
Make the Game with Matt Hackett
By Valadria

Make the Game with Matt HackettApr 25, 2023

Gamedev Bosses & Coping with Solodev

Pixel Washer devlog: introduction
Pixel Washer: http://www.pixelwasher.com/ 0:00 Intro 0:17 What's Pixel Washer? 1:44 Why's Pixel Washer? 5:22 What's cool about it? 7:11 State of the game 8:57 Outro #gamedev #devlog #solodev

Make the Game with Geoff Blair
https://www.valadria.com/make-the-game-geoff-blair/

Main Project Syndrome with Ben Anderson (HeartBeast)
4 main topics in this fun chat with Heart Beast (Ben Anderson):
📙 Ben's solo developer book Production Point
🛠 When to pivot projects?
🚒 GameMaker VS Godot
🎮 Ben's new game WASarD
BOOKS!
🛠 Ben's book Production Point: https://courses.heartgamedev.com/p/my-downloadable-87616
📙 Matt's book How to Make a Video Game All By Yourself: https://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Video-Game-Yourself/dp/1736576208/
GAMES!
🪄 Ben's game WASarD: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1151870/WASarD/
🐷 Matt's game Pixel Washer: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2572060/Pixel_Washer/
🎬 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/

The Unity Debacle
Unity, owning your tools, JS GameDev Summit, Pixel Washer, & Game music: https://valadria.com/the-unity-debacle/
📝 Show Notes
- Unity Leadership
- Unity and ironSource’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
- 🏡🫧🔫🐷 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
🎧 Music

Ignore the Great Attractors
Time for another game dev podcast! 🎙
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:
- On loving & hating marketing
- Ignore the "Great Attractors"
- Failing to follow your own advice
- Your tools serving you VS getting in your way
- Thoughts on crowd-funding
🎸 Music
🫧 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 – 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.

Getting back to my roots
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
- 🛠 What I'm working on
- 🎮 Refocusing on game development
- 🧪 Concept development
- 😀 I hate marketing (jk, let me explain)
- 🪑 Being authentic online
- 💰 (Bonus: Making Big Indie Games)
Music
- Diabolical Experiments
- Joshua Morse's Waveform
- Killer Factory Retro and Evening Dogs by SuloSounds
More info

Making great game trailers with Derek Lieu
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

Witchmore devlog: Introduction
🦇 Add Witchmore to your Steam witchlist: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2289580/Witchmore/ 📙 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

Steam Game Marketing GOLD with Chris Zukowski
Learn Steam game marketing from expert Chris Zukowski! Find resources & more: https://www.valadria.com/steam-game-marketing-with-chris-zukowski/
0:00 Intro 0:15 Critical Steam dev marketing advice 1:51 Reliable Steam dev strategies 3:38 Translating your page 6:28 Interest-first dev 9:48 Outro

Fruit Ninja designer Luke Muscat talks going solo dev
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/

Pro tips from 2 indie game devs with Thomas Stewart
Come hang out with me and @ThomasStewartDev on today's Make the Game! We're talking about indie game dev, video creation, and how to balance these complicated things. 0:00 Intro 1:16 Game dev book 4:08 Monetized GOT 5:36 Consumer VS creator 7:24 YouTube tips 8:44 Delivering on promises 11:15 Game dev tiers 14:21 Work/life balance 18:50 Tanks, but No Tanks 21:57 Outro https://www.valadria.com/indie-game-dev-with-thomas-stewart/

How to make a good Steam page
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:

Pancakes & the secret to making good things
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 Outro
https://www.valadria.com/pancakes-equal-excellence/

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

Designing a great player experience with Coraly Rosario
https://www.valadria.com/ux-design-with-coraly-rosario/

Game launch success: treat your release like hosting a holiday feast
https://www.valadria.com/game-launch-feast/

Witchmore direction discussion: let's go to (bullet) hell
https://www.valadria.com/witchmore-direction-discussion/

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

The appeal of making an auto shoot 'em up game like Vampire Survivors
https://www.valadria.com/appeal-of-vampire-survivors/

How to handle the DEATH of a platform?
https://www.valadria.com/death-of-a-platform/

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

Making Airships: Conquer the Skies with David Stark
https://www.valadria.com/making-airships-with-david/

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

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

Making Midautumn with Sherveen Uduwana
https://www.valadria.com/making-midautumn-with-sherveen/

All about Making Big Indie Games
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

From Quake mods to game director with Jon Hackett (part 2)
Thanks for listening! Show notes at valadria.com

From Quake mods to game director with Jon Hackett
https://www.valadria.com/make-the-game-with-jon-hackett

Make the Game: How limitations set you free
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/

Make the Game: 5 ways to take your creative side seriously right now
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/

Make the Game: Unlock your game's hidden potential with a saturation analysis
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

Make the Game: Building a career's worth of games industry knowledge
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.