00:00the whole process is a bigger Endeavor
00:01than I thought it would be I wasn't
00:03expecting my first few weeks of
00:04self-employment to be so front loaded
00:06with so many business tasks and there's
00:09been a lot of them hey YouTube Welcome
00:16that's my crew okay now welcome to my
00:20office all right today I want to talk
00:23about the business side of indie game
00:24development I just quit my job in order
00:27to make indie games and now I need to
00:29figure out how to run a business because
00:31well basically because that's a strict
00:32requirement if you want to port to
00:34consoles so let's get into it let me
00:36just see if I can get some better audio
00:38quality there we go how's that let me
00:43know if that sounds better
00:47so I want to talk about the business
00:48side of indie game development because
00:49when I quit my job and decided that I
00:53wanted to make video games I thought
00:55well making video games and I thought
00:57that I would launch my current project
00:59tanks but no tanks on Steam and then I
01:02would Port it to consoles that sounded
01:04like a good deal to me
01:05the problem is if you want to port to
01:07consoles you need a business entity let
01:09me back up because the whole process is
01:11a bigger Endeavor than I thought it
01:13would be I had to form an LLC I had to
01:16create a logo I had to create a website
01:18I had to create a business email I had
01:20to open up a business checkings bank
01:22account all of these things have been
01:24taking up my time and taking me away
01:26from the actual programming and art of
01:28the game that I'm trying to make so let
01:30me walk you through the steps that I had
01:31to take since quitting my job so as
01:34you've probably seen my previous video I
01:36quit my job so that I can make my own
01:37video games and I thought that that
01:39would mostly entail well you know
01:40programming art music but I found myself
01:43with a lot of front loaded work that I
01:45had to address and so let me talk
01:48through the specifics of what those were
01:50in particular the first one that was a
01:52big one is that I had to create a formal
01:54business entity I opted to open up an
01:57LLC which stands for limited liability
01:59company it's not that expensive to do
02:01the paperwork's pretty straightforward
02:02but there's more things that come along
02:04with that but let me back up why do I
02:06need to do all of this business stuff I
02:08have to do a lot of these business
02:09Shenanigans because I want to Port my
02:11games to consoles if you want to go on
02:13Steam you can just create a developer
02:15account you can pay the 100 fee and then
02:17you can put your game up there and
02:18everybody's happy but if you want to
02:20Port your game to Xbox PlayStation or
02:23Nintendo switch you have to form a
02:28I wanted to make games for consoles let
02:31me explain the whole process of applying
02:34to console platforms as a developer or a
02:37publisher one you have to have a
02:39business entity to go along with that I
02:41wanted to give myself the best
02:42opportunity to succeed so I also decided
02:46Well I need a legit website so I started
02:49building out a website that represented
02:51this new company that I formed and it
02:53has a little about section I put a bunch
02:56of screenshots in a trailer for the
02:58tanks game that I'm making I even put a
03:00jobs page on there to see if we're
03:02hiring we're not hiring right now
03:04because it's me and I have no money and
03:06I also needed the website because these
03:08console platforms require that you have
03:10a business email I needed to form an LLC
03:13I needed to make a website and I needed
03:16to use the domain of my website for a
03:18business email it was a lot of work to
03:20throw together a website even a simple
03:22one I had to pay extra to get a business
03:25email set up but also I wanted a logo go
03:28to go with my website to make it more
03:29legit because if it's just text then
03:31it's not really that professional
03:33looking so I spent some time trying to
03:35figure out how to make a logo that I
03:36liked I settled on the name set sail
03:38games because I really like the idea of
03:41somebody on the dock with their ship and
03:44port and they get on the boat and then
03:46they're on the Open Seas we'll see if
03:48their ship is seaworthy and that's kind
03:50of how I view myself because I have no
03:52idea if my business ventures are going
03:54to be viable I'm going to see how they
03:56fare in the Open Seas and hopefully I
03:58don't sink but subscribe if you want to
04:01okay so I made a logo I set up a
04:04business email and then I started
04:06actually doing the applications for
04:08these console platforms so I looked into
04:10the processes for Nintendo and
04:13PlayStation and Xbox it's a pretty
04:15involved process for some of these
04:17companies you not only need a business
04:18entity and a business email you also
04:21need a static IP address to log into
04:22their developer portal I have a
04:24background in web development and I've
04:26worked with IP addresses firewalls load
04:29balancers all of these things so I I
04:31feel like I should be familiar with but
04:33I don't know how like how do you even
04:35get a static IP address so I Googled it
04:37and apparently some people can ask your
04:38internet service provider to give you
04:40one what I ended up doing is paying for
04:43a VPN service that comes with a
04:45dedicated static IP so I can log into my
04:48VPN and then use that but anyway it's
04:49like all of this stuff makes it complex
04:52to even apply to get onto consoles and I
04:56haven't even started the actual process
04:57of porting my game to these platforms
05:00all I'm trying to do is get accepted so
05:02that I can start porting my game to
05:04these platforms so broad Strokes I want
05:07my applications to these different
05:09console platforms to have the highest
05:11chance of success to get accepted
05:13because some of them are not very
05:15competitive to get into some of them
05:16like Nintendo are very competitive and
05:19they don't accept a lot of people so I
05:20wanted to boost my chances by looking as
05:22nice and professional as I could I
05:24actually started with making my game
05:27look a little better so I I updated some
05:30of the UI I updated some of the things
05:32that still looked a little white box or
05:36that's a word and then I used new
05:39gameplay footage from my updated version
05:42of the game to put together a better
05:44Gameplay trailer and better screenshots
05:46one of the screenshots I I actually just
05:49made him Photoshop because I didn't want
05:50to put it in the game yet all this to
05:52say it's been a lot of work to dress up
05:55my game and my business because I want
05:58it to look legit so part of that is
05:59making like a pitch deck or a press kit
06:02or I don't really know what to call it
06:04it's kind of a mix between a pitch deck
06:06and a press kit and a game design
06:08document but it kind of outlines what my
06:11game is all about the features that it
06:13has screenshots why it's good for a
06:15particular console platform gabio about
06:17me and my experience and some of the
06:20well-known games that I've worked on and
06:21things like that so I made this really
06:23nice pitch document and I made sure to
06:24include it in my application for these
06:26consoles and all of that has taken me uh
06:33oh I forgot about this other thing okay
06:35one thing that I left out is uh when you
06:37open up an LLC you need a business bank
06:39account because I think you get in
06:41trouble by the IRS or something if you
06:43don't have one I don't know I don't know
06:44how it works but it's good to keep it
06:46separate anyway but I think you need it
06:47I don't know I'm not a lawyer don't I
06:49don't know uh I am not a lawyer don't
06:52take this as advice this is just my
06:54experience I'm probably an idiot don't
06:56do what I do okay uh yes bank account so
06:58I needed to open up a bank account so I
07:00I put on my big boy pants and I marched
07:02down to my local bank branch of a
07:05particular bank that I'm not going to
07:07include in this video I went down to the
07:09bank and I made an appointment and I sat
07:12down with a banker and I said help me to
07:14open up a business bank account they did
07:16I was like great here we go let's get
07:18the ball rolling well I set up my bank
07:19account before I went to my buddy's
07:21wedding in Europe we were out of town
07:22for a few weeks and in that time the
07:24bank sent me my debit card for this new
07:27bank account and I had transferred some
07:28money over into it so that I could start
07:30paying for things that you need like oh
07:33my gosh I didn't even this video is all
07:35over the place but I'm just now
07:36remembering all of the crap that I've
07:38had to do in the last few weeks health
07:41turns out that's something that you need
07:43yep I needed health insurance and so
07:46that was another thing that I had to
07:47figure out oh what are my options how
07:50much does it cost it costs a lot but
07:52luckily they have what they call a
07:55catastrophic health insurance plan so
07:57like if there's a catastrophe I'm
08:00covered if I want to go see a primary
08:02care physician probably not going to do
08:04that there's that okay backing up
08:06again I opened up this bank account I
08:08seated it with some money so that I
08:10could pay for some stuff like the health
08:11insurance and the website and all of
08:13this other expenses that goes along with
08:15starting a game Studio I'm in Europe
08:17with my wife and my buddies and we're
08:19going to this nice wedding I get an
08:21alert on my phone it says oh somebody
08:24tried using your card at an ATM so I was
08:27like oh no someone had gone into my mail
08:29and stolen my debit card tried to take
08:31all my money that was a little sad since
08:33then I bought a mailbox that locks with
08:35a key had to go back down to the bank
08:38branch tell them what happened and then
08:39they canceled that card and then sent me
08:41a new one and I got the locking mailbox
08:43in place the day that the debit card
08:46arrived so totally safe where was I
08:48going with that it's just a lot so what
08:50I found is that the business side of
08:52game development is a whole thing it's a
08:55whole thing it takes a lot of time it
08:57takes a lot of effort I wasn't expecting
08:58my first few weeks of self-employment to
09:00be so front loaded with so many business
09:03tasks and there's been a lot of them
09:05luckily I've been been ripping through
09:07it I've done it all now I think well
09:09knock on wood and I've already sent in
09:12my applications for all three major
09:13consoles switch Xbox and Playstation so
09:16I'm just waiting to hear back on that so
09:17it'd be really great if I could start
09:18porting my game over to those consoles
09:20sorry this video is really rambly and
09:22ranty there's just been a lot going on
09:24and I want to keep these videos up to
09:26date with what my experience has been
09:28and I know that registering for an LLC
09:31and making a website aren't necessarily
09:34the most entertaining things to hear
09:37about so I just wanted to group all of
09:38this into one rambly video so that you
09:41can at least get an idea of what life is
09:43like for me right now one of the things
09:45that came along with starting my
09:47self-employment journey is setting up a
09:49Discord and setting up a patreon account
09:52that's like a whole thing in itself too
09:53with Discord you have to come up with a
09:56little logo icon you need to set up the
09:58individual channels and the rules and
10:00permissions for patreon you need to
10:02figure out what your tier structure is
10:04going to be pricing and per perks and
10:07more Photoshop icon development for
10:10those individual tiers updating with
10:12posts on the patreon account and then I
10:14wanted to link the two so now whoever
10:16signs up for my patreon account gets
10:17access to an exclusive Patron only
10:19server on my Discord channel so yeah
10:21it's been a lot I'm sure that I'm
10:23leaving out something yeah I've been
10:24busy I've actually made a ton of
10:26progress on my game as well I've been
10:28doing a lot of business oriented stuff
10:30but I've also been working on my game
10:31and it's coming along really well I'm
10:33hoping to make more regular uploads that
10:35are more devlog typed Helios where I can
10:38stay up to date with what I'm doing but
10:40I feel like everything is moving so fast
10:41paced that I'm getting so much done that
10:43I felt like I just needed to make this
10:45quick video to give you an update of how
10:47things are looking what my experience
10:49has been just to give you a picture of
10:50what that what that looks like so yeah I
10:54started doing this thing called a not a
10:56to-do list but a two done list basically
10:59whenever I accomplish something I put it
11:01on this list and then I can look back
11:03and be like oh yeah these are all the
11:04things that I did today oh update this
11:06team store that was another thing I had
11:08to update the steam listing with the
11:10trailer and all the new screenshots oh I
11:12created a localization system in my game
11:14so that I can change languages but
11:16that's not that's not business related
11:18I'm going to go now and edit this
11:21footage and it's going to be a pain
11:23because it's been super rambly and I've
11:25been all over the place and usually my
11:27videos have a script and they're more
11:28structured but this is just kind of me
11:31vomiting to the camera about everything
11:34that I've been doing over the last few
11:35weeks so I'm sure I'm forgetting
11:37something I'm learning a lot as I go I'm
11:40not a lawyer don't do what I do I'm
11:41probably an idiot hopefully my game is
11:44coming to consoles hopefully my ship
11:46doesn't sink hopefully I don't go
11:48bankrupt please like And subscribe and
11:51that's it so I'll see you guys in the
