I'm Jerome Labelle an indie game developer based in Toronto, Canada who recently released my dream game Koboo: The Tree Spirit. I hope you enjoy my content and have an awesome day!
Thanks for the useful info. Can I ask how you handle art? Have you moved more towards working with artists for the assets Vs making them yourself? If so, when would you recommend working with an artist?
Hey, Jerome. I find value in your videos. I really hope you continue to make these kinds of videos in the future. You have awesome stories behind you, and I would love to see them unfold in your future videos. If you need to take time to make your videos, heck, even for months, take your sweet time.
the boss need to be big that it only show one part of him on screen if you plan to make something climbable on boss body like shadow of colossus but it would be too much even if its cool, i rather platform of something to step fighting againts giant boss like castlevania series
most people tend to avoid multiplayer feature especially pvp content vs other player (they playing single player game for a reason) also i've been trying several game which are sequel from their previous game with new feature multiplayer, but the game became more bad than the first series (probably because they also need to rebalancing stuff and many more in multiplayer that it also affect their singleplayer)
great vid, on the part on spending time on playtesting, I read a piece of advice about how ideally you should aim for 50% of your total development timeline to spend on playtesting (even if its just internal testing at first). That's easier said than done but aiming for that also limits your scope in a good way imo
You are so right and yeah I would say I do about %50 maybe even more sometimes. Limiting your scope is step one then all other steps become easier and you can always broaden your scope overtime once your core game is solid.
Makes a lot of sense, and all good advice! Making games you're passionate about and interested in is huge; nothing drives improvement like having a specific vision and wanting to bring it to life. Excited to (potentially) hear more about the development of Koboo!
I am happy you got something out of the video! I am still very new to game dev youtube so I want to do my best to actually give people valuable advice and I have found being intentional about the game dev process makes you a way better game designer. Also working on a video about Koboo right now!
If you are wondering about the fourth game release which I did not mention is this video. That is because it is deep lore and knowledge only a select few have access to. If you figure it out please don't expose the truth I am not sure the public can handle it just yet.
Super impressive for your first Steam game. I know you had criticisms of the game in retrospect, but at the very least, the art style is killer. Did you do the art / capsule art yourself? If so that's crazy cool. Your most recent game Koboo also looks sick, curious to hear how the release for that game went too.
1:16 Whatever you work on next, structure your code with OOP, almost everything I see is either boilerplate-code or flooded with features into single function calls or files such that any form of debugging, test suites or adding/refactoring/removing aspects is pretty unstable and probably slow. At least this is the kind of harsh feedback I needed to adjust to a proper coding style which makes one tremendously faster and better at writing code. ( and neat game btw c: )
This is a great point and that is what I have been doing with my recent code! I appreciate you reaching out cause I am still wanting to learn and improve as much as I can.
That used to be true but not anymore it is up to the developer to share their numbers. There are plenty of other developers who have shared them you can look it up if you are curious.
Hindsight is always 20/20. Even though I'm not a game dev it works like this in everything in life and when it comes to your game there's always option to update your game I think you did great for a first release
@@HonestRogueGames dude, it comes from failing at about everything in life, not trying to be all overly dramatic here but I geniuinely failed at most things in life and it comes from being overly attached to outcomes and negative emotions . Not trying to be pessimistic here but I think my point is fair. After a certain point most things comes down to luck and not a lot of people like to admit that. Lucky for you you have a healthy amount of self criticism so you will probably just improve. Just don't let bad thoughts get to you The key is to not let things outside of your control to dictate your decision in a neurotic fashion :D
It’s always hard to create something and look back on it with the wisdom you’ve gained in the meantime. Let it teach you but don’t let it discourage you! Congratulations on what you’ve accomplished and hope you keep making awesome stuff
Very wise and I love creating games that won't ever change but I am not always proud of them. I may just be a perfectionist though I should focus on what I did right in my old games as well.
That is legit pretty good! Steam is a ruthless Darwinian place and most games do not make even a hundred dollars. Keep going, it looks like you have what it takes!
I dont think so my game did make that much money, Steam just took a cut of it. I still kind of hate the game cause I felt sick to my stomach looking at it after release and the code is a mess.
Bro, make pixel game but sandbox mmorpg, like Albion, can make house in private island, can cut tree, mining ore, fishing, farming, and doing dungeon solo or group with party, I`ll gladly throw some money on it.
I have not made a multiplayer game before but that sounds like it would be a really fun game. You should make it yourself it is something I would play too.
@@HonestRogueGames I think I have gunfire in epic, but never install it,I actually enjoy roguelikes too, like For The King and full mojo rampage. Really want to try Guild wars 2, but I don`t know if my ping gonna allow me to play it smoothly, dont know if they have sea server. Also do u play terraria?
I created 3 RU-vid accounts and you can use friends accounts too then you max it out everyday for as long as you want. It gives you time to know a bit about who you are sending the key to which is a good thing. I watch a lot of indie gaming youtube cause I enjoy it I can personalize emails that way.
Great video, congrats on releasing so many games, and yeah, the burnout/lack of motivation/feeling ill when looking at your code is a real problem early on... Have you got any tips on how you manage your dev time now to prevent this? (might be a good topic for a future vid)
Nice way to advertise. Ive started on a game i want to make and spend about a week a month on it. Everytime i open it im thinkjng "what the f was i thinking coding like this"
One of the best things about game development is that you CAN start over on your next game. That's not true for most other software development projects. Also, game dev is a journey that stacks on your previous attempts. Each game builds your skills, reputation and hopefully bank account.
glad i found this channel, for some reason a lot of indie dev youtubers dont actually release any games but just act like they know what theyre doing lmao. but you actually released multiple games with a super straight forward marketing strat, very inspiring
Thanks for sharing your experience. Most of the time you only hear about the exceptional success stories, but what brings a lot more value is what people learn along the way. Hope your next games will bring you more success.
I also recently released a game, and I can with pretty much full confidence say that what you did to market yours is everything that makes any sense to do in today's world... I don't know about 2021, but right now nothing but Steam Next Fest and youtubers lead to anything. I put in quite a lot of effort into a lot of different marketing efforts that did nothing, the game sold 40-ish copies on release and got stuck there for a month, before one of the few people I had approached and who really liked the game released his video that went sort of viral. The game is closing in on $12K gross now about a month after the release of the said video... Which honestly is pretty insane to me. It's still not sustainable if you consider the huge amount of time I spent on the game, but assuming it doesn't completely dry out now it can hopefully carry me through my final year of grad school and onto the next game release.
So cool to hear your story and congrats on your success! It may not seem like a lot of marketing but if you spent most of your time making a great game and streamers want to play it can work wonders.
@@HonestRogueGames It's actually funny how a lot of people online always throw around all kinds of advice, when the thing that actually works for indie devs without aa publisher is making a good game and finding people with good reach who like it. Flashy graphics and meme-worthy moments like that one game that added parryable nukes can sometimes do wonders, but that's almost 100% up to luck. Posting on twitter or reddit does nothing, paid advertisements do nothing, posting on your own youtube channel does nothing unless you already have a large audience.
@@penttikoivuniemi2146 Never had any luck with Twitter or Reddit, so I can confirm that one - but RU-vid does have some benefits even with a small sub count - viewers will often provide good feedback on a game or concepts, which can be really useful when working solo. It's certainly kept me motivated! (You also can't so easily get distracted onto other side projects if you feel there's some sort of peer pressure to deliver a video on your big project)
@@Yuki9472_ sir you MAKE A VERY GOOD POINT and today i realised that I am a dumbass or as a English man would say 'sir thanks to you I know that my brain is underdeveloped thank you'
Great video! I'd love to hear about how your free game did. I saw that Traveler's Bastion has 45 reviews, that's really good! How many players did that translate to? Did you feel like marketing a free game was easier/harder than your paid games? I remember reading that valve primarily promotes games based on revenue earned, so I figured free games would be hard to get players for, but Traveler's Bastion seems to have done quite well. Also: Do you wish that you had charged for Traveler's bastion, or are you glad you released it for free?
@@AbhiSundu The game got around 9,000 players and 45,000 installs which is great but I wish that I made a paid version of the game because DLC sales are not that much and I split the money with my brother. It was cool to get lots of players and feedback though so I am happy!
Cool to see some of what goes into publishing a game on the back end! And I feel you on getting burnt out on old/beginning projects - you learn a ton, but it gets so exhausting to return to over time, lol
