TikTok and Shorts Are Insane for Indie Devs

This is a Game Dev Podcast with my guest Johan Grönvall who managed to succeed with his debut game Bopl Battle in some part due to his TikTok and YouTube Shorts strategy, in other parts due to his analytical perspective and going above and beyond to serve a strong vision for his game.

Links to my Guest

➤ Play Bopl Battle on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1686940/Bopl_Battle/

➤ Johan's YouTube Shorts: https://www.youtube.com/@johangronvall9473/shorts

0:00 - Intro

0:47 - Why He Quit His Job During The Pandemic

1:55 - The Game That Took 6 Years to Make

4:41 - Starting By Improving on an Unpopular Game

8:22 - The Motivation for Making Games

9:36 - The Big Rewrite: Creating His Own Engine in Unity

12:52 - What is Lockstep Networking?

15:23 - Why Building on Top of Unity Can Be a Mistake

18:48 - Coding Unique Physics That Unity Can't Handle

23:31 - The Only Marketing That Actually Worked

25:50 - How to Create Viral Shorts & TikToks

33:32 - How Many Wishlists Do Viral Videos Generate?

36:53 - A Genius Strategy for YouTube Content?

41:15 - Why the Demo Was Almost a Full Game

45:28 - Turning Bugs Into Beloved Features

51:30 - The Struggle to Start The Next Project

55:52 - The Explore vs. Exploit Dilemma for Creatives

59:14 - Chasing "Success" as a Motivator

1:03:47 - Why Indie Developers Should Be MORE Ambitious

1:10:09 - Succeeding By Doing Everything "Wrong"

1:16:33 - You Don't Have to Be a Super Genius to Succeed

1:19:33 - How to Avoid Delusion as a Developer

1:24:24 - What's More Important: A Fun Game or an Appealing Idea?

My game "Thronefall":

➤ Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/

➤ Discord: https://discord.gg/gVYctptyg8

➤ Nintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Thronefall-2669627.html#Overview

My game "Will You Snail":

➤ Play Will You Snail on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1115050/Will_You_Snail/

➤ Join the Will You Snail Discord: https://discord.gg/G3mRDrK

For the game developers among you:

➤ Join our creative game dev community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Ye6zzfQ