How I Would Start Gamedev (if I had to start over)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ส.ค. 2024
- Check out the Podcast! - sasquatchbstudios.podbean.com/
Show your Support & Get Exclusive Benefits on Patreon! - / sasquatchbgames
Join our Discord Community! - / discord
In this video, I reflect on my journey in game development alongside my wife, Nikki, acknowledging the mix of successes and setbacks we encountered along the way.
We delve into the many lessons learned and the changes I would implement if given the opportunity to start over again. With honesty and introspection, I share seven essential tips we've learned from our experiences.
These tips, aimed at aspiring indie game developers, offer a candid perspective on navigating the complexities of the industry. Whether you're just starting out or looking to refine your approach, these tips might just help you avoid some of the challenges we've experienced so far.
If you're new to our channel, we're Brandon & Nikki from Sasquatch B Studios. We sold our house to start our game studio, and work full time on building our business and making our game Samurado.
---
In need of more Unity Assets? Using our affiliate link is a great way to support us. We get a small cut that helps keep us up and running: assetstore.unity.com/?aid=110...
---
Looking for some awesome Gamedev merch? - sasquatchbgames.myspreadshop....
---
Subscribe for NEW game dev videos every Monday & Thursday!
Wishlist our Game:
Wishlist Samurado on Steam! - store.steampowered.com/app/23...
Follow us on Twitter for regular updates!
/ sasquatchbgames
---
#gamedev #indiegame #gamedevelopment - เกม
I seem to disagree with literally all the game dev advice YT channels, except this one. This one actually teaches me things. And you don't subscribe to the "this is the only way to do game dev right" approach. You don't shame devs for trying to do things differently. You encourage multiple different ways to learn, even if it's through failing, because every lesson is valuable. You are a treasure.
"I seem to disagree with literally all the game dev advice YT channels"
That's a red flag bro. As a noob you should be more open minded.
@@user-ik8vy1rg8f You're right noobs should be open minded, but YT has ALOT of trash influencers that just give generic abstract advice that isn't actionable. Like just type in the amount of bandwagoners for, "How I would learn to code if I could start over."
Honestly YT isn't the best place for people who want to be truly productive.
Having monitors closer to each other is the first important thing I would change if I started making games from over.
I've been pursuing my Game Development and Programming degree for almost 3 years. I have never felt more pressure and more intimidated in my life when I'm trying to make something in Unreal so this video really does put my mind at ease and helped me a bit with finding that lost motivation I once had.
Thank you for the video! I plan to stream a one month challenge starting today. I know basically nothing, so I've been watching a few of your videos. I appreciate the positive thoughts and general attitude you have. Thanks again
I'm coming from the design side of things and always had the feeling of many solo indie devs focusing about theyr code way too much. Then buy an asset pack in the game store and think the game will skyrocket. Only to then be disappointed about not succeeding. Not that it is anyhow wrong or I know it any better. But what I learned from the film industry, is that only the really outstanding stories (probably 0.1% of all movies have this) go big. But art is key, to make a decent story successful. I thinik in games it's similar. People will always be attracted by catchy art. If then the gameplay (including the story) is decent, the code only needs to run somehow. The code should be the tool to tell the great story in an appealing way. It should not be the other way around. Left out unique mechanics, which can be a great hook too.
Thanks for this one, great advice!
Dude you are so much honest and real about everything......
I honestly think that everything that happens to you is a part of the journey...so each little mistake you have done is just part of your experience now!
I think that seeing things in that way helps a lot to keep following a dream!
Great video. I totally agree with you. I was an avid gamer in my childhood, spending countless hours playing. When I started working as a developer, it became hard for me to play other games. This was slowing me down during the game design process. Now, I am dedicating time again to play other games for learning and research purposes.
Dude, starting over at this point would be a nightmare, I feel like it gets harder every year. When I started in 2010, a simple top down pirate indie game would make 1000's, now it would make basically nothing. I think people starting now have it even harder than we did!
I understand but I also think most of the game released are trash as well.
something someone told me that "technical hurdles have become easier but artistic standards have become much higher" and thus solodevs gotta be both above average in coding and in art
I can't even keep up with the number of interesting games coming out. I don't have enough hours to play all the games I'd like to.
@@ToastRusk Thats a valid point
@@TESkyrimizer Yeah, although, AI would've been nice back in the day when I was learning to code and do the work
Awesome video as always!
Thank you for the advice, that's very helpful!
I've just gone full time as an indie dev and this video has been a huge help! Thank you for all the inspiration!
No way, that’s so awesome! 👏👏👏 What’s your game? We’ll play the heck outta it!
Amazing advice. I watch your tutorials and videos most the time even though I’ll never touch Unity again!
really good advice, especially the last one. when start game dev you play less and less game to the point that your idea is really out date.
Great video. Point 1 is appreciated to hear. It's one of my fears, that I just won't write code the correct way. But I've heard it before that it's more important it works and is fun, then it is to make perfect clean code. And point 7. I love playing some of my old favourites and thinking "hey, I could make that, I know how I could do that!". Or wonder how something was done and work out the details in your head.
I resonated with the working so much that you let regular household stuff be ignored. I'm a father and husband as well and It feels like there's not enough time in the day and when you clean something its just as bad the next day. It's like you're fighting a losing battle and it's hard to focus on other things like gamedev. I need to work on my lifestyle maybe i just don't really know how to start i guess lol.
#7 hit hard. The last game I actually played that wasn't a mobile game or chess or something was Skyward Sword almost 13 years ago. In that time, I watched a lot of other people play games and would analyze those games in detail; but recently, I started playing games on my channel and immediately caught myself combing through all the little design decisions and even commenting on them during my playthroughs. Perhaps most critically was the game FEEL and getting a sense for things like difficulty and pacing and emotional impact.
Here to learn how to get something right.
How late is too late to start game development 😢? I am a web developer (not very great at it) from almost 9 years now. I dont find it exciting anymore. Is it okay to venture into game development now. Safe to say i have prior knowledge in C# and other programming concepts.
Economies all around the world are shrinking. This is just my humble opinion but i would approach game dev as a plan B. First make sure if things gets rough u still have that exit door. When it comes to age i dont think that really matter honestly.
I'm starting off i just got into college this is a great video
I agree and appreciate most of your words here.
Only to respond 1st point about code quality. I have wide variety of experience on Unreal side.
Once I had a unreal plugin to do a task due to my narrow understanding to do a thing. But later as I progressed, I found that I can actually implement the same function into a customized player controller.
By doing so, I gain 2 pros:
1. Much better portability, I don't need to maintain the plugin becaise of the rapid change of API. It's based on much stable in game API now. I can transfer to newer engine almost immediately.
2. Much shorter and cleaner code.
Then I realize this plugin is my "technical debt" during my inmature learning before.
Nowadays, it happen much less for me to have such problem.
So I thonk there is always some hard lesson to learn, but might turn out to be worthy.
Great video, one thing I've noticed is I've been playing less games since I started game dev. Mostly because I'm enjoying the art side of things. However, I do plan on finishing my playthrough of Hogwarts Legacy.
Great video! Can you please recommend what equipment to start my gamedev journey with? Any specific computer/screen/CPU/OS? 😅
A lot of things depend on your needs. If you want to make stuff in unreal you’ll benefit from a higher end pc. If you’re thinking of getting a laptop and do have the money I would just get an m1 macbook or newer. They are sleek, silent, powerful and have an insane battery life for a laptop. (Although if you want to work in unreal I would buy a gaming laptop) Many pc guys have a stigma around MacOs but it’s actually quite good for developing, although I would personally use windows because of my familiarity with it and it’s larger compatibility with software and gaming. If you’re on more of a budget I would just start out with what I already have and upgrade if you find that your loading and compiling times are to long. Here is a summary and some other recommendations:
Mouse: loghitech g305
Keyboard:Literally anything
Moitor: $250 Dell G2724D
Laptop: 1000-1300$ m1/m2 MacBook Air or $600 HP Victus 15 TPN-Q279
Headphones: JBL 760NC
Mic: Blue yeti
OS: Windows
To the point about "design over code," I'm always reminded of how Undertale was coded with one massive switch statement. Every programmer hearing that is probably screaming right now; and yet it's still heralded as one of the best games of all time.
can you please make a option to hid the blood
What is that game at the end called? 8:56 The one with the pet
Stray
Hi rookie question here: don't you risk anything by using the Binding of Isaac IP for your cover? or am I missing something? If ok I am interested into knowing the details on how it is ok.
Can you recomend any good youtube or course to start unity?
Brackeys
Yeah you gave some tips and you said why you would do certain things differently. But you didn’t answer the question the title prompts, how would you get started?
Whats that cat game at the end it looks amazing. Very unique like legend of zelda
It's Stray. I played it and it's amazing.
@@pcneststayinformed thanks
What's the game at 8:25?
Nine Sols
Honestly wish I could understand coding (I have tried for years), because a lot of these suggestions would be useful to me if I could.
Also the more games I play of the genre I want to try to build on, the less confident I am in actually believing I can build something decent due to critical observation.
Me too. No idea about coding.
But use tutorials and chat gpt now to get started and try to figure the cose out.
Бомбіческа гра, музичка, атмосфера, мммм Крутяк
*I don't think I could handle the development aspect at this point, im already bald and cant lose anymore hair 😂 Im good with packaging an entire concept and selling it to an A B or C developer 👌 i might lose a bit of creative control and that sucks but I absolutely will NOT be a developer today* 💀
Hot take: most assets are trash. They look good alone but no asset is made taking the specific budgets of your game in mind because the goal of an asset is to sell copies on asset stores with visual appeal optimization be damned.
On the first point, I'd argue its actually the opposite. The people that are professional software developers are worst at keeping things simple. Its been so engrained into their approach that things need to be well written and extendible, that its very difficult for them to use something hacky to get the job done. So the message i think to self taught learners is more: dont get intimidated by the pro programmers.
Edit: and #7 actually surprised me 😂
If you're following industry standards that's a great indicator that you're doing it precisely the wrong way. If you don't have a boss forcing on you some ludicrously oversimplified standard, that doesn't apply to your actual use case, there is no reason to follow it.
Take away: Invite a cute girl over to play your game
First😊