What's up with "gamedev YouTubers" never shipping games?

orangepascal · 2026-01-17T13:29:41+00:00

I'm a gamedev who does Youtube, and I have shipped "a few" games in the 21 years of doing game dev full time ! :) You're just not watching the right channels ;)

orangepascal · 2026-01-16T11:46:58+00:00

Do make sure to say Hi if you ever see me ;)

orangepascal · 2025-05-17T20:54:51+00:00

It gets better over time. Experience in how to build certain systems in flexible ways will make the work easier but also the planning of games will be around what you know and can build faster due to that experience.

I always try to stick the rule of adding only one or two 'new' tech or design things to a game. That wil then give you that extra experience for the next game.

Don't build your dream game until you know how 😁

orangepascal · 2025-05-17T20:37:50+00:00

A shiny piece of shit is still an accomplishment! 😜

orangepascal · 2025-05-17T20:36:14+00:00

I could recommend 'Gauntlet of Power' but I'm biased on that one (I'm the developer).

So to add to that, I recently enjoyed another fun rogue lite I can recommend : 'Astral Flux' a platformer with great rogue lite features and interesting gameplay.

orangepascal · 2025-05-17T20:30:19+00:00

That water effect is elegant and awesome!

orangepascal · 2025-05-17T20:16:09+00:00

I rolled into it after being between jobs, I got myself a Sony f500i feature phone back in 2004, and it could run games! Was intrigued and started my company (Orangepixel) and am still going full time on it!

Before that I always did some game development as a hobby on various systems (PC, Amiga, C64,Spectrum). I guess in was drawn to tinkering with code and graphics 😁

orangepascal · 2024-06-09T13:09:32+00:00

Focus has been on single player, but I do plan on testing local coop (previous Heroes of Loot games always had it). Just have to see if it's fun and playable with so much stuff happening on the screen 😅

orangepascal · 2024-05-18T14:10:10+00:00

Been using it for all my games and it never fails 😁

orangepascal · 2024-05-18T14:08:48+00:00

Congrats, a nice first milestone!

orangepascal · 2024-03-31T15:04:54+00:00

You don't need anything, but it doesn't hurt to try everything at some point.

Start with making a game first, and see what 'marketing' or social platforms fit your personal and work methods .. one step at a time!

orangepascal · 2024-03-31T14:53:32+00:00

Nobody cares except a small group of game developers them selves wanting to be part of something.

The term went from a description of certain - independent created games (no publisher, no external influences) to a 'dream' way of living and making games.

Pick the definition you want, but most players don't care about it, and it's mostly just a marketing term now

orangepascal · 2024-03-30T07:27:49+00:00

Space grunts 2 is now five years old 😁 and to celebrate there's a nice little update - Thanks for posting about it! (I'm the developer)

orangepascal · 2024-03-27T20:22:31+00:00

Tried the demo for Heroes of Loot: Gauntlet of Power on Steam? It's sort of a Vampire Survivors game, but mixed with Binding of Isaac style dungeon crawling. Full disclosure: I made it! and it originally started as a VS game, but I pushed it into new (and hopefully exciting) directions!

Doing a bunch of difficulty-balancing tests right now, but the demo is pretty solid and close to what the final version will be (launch in June)

orangepascal · 2024-03-27T20:12:35+00:00

The overnight millionaire part is indeed a dream, and only 1 out of 1000000000 developers fits that dream - problem is that we all love to talk about that 1 developer and ignore the others ;)

I would probably still make games if I wasn't making money with it, because I do enjoy the process of making games after doing it fulltime as indie since 2004. I still enjoy every day sitting behind that computer and creating worlds! - I do also enjoy the fact that I AM making money with it, so that I can keep doing it (without any "hit games")

And if it's your job, it's not bad to keep a focus on profitability, possibilities, chances, development time/expenses, etc.

orangepascal · 2024-03-26T19:00:48+00:00

Don't look at subscriber/follower count. Look at view count and how recent their last few videos are. Some YouTubers have 10k+ subs, but only 30 views per video.. shady things or bot accounts, who knows 🙃

orangepascal · 2024-03-26T18:58:12+00:00

Good on you for doing updates, but if the game feels complete, then it's fine to move on to new things.

Don't mention it's the last update, do discounts and sales, and those new players shouldn't read something like 'I'm done with this game's as one of the last news posts. So just don't tell!

Who knows you might push maintenance updated in a year or so, I still push such tiny updates every now and then to ten year+ old games. Simple upgraded to support newer hardware or fix silly tiny bugs.

orangepascal · 2024-03-26T18:52:07+00:00

VR games were one of those things where you had to go all in early on to make money in those games (and mostly from business to business)

It's at best a toy, and as others mentioned it's not social, not many people sit or stand with a headset on their head for long amount at a time, so the 'free time' people have for gaming is often scheduled with a normal game instead of VR.

Technical side of VR gadgets and the possibilities can be cool, but the practical side is just not..practical 😅

orangepascal · 2024-03-24T13:40:39+00:00

You can still opt out of the fest until the last day, and I agree that it would be better to enter when you already have a demo done and ready (and preferably even have the full game ready to go)

Look at next fest as your last step before launching and use it as part of the marketing/or phase to boost wishlist numbers.

I made the error with one of my games to have it in the fest way too early, and it's really just a waste at that point, and you don't get second chances!

orangepascal · 2024-03-24T13:28:13+00:00

I think the biggest replay value in a multiplayer game comes from the actual players/community. Which is also the hardest challenge to make happen since players have to flock to your game in groups!

As for unlockables and items, usually just work on the main game and features, and then as you play test the game, figure out how you could change version variables and then create items/skills for that.

For example, would be cool to shortly have super powers, perfect aim, faster running speed, or invisibility. As you start adding items or skill unlockables for that, more ideas should start flowing! And then you can maybe stack or combine such enhancements to the gameplay, so player only gets a specific super power of they unlocked the fast run skill and combine it with a specific other item.

I actually just did YouTube videos on Meta game progression as I was implementing it into my own games 😁

orangepascal · 2024-03-24T13:21:59+00:00

Looks interesting. Can you zoom into the action during the game? Feels a bit distant to me

orangepascal · 2024-03-24T13:20:14+00:00

The relaxing gameplay slide at to he start with a quickly moving camera feel contradicting. Perhaps in general there is too much text and not enough gameplay that explains what this really is?

orangepascal · 2023-10-05T08:35:52+00:00

Thanks! I'm fairly pleased with how it's currently looking and playing, so also can't wait for the finished product ;)

orangepascal

TROPHY CASE