Dev Dream Pod with Blake Gocey

This Game Determines His Future

Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/a2hceZhcfJ

Thomas Stewart

Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/aD5tJ38XU Chapters: 00:00 Intro & Guest Welcome 00:36 Childhood & Creativity 03:17 Childhood Video Games 05:13 Discovering Game Development 07:56 Quarter Life Crisis 09:32 Current Game Dev Dream 12:36 Living the Dream? 14:58 Breaking Into Industry 17:14 Console Porting Strategy 20:24 Why Consoles? 24:50 Bridges and Docks 27:03 Console vs Steam Sales 28:50 Console Advice 31:32 Just Keep Fishing Team 33:51 Working With Friends 36:08 Building Dev Network 40:14 What Makes JKF Special 44:00 Jank as a Feature 47:21 Game Ideation Process 50:52 When to Pivot Projects 55:13 Expectations for JKF 57:39 Is YouTube Worth It? 1:02:24 YouTube's Real Value 1:03:34 Being a Game Dev Dad 1:05:38 How Fatherhood Changed Him 1:07:49 Kids & Video Games 1:10:15 Bad Game Dev Advice 1:13:04 Key Lesson: Playtesting

Don't Let Your Game Go Viral

Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/qG3EA8fuE Rollin Ravioli: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4287100/Rollin_Ravioli/ Chapters: 00:00 Intro & Welcome 03:52 From Streamer to Gamedev 07:46 Remote Partnership Story 11:58 Squawky Origin Story 15:36 Squawky Development Drama 20:20 DMCA Launch Disaster 26:48 Lessons From Failure 32:08 Roland Ravioli Reveal 36:55 Game Design Philosophy 43:55 Unreal Engine Workflow 49:09 Viral Trailer Story 56:05 Virality & Marketing 1:03:58 Wishlist Results 1:06:35 Demo Feedback & Updates 1:10:47 Indie Dev Reality 1:16:58 Gamedev Advice Takeaways 1:18:45 Odai's Big Dream

Why You Shouldn’t Mix 3 Genres (He Tried)

Join The Discord: https://discord.gg/qG3EA8fuEWilliam of Studio Kunic returns to the Dev Dream Pod to discuss his wild gamedev journey — building a custom raycasting engine in Godot for Lair Keeper, pivoting from Dungeon Keeper ideas to a Slay the Spire-style dungeon crawler, and his new addictive arcade-inspired game.From game jam chaos to protecting ideas in the AI era, this is packed with honest solo dev insights.⏱️ Chapters:00:00 - Welcome Back William01:27 - Lair Keeper Origins03:08 - Why He Pivoted07:35 - Lair Keeper Draw & Brawl10:16 - Custom Render Engine13:29 - Raycasting in Godot19:48 - Playdate Influence20:04 - Engine Time Investment23:03 - When to Build Engines26:04 - Lair Keeper Future34:20 - New Pop the Lock Game37:46 - Balatro Inspired Mechanics41:36 - Design Challenges44:42 - Board Game Inspiration50:24 - YouTube Strategy Struggles57:56 - Dev Dream & GoalsIf you're into Godot, roguelikes, game jams, custom engines, or solo game development, this episode is gold.---#Godot #IndieDev #GameJam #LairKeeper #SoloDev #CustomEngine #Roguelike #GameDev

The Design Conflict That Almost Broke His Game

Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/qG3EA8fuE Jeremy from Jeremy Makes Games shares his honest indie dev journey — abandoning Merchants of the Stars, building his roguelike Get in the Hole, and key lessons on Steam marketing, design tension, and YouTube devlogs.Get In The Hole: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4174950/Get_in_the_Hole/Jeremy's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@JSMakesGames🎮 Roguelike vs Incremental, solo dev life, Steam Next Fest strategy & more.⏱️ Chapters:00:00 - Cursed Game Design01:15 - Abandoning First Game03:22 - Google to Indie Dev08:48 - Making Toggle App14:04 - Mobile Monetization Lessons19:05 - Merchants on Steam20:56 - Get in the Hole21:10 - Roguelike vs Incremental24:06 - Design Tension Explained26:59 - Steam Demo Results28:36 - Retention Improvements31:48 - Scaling with Items34:06 - Roguelike Builds36:06 - Killing Darlings38:47 - Marketing Challenges40:24 - Name Problems43:34 - Next Fest Plans44:41 - Luck vs Skill49:47 - Content Creator Outreach54:54 - YouTube DevlogsIf you're into indie game development, roguelikes, or Steam marketing, this is full of real talk and practical lessons.#IndieDev #GameDev #Roguelike #SoloDev #SteamNextFest