Ultimate guide to self-publishing your game

With platforms becoming more open, and publishers becoming harder to get, self-publishing has become more of a necessity. But how do you replace those publisher benefits, and get the most of your game?

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Timestamps:
00:00 Publishers are hard to get
01:07 Validation
04:36 Funding
08:20 Patreon
09:00 Marketing
11:35 QA
13:55 Localization
16:22 Porting
17:57 Closing thoughts

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[devin]

Thanks for all that you do! I started working on my game again, and you guys inspire me.

[YTmingle]

Last 3 days I was watching only your videos . Studing taking notes. Working on things you've said. Now another new video. 🎉😮😍 Excellent.!!

[krknz]

Added to my "publishing" bookmark folder, I will watch it again when the time comes :)

[keaultra]

This is awesome, thank you for sharing this info! I've been working on my game since December 2023 as a solo dev and my SO just joined me. Trying to start a Studio/Brand but I need to post more often and I've slowed on my social media use since being younger, I can't catch up, lol

[kizuna.gamestudio]

We don't have a publisher, but that is something we are considering for future games. Thanks for the tips!

[JamesACoote]

Validation is more like the step in-between market research and starting full production. It's where, having decided on a genre and target audience, you test out if your theory holds true and refine the detail of exactly what people want. Ultimately see if there's a product-market fit.

You're right that having a publisher sign your game is fantastic validation, but these days, publishers often want you to do the validation yourself first. They want to see wishlists and viral social media posts and people joining your community just through word of mouth (which is also what you want if you're self-publishing)

[TESkyrimizer]

How crazy that the narrative has shifted from "Get ur page up asap" to "make a polished steam page before u publish it"

[samuluvi]

Fantastic video as always. I finally decided to return to Unity after a couple of years' break from game development due to health issues. I was wondering if you could make a more niche video, specifically an explanation of how to create videos where you talk about and explain game development. This would help people like me who think it's best to create videos to use for studying. I hope you will consider my idea. Keep up the great work!

I just noticed that I wasn't subscribed despite watching your videos, but I subscribed immediately.

P.S. I think the tutorial would be perfect if it included an explanation of how to make videos, such as which parts of the recording to keep and which to cut, or how to avoid making the video boring.

[CappicheGames]

Awesome info as always, thanks for the video!

[PurradoxG]

Content great as always 👌👌 . On a random note .. i was watching the video on my phone and i noticed a hair on the screen just on the Right side .. i went crazy trying to remove it until i realized it was a branch from a plant on the background. 😂.

[inevgames]

Self publishing the game is really scary. Thanks for the advice. While publishers want at least 50% of the game's revenue, this option is worth considering, but it can really scary

[dreamingacacia]

I never have the idea of walking to publisher to publish my game. It's always the idea of self-publishing since the very beginning. Maybe I grew up with accessing to people have their own websites to publish their games?
The publisher dream is actually the 90s thing though, since that era didn't have much digital platforms to host your own games. Only a few people made their landing pages, but gamedev back then still mostly analog stuffs.
Me grew up in 2ks, It's such a digital dreamland. It's the very definition of "American dream" even though I'm not American. Maybe that's why I developed the tendency to be independence.

[mandisaw]

2017-2020 was the Steam "Indiepocalypse", with higher competition for eyeballs - the pandemic was really when easy publisher/VC money started flowing. Otherwise loved these tips, esp localization & console-porting.

Indies should consider mobile as well, particularly if the game lends itself to shorter sessions (5-15min) and isn't too resource-hungry.

[ilclonegamer]

i am studying game development although next year i will be working at mcdonald's as a temporary job to earn some money to develop my own indie games that i will publish on steam.
you know money to develop even low budget games doesn't grow on trees so I'll be working at mcdonald's for a while until I earn enough money to develop my indie games, however my collaborators who will be working to help me make my games I'll be hiring them via smartworking.

[gamerlinkog]

Make a Video on How to make Games like a process of it like where do yu start do you plan first or start with mecanics ??

[joantonio]

I prefer self publishing my game, I do not want anyone to dictate me nor telle how my game should be ..I have already spent $10k on it and will spend another $5k by October. So I do not need any publisher money to develop my game

[vast]

Make a game that you yourself would want to play when watching the screenshots or trailers.

[marcusrehn]

But if you pick a trendy genre, how do you know that it is still trendy in one to five years when you are done? I'd say, make the game you love.

[fedsavi]

How does an indie dev prevent/delay/deal with piracy? Because I think that pirating a AAA game from a huge company isn’t all that bad but does it impact sales for indies?

[TreantBG]

Hello, i have worked on a game for a year and its 50% finished and i took a short break that turned into a longer break so i haven't work on my game for at least 8 months.
Do you have any helpfoul tips to go back to the project i feel its going to be hard.