Full Time Game Dev Ep. 030 - How He Sold 1,000,000+ Copies Of His Game (Thomas Vandenberg)
Jan 9, 2025
In this discussion, Thomas Vandenberg, creator of the successful Kingdom series, dives into his journey as an indie game developer. He shares how he sold over a million copies of his game and the challenges he faced, including creative struggles and the impact of publishers on artistic freedom. Thomas highlights the shift towards smaller, focused game design with titles like Garbage Country, and explores innovative genre blending in gameplay mechanics. His insights on community feedback and navigating the complexities of game development are both enlightening and inspiring.
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Episode notes
Deep Focus With Long Development
- Thomas Vandenberg's games appear focused but the process is long and winding for him.
- He goes deep into development rather than rushing through small focused projects.
Scrapped MMO Gave Rise to Cloud Gardens
- Thomas sold the Kingdom IP to the publisher Raw Fury after about eight years.
- He spent three years on an MMO that was scrapped, but created Cloud Gardens from a plant simulation from that work.
Apparent Focus Can Hide Complexity
- Garbage Country seems more focused externally but internally is more complex and expansive.
- Kingdom was forced simple early on; skill improvement now allows bigger scope for Garbage Country.