We haven't forgotten you.

One of the most brutally honest gameDevs on YT, welcome back! Post as much or as little as you want, we’re all just happy you’re doing well. Thomas Brush has been interviewing devs lately, maybe you could do one with him and talk about the struggles you’ve gone through that a lot of indie devs can probably relate to

Nice to see you back!

On the human level though - congrats on the marriage and baby!

Thanks for taking the time to post. I could really feel your words. It is nice as someone who watched your videos to get some closure and to know you are doing good.

Just finished watching, I love the honesty and humble energy. I hope you find explosive success one day with a game project of yours. Welcome back too - also congratulations with your family

Dude, I really appreciate your honesty and introspection, especially about the things you are less proud of. I imagine that this was a fairly difficult video to produce. Thank you for having the courage to be yourself and share your experience. I'm so glad you're still here and continuing to learn and grow. If there's one thing I've come to realise over the years, it's how much pressure kills creativity and joy. Not just financial pressure, but pressure from friends and family, and even self-imposed pressure from your own expectations. But money in particular is a dream killer. So I think taking it out of the equation by having a more stable income and simply doing things that make you happy in your spare time is 100% the right way to go. I'm proud of you, brother.

That was brutal truth, as someone who also was full time indie for a while and then switched back to part-time, I feel a lot better now, I'm less focused on game dev but at least my life is not just working on a game and being anxious about whether it's gonna be worth it, now I can take time to work on cool stuff for the game too, I can also pay people to make cool stuff for it, I can go out, spend money on other fun stuff for myself, travel. But for a while I managed to convince myself that making a game was all that mattered, even if I was burning all my savings down, cutting down on all expenses and have insane pressure to make it, I was gonna release my game on Steam. But I think it's one of those mistakes that you don't understand why it's a mistake until you go through it yourself.

As an artist, musician, writer, creator you are describing the very conundrum of passionate work that most appeals to you. There was an ocean of indie releases and continues to be. Quality and popularity are not always associated but we find our passion when we do both congruently, not necessarily within the same project. We are not your community because of your successes, but because we were on an adventure together, and an adventure is worth having. Welcome back brother.

Horse delivery for your game... that's wild! Thanks for the words of wisdom, your work is inspiring ❤

Congrats on wife and kid! It’s not your financial success we adore, but your passion and that is contagious. Your channel is something I remember every several months and it was good to see you upload. Your “finish a dang game by” is what helped me complete my first game after years of prototypes. The game is far from perfect, but it gave me something I could look back on fondly and be proud of. It wasn’t a commercial release but gave me the confidence to start thinking about doing one in the future. Whether you continue uploading or not, I’m eternally grateful for the spark you’ve given me. I backed both Philophobia and Murder Bunnies!

Just remember- you made your own creations. You would have forever felt guilt if you had never taken those shots. You took your chances and you made something. You are a true artist. No one can take that away from you.

"...my now wife..." I haven't finished the video, but man I'm so happy for you! Congratulations for you both \o/

Tim!! Great to see you, buddy. :D Your journey has been challenging, but so inspiring. You're the reason I'm doing what I do, so I wish you all the best. Good luck, brother!

I've been making games since 2013, I've only had failures... I use it as motivation. I know it can be hard, but if its your dream... you have to keep going (if you can afford to - I found ways to make it work).

First off, huge congratulations on the baby! It's such a life-changing adventure that can only be fully understood by actually experiencing it. I don't usually leave comments on videos but I feel like a kindred spirit in a way so I wanted to just say a few things and leave some anecdotes of my own. I watched your videos as I was starting my venture into games development and found them very motivational. I've since completed two games and dipped my toe in Kickstarter for both of them. I totally understand the challenges running a Kickstarter brings (and I didn't even mess around with physical products like you did). Huge props to you for sticking to your guns and delivering on what you promised. It's not easy to stay motivated working on a backer reward when you know that it hasn't been profitable (and that it's eating up your own time and savings). But, at the end of it, you can feel satisfied that you put in the effort, delivered, and hopefully learned something along the way. Kickstarter is a weird beast that, at least for me, has me questioning if it's worth all of the effort. It did buy me a few months of dev time on my second project, which allowed me to get enough done to show a publisher, so for that I'll always be grateful. But once my second project was done and delivered, and I spent the next few months creating a digital player's guide for the game, double checking code and writing out how to complete all of the quests, descriptions of NPCs, locations for all sorts of collectables, drawing art assets to be used in the guide, commissioning out the cover art for it (which likely cost more than the guide earned), etc. it really was a challenge to stay determined. And that's with me keeping everything digital so as to avoid any mailing of rewards and whatnot. All that is to say that I totally understand the temptation for shortcuts but am glad to hear that you stuck to your guns. Well done I say! I also just wanted to say that I also had a kid just a few months before my second game launched, and understand the challenge of doing "full time indie" afterwards. It totally depends on you and your partner's arrangement. I've now got 2.5 days per week of dev, which will certainly slow progress on my third game once all updates are done for my second. I think having a kid is such a magical experience though, and is a natural way to pull you away from your desk and allow you to "touch grass". I'm so glad to hear that you've also started this journey and wish you all the best in both game dev as well as with your family!

I'm glad to hear you're doing alright. I'm currently full time indie (got started thanks in part to your work with GamedevTV). I'm about to release my sixth game while gradually working toward bigger projects and it's definitely ROUGH. I really feel that "doing things you've never done before, with a deadline" part in my bones.

Oh my God. I was thinking about you the other day hoping you were well because I remember watching your videos and reading your newsletters during my PhD wishing I could go indie one day myself. My phd collapsed with my mental health but I recovered and graduated from a games programming degree a year ago. Still no job yet but am much happier than I was and positive for future. Its good to see you again.

I'm glad you're okay, man - excited for what you do next! Thanks for sharing your experience, and for shedding a light on how difficult game dev is sometimes.

I don't think I would have gotten better at game development if it wasn't for you, Tim. I grew up in a community that wasn't game dev-centric, so you were practically my mentor. I too have crashed and burned trying to make a business out of game dev, so I can sympathize. Congratulations on the marriage and baby, and thank you for all that you've done!