Advertise on podcast: Dev Dream Pod with Blake Gocey

Join the Dev Dream Discord: https://discord.gg/a2hceZhcfJ

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Become a member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo_lYApfWmd5gHDum7WaIiQ/joinVelanit: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4411690/Velanit_The_Forgotten_Cottage/Ana's channel: https://www.youtube.com/@IvasanGamesWhat happens when you lose your job—and decide to bet on your dream of making an indie game?Anna and her husband were both laid off from the same company on the same day. After spending the next year trying to figure out what to do with her life, Anna decided to pursue something she had dreamed about for years: becoming an indie game developer.Now she’s developing Velanit: The Forgotten Cottage, a cozy renovation and mystery game inspired by Stardew Valley and Nancy Drew—and her Kickstarter campaign reached 162% funding, helping her continue working on the game full-time.In this episode of the Dev Dream Podcast, Anna breaks down the reality of going full-time as an indie developer without knowing when your game will make money, how her software engineering background prepared her for solo game development, and what it actually took to run a successful Kickstarter campaign.We also dig into the marketing behind her Kickstarter, including why small streamers with only a handful of live viewers sometimes brought her more backers than creators with thousands, why Threads outperformed YouTube for converting players, and why she believes indie developers should focus on the kind of content they’re actually good at making.If you're making an indie game, considering Kickstarter, trying to market your game, or dreaming about becoming a full-time game developer, this conversation offers a look at both the risks and opportunities of betting on your own game.🎮 Velanit: The Forgotten Cottage is a cozy renovation life sim with mystery and detective puzzle elements set in a 1540s Mediterranean town.

What if the smartest way to make your dream game is to wait 10 years before making it? Yahya Danboos spent more than a decade learning game development before taking on Luminous Knights, his Kingdom Hearts-inspired indie action RPG. Now, after four years of development, he’s also built an audience around the game and grown it to more than 20,000 Steam wishlists, with over 10,000 coming largely through Twitter/X. In this episode of Dev Dream Pod, Yahya breaks down what he learned from taking the long road to his dream game and how indie developers can actually get people to notice what they're building. We talk about why your first game probably shouldn’t be your dream game, how to control scope when making an ambitious RPG, designing satisfying action combat and boss fights, building reusable systems for future games, and deciding which player feedback is actually worth listening to. Then we get deep into indie game marketing. Yahya explains why developers should start marketing from day one, why he believes you should launch your Steam page as early as possible, what happened when his game went viral, how Twitter/X helped generate thousands of Steam wishlists, and why TikTok, YouTube Shorts, devlogs, Reddit, and other platforms each present different opportunities for indie developers. We also talk about Kickstarter and crowdfunding for indie games, why Kickstarter is harder than it was a decade ago, building an audience before launching a campaign, working without a publisher, and Yahya’s ultimate goal of becoming a full-time independent game developer. If you're making an indie game, trying to grow your Steam wishlists, learning how to market your game, building an action RPG, or wondering when you're finally ready to make your dream game, this conversation is packed with lessons from a developer who has spent more than a decade figuring it out. Topics include: indie game development, solo game development, Luminous Knights, Yahya Danboos, Kingdom Hearts, Heartslike games, action RPG development, Unreal Engine, game design, combat design, boss design, Steam wishlists, Steam marketing, indie game marketing, Twitter/X marketing, TikTok, YouTube devlogs, Kickstarter, crowdfunding, community building, player feedback, game scope, and becoming a full-time indie developer. Dev Dream Pod is hosted by Blake Gocey and features conversations with indie game developers about making games, marketing games, Steam, game design, building an audience, and pursuing the dream of becoming a game developer.

Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/a2hceZhcfJ Click and Conquer: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3267900/Click_and_Conquer/ Mining and Dwarves: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3987230/Mining_and_Dwarves/ Can an indie game succeed on Steam without 7,000 wishlists? Stefan, the developer of Click and Conquer and co-developer of Mining and Dwarves, did exactly that. Click and Conquer launched with only around 2,600 Steam wishlists and went on to sell more than 60,000 copies in a little over a year. In this episode of the Dev Dream Podcast, Blake Gocey talks with Stefan about how Click and Conquer succeeded despite its low wishlist count, the 300-hour game development experiment behind the project, and what he learned from making a commercially successful indie game in roughly 300 hours of development time. Stefan explains why he now thinks of Steam wishlists more as validation than a guaranteed predictor of success, how Click and Conquer was priced and marketed, why a 40% launch discount made sense for their situation, and what role YouTube creators and Reddit played in the game's launch. We also discuss the philosophy behind making small indie games quickly. After spending roughly three years developing his first game, Barricade, Stefan changed his approach dramatically for Click and Conquer. His goal became reducing scope, reducing financial risk, making faster decisions, using existing asset packs, and avoiding unnecessary perfectionism. The conversation then turns to Mining and Dwarves, Stefan and Thornity's newest incremental game. Unlike Click and Conquer, Mining and Dwarves has taken much longer to develop. Stefan explains why trying to create something more original without a clear "North Star" dramatically increased development time, why they removed or redesigned numerous mechanics, how NPCs complicated development, and why the game avoids a traditional prestige system. We also discuss the current state of incremental games on Steam. Are incremental games becoming oversaturated? Are YouTubers and content creators getting tired of covering them? What even qualifies as an incremental game anymore? Stefan shares why he believes the genre is becoming more competitive, how incremental mechanics are spreading into genres like tower defense and roguelites, and why strong games can still stand out. Finally, Stefan explains why he plans to return to the 300-hour development model for his next game — and why he may keep that game's idea secret until much closer to release because of concerns about oversaturation, AI-assisted development, and other developers beating promising concepts to market. Topics include: • Click and Conquer sales and Steam launch• Launching with 2,600 Steam wishlists• The 7,000 wishlist rule• The 300-hour game development challenge• Making small indie games• Steam wishlist conversion• Indie game pricing and launch discounts• Marketing indie games on YouTube and Reddit• Reducing scope and development risk• Using asset packs for indie games• Mining and Dwarves development• Designing incremental and idle games• NPC systems and game design• Prestige mechanics in incremental games• Incremental game saturation on Steam• Marketing games to content creators• AI and indie game development• Protecting game ideas• Becoming a full-time indie developer Dev Dream Podcast is a game development podcast hosted by Blake Gocey featuring conversations with indie game developers about making games, launching on Steam, game marketing, commercial indie development, and the journey toward becoming a full-time game developer.

Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/a2hceZhcfJ Sensory Overload: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4403510/Sensory_Overload/ Tim's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@UCuSU9XS2Shqt-nakLMxaNyw

Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/a2hceZhcfJ Eye of the Match: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3799530/Eye_of_the_Match_The_VAR_Game/ Andre Cardoso shares his journey from a weekend prototype to a full-time game developer, revealing strategies for marketing, game design, and balancing polish with release. Discover how early Steam pages, community feedback, and understanding game feel can accelerate your development process.

Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/a2hceZhcfJ Eggcelerate: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1535490/Eggcelerate/In this episode, Tim Beaudet shares his journey as an indie game developer, focusing on his game Accelerate, the challenges of designing racing games, and his insights on market trends, risk management, and pursuing passion in game development.

Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/a2hceZhcfJIn this episode, Lasse shares his journey from professional gaming to indie game development, discussing lessons learned, game design insights, and future ambitions. Discover how perseverance, self-reliance, and strategic planning can lead to success in the indie game industry.Mage and Monsters: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1950440/Mage_and_Monsters/Mage and Monsters 2: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2481640/Mage_and_Monsters_II/

Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/a2hceZhcfJGoblins for Good: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4500800/Goblins_for_Good/

Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/a2hceZhcfJAll Hail The Orb: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4262310/_All_Hail_the_Orb/

Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/a2hceZhcfJSubscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@dev.dream.podcast/subscribeTodays Guest: Cai WangwiltOvertrick: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4101290/Overtrick/

Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/a2hceZhcfJ

Play The Demo Today: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2600970/Flawed_Tactics/

Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/a2hceZhcfJ