My upcoming game, Pixelwasher, is being

published by Acclaim, and I'm really

excited about this. So, I wanted to talk

to you about Pixelasher itself and

Acclaim and how the two are going to

work together to hopefully bring you a

great game. This is really big news for

me. It's a big step up and I'm excited

to tell you all about it. So, let's jump

in. So, first off with Pixel Washer. It

is a chill, relaxing game [music] about

powerwashing pixels. It's very simple.

It's meant to be a wholesome, cozy game.

It's pretty minimalist and [music] you

can right now add it to your steam wash

list. In Pixel Washer, you pick a job to

wash. You go to that level. You power

wash everything. You spray it with your

power washer or you shoot water

projectiles at it until everything's

washed. Very simple gameplay, very

satisfying, very straightforward. Once

you're done, you get paid for your job.

Uh on your way back home, you can see

your expenses, how much gas you spent,

how much fluid for washing stuff you

spent, and then you get paid for that.

And you're done. You're back at your

headquarters. There you have a store

where you can buy stuff. You can upgrade

your power washer. You can buy new guns.

You can buy better transportation.

And uh you can also upgrade upgrade your

headquarters a little bit. But that's

the whole game loop. You pick another

job, you get paid, you get back to your

headquarters, upgrade stuff, and then

you rinse and you repeat. If that sounds

fun to you, go uh add Pixel Washer to

your Steam watch list. So, A Claim is a

new publishing label under the classic

banner, A Claim, that some of you might

know from the 80s, 90s, and 2000s. Uh,

if you're not familiar with the claim

itself, you're surely familiar with some

of the giant franchises they've

published over the years. And that

includes big games like NBA Jam, Mortal

Kombat, Tur Rock, Shadowman, there's a

bunch. And in my household growing up,

um, they were a household name. Like

I've got some of my very, um, favorite

games right here. Um, this is Wizards

and Warriors was one of my very favorite

games. Uh, I used to rent this at the

local um video store. It was two bucks a

night and at the time that was my weekly

allowance. So sometimes the only thing I

got to spend any money on was renting

Wizards and Warriors and getting to play

it for a day. Um, there's also uh Iron

Sword Wizards and Warriors 2, one of my

favorites. I loved this game and its

music so much that I made a remix uh as

a college project weirdly um from one of

the [music] songs. I'll probably be

playing that in the background now and

I'll put a link in the description or

whatever, but you can go listen to that.

Um I played real guitar in that. It was

part of the assignment is I had to

record a musical instrument. Everything

else I made, you know, with a with a

mouse in

>> [music]

>> um Qbase. And then Wizards and Warriors

3. I I love these games. There's three

of them. This one's really cool. you can

like play [music] as different classes

like a wizard um and a thief and stuff.

And there's other games like um swords

and serpents that um I loved and my

brothers loved when we were growing up.

So a claim was very familiar to us.

What's so funny about the name is that

it was chosen out of spite. So a claim

was founded by ex Activision employees

and they wanted their new publishing

label name to appear above a claim in

alphabetical lists. So they named the

company out of spite which is so funny

and actually Activision uh founded

itself as Activision for the same

reason. They wanted to be above Atari in

other lists. So I I just think it's so

funny that they named their companies

out of spite. I've got a meme that I

post sometimes like different versions

of it but it's called why make games.

Check all that apply. And some of the

reasons you can check include for fun,

for money, for revenge and for spite.

And I just think it's so funny that uh

these companies chose spite as a as a

reason uh to pick their names. So that's

my history with a claim. Um that version

of a claim no longer exists. I believe

believe it was like the mid 2000s uh

when that stopped being a thing. But um

the brand has been picked up by a brand

new team and they're publishing uh indie

games and I think that's so cool

obviously cuz um [music] cuz I'm on

board here and I wanted to take a moment

to spotlight some of the other games

they're publishing uh because uh Pixel

Watcher is obviously not the only game

that they've announced. They did a

really cool they called it the uh the

play acclaim showcase which they

launched on YouTube and I'll put a link

to that in the description and stuff as

well. But this was a really cool kind of

like Nintendo Direct style video they

did where they showed off kind of the

first run um of games that they're

publishing. And you know, naturally I

feel um very close to these uh these

games. I haven't uh played any of them

yet or met any of the devs, but like I'm

excited to do that. I hope I get to do

that someday. But I wanted to enumerate

[music] them to shine a spotlight on

them and kind of give you a feel for um

what a claim is going for because I

really like their strategy of like

throwing out a big net um and publishing

lots of different types of games because

that's the acclaim that I remember that

I grew up with was like sports games and

fighting games and uh sides scrolling

platformers and just all kinds of games.

So the first one is uh Kadina. Cadonaut

is a fast-paced Metroid Vania inspired

action rogue light blending [music]

fluid combat and cosmic horror. The

pixel art looks really cool. I'm a big

fan of cosmic horror stuff. Uh it's one

of my favorite types of um science

fiction and Konaut has um that kind of

gritty dark look. Might remind some

people of something like Dead Cells. Um

very cool looking game. Um I really need

to play it cuz it's out now. You can go

ahead and uh and buy that one now. Next

we have Basketball Classics. And I just

think it's so smart of a claim to

publish uh a game like this because a

lot of people when they think of a claim

they think of NBA Jam because NBA Jam

was a huge franchise back in the day. It

was one of the biggest arcade games

[music]

um ever, right? And because a lot of

plan uh fans are going to be expecting

basketball games like they came right

out of the gate um having one available

and this is another one that's available

today. So that's basketball classics.

It's got a really cool pixel art style,

which obviously I'm making a game called

Pixel [music] Washer, so I'm a big fan

of um pixel art games, so check that out

if that interests you. The Prisoning:

[music] Fletcher's Quest. Uh after a

psychological visit goes terribly wrong,

you find yourself trapped in the mind of

a game developer on the brink of

physical and [music] emotional burnout

during the final stages of an intense

project. This reminds me a little bit of

a game that I made called Indie Games

Sim, [music]

which was a game about you making your

own games for a market a lot like Steam.

And this game is on Steam and uh

manipulating the market, making your own

games to publish there. It's got kind of

a a whimsical style. Again, really

beautiful pixel art and a sidescrolling

platformer format. Hyperuki Snowboard

Syndicate. Race, compete, and explore

the slopes as a colorful cast of unique

characters. This has a really cool

style. I think a lot of people are going

to be reminded of classic games that

were I think was on Dreamcast like um

Jet Grind Radio or Jetet uh Radio, Jetet

Future, like that whole series of kind

of punkish um super stylized very

colorful kind of like bombastic [music]

um sports adjacent games um in in big

cities usually with like that cellshaded

kind of style that something like

Borderlands or or maybe Crackdown had

back in the day. Um very stylized, very

cool looking. I've spent a lot of time

um playing games like these, so [music]

I'm looking forward to checking it out.

In Toss Down, you run, jump, and dash

through chaos, dodging hazards and

enemies as you deliver packages. This

one is uh really fun looking, very again

uh action-packed. Um it doesn't have the

the cell-shaded. It looks kind of more

realistic, but it is stylized. Um very

3D, very cool looking. Uh what's funny

about this one is uh the developer Fur

had actually um read my book, How to

Make a Video Game All by Yourself, which

you can also see back there. Uh and they

listed it as something that helped them

inspire them to to make a game by

themselves. Um and then now we're both

having our games published under the

same label. Like how how cool is that,

right? Oh yeah, it builds itself as

Crazy Taxi meets Jetset Radio. So that's

yeah, that that tracks [music] grid beat

dungeons, danger rhythm, action. You

just hacked into the biggest corporation

in the world and stole an unfeasibly

valuable amount of data, but getting in

was the easy part. This is a really

stylized game. Uh, this was something

that I think they showed first in the

Acclaim Showcase. Very stylized. Uh,

looks like a classic arcade game. It's

got that kind of Geometry Wars look and

it's got like fast-paced um, frenetic

gameplay. [music] Uh, looks really cool.

Ground Zero Hero is an action rogike

with light survival elements set in a

post-apocalyptic wasteland. And I

haven't played this one yet. It's not

out yet, but it looks really cool. And

the vibes that I get remind me a lot of,

now this is not a uh a claim game, but

uh if you ever played or heard of Tow

Jam and Earl, um my brothers and I used

to play this all the time growing up.

And we didn't even realize, but like

this this is a rogike [music] or rogue

light, I guess you'd call it. But that's

that's how the game was designed. And I

played this a million years before I'd

even um before I'd even heard of Rogue.

And I could be wrong that uh the about

the vibes, but that's what I get um is

that Tow Jam and Earl kind of like

surrealist kind of like whimsical and

very [music] wacky feel. And uh that's

that's the look and feel I get when I

look at Ground Zero Hero, but it looks

like a lot of fun. I used to love these

games growing up. And then Taka and uh

forgive me if I mispronounced any of

these. I'm I'm just getting to know

these games like like you probably are.

But dive into a handpainted world where

myths come alive and turn against you.

Uh, the handpainted aspect really gets

me like like I'm an artist and I I just

love it when people create things with

their hands and this game has that

really cool kind of gritty look to it,

you know? It it looks handmade and it

feels handmade, but it still uh looks

and feels super stylized and polished.

It reminds me a lot of Shadow of the

Beast, which was a game uh was like late

80s, early 90s, but it looked beautiful.

was a sidescrolling platformer. Uh, and

it was showing off the tactical things

you could do with the the new fancy

hardware they had that that uh, you

know, decades ago. Um, but in Taka, the

gameplay looks like way way tighter and

way more polished and more fun. And then

obviously there's my game Pixel Washer,

which I think is an interesting choice

because it kind of gives something for

everyone, right? Like if you're looking

for a cosmic horror game, you've got

Catonaut. If you're looking for like

more of a frenetic arcade uh

action-packed kind of um abstract

looking game, you've got Gridbe. Um but

if you're a chill gamer and you just

want to have a relaxing time and you're

looking for something minimalist

minimalist, looking for something

minimalist and simple that you could

just spend some evenings with just

relaxing and uh power watching pixels,

you've got pixel washer in there, too.

And I love that we kept the the key art

that I made a while back where I u used

my fancy camera here to take like real

photos of diuramas that I had made

because um that was inspired by games of

that acclaim era such as Super Mario

Brothers 2. Famously, there was a

Nintendo Power cover where they had uh I

think it was like made of clay or

something like that, but you know, an

actual Mario character there, King Frog

in the background. And you know, some of

those pixelated games back in the day

would use like photos of real things to

help promote their game. And that's what

I did with Pixel Washer. And I love that

we're kind of keeping that going. So, a

question I've had a lot since I signed

this deal was why sign with a publisher?

Uh, I would say that most indie game

devs I talk to are self-publishing and

and I've done that and I get that and I

do like think in general that that's

kind of the way to go. And when working

on Pixelwasher, my plan was to just go

ahead and self-publish. My plan actually

was to launch uh the demo with the Steam

NextFest earlier this year back in June.

And then probably a month later or so,

pretty pretty soon after that NextFest

to go ahead and launch it. And it would

have been scoped down way more. It

wouldn't have had this whole game loop.

I think it probably just would have been

a collection of a bunch of levels to

watch just in a cycle. So like a a way

simpler game. But there's four main

reasons that I wanted to work with a

publisher. Number one is I got to expand

the scope of Pixel Watcher

significantly. So I wanted to spend

another year on the game, but I didn't

really have the runway for that. And so

with a claim, I have the ability to do

that now as I got to spend about another

year working on the game and and making

it better. Reason number two is I get to

focus on making the game explicitly

without having to worry as much about

marketing, localization, porting, and

some other stuff. Because as a solo dev,

as many of you, I'm sure know, when

you're making the game all by yourself,

you've got to make the whole game, but

you also in the back of your mind,

you're worrying about things like

marketing, you're worrying about things

like QA and localization, and you know,

you need other people's help for certain

parts of of the whole process, right?

And so being able to depend upon other

people to help me out with like the

marketing especially, which I don't

think I'm particularly good at. Um that

has been so liberating for me. Like the

last several months I've been able to

focus full-time just on making Pixel

Watcher a decent game. And like that's

that's such a load off, right? That I

know I've got a team helping me out with

with the other stuff. Reason three is I

can take Pixelasher further than I could

on my own. and and this I know for

certain because the game would already

be out by now. Um I had very low

expectations for what the game would do,

right? And getting to work on it for

another year. I'm going to be able to

make the game way better. having people

on the team who are out there making

connections, talking to content creators

and stuff like that, helping me week by

week, uh, make sure I'm on track,

helping me with production, getting me

um, anything, any support that I need,

having them there to help me with that.

I know for sure I can take Pixel Washer

further with the help of a claim than I

could have on my own. So, I I wanted to

work with them for that reason. And then

reason four is the most important reason

to me. It's because while I have

self-published games before, I have not

worked with a publisher in this capacity

before. So regardless of anything else

happening, I wanted to do it just

because it's an experience I didn't

have, right? And I've already been

learning so much. I've improved all my

documentation. I've hired some people,

some contractors to come on board and

help me with the game. Um, I'm learning

new skills. I'm exercising muscles I

haven't used in in ages or maybe didn't

even have. So I've had to develop new

skills as I go. And so not having

published with a publisher before, that

was my main reason that I wanted to do

it is just to get that experience of

having done it. If you haven't

self-published a game on Steam before or

any major platform like the Play Store

for Android or or really anything like

that, I recommend doing that. I I would

recommend doing the whole process. you

know, come up with a concept, make the

game, publish it, get it out there. You

don't even have to worry too much about

like marketing and trying to get sales

for your first game, right? You can just

get it out the door and see the whole

process top to bottom, right? I think

that once you've done that, you'll have

a way better perspective on the whole

thing to see whether you would want to

work with a publisher and if you decide

to, what that relationship would look

like. So, I think that's the best thing

to do is if you haven't done it before,

um, go ahead and self-publish and then,

you know, maybe game two or or five or

whatever, um, if you're interested in

it, then you could start talking to

publishers. So, that's it. I wanted to

get the word out there. I want to let

everybody know what's going on with the

game. I have more things that I want to

put out there. Um, I posted an article

on my website, vladria.com. How I got a

publisher for my indie game where I

spell through the steps of like I did

this first, I made a demo, I met some

people, uh, made some connections, you

know. Um, if that's interesting, check

out the article and maybe I'll make a

another episode where I kind of talk

through that um, with you. Another one

is um, six things that I think helped me

find a publisher. And those are just the

the tips I can give for like this is

what worked for me and this will might

work for you as well. [music] So uh stay

tuned if those interest you. Um I'd also

love to see you in the Vadria Discord

and of course I would appreciate it if

you would add Pixelasher to your Steam

watch list and uh on the article I'll

link to Acclaim is publishing my game

Pixelwasher. There will be links to all

the other really cool looking indie

games that Ala is publishing. So uh

really exciting times ahead. Thanks for

watching and good luck with your game.