the player think about which parts of the puzzle are the hard parts. This avoids the problem of players becoming too complacent to the puzzle elements shown to them. Story: Generally, try to avoid the situation where gameplay and story are extremely segregated. For an example, if you beat the boss with a gun to pulp, the following cutscene shouldn't involve the player surrendering to the same boss pointing the gun at the player. Level design: Even if a level gimmick can feel out of place at first, you can still make it work in a way that makes them use at the style of your game . Think of the jumpscare and golf levels in Pizza Tower. Horror: Not every horror game needs to have danger of death. Sometimes horror can be found in the most unexpected places. If players don't feel scared while playing the game but still get scared when they think about the game afterwards, you've succeeded. Survival game: Consider whether base building actually adds or removes to the survival element of the game. If filling meters feelslike routinely taking pills once the base is established, perhaps you should get back to the drawing board. Three main routes: Add more dangers, force the player out of the base from time to time, or remove the base building altogether. Roguelike/Roguelite: RNG: Bad roll, now adapt! = good idea. Bad roll, game over = bad idea! First-person shooter: Add a separate volume slider for gun/explosion sounds.

[@Artindi]

Looks like I have a script ready for part 2! :D nice. Lots of helpful stuff here. :)

[@gamersgamestorm8291]

This advice definitely helps, also there is something I feel would make a good episode: Multiplayer Co-Op and Competitive Also, a funny short would be How to Fail at Microtransactions: “Include them and make them needed to progress.”

[@Artindi]

these good ideas. *writes them down*

[@keenantheho]

I love how the fromsoftware games do the cardinal opposite of what should be done in bossfights but still make them really fun somehow.

[@Artindi]

Yeah, every "rule" I suggested can be broken and be awesome if done right. :)

[@teiull9388]

@@Artindi to be fair most souls bosses have an expected 2nd phase at half health or once the first healthbar is down, very few bosses have actual surprise 2nd phases, only 2 examples that come to mind rn are friede and ons

[@Stargate16789]

You are right, time management is the hardest part of indie game development. (Mainly if you are working along side it)

[@achomatico]

So much good advice in one video wow 👍

[@Artindi]

My wife watched it and said there was so much so fast she missed most of it. Lol

[@gaetanodepaola2ndchannel179]

​@@ArtindiI could follow, but if others can't they can always set the playback speed to 0.75x or so

[@VoltitanDev]

1:49 This advice I took to heart. The thing I did that had my game stand out is that it's one of the few retro 3d mecha games where the player is a combining giant flying mecha kaiju that can eat his enemies invading his lair to regain his health along with being overpowered when near water since the level takes place in his lair which is a water level but the core of this mechanic is his fuel management while his energy recharges every 3 seconds his more powerful abilities are costly and if empty is game over.

[@VoltitanDev]

Edit: Also as a subversion of a boss game the player is the boss itself defending his lair from other boss monsters the Gargabeasts enforcers from a rival empire Voltitan protects.

[@Roroprin]

I loved your new sarcastic video! I'll be sure to do the exact opposite of all of this so I actually succeed!!

[@Artindi]

Perfect... heh heh.

[@Zedorfska]

I am so used to hearing this voice and mentally mapping the opposite of what they are saying that this video started tripping me up

[@plagueonhumanity7413]

As a person who likes the original videos but sometimes got stumped trying to unsarcasm it, thanks for this

[@JuicyBurger29]

I now wanna make a satire horror game called “Walking Simulator”, which is basically just a big maze, a children’s animatronic toy thing that is possessed by a dead child, and it has very necessary jumpscares, oh and you see the threat all the time despite it being very very dark :D

[@Stormsong93]

I'm so thankful for content like this. I've always wanted to tell just 1 story in life, whether through writing or an RPG game. This is so helpful in making that goal possible!

[@VoltitanDev]

5:45 Interesting thing about Visual novels is that when there are hybrids most of them tend to mix with dungeon crawler, RPGs, Shoot em Ups and Beat em ups for example Rance, Baldr Sky, and Danganronpa trigger

[@tehquiper6796]

This seems like the final boss to the How to Fail series

[@Artindi]

Nice. There will be more episodes though. :)

[@jeanremi8384]

@@Artindi that's just post-game content

[@pixelverse48]

Time to fail at failing (succeed)

[@Artindi]

get going. :)

[@graycatsaderow]

Splatoon pfp W

[@pixelverse48]

@@graycatsaderow thanks!

[@colinvarley2024]

how am i supposed to know how to fail now

[@Artindi]

now you must succeed!!!!! HA HA HA

[@clickednebula3]

Betrayal

[@widrolo]

9:53 kinda struck a nerve in me. I always try to add one final boss in my game jams to spice up the ending. I never thought of the boss arena, so I just made a big box that was nicely decorated, but still a big box at heart. I’ll definitely try to change that next time around.

[@Artindi]

Probably a good idea! It will will things interesting. :)

[@Cubicwar]

I had to check that we weren't on april 1st when I saw that title pop in my notifications

[@Artindi]

Dude. It IS April 1st.

[@TheSweetestAutumn]

Good stuff! I'm very pleased by the tacit implication you don't plan to quit any time soon with the mention of "episode 50"

[@YatzeeWillWearAGreenHat]

The end bit should have been "that's how you fail (guy with head on the desk) at failure (guy smiling at the screen)

[@Artindi]

Ha. That would have been good. :)

[@pizzaguy_]

i expected that too

[@game4us_Splatuber]

This is Great, i already liked your advice but now its neatly packaged into one video and I dont have to think backwards

[@rogueabyss]

love the roguelike/lite point

[@benscott6344]

Amazing video bro! Def saving this so I can keep these tips in mind for my future games

[@Artindi]

Awesome! Glad to hear you found it helpful. :)

[@IDOLL_Dev]

happy 25th episode! Thank you for making this series, always super helpful and entertaining, I look forward to more. Also I watched the other episodes so many times that my brain is now confused hearing your voice giving advice and it not being sarcasm lol

[@Artindi]

Thanks! And ha ha. I figured I would trip up a few people. ;)

[@MoonBoyClips]

At first I thought (because of the thumbnail) that it was going to be a video about how to learn from failure, or how to deal with the consequences if you had failed something, but this is great too

[@Artindi]

I thought about doing that. But decided a 25th special was hard to pass up. :)

[@MadHatter1B3]

This is an awesome video. As a person person who is new to being a game dev, im still learning a lot and have a long way to go, but i love your videos, both sarcastic and non sarcastic. Thank you for all the good information.

[@arrowrandoman]

Love the art style. I'm glad this channel popped up in my feed. Man, I was on the edge of starting to do stuff because I have practically no experience with any of the computer side of things and very amateurish writing experience. I appreciate the straightforwardness of just doing it. Sure, I've heard it before from others, but somehow I actually feel like I'm ready for it today. The one that finally got me to feel I should start was the metroidvania section. I have an idea of a time loop as a way to gate off sections due to the schedule of the environment. Guess it's time to start with the basics and work up to that idea. Thank you.

[@2ndspringtube708]

I guess this is the final episode then ?after failing at everything there’s just one more thing to fail at ,and it’s failing at failure

[@Artindi]

@@2ndspringtube708 nope. Just the 25th, a special. :)

[@2ndspringtube708]

@@Artindi so you mean to tell there’s a lot more to fail at ?damn

[@kevinbuhusfernandez2034]

No, he's going to make how to fail at failing failure tutorials

[@TheMamaluigi300]

@@Artindi Yeah tbh that was pretty scary at first But on another note I could imagine one of these every 25 episodes could probably work

[@cosmicspacething3474]

4:37 Another thing to consider is prioritizing what sounds to make louder than others. You don’t want a character’s footsteps to drown out audio cues for an enemy attack that’s hard to dodge

[@Xo_DarkLord_oX]

Instructions unclear. What does "Succeed" mean

[@Artindi]

I'm not actually sure.

[@jeanremi8384]

it means failing at failure

[@halfsine]

uhhhh i think its "fail but slightly less and fancy" but i might be wrong

[@sarahs.6377]

Yay new video! I've been binging this series all week!

[@Artindi]

Nice! Just in time! :D

[@FillMakesGames]

This is awesome! Definitely the best how to start video I've seen.

[@halfsine]

guys.... this video is actually really good for failing, if you do the opposite of what the video says, then you can fail at game development! happy failing everyone!

[@thomaswu3820]

Thankyou for the video! I love how you explain every genre in gamedev

[@jacksonjabba]

I’ve worked as a lead on a 70 person game and I still learned stuff from this video👍

[@Artindi]

Please don't do any of this stuff. Obviously that's what I'm going to say. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[@robotzr.8348]

Got it👍

[@Quick_beastboy]

I did the stuff

[@AgentIllusion73]

-Now I need to watch the previous videos to see the head hit the desk at the end.- I learned a bunch of these in my game dev classes at college, and they make sense. People look at successful games like Minecraft, Fortnite, Super Mario Bros., etc. and think about the money they could make if they could only make games like those. They're more likely to make mistakes because they want what the big games earn from the good design choices they make without having to go through all the effort the big game designers went through.

[@Ledonail]

Wow. That's so weird. Just, not trying to interprete what you say. My sarcasm radar was active all the time, it felt weird. Good video

[@Artindi]

ha ha, I've gotten a few people so far! :D

[@twistedillusion-u4s]

Can wait to learn how to fail at failing at faliure :D

[@csondika]

Read the title twice, couldn't believe it

[@Artindi]

ha HA, gotcha! :D

[@pokekingdomthehedgehog99]

Thank you so much for this series 🎉❤

[@Artindi]

Thank you! :D

[@prashantshukla6814]

Very relateble and inspiring, thank you for making this video. You are an absolute legend.

[@Artindi]

No u.

[@顔boom]

Especially love how the assets were used in this one. It all ties together perfectly!

[@Artindi]

Ah yeah, and the fun thing: I purposefully didn't draw a single new frame. I only re-used old stuff! :D

[@顔boom]

@@Artindi Yet it felt fresh to watch. Nice work!

[@jingmingyap230]

As a -degree student studying game dev and only have few weeks left to finish my game solo- "indie game dev", this video really help me get through my scope creep -time pressure-

[@VoltitanDev]

6:47 I agree personally as a narrative designer of my own series I value the narrative consequences that comes from the player's choices for example if the player fails to master a certain mechanic they will struggle with their rival.

[@dodori-exe]

Another important skill you acquire from game jams is finishing games! Great video.

[@topminator2991]

10:00 i disagree, second and third phases should indeed be hidden because it's supposed to surprise you with "ha! this boss is thougher than you think!", however don't add second and third phases to every boss or players will expect them and not be surprised.

[@captaindak5119]

Agreed. I like second and third phases.

[@Shyguymask]

1:09 What about if my dream game is something smaller in scale and not a huge project that would take years to finish, akin to flash games?

[@acake6654]

flash devs make prototype flash games before they manage to understand how to actually code in flash.

[@Artindi]

What a lucky break for you then. :)

[@spaghettiisyummy.3623]

Holy, I did not expect to see ya here.

[@VoltitanDev]

6:48 I agree what matters isn't the amount of ending but the quality of the player's decisions and the consequences of those choices that leads to the endings this is what Visual novels excel at.

[@Skeffles]

Wow 25 videos on failure. What a success!

[@Artindi]

@@Skeffles yeah! Wait a second...

[@TheRealKaiProton]

years ago I saw or read someone who compared gamedev to learning to cook, you dont start making unique imagined foods, you start by make something others already made, and learn the craft by doing that.

[@karlcole5617]

if someone tried to steal my game ideas, i would be happy that it got a chance for someone possibly more skilled than me to give it a chance.

[@jaredjones6570]

No way! I'm so stoked!

[@Artindi]

@@jaredjones6570 me too! :D

[@slugcatsu]

Well this is quite a surpise...great video with great advice! (I never had a problem with the sarcasm)

[@JohnRDVSMarston]

Hm, I did misunderstand some things in the other videos. Good thing this one was made >.>

[@shiba2454]

I love the formula "How to succeed at failure" because learning from mistakes is indeed the best way to learn If you cross-out what NOT to do, it is certain that you will do the great stuff In youtube there are all this videos like "HOW TO MAKE A GREAT FPS" but then they don't show why many FPS suck very hard Now I'm sad that Artindi has made a video on "how to succeed". If you didn't watched the previous videos you won't know "how could you fail" and that's the most important thing to know :( Maybe all this videos are about Artindi failing about everything and every genre of videogames and so he says he's failures so we can learn from him because he wants that devs don't make mistakes as him If I think of it more and more, it sounds like Artindi is a broken hero that wants everyone to be better We shall remember you Artindi for all your teachings about succeeding At failure :)

[@mellborry]

Hearing "You are bound to succeed" and not hearing "...at failure" right after made my heart skip a beat. Thank you for this video though, it's some great advice!

[@legitusername-zl7to]

we got evil artindi before gta 5

[@muchkoniabouttown6997]

Holy crap first time seeing your channel but I love it! Now when talking bout what I do and don't like in games I'm just gonna link this vid cause you knooow!

[@Erfan_Al]

Chapters : 00:00 intro 0:26 1 - Game Ideas 0:45 2 - Game Engines 1:09 3 - Your First Game 1:43 4 - Platformers 2:23 5 - RPG's 2:55 6 - Roguelikes 3:25 7 - Game Feel 3:47 8 - Tutorials 4:15 9 - Music & Sound 4:43 10 - Arcade Games 5:02 11 - Puzzle Games 5:29 12 - Interactive Novels 5:58 13 - Game Art 6:22 14 - Game Story 6:50 15 - Level Design 7:12 16 - Horror Games 7:37 17 - Tower Defense Games 7:56 18 - Open Worlds 8:15 19 - Survival Games 8:42 20 - Metroidvanias 9:04 21 - Game Jams 9:22 22 - First Person Shooters 9:43 23 - Boss Fights 10:04 24 - Time Management 10:32 Conclusion

[@Artindi]

@@Erfan_Al yeah. I forgot to add these. I'll have to do that. Maybe I'll just copy paste your great work here. Thanks! :D

[@Erfan_Al]

@@Artindi HAHA! I'd be happy to help!

[@lucasdacarinha]

Yay, he finaly explained episode 12

[@Artindi]

I did. :D

[@irfanjames6551]

0:11 Please make a video on Play Testing

[@passthedonuts]

I like your serious side,

[@Artindi]

@@passthedonuts I'm always serious.

[@fattcoke4705]

How to fail at a good demo that doesn't reveal too much but also incites players to buy/download the full game

[@user-xt3pd4oy3s]

I was early for this MASTERPIECE

[@Artindi]

Me too. ;)

[@s-viper1462]

I feel like I'm about to defeat a great evil. (The great evil being bad game development, of course)

[@Artindi]

You are the chosen one.

[@Gobbler.]

that great evil better have good gamefeel and properly indicated attacks and mechanics

[@akari19811]

In my country's launguage evil and bad are the same word.

[@held2053]

"And if you follow all these steps carefully, you will succeed... at game dev." could have been the outro

[@NaraSherko]

Baldi is so happy in the thumbnail

[@MatthewKelley-mq4ce]

To fail at failing (succeed). Fail a lot. Learn from those failure. Repeat. Simplist two cents I go by. Everything else is experience. (For my sanity)

[@Artindi]

Hard to succeed without failing a lot first. :)

[@lnvald]

You can't make sucessful games without creativity (unless it's a mobile game)

[@sajeucettefoistunevaspasme]

I get the sarcasm but I also understand how some people may sometimes misinterpret what you originally meant it happens from time to time

[@m4rqu1s]

Dude it's not April Fools yet

[@Artindi]

You see, but the thing is... is IS April 1st. (Read this on April 1st.)

[@afriendlyfox]

I'd like to see "How to fail at indie game marketing"

[@Artindi]

For sure! (give me time to fail at it myself first, then I'll tell you how.) ;)

[@alex.g7317]

I like the format of this video.

[@Artindi]

@@alex.g7317 I like the format of this comment.

[@alex.g7317]

@@Artindi yeah how you went through each if your videos to make a long one being serious instead of sarcastic, I was like 🤯🤯🤯 it must be 🎄🎅

[@buzzy4227]

I know a lot of people say not to make your own game engine, but I personally find it helps me keep my games scope in check, while also fending off feature creep. I’ve found game engines like godot tend to allow for more complicated games that I don’t realize I’m not ready for.

[@christopher.nguyen]

re:Sarcasm I spent 13 years in the U.S. can therefore love and appreciate your humor! Though, I traveled a lot and feel that elsewhere away from that corner of the world, senses of humor can be very different: dry for British, absurb for Taiwan and Japan, insults for Vietnam.. I take it as a sign that many of your audience aren't Americans, and that's not a bad thing!

[@Artindi]

That a pretty fair point. I always do my best to explain things when people don't quite get it. But understandably it can be confusing, I even confuse myself sometimes. :)

[@Xman34washere]

Finally, How to Succeed

[@geckoram6286]

It's been almost a year since I last booted up unity, but this video popped up. I guess it's time to try to participate in a game jam again.

[@Tbjbu2]

"don't use xp systems" *looks at palworld* based

[@Artindi]

I need to play that game sometime. :)

[@prehistoricedu1096]

Thank you, this episode will absolutely help me

[@Artindi]

Nice! I helped someone for once. ;)

[@Proxy720]

rare Artindi sarcasmless video

[@photophone5574]

I wonder if a good way to learn video game development, is to make games that are similar in complexity to the very first games made. And then you create games that mimic the complexity of games after that, and so on. So you might start by mimicking an arcade game complexity, then a gameboy's, then a SNES's

[@Artindi]

Not a bad strategy, But only complexity in style/design, no need to simplify for external reasons like limitations of hardware, these are hardly a thing any more. But otherwise yeah! :D

[@alensash406]

algorithm bump! nice videos

[@amperscore]

Every time the guy with a pipe shows up with that one classical song playing it makes me audibly laugh I am an infant

[@arcanine_enjoyer]

Say what you want, but Ganondorf messing with the boss health bar was so fucking meta and cool

[@reflexx5272]

God damn bro thank you Awesome content

[@pickyphysicsstudent201]

Inventing a new mechanic is difficult. Hence why inspiration is often given a divine quality, because it so difficult to think of something which hasn't been done. An easy workout is brainstorming as many existing mechanics as possible and, over time, your mind will connect the dots to spell "Eureka!". Once you have your new mechanic, create a prototype of it. Strip everything down to the essentials and playtest it. If you can make it work, then the next step is to examine how organic it is in gameplay. If its something which can only be used in hyper specific situations and/or you're having to design around the player using it, then its likely a gimmick. If its just an overally complicated Sprint or Use Key then ask yourself if its fun to use?

[@Artindi]

Good advice!

[@DontfeelNienfeeler]

@@Artindi It's never really been that hard in my experience. Plus most of the user feedback I've gotten gave me the impression people didn't like more than one or game mechanics that were too fresh? Is there something I'm missing?

[@Artindi]

@@DontfeelNienfeeler I think only 1 new main mechanic is more than enough, but all aspects of your game should also be adjusted to help support this main mechanic. And additional new mechanics should do so as well. Like in portal the main mechanic is portals and everything is designed around that, then even when they introduce new stuff like the gels in portal 2, these new mechanics are just to help further explore the main mechanic. But I'm sure there are more ways to help make a game with an original mechanic do well. :)

[@DontfeelNienfeeler]

@@Artindi that's the thing though, what you've described is the exact opposite of what has worked for my projects so far.

[@Artindi]

@@DontfeelNienfeeler Then my best guess is something else is triggering the poor reviews, with the blame falling on a unique mechanic. Interesting and unique mechanics do depend on execution, even the coolest mechanics will be disliked if the overall game has larger issues.

[@immortalsun]

This is so much to learn. I give up. I’ll just play video games instead.

[@thingsinhouseb]

hey i remember talking about this on stream! i feel inspired to work on a long neglected design doc

[@Artindi]

Nice! Inspiration attack!

[@FireFox64000000]

I feel like you missed a prime moment at the end to say, "And that's how you fail, at failure"

[@Artindi]

Yeah, I probably should have just said that. lol

[@MarcoAntonioColioGallardo]

*I feel a disturbance in the natural order of things*

[@Phillip_Duck]

Dang I usually fail at failing at failing. Thanks for the tips though, maybe I'll succeed at failing at failing at some point

[@mewhen-q2d]

The climax is oh so excellent

[@redteayoutube]

the final episode