Devin Santi
Appearances
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
It's like, you're not the one consuming it at the end of the day. Yeah. But, you know, when someone like just pops into my Discord and they have like a thousand lines of feedback, you have to really take it as a grain of salt. I feel like the best feedback I get is from people who have been following the game and truly understand my vision of it.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
And like the feedback that they give, it's like someone that actually cares about the game rather than someone who's kind of just nitpicking and they think it should be something else. Like that's subjective, like there's subjective feedback and objective feedback.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
someone objectively sees where the game is going and can help steer in that direction that's great but if someone's just like they don't even want that type of game yet they're giving feedback because they saw some other game that did that that's usually kind of how i yeah you kind of have to just filter through what's useful and what's
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Get over it. I don't think it's that difficult of a game to begin with, like, from a platforming perspective. Like, at one point in development, I was trying to make it so, like, maybe you can beat the game without even pressing the jump button. That was too far. I went too far. But it's, I mean...
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Yeah, you really have to sort through it, because at the end of the day, you have to make what you want to make. And I think maybe some people, at least people who do game development, that's an artistic confidence that takes years to develop. And I think I'm fortunate that I kind of, like, I really, like,
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
i really got my legs in like music and youtube and i i've been making stuff my entire life like i made a youtube channel when i was like 12 probably shouldn't have that was a mistake they probably should have been watching what i was doing because then i had like people really criticizing me harshly yeah yeah as a as a kid that just the descriptive of that word but um Yeah.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
So that's kind of, I think I just have, I, I have a lot of experience going into game development. So I think people get into game development as like the first thing that they've tried to do and, I'm lucky that I have like music. What is great about music as an art form is that rhythm goes into everything.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Like having a rhythm for how long a cut scene should be having a rhythm for even just a sequence, a platforming sequence, just that instinct. I feel I carry over. I've got instincts for music that I've been carrying over into everything. That makes sense.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
But anyway, I started as a musician, just making music and funny YouTube videos. And I'll say the core of the creative force going into Mr. Sleepy Man was like, I was kind of artistically split. Like, I would make kind of, like, I would make serious music, and then I would make funny videos, and I really didn't know how to, like, blend the two worlds together.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Yeah. I think the strength is that everything is coming from the same source. If I'm writing a line of dialogue, if I'm writing a lyric, if I'm writing a piece of music, it's all coming from my brain, and I have the same idea. And I think... Even when the game starts, I'm communicating so many things.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
When you go into that start menu, and you're in this empty room, and there's cereal on the ground, and there's all these broken TVs, I'm already telling the story there. There's a lot of foreshadowing, and there's a lot of lore that I give into the game without saying anything.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
and really it's just like if you checked out every detail of the game you would realize there's almost like a hidden story underneath what's going on which is fun like i love when games do that and it's like i didn't even have to think about doing it it's just like that's what i wanted to do as soon as i made a game let me put all these secrets in there
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Yeah, dual meanings are like I've as a songwriter, I've been doing that forever. Like I recently went back and listened to a lot of old songs that I wrote. I listened to some stuff I made when I was 17. I was like, this kid, this kid was onto something like I've just instinctually just like I've always been writing music. So, you know, it's not something I think about.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
You know, I don't sit down and go, I'm going to write a song today. It's like it it bleeds out of you. The drive to make art is this internal drive.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
I'm not sure if I did that yet. We'll see. Yeah. We'll see. I don't know if a broader audience would like, um, it's something that once again, it's like, I can't really be too conscious of, you know, music. I think I, I'm attracted to like the pop music stuff. I'm much, I'm attracted to the simple things, which essentially is like what most people are gonna gravitate towards. It's like in music,
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
I remember when I was coming up as a musician, and I remember being in high school, and all the guys that played guitar, they thought they were so cool, and they were, like, talking about all the bands that they liked, and I like Linkin Park, and they were going to make fun of me if I say I like Linkin Park, because it's, like, 2008, and it's, like, the least cool thing to like, because it's, like, culturally.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
And when I stumbled upon the creative idea of Mr. Sleepy Man, the idea of just, like, he's this wacky, silly, sleepy guy, but there are nightmares, and the nightmares are coming for him, it was like, it just, like, clicked. I was like, okay, this is perfect, like, artistic. I can do anything I wanted to do artistically, and I wouldn't be, like, confined by...
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
And I just remember just, like, thinking, like, well, people kind of miss the point sometimes, because... A musician will get really into a song because of a technical aspect, like, oh, this guitar solo is so fast, or look how fast this drummer is playing. But people don't think about that. People that listen to music, they just want to connect.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
It's about the emotional connection, what resonates with them as a person. When you hear a song, why are you listening to it? Are you listening to it for a drum fill? Or are you listening to it because the person is saying something that means something to you? And I think that's the core. And I go into game development with that perspective as well.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
I'm like, Freebird! Freebird is a great example because that is technically proficient, but he's emoting through the guitar playing. It's not... playing fast for the sake of playing fast, he's playing fast to communicate these ideas. which I feel like a lot of metal music with anything that's like, you know, that stuff is just like, look how fast I can play mom.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Oh yeah, I think just coding is so fun. I didn't realize how fun coding would be. Because it's just like problem solving at its... You grind it down to its basic principles. I didn't realize that I would actually kind of be good at it. I mean, it's still up for debate if I'm good at coding, honestly.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
I think it is just like I'm good at criticizing myself in that way because it's like I can look back at my past mistakes and improve upon that. And game development, I feel like it is almost like every person should try and make a game because you've learned so much about yourself and you see your mistakes in real time. If something doesn't work because of a lack of logic...
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
That's so great for someone's development. I think there's a lot of boomers out there that can really benefit from that.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
I think maybe if you've got to run for president, maybe you should do some game development.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
let's say, whenever you do something creative, it's almost like sometimes you're putting yourself in a box. But because Mr. Sleepy Man is this dream world aesthetic, there are no rules. And that kind of just allowed me to do whatever I wanted. That's pretty nice.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
I will say in 2025, it's the easiest it's ever been. I mean, I bet there's some like developers from the nineties and two thousands that are looking down on me saying like, Oh man, he's got it so easy back in my day, you know? So it's, you know, it's,
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Well, it makes you really honest with yourself because as an artist, you have to kill your darlings, as they say. Yeah, yeah. Last year, there was an entire other world in the game, and I was just like, it's got to die. Rest in peace. You got to put them down. Dang. Yeah. Sorry, kids. We got to put them down. Yep. You have to kind of have that mentality.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
It's like at any time, I love everything in this game, but y'all could die. At any time I throw any of it out. And that's that that takes like a radical honesty, because if you hold if you hold everything that you've made too close, you become blind in a way. Yeah. You know.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
I like to see the personal growth in making things, and therapy is great too. Everyone, go to therapy. Go to therapy as a preventative measure. That's the thing. No one wants to go to therapy as a preventative measure. I'm going to tell you, go to therapy as a preventative measure. You're going to thank yourself in five years.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
if it takes off and I make a lot of money, I'm going to disappear. Dude.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
I think it's like the idea of like, I'm going all back to the music. I'm just going to talk about myself artistically in general. It's like, there's, there's a, even when I'm growing up, there's like, you know, it's also cultural where it's just like being the idea of being famous. Like, Oh, everyone wants to be famous. Everyone's got the phone.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
And it's like, I don't think I ever want to be famous.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
In like 2017, I started doing like these cover videos, like singing songs and covering them. And I was like running ads on Facebook for the songs and one of them kind of went viral. And it got like a million views on Facebook in like the span of like two days. Oh, wow. And you think, wow, that's so cool. That must have been so great having all that attention.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Well, then people started like changing their Facebook profile pictures to like my personal photos on my Facebook.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
And then they start messaging me. And it's like, no. And that's not even fame. That's barely anything. Yeah. So you don't want to be famous. You don't want everyone. Like if you looked up, if you Googled your name right now, could you find your address? Yeah. I hope not. Like, just right now. I really hope not. You probably could. It's in the phone books. You know? So, that's the thing.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
It's like, I don't want, like, I'm actually, like, that's something I have to kind of think about. It's like, if this game takes off, I need to change my name.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
My name, it's not like I'm even a studio name. It says, you start the game, it says, created by Devin Santee. This is probably a bad idea. I'm actually not smart. I'm technically smart, but I'm actually stupid.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
You'll be like Banksy. There you go.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
I can say whatever I want on the internet with no accountability because I'm Mr. Sleepy Man. I'm asleep. Ha ha. I'm unaware. This is gold, Jerry.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
It just takes time.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
You know, if someone's doing something with a goal in mind, like I'm playing guitar to get girls like that reads and like if you don't get girls or like it doesn't work out, then you're not playing guitar anymore. I guess you didn't really like playing guitar. I like playing guitar because I like to play guitar.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
So like I don't have any other motive other than the intrinsic value of doing the thing. So then just naturally you become better.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
We all want to be rich.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Every human being wants to be rich. It's all about the money. Actually, it is all about the money. If I don't make money, I'm going to die. It's all about the money. You're not wrong.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
You're not wrong.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Indie games are the best.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Yeah, it's like you just have to care. Exactly. All these AAA games, does anyone care? I'm sure there's some people that care, but the driving force is to make a product. Indie games are not a product. And I think games in general, that is almost like a conflict. Is this a product or is this an expression?
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Because in a way, it is a product, but these things are almost like they combat each other.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
like i get people in my um in my discord that they tell me about all these accessibility settings that i need in the game and i'm just like you know what the number one accessibility setting is that you can actually download it and play it and it's done like yeah yeah you're not wrong baseline accessible to human beings it works that's the number one yeah the most accessible thing is that i made a game
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
So it's maddening. I mean, you have to be a little, I think I'm kind of delusional as well.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
So living in the dream world, at least, you know, at least I'm honest about it.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
I'm calling myself Mr. Sleepy man. I'm in the, I'm in the, my head is in the clouds. Yeah.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Go outside and talk to people. If you find three friends, you'll feel satisfied. You don't need to do all this stuff.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
I think there will be like a 100% completion objective in the game. And it will say just like, please go outside.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Why are you doing this?
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
If you don't have a support system, let me guide you towards one.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
They can click it. Better help. Yeah, really. Better help. Allow your location. Better help sponsor my game.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
You know, I love 3D platformers. I love Mario 64. Heck yeah. I'm a huge Nintendo nerd. I love Zelda. I love all that. And, you know, I didn't necessarily intend to just make a cookie cutter 3D platformer.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Mr. Krabs. Mr. Krabs and me.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Oh, I am on caffeine. We're all addicted to caffeine.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Yeah, really, really. But you know what? I really, as I'm going to be 30 this year, and I really benefit from eight hours of sleep every night, and I value it so much. And the older I get, if I get like six or five hours of sleep, it sets me off now.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Oh, man. I'm trying to lose weight, man, but this is going to trigger me. Yeah, I love peanut butter pretzels. Oh, those are so good. And, you know, I'm trying to be good, and I'm trying to, like, lose some weight, and I went to, like, Target the other day, and they had Reese's peanut butter pretzels. Oh, man. What are they doing, man? Oh, my gosh. Don't they know you're trying to lose weight?
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
They do know. That's why they put them out there. The universe is speaking. It's all about me.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
It's nighttime. Like, yeah, I haven't been able to play games during the day in a long time. Cause it's just like, there's an anxiety of like, you're wasting your time. You got something to do right now.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
I guess that doesn't count, but it's like once the sun goes down, you kind of check out.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
It's fine. Yeah. I'm too tired to work. And it's just like, I turn my mind off.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
There's a lot. I love Hollow Knight, but there's parts of that game that get so frustrating.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
I love Celeste, but I don't think I ever beat Celeste because the end of it just gets so hard, and it starts to hurt your hands. Yeah. My hands start to hurt. I'm like, why are you doing this to me?
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
oh yeah when you have to start doing the wave dashing at like the last third there you're just like oh and then you like that at the end of the night your hands are like this exactly you got gamer gamer you gotta like stretch them out oh my gosh and you know i do a lot of stuff with my hands i play guitar i play piano i'm on the computer and it's just like give me a break here yeah yeah i've had enough
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
If anything, it was just, like, the character controller of a 3D platformer is so fun that I just, like, there's something just so expressive about it that it just, it's just what I wanted to do creatively. Like, I didn't even, it wasn't even necessarily a conscious thought of, like, ooh, what kind of game am I going to make? It's just, like, naturally that's what I gravitated towards.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Oh, I gotta think, because how would this benefit me? How could I personally gain... There you go. I like the thought process already. Not Kirby, because Kirby's just going to try and consume me. Yep. That's the opposite. What power would he get? You know, maybe Mario, because he's not really home all the time. He's always got something to do. He's probably got a lot of income coming in.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
All those gold coins. I'm thinking of more of a domestic partnership rather than a roommate. I guess a roommate is just I'm splitting rent. I don't know.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
so uh again go to going back to kind of food what's what's your ultimate comfort food when you're deep in game development when i'm deep in game i try and keep a lot of food away from the computer area because it's yeah greasy hands and all that but i would say peanut butter reese's cups yeah the peanut i got a limit with those because it's like after two or three reese's peanut butter cups you start to really feel bad about yourself it's just
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
pineapple on pizza yes or no i was against it for like just the idea of it just you know and once i had it i had pineapple on pizza and i was like it's fine yeah suck it ryan first i'm like yeah he knows he's from jersey what are you talking about and then oh man i'll order it but i'm never gonna like i'm never gonna like order it
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Yeah, if a game has side quests that were actually made by someone who cares, and it's not just filling space, of course. But I don't think all these completionists... Come on. I mean, I say it in the game. I make fun of that in the game. There's a whole line about the speedrunners. It's like, you're making available issue time. Having a race with nobody.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
I'm taking a stab at the idea of just like, what are you doing?
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
and it was kind of a mistake because I learned quickly that the reason why there aren't that many 3d platformers is because they're incredibly difficult to develop. So really the first like two years, we're just trying to get a working character controller. Oh, banging my head against the wall. Um,
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Ocarina of Time. That's the right answer. Hands down. Fight me. Fight me.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
that's um it's nostalgia but at the same time just how it works mechanically in the game it's just it's it's how interweaved the soundtrack is with the game it is the identity of the game the musical instrument is the game so what i think a lot of indie game developers maybe that's where they're faulting is that so like music is just kind of this last thing that i'm gonna throw on it and
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
It's going to be something I just hire someone, a contract, make me some music. And it's like, no, like these, the levels and the games, like I changed my levels for the music and I changed my music for the game. It's like this, the enmeshment of these two things. It's, you are making one thing at the end of the day.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
that's my perspective on everything is like I'm making one thing and all of these all of these things the music the art the soundtrack the dialogue it's all in support of a central vision
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
And the idea of just like, OK, and in 3D platformers, usually the gameplay loop is just like you're running around and you're collecting things and you're jumping on stuff and that's it. And I always like wonder why is there never more to 3D platformer? I want to do more exploration, more interactivity. And that's because like it takes so long to make a 3D platformer.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
I would say I'm still... Are we calling it X? I'm still calling it Twitter. You can call it whatever you want. Dying on this shit. We can call it whatever you want.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
I'm on Twitter. Twitter is probably the most active on social media-wise. I'd say my Discord, but I don't want any more people in there. Get out of here.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Get off my lawn. Yeah. It's too close. youtube subscribe to me on youtube because i feel like youtube is in terms of longevity it's probably where i'm going to last and it's got all my content just watch my youtube videos because i've got stuff on there that i've forgotten about yeah That's awesome.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
So just like even the idea of doing this as a solo developer is like not a good idea. If anyone like asked me for advice, I'd say don't follow your dreams. Don't do it. I was lucky that there was a global pandemic, but if there wasn't a global pandemic, this game wouldn't exist.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
I love that people are loving the demo. And I love that the game is so far in development that I could also tell people that you haven't seen anything yet. If you think it gets crazy... You don't even know. I got a little idea. Just a little. It gets weird. This game gets weird. I'm starting to think, hmm, maybe I should put a parental guidance warning before the game starts.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
It's not inappropriate by any means, but it's just like, I don't know. It gets spooky. I'll tell you it gets spooky.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Well, I think as a solo developer, I kind of have the benefit of just like, you know, if you're working on a team with someone and someone comes to the team with a piece of music, you can't really like trash that person. Like you have to like respect like what they made.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
But since I'm the only person working on it, I can be really hard on myself and be like, yep, you're like really just like demean myself and put myself down. And it's and it's OK because it's just me. So like it really is about the iterative process, iterative process.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
And you know I had to learn how to make music for games while making the game And it's a different process like making a pop song You know it's it's high intensity all the time, but then you realize instantly in a game It's just like how distracting a high intensity song can be so it was really learning about how to like take things away and make something interesting that can loop for hours and
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
without getting bored of it like that was that was kind of a new thing for me so really it's just about having that back and forth the looping i can't imagine the challenge for i couldn't yeah because when it's bad you notice and even just the idea like i have to listen to it all the time and i'm like i'm my harshest critic so the fact that i have to listen to the sound of my voice like every character is voiced by me mr sleeping man's voiced by me
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
And it's just like, I can feel my nasal cavity when I hear the sound of my voice because it's me. So it's just like, oh my gosh, it's the worst. But at the same time, it's great. So I'm glad that people are liking it so far. I'm waiting for someone to trash me. When is it going to happen? When am I going to get the horrible review of someone just hating my game? It's just like, I'm waiting for it.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
But it hasn't happened yet, but I'm sure it will happen at launch.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Yo, how we doing?
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
um i really love anything 2000s yeah the game is a love letter to the thousands and like it's not just like people say oh 2000s nostalgia like in a game usually they're just drawing from like a game like banjo kazooie or ocarina of time whatever but like i love everything nostalgia like
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
i'm a huge lincoln park fan so like that type of music is influenced in the game like new metal or like pop punk from the 2000s like that people don't even realize it's just like in the game and it fits because it is oh it's 2000s aesthetic so really anything 2000s and i there isn't there isn't a limit on that period nice yeah okay yeah i can't i can't even imagine it
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
In a good way. With nostalgia, I try and be very cautious with it. Because nostalgia, for nostalgia's sake, in a way, is almost predatory for the consumer. And it's the opposite of that. If anything, I feel like the game, I'm almost having a commentary about nostalgia. And some of the songs later in the game really talk about, like, why am I escaping?
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Why do I need to use this form of meaning to escape from the past? And that becomes kind of an overarching story theme in the game.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
I thought I was just rocking out. No, no. Things happen. Stealing donuts. There's a cause and effect.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
If anything, there are things in the demo that happen in the demo, and you think, oh, this is just a funny, crazy thing, but all of your actions in the demo have an effect on the rest of the game.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
That's probably my entire life. Yeah, right? I feel like Mr. Sleepy Man as a character is the embodiment of that because I didn't intend to make him a video game character. I was just drawing a sleepy guy. I was practicing drawing because I knew I wanted to do game art. And I was like, oh, Sleepy Man, Mr. Sleepy Man, that sounds funny.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
And then it kind of just occurred to me that it would be a fun game idea. But then even the idea of him being this character who, you know, you're doing morally wrong things in the game. You're stealing a cash register. You're messing with people in the town. I didn't realize the comedic aspect of that, that, oh, Mr. Sleepy Man, because he's asleep, he doesn't have any moral accountability.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Like, the player absolves him. That in itself is almost like a joke. And I'd say that is kind of, like, unexpected, you know, because I didn't... I didn't preconceive something like that. Things kind of just fell into place. It's just the game. If there's something funny in the game, it just happened to be funny. That's the thing about comedy, too.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
I love comedy as an art form because you can tell when someone's trying to be funny.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Yeah. And it's, I'm trying to make myself laugh at the end of the day, you know, and it doesn't escape you. Like you go and you read the descriptions of the objectives and I'm putting jokes in there. And the best part for me is like, you know, I'm the biggest fan of my humor because it's for me.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
So like I'll write a joke two years ago and then I'll read the description of something while I'm coding. And it's like, oh, I completely forget about the joke and it makes me laugh, which is, which is kind of the idea. If you're, if you can't, if you don't like your own cooking, then why are you cooking? You know?
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Yeah, I guess I'm a masochist because this is just like, it is, no pun intended, a nightmare. But at the same time, it's like it's half nightmare, half like creative revolution. It's so fun. I love making games. It's like the best thing. It's been an awakening, making this game. Oh, really? With awakening, you say? Yeah, awakening. Right, right. I'm already starting with the puns.
Video Gamers Podcast
Mr. Sleepy Man - Indie Deep Dive with Devin Santi – Gaming Podcast
Yeah. You know, there's a famous Rick Rubin quote. It's like, you really, if you try and make something for someone else, you're going to ultimately fail. I'm paraphrasing that. But in a game, it's like, you have to really balance that because at the end of the day, it is for someone else. It is like, it's like cooking. It is the same thing.