This Young Solo Dev Built a Steam Hit in 4 Months

0:00 Intro 1:09 Path Into Game Dev 4:49 Maki’s Adventure Postmortem 9:15 Building a Level Editor 15:40 From Rogue Jungle to Paddle Paddle 17:59 3-Hour Prototype and Viral Validation 20:21 Two-Week Demo, Streamers, and Early Momentum 21:39 Publisher Deal, IGN Feature, and Wishlist Velocity 24:00 Shipping in 4 Months; Reviews and Netcode 25:21 Graphics vs Gameplay: Stylized Jank 26:54 Capsule Art and Voice-Over Trailer That Converted 28:46 Playtesting and Bug-Free Launch 30:58 Handling Hate and Prioritizing Fun 33:13 Networking: Photon Fusion, Shared Boat, Prediction 39:24 Passion vs Business: Making Games for a Living 41:57 Balancing Heart and Market 48:45 Future Plans: Small Games and a 3D Sequel 49:50 Sales Momentum, Regions, and a Major Update 51:44 Working With Assemble and Filtering Spam 54:20 Pitching Devolver, Publisher vs Self-Funding 56:23 Investing in Audio: Composer Plans, Budget, and Impact 59:28 Influences: Pokémon OST; Learning From Others 1:07:24 Can You Repeat a Hit? 1:11:14 Luck: How Much It Matters and How to Reduce It 1:18:43 Early Flops, Iteration, Strong Steam Pages, and Being First 1:22:25 Launch Day: Hitting Publish, Friday Strategy, and Early Sales 1:27:03 When the Right Game Markets Itself + Next Steps 1:31:20 Rogue Jungle