it's too hot to work now, so I'm going to try a fun thing: every retweet of this tweet I'll post a #indiedev #gamedev secret based on my 15 years of experience.
Well at least until I run out of things to say, of course 
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6) game engines: haha this would require 50 tweets! But in general, the best game engine is the one that lets you make the game you want to make in the less painful way possible. Every situation is different, for VNs ren'py is a good choice, for arcade/platforms not, etc
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7) marketing: this is also a very wide topic, and depends on situation. Spending money on ads is generally pointless unless you're an already established indie. As newbie, spend that ad money to make a better game or just another game/promotion tool (freeware, online game, etc)
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8) being fulltime indie: people must not mistake working from home with working less. The opposite. I've never worked so much in my life, much more than in an office job. The difference is that I love what I do, and I work for myself. Might not be good for everyone though!
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9) luck: like all things in life, luck is important even in indie games. For example I was lucky in my indie career to start at the right time. But luck alone is not enough, and you should never rely on that too much. Make good stuff and luck will come
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10) press: things changed a lot from when I started. In general nowadays press is basically irrelevant. It's much more important to get social media (youtube in particular) coverage
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11) conventions/events: sadly I don't have any direct experience of them but from what I heard, they're really good, both for networking (finding publishers/funding) and for direct contact with players
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12) cross-platform vs single platform: I think in general is always worth developing a game with cross-platform in mind, whenever possible. A game that sells poorly on desktop could do much better on mobile and vice-versa
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13) outsource: even if you go the "solo indie dev" route, use contractors and outsource. This seems obvious, especially in fields you're not good with (for example art) but even if you're a coder don't be afraid to outsource complex stuff (enemy AI, online features, etc)
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14) keep track of your dev time: I don't do it very detailed, I know devs who tracks the single HOURS. But even days it's enough. Will be useful to understand how profitable your indie game was, once you finish it
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15) previous teet: a thing I like to do for each game is make a list of the expenses and revenues (break down by platform) and then divide by the development months to get a sort of "virtual salary". Sometimes games that were quick to develop give better ROI than bigger ones
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16) based on a reply I got: certainly some genres are much more "streamer friendly". It's unavoidable. Games with less "movement on screen" like visual novels are on disadvantage. But it's still possible to get good youtube coverage, especially if the story / setting is original
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17) word of mouth: it's something that's very hard to measure, but it has a lot of impact. I never spend much on ads, but I clearly noticed when I did a game that led to a lot of word of mouth. It's the most powerful marketing system IMHO!
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18) customers feedback: about this, I'd invite you to read a blog post I made a while ago but that's still valid: https://www.winterwolves.net/blog/2018/01/the-vocal-minority-feature-creep-and-keeping-yourself-sane/ … in short: there's good and bad advice, and your job as developer is to distinguish between them
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19) still based on previous tweet - feature creep! This is also crucial! Finding out which extra features are important and which aren't is your job and can determine the final game success. It's not always easy, and sometimes you need A/B tests
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20) as I posted recently, don't be afraid to scale down or even cancel a project completely. Things change, situation change and sometimes it might be the best thing for you and your business
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21) state your own goals. This is important and different from people to people. Make a big hit? be ready to invest a lot of money and time. Make a smaller game but with good ROI? Don't spend too much time/money and stick to the schedule. You can survive in many different ways!
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22) game with "innovative" gameplay, or "different" from the mass are the most risky but also potentially the most likely to be a hit. Be aware of this, but don't be afraid to try the road less taken
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23) identify your strengths and make good use of them. Insisting in doing something you're not good at will most likely result in a waste of time. Pick which game to make based on them. Good writer? Story based game. Good level design? platformer or similar. etc etc
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24) I think the single most important skill to be successful is perseverance. Other skills are useful but without that one, you won't go too far. I know devs making a living with RPGMaker XP games, while many other better coder/artists failing to finish games
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25) like in life, even during an indie career there will be ups and downs. The most dangerous thing that can happen is to be super successful with your first title and assume that from now on, everything you make will be successful
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26) don't quit your daily job! Nothing new but worth repeating, especially in the current market. Only 7-8 years ago, depending on your job and where you lived, I'd have said "go for it", but now honestly would be foolish
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27) I often see indies asking themselves "why game X is more successful than mine" comparing two very similar games. The reasons can be many, but in general a game is the sum of thousands of smaller, sutble aspects and it's hard to copy/reproduce (luckily).
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28) a game can at the same time be perfect, and not a success, if the target market is too small. You could make the best game possible, but if the target market is very small, the revenues will reflect that
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29) burnout is a bad thing. You're a human being so remember to take breaks to recharge your batteries from time to time whenever you can. Leave the crazy crunch sessions to the AAA companies!
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30) pricing your game right is hard. One could say to check the similar games to decide but not always is a good idea. There might be unexperienced devs pricing their games too high or too low for example
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31) continuing previous point, and I know some players might be annoyed to hear this, but it's better start with a higher price. You can always lower it later. Doing the opposite (starting with low price and raise it) it's possible too but only during beta / development stage
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32) build trust with your fans/followers. The 1000 true fans theory of
@spiderwebsoft . Knowing that once your game is done you have a X amount of people that will very likely buy it, it's a sort of safeguard netShow this thread -
33) for example I made clear that I wouldn't be discounting my games too deeply shortly after release (which is a bad idea in general too!). Fans are more likely to buy it full price after it's released this way, knowing the price won't go down after just a few months!
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34) same thing about bundles. I even wrote in my own site that I won't bundle my games anymore with the only exception of
@humble I had several users telling me that they used to get my games on bundles but after that, they started buying them full price!Show this thread -
35) critics. They are inevitable, and must be taken with the right mindset. And always remember that the worst thing is not getting a lot of critics, the worst is to remain unnoticed, anonymous
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