*you tiredly watch the video about game development *You are filled with determination

Hard to believe it took a year for the algorithm to pick up on this message and deliver it to the right crowd. I think it was the shorts. They drive up interaction in a whole new way.

“ The moment you’ve made a character walk on screen , you’ve already won. “ Damn man.. I gotta say honestly this is one of the most inspirational videos I’ve ever watched on KZfaq. Thanks for sharing your valuable information brother.

From a video perspective, this is extremely interesting how with no editing, he was able to keep me engaged the ENTIRE time. Great video, very inspiring!

7 minutes in and I already have tears in my eyes because of the amount of courage and the "everything will be alright" attitude, thank you Buddy, honestly.

What I was also hoping you’d mention when talking about Five Nights at Freddys is the fact that it’s made in a block-programming language which basically doesn’t require programming skills whatsoever. Five Nights at Freddy’s, the Five Nights at Freddy’s that now has a movie centered around the Franchise and sells merch like crazy, that Five Nights at Freddy’s was basically made in a leveled up Scratch engine. The whole “you don’t need to be a good programmer” argument is multiplied when taking that into account.

the evil boss music coming on at 31:00 as he starts talking about selling steam keys was such perfectly cinematic timing

I had no intention of making a game. But hearing you talk so passionately and calmly about the thing you love in your KZfaq Shorts brought me here. And now I'm off to start my first game!

This is the most motivating and helpful individual I've found in the game dev space, and that's saying quite a lot, as most devs are so helpful and encouraging. This man makes me feel like my dreams are within my grasp, and that's so rare to find.

13:38 'No matter what you make, someone on the internet is going to make fun of you. But... It's yours, and they didn't make it.' Such an important perspective for all parts of life; appreciate your smaller achievements and be proud you're moving in the right direction. I found you a couple days ago, Thor, through shorts. As a nearly-graduate game programmer, your channel, and attitude, are very motivating. Thanks, bud. ❤

I love all the perfectly-timed music queues throughout the video, like “they took 70% of our income” *dramatic intro*

16:01 “You should always listen…not all feedback is good, but all feedback matters.” So true.

I’ve been sitting on the edge of music, art/animating, and level design for years now. I’m currently trying to learn guitar, but I can’t stop holding myself back due to confidence issues. I haven’t even tried level design yet. I guess what I’m trying to say is don’t be like me. Learn how to work with yourself if that makes any sense. It’s extremely hard to get out of a negative thought pattern when you get into one, and it can become extremely demotivating and detrimental when you feel like you’re trapped somewhere between your aspirations, and your self imposed limitations.

Imagine if most of the internet was as helpful and motivating as this single video.

I am 41 years old, and Thor, I want to be like you when I grow up. You've just reinvigorated my interest in game coding! THANK YOU!!

As a highschooler who chose a game as my graduation project, i have to thank you for the the most amazing words of encouragement

As a disabled guy myself, I definitely appreciate controller support. Hearing that you add support to your games after learning about it's importance to disabled people leads me to believe that you are, indeed, a giga-chad. I'll be checking out Heartbound for sure.

When he talked about "finding the right tool for the job" regarding engines, I agreed with him 100%. I learned a similarly worded phrase, but with the exact same meaning, in the military. "The mission dictates the tools" You don't use a pellet gun to hunt bears, you don't hit a drive through with a stretched limo, and you don't use a resource heavy engine when you want to make Tic-Tac-Toe.

This guy could have a second career in radio. Golden voice!

I've given up on my game 3 times over the course of 2 years. This video is a HUGE inspiration and I feel so encouraged. I'm going to pick my game back up

Im so glad i found this channel. I've had ideas for years that i feel like could only be done through a video game. You got me hyped as fuck to dive in. Thanks man.

I just found this and I'm learning to make games at the age of 27. I'm pretty inspired even tho many times I have to shut down the classic voices of "you're making the wrong choice". Your content is one thing that is helping to counterweight this voices with ease. Thank you very much for everything.

I've always had this worry in the back of my head that my game wouldn't be good enough. I love video games, ESPECIALLY story ones, and I KNOW that's what I want to make, but the anxiety persisted even when I pushed through to start using GameMaker. I'll be honest, the delight when I managed to make a character move and later on made a textbox system work was insane. I've always been pretty good with programming but I've never worked on anything proper, just switching between engines and ideas up until last year. Now, it's 2 am, I'm watching this video, and I've never been more motivated. You really don't need what you make to be perfect. You don't have to make the next Undertale or Omori. Just try with the game you know you'd love to make. Thor, thank you so much for what you do. You've inspired countless developers. I'm looking forward to playing Heartbound.

I've gotten a super novel game idea and I know you might not see this, but I want to thank you because I plan to go for it. My friends and I are in the early stages of running a ttrpg podcast. We've played several game systems, but mostly D&D, for over a decade now. Our first recorded campaign is a heavily modified Curse of Strahd for 5e that I am Game Master for. We are still in the backlog recording phase right now. My game idea is making the character backstories of my players into short playable rpgs. So for any listeners that want to know the actual backstory of their favorite characters would experience it through bite sized rpgs. You are a large source of the courage I've gathered up to give this a shot. Again from the bottom of my heart I thank you sir. Keep up the good work and positive vibes.

as someone who has been through the whole process of creating indie games several times without actually finishing 95% of the projects i started on, i can say that the hardest part for me is keeping my motivation up to actually finish something. i might go all-in during a few days or a week and make huge progress and eventually i hit a wall where stuff don't either work out the way it want it to, or my inspiration runs out.

Fine, I'll make Futanari Simulator already.

I am watching your video right now and I am trying not to tear up. I have always wanted to make games and I recently bought a computer for it. I am so excited and ready to do this. I don't care how long it takes me or how hard it gets, I want to create things that people will talk about and enjoy. Thank you so much for this! :)

Glad I found this channel. Not only is it about a subject that I love, and am hoping to someday leap into in the future, but it’s also somewhat helping me with some of my… rather low amounts of self-worth. I’m not gonna put a whole *thing* here, since I don’t wanna fish for comments, nor likes. But keep doing what you’re doing. It’s cool, and it’s helping a lot of people.

Thanks so much for this!! It’s refreshing to hear info about indie game making from someone who’s workin on a game themselves! I’m super pumped to work on my project after this :]

I don't have plans to make any games, but this video activated my neurons. I feel like this advice also extends to art, too, and its got me hyped to open my sketchbook tomorrow morning

Recently finding your shorts and now exploring your channel has been a blessing, your whole character makes the video extremely entertaining and incredibly informative. I'll gladly be sharing your channel and website with other inspiring developers :)

a mentor once told me "The whole point of making art is to make art. The more art you make, the better art you will make."

I’ve been so inspired by your content, and seeing you more and more frequently over the past couple days. I’ve finally decided to be the kind of person I dream of being. I’ve started my game design document (already seven pages in, I’m a writing wizard), picked the engine for the job, and picked the program for the art. I’m a writing-forward creator- I’ve written over a million words for online works- so I’m starting with that, I’ll get it all onto paper, then hack and slash at what I hate, then I’ll start to organize my thoughts into implementable chunks, organized by ‘releases’ (thinking of the project in implementation phases). Then pseudocode the entire thing. Then face the behemoth that is an empty GameMaker studio project for the first time and code for the first time in years. I’m so afraid. I’ve never been more thrilled by a project in my entire life. Sending so much love from New York ♥️♥️♥️

Thank you for making this, I'm currently in a game indie dev class learning all the basics and this video reminded me that games are truly a piece of art, whatever tool you use you can still make something from it and it is beautiful.

There's a comment here from person who said they got tears in their eyes 7 minutes into the video. I wanna come clean and say me too. I had no idea game development had become this accessible. I've wanted to do it for so long but I won't lie man, I was afraid. I thought it'll be a very steep hill to climb and I'll quit before I reach the summit. Thank you so much for this video

I was a web developer, and now primarily write Python for automation. My son is 11 and wants to make games. He’s incredibly passionate about it, and this has been so encouraging for both of us. Thank you so much.

This video may be a year old when I stumbled upon it today, but this is inspiring and hopeful to me. Especially with how the large company scale of gaming and game dev jobs has been going lately. So thanks Thor! For sharing this, showing this, and igniting a little spark back into the soul of this aspiring creator!

I'm a musician that builds guitar pedals, amps (tube and solid state) and I've restored a vintage tube radio receiver and I'd love to do more. So I have a lot to fill my time.....but I oddly want to start making games now lol. Very encouraging speech, and a great argument for just starting with what you've got. I taught myself how to read schematics, solder, design circuits etc. and it was the same progression, started small and worked my way up.

I dont think I have any passion for game dev, I've never done it, but this shit makes me want to stream as a developer at least. Sounds like just being a dev on that platform would be fun.

Man this video is marvelous. I’m a artist struggling with some stuff and in the middle of sometime feelings I remembered your videos on shorts, here on YT and man… Now I have a clarity and motivation to keep moving forward in this game dev journey. My dream always was be a awesome professional to being able to going back and teach the new generation and you are, literally, a model for that even if you are doing it just to enjoy yourself. Thank you a lot for this video!!!❤❤❤ Muito obrigado meu mano, Brasil te ama tbm 🇧🇷😊

I really appreciate this video; really inspiring. It's funny because a lot of the skills you mentioned (coding, writing, art) are things I CAN do, and yet I've struggled to make a playable game. For me I've had difficulty sticking to a project and setting a reasonable scope so I haven't completed any of my projects, and I end up getting burnt out and going on a creative hiatus/slump for months. But, everything you recommend in this video is so true, and I'm driven to pick it back up again -- I'll aim to make something simple and smaller first, and go from there.

Man you are just amazing, the amount of courage you spread is crazy. I stopped working on my games for a year now and stumbled upon your shorts and now on this video. Thank you for your work, I feel so motivated to start and hopefully end something one day.

"You're not too old to make games. You can do it. I believe in you" Damn. That hit too hard. I''ll go make one now.

I'm not yet a successful game developer, but I'm already past the beginning of the journey, and this video makes me look at how far I've come! Though, can't stop here and need to come even further and finally release my game for once.

I don’t make games, but I’m an app / web developer looking to make it in these wild times. Your positivity and validation has made a big difference in me not giving up on my dreams. Thank you for everything you do, and weirdly enough thanks to youtube for finally putting Thor in my algorithm😅

1 year later, stumbled upon this video, changed my life. thank you so much

I am an 18 year old high school senior, i am about to go into college for game development and i'll be 100% transparent. I am terrified to make this my career as a indie dev, but it is the scariest thing i have ever been exited about. I found thor about a year ago and i revisit this every time I find myself doubting my choices. Thank you thor for being a pillar of motivation and an overall nice guy. Wish me luck.

unironically when i was a kid i used to make platformers and animations on scratch, and i garnered a decent following (to a point where i would get sent fan projects! melted my little heart seeing that people enjoyed what i made), i havent used that site in over 6-7 years but i always wanted to make another game or take my next steps, but i never knew how, all i knew was a little bit of python from comp sci class, but this video inspired me to start learning to draw and read up on some other programming languages to make a small project. so glad i got recommended your channel dude.

I can't believe the algo didn't suggest your channel earlier. Honestly, i saw a few shorts and i'm starting to go through the catalogue now. You truly are an inspiration man. Keep up the good fight!

Man, I see this video is 2 years old, and I am a full-stack web developer, but I have to say that this is one of the best motivational videos that I have seen like ever! You are great!

i wish i could give more than just a thumbs up to this video. you got me hooked on making my fart hotel, but when you went deeper into the subject matter and started talking analytics and localization, cost vs accessability vs piracy, you gave me chills. You did something i honestly have never seen in the industry to date, AND explained it with compassion. This is something worth supporting because its human kindness at its core. to think this videos a year old and im just now seeing it. Thank you Thor for inspiring me!

Thanks you for all these tips ! I was motivating myself to create a game during hollydays. A true game that i would compete, and you posted your video at the perfect timing !

I don't even want to be dev and you got me motivated. I just came across your video and it was extremely inspirational, I want more people to see this video to hopefully generate the same inspiration as it did with me.

From a dev in another industry to another, you are an awesome human. Thanks for being awesome man. All of this advice can be applied across the board in any walk of life, no matter the industry. You are so inspiring and I will absolutely do my best to spread your kindness and drive for simply making things. This is what life should be about. Thank you for reminding me of that.

I'm so glad that I found you. I'm not making a video game, but I am diving headfirst into the world of music recording/production. I've been playing guitar since I was 8, I've been in a bunch of small bands, but I've never tried to make the music myself. I can take so much of what you're saying and translate it to what I'm doing and it still hits the same way. Just do it. It doesn't have to be good, you'll learn as you go, but just do it. Thank you Thor, you're truly and inspiration.

Thank you, I needed this. I'm kind of on a programming track right now because I wanted to create the kind of stuff that got me through the main schooling years of life. Everything has just crumbled down to whats financially better and it's all bleak now, but hoping this will reignite my creative vision

Found you through your Shorts. Couldn't have been at a better time for me, as I'm trying to get into website building and such and have hit a pretty big creative block this week feeling pretty damn bad about myself. Your content has helped me to get over this blockage and am working on overcoming this fear I developed in the process (in retrospective feels dumb but it be as it be). Very thankful for your content Thor, and I'm wishing you the best of luck for everything

Just started developing and saw this. Thanks for all the tips you’re an awesome dude.

This guy is the bob ross of video games in a world full of broken people. This humble guy only wants to encourage, and it makes me only want to encourage.

I've been in a mild depressive funk for a few days, and this TED talk has inspired me to finally work on the idea I've had in my head. Good job. Love your work!

"If you want to make Five Nights at Freddy's from scratch, you must first invent the Fart Hotel." -Carl Sagan (paraphrased)

Loved you shorts and loved this format more. Such a great demeanour about you! Very inspiring

I can't believe how many golden pieces of advice and how many of your good shorts came from within these 45 minutes

I have no idea who you are but so far you're the most motivational person I've ever listened to. thanks man.

Been wanting to develop games for my entire adult life and only in the last couple of years has that felt like a realistic goal. Found you in the last few days through shorts and you have significantly fed and reinforced the spark that has started growing again recently. Such a supportive and informed guy, thank you!

All I can say is thank you! I have not even made any commitments but just hearing you be so positive is something I needed to hear right now! I just found your stuff and I am loving it!

I'm loving the positive vibe. It's helped me get through a shitty day so thank you 😊 I've been gaming since I was 5 and now I'm 36, playing around and making my own little game or two does sound like a great passtime hobby!

This is really nice to hear. I've always wanted to make something, even if it's small. I think I'll give it a shot.

This video is really making me wanna pick back up the game me and my boyfriend wanted to make again, we only have a concept but man I wanna try again now. I like the idea of starting with game jams, maybe we could start there. Thanks for the encouragement and positivity!

Genuinely one of the most inspiring videos for game dev I've ever seen. I've been interesting in game dev for years and this video makes me want to give it a real shot! Thank you for the time and energy you put into that website!

For some reason, I got your shorts on my YT feed... and a recent short shown to me about Piracy and your Brazilian answer got me wanting to learn more about the game development thing. So I started watching THIS video. And I got an idea for a game... and in reading through the Game Design Document on your site got me to backburner my original game idea, so I could learn what I'm doing with the game dev software. So, my "first game" is going to be a simple side-scroller, on a theme that I enjoy. By the time I finished watching the video, I've gotten some bare bones info on my copy of the GDD, and I'm making plans for how long I'll work on FirstProject daily, and so forth. Thank you. This was a very inspiring video. Thank you.

idk how or why I just get so emotional when he speaks about games. I guess it's the purest love you can have to something...

I'm so glad you started popping up in my shorts feed. This is exactly the kind of stuff I needed to start working on stuff on my own. Yeah it'll probably suck at first but hey that's learning right? Hearing about how undertale had all its dialog in one giant switch statement was extremely comforting (and mind boggling seeing as I have done coding work in the past so holy crap why) that even if my code is janky as long as it works that's the main thing.

This channel is the most motivational and positive channel I ve ever seen. Thank you Thor! P.S. Great voice!

Thank you so much! I stumbled onto your channel and this vid in particular is the most motivating vid I've ever seen in my life. I work as a run down graphic designer lol and the thought of making a game seemed like some far away dream. After watching this I'm gonna spend all my Netflix time just trying at the very least!! Thank you for this, bro. Seriously.💪❤

This guy is the perfect example of not letting greed get in the way of making something amazing. I hope you never lose touch, Thor.

Big thanks for this :) I graduated from BSc in Comp Sci w/ Computer Games dev but saw enough about the pay and working conditions to go into a steady job in a super boring industry instead (cyber security keeps me from going completely insane). I guess I'll just start making things I would like to see and share them on Steam when they're good enough (but not perfect)

this is the single most important game dev vid out there. As a solo game dev for 5 years I only took jobs and all my projects that were meant to be released as my own games somewhere in the future landed unfinished, due to all the uncertainties I had. This cleared up so much confusion for me as to what works like what, gave me confidence and now I see at least 5 projects I could easily polish and release in half a year time (not at once, one by one, but still, finish them up fast) and fly them to the steam shelves. Thank You. You really did help me and probably ever wont know how much it really did help me, even if it wont work for me in the end. Its a massive stepping stone.

I can honestly say finding your channel has been a dream for me. I’ve been slowly working on different game projects over the years and this video has given me the confidence to keep pushing. Truely. Thank you

Just found your channel. My first dream job when I was a kid was to be a video game developer. I always was hesitant to attempt it because I did not know what the hell I was even supposed to do. I’m at a lower point in my life as of now. My first year in college has been god awful and I am miserable. This really makes me want to go get a job, and then focus on trying to do this type of thing. I feel as if I’d be a lot happier doing that!

Instructions unclear. I now feel hopeful and inspired, and I feel like it's possible for me to express myself and my vision through a game..... oh shit, the instructions were apparently very clear

I really needed this. Your shorts started popping up some days ago, but then I stumbled into this. Game dev has always been a thorn on my side precisely because I've always felt I have no skills I can apply to it. I've loved videogames since I was a child and I always tried different things in GameMaker, RPG Maker and such when I was a teen, but as I got older that fire died out, specially when I saw the gems some indie devs put out there. It's a really bittersweet feeling, in a way: I can enjoy amazing games as a player, but at the same time feel farther and farther away from making anything as a potential dev. I really don't want to make anything big, make it for a living or just have any revolutionary ideas, I just want to make things do fun beep boop stuff when you press buttons and make people enjoy it, for free, as long as I can express something with it; grandiose ideas will come later. I tried getting into a it at different points, but I always got discouraged for some reason or another and stopped. I decided I can't keep having that frustration anymore and I'm trying again (as a hobby). I read somewhere that "motivation is like a shower, you need it everyday" or something like that; this video is like a 3 month spa retreat in that regard 😁. Thank you for this, and thank you for the website. I'm also going to support Heartbound, right after I click "Comment". I don't know if this will be another time I'll end up quitting or maybe I'll make a prototype and be satisfied, but you really made a big difference on me (and to hundreds of people, as the comments show.) Again, thank you very much.

I've been learning UE, Blender, etc. on the side for a while now working my way towards making my own full games some day. I just randomly came across this in my recommended videos and its easily the most motivating video I've seen in my entire journey. Thank you for this

Would love to see you make a video on how your company came to be and the history, love your content and am super interested how you got to where you are. Thank you !

Randomly just found you while flipping through YT at work...the fact that you are telling people that we can do this is amazing. As an ex fan boy of Blizzard, I am jealous of your past work experience but am very glad you never settled into a spot of comfortability with them because I might not of heard your words on this video today. Thank you and keep that hair flowing! Also, how many people say you sound similar to Howard Stern?!

You're the first dev to acknowledge the Brazil thing that I've ever seen. I'm honestly amazed. As a Brazilian I'm always frustrated with games that do straight dollar conversion, which is so unfair and I always tell them "if you localize the price you will sell more", Brazil is a HUGE market, top 5 globally, people WILL buy your product if they can afford it, but they never listen. I was often met with "eeeerm actually 298 brazilian reais IS 60 dollars, so it's fair", they don't understand you can't just convert currency, you need to know how much money people make and then compare the porcentage the game cost is in relation to that. While 60 bucks will be 0.92% of the monthly income for an American that conversion will be 21% of the monthly income for a brazilian. It's so refreshing to see a person that understands how currency works and is smart to know that it's better to lower your price and make sales than not make any sales and just get pirated.

I just found you and let me say this: You are a freakin legend! This entire video is better than all motivational speeches! And you talk real shizzle, realistic stuff, like don't quit your job and everything. I'm not a dev, I don't create games but I'm an illustrator and I create stories; I'm in the same hole and I feel exactly the same and this video released a motivated-ready-to-work dragon inside me. Thank you so much for this!

One of the best videos I've seen in regards to game development, I've seen way too many videos inadvertently talking about why you basically *shouldn't* develop games, because it is a big process and that you need these skills, etc. I'm sure these videos still hold a lot of truth, but this video in particular just proves that there really is no excuse to do something that you want to do. I find that incredibly powerful as someone who thought they wanted to make games as a kid, only to have "reality" hit you in the face. I think I really want to do this now. Thank you for showing me where to start.

Amazing video, but it looks like the link is down.

Great video! Very interesting to listen to, thank you :)

This video is gold. I watched many videos on how to make games and which engines are better. This tutorial explains it all in details, yet pretty simple to understand. Thank you for making it!

Plz keep making these, "you can do it videos" they help me work through my procrastination and self doubts. I always wanted to make games but always thought I wasn't smart enough. You've shown me how anyone can do it. I got into programming and have been learning for over a month now. I still have a long way to go but I plan on making my own game in the future. With all the single developer games out there, it's inspiring to me to take a shot at my dreams.

You've single-handedly reinvigorated my love for getting into backend maintenance.. SO glad I'd stumbled upon your channel via shorts Thor, was watching how to embed a chest in place on sloped terrain & have it be interactive.. Took me 4 hours but finally got it due to the most novice mistake being made prior 😂 Would absolutely LOVE to set up a New Zealand/Australia branch for your company, my dude... I'm also a musician with over 12 years experience playing & gigging, mostly improv but can write songs with form. I've never had a job as all my life I've wanted to do something I enjoy.. People call it privileged, but I call it a career 😅 music is my vocation and tech stuff for a job can feed me & help me pay my bills Am also trained in Shakespearian styled acting, was in high school drama league (top tier) but mostly do voices, impressions etc, however wouldn't say no to doing motion capture 😅

This is my gym music.

I went to school for game development, been out for 4 years and really struggled to get past just working a day job. This channel has really motivated me to do my own thing. Thank you Thor!

You know man, it’s a beautiful thing when someone else believes in you. I felt emotional when you talked about not being too old or young to do this. It’s felt like a far fetched dream to make video games, but you made me believe my dream was possible in this video. Thanks man.

Last year, I made my friends an adventure map in Minecraft with a Halloween theme. I wrote this simple story for it, came up with a bunch of challenges that they needed to do, along with a boss fight, all mostly done with vanilla mechanics and a couple of command blocks. That was some of the most fun I had in a while, and it was kind of like the first game I had made in a while. Not a coincidence, I think.

Oh no i'm motivated to make a game again 😂

Seriously. I am inspired. I started and stopped at the very beginning of gamedev over and over because I felt I was doing it wrong. I really liked Game Maker 2 from the start, but I watched SO many videos of "which engine is the best" that I've tried a lot of them, and I really thought I had to use some of them because "that's what people are using, and those people are better than me, so they must know what they're talking about". But I got stuck over and over. You, sir, inspired me to try again, but the way I think it's better for me. Thank you so much. Who knows, maybe someday you'll be seeing a metroidvania of mine :)

Man the more I listen you the the more you inspire me. I came across this video because someone mentioned something about it in a recent stream so googled it and it led me here. Thanks for all you're effort you put in. I think I will do as you say and get started on that 2 to 4 hours a day.