Hey there, gaming enthusiasts! Today is a truly special day because we’re about to dive into a captivating interview with none other than Pontypants! As someone who’s been glued to Pontypants’ devlog updates, I can’t express how excited I am to have this chance to explore the behind-the-scenes magic, the trials, the triumphs, and everything in between. So, without further ado, let’s jump right in and unravel the gaming brilliance together!
| Steam | https://store.steampowered.com/app/1512590/Punch_A_Bunch/ |
| https://twitter.com/Pontypants | |
| Youtube | https://www.youtube.com/pontypants |
Hi Pontypants! (I’ve been following your channel since day 1, but I don’t know your real name :P) Can you share your journey in the gaming industry? What led you to pursue indie game development? Is this your first game, and did you have any previous experience in game development? What inspired you to take on this project without prior experience?
My name is Pontus 🙂 I’ve wanted to make video games since I was very young but back in those days there were no tutorials or anything like that available online. I tried downloading some dodgy softwares where you could make simple games but I never got very far. Fast forward about 20 years, I was working in the VFX industry and by chance found a course on how to learn coding and gamedev in Unity which I enrolled in. I set aside time in the evenings and slowly learned how to make games. Initially Punch A Bunch was just a random little experiment I created for fun, but after posting some devlogs online about it I could tell people were really excited about the project and I saw it as an opportunity so I decided to take the game across the finish line.
How did you dive headfirst into the world of game development, and what kept your motivation burning bright throughout the journey of completing your debut game?
If you are interested in making games, simply get started with whatever idea you have. Take a course in Unity (I recommend Unity to beginners) you can switch to Godot or UE5 later if you really want to but only experienced devs should consider doing so. And just start making stuff. If you’re feeling unmotivated or like you can never finish anything, you might want to honestly ask yourself if you are really that interested in making games. I don’t mean that in a negative way, I just get the feeling that a lot of people like the idea of making games but the fact of the matter is that making a game (especially solo) is a long, grueling and frustrating experience and it doesn’t end there.
Releasing a game can be just as frustrating, gamers are unfortunately very spoiled these days and expect extremely fast turnarounds for patches and updated content (free of charge) and will leave you a bad review if their computer can’t run your game even though they don’t meet the minimum requirements. This is only the tip of the iceberg. I don’t mean to sound negative, making and releasing Punch A Bunch has been the best time of my life but it’s something worth considering before quitting your day job and going all in on gamedev 🙂
How would you describe Punch a Bunch to someone who has never seen it before? What are the key selling points of Punch a Bunch that you’ve put more effort into?
Punch A Bunch is really about skill, it takes a lot of practice to become good at the game and if you just see screenshots of the game, it looks more like an easy children’s game. You really need to dedicate time and effort into the game, it’s not just a “I’ll just play a couple of rounds for 5 minutes” type of game. This was probably one of the major mistakes I made with Punch A Bunch, in hindsight, the game’s aesthetics should have reflected the gameplay a bit better. But considering it was my first game, I feel OK about it 🙂 The game itself still turned out how I envisioned it in terms of gameplay.
Moving on to the technical aspects! Developing a game as a solo dev is undoubtedly challenging. With you handling everything, could you share which part of the development/design process has been the most difficult for you and why?
Nothing specific comes to mind honestly. Some days you feel great and get tons of stuff done, other days you’re stuck on a problem and you make no progress at all. This is a very frustrating experience but I’ve gotten used to it by now and I’ve accepted that it’s simply part of the process.
You’ve been sharing Punch a Bunch updates on your YouTube channel since the beginning, and it’s been fantastic to follow your game’s progress through the dev log! Given that a significant portion of your audience is probably composed of people somehow involved in gamedev, do you believe that promoting a product within this community is a smart strategy? Why do you think it worked great for Punch a Bunch? 🙂
I don’t really see my videos as “promotion” more than a great way to participate in the gamedev community and learn from other people. While Punch A Bunch did fairly well in terms of sales, it is still my first game and my main goal with it was always to learn and get better at making games.
I recall an episode of your devlog where you attempted to move the entire project to Unity in one week – and it disappointed me a bit since Unreal was my favorite engine at that time 😀 – Now, with the game completed, published, and successfully sold, I’m curious if you would still consider using Unity for another project, looking back on your experiences?
For clarification, I did try converting my project to Unity but ultimately stuck with Unreal Engine as it was better suited for the game at the time. I have actually already started working on my next game and this time I am using Unity. Unreal Engine is a powerful engine but as a solodev I find that Unity is a better choice, at least for me personally. I much prefer C# over CPP and Unity’s online community is still much stronger than UE’s.
Alright, let’s dive into the juicy numbers! I’m dying to know about your wishlist count at launch. They say hitting at least 20,000 wishlists on launch day works like magic! So, spill the beans, do you think the wishlisting system worked like a charm for your game’s interest and sales?
Wishlists are obviously great and the more you have, the merrier. At the same time, the most important part is always to make the best game you possibly can, if your game is great, it will sell great. If your game is bad, the sales will be bad. Remember, people can return your game on Steam if they don’t like it. People use this feature, a lot, trust me.
