Making Your First Indie Game (5 Tips for 2021 & 2022!)

Start your first indie game right! Here are 5 tips I've learned as a full time dev.

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[thomasbrush]

Thanks for watching! Hope you learned a ton.

[caseyanimates]

I was about to start making my first game my “dream game”. Glad I saw this and now I’m gonna get a few small games under my belt before my dream game.

[piratedoggames]

I started my 2D platformer when I was just starting to learn Unity and C#. I ended up taking a break to make a smaller game; a 2D bullet hell shooter called HyperShot. I put it on Steam, and I still get a sale now and then. Now I'm almost finished my platformer, which will be on Steam next year.

[Lalaroosje]

I wanted to make a 3D survival game, with a massive map with multiple biomes, weird animals, diseases, allergies and of course cut scenes. once I drew the design on some paper I realized that I never had coded before, so this would be way to hard. now I watched this video and I think my first game will just be a simple platformer.

[isaacemerson]

Hey, glad to see this, I'm about to start making my first game. Thomas always has the best advice

[rogerostrander]

I released my first "real" game on itch (i.e. a non-game-jam, 100+ dev-hours game); a roguelike! I have no idea what effect it'll have on my gamedev career, but even as small as it is it's inspired me to keep making roguelikes :)

[EvanHeck]

i cherished my trash game and wanted it to be kinda big due to it "looks better than other games" and took that to heart. now i realize that you can not bank on something doing good and get but hurt when no one plays it. now im taking time to reflect and figure out what i want to do next as well as doing major updates to my first game.

[annooshie]

Thank you so much. This is such a wonderful video. I'm taking the leap into becoming a solo indie game developer and I'm quitting my job as a professional animator to pursue my dreams. I can't wait to see where I end up in 10 years from today! I've got so many games I want to make. :)

For now, I'll start small and learn as much as I can. Goodluck to us all!

[mruncola]

I did release my own game on iOS about ten years ago. It was the only personal project I ever released. I outsourced all the creative assets just to save myself time. Crossing the finish line with this stuff is very challenging. I totally agree making your crap game first is the way to go. Great video!

[nluciscreative]

I've never subbed so fast before. This breaks it all down, is clear, and honest. I've got no end to technical skill and planning and an experienced WEB developer, but translating that to solo game development projects has been surprisingly difficult. Thank you for this

[coltonnunns]

Lol Im so glad I had notification turned on! Love the video! Keep up the amazing work

[beinas]

You are inspiration for so many indie devs, so give as DEVLOGS of your new inspiring game! btw your shors are hilarious!

[wazaDev]

These are some amazing tips and the one about not doing everything from scratch really made me realize how much time I'm wasting.
As for games I worked on a game for most of last year and now that I look back on it I made a lot of mistakes mostly related to planing but I did find out I am much better at programming and designing systems than actually making art plus I learned a lot about the type of games I am mostly good at making

[FlameOfInsanity]

I'm inspired. I'm starting my first commercial game next year. I'm going to use the rest of this year for prep work and finishing up a game jam, and then next year get to work on my first real project.

[pranitp.]

I love your videos, never stop making these!

[TheHostelPodcast]

This is so incredibly inspiring. I have been on the fence about going into solo game development but have been scared to fail. Starting small and working in stages is the best, most simple advice you could give. I accept it may take years to make something I love, but I feel so driven to go down that road. Thanks for the inspiration

[itsnass]

i just watched the video and i realized : HE MADE PINSTRIPE guys u dont really know how much i loved that game when i was young omg this video brought memories

[Hagelnot]

Starting is easy, but finishing is hard.
I started without any concept, just practicing, but the whacky sketches turned into a full game eventually (nothing serious or released though). It was hard tying up the loose ends. I said to myself, for the next project ima think it all through so I can work according to a plan, instead of changing things back and forth.
But making a plan can be difficult too. Sometimes I find myself over a blank page, thinking ok how shall it start, whats the premise?
Many ideas just come along the way, while simply doing things without overthinking.
I took a lesson from it. The better you become as a game dev, the more thought you can put into it. But at the start, just "play" with development and it'll lead you somewhere :)

[joeknight]

Your tip about knowing your forte really resonated with me. I too pride my self in character building and story telling. Those are my passions what keeps me making my game. This being my first game you’re other tip was perfect, I should make a small short game before putting my all into my dream story / dream game. This video hit at the perfect time for me, and thank you for your content. One question about your stories, do you have them all laid out first before you start building your games or do you kind of build the story and the small details of the story as you go, drawing inspiration from some of your worlds and art?

[lvlGhostlylvl]

Tip #5 is very important, and one I overlooked while I was working on my frist project. I also think that doing something like a dev log can be very motivating later on when you look back and see all your progress.