Make the Game with Matt Hackett: Recent Episodes

Valadria

Power up your game development with tips and discussions focusing on solo development, finding your passion, marketing, and inspiration.

From Matt Hackett, co-host of indie game dev podcast Lostcast.

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https://www.valadria.com/playtests-prototypes-permission-games/

Show Notes

  • ๐Ÿ“™ How to Make a Video Game All By Yourself (Gumroad, Itch, signed copies)
  • Pixel Washer
  • How to make a good Steam page
  • Pixel Washer: 3-day devlog
  • Lost Decade Games
  • Steam Hardware & Software Survey
  • Game Tester
  • ๐Ÿ’ฐ The Money Episode
  • The illusion of skill: how to make a better game in less time
  • Production Point
  • Indie Game Sim
  • Making an Indie Game About Indie Game Making
  • How has web dev changed in the last decade?
  • ๐Ÿ’€ How to handle the death of a platform (for example: Twitter)
  • Game Dev Comics by Matt Hackett
  • @richtaur.bsky.social
  • Making Big Indie Games (Gumroad, Itch)
  • Join the Valadria Discord
  • 60 minute video coaching/consulting

Thanks for listening. Now it's time for you to go make the game!

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๐Ÿ”— Show Notes

  • Bacon and Games
  • How to Make a Video Game All By Yourself
  • Steam Dev Cheat Sheet
  • How to Find a Video Game Publisher (Tips for Indie Devs)
  • Armor Games
  • Valadria Discord
  • 10 Godot Features Hidden in Plain Sight ๐Ÿ‘€
  • ๐Ÿšซ No Stacking | Make the Game
  • Heartbeast
  • ๐Ÿ”ฅ Steam Game Promo Art - Photography and Fire
  • Making Big Indie Games
  • Game Maker's Toolkit
  • Cursor Adventure
  • Kenney's Cursor Pixel Pack
  • Golf Story
  • Game Dev Difficulty Tiers

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https://www.valadria.com/the-best-thing-you-ever-made/

0:00 Intro

0:23 What's the best thing you ever made?

3:28 You didn't miss the boat

5:11 Three hours is all you need

9:48 Breaking down hard problems

19:37 Outro

๐Ÿ“™ https://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Video-Game-Yourself/dp/1736576208/

gamedev #creative #podcast

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We're talking about:

  1. Preparing for GDC
  2. Getting a badge (or not)
  3. Lodging around GDC
  4. A tour of Moscone Center
  5. Navigating GDC parties
  6. General tips & advice

๐Ÿ”— Show Notes

  • Game Developers Conference
  • Making a mobile video for quick, in-person demonstration
  • ๐Ÿท๐Ÿซง Add Pixel Washer to your Steam washlist
  • Bay Area Rapid Transit
  • Yerba Buena Gardens
  • gdcparties.com
  • hbomberguy

Thanks for listening! Please subscribe and rate this podcast 5 stars wherever you can. Good luck with your game ๐Ÿ› ๏ธ

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We cover a lot in this episode! Look at all these links:

  • Amazon wishlist (thanks!)
  • ๐Ÿ“™ How to Make a Video Game All By Yourself
  • Game Marketing GOLD with Chris Zukowski
  • Twitter: @richtaur
  • Podcast: Make the Game
  • ๐Ÿ“บ YouTube: @Valadria
  • RedLetterMedia
  • SEA (space videos)
  • Join the Valadria Discord
  • YouTube: @richtaur
  • Steam: Witchmore, Pixel Washer
  • The Clark Tank!
  • Game Maker's Toolkit
  • ๐Ÿ”ฅ The Steam Dev Cheat Sheet
  • Create Your Steam Page
  • No Stacking | Make the Game
  • Killed by Google (Google Graveyard)
  • Fruit Ninja designer Luke Muscat talks going solo dev
  • YouTube: Make the Game (playlist)
  • TikTok: @richtaur
  • Chef Reactions
  • ๐Ÿ“ˆ 4 viral game hooks for game designers
  • Game Dev Comics by Matt Hackett
  • Lostcast (my old podcast)
  • Kenney (public domain assets)
  • r/Games - Indie Sunday (oops I said r/gaming)
  • Game Dev Coaching/Consulting
  • GDC (Game Developers Conference)
  • ๐Ÿฅ“ Bacon and Games
  • Wonderland Engine (I meant downloadable engine; games run in the browser!)
  • Building a Web Game in a Day
  • 7 tips from 7 days of game dev for 7 Day Roguelike
  • You were played out with Remember Me by Joshua Morse

Coming soon: a GDC postmortem, pitch decks, and publishers. Thanks for listening!

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More info: https://www.valadria.com/no-stacking/๐Ÿ”— LINKSBook: https://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Video-Game-Yourself/dp/1736576208/Coaching: https://www.valadria.com/game-dev-coaching-consulting/๐ŸŽฌ TIMELINE0:00 Intro1:05 GDC 20247:27 No Stacking25:21 Goals34:51 Outro๐ŸŽน MUSICElectro Breaks Loop: https://teknoaxe.com/Link_Code_3.php?q=749Phantom Anthem Wubs: https://teknoaxe.com/Link_Code_3.php?q=879Interstellar Winnebago: https://teknoaxe.com/Link_Code_3.php?q=1050Joshua Morse: https://joshuamorse.bandcamp.com/#gamedev #indiedev #podcast #gdc

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Links galore: https://www.valadria.com/seeing-things-steam-next-fest-greg-love/

๐ŸŽฌ TIMELINE

0:00 Intro

4:14 Story Machine

11:50 Seeing Things

19:26 Steam Next Fest

36:30 Live streams

42:20 What's next?

45:59 Release after SNF?

49:39 Multiple demos

55:19 Outro

๐Ÿ“™ SOLO DEV BOOK: https://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Video-Game-Yourself/dp/1736576208/

gamedev #steam #podcast

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Links & more: https://www.valadria.com/the-money-episode/

๐ŸŽฌ Timeline

0:00 Intro

1:36 User Interface (UI)

10:32 Configurable input

21:10 Climbing the wall

26:40 A "game shell"

37:48 The Money Part

43:02 Kickstarter(s)

50:35 Coaching

53:06 Outro

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Article: https://www.valadria.com/my-2-year-indie-postmortem/

๐ŸŽน Music

https://teknoaxe.com/Link_Code_3.php?q=879

https://stevenmelin.itch.io/lo-fi-atmospheres-music-pack

https://teknoaxe.com/Link_Code_3.php?q=1601

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Show Notes

  1. The Early Days of id Software
  2. How to Make a Video Game All By Yourself
  3. ๐Ÿท Pixel Washer (Steam page)
  4. Silver, a font for games by Poppy Works
  5. Jeremy Jackson
  6. Performative Game Development: The Design and Marketing of Nuclear Throne

Music

  1. Frozen Karma
  2. SuloSounds
  3. Phantom Anthem Wubs
  4. I Am a Monster Sans Vocals

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Pixel Washer: http://www.pixelwasher.com/0:00 Intro0:17 What's Pixel Washer?1:44 Why's Pixel Washer?5:22 What's cool about it?7:11 State of the game8:57 Outro#gamedev #devlog #solodev

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https://www.valadria.com/make-the-game-geoff-blair/

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4 main topics in this fun chat with Heart Beast (Ben Anderson):

๐Ÿ“™ Ben's solo developer book Production Point

๐Ÿ›  When to pivot projects?

๐Ÿš’ GameMaker VS Godot

๐ŸŽฎ Ben's new game WASarD

BOOKS!

๐Ÿ›  Ben's book Production Point: https://courses.heartgamedev.com/p/my-downloadable-87616

๐Ÿ“™ Matt's book How to Make a Video Game All By Yourself: https://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Video-Game-Yourself/dp/1736576208/

GAMES!

๐Ÿช„ Ben's game WASarD: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1151870/WASarD/

๐Ÿท Matt's game Pixel Washer: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2572060/Pixel_Washer/

๐ŸŽฌ TIMELINE

0:00 Intro

1:27 Main Project Syndrome

5:01 Production Point

15:17 WASarD

27:32 Do people like it?

33:20 When to quit

35:49 GameMaker VS Godot

46:28 Outro

More info: https://www.valadria.com/heartbeast-main-project-syndrome/

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Unity, owning your tools, JS GameDev Summit, Pixel Washer, & Game music: https://valadria.com/the-unity-debacle/

๐Ÿ“ Show Notes

  • Unity Leadership
  • Unity and ironSourceโ€™s $4.4B merger is now complete
  • Game developers are furious about Unity's new installation-based fees
  • Devs discovered that Unity removed GitHub repo to track license changes and updated its TOS be retroactive
  • Witchmore
  • JS GameDev Summit
  • Heart Gamedev Podcast episode 32: Teaser Trailer YouTube Comments and Wishlist Numbers
  • The Diary of a Modern PR Campaign: How to Plan Your Game's Promotion
  • Future Friends Games Podcast
  • ๐Ÿก๐Ÿซง๐Ÿ”ซ๐Ÿท Pixel Washer (Play! Washlist!)
  • Joshua Morse music
  • Diabolical Experiments
  • I Am a Monster (Sans Vocals)
  • SuluSounds
  • Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia 'Sparkle' [Emerald Mist] by Joshua Morse

๐ŸŽง Music

  • Diabolical Experiments
  • I Am a Monster (Sans Vocals)
  • SuluSounds
  • Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia 'Sparkle' [Emerald Mist] by Joshua Morse

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Time for another game dev podcast! ๐ŸŽ™

You've been so kind & encouraging about last week's episode that I just had to keep talking. Let's do this. We're discussing:

  1. On loving & hating marketing
  2. Ignore the "Great Attractors"
  3. Failing to follow your own advice
  4. Your tools serving you VS getting in your way
  5. Thoughts on crowd-funding

๐ŸŽธ Music

  • Simple but Effective
  • Phantom Anthem Wubs
  • Wanderer
  • Back at it
  • I'm Just Going to Call it Dubstep

๐Ÿซง Play the Pixel Washer demo!

Notice me burying the lead much? Yeah, I've got a new playable demo for you!

Have a relaxing time power washing beautiful pixels in Pixel Washer!

That's the pitch! It's just gorgeous 2D pixels that you need to clean. That's it. Some of you may remember Weekend game jam: Pixel Washer โ€“ yup, this is further development of that concept!

It's early times. I'll probably completely redo how the power washing itself works, which is all the game is about, but do play the demo & let me know what you think in the Valadria Discord.


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It's time for a podcast-style podcast (if that makes sense). A long conversation that rambles & goes off on tangents, but delivers an honest deep dive into my process & what I'm working on.

Topics

  1. ๐Ÿ›  What I'm working on
  2. ๐ŸŽฎ Refocusing on game development
  3. ๐Ÿงช Concept development
  4. ๐Ÿ˜€ I hate marketing (jk, let me explain)
  5. ๐Ÿช‘ Being authentic online
  6. ๐Ÿ’ฐ (Bonus: Making Big Indie Games)

Music

  • Diabolical Experiments
  • Joshua Morse's Waveform
  • Killer Factory Retro and Evening Dogs by SuloSounds

More info

https://www.valadria.com/getting-back-to-my-roots/


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https://www.valadria.com/game-trailers-with-derek-lieu/

Does anybody read the text that I type into this box? I have no idea.

Anyway here's a timecode dump from my notes, maybe this is helpful:

  • 0:16: getting into game trailers
  • 4:40: overflow work
  • 5:15: charging not enough, less agency / more indie
  • 5:15: undercharging
  • 8:00: make fan trailers
  • 11:00: where to post trailers / content
  • 13:08: give advice about what you're doing

  • 16:00: trailer categories

  • 17:50 types of game trailers
  • 20:42: trailer lengths
  • 21:40: What gameplay to show?
  • 24:56: Movie trailers

  • 28:28: The magic of good editing

  • 29:50: Kuleshov effect
  • 31:03: Advanced game trailer problems
  • 32:35: End slates
  • 33:01: Logo Soup
  • 33:33: Logos and branding
  • 37:29: Spelunky 2
  • 45:35: Game trailer courses

  • 48:32: Anything identifiable from your game

  • 49:56: Ice Cream Analogy
  • 50:59: Outro

Thanks for listening! Support this show by sharing, rating/writing review(s), and buying my book. I appreciate it.

-Matt


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๐Ÿฆ‡ Add Witchmore to your Steam witchlist: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2289580/Witchmore/ ๐Ÿ“™ Read more: https://www.valadria.com/witchmore-devlog-intro/

TIMELINE 0:00 Intro 1:15 Why Witchmore? 2:47 Eggspansion 5:37 Scratch your itches 7:58 What's cool about it? 10:59 What's next?

MUSIC * Electro Breaks Loop Remastered: https://teknoaxe.com/Link_Code_3.php?q=749&genre=Electro * Phantom Anthem Wubs: https://teknoaxe.com/Link_Code_3.php?q=879&genre=Dubstep


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Learn Steam game marketing from expert Chris Zukowski!Find resources & more: https://www.valadria.com/steam-game-marketing-with-chris-zukowski/

0:00 Intro0:15 Critical Steam dev marketing advice1:51 Reliable Steam dev strategies3:38 Translating your page6:28 Interest-first dev9:48 Outro

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Join me on today's Make the Game as we talk going solo with Luke Muscat, designer of mobile hits Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride.

Luke's fascinating journey through games includes going from leadership roles to learning programming & art. Particularly fascinating to me is Luke's usage of YouTube to prove prototypes before committing fully to a concept.

Join 10,000+ subscribers on Luke's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@lukemuscat

More episode links and resources right here: https://www.valadria.com/solo-dev-luke-muscat/

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Come hang out with me and ย @ThomasStewartDevย  on today's Make the Game! We're talking about indie game dev, video creation, and how to balance these complicated things.0:00 Intro1:16 Game dev book4:08 Monetized GOT5:36 Consumer VS creator7:24 YouTube tips8:44 Delivering on promises11:15 Game dev tiers14:21 Work/life balance18:50 Tanks, but No Tanks21:57 Outrohttps://www.valadria.com/indie-game-dev-with-thomas-stewart/

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How do you make a good Steam page?

0:00 Intro

0:20 Summary

0:28 Assets

2:46 Short description

4:00 Long description

5:04 Screenshots

5:34 Trailer

6:57 Resources

7:17 Outro

Notes, links, & attributions:

https://www.valadria.com/how-to-make-a-good-steam-page/

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How making pancakes can make you a better game developer:

0:00 Intro

0:25 Topics

1:20 Pancakes as creative works

1:49 Why pancakes?

2:32 How I make pancakes

3:43 Iteration is key

4:31 A tight feedback loop

6:29 Making a pancake machine

7:07 Ready to automate?

8:45 Handmade VS procedural

11:08 Outroย 

https://www.valadria.com/pancakes-equal-excellence/

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https://www.valadria.com/from-monster-horde-to-charcuterie-board/

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https://www.valadria.com/ux-design-with-coraly-rosario/

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https://www.valadria.com/game-launch-feast/

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https://www.valadria.com/witchmore-direction-discussion/

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https://www.valadria.com/feel-good-about-your-unfinished-games/

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https://www.valadria.com/appeal-of-vampire-survivors/


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https://www.valadria.com/death-of-a-platform/


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https://www.valadria.com/scratch-your-itch-with-chuyplays/


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https://www.valadria.com/making-airships-with-david/


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https://www.valadria.com/my-next-game-is-called-witchmore/


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https://www.valadria.com/making-your-first-game-with-chuyplays/


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https://www.valadria.com/making-midautumn-with-sherveen/


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Let's make big games!

I just launched an advanced guide for indie game developers who are ready for the next level.

Let's talk all about it.

Show notes

  • How to Make a Video Game All By Yourself
  • Making Big Indie Games
  • Super Hackett Bros

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Thanks for listening! Show notes at valadria.com


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https://www.valadria.com/make-the-game-with-jon-hackett


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How development limitations like palettes and strict architecture help you make decisions faster!

Show notes:

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaUdstkv1RE

  • https://store.steampowered.com/app/1258220/Song_of_Iron/

  • https://discord.gg/9mmt67HaTA

  • https://junkfort.itch.io/plane-puncher

  • http://www.indiegamesim.com/

  • https://joshuamorse.bandcamp.com/

  • https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs...

  • ๐ŸฆŠ https://freepd.com/


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Want to level up your creative self? These 5 things helped me become an artist and make video games by myself. (Technically there's 6 but 1 of them is a secret sssshhh let's be silent like the snake.)

READ: https://www.valadria.com/5-ways-to-take-your-creative-side-seriously-right-now/

LISTEN: https://www.valadria.com/make-the-game/

BOOK: https://www.valadria.com/how-to-make-a-video-game-all-by-yourself/

FREE CODE + ASSETS: https://www.valadria.com/game-dev-medkit/


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Let's talk about a saturation analysis, which is a tool you can use on your game design to see what all it can do.

Examining the game of chess, what all is it capable of? There's an 8x8 board, pieces can be moved, removed, or modified, but what else? How would you get ideas if you were working on chess but with a new twist? This tool shines a light on where your design could go.

See also Into the Breach by Subset Games, which is a brilliant and innovative design.

You were played out by Monster Stomp from TeknoAXE: http://teknoaxe.com/Link_Code_3.php?q=1784


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Welcome to the first episode of Make the Game! We're going to make video games together and it's gonna be a blast.

I'm Matt Hackett and for this first episode let's start with a ton of great places online to gear up your games industry knowledge. Heard of Gamedeveloper.com, Game Maker's Toolkit, Sequelitis? If not you are in for a TREAT and if so let's talk about how great they are and give you even more resources to explore. A fountain of knowledge awaits you.

Show Notes

  • More about me
  • Past: LDG and Lostcast
  • gamedeveloper.com - My articles there
  • Game Maker's Toolkit
  • Lost Garden
  • Red Blob Games
  • The 7 game dev resources that are SO GOOD they will change how you SPEAK

Get free game dev assets and source code by signing up for the Valadria newsletter. To make a game by yourself, read my book How to Make a Video Game All By Yourself.


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