Original subtitles

I know all of this so far feels

Incredibly daunting

So what talk about that feeling for a minute

Just feeling in your cheek sir

Sudden realization that there's just too much to do and there's no way you got enough time or energy

That's called burn out

It's all too common in the indie game industry

But you're going to need to get used to it

Of all the challenges of game Dead faces

The most deadly

Is burnout

In fact I'd argue the vast majority of Game Dev never release a game

Not because it's too expensive or too technical or

Lack of resources

But simply because they can't power through the burnout phase of development

There are dozens of ways you can avoid this

But here are my top three

Buddha Thai

What you think

You become

Bob Proctor said in a different way

If you see it in your mind you hold it in your hand

Shakespeare even wrote

Nothing is unless our thinking makes it so

Like I used to scoff at these types of generalities

Because I started to practice them

Primary reason game devs quit their projects

It's simply because they haven't tasted the fruits

Are there labor

Did not visualize bat fruit

That future

See I'm a huge

Opponent of what Stephen Covey called

Getting with the end in mind

Or what I'm going to call

Visualizing success

That's why I've included it in your game design Bible

What visualization is simply daydreaming with intention

That's about it

Visualization is defined as the formation of a mental image of cell

So this kind of mental exercises actually not traditionally found in a gdd

Trust me

It's crucial

If you give it a shot

What are my hobbies is actually weightlifting as it keeps my mind away from constantly obsessing about my studio

You can imagine I have a bit of an affinity for Arnold Schwarzenegger

The most important thing is that you have a vision

Did you ever Korn

Because without that vision is without the cord again you're drifting around

You're never going to end up anywhere

People don't become successful

Just by accident

You know I mean maybe the guy

Found gold in California started the gold rush but don't count on that

It's the one in the in a lifetime kind of a situation

So what you got to really

Have a specific order to me

To have the vision that I want to be

Mr. universe

Didn't want to be the greatest bodybuilders of all time

That was a great vision and it specifically the look like reg Park in to be up there on that stage and do the

Lifted trophy overhead

To win the championship over and over and over again

So that was a great score

You have to have a cold snap to be that specifically but it has to have

Some cold

This is why I always recommend to people

Sit down take your time instead thinking about

Why do you want to broke out

What is uqora

You did give me as crazy as it is in pain could be I want to impress girls if that's your goal

So be it but it motivates you

Ultimately visualization is taking the time to imagine what your future will look like

No matter how crazy or absurd

This ensures you know exactly what you want

Once that future is solidified in your mind

Very difficult to let go of the journey to get there

Meaning quitting right now actually caused you emotional pain

Visualization should be more than a description of the future

It's an experience of the future

You should be able to see

Smell and taste

That future

You should not include words like I want

Rather

I am

Perhaps a better phrase

I'm not saying you should obsess about your future success

I'm not saying you have the power to create future with positive thinking

I think that's kind of stupid

I'm saying you need to want

You need to eat at experience

Something in your future

To actually muster the energy

Even if that's in your mind

Not at the risk of hurting your family or relationships

Because honestly wanting something too much to do that

But I do know that many game death simply don't want a future enough because

Honestly

You don't even know what it could look like

So here is an example of my visualization for my first game pinstripe

Happy

Going to be Raw

Kelly cringy

What you want in your future will likely be cringy as well

What if it's what you want it will likely be the fuel you need to power through

26 years old

And I just pulled my Steam games sale data

4 a month

Sales

The game has sold over $60,000 worth of copies

My wife has her hand over her mouth

She can't believe it

It's a bright sunny day in the windows are open

I can put in my two weeks notice

At my desk job

I get to work from home now

Make more games

The birds are chirping outside

The subtle wisps of Summer clouds

Floating by

Casting Shadows into the living room

I can explore this cubicle free world now

Whenever I want

I'm not bound with schedule

I could be whoever I want to be

Whenever I want

My family

I called my brother and tell him I game has made enough money

Be able to quit my job

He's really happy for me and honestly

How to feel proud about

I can't stop smiling

I open up my phone and noticed pcgamer has written a glowing article about my game

And even notice my favorite YouTuber has played a couple levels of the game

The future

Is bright

And I know the confusion the pain the struggle

I'm working through my games development

Over the course of the last year

This is exactly what I visualized for Pinstripes launch

It's what powered me through 5 years of solo development

When I was 24 I even wrote out my visualization and I taped it to my office wall

In May my game will make $60,000

Eventually that $60,000

And more was made in a variety of different methods actually couldn't proceed

Publisher advances crowdfunding Humble Bundle

But it was paid none the less

Visualization will not necessarily result in exactly what you

But it's the best shot at getting somewhere close

A word of caution

Obsession and excessive desire

For a very specific future

Is also a very dangerous game

It can lead to depression and severe anxiety

Additionally

Fear of not achieving your obsessions can actually lead you to Forever tweak

And never release your game

I've been there

I don't wish that on anybody

So in addition to visualizing your successful future

I need you to visualize your failed future

Visualizing a failed teacher should also include the aspects of your life

Did you thankful for

This ensures you're going to be okay with launching a flood project which honestly

Going to be

Here is my visualization

Of a failed

I just spent five months

Creating this online course

And I've released it to the world

The course reviews are quite terrible

Has a one-star average

And some even call the course cringy

Smoking mirrors

And even pretentious

Some even say the visualization portion of the course with the part where they Rage Quit

My wife is disappointed

As she had high hopes for the course's success

However

I come to terms with the fact that I can make this course better

With several more months of

Hard-working

I'm still grateful for my family

MicroG wife

And a roof over my head

I print out a Cheesy quotes MI

Save it to my office wall and I get back to work

The Phoenix must burn to emerge

Janet Fitch

Are you okay if your game underperforms

Are you okay if your game doesn't secure your financial freedom

You need to be okay with this

If you're not

I highly suggest you just quit making games right now

I'm dead serious

If you can't accept the idea

That your first or even second game doesn't get you exactly

What your definition of success is

Don't pursue your dreams

Going full-time takes

And you need to fail in the process

In the end a successful game developer is one that both believes in a futuristic cess

But also pick themselves up quickly

After a failure

You must I repeat

You must come to terms with both wanting success

And smiling when you fail

It's the only way you're going to Stacy

And it's the only way that this is going to work

No matter how hard you visualize your success

You never going to release a AAA title

As ND

You been hanging out in the indie game development world

You know the term scope

According to Wikipedia scope is the Define features and functions of a product

Scope involves getting information required to start a project

In the features the product would have that would meet its stakeholders

Successful indie game developers know how to bring down the scope of their game

Significantly

I understand the cost of AAA titles

And they tweaked their current project

Fit inside a tiny budget

And a tiny schedule

Cure our budgets for a few AAA titles to reference

According to Forbes Zelda breath of the Wild

Needed to sell around two million copies

Breakeven

Considering Zelda will sell on average for about

$50 a pop

We can assume that

100 million-dollar budget

I think this is likely overstated but

From my research

I can assume it's likely between 20 million dollars in 100 million dollars

This is certainly not unheard of

Games like Halo 3 which is one of my favorite game series

The cost is estimated to be around

30 million-dollar

So what does this prove

Well it proves that

Unless you just won the lottery

You need to shrink your scope down significantly

Trust me I have this problem with every single game I start

I think a smart practice to put in place as you begin creating your game

Is to consider your billable rate

I know I know you're probably not

Paying yourself just yet

But it will help you understand what the scope of your project should really be

So I'd say your worst at least $30 an hour

Just try to determine what a studio would pay for your current skill level

Let's $30 an hour which comes to $62,000 per year

So let's say you want to make a Halo ass

What do you put in around

10 hours a week

On your indie game

And you finish it in 12 months

52 weeks times 10 hours

520 hours times $30 an hour

There for U game cost around $15,600

Cycle you will spend around $3,000 in Outsourcing a few items like localization quality assurance and marketing

Set the total of $18,600

For your first indie game

Therefore

Your Indie titles budget is

062 %

A Halo 3 budget

Yeah

That's your scope

It's a real reality check isn't it

So how on Earth do you make this work

Well simply ensure games similar to yours

I've already been achieved by other Indies with similar budgets and schedules

The Benchmark for your game should not be AAA

He should be tendies

Prep look at dusk

If you're a huge fan of breath of the Wild

And you want to make something similar to that

Maybe think about David Whaley's the first tree which is a short

Beautiful

Hyper simplistic game

About a fox in a beautiful Alaskan wilderness

It's a balance of getting inspired by AAA

But following Indies