How To 'Actually' Make Money (As a Game-DEV)

I know this is a rough subject for most people, but here's the best solution I've found to make some change and survive while you're building your project -
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If you wanna support my mission to save new Game-Devs valuable time learning this stuff, please consider joining the Support Squad below!
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If you ever need 3D assets, you can find her on my ArtStation Store:
#unrealengine5 #vfx #3d
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[TheRoyalSkies]

If you're new to the game-dev world and you're looking for where to start, I have a tutorial playlist of everything I've learned how to do in Unreal5 which is, and will always be, completely free for people to watch and learn from:
Being a dev is not easy, and I don't think I would ever recommend anyone do it for the money, but it's extremely fun, and if that's enough for you, I'm happy to help you on your journey :)

[darkfoxfurre]

It's an old saying, but worth mentioning here- The guy making the most money during a gold rush is the guy selling the pickaxes.

[ColinFox]

I loved your sword asset story. Reminded me of the fact that during the 1800's gold rush, the ones who actually got rich were the guys selling picks, shovels & panning equipment.

[AlfredBaudischCreations]

This is so true. In 2011 I released an iOS game called "Angry Trolls" and it sold like US$ 2k. Then I packaged the project as a gamedev template for the Ansca Mobile SDK (that was huge back then, think as big as Unity is today but only for mobile games), and it yielded me around US$ 30k. Since I was living in Brazil, that money let me live for 3 years, which allowed me to make other stuff.

[hefferwolff]

This is why I love this channel, you don't try to sell a phony dream like a lot of folk on this platform do for clicks,

[uba]

Quite possibly the most sound advice I've ever heard in all of the gamedev youtube videos I watch. Thank you.

[GeorgeGameDev]

I completely agree with your point that players don't care about how long we work on a project. However, don't forget that you can use this to your advantage as well. It’s funny because my last video was on this very topic—how my "bad" game earned over $4, 000. While that might not seem like a lot, I made it in just two months with zero game development experience. I used the strategies you mentioned in your video, doing some research and planning how to make sales before I even downloaded a game engine.

[eduardomoura]

one word: 4 bits pixel art plataformer made in godot, preferenciable making each level an analogy for depression or anxienty.

[MonsterJuiced]

Man you genius. I'm drowning in debt just trying to keep afloat, working as a game dev contractor but they're always so late on payments that it's hardly even worth it. I might go through what I've created and see if I can refine them and sell them as assets. Thank you!

[amirsalva]

At the beginning, I thought this video was more of a rant, but it ended up being some of the best advice I've heard about side questing when the main quest isn't going well. Thank you man.

[ExpensivePizza]

I spent years trying to make money from games and aside from a few bucks made on the app stores I didn't have much to show for it. At one point I almost quit for good.
Then one day I realized that the skills I'd honed after years of game dev was way more valuable than the games themselves.
So now, I still make games, but my focus is different. I make games for the enjoyment of making games and to keep improving my skills doing something I enjoy.
The funny thing is, after removing the stress of trying to make money I feel like I now make much better stuff.

[gridtac]

Average man: 26 hundred thousand dollars

Us less than average plebs: does he mean "two hundred sixty thousand"?

Average is a level I might never be able to achieve.

[wrongthinker]

I never thought about it, but it's pretty mind-blowing that components of a game are priced higher than games.

[tresdimatop]

man, you are a wonderful, helpful and honest person
i appreciate what you do
keep going!

[WSMGameStudio]

I can definetely relate to your story, as I've spent 2 years developing a racing game that would fail on Steam.
Luckly, 1 year into development I've decided to break the project into assets and sell them to try to finance the development of the game.
Most of those assets also failed, however, my best selling assets (Train Controller Collection) were born from that failed game project.

I've been living from game assets revenue for the past 6 years now, selling assets on the Unity Asset Store and Unreal Marketplace.

Making a living selling assets is not easy though.
As any other software development business, you are creating a new product and products succeed and fail all the time.
So it is important to do your homework and think carefully on what product you're investing your time into.

My adivice for anyone thinking on getting into asset development is: Start small!

Create a MVP for version 1.0, and if there is demand for it, listen to your clients feedbacks and add new features on future iterations.
If there is no demand for it, just accept it failed and move on to the next project.

It is better to release 10 MVP's and have 1 sucess, than spent years trying to build one single perfect and feature complete product that may ultimately fail.

[chrisxds]

You just save my ass before I even jump to the game dev rabbit hole, thank you!

[TorQueMoD]

Great video and great advice! One thing I will add that you basically said but didn’t implicitly say; Don’t get into game design too make money. Get into game design because it feeds your soul and you can’t live without it :)

[YakOfArt]

This is an extension for what I learned from Ian Hubert. As he's making his film series, he's also releasing the assets for it on Patreon.

[internetuser]

I appreciate your videos. They are succinct, and being able to get straight to the point helps me stay engaged with my projects as opposed to stopping to take in a lecture (which are always appreciated but beside the current point). It's hard to hear you had to endure hardship. Best of luck with your efforts.

[Badguy]

Absolutely wonderful presentation for how to get a bit of extra change out of one's assets. I have so many stylish low-poly vehicles that have taken me ages to build up, I should sell them too, once I clean up the texture and rig the wheels.