After announcing Indiedevcasts : Reboot last November and publishing 5 videos, I think it's time to talk about the next steps for Indiedevcasts. In this article, I want to talk about what I have in mind for the future of the community.
First of all I want to thank my very first subscribers to my Youtube channel and my newsletter! I'm really glad you're here! As you know, the goal behind Indiedevcasts is not just to make games but to build a community! It means a lot to me! Thank you 🤜🤛!
More content on the website
The website didn't get much love as I was focused on my game and Youtube. Now that my setup is ready, that I know where I'm going, I can write more blog posts, devlogs, and tutorials here.
My Youtube channel will remain my main focus because that's where people find me. It's kind of my showcase! But I always love to write and develop great modules on the website so you can find more engaging content there. I want to reduce my presence on other social medias like Twitter and bring content back here.
Here is an overview of the next developments for the website:
- Shorts/Story module: I will share gifs and images, a short but effective way to share a slice of life and my game development progress.
- More written material: not only blog posts but also tutorials, notes, devlogs, and why not specific pages for my games.
- RSS feeds: First it encourages people, by the example, to own their content instead of using third-party platforms. Plus I just saw (when writing this post!) a comment on my YouTube channel by
@devzeroasking for RSS feature!
Hello, Julian. I like your blog, but I can't add your blog to my Inoreader Feeds. Will you consider adding RSS features to your blog?
Thank you for the feedback!
- Videos module: Just a quick way to list my latest videos on YouTube. But I'm still thinking about it because YouTube is full of trackers, maybe just the thumbnail? YouTube has also created a GDPR- compliant alternative for embedding videos:
youtube-nocookie.com. I already used it in my first blog post!
I'm also thinking about podcasts, but that will be for another time I think. Once I managed to put everything else in order. I want people to be able to enjoy all the different formats offered by the Internet. Each one has its specificities and allows a different way of conveying information.
Youtube channel
So far I've published 5 videos, some devlogs and some personal thoughts (like motivation for gamedevs). I reached a total of 980 views from the start until today March 30, 2023. Which for me is a pretty good start. I'm used to YouTube and I trust this platform for SEO. It's by far the best way for me to meet new people and build community!
I would like to stream my coding / game design / voxel art sessions so I can interact with you live! As Indiedevcasts is a community-centric project, I think that would be the perfect fit, don't you think?
But before going that route, I want to experiment a little more with only recorded videos and make sure I'm tracking my time correctly. The last few months my life has been a bit hectic (more about it after). For creating more content with the same, or even less, time I need to have a well-established workflow.
Newsletter
I haven't written a newsletter yet! The reason is that I was waiting to have more content and I was still thinking about the frequency. I had previously announced a bi-weekly newsletter but I don't think that's something for me. I prefer to not give any deadline and just send newsletter at times when I think it's useful for people. I don't want to have to write content just because of the deadline without consideration for quality.
I plan to have the following sections:
- A recap of my articles, videos, devlogs, notes, etc... since the last issue.
- Rust-specific (the programming language) gamedev topics. I want to contribute to the Rust gamedev ecosystem by sharing content from my side. Of course, you can also follow gamedev.rs.
- Video games and projects coming from the Indiedevcasts community. You can share your content with me at hello@indiedevcasts.com. Just include a quick paragraph (3/5 lines) describing your subject with all useful links.
I also plan to update the registration form to include opt-in for promotions, just in case I ever reach this point one day with my games. Who knows 👾! If you're wondering where you can subscribe, go to the homepage.
Life update
The last few months have been very busy. Most of my home renovations are complete and should be done by July, which means a home office! I will come back to a quiet place with a nice background for the videos! I can't wait to share the end result with you!
As you know me, I like to work on several projects at the same time. In July, I should have my first MVP for Owl Duty, a micro-SaaS I'm building for software/test engineers and small teams where they can test their APIs and endpoints. If you're building a multiplayer game, this might come in handy (make sure you subscribe to early access). Although I'm not sure I'll release this MVP as originally planned, I'll try to develop most of it because...🥁
... in July I start a new job as SDET (Software Development Engineer in Test)! You can read the reasons on my personal blog. I will finally go back to a full-time job after 2 years of freelancing and 6 months (by July) as an indie hacker! It will give me financial security, more vacations, technical challenges, but above all what I am looking for the most: social interactions. Plus it's a remote job, well paid and the team looks fantastic!
Why I'm sharing this? Because this is the real life of an indie gamedev. You have to manage your time and your income carefully, you are constantly constrained by outside events and you have to keep this in mind if you want to get started. That's what most indies do but don't necessarily talk about. I want you to know you can do it, but yes, it will take a lot of effort - so make time for yourself and your family too! Don't sacrifice it, but agree on some time organization.
Thanks for reading
As always you can leave a comment below. If you have something to share, an idea, a thought, I'd be happy to read and respond! Thanks for reading, live long and prosper 🖖!