![How did the Heartbound developer go viral [Marketing for Indie developers] @1upIndie](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qPE8KWHQVX8/maxresdefault.jpg)
Uploaded March 2024 | Updated September 2026, 8 hours ago
This video shows you a theory how the Heartbound developer Piratesoftware went viral and what you as an indie developer can learn from it. Congrats to Piratesoftware having achieved what only a tiny handful of people can achieve. 1 million subs on Youtube.
This theory was made in a quick and dirty research from my side (glorious 15 minutes). But still it may be valuable for indie developers that want to emulate his success or copy something from him because his numbers are pretty good (social media, sales of Heartbound).
So from what I could gather on the internet, following things went pretty well for Priatesoftware.
1. His game was covered 6 years ago by a really big streamer/influencer (March 2024, 30mio subs) and the audience plus the streamer did give positive feedback towards the demo of his game Heartbound. I played it myself and can say it is well crafted. That is a really good start.
2. He got promoted 3-4 months ago by another big time influencer where his numbers shot up again with strong keywords. Between those his YouTube channel/twich dev stream was earing steadily subs (and views) but not as exponentially as with his 2nd "flappy bird" moment (the one you see right now). The conclusion is here that the grind (make your game, create marketing videos/streams/blog posts, important also) is being dwarfed by getting viral and surfing on the wave.
But hey, maybe I am missing something. Not all makes sense. Let me know.
Sources from the video:
gamemaker.io/de/blog/pirate-software-from-infosec-and-blizzard-entertainment-to-streaming-gamedev
steamspy.com/app/567380
socialblade.com/youtube/c/pirate_software
store.steampowered.com/app/567380/Heartbound
👑 Support me and get fresh game art and game maker projects every month:
patreon.com/1upindie
Follow me on:
💬 Discord: discord.gg/gvr98nb
📜 Udemy: udemy.com/course/become-a-video-game-developer-with-gms-23 (See youtube about page for discount)
This video shows you a theory how the Heartbound developer Piratesoftware went viral and what you as an indie developer can learn from it. Congrats to Piratesoftware having achieved what only a tiny handful of people can achieve. 1 million subs on Youtube.
This theory was made in a quick and dirty research from my side (glorious 15 minutes). But still it may be valuable for indie developers that want to emulate his success or copy something from him because his numbers are pretty good (social media, sales of Heartbound).
So from what I could gather on the internet, following things went pretty well for Priatesoftware.
1. His game was covered 6 years ago by a really big streamer/influencer (March 2024, 30mio subs) and the audience plus the streamer did give positive feedback towards the demo of his game Heartbound. I played it myself and can say it is well crafted. That is a really good start.
2. He got promoted 3-4 months ago by another big time influencer where his numbers shot up again with strong keywords. Between those his YouTube channel/twich dev stream was earing steadily subs (and views) but not as exponentially as with his 2nd "flappy bird" moment (the one you see right now). The conclusion is here that the grind (make your game, create marketing videos/streams/blog posts, important also) is being dwarfed by getting viral and surfing on the wave.
But hey, maybe I am missing something. Not all makes sense. Let me know.
Sources from the video:
gamemaker.io/de/blog/pirate-software-from-infosec-and-blizzard-entertainment-to-streaming-gamedev
steamspy.com/app/567380
socialblade.com/youtube/c/pirate_software
store.steampowered.com/app/567380/Heartbound
👑 Support me and get fresh game art and game maker projects every month:
patreon.com/1upindie
Follow me on:
💬 Discord: discord.gg/gvr98nb
📜 Udemy: udemy.com/course/become-a-video-game-developer-with-gms-23 (See youtube about page for discount)
![How did the Heartbound developer go viral [Marketing for Indie developers]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qPE8KWHQVX8/mqdefault.jpg "How did the Heartbound developer go viral [Marketing for Indie developers]
This video shows you a theory how the Heartbound developer Piratesoftware went viral and what you as an indie developer can learn from it. Congrats to Piratesoftware having achieved what only a tiny handful of people can achieve. 1 million subs on Youtube.
This theory was made in a quick and dirty research from my side (glorious 15 minutes). But still it may be valuable for indie developers that want to emulate his success or copy something from him because his numbers are pretty good (social media, sales of Heartbound).
So from what I could gather on the internet, following things went pretty well for Priatesoftware.
1. His game was covered 6 years ago by a really big streamer/influencer (March 2024, 30mio subs) and the audience plus the streamer did give positive feedback towards the demo of his game Heartbound. I played it myself and can say it is well crafted. That is a really good start.
2. He got promoted 3-4 months ago by another big time influencer where his numbers shot up again with strong keywords. Between those his YouTube channel/twich dev stream was earing steadily subs (and views) but not as exponentially as with his 2nd flappy bird moment (the one you see right now). The conclusion is here that the grind (make your game, create marketing videos/streams/blog posts, important also) is being dwarfed by getting viral and surfing on the wave.
But hey, maybe I am missing something. Not all makes sense. Let me know.
Sources from the video:
https://gamemaker.io/de/blog/pirate-software-from-infosec-and-blizzard-entertainment-to-streaming-gamedev
https://steamspy.com/app/567380
https://socialblade.com/youtube/c/pirate_software
https://store.steampowered.com/app/567380/Heartbound/
👑 Support me and get fresh game art and game maker projects every month:
https://www.patreon.com/1upindie
Follow me on:
💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/gvr98nb
📜 Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/become-a-video-game-developer-with-gms-23/ (See youtube about page for discount)")
![Persistance or carry over values [Game Maker | Most know Basics]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qxTga9kBpKQ/mqdefault.jpg "Persistance or carry over values [Game Maker | Most know Basics]
This basics video tutorial shows you what persistence, aka carry over values/instances, mean in GameMaker.
These concept is pretty simple, you want to carry over values like health ammo etc. during runtime into other levels/rooms. Since GameMaker and other engines front load things, once you jump/change the room all the old values/assets are being deleted and the new rooms things are being loaded in. So how can you carry over values? You flag one or more instances as persistence, and they are not being deleted by the room jump. Thats it!
Tldr:
flag instances as persistence to no get delete by room jump
Game shown: Blade Assault
👑 Support me and get fresh game art and game maker projects every month:
https://www.patreon.com/1upindie
Follow me on:
📸 Instangram: https://www.instagram.com/1upindie
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/1upIndie
💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/gvr98nb
📜 Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/become-a-video-game-developer-with-gms-23/ (See youtube about page for discount)
CHAPTERS
0:00 Issue to be solver, carry over value (health)
0:53 Persistence is not saving/loading
2:30 Save to values in outside/persistence instance
4:15 Recap, persistence vs load/save")
![Draw outlined text - the easy way [Game Maker | Basics]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qzROcUYf3G4/mqdefault.jpg "Draw outlined text - the easy way [Game Maker | Basics]
This basics video tutorial shows you how to draw your text with an outline the easy quick and dirty way in GameMaker.
The idea is quite simple. You use the fx outline and assign it to an instance layer with the inspector. Then you place an instance on that layer that does a regular draw text command. All drawn texts have on this layer the same outline attached. Thats it!
Note that this method has a limitation because you can only have one size of the outline set to it. And if you use the outline make sure to have no interpolation/antialiasing on the font (see the result in the video) which then wraps the outline around totally transparent spots which does look very ugly the bigger the font is. The fx layer affects all draw evens, texts included (fonts are being saved in the texture page, so they are images also).
Tldr:
assign one instance layer with the outline fx (via inspector)
place the instance on this layer + draw some text in it
👑 Support me and get fresh game art and game maker projects every month:
https://www.patreon.com/1upindie
Follow me on:
📸 Instangram: https://www.instagram.com/1upindie
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/1upIndie
💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/gvr98nb
📜 Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/become-a-video-game-developer-with-gms-23/ (See youtube about page for discount)
CHAPTERS
0:00 What we will do
0:31 Subscribe
0:41 Where can you set the outline effect (fx)
1:06 Text is also part of the draw event
1:29 Have an instance with draw_text place on instance layer
1:45 Apply to this instance layer the outline fx
2:20 It doesnt work well with interpolated/antialiased fonts
3:06 Game shown: Cave Blazers")
![Larp as game designer - win laptop [OperaMaker]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/rDq8_Dn9grA/mqdefault.jpg "Larp as game designer - win laptop [OperaMaker]
GameMaker Press Play is an event for beginners and the basic idea behind this competition is to encourage new users to go into game developement.
So you could see this as a extra kickstarter in your career plus get some goodies on the way.
What they want you to submit is a document which entails your ideas of a game you would like to produce with some rules attached to it. You are here basically the game designer (in a limited form) and try to pitch your idea (a game design document in an early conceptual stage).
Article in question:
https://www.yoyogames.com/de/blog/share-your-idea-for-a-game-and-start-now-your-game-making-journey
What is a game designer?:
https://www.udemy.com/course/become-a-video-game-developer-with-gms-23/?couponCode=D30351DDBF55DCA16F8A")
![Last position bomber/laser [Game Maker | Enemy Ai]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/rHTaVOErKmw/mqdefault.jpg "Last position bomber/laser [Game Maker | Enemy Ai]
This basics video tutorial shows you how to make a last position enemy tracker which shoots down a laser. You see this being done via a big laser or mine or explosion on the last postion in boss fights or regular enemies to keep the player moving and to zone the player.
The idea is simple. We need an enemy that runs down a timer( here an alarm) and once the alarm event is triggered we spawn in on the last position recorded of the players x, we create an effect instance that marks a position. We run down a timer in this effect/marker instance and destroy it after 2 seconds. in the destroy alarm even we create a 3rd instance, which is the laser. This one also has an alarm which destroy it after 2seconds also.
Thats it!
💓 My assets:
Get some assets at itch.io https://1up-indie2.itch.io/
📜 Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/become-a-video-game-developer-with-gms-23/?referralCode=6AB816C3B321FB60C885
👑 Support me and get fresh game art and game maker projects every month:
https://www.patreon.com/1upindie
Follow me on:
📸 Instangram: https://www.instagram.com/1upindie
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/1upIndie
💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/gvr98nb")
![Spawns + Redirect [#1 Tower Defence in GameMaker ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/s-RYjDMlKDA/mqdefault.jpg "Spawns + Redirect [#1 Tower Defence in GameMaker ]
This is the 1st video in a short Tower Defence series in GameMaker.
The idea is to make a super simple system that allows thousands of spawns to run in a conga line without much customization or using any path or complicated system. In this video we create a spawner that creates in its looping alarm event a spawn. There you only give the spawn a speed value and direction where to go to. The second part if where we setup a redirection system that redirects the spawns up, down, left or right. So here we simply create a collision event in those redirection instances and change the spawn direction (and xscale) when these bump into each other. Thats it!
🚧 For the future: This series will have 3 videos where all the basics are setup and a 4th optional one where constructors are used as a solid spawning setup. The project can be downloaded and since it is ultra small, is free to use (graphics are free also, check out the notes)
💻Project + assets found here:
https://1up-indie2.itch.io/free-tower-defence-project-gamemaker
overworld graphics: Beast CC0
https://opengameart.org/content/overworld-grass-biome
Enemies:
ThKaspar Orga by
https://opengameart.org/content/micro-character-bases-basics
explosion:
JROB774 CC3by
https://opengameart.org/content/pixel-explosion-12-frames
👑 Support me and get fresh game art and game maker projects every month:
https://www.patreon.com/1upindie
Follow me on:
📸 Instangram: https://www.instagram.com/1upindie
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/1upIndie
💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/gvr98nb
📜 Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/become-a-video-game-developer-with-gms-23/ (See youtube about page for discount)
CHAPTERS
0:00 What we will do
1:32 Subscribe
1:44 The concept what we do
4:00 Setting up a spawn/enemy
4:34 Setting up a spawner
6:46 Redirection system")
![🔴Debris/rubble particles - Upgrade your flat explosions [GameMaker | Vfx]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/t7TW0E6HAPg/mqdefault.jpg "🔴Debris/rubble particles - Upgrade your flat explosions [GameMaker | Vfx]
This vfx particle video tutorial shows you how to create debris/rubble for explosions, impacts, hits etc. in GameMaker with just a few mouse clicks.
The idea is quite easy. You need to create a new Particle System asset and customize it so that you have a burst of particles in a parabollic movement. To do that you need to set the direction of the burst in an upwards arch (here between 20 to 160), give it a random size, add some gravity, apply a sprite of choise or use the pixel/disk shape and give it variable speed values to look organic. This video shows you additionally a dummy emitter as a reference, so you can get a feeling how the particle should like in comparison. Not necessary but a neat trick for fine tuning. Optionally you can increment the orientation, so that you have a spin in it. Thats it
Tldr: - vfx for the win
Note: This only works with the latest update 2023.2 (dropped yesterday) and upwards!
Short quick and dirty video on the new Particle System:
https://youtu.be/IYbxOmnmCwU
Long video on the new Particle System:
https://youtu.be/KB2BOymdTwI
👑 Support me and get fresh game art and game maker projects every month:
https://www.patreon.com/1upindie
Follow me on:
📸 Instangram: https://www.instagram.com/1upindie
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/1upIndie
💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/gvr98nb
📜 Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/become-a-video-game-developer-with-gms-23/ (See youtube about page for discount)
CHAPTERS
0:00 What we will do, add debris/rubbel to the explosion image
0:37 Subscribe
0:50 How it works
2:15 Create a new particle System asset
2:25 Create a dummy emitter for comparison
3:57 Create the real debris/rubbel particle
2:13 Edit the values inside the Particle Systems Emitter
4:10 Set the debris/rubbel to a disk shape
4:15 Set the emitter for one time burst and reset the emit area
4:40 Reset the size of the particle
5:00 Set to 40 particles per burst
5:10 Give the particles gravity to fly parabollic
5:24 Extent the duration of each particles life
5:46 Give each particle an organic random speed value
6:02 Set the direction in a wide cone shape
6:32 Set the alpha of the third color to 0, this makes them fade out in the end
7:10 Create a new particle system during runtime and place it
8:28 Delete the reference dummy emitter
8:50 Set the colors of the particles to match the levels colors/ground colors")
![Date, time, timestamps (mobile) [Game Maker Studio 2 | Advanced]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uLF3B7MdG3s/mqdefault.jpg "Date, time, timestamps (mobile) [Game Maker Studio 2 | Advanced]
This advanced video tutorial shows you how to utalize the current time, dates or even use time stamps for saving in mobile devices in GameMaker.
Image this, you want to have create a mobile game where you time game your content. The problem is once you close you application you cannot count the time passed directly. How to fix this? With saving in an .ini file the old time stamp/date and read it out (plus compare) once you open the applicaion/game again.
There are different things you can do with the internal time (time_current) or time stamps. First of all you can read out from your local machine (pc/mobile) the time there like minutes, hours up to years if you like, change the time zone or create your own time (stamps) or read out how many days have passed in this year/month/week etc. . That is in most cases not very useful information but you can use those metrics to store them in a time stamp which you create once you close the application. Next time you open the game/application you can compare the old time stored with the current one and even calculate the difference which the most common use case for mobile games. Thats it!
// for clarification
current_time: read out internal time passed in application
current_day/current_hour etc. : local values from pc/mobile
date_get_hour: read out also hour but with a argument time
date_current_datetime: the timestamp of the local machines current time
date_datetime_String: read out a full readable string of the timestamp
date_hour_span: Calculate the difference (here in hours) between two timestamps
// Video on saving with .ini:
https://youtu.be/r6N_mAmpT7s
Official manual on date and time:
https://manual-en.yoyogames.com/#t=GameMaker_Language%2FGML_Reference%2FMaths_And_Numbers%2FDate_And_Time%2FDate_And_Time.htm
// images from the thumbnail:
https://opengameart.org/content/some-phone-templates-ctatz
https://opengameart.org/content/fight-20-kids-game-concept
👑 Support me and get fresh game art and game maker projects every month:
https://www.patreon.com/1upindie
Follow me on:
📸 Instangram: https://www.instagram.com/1upindie
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/1upIndie
💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/gvr98nb
📜 Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/become-a-video-game-developer-with-gms-23/ (See youtube about page for discount)
0:00 What we will do
1:01 Subscribe
1:12 Use case for storing time
2:32 General uses
6:45 Practical part for mobiles")
![Patch V2022.5 - Weather effect + features [GameMaker Studio 2]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ufL4LhKqJqo/mqdefault.jpg "Patch V2022.5 - Weather effect + features [GameMaker Studio 2]
The newest patch V2022.5 comes with some good quality updates like one cool new fx effect (great for weather effects), stability issues with for linux/MacOS users (NET 6 update), structs in instance creation and the new buffed up giga chad alarm called Time Sources.
Note: I have heard of a complaint that the newest version was breaking a project, so please take this with a grain of salt. Please make backup copy of your current project file because once saved on the newest runtime, well you cant go back to previous versions. This does not mean it will break or anything will happen (for now I dont see any issue or changes) but better be save the sorry later.
Video on structs
https://youtu.be/k874pndLJEs
Offical blog and release notes:
https://gamemaker.io/de/blog/slash-release-2022-5
https://gms.yoyogames.com/ReleaseNotes.html
👑 Support me and get fresh game art and game maker projects every month:
https://www.patreon.com/1upindie
Follow me on:
📸 Instangram: https://www.instagram.com/1upindie
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/1upIndie
💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/gvr98nb
📜 Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/become-a-video-game-developer-with-gms-23/ (See youtube about page for discount)")
