The BEST Advice For Starting Game Dev In 2025

I chat with Thomas Vandenberg, who sold over a million copies of his game, about his #1 piece of advice for indies.
► Get 50% off Full Time Game Dev for New Year's: fulltimegamede...
► Full podcast episode: • How He Sold 1,000,000+...

[@thomasbrush]

Super grateful to Thomas for his amazing conversation with me :) Learned a ton! ► Get 50% off Full Time Game Dev for New Year's: fulltimegamedev.mykajabi.com/ftgd ► Full podcast episode: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y3jdq2WCj6yirbc

[@steveblnn]

This whole pivot towards game dev interview podcasts + taking the most important bits into edited short vids is pure gold. Please don't stop. I'm addicted to your channel now.

[@thomasbrush]

Good! Glad you enjoy!

[@JFrogy]

When im developing a game often times I catch myself feeling as if I'm playing a game. Im convinced that the fun/exploration side of game dev is where the magic happens

[@nixalon]

Hello Thomas, great video, honestly we at Nixalon have always loved your channel, and i am here to really thank you, we used alot of your tips and advice to create our game ''Western Rye'' , though not our first game, but is our game that really took off, we have been covered by website like gaming bible , game trends, 80lvl etc we currently have over 10k wishlist and really i think alot of your advice got us here you are by far the best and humble game dev youtuber and my favorite tip is your advice on the trinity hook, we have also been approached by some top publishers but i will remain discrete thank you Thomas so much hope this comment finds you. we are still improving the game and going strong into 2025.

[@aliyabdulrahman]

Wow really that’s my dream 🥹🥹 I just checked out the game is definitely a double AA game. Did think Thomas was this good. ❤

[@thomasbrush]

Wow! That’s so awesome to hear, congrats on the success!

[@SableLakeGames]

The game looks brilliant, well done!

[@nuclearthrone2497]

Thanks for editing the long video interview format in shorter bits :)

[@Crosbo13]

0:51 agreed I’ve seen so many devs get overwhelmed by their own games and the stress of it and just stop developing the game

[@ArksideGames]

This was SUCH a golden nugget, condensing all the info in the small snippet. 💖

[@garen591]

I needed this advice. Finding the spark with a game and keep building on top of it. The bottoms up or intuition approach sounds great. Thanks!

[@Maplefoxx-vl2ew]

did not know this game did well, neat

[@thomasbrush]

It blew up!

[@annapurnaseelam5324]

I would say, that make a game that you'd want to play yourself at any time.

[@TYNEPUNK]

4 minutes in unity to open a level! hope u have an ssd thomas :) ive made levels that push the engine to its limits and they dont take that long to load. definitely it gets too difficult when u get too complex for unity.. i have one game that scares me to even work on.

[@mamickabeegames]

Same! I'm nervous my computer will cstch fire when I work on my current game in Unity called Incursion so development is going super slow! 😔 I'm thinking of starting over on it now and scaling it way back! 🤔

[@TYNEPUNK]

@@mamickabeegames I actually did burn out a computer by baking light constantly for like 4 yrs. lol

[@mamickabeegames]

@@TYNEPUNK omg! 😳

[@HoshizoraStudios]

This came at the perfect time i was doing it this way the last couple days since i made the jump from unreal to unity i have dropped most plans i had for unreal and now im just full time developing in unity justt do what comes to mind and build as i go this path is godsent

[@MarvinEull]

Hey Thomas, a little advertising tip on the side. I like the ad you made, but it could be even better if you focussed more on the NEED, not making people need it, that's not what I mean, but adressing the people who need it. Say sth like: "If you are struggling with X..." or "Are just beginning and need a fast headstart instead of spending 2 years figuring it all out by yourself...". These are the people you sell to. Make it clear that you know them and adress them directly. Also, thanks for the great video I really enjoy your podcast. Keep it up!

[@mads352h]

Thanks for the good videos Thomas Brush, see you on your podcast in 10 years time ;)

[@aryanrai8687]

I'm embracing his advice

[@YetAnother_GameDev]

Read how Steven King writes his books... ; )

[@ToughAndGrittyOpGrunts]

Thank you! I was about to give up on my game the 'write' way 🤣 until I saw this video!

[@VSalgc]

True. ❤ that's how I shipped game 2 to Demo world. The Dev is allways player #1.

[@dhirojbasnet2494]

Its what i exactly want to hear

[@thomasbrush]

I think he does such a great job explaining it

[@dhirojbasnet2494]

​@@thomasbrush yeah he actually does. And I just needed some motivation too

[@donmuerte7828]

I've been thinking for a long time now of a way to turn the game dev into a game of it's own.

[@nyomanbandarayani6830]

It's my WIP game. A game about game studios but you're the exec, not the programmer.

[@Driendel]

In a way, it is. Its a puzzle and sandbox of sorts

[@nyomanbandarayani6830]

@@Driendel nah, mine is gacha game. So there will be AAA game dev, AA game dev and indie dev for each position (2D artist, 3d artist, music, male VO, female VO, marketing, etc). Something like Football Manager, but you manage a video game studios. You recruit a game dev by gacha. And the employee that you fired could be recruited by other player

[@Driendel]

@@nyomanbandarayani6830 I'm not even talking to you

[@EgilDoesCalisthenics]

Hey Thomas! Would it be possible to try and get Toby Fox on the podcast?

[@wizoldsage]

some nice advice mlord

[@netwarrior-qv5hq]

So what should I do to popular our game

[@nyomanbandarayani6830]

don't put DEI on it. Balatro made by 1 person and it's in GOTY 2024

[@2bitdemonkiller]

@@nyomanbandarayani6830what’s DEI ?

[@TheRealCraster]

bit of a gamble here, but lets say i have a finished game - would you take a look at it? :)

[@2samiromer]

Chief. Start a pad cast please.

[@thomasbrush]

Full episode here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y3jdq2WCj6yirbc

[@2samiromer]

@@thomasbrush sorry. Didn't see that post. Will check it. Dream. To game dev. You are my inspiration. Keep rocking cheif

[@dabmaster6874]

I'm starting to notice that there so many approaches to making games and it's fascinating! What will be yours in 2025?

[@sauravsk2592]

First comment ❤❤❤

[@thomasbrush]

Appreciate you! ❤️

[@OryamBibi]

Am I first?

[@Skybasegame]

dont