Meet Dan Long
Dan "Indie" Long is a streamer, author, community manager, and co-host of Indie Game Business. He has a powerful testimony of redemption, recovery, restoration, and the transforming love of God.
Watch Dan on Twitch
https://www.twitch.tv/indie
Connect with Dan on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/therealindie/
@TheRealIndie / X
https://x.com/therealindie
Indie Game Business
https://indiegamebusiness.com/
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Dan Long
I was out of control, but moderation was not my thing. My whole thing was on to get as high as I could as fast as I possibly. Could for as long as I can.
Brock Henderson
Welcome to faith forms. My name is Brock Henderson, and I'm your host today. Dan Indy Long is. Joining me, Dan, is best known probably for indie game business. I know that's where I first met him, and he's also community manager for Marauder Tech as well as you do things with game recruiters all. Right.
Dan Long
Oh yeah, I run, I do some social posts for game recruiter.
Brock Henderson
Yeah. So Dan, it's awesome that you join me again today. It's been a while. How did you get your name, Indy?
Dan Long
No. OK, so back in the day when I I I was doing animations so I had I was I was an animator, right? So I was animating in games. I had a studio, my sole proprietor studio is called Indie Animation Studios. I started streaming on Twitch. My Twitch channel was Twitch TV slash indie animation studios, but everyone was calling me indie and then eventually I decided that I like streaming so much. That I would give that a go and I became a Twitch partner, which actually I just had my 10 year Twitch partner anniversary and that was like they this was way back when they would not change your name but there was some kind of something happened there was some tech issues and a bunch of people on my that were in.
Brock Henderson
Oh, Congrats.
Dan Long
The community on my social media just bombarded Twitch with saying like Indy should have his name changed to Indy, not indie animation studios, and so they just did it and then it just, I don't have that Channel anymore. I changed my name, which I kind of. I wish that I didn't, but it's OK. I haven't really been streaming on it so.
Brock Henderson
So Dan, you have a pretty powerful testimony, if I remember right. Would you mind sharing that with people?
Dan Long
Sure, let's see how how deep you want me to go. So I was never. I mean, I wasn't brought up, Christian, you know, I went to church. Like before, I was in kindergarten. That was about it. UM. And so I grew up very rebellious. I was in drugs. I got in drugs early on, like 15-16 years old of age. I got into a really heavy meth thing and all kinds of drugs, really. So I basically, you know, I was a I was a biker. I basically was a career criminal for a long, long, long time. I learned how to manufacture drugs, which was not good for me at all. I I started going a little nuts and I while I started going a lot crazy and so I got clean right. I did a bunch of time in jail. There was one year I went to jail like 10 times and whatever but I was just career criminal. That was my mindset you know.
Speaker
Wow.
Dan Long
So I guess. Come to about in my 30s, I decided I'm going to get clean, so I got clean. And I was clean for about 10 years. Remarried my first wife. But then for some reason I thought you know if because I was a biker hanging out with bikers, you know, with a bunch of people, I thought, you know what, I can still, I can. I can use drugs in moderation. And I cannot. I cannot. And so I was went down a terrible, terrible path. It was, it was short. It was only several months. But it was. I almost died twice. I ended up in the hospital from poisoning myself because. You know, you know the thing about when you. You empty. You empty those. Spirits and seven more coming back. I was out of control, but moderation was not my thing. My whole thing was I want to get as high as I could as fast as I possibly could for as long as I could. There was no, you know, functional addiction in what I was doing.
Speaker
Well.
Dan Long
So I was doing a lot of bad stuff. Then at one point I was. Something happened inside of me. I don't know exactly what it was, but it's like I. Can't do this. Anymore. And I was successful at what I was doing is I was successful selling drugs. I had money I had. Stuff you know you owe me money. I was like, the successful drug dealer. I thought that I wanted to be.
Speaker
Yeah.
Dan Long
When I was younger. Uh. So I I went, my wife took me back. Says we're not together. So I was at home sleeping and she comes in one day and says, do you? Want help and. I said yes. So I went to a 30 day rehab and through that rehab I was not going to do. I was going to do DNA. It was not going to do a. It's not going to do any of that stuff. Through that, I met a guy who became my sponsor. And he was not Christian at all. I'm still not saved at this point in time, but. In the 12 step process it's. The one of the things that you do is pray God's will. You pray the will. Of whatever your higher power is, they would say your higher power can be a doorknob because you know, but. That's neither here nor there. I actually wrote a book. On that but. That we can talk about later. Umm. So the 12 step program, I started praying God's will. God's will God's will. That man, all of this stuff just started happening to me. I got delivered, I got delivered a smoking cigarettes, which is if you were a long time smoker. Smoking, including cigarettes is hard. Man instantly delivered of it. It was like it was amazing.
Brock Henderson
Yeah.
Dan Long
I was like. Lord, I just want to be disgusted by this. And so I. Said, oh, I can take. One more drag and I lit a cigarette and. Drag and was. Like yuck. Put, put it out and. That was it. Not the drag, not anything since then. So anyways. Went to the rehab, I came out, changed little did I know it was Jesus. My wife and I went to a marriage counseling marriage, 9111 counseling. We flew to Hawaii. Actually, this was just right at the very end of. The big COVID like you had to be tested 24 hours before you got on a flight and whatever. So we were there and we did this counseling, which was amazing. The guy was a minister. I didn't realize it. You know, it wasn't really a Christian counseling, but it was marriage. Like, looking back at your self. So when? When we got back home, I was like, I want to be in this motorcycle club a clean and. Silver motorcycle club. But it's just nothing was panning out. And then one day my wife Rochelle comes in and says, do you? Want to be saved? And I said yes, and so bam. And then I got saved. And after that it was on. It was about Jesus. I'm going to church the next week. I went and got baptized. I got baptized in the Holy Spirit. And I ever since then, it was just on, it was on God, it's on. God is the number one. Jesus is the number one thing in my life. UM. We have a ministry that we do is called. How can we pray for you as that my wife and I have been doing where we just go out and pray for people we set up, you know, parking lot and we have these big well here on wear one of the shirts. How can we pray for you you know and we just pray for people and it's amazing. I was in a Christian motorcycle club.
Speaker
Awesome.
Dan Long
For a while. Called the soldiers for Jesus, that was pretty awesome. But in the gaming industry. Because I've been working in gaming right this whole time through my short drug addiction.
Brock Henderson
So you were a drug dealer and you were doing animation at the same time?
Dan Long
No, I I stopped doing animations. I stopped doing that. I I animated for a while, but I I'm. Like, let's make a. Go at me streaming full time and so I stopped animating and then I. Did that but through. The live streaming, you know, I was like the first sponsored AMD sponsored live streamer before. They have the AMD red team. They would fly me out to events. I worked in PR business development, influencer relations. We had a company called Gaming Gauntlets that had to do with Twitch streamers, you know, and getting promotions for. I moved to Florida and we started a business here called Lucky Axolotl Studios, which is they make. I'm not with them anymore, but they make mobile games for or they make ads for mobile games, which is a really fun, fun thing. But yeah, no, I was not. Kind of thing, but I was trying to work and function at the same time and it was not happening. But like I said, my my relapse or whatever it's called was only three months.
Speaker
OK.
Dan Long
So I was barely able to do work that I was trying to do. Right. I had to come clean to all my bosses and told them what happened and. You know, so.
Brock Henderson
So was animation of an interest for you growing up or how did you get any?
Dan Long
Animation, yeah. But but I it's a total interest. I break apart animations when I'm, you know, watching games or movies or whatever, but I just don't do it because it's such a long process. I like to do things quickly, like animating as you spend hours and hours and hours, plus doing the indie studio. I would do a lot of walk cycles and that kind of stuff and you know gun things and but now you can just buy those packs so all the stuff I went to school for.
Speaker
Thanks.
Dan Long
And was doing. Now you can just go on mixamo and pay 20 bucks and get like 100 different animations or whatever. You know, so. But so it kind of shifted out of that. But that was really my first well, my first thing actually is funny. It was in 2000, the game Catechumen, which was a Christian first person shooter. I did QA testing.
Speaker
Yeah.
Dan Long
For that way back in the.
Brock Henderson
Yeah. Well, that's cool. How did you get hooked up with him?
Dan Long
They were, they live. They was in this town next to us and I. Was like oh. They're hiring QA testers. So. I went and said I want a QA test and. My names in the credits. Did I really contribute? I mean.
Speaker
I.
Dan Long
I don't know. It was basically play the game and see what's broken reported to us so.
Brock Henderson
Sure. Were you a gamer growing up?
Dan Long
Oh, I was totally a gamer. Growing up. I got a picture of me and my grandma. We got the Atari 2600 right when it came out, I got it for Christmas. And there's a picture.
Speaker
OK.
Dan Long
Of me at. A card table playing so yeah, I. Was a full on gamer growing up. People say, oh, I've been a gamer since. I was a kid. I'm like, yeah. Well, you're only you're only 30. Alright? I'm, I'm 55. So I've been a gamer since the 70s.
Speaker
No.
Dan Long
Does that mean I'm good? No.
Brock Henderson
How did you hook up with like Jay then, and start doing indie game business?
Dan Long
Jay. Yeah, that was kind of a transition for me because this was, I was clean and then I wasn't clean. And then, but Jay really supported me through that. He didn't. Apparently I was doing OK work because he didn't know that I was using drugs. Until he told him. But. You know. You know, I'm not exactly sure. I was streaming and he would reach out and. Said hey, I have this idea. I think that's how it worked. I don't even remember really. And then so we've been doing it for what? Like five years now, yeah. So I I've only been saved. A little over four years.
Speaker
Wow.
Brock Henderson
While we're talking about indie game business, what are some like common problems or pitfalls that you see people encountering over and over again in the indie space?
Dan Long
They don't have money for marketing, right? People want to make a game and I understand it, right? Oh, I made this game and then it's like, oh, we're going to release it on steam. Let's do some marketing. Don't. Don't do that, because there's how many 10s of thousands of games released every year. Have and. I know being an indie dev, it's hard because you know you're. If you're doing it by yourself or with your friends, you know you you put time into it, not money, right? The ideal thing is to have the amount of money that you think it is you need for game development. That's how much you may have for marketing, but it's hard, right? It's hard. So that's why it's awesome that there's a lot of indie publishers that are around that, you know will help. People. So there's that. That's the big mistake. Not putting anything in all game dev no more. You can have an awesome game, but if nobody's ever heard of it, it's not going to do good unless. You know, something supernatural happen.
Brock Henderson
What are your thoughts on of like this year? You know, people have been saying survived till 25 and are you seeing changes like is money coming back?
Dan Long
I don't. I I I don't really know.
Speaker
OK.
Dan Long
Yeah, I'm not really. I am going to GDC, so maybe there will be more information there about what's going on with the in the. In the culture.
Brock Henderson
Are you optimistic?
Dan Long
Yeah, I think that, you know through through a lot of things like especially COVID, you know, the gaming industry just. Went up and up and up and up and up and up when, obviously because people are were at home and they needed something to do. So I just think that interactive media is. It makes more money than any other industry so. I feel like there's amazing opportunity. It's just that so many people want. To do it. That you really have to either get lucky, have something supernatural happen, or, you know, have a lot of money. And be good, right? Because you can be an amazing developer or an amazing artist, but. The problem is there's. 10s of thousands of amazing artists out there. Why? I know that for Marauder Tech they they're they listed a job on LinkedIn and they had 1000 people apply within the first couple of days. There's so many people looking for jobs right now.
Speaker
Oh.
Brock Henderson
Tell me more about Marauder Tech.
Dan Long
So my router tech, this is an interesting story. Morgan Kane is the founder of Marauder Tech. He actually was in the NFL in the 90s, I believe, for five years he was in the NFL, he. But he said, like he, Seth tells the story. He bounced around for a while, got injured a bunch. Then he left and he became an entrepreneur. So he has done a lot of different things and started. He owned doctor's offices a lot, a lot of different things. But there was one game that he really, really loved and he wanted to buy it, but they wouldn't sell it to him. So now he's at a point where I'm just going to make the game that I want. Right? So. He created it's called Price of glory. It's a. Mobile game asymmetrical. It's kind of like chess. Excuse me, but it's with it's it's fantasy medieval.
Speaker
MHM.
Dan Long
There's no luck. There's no percentages. You 100% no, it's 100% skill. You you 100% know that if you move this guy he can move X amount of spaces and do X amount of damage and take X amount of hits right? So. It's 100% skill. It's it's a really awesome game, so it's launched on mobile, it's on iOS and Android. It's it's not, it's soft launch in the US so it's we're not, we're not even advertising about it. Us it's in Australia, Philippines, India and New Zealand right now.
Brock Henderson
What are you doing? For them.
Dan Long
The Community engagement person, so handling the discord and going to GDC and. I'm doing social media for that right now.
Brock Henderson
Nice.
Dan Long
And and other things here and there. Like all the research or you know. It's kind of it's since it's a a, AA studio as what it's coined.
Brock Henderson
OK.
Dan Long
There's still like I have multiple things that I do, but it's mostly my most focused on social media. Videos I do some live streaming. It's fun actually, because I'm doing that as a V tuber character. Which is from lore from the game. So that's kind of fun. That's the kind. Of thing we're starting.
Brock Henderson
What lights you? Up out of all the things you do.
Dan Long
What likes me up, man, I love to talk to people about.
Brock Henderson
Yes.
Dan Long
Jesus. Really it it used to. Be I was full on you. Know video games industry did, but. After I got sick. Gift we prayed for the Lord to you know, because it says the Lord will give you the desires of your heart and a lot of people take that as like, oh, you have these desires. The Lord will give them. To you. But you know it. Maybe it means that? But it also means that the Lord places those desires in your heart. So we. I have. Prayed, and talk to God and said, Lord, we want your desires so even just from two years ago. The desires that I used to have, I don't have those desires anymore. I just want to. You know, talk to people about Jesus, you know, lay hands on the sick, cast out demons. That's that's what I want to do. That's. That's what lights me up.
Brock Henderson
So how do you integrate your faith with your work then? Like, are you able to do talk to people about Jesus being a community manager?
Dan Long
So. Doing it for a company I don't, and even with indie game business, right, I I am always ready to talk about Jesus and I might just bring it up, but it's not like. I'll bring it up in a story like, you know, if I feel led like to tell someone the story like it just happened. In the last. Indie game business not during the show, but pre show as I'm talking to the guests and I said yeah, you know, when I found Jesus everything changed and did it. But as the getting paid to do something, you do what they want you to. Now Morgan is 100% not opposed to he. He thinks people should be able to have their faith in the workplace and we do. I'm fortunate I work with a lot of other Christians and like we have a prayer room in our. One of our social channels that is for us and then so we will go in there in the morning and people will come in and we'll pray for each other or talk about stuff. And so that is very fortunate. I've never worked with anybody that was Christian before. So it's it's really awesome and. You know, there's just there's such. In the video game industry, there's such a bad. Bad. A bad like people think Christians are bad, right? And it's not. It's it's not, you know, it's it's totally I. I used to think that I'm like oh, being a Christian is easy. Oh, that's stupid. Ohh. This is that I was so anti Christian. So if Jesus can, how I know Jesus is real? This he changed me and he continues to change me. I'm not changing me, right? I didn't. I didn't used to love people. I love people now. I didn't care. I was all about me, me, me. And I'm not like that. And it certainly wasn't me that changed me because, you know. I like to ride my motorcycle 105 miles. An hour down. The freeway. But the Holy Spirit's like. No, no, no, Romans. You're supposed to follow the the IT doesn't say laws of the land, but you're supposed to obey authority.
Speaker
Yep.
Dan Long
Yeah. That is in place and so I drive and ride the speed. Limit. You know my flash. Man, I want to go 90. Five, 105 miles. An hour not barreling down the road. But no, that is not even an answer to what? You asked but.
Brock Henderson
No, it was good. What do you see God doing in the industry?
Dan Long
Well, I see it. You know, I I'm not. I'm not active really in the Christian developers discord, but I see it. I see that there's a hunger for. People to. Come together. Right, brothers and sisters, to come together and support each other. I see there's also a desire in Christians to. To bring that out to the forefront, you know. But I just, it seems like a lot of people have problems with bold being bold, and I heard I heard a pastor say that. Sometimes you're supposed to be bold to the point that it seems inappropriate, right? It's not really inappropriate, but you know you're supposed to be bold to to a point that pushes that limit. Of course, you're never supposed to be. You're not supposed to be inappropriate. If it doesn't, if the if the Holy Spirit tells you to say something and you're like, I don't think I want to say that or that's. Just weird, I don't. It's not up to us to understand it. It's up to us to obey it.
Speaker
Yeah.
Dan Long
So I feel like that there is a point right now where. Because there's a comfort level in Christianity. Especially people that have been saved for a long time. Yeah, you're saved. You know this. My grandma knew this. My mom knows this. You know, this is where it's at. But there's there's a level that's so much more that I wasn't raised with any of that tradition. So I see this tradition stuff. And. I hear stuff when I see stuff and people that I know that have been Christian for. A long time. I'm like, I just. I read the Bible a lot like I read a lot and I listen to it a lot. I'm like, I don't think that's in the Bible, man. What's you're saying? I I just don't think that's a biblical thing. And I feel like. Something's happening. You know, I pray that people get boldness. And. Just can step out in their faith and not be that just comfortable person. Like I want to be that person. The Holy Spirit goes you're in Walmart and they say pray for that person. And I just walked up to him like it's nothing. And they're like, you know what the Lord told me to pray for you. And I feel like I'm getting bolder and more and more bolder when we go up and. Set out you. Know we have big sign that says how can we pray for? I wear this walking around and people come up to me and and ask for prayers and I feel like the more that that happens, that helps with my boldness personally. But I just pray that people in the game industry get I'm stuck from this tradition that you've learned over time.
Speaker
Yeah.
Dan Long
And just know that you know. One of the in one of the Gospels, the last words Jesus says is. You know, these shall follow the signs of those that believe, right? You shall lay hands, or you shall cast out demons. Right. You shall. And at the end it says you shall lay hands. On the sick, and they shall recover. But people aren't doing it those. Are the last words Jesus said. We need to be doing laying hands on people. We need to be casting out demons.
Brock Henderson
When I when I share with people kind. Of. Just about the games and games industry, I talked to them about just the massive potential that that I see. We have 1 developer within our community that has 30,000. People in his discord. That's a mega, Mega church, right? If you put it into the church contacts. So the the work that you're doing, I think is just amazing and has so much potential. Just I just see so many people looking for community and getting involved in these different discord groups and stuff and and. We have a small discord server and. It's amazing what you know, it just becomes part of people's life and it becomes a trusted community where their share and we're living life together and you know, eventually people share hard things and struggles and so. I just see massive, massive opportunities, especially with the with the work that that you.
Speaker
You.
Dan Long
You know, I pray to the Lord, I want my my whole life to revolve around him. That includes my work especially, you know, so whatever the Lord has in store for me, I'm excited for it. It it feels like it went from one place. My life went from one place and all these things started falling off and falling off and falling off. And being replaced with Jesus and. Man, it's amazing.
Brock Henderson
What's God talking to you about now?
Dan Long
What's God talking to me about? Specifically? We so we moved to Florida from Oregon. 4 1/2 years ago. The Lord has told us to go back home, right? I I feel like the past 4 1/2 years have been. Training ground for me. I learned about a lot about. What? How not to be and what not to do. My things that we've went through, I've learned a lot about about healing and authority that Jesus has given us, which is a lot of people don't understand the authority that Jesus says I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy.
Speaker
MHM.
Dan Long
That's pretty cut and dry, right? That that's very cut and dry like the enemy is out there to kill, steal and destroy. Right. So why aren't we all dead? If he was out, if the enemies out there to kill us, then why didn't he just? Kill us because he can't. Because basically he has to get our permission. Just to get our permission to do that stuff and we give it. Not even knowing we're doing it. Like when people say, oh, that's killing me or oh, I'm having a bad day or that's open door for the enemy to come right at you. Your words, the power of life and death is in the power of the tongue. So. Being here, we've learned a lot, but the Lord says it is time to go home to where I'm from. I'm going back changed. My wife is going back changed. I feel like I don't know what's going to happen exactly. We're going to sell our house. We don't even. Have a plan. Right. We're selling our house. It's on the market. We do not even have a plan of where we're going, what we're going to. We could get a trailer, we could just drive there and put stuff in storage. We don't have a single plan. At all, or comes, we have ideas that we think would be awesome. We literally have no idea. We're so that's what the Lord has been speaking to me lately. Well, specifically.
Brock Henderson
That's cool. Are you? So are you just being open? Open handed with it and just waiting for God to tell you. What? What the next step is?
Dan Long
Yeah, yeah. I mean we, we've got an idea, but. What it what it is or how it's going? To pan out specifically. I don't know. You know what? It's so much easier. To just depend on that than. To our own. Think of our own stuff. You know, I could think of this idea and that idea, and then I've got this backup plan and this. So you know what? I I don't have to think about it because. God. Is going to if we. People so, so many people say, oh, God's in control, which is not true because we have free will and we have free will, right. We decide things. God's in control. When you say, OK, God, I'm giving it to you and I'm not going to decide. Then God can come in and go. OK. But. God, God is not in control in that way. God is not in control in that way. And we have to, we have to give him. That we have. To be open to that.
Brock Henderson
So for your. Pro organization. Have you done anything aimed at the games industry?
Dan Long
We have not, no. No. First I was doing stuff in the motorcycle club community and then? Our prayer ministry is just it's on the street. It's just on the street. We're we're gonna. We've got some. We're getting a tent here pretty soon so we can go set up at. Different events and just pray for people. But it has. Not been geared toward the game industry at. All.
Brock Henderson
Would that be something you'd be interested in at?
Dan Long
Some .0 I'm sure OK for sure where wherever God leads me. Yeah. I mean, I've been in the game industry for for 15 years. Learned a whole bunch of stuff about it. Why would God not want to use that? But then again. I don't, I don't. Know maybe I was never supposed to be in the games industry. Right. You know, I don't know.
Brock Henderson
I can't. I can't believe that. Well, that's something that's the reason I ask is because it's something that some of us have been talking about, like that's really on my heart just to. Like. You know, set up a booth at GDC or or one of the industry events and just pray for people and you're you're doing that already. Just out on the street. I love that.
Dan Long
Yeah, that would be awesome to do. I would totally do that, I'll. Go do it anywhere. I don't really care. I mean, if I can go play in, uh, pray for people in the motorcycle Club motorcycle Club, clubhouse, I can go pray for people anywhere.
Brock Henderson
If people want. To connect to you, where should they go?
Dan Long
Twitter X Yeah, the real indie. That's it. That's probably the best place or discord. My discord is under score indie, under score indie. OK. Yeah, like the actual under score, not the word. I couldn't get Indy. I had India a long time ago, but. I didn't, you know, not being active at certain times, but yeah, under score Andy.
Brock Henderson
Dan, thank you so much. For joining me today, it's been a real pleasure.
Dan Long
Yeah. Thanks.
