Is it worth it? Porting indie games to consoles

Buy Bridges & Docks

Buy Tanks, But No Tanks
➤ ATARI VCS: (Available on the console store)

Buy Tile Cross
➤ ATARI VCS: (Available on the console store)

In this #devlog, I discuss how the past year went porting numerous indie games on all major console platforms. Thanks for following my self-employment journey creating video games as a solo #indieDev.

[RealCoachMustafa]

I don't think it should be controversial to say you've had a good experience with Unity. One thing I noticed with online indie dev groups/communities is that there is too much emotion tied to companies/products/services. Using a software should be objective, not emotional.

[AIAdev]

Thanks for this insight dude. Super helpful

[DanPos]

The knock on wood set my dog off 😅 great video as always mate, always good to hear the experience of other devs

[Aarimous]

Thanks for sharing! I'm loving these sorts of videos.

[marnixwyns]

Probably the first video on YouTube documenting this experience. It's something we're looking to do at some point as well, but it's just so hush hush. Thanks!

[glacierhusky]

I am still working on just making a game to put on steam first but am glad to hear consoles are worth looking into. I’ve always thought seeing my own game on PlayStation or Switch would be the wildest thing ever

[learneternal-english]

I appreciate the porting because I think tanks but no tanks is one of the best local co-op games on xbox.

[I.mAlicia]

I’d love some sort of ranking of consoles and engines, relating to the points you made here. Like, “if you aren’t so great at programming, maybe you might be okay porting to XBox, but I’d rethink PS5” or “If you are a bit restricted for money for a dev kit, and need to pick a platform you might want to focus on Switch” or “online multiplayer is probably the easiest on platform X but with engine Y it suddenly more difficult.” Nothing NDA-breaking, but some hints that would let indies know where to start looking would be great.

[Ichbinhamma]

Thanks a lot for the video. I'm about to start porting my game and this info was very valuable.

[RickyWiild]

I'm working on my 2nd game, Doombreaker. I have learned so much in so many different areas. I think after this one iscomplete. I'll begin searching to work with a team. A dev team is the way forward.

[mlm]

Pretty interesting video man. I hadn't even considered porting my game.

[brandoncole]

I think it's super cool you have ported to so many consoles!

[Lorry]

Great insight into the behind the scenes work of a solo dev. Thank you!

[WillyOD]

I think once you have a portfolio of ported games you're golden. Hope you're (eventually) getting some residuals instead of a fixed price. Also you get to look at commercial game sources, which for me would be the most exciting thing! Of course porting is mostly about system/renderer/input stuff, not gameplay, but it's still a nice learning experience. Do you still find some companies being secretive about porting and sharing their entire source code?

[tomwor]

Porting to consoles is high on my list after I've released my game, you've been a big inspiration there with your other videos/interviews where you mentioned it. Curious: How do you handle branches, etc. - I heard it's basically impossible to have all platforms in a single branch? Also: Do you keep like a personal knowledge base / wiki with all the porting steps and information?

[flamingburitto]

I think you should make a video talking about which consoles you would recommend indie devs to try and port to. Maybe like a ranking system or something. I'm assuming there's stuff you can't disclose but maybe just your opinion on which console is the most worth it.

Because I hadn't even heard of the Atari vcs until I watched your video. 😂

[kukukachu]

Hey, the developer John from Biogun is looking to port a game, only he has more plans for DLC in the future, but every porter he talks to says that his game has to be the full package before it can be ported. It looks like he's not doing as well in his sales as he'd like, so he's willing to make that sacrifice. If you have the availability to give him advice, I'm sure he'd love to talk to you about porting. He's always active on his Biogun discord.

[tetsou]

Before I even watch, I'll just say yes. Maybe just because I don't market my games much but steam has always been my worst platform by a large margin and porting to xbox / switch is fairly easy, PS is a bit more difficult but still manageable.

If you do choose to port to consoles, make a re-usable framework for handling all the platform functions (trophies, cloud saves, PS activities etc), it cuts down my porting time by a huge margin now

[downsouthmagog]

I did so far games on:
PC, Web, Android, iOS, Linux, Switch, Quest, Open XR

[yarrichar]

You could see the option of releasing 2 extract games to steam instead of releasing the same games to console as 2 extra roles of the dice. One of those extra games might be the one that goes viral... I don't really know, but that's how I'd think about it.