Let me give you a hats off. I work a corporate job, doing software development and making close to 180k per year. I would gladly give this shit to be able to work on my own projects. The 9-5 life is nothing but cancer on the spirit. You managed to break free and even if it means reducing expenses, it is definitely something you can get used to and be OK with.
I've released an indiegame 7 years ago and continued working full time. It didn't do well mostly due to lack of commitment by myself. Recently I felt that my full time job is chaining me down and I'm hoping to release another game after a long time. It need not be extremely successful but hopefully it could sustain my expenses before I go full time .
Thanks for this, I'm also struggling through this process, mainly losing motivation so far into a project. It is hard working from home in that it becomes a lonely profession which leads to less motivation again and easy distractions. Your videos always help with my motivation and purpose in finally (fingers crossed) getting to that release day! Thanks again!
That's the reason I'm still a freelancer. I need to feel financially safe to be free of expectations. The downside is that I haven't finished my demo yet... (And life gets in the way in the shape of a personal war, like the death of my father from COVID in 2020.). However... I'm old. You know what? I canceled all my gigs for 6 months and I've been working (almost) solely on my game. I'm still doing a small gig here and there just to have some extra money, but I'm dedicating most of my time to my game development. And there's always a contract waiting for me. That's the best part of being a veteran. My father's death made me realize how short and fragile life is (and couldn't stand so much sadness. I had to do something about it). Creating is my raison d'etre and I don't want to die without expressing storytelling through a video game. I love your videos. Thank you kindly for sharing your experience with us! Your focus, discipline, and flexibility to understand the mainstream audience are great personality traits.
Thanks! And sorry to hear about the setbacks. I understand well how big of a mental toll incidents like that have and how much they can affect your productivity. I think it's inspiring though that you were able to distill some wisdom out of a bad situation and use that to motivate your development.
@@AuroDev Thank you for your kind words. I'd like to motivate others to move forward despite chaotic situations in their lives. Your example makes us stronger too. Game dev is hard as any business, but you gave us tips that make everything clear. Thanks again, Auro!
It's so interesting that we essentially released dev logs on opposite sides of the coin (in the same month, no less) but so many of the points are very similar.
@@AuroDev I think it's a very accurate comparison unfortunately. The sad part is that the amount of effort that goes into this gambling addiction is much bigger. Loved the video! Also, thanks for the Steam upload video you published a while ago! It helped me out a lot
Thank you mate for sharing this with an open heart.🙏 Congratulations for having the courage to follow your dreams, you're smart and brave. I wish you all the success in the world. Blessings! 👍
I love these Dev logs. Very thoughtful and interesting. Keep em coming! Do you have any ideas of what kind of game you would want to work on after Chambers of devious design?
I have a bunch of ideas written down, but I haven't made the choice yet. It will depend a lot on how CoDD does also. If it does really terribly, I will need to try to pick the most commercial idea as my next game.
I'm rooting for you buddy! I hope it all goes well and even if it doesn't I'll bet you will not have regretted what you have decided to do! I really enjoy your videos. Subscribed and following your journey. All the best, Peter.
Thanks for all your videos, and your transparency! Those are really interesting! And oh... I'm also happy to not be the only one struggling with UI Navigation and Localisation... It is a bit reassuring haha... I thought I was the only one having difficulty with those (awful) parts of the development...
What a great video. Thank you. This may be my favorite dev channel, due to your personality and honesty. You're easy to relate to and seem to hit all the points I'd like to know about - and in an entertaining way. All the best!
Great video as always! It's nice to see more behind the scenes stuff like this that isn't coding. Your financial and marketing videos, for example, are always extremely interesting.
Thanks! :) I would love to do more financial & marketing videos. Only so often I can go over the sales charts but I'll need to think if I could approach it from different angles too.
Great vid! Good job! Totally agree on the last part, but it's also totally possible that I'm just too boring and should take more risks ;d I was considering starting to post devlogs btw, would you say that it's worth the time? I assume it is, since you continue to create them. It would be awesome to know how much time it takes to make a video like this one for example. (I think this question could also be a good video idea, I'm pretty sure a lot of gamedevs wonder about that)
Thanks! :) Regarding devlogs... It's actually hard for me to recommend making them. This could indeed be a good video topic for near future. I won't go into details here but the most pressing thing is that making videos just takes a lot of time that you could use for other things. This video was relatively fast to make - I think it took me maybe 10 - 12 hours in total. All things considered there's no harm in giving it a go, but realistically I would recommend devlogs only for people who enjoy making videos and don't expect too much out of it.
Love your vids! Might also be worth mentioning tax differences in countries. I know some countries if you go over the middle class income you get hit hard with taxes and if your game plus job income puts you into that bracket it may make more sense to go full time gamedev.
That's a good point! One nice perk as an entrepreneur actually is that you have more control over your taxation and you have more tools in your hands to try to minimize your tax burden (at least in my country this is the case).
All assets from Unity asset store should be without licensing issues and free to use, unless they mention something different in the description. Ofc I guess it's possible for someone to break the rules and upload an asset that breaks licensing terms (before they are removed from the store). But generally, yes, using those assets is perfectly OK.
i think saving is critical for every indie developer, there is no guarantee that our game will always sell.So if there is a big hit, we better save a chunk of our revenue to fund our next game, instead of buying a new ferarri XD
@@AuroDev I see, I also have some parts that are hard to do, hoping to outsource it if I get funding. So I guess having a team(even a small one) helps.
It's true that a sequel to MG would have had higher expected sales. I was more excited about the idea behind CoDD though and I wanted to create something different. I might revisit Mortal Glory at some point :)
I think there are many factors to it. Hard to say for sure, but I think the biggest factors were that most players enjoyed the concept, it was in a popular genre and many youtubers/streamers played the game.
What @AuroDev just wrote, plus IMHO Auro has a good sense of business and made his research. As Cliffski says, most indie projects fail because they are doing what they would like to work on the market, and not doing what actually can work on the market. Now, of course, sometimes we can still miscalculate things, but market research helps a lot.
![ตีสิบเดย์ [FULL] | เปิดใจ "อาจารย์ เบียร์ ฅนตื่นธรรม" นักสนทนาธรรมสายดุดัน!](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/vqaBI_mnoDk/mqdefault.jpg)
Let me give you a hats off. I work a corporate job, doing software development and making close to 180k per year. I would gladly give this shit to be able to work on my own projects. The 9-5 life is nothing but cancer on the spirit. You managed to break free and even if it means reducing expenses, it is definitely something you can get used to and be OK with.
Yeah, everything comes with a cost! I hope you will be able to make the jump at some point!
Thank you for being outspoken about the tradeoffs of being self-employed
I've released an indiegame 7 years ago and continued working full time. It didn't do well mostly due to lack of commitment by myself. Recently I felt that my full time job is chaining me down and I'm hoping to release another game after a long time. It need not be extremely successful but hopefully it could sustain my expenses before I go full time .
Best of luck with the new game! :)
I hope to be in your position in the future, just have to get that elusive ”office job” first 🤣
Hah, you'll get there! Maybe you can get lucky and skip the officer job part :)
@@AuroDev Nah, I’m finishing my CS bachelor now, would be a shame to just throw it away
@@SeahorseGames if you can do both that's prob better
Thanks for this, I'm also struggling through this process, mainly losing motivation so far into a project. It is hard working from home in that it becomes a lonely profession which leads to less motivation again and easy distractions. Your videos always help with my motivation and purpose in finally (fingers crossed) getting to that release day! Thanks again!
I am happy to hear I can help with the motivation! It's tough work for sure and gets harder the closer you get to release. But you can make it! :)
So now 2 years! Lets do update
That's the reason I'm still a freelancer. I need to feel financially safe to be free of expectations. The downside is that I haven't finished my demo yet... (And life gets in the way in the shape of a personal war, like the death of my father from COVID in 2020.). However...
I'm old. You know what? I canceled all my gigs for 6 months and I've been working (almost) solely on my game. I'm still doing a small gig here and there just to have some extra money, but I'm dedicating most of my time to my game development. And there's always a contract waiting for me. That's the best part of being a veteran. My father's death made me realize how short and fragile life is (and couldn't stand so much sadness. I had to do something about it). Creating is my raison d'etre and I don't want to die without expressing storytelling through a video game.
I love your videos. Thank you kindly for sharing your experience with us! Your focus, discipline, and flexibility to understand the mainstream audience are great personality traits.
Thanks! And sorry to hear about the setbacks. I understand well how big of a mental toll incidents like that have and how much they can affect your productivity. I think it's inspiring though that you were able to distill some wisdom out of a bad situation and use that to motivate your development.
@@AuroDev Thank you for your kind words. I'd like to motivate others to move forward despite chaotic situations in their lives.
Your example makes us stronger too. Game dev is hard as any business, but you gave us tips that make everything clear. Thanks again, Auro!
Great advise. Keep rolling!
I’d love to see an update on this topic!
Good idea! Currently I don't have the extra time to make videos, but I'll make a note for future less-hectic times.
Really appreciate the honesty in this video. Lots of stuff for aspiring indie devs to think about.
It's so interesting that we essentially released dev logs on opposite sides of the coin (in the same month, no less) but so many of the points are very similar.
Great minds think alike or what they say? :)
Great! Love your devlogs!
I watch you for a while and I think this is your best video, thank you!
Oh wow, that's very nice to hear! :)
Thanks for sharing this, Auro! Best wishes! =)
This is the first time I hear indie gamedev compared to loot boxes. I love it.
Haha, hope I didn't do big disservice to the profession. Just something that came to my mind during filming :D
@@AuroDev I think it's a very accurate comparison unfortunately. The sad part is that the amount of effort that goes into this gambling addiction is much bigger. Loved the video! Also, thanks for the Steam upload video you published a while ago! It helped me out a lot
Thank you mate for sharing this with an open heart.🙏 Congratulations for having the courage to follow your dreams, you're smart and brave. I wish you all the success in the world. Blessings! 👍
Thanks for the kind words! :)
I love these Dev logs. Very thoughtful and interesting. Keep em coming! Do you have any ideas of what kind of game you would want to work on after Chambers of devious design?
I have a bunch of ideas written down, but I haven't made the choice yet. It will depend a lot on how CoDD does also. If it does really terribly, I will need to try to pick the most commercial idea as my next game.
I'm rooting for you buddy! I hope it all goes well and even if it doesn't I'll bet you will not have regretted what you have decided to do! I really enjoy your videos. Subscribed and following your journey. All the best, Peter.
Thanks! I'm also confident I don't have to regret this journey even it it fails :)
Am sure you'll smash it bro 💪
Very good content!
Thank you! :)
Thanks for all your videos, and your transparency! Those are really interesting! And oh... I'm also happy to not be the only one struggling with UI Navigation and Localisation... It is a bit reassuring haha... I thought I was the only one having difficulty with those (awful) parts of the development...
You're definitely not the only one who finds those parts annoying! :)
What a great video. Thank you. This may be my favorite dev channel, due to your personality and honesty. You're easy to relate to and seem to hit all the points I'd like to know about - and in an entertaining way. All the best!
Thanks, it's really great to hear that! :)
I loved the video! :)
Awesome! :)
Great video as always! It's nice to see more behind the scenes stuff like this that isn't coding. Your financial and marketing videos, for example, are always extremely interesting.
Thanks! :) I would love to do more financial & marketing videos. Only so often I can go over the sales charts but I'll need to think if I could approach it from different angles too.
Great vid! Good job! Totally agree on the last part, but it's also totally possible that I'm just too boring and should take more risks ;d
I was considering starting to post devlogs btw, would you say that it's worth the time? I assume it is, since you continue to create them. It would be awesome to know how much time it takes to make a video like this one for example. (I think this question could also be a good video idea, I'm pretty sure a lot of gamedevs wonder about that)
Thanks! :) Regarding devlogs... It's actually hard for me to recommend making them. This could indeed be a good video topic for near future. I won't go into details here but the most pressing thing is that making videos just takes a lot of time that you could use for other things. This video was relatively fast to make - I think it took me maybe 10 - 12 hours in total. All things considered there's no harm in giving it a go, but realistically I would recommend devlogs only for people who enjoy making videos and don't expect too much out of it.
@@AuroDev Thanks for the answer!
Unrelated question: What breed is Luna? She's seems like a good and fun dog!
She's a Coton de Tulear. I can also confirm she is a good girl :)
Love your vids! Might also be worth mentioning tax differences in countries. I know some countries if you go over the middle class income you get hit hard with taxes and if your game plus job income puts you into that bracket it may make more sense to go full time gamedev.
That's a good point! One nice perk as an entrepreneur actually is that you have more control over your taxation and you have more tools in your hands to try to minimize your tax burden (at least in my country this is the case).
Hey i want advise if we use assets which we buy on unity asset store . Can we pathner with publishers without any licensing issues?
All assets from Unity asset store should be without licensing issues and free to use, unless they mention something different in the description. Ofc I guess it's possible for someone to break the rules and upload an asset that breaks licensing terms (before they are removed from the store). But generally, yes, using those assets is perfectly OK.
i think saving is critical for every indie developer, there is no guarantee that our game will always sell.So if there is a big hit, we better save a chunk of our revenue to fund our next game, instead of buying a new ferarri XD
Definitely a smart thing to do :)
great video.. very informative and inpiriing.. could you share with us how many wishlists did you have at the time of releasing your first game?
Sure! I had 1700 wishlists at that point.
@@AuroDev
I really appreciate your transparency and your efforts to help out the indie game dev community to success...thank you.
what are your thoughts on outsourcing the boring parts ?
It's a great idea and something I hope I can do more in future. Some parts can be hard to outsource though if you are working alone.
@@AuroDev I see, I also have some parts that are hard to do, hoping to outsource it if I get funding.
So I guess having a team(even a small one) helps.
Why did you decide to make CoDD instead of a sequel to Mortal Glory? I would guess that a sequel to successful game would have been a safe bet.
It's true that a sequel to MG would have had higher expected sales. I was more excited about the idea behind CoDD though and I wanted to create something different. I might revisit Mortal Glory at some point :)
Mortal Glory is just modernized Areena 5.
Spoiler: It was. Excited about how CoDD is going to be sales-wise.
Me too :)
For the algorithm😂
Cheers :)
Why is your first game so successful when majority of first games are flops?
I think there are many factors to it. Hard to say for sure, but I think the biggest factors were that most players enjoyed the concept, it was in a popular genre and many youtubers/streamers played the game.
What @AuroDev just wrote, plus IMHO Auro has a good sense of business and made his research. As Cliffski says, most indie projects fail because they are doing what they would like to work on the market, and not doing what actually can work on the market.
Now, of course, sometimes we can still miscalculate things, but market research helps a lot.