The Top Viable Genres In Indie Game Dev 2020

can u do 2024 version?

Thanks for the advice, been working on my next release and bit confused of what the genre is, need to pin it down.

Ok, bye.

But story used to ship with more thant just story. Golden eay had multiplayer. Time splitters had multiplayer and arcade mode. Halo had multiplayer, warcraft had multiplayer. Half life had deathmatch and bunch of modes. The same goes for doom and the other shooters. Every game without something to do after you finished the game was only played once. Crash team racing and the lego racing games was played alot cause they had pvp. And there for was fun after

I want your opinion on something that's been on my mind lately.
Does it seem that games nowadays focus is on monetary gain through visual cosmetics and not addictive core gameplay? Has the main target audience become kids that are 10 with parents with credit cards?

My main point I'm asking is this: Is there an untapped group of gamers who will see the value in building their own experiences? Is there a demand for groups of gamers becoming online developers?

Do you still agree with this you said here ?

Thank you for this beard man. I'm being my first game and this is very helpful!

I disagree. I've watched Neebs gaming play subnautica. They are the reason I purchased it. Raft, same reason. Graveyard keeper, Forager, Oxygen not included, papers please, obra dinn... I mean the list goes on. Mediocre consumable games may not...

EDIT: I did track down Philophobia. TBH I wouldn't want to purchase it from the video. The lighting effects, while novel, are a put off. With such a (reportedly from the reviews) precision platformer, constantly changing the field of vision can be a put off. If you made the field of vision thing more like a fog of war where the terrain is a ghost image or shadowed, that might not have impacted me as much. Also the color palette, for me is off-putting. It didn't GRAB me with anything amazing that I wanted to play. Of course, platformers are not really my deal.

I have to stop you on console sellers. Companies don't make money on consoles they make money on games. The only games I don't want to make are non curated games like rogue lites or minecraft. So rip my wallet lol

Thanks for these videos
! I know absolutely nothing about marketing and presenting my games to consumers..

I'm interested in making something of a rogue-like game on a possible future after I finish college, and I was wondering, are there any websites or discord servers where you can share your progress with other people/developers?

Personally as a viewer of those streamers that play consumable games, the things that really drive me to buy that kind of game are controls and the layout of levels and extras. I want to experience the gameplay for myself in my own way, which is why I often avoid those games with strict, must-do-it-this-way kind of puzzles or level designs. This is why I don't really like games that are so focused so much on the story that it becomes nearly pointless to play the actual game in the first place. Can a great game have great, variable gameplay that allows for unique player experiences AND have a great story? I really think so, it just isn't done too much. The first thing that comes to mind, for me, is The Legend of Zelda BotW (minus the story/ progression part). Yes, it is a AAA exclusive for a console with a lot of money put into its development, but there are certain parts of it that could be adopted in indie titles without such a huge world. For instance, the ability to mess around with the world and have fun just traveling from place to place is a huge part of it. Also, allowing for multiple solutions to problems that occur after a certain amount of time has passed.

Also, the fact that some of these streamers aren't very good at some of these games just gets me more motivated to play them myself, so there's that.

Honestly, there are legitimate reasons why consumable and infinitely-varied games are both great and not-so great. Consumable games can be cleared in a set amount of time, but offer a certifiably wonderful experience every time you play it. Variable games are often the breeding ground for unique experiences all of the time, but aren't always the most immersive, grand-scale epics that keep us hooked, especially after a certain amount of time has passed playing them. The latter definitely has more appeal, which is sad but understandable in the game market, but having consumable experiences are always welcome amongst the gaming community. 

Some genres have not seen much action since the early 2000s, like 3D Platformers, which have just recently seen a slight increase in interest amongst indie and AAA devs. I know that a large chunk of the gaming community really misses this kind of game, but it's probably one of the hardest to do right and it's a lot of work for a consumable product, so I assume devs just say it's more trouble than it's worth and avoid it, which is really sad since these games, when done well, are some of the most memorable gaming experiences ever.

Making a good game is the first step. You need good marketing too, but you actually need both to succeed. If you make a good game and nobody knows about it, you don't sell any, if you make a shitty game and pour all your money in marketing, you still wont be successful, cause your game is bad. It's one or the other, you need both.

Really good points again, Great point about single player games funded by studios are there to be "console sellers" you are 100% right on the consumable aspect too, story games by indies have to be exceptional to pass . really good content man, seen you around for a while but now only just taken the time to listen to your videos properly - great work

So what you’re saying is I should make an MMORPG?

What about this theory: If you design a game with the idea of trying to sell it, it will suck and it won't sell. If you create a game that you would love to play, it will end up being a good game, and you'll find a way to market it. I would create a good game as the first priority, and figure out the best marketing strategy for that game. I could be completely wrong, I realize, but that's what makes sense to me.

It's funny to hear you call them "Consumable" games. I've never heard that term before, but it's perfect. You play it once and you're done. I've been thinking the same way myself. Even if you're going to make a single-player game, you need to build it like it's a multiplayer game - so build it in a way that the player wants to keep coming back for more. It doesn't necessarily have to be fully procedural though. A game like The Long Dark (sandbox mode) is a perfect example. The core gameplay loop is built around seeing how long you can survive and the game itself really never ends even though the levels are static and it's not at all procedural. Hoard mode is a game mode you could do a ton with and still not have to go into the complexities of making everything procedural. I do agree though that procedural will definitely help. Great video Tim!

I think your research has led you into some biases. But I'm interested to see how your games do moving forward if you follow your own advice here.

My main takeaway: My current project needs an endless mode.

So this is what Opie is up to after SoA - cool man.

Another point for the mass scale thing. A lot of the viewers are children that don't have the ability to buy the game themselves.

Thanks Tim, I just found your channel last week and have probably watch a 100 of your videos already.

What is your view on the soul-like genre?

I had what I think is a very good idea about a tactics + deck building kinda game, but I'm scared about what it would cost to hold servers, and I thought you'd have to launch it free with deck lootbox kind of thing or whatnot and all of this scares me so I'm just developing a solo platformer instead...

You are helping me so.much

Should be a kinda regulations (copyright). Live streaming should pay kinda royalties to the original studios before streaming live 🤷🏻‍♂️

I like how he doesnt try to force his opinion and actually keep it as just an opinion and not a fact, gonna watch more of your vids just for that

I think you have a good point about "consumable games", they're difficult to play through more than once within a short time period, take undertale for example. I played through once but decided not to play through again. Instead I watched a let's play. Havent touched the game since.

This is why the Souls series does so well. On the surface these games are consumable. Millions of stream views, but people still purchase because they're known for being hard. There is a "can I beat it" rite of passage mentality.

Some good insight; and something many of us just starting to get serious dont really take into account. Thanks Timmy!

Being rendomly generated is why Minecraft is still popular. People today still haven't run out of ideas for videos.

yes streaming story game can kill the game fast then it should be..
especially when you still building fans base

Fuck that GoW fan impression gave me a good laugh. Thanks Tim

I appreciate the way you speak because I can tell you constantly think of other people's perspectives on what you say, and then feel the need to justify what you've just said by acknowledging their perspective. It almost feels like you're having a conversation with someone who's opposing you, which I really relate to.
Good video!

Love your channel man!

Dude I genuinely look forward to these video everyday. Very encouraging and fascinating material. Thanks for using your time to eduecate us

tbh i'm not really convinced that people who would watch a playthrough actually have any interest in buying/playing the game, I personally avoid videos of games i'm looking forward to and know others do so too.
The term "media blackout" gets thrown around a lot, I think those people are there for the personality playing it rather than the game. At least you have a small chance of converting a few people.

So you think Nevergrind Online (my game) is going to be a huge hit. Got it.

@Game Dev Underground - what are your opinion, what do you see ahead for FPS Games. Are they still very viable?

What most people dont seem to realise is how god damn profitable Idle Clickers are.


I got 4 games on the GP store, 32k downloads, 10k Downloads and 260k downloads. I am averaging 15.000 Players a day with 50.000 impressions. 17 $ average eCPM.
I am still quite shit at making clicker games, I always aim way too big and end up cutting out most off the conten or (like in my most reasent project) over crowd it. Also it seems like people now value Style over gameplay. Look at Idle Miner Tycoon. There are like 4 exact copies, like almost plagarism type copies, that got more than 200k downloads.

Beginning of the video I checked the playback speed...