► Thanks for hanging out Gavin! Follow him: www.youtube.com/@TwoStarGames ► Learn how to become a full time game dev, free: www.clkmg.com/fulltimegamedev/webinar ► Wishlist CUFFBUST: store.steampowered.com/app/2592220/CUFFBUST/
i really like how he is constantly avoiding being put on the pedestal of being a genius or anything like that. "i was lucky", "i had already an audience", etc.
@@leonardotdias It's a running gag with his audience. At first he boarded up his door because it wouldn't shut or lock properly and the door kept getting blown open from the window, but everyone kept asking why he had his door boarded up so as a joke he kept adding more and more reinforcement to it, then it became an inside joke with his fanbase lol
10:10 CDPR had a Witcher talk that discussed assigning work-to-value ratios for features. Basically you make your list of everything you want to put in the game. Then build out a matrix comparing how much work (time, money, skill/training) would be needed for implementation & testing, versus how important it would be to players (e.g. quality of life aspects get a high "value" score, but this could include marketability). Doing your homework around genre expectations, USPs, dev timelines, etc makes your values more accurate, but even a good-guess goes pretty far. I've found it to be a great way to counter scope-creep, as it takes a lot of the subjectivity out of the equation. You could of course add a third value for "how much I/we want this", and weigh it appropriately in the calculations 😄
Great seeing you two as always super informational. Love his humility about success around this game already, we know it’s going to be big. And that door behind him is insane engagement tactics, I’ve never seen something in a video get so many comments consistently lol
Ideas are cheap and not everything. The execution on the idea is what matters and what makes a game hard to make. You can iterate 10 ideas in an hour. And the clue bout this is... there no new idea. Everything was already made. So iterate your own thing on something that already exists and do it better.
Only partially agree. Everything relies on execution, but ideas are not cheap. You can come up with ten ideas in an hour, sure: that doesn't make any of them good or interesting ideas. Same as how people make games in an hour, that doesn't make the game good. Good ideas are precious, and almost all of the marketing for your game will be behind this idea. You can execute a game perfectly, with few bugs, consistent and great art, and polished gameplay. But if your idea is generic, boring, and poorly thought out, people will get tired of it quickly, or, even more likely, no one will play it in the first place cuz they don't see it worth their time. It isn't a one is better than the other situation. Both the idea and the execution has to be good for the game to be good. Look at the new horror game "Cakey's Twisted Bakery". Tye visuals are great, the gameplay looks fun, and it's genuinely scary, but because from the outside it seems like just another generic mascot horror game and the idea is pretty generic for the genre, hardly anyone even knows it exists.
You need more than 10 cheap ideas to make a game. You need a main game idea, and then you need an idea for everything else. UI, art, mechanics that support the core idea, ideas for every puzzle and every level, etc. There's a lot of ideation when making a game. That's what makes it, in my opinion, the ultimate modern art form.
The cutting edge seems to be making adult games for kids. It's the basis for the whole mascot horror trend, palworld, cuffbust, anime games etc. These games generally weren't made before because they're not exactly something parents or shareholders approve of, so the big companies stayed away from that stuff. But indie devs have nobody to answer to, so they can make these niche games that push the boundaries of what's acceptable content to be marketed towards children. Who knows how long roblox will get away with their legally grey form of child labor before regulators step in, but until then gaming is basically the wild west
0:20 hold on, this statement needs to come with a disclaimer as to not be misleading. to what extent did he get featured due to the idea being catchy, and do what extent was it due to him already having a massive existing audience? I'd argue the latter very likely being a huge factor. 1:58 alright nice, the guy says it himself.
I have seen this game long time ago, its called like "Prison Run" everyone post it in different format (reskin i guess) in youtube, its been around for like ~2+ years ago. It has potential if someone picks it up and update I guess 🧐
Hey Tom, in one of your podcast episodes you was talking about how cozy video game dev and coding is, is there a chance you can expound on that? And give tips to other devs on cozy tips? Thanks!
100% every game should have a custom key binding option, including double binding at least the main actions. Please, let me jump with scroll wheel and spacebar!
Gavin might be one of the best indie devs when it comes to market research. Im just surprised his audience can convince their parents to buy his games for them
I'm curious if Gavin has considered cancelling this project due to the less than viral reception, and instead simply building on his Choo Choo Charles property - which's already proven successful?
That's the question? Really? Not - "How do I make a game I'm proud of" or "How do I create something new and unexpected" or "How do I bring something to gamers that I know will surprise and excite them?" I'm not singling you out, just exploring GameDev TH-cam I'm kinda surprised how the focus seems to be primarily around money, similar to the self-published Kindle goldrush a few years back. I guess I'm just confused as to what's going on there - is all that I said just implied, or does the drive to developing games inevitably lead to a financial focus that overrides everything? As in, once it's your job, you no longer approach it with a creative mindset, but a purely analytical business mindset? Or do you feel you balance the two succesfully? And is the financial aspect a good indicator of the success/quality of what you develop, or does that not matter?
@@timmygilbert4102 That just seems weird to me. Do you think there's a filmmaker working today worth talking about, that would say "I have a family to feed" as a motivation for their craft? Can you name one that would align with what you just said, as a primary drive for their creativity?
@@timmygilbert4102 I think, to be fair, game development exists in two categories that broadly align with the movie industry from the 70s till the early 00s. There are good movies. These make money. Critics like them. They're not blockbusters. The second category is - shitty movies made for audiences. Disaster movies, alien invasions, all that dump crap. They're not good movies. Critics hate them. But they make a ton of money, so who cares. Games are similar - there's games we'll remember 20 years from now, and games that are the equivilent of straight to VHS.
@@tteros5998 oh boy all of them, if they have a name, they are typically big enough that money isn't a concern. But if you are indie, you don't have that safety net
@@thomasbrush okay, upon a re-listen it doesn't sound like you're doing what every single indie dev and gamer seems to revel in, which is punching EA, so yeah... looks like I was projecting, sorry about that.
Plot twist . Gavin Didn't want to do this interview, But Thomas Kidnapped him and Locked him in that room and sealed the door shut and wont let him out until he finished the interview. Did you let him go now Thomas or are you now forcing him to make games while you have him :) Also he is using code words to ask for help @10:14 saying will anyone notice he is not there.
The idea is extremely important but let's not pretend that this is a Million Dollar game idea. The audience Gavin has makes sense as to why he has over 100k wishlists. And he's admitted himself that the game hasn't gone viral compared to Choose Choo Charles. If he makes a million dollars won't be because of the idea.
► Thanks for hanging out Gavin! Follow him: www.youtube.com/@TwoStarGames
► Learn how to become a full time game dev, free: www.clkmg.com/fulltimegamedev/webinar
► Wishlist CUFFBUST: store.steampowered.com/app/2592220/CUFFBUST/
i really like how he is constantly avoiding being put on the pedestal of being a genius or anything like that. "i was lucky", "i had already an audience", etc.
Good job Thomas picking your guests' minds! This developer in particular has a nice way of looking at things despite his young age.
he's very systematic developer, he knows what he's doing!
Gavin's done it again
Thomas and Gavin are like an incredible duo. I'm watching all of your videos
1:37 homie is playing cod zombies irl wtf is behind that door 😂
It's a door stopper
that was the first thing i noticed. that man has more security holding shut that door than anything ive ever seen in my life 🤣😅
Probably the hallway. Maybe he lives in the hood.
First thing I noticed! Is he living with a serial killer or something?
@@leonardotdias It's a running gag with his audience. At first he boarded up his door because it wouldn't shut or lock properly and the door kept getting blown open from the window, but everyone kept asking why he had his door boarded up so as a joke he kept adding more and more reinforcement to it, then it became an inside joke with his fanbase lol
10:10 CDPR had a Witcher talk that discussed assigning work-to-value ratios for features. Basically you make your list of everything you want to put in the game. Then build out a matrix comparing how much work (time, money, skill/training) would be needed for implementation & testing, versus how important it would be to players (e.g. quality of life aspects get a high "value" score, but this could include marketability).
Doing your homework around genre expectations, USPs, dev timelines, etc makes your values more accurate, but even a good-guess goes pretty far. I've found it to be a great way to counter scope-creep, as it takes a lot of the subjectivity out of the equation.
You could of course add a third value for "how much I/we want this", and weigh it appropriately in the calculations 😄
Wow. This sounds extremely helpful. Thank you for sharing this!❤
@@TheSoprah No prob! Talk's called _How The Witcher Devs Turn Great Ideas Into Game Features,_ on the GDC channel.
3:10 … The Escapists has left the chat lol
Crazy for people not to know Escapists or A Way Out haha
I heard of Escapists before Prison Architect and thought that PA tried to be an Escapist knock off.
The escapists is pretty popular They even have a sequel.
@@fishyfinthing8854same
Great seeing you two as always super informational. Love his humility about success around this game already, we know it’s going to be big. And that door behind him is insane engagement tactics, I’ve never seen something in a video get so many comments consistently lol
cant wait for the full interview!!!!
Goooood points on tempering feature/scope creep. I'd like to hear more of this interview.
Gavin's thought process is truly refreshing
I’m actually not a chuuchuu fan but a big fan of the dev. Smart and to the point 👍
Ideas are cheap and not everything. The execution on the idea is what matters and what makes a game hard to make. You can iterate 10 ideas in an hour. And the clue bout this is... there no new idea. Everything was already made. So iterate your own thing on something that already exists and do it better.
10000% Also, great ideas are not cheap. They rarely appear :)
Only partially agree. Everything relies on execution, but ideas are not cheap. You can come up with ten ideas in an hour, sure: that doesn't make any of them good or interesting ideas. Same as how people make games in an hour, that doesn't make the game good. Good ideas are precious, and almost all of the marketing for your game will be behind this idea. You can execute a game perfectly, with few bugs, consistent and great art, and polished gameplay. But if your idea is generic, boring, and poorly thought out, people will get tired of it quickly, or, even more likely, no one will play it in the first place cuz they don't see it worth their time. It isn't a one is better than the other situation. Both the idea and the execution has to be good for the game to be good. Look at the new horror game "Cakey's Twisted Bakery". Tye visuals are great, the gameplay looks fun, and it's genuinely scary, but because from the outside it seems like just another generic mascot horror game and the idea is pretty generic for the genre, hardly anyone even knows it exists.
You need more than 10 cheap ideas to make a game. You need a main game idea, and then you need an idea for everything else. UI, art, mechanics that support the core idea, ideas for every puzzle and every level, etc. There's a lot of ideation when making a game. That's what makes it, in my opinion, the ultimate modern art form.
@@kitsunemusicisfirewell said!
Idea aren't cheap, they cost execution 😂
The cutting edge seems to be making adult games for kids. It's the basis for the whole mascot horror trend, palworld, cuffbust, anime games etc. These games generally weren't made before because they're not exactly something parents or shareholders approve of, so the big companies stayed away from that stuff. But indie devs have nobody to answer to, so they can make these niche games that push the boundaries of what's acceptable content to be marketed towards children. Who knows how long roblox will get away with their legally grey form of child labor before regulators step in, but until then gaming is basically the wild west
So that's why Sega is bringing back shadow big time since that fated game 😂
I mean thats Gavins whole shtick. TH-cam video sized games for the markilier audiences
This was great! Can't wait for the full interview!
if anyone is interested A way out had a supposed budget of 3.5 million and as of 2021 (two years after launch) has made 23 million
Gavin's the goat!
Hope there is nothing strange behind that door 😂
Awesome Thomas, and i like the editing also , top notch
Why is everyone so confused? Yall are acting like you dont lock your doors
Love the interview videos, helps build me motivation for the day
"Ideas are cheap. Execution is hard."
0:20 hold on, this statement needs to come with a disclaimer as to not be misleading.
to what extent did he get featured due to the idea being catchy, and do what extent was it due to him already having a massive existing audience?
I'd argue the latter very likely being a huge factor.
1:58 alright nice, the guy says it himself.
Great topics, great videos, Thanks!
Great video guys, thanks!
Awesome video. Looking forward to the full convo. 😉
10:00
"Majority of the time should be spent on the most important things"
*shows goofy ahh jailien twerking*
Sometimes a twerking jailien is a most important thing.
3:43 i seriously got whiplash seeing footage from a ratskewer video here LOL
I have seen this game long time ago, its called like "Prison Run" everyone post it in different format (reskin i guess) in youtube, its been around for like ~2+ years ago. It has potential if someone picks it up and update I guess 🧐
Hey Tom, in one of your podcast episodes you was talking about how cozy video game dev and coding is, is there a chance you can expound on that? And give tips to other devs on cozy tips? Thanks!
That’s awesome, man!
"How no one made a prison escape game?"
The escapists 1 + 2: "Am i a joke to you?"
8:36
gavin is liked
tom is important
noted
100% every game should have a custom key binding option, including double binding at least the main actions. Please, let me jump with scroll wheel and spacebar!
Actually there are 3 good games about escaping a prison; there is a way out and the escapist 1 and 2
Gavin might be one of the best indie devs when it comes to market research. Im just surprised his audience can convince their parents to buy his games for them
Is there gonna be another full interview with Gavin? Really enjoyed the previous ones
Coming out Friday!
Makes me think of the escapists.
A way out is developed by hazelight and published by EA
love you guys! is there a livestream somehwere?
Full convo coming out Friday!
He understands gen z humor
why the hell does he have like 5 locks and wooden boards on his door? bit excessive isn't it? lol
So that you ask it in comment section. You got played.
The secret to a million dollar game idea is behind this door.
All that money and he still camt fix his door?! Lol
I'm curious if Gavin has considered cancelling this project due to the less than viral reception, and instead simply building on his Choo Choo Charles property - which's already proven successful?
Biceps are getting bigger every time Thomas
Great video
What’s behind the door??
id watch an hour of this.....start the podcast...
That's the question? Really? Not - "How do I make a game I'm proud of" or "How do I create something new and unexpected" or "How do I bring something to gamers that I know will surprise and excite them?" I'm not singling you out, just exploring GameDev TH-cam I'm kinda surprised how the focus seems to be primarily around money, similar to the self-published Kindle goldrush a few years back. I guess I'm just confused as to what's going on there - is all that I said just implied, or does the drive to developing games inevitably lead to a financial focus that overrides everything? As in, once it's your job, you no longer approach it with a creative mindset, but a purely analytical business mindset? Or do you feel you balance the two succesfully? And is the financial aspect a good indicator of the success/quality of what you develop, or does that not matter?
That's called having a family to feed 😂 strongest motivator
@@timmygilbert4102 That just seems weird to me. Do you think there's a filmmaker working today worth talking about, that would say "I have a family to feed" as a motivation for their craft? Can you name one that would align with what you just said, as a primary drive for their creativity?
@@timmygilbert4102 I think, to be fair, game development exists in two categories that broadly align with the movie industry from the 70s till the early 00s. There are good movies. These make money. Critics like them. They're not blockbusters. The second category is - shitty movies made for audiences. Disaster movies, alien invasions, all that dump crap. They're not good movies. Critics hate them. But they make a ton of money, so who cares. Games are similar - there's games we'll remember 20 years from now, and games that are the equivilent of straight to VHS.
@@tteros5998 oh boy all of them, if they have a name, they are typically big enough that money isn't a concern. But if you are indie, you don't have that safety net
@@tteros5998 you're just a snob bro, remember oxymandia
It's not "EA" (with disgust in the voice), it's "oh, EA was backing an indie and published this game". There's a difference.
Much love but… if you replay the clip you’ll hear me say “oh it’s ea btw” No disgust from me :) perhaps you’re overthinking it
@@thomasbrush okay, upon a re-listen it doesn't sound like you're doing what every single indie dev and gamer seems to revel in, which is punching EA, so yeah... looks like I was projecting, sorry about that.
Plot twist . Gavin Didn't want to do this interview, But Thomas Kidnapped him and Locked him in that room and sealed the door shut and wont let him out until he finished the interview.
Did you let him go now Thomas or are you now forcing him to make games while you have him :) Also he is using code words to ask for help @10:14 saying will anyone notice he is not there.
giant scale skill trees are trash man like how are you supposed to remember what anything does the next day
Oh? Lookie here. Another video
How much cost the secret to a million dollar game idea? 😀
The idea is extremely important but let's not pretend that this is a Million Dollar game idea. The audience Gavin has makes sense as to why he has over 100k wishlists. And he's admitted himself that the game hasn't gone viral compared to Choose Choo Charles. If he makes a million dollars won't be because of the idea.
Yeah😊
lol i like how he is so humble while you just say he is this incredibly talented gamedev.. jk I dont love it its horrible honesty is nonexistent
YAAAY!
I noticed that most developers have the most dogshit ideas.
First ?
What a load of horseshit. He didn't get featured because of the idea/concept/visuals but because he paid > $100k to be featured
Dude, why the hostility? Also you’re totally wrong. He paid zero. ZERO. He was invited because Geoff liked the idea/concept/visuals.