Unfortunately there is no magic formula for a successful game. It is precisely the uncertainty and the promise of success that makes game creation such a draw for so many creative world builders. Part of the success is effort, but a large part comes down to resources. Can you get the funding to bring your dream to life? Sometimes this means self-funding the game with your savings or credit cards… other times this might mean going out there and raising money for your vision.

To help you out, we’ve handpicked five sources that hopefully can point you in the right direction.

1. Ask Game Dev

Ask Game Dev is an insightful YouTube channel managed together by three indie game devs. Their videos cover all aspects of game development, but one video in particular contains a huge amount of information about game funding.

Released in 2019, their video titled “7 Ways to Fund Your Indie Game” is one of the best videos that we’ve come across. It is filled with information made memorable and accessible by their teaching style and animation explanations. They cover everything from crowdfunding sources like Kickstarter, to dev grants from large companies.

2. Game dev underground

Game dev underground is a solo-run channel with excellent content based on years of experience building dozens of games in the last couple of years. The channel regularly features the games of community members as well, raising their visibility and helping make indie games a success.

There is a particularly good funding video to check out here: How To Get Your Indie Game Funded (Without Using Kickstarter). It’s great content, explained in a refreshing way with specific focus on the various terms and conditions of funding in different ways as well as sources for driving more attention for your game projects.

3. Thomas Brush

Thomas Brush: Thomas is a creative and passionate indie game developer turned teacher. After successfully crowdfunding two games to over $200k, he produced a special video to explain the process. It’s called How To Raise $100,000 On Kickstarter and dives into the strategy for how he was successful.

The explanation is practical and straightforward and includes a step by step guide to help any game dev get started.

4. Dual core studios

Dual core studios: Dual core studio has some excellent tutorials for game development on their channel, but they also have a great funding video called: How to get funds for an indie game

The content goes deep. It starts by explaining everything you need for successful game fundraising (like a working demo, etc.) and then breaks down the funding process from publishers into discrete steps.

The video also touches on the very important topic of intellectual property rights and some of the things you need to think about as your race towards a funding decision.

5. Antler studios

Antler studios is a joint venture of university students who graduated and continued to chase their passion of game development. They are refreshingly open about their mistakes and what they learn from them as they go.

They have a funding specific video called 101: funding your indie game. It starts with a really interesting set of tips about how to structure your funding research. They cover the strategy of applying for academic grants if your game project has some possible academic significance.

They also go into some depth on trade shows for marketing, playtesting, and funding opportunities as well as trade shows being an opportunity to really practice and refine your pitch which is critical to the funding effort.

Don’t let funding hold you back!

We hope the resources we’ve laid out here are helpful. Sometimes the path to success is more expensive than you ever consider. It is always good to go into a game project with some idea about how you will resource it both with people and money.

Remember, if you need help on your game dev journey, know that Beamable is here to simplify game development by making it easier to build, run, and scale your game with low code drag-and-drop features, and a serverless workflow.

Good luck with your game building and fundraising!