How Making Indie Games Changed My Life

What they say for indie developers " You have to be lucky to be successful".

Unity: and how i will destroy it

Man what a video that was great story Bro the games look incredible!!

This showed up on my yt page in synchronicity with me feeling so close to quitting gamedev altogether. So close. I remember watching an interview with David in it sometime ago and back then, it had flipped my perspective on what it takes to be a game developer. Then, life happened. I wanted to quit, I wanted to give up after years and years of what I considered to be 'not enough experience.'

Sure, this has been out for three years. Three years ago, my life was a trainwreck and this video would've lacked the same impact that it had on me today.

Thank you for your channel. You ought to do some live Q&A's sometime soon! 💙💜💟💙💜

why am i crying

Just found your channel.....and I wanna say a few things

1. This right here was more inspirational than most anything ive ever seen. Not gonna lie, Im a 40 yr old father of 3 and this brought tears to my eyes.
2. As someone that just started on UE5 and learning game dev all by myself without a coding background as well, THIS is what I needed to see.

You sir....thank you!

Fuck!after james daniels(creator and developer of PAYBACK 2) you are the second independent developer that I admire the most.... I didn't know your job... But as soon as I discovered that great and sad game (the first tree)... And I'm playing it... It's wonderful and beautiful surroundings, along with history, and the fox is beautiful! (I'm vegan) maybe that's why I find animal games beautiful, the graphics are really very nice.congratulations on your work
And I would like to one day achieve the dream of James Daniels or yours ... And to be able to create and develop a great indie game...
It's great to know that a skater subject was able to create a great game alone.... You know I identify with you because I really like video games and I'm also a skateboarder (I've been a skateboarder since I was 10 years old... And now I'm 30 years old)
And I thought it was great to see a skater guy with the same tastes for video games... Your creation the first tree reminded me of another independent video game called SKATE LINES & SKATE LINES 2 (made by skaters and for skaters) because they have the same unity format (it would be great if you develop a skateboarding game for android)

Hey Hey creators using Free Unreal Engine, We need teaming artists, coders. Math tippers, sound artist, and worthy game ideas creator.lets quit 9-5 daytime jobs and start semiFreelancering. Crreate fun work to our life Games creating !!

EL genius

Thanks for the inspiration =) Thumbs up and subscribed...

This game literally changed my perspective on good games. I played it awhile ago and helped get through a really depressing season in my life. Going through a new season, it looks like I should play your game again. Great job and please continue to follow your dreams 🎉

nice ad

Where can I find PlayMaker?

I really liked the story of your life and becoming a game developer.
I quit my job as a professional soldier for 5 years at the age of 26 in Korean age, and I want to be a game developer at the age of 27, so I am currently preparing to get a job as an unreal engine. I think it's cool that you came up look for you from beginning to end. I also don't know if I can do it at the current age of 29. However, I hope we can move forward by filling up our insufficient knowledge. I envy you. ps. sorry my bad english

Steam revenue of 2500 bucks in the first week: I'll take it! Doesn't sound bad really and more than "OK".

I've made a card game for iPad 5 years ago. Zero revenue and barely any downloads. This is a real possibility anyone making a game should keep in mind.

No matter how lucky he was or not, I respect his dedication.

Wow what an inspirational video!

My true Idol.

Sweet shirt at the end of the video!
Awesome story and gives me hope for my dreams. The coding part of making a game scares me too but maybe in 18 months I'll be wearing my own "World's second okayest developer" shirt.

Man you should have done UE. Their visual scripting is more popular than c++. It is so good at least give it a try

Wow! I started developing a personal project a few months ago and have been working on it in my free time. I had already developed two software projects a few years ago, and I also have a degree in Audiovisual Production from college. I finally decided to combine these two fields of work, and I feel like my story is very similar to yours in many ways. Your video has motivated me a lot. Thank you so much! My name is Igor, and I'm sharing a bit of my story here from Brazil.

Wow this is very inspiring

Thank you so much ♥️

Круто блин

The most beautiful and essential part about The First Tree is its optimism, and the most interesting part about THAT is that it is an optimistic game precisely because it's indie. Thank you for that work :) It's like a revelation

this is motivating man, thanks for sharing.

Very Inspiring

It was a really boring game.Didn't you wonder when you played it yourself?

Is it normal your video made me cry?

🤔👍

The first tree honestly gives me a certain feeling of sadness with joy, played the game 2 years go on PS4 and just come back to rewatch some gameplay, this game falls under the category as everyone's gone to the rapture, great game !

Sana oll.....

Been making my first game for 2 years, a little arcade game for iOS which I am targeting for release in 3 months. I’ve never enjoyed anything as much as I have making this game, it would be a dream to do this full time and earn a living from it.

Why am I crying. 😂 I know why: good story telling. Needed this today!

Cool guy! Bravo

Thanks mate ... u made me cry for a bit. I recently starting to learn und build my own game with unreal. Much Thanks!

inspirational!

Believing "code snobs" on the internet cost me years of experience. Dicks.
Unreal Blueprints are changing my life even if it never becomes a money making avenue. I don't know how long this will work out but right now I have a job that handles the bills while barely hurting me cognitively. I am able to access Unreal documentation and the developer learning tutorials on their site. I started on Christmas day 2022 after ten years of trying to get into game creation and successfully getting a board game published five years ago. Plus, an entire 30 year life of immersion in playing games religiously and, like you reminded me, modding games and playing around in Gmod as a kid.

Take steps against the current.

Cool, I got this game when it was free on epic game store a bit ago, haven't played it yet but it's among the ones I want to

Would've been hilarious if the method to disconnect the iPad was someone changing their apple ID password

Hi David. You have an amazing story! I'm a new indie game developer for fun, and I've been struggling to decide on the exact core elements of my game (mechanics, story, art style, etc). I even made a playable prototype but... well, it sucks right now and I need to go back to the drawing board. So, I thought I'd ask you for some guidance if that's alright. What do you think makes a good game?

Wow

Hey i have a question did you make the models in blender?

thank you for sharing your story David, its so inspiring to the me who is not sure of their immediate path! I'll persevere and make my way through!

"let's start at the beginning" As he dies off his skateboard.

Inspiring and motivating, thanks sir.

I’m 15 years old, and my dream job is being an indie game developer. Now I’m not the greatest at math and no nothing about coding, I’ve done a little 3D modeling in Minecraft and that’s it. This video has given me so much hope that my dream may one day become a reality. Thanks for sharing your story man!