Indie Dev Income - 1 Week of Game Sales

[@opafmoremedic]

It's extremely refreshing to see someone in the devlog space mixing it up. It seems everyone is building a 5+ year long FPS, Stardew Valley clone, Zelda clone, or a platformer. Your idea of releasing smaller, unique titles makes me have a little faith in the indie dev community.

[@rohithreddy75]

Both are good in my opinion

[@w_graphicsfr]

whats wrong with a fps?

[@Chesterbrawlstrs]

@@w_graphicsfrwhat isn’t

[@w_graphicsfr]

@@Chesterbrawlstrs sounds like you make 2d games 🤮

[@SSukram_]

what's wrong with 2d? ​@@w_graphicsfr

[@TezFraser]

The struggle between developing games and making videos is REAL! Congrats on your launch/first week of sales. Excited to see what you have coming next. 🙂

[@AIAdev]

super inspiring dude. keep pushing out games and taking those W's

[@ThomasStewartDev]

Thanks AIA! I'm playing the long con haha

[@samyam]

That's awesome congrats on the sales!

[@ThomasStewartDev]

Thanks Sam!

[@anonyw2993]

@@ThomasStewartDev Superb! May I know what game engine you used for the projects? Thank you.

[@Carbon4ppleJuice]

R.I.P. island, good note for quality of life change. Congratulations on Nintendo dev acceptance. 🎉

[@oskar_schramm]

Really love how transparent you are with both the process and the income! Also really impressed that you didn't go for the "dream game project that will only take 1 year but end up taking 7" Think more indie devs should listen to this advice/insight!

[@espressodisplays]

We're so glad our espresso Displays monitor has helped you on your developer journey, productivity and finding the best ways to work. We can't wait to follow your success! 🚀🚀🚀

[@MrEliptik]

Thanks for sharing your journey with us and congrats, you're killing it!

[@CappicheGames]

Your game looks awesome. That bug was funny also. Congratulations on your launch too!

[@AndrzejGieraltCreative]

Congrats on launch! Making smaller games like that is definitely an excellent and safe strategy. Looking forward to seeing your work continue!

[@Beets_Creations]

Cool to see someone showing their progress with steam releases. Nice video!

[@TheShelfman]

Congrats! This is awesome. Wishing you the best of luck with future updates and your next game as well as the console launch!

[@SadFaceTheClown]

Congrats on your launch and good luck Thomas!

[@thenamelessdev]

Congrats on the success!

[@benmitchinson9831]

Super insightful stat about that 2nd game / 25% of studios. Best of luck w your upcoming work, thank you for the transparency !

[@PHeMoX]

Actually it is a completely meaningless statistic though and mostly false anyway. A lot of developers do collaborations with others and people can release games under different studio names etc. It is wildly unreliable. The other thing people need to understand is how releasing a second game doesn't mean the first one was thus profitable or successful in any way. Some studios release 'asset flip games' pretty much every month, yet those definitely should never be counted as 'successful'.

[@SoulEngineDev]

So cool to see this. Keep it up!

[@samuelmutia9608]

The guy who deleted his island is the funniest thing I’ve seen all week😂😂.. Aye just subscribed man. Keep up the good work

[@LighthoofDryden]

YES great vid, and congrats on the Nintendo front! That’s really exciting

[@lucas_pscheidt]

can you lower the price for brazilians please? Our minimum wage is 1400 reais and the game is 15, while in US the minimum wage per month is about 1250 US$ and the game costs less then 5 dollars. Could you balance out your price for countries that do not have a great economy? A lot of indie games studios does that and this helps them sell more, even @PirateSoftware talked about that. Maybe you could compare your price to other similar games and in those countries, for instance in US stardew valley now with 40% off is costing 8,99 U$, which would be about 50 reais, but for us brazilians it is 15 reais, much better. I think your game should be priced at 9,90 reais to be fair for both you and brazilians buyers, but it is just a suggestion. Great concept and good luck with your sales!

[@ThomasStewartDev]

Done! It might take Steam a little while to review the changes, but it should be fixed!

[@lucas_pscheidt]

@@ThomasStewartDev thanks bro, I will buy it to support and also because I liked the concept, good luck!

[@Vercidium]

So much positive news in this video! Looking forward to the Switch port

[@moonstar_connor]

Congrats on the launch and getting into the Nintendo program! Excited to see more of your next game!

[@Aarimous]

All the "whoops" were hilarious. Cheers!

[@ThomasStewartDev]

Gotta laugh at your mistakes, know what I'm sayin?

[@SabrPath]

Congrats on releasing your second game!

[@owlet_dev]

I also quit my 9-5 job doing android dev to work on games! One of the big things that hit hard when I did this back in April was the sudden lack of "chatter" in the background lol. Lack of meetings = yay, but also it does suck to not have AS much chatter about all the cool things you're working on.

[@ThomasStewartDev]

Yes 100%! I've considered going to a public coworking space for this very reason. I love having no meetings, but it does get lonely at times.

[@nomiki8436]

Hey fellow game dev! Seems like you are a bit ahead of me... Just stumbled upon your video! Nice to see a fellow dev enjoying his journey. Following :)

[@molehorde]

Amazing! Your game looks fun! Great work (also on this kids thingy😉😄)! All the best for the next month and beyond. I hope your game goes like a rocket pretty soon!

[@1Chitus]

Keep it up!

[@jseneque]

Huh? This is super weird. I am travelling right now , guttered I couldn’t bring a second monitor to the hotel room and somehow your sponsorship hit the mark…plus I love your dev log and trying to do the same. Love how honest and real (you know what I mean) you are 😊 BTW, sponsor not in description.

[@camzen1772]

and just like that i feel inspired once again. surprised to see you low on subs.

[@ThomasStewartDev]

Thank you! For a long while I had under 1000 subs, so I’m happy with the growth over the past year!

[@ajwalker4416]

It's nice to find a developer making the kinds of games I'm interested in making, the fun games that don't need 3 years of development and aren't aiming to be AAA games. I want to make fun games that I think people will like where they don't have to spend 1,000 hours playing and I'm not spending years developing.

[@dearkorina3157]

I am so excited that you got accepted by Nintendo! 🎉🎉 That is my goal as a n00b developer. Seeing a game I made on the switch would just be so crazy.

[@smallbluemachine]

Well, one week, 364 sales on Steam. I guess that's 364 more sales than me. -Lots to be said for completing your second project. -You got this, dude.

[@sebastienlevasseur3454]

I bought your game on Steam! I think it will be awesome on Switch! 🎮🙂

[@eloctopusmakesgames]

That's awesome! You did great, and I'm happy that you had this revenue with only 500 wishlists! I'm really scared by the fact that you not only have to make a good game but also have to get a lot of views to self-promote your games! (This is something that doesn't seem to work for me, so I'm very scared I won't be liked by the KZbin algorithm and will never have my audience! 😢)

[@GrahamOfLegend]

Lmao the whoopses! 😂😂 Yikes. Well done man! Bringing hope up us all

[@kaseynorth]

I wonder how the industry would change if more indie devs adopted the idea of developing projects in shorter time frames (3-6 months) just to hone their skillsets

[@Rocks_D_Xebek]

hey iam here after watching thomas

[@MarcusSanatan]

Amazing work! Hope thia game and the next one works out

[@ThomasStewartDev]

Thanks Marcus!

[@deadcrabstudio]

Congrats on the release! I'm impressed with your model of developing these less demanding projects, and making a living off of it! I'd love to see what your strategy is when coming up with new ideas. Working full-time on my own projects is a goal I'm trying to reach, but there's also a looming cloud above my head that there's too much risk when deciding what idea to go all-in with. For my first game, I'm working on a roguelike because that's a market I'm familiar with and I'm making the game I would want to play, but when you gave the concept of passive income through a collection of projects, what's your strategy when deciding what would work best? Do you get less picky when you have more projects to support a potentially failed one? Stoked to see more man, keep it up 👍

[@rootbindev]

I like game developers

[@KousseilaMd]

can you talk about more details concerning the devloppment process ?

[@ThomasStewartDev]

I made a handful of devlogs you can check out if you're interested!

[@KousseilaMd]

@@ThomasStewartDev oh oky mb i didn't notice them, ty

[@hambonetunes1988]

Thanks for sharing! I know it would be almost impossible to answer this, as you said so many projects you were juggling, but, any idea how many hours you spent each week on the game?

[@ThomasStewartDev]

Ah man, it's super hard to know...towards the beginning I was putting in around 40-50 hours per week. But some weeks I've only done 5 hours since I was working on other stuff too. My guess is that if I was doing strict 40 hour work weeks on this project it would've taken 3 or 4 months.

[@ozdengames]

Good job

[@AnthonyIrwinVideos]

Hey, your game looks nice and I am planning on making smaller games myself. I checked out your Steam page and noticed no Linux version. You did mention the Steam deck which runs Linux. I would have thought that a Linux version would be easier than a Mac version because you don't need to deal with code signing or notarization. Anyway, if your Unity game works on Mac and Windows then it should work on Linux too without any changes to your code base. Another thing is Linux actually has a larger user base on Steam than Mac. This is mainly due to the steam deck but something to think about.

[@contentatogames]

Console earnings are a mystery box of mysteries. How difficult would you gauge the process was for getting started on their platforms? Appreciate the videos! :D

[@robxlift]

What tools did you use? Game engine, graphics, etc Good luck

[@Tbjbu2]

great vid congrats on the free monitor lol

[@justicebringer9530]

Nice one. Mind to share how do you promote your game?

[@TYNEPUNK]

well done on getting into nintendo, welcome to switch dev :)

[@BraggsTippingPoint]

Are you doing the porting yourself?

[@RickoDeSea]

Where do u pick up contract work ?

[@JoeTheis]

Thomas I'm looking for some advice. You plan seems to be to build the island creator game first, monetize that for a small revenue stream, then build a strategy game on top of it. I am currently building a strategy game with a sophisticated procedural map generator. But a full release is a long way off (1-2+ years). Would you recommend following your model and releasing a simple map generator/builder toy first (both for a small revenue stream and also experience releasing on steam?) Thanks in advance, and great video as always!

[@ThomasStewartDev]

Thanks Joe! I think it depends on your goals and your situation. If you haven't released few (or any) games before, I would focus on releasing a very small game first. Basically the way I'm doing it is relatively low risk & low reward. I have my own goals of shipping multiple games annually, so in order to maintain that goal and still be able to build a larger game, I needed to cut it into two games.

[@JoeTheis]

@@ThomasStewartDev I've never released a game before. Wondering if I should try cleaning up my terrain generator as a sort of toy/game kind of like you did with like Bridges and Docks, since that will allow me to reuse a large amount of work. Not to make a ton of money (Maybe sell for like, $1-2), but to get the "selling through steam" experience?

[@ThomasStewartDev]

@@JoeTheis I wouldn't change your plans based off my advice...but one thing to consider would be doing a very small game-jam-like project that you could ship out the door and learn the ins and outs of the publishing process without having to worry about a bigger/complex game

[@JoeTheis]

@@ThomasStewartDev yeah I've considered that option as well. But I'm worried about taking too much focus away from the current project with limited time. I guess I will have to decide one way or another. Thanks so much for your advice!

[@DanPos]

Let's go 🔥🔥

[@ClefGames]

Congrats on the game's success and your work motivates me. What are your thoughts on marketing indie game using ads on Google or FB

[@sangeetbk4951]

To publish on console should I have certain kind of threshold. After how many months you released on steam did you release on console

[@tteros5998]

Are you happy with the game?

[@ThatCarrotFella]

Hey it looks like we are very similar. I am also releasing small bite sized games that maybe take a couple months to make. They don't sell well but I increase my skills every time.

[@alicivrilify]

Is this the gross revenue? I would like to know in particular the number of sales.

[@byteretro]

awesome

[@xXEYSPENXx]

Question: What kind of rig are you running to develop games?

[@ThomasStewartDev]

Macbook Pro :) I love being able to work from anywhere

[@KeithMakesGames]

Man, my man just said he slacking a bit and wants to release 3 videos a month. I'd say you're still killing it my dude lol I average 3 months between videos 😂

[@felfar197]

yay!

[@trifilosgr]

Wait, they’ve sent a free monitor and sponsor?

[@TreeFallStudios]

You are my hero

[@unabonger777]

what's a labtop?

[@minimastudios_]

as a devn who hasnt launched a game i think hm ok what is this game like for 6 months of dev work, so i bought it. Wonder if anyone else did this? Also congrats!

[@amjadiqbal478]

Hi Stewart, congrats. Very encouraging vibe from a game developer. I have been coding games in Python, like Street Fighter and Platformer. But i have developed a game on Godot recently which is quite promising. Can you please advise and guide me to kick start my publishing it? ❤

[@4hire565]

Omg!! Poor dude!

[@woodsman9427]

what game engine do you recommend for someone who has never touched an engine? looking at Godot engine

[@lousyllamma986]

Just use godot don’t worry about it, your engine is just a tool to realize your ideas

[@KurooNegai]

1 week + all years of geting the experience to do this job

[@motivational8347]

Why on steam and not mobile???

[@iraf.official]

😎😎😎😎😎

[@erikm9768]

Sorry but let me be honest the title of the video was 1 week of game sales, I feel like you should focus on that then, was a bit too on focused. Good luck!

[@VistaLargaGames]

Dude I’ve been emailing Nintendo back and forth and they are so slow with responding. They probably have a lot of emails too tho. They asked you for a EXE?

[@Arabian_knight_101]

Wait you guys are getting paid?

[@drekex6767]

LOL 2:41

[@thanatosor]

How about Taxes ? $50/day is still better than making trash games on mobile.

[@manuelberja]

Hey man, awesome job! I look up to indie developers who has the determination to make their own games. I, myself tried, but I horribly failed because I am a pro 2d artist with zero programming skills. with that mentioned, would you be interested to collab with me if you ever need character designs, 2d art materials, UI etc. I can also do 3d but I don't love them as much as 2d so I wouldn't offer that. also I don't care about money or at least not right now, so if it's just a small work, you don't need to pay me, I just want to start involving myself into game making so one day I may be able to publish mine and make a living while enjoying my life-long dream. I worked into several games but I don't get credited.

[@MxzStudio]

So sad story:/

[@VideoGameWizardry]

u said u made it in one week then u said 181 days.

[@cadenatkinson6012]

You read the title wrong. The game was not developed in a week, the video is talking about the first week of sales for the game

[@joshuadevsimmz6396]

Get a PC bro

[@Multimedia_Artist]

Hello, smiling wolverine. First of all, I congratulate you on your new baby. May he be one of the good children. I am an artist. If you want to collaborate with me on the third game, contact me.🙂

[@86Corvus]

You made it and released it in a week?

[@niemand123]

He said 181 days.