The best company I ever worked ditched project managers completely and I never found such bliss again. Letting competent people manage themselves and talk to clients is 1000% better than having unmotivated, unqualified people manage people they don't understand what the fuck they're doing and much less can communicate with clients about it. Hardest job is to do the 100% on 60% of the budget because a PM was looking over your shoulder half the time.
@@dontaddmehobo Yes. The PMs I've worked with in recent years I wouldn't employ to run a child's lemonade stand. Literally performing anti-work by wasting time with meetings on topics they (wilfully) don't understand, chasing, panicking and destroying flow, but still managing to claim the glory. Most likely threatened and desperately justifying their existence. Ahem. I have worked with good PMs before, but it's been a while...
Indeed, you can get lost in videography, it's a lot of fun to film, talk, edit and all the rest. At the end of the day, you decide on your own priorities. :)
@@devsuvara Yeah there's a limited amount of time in a day and if people have the time for it, good for them, but most of the time it's about prioritizing what you do with your time.
Making a computer game alone is like fighting a multi-headed hydra. You chop off one head and two grow in its place. And you did it - you defeated the monster. I feel proud and envious.)
BRO IS BACK! Have been binge watching all of ur devlogs which eventually led me to make my very own game and make vids about it haha.. thanks for giving me the confidence mate. Wish you all the best for Bloof and Mead.
Bro made me think he scrapped the project then dropped the most epic update of all time. Hell yeah!!! Glad you’re back, brother - can’t wait to play the demo.
take care four this man. he is number one race four india. he never talk four india game and never make youtube video four hindi my dear. it hurting four me. very hurting. my colour good colour. all colour amazing colour
Looks great man! I think that moment when your wife screamed when playing is a golden nugget for you because you don't get that reaction from someone just playing, but more from someone that's hooked. I wishlisted this game and I know it's going to take time for you, but I'm pumped and cannot wait to see the release of the game come to fruition for you.
I know it’s hard, but any of you game devs listening finish your game! you got this! if you don’t you’ll end up an old man wondering what could have been 😢
it's not as simple as motivation in most cases. And it's not about it being hard. We love that it's hard. That's why we do it. Eternal learning paths are something for the soul. It's about time + money + real life. Often you need money and you can't work on a game for 12 hours a day if you have to get a job for 8-10 hours a day. And trying to make a game with 2 hours downtime spare per day means it will takes a decade to do anything. It's all about how many people you have helping you. If you are solo, you are fucked. If you are in a team, you are as fucked as the project management deals you.
@@tehf00n nah I disagree about the solo dev thing, I think your mindset is the problem. we literally see people doing it. im an artist, Im learning coding, I have tools that help me be more efficient. I feel empowered more then ever to get a game done.
@@skrolreapr Brother... I've been grinding unreal engine for 15 years on a daily basis. I can code (been coding for 25 years), I can make art, I know every single area of Unreal and I can do anything I want with it. The problem arises when you have ideas. Ideas cost time, money or both. We do literally see people making games solo. You are right. But you don't know the stress and mental health issues that arose from doing it. It also requires an income source outside of a job. So if you don't have any income how are you supposed to survive? A developer has to eat. I have no problem with empowerment. My skills are some of the most sought after in the industry. My job offer list is backed up for years. But when I work solo, it's nothing like working in a team. It's 10000000x more difficult and often it's unsustainable. Now back to my mindset. I chose to be a game dev. I spent every day training myself to become one. I spent years training others with Unreal Engine too. This is my life for the rest of it. I'm also experienced enough, as a technical artist who does his own project management, to know when a project isn't do-able solo. Sure you can try, you will learn loads. I learned more from my failed projects than my released games. But take reality into account. Living a dream still requires you to open your eyes from time to time.
Dude! I'm going through that same dread right now with my current game. When it started to gain traction, I immediately started thinking about how people might not like it, and I'm constantly staying up all night on YT avoiding going to sleep due to the stress. I feel your pain. Great to hear you managed to force yourself out of the hole relatively quickly :)
I am so pleased you have said this. I have an axe to grind with a lot of the "game dev" channels on YT that promote these ridiculous systems and workflows (not yours obviously). Almost none of their systems are scalable, which makes them worse than useless because they actively prevent you from shipping a game. Same goes for a lot of asset store packages, and even unity's own systems like netcode can be a trap unless you have an engineer on hand to patch up the functionality (independent scene management, network object permanence without loading every scene in the game simultaneously, client prediction - the list goes on and on, and that's just one package). I think people are finally starting to figure out that there is a lot of snake oil in the indie game dev business that's sole purpose is to make money, not actual games. I'm sorry things have been so tough dude. So few people realise that their projects are completely scuffed because they have watched a bunch of YT tutorials that show off a shiny new "system" in a complete vacuum that no studio would ever use in their production pipeline.
Absolutely. I'm sure I've got a least a couple of these in my project that I keep tripping over... Professionally as a software architect I always strive to keep things simple and keep to the well-trodden path. Seen too many smartarse senior developers, architects or people fresh out of university build over-engineered systems that collapse under their own unintuitiveness when used by others. My problem with gamedev is the path though well-trodden, keeps branching and is always full of pitfalls and trade offs. Far more so than vanilla web or application dev. And as you point out: shiny short form TH-cams where the author miraculously solves something you were battling with for a weekend in 10 minutes. Except it only (mostly) works for their very specific case :)
Making a full game alone is very very very hard. Especially close to the finish lines. So respect. it's your dedication and consistency that took you to the finish line. It has nothing to do with game/coding.. issues. it is all habitual behaviors that every game dev should have if they want to succeed. IT IS ALL MENTAL
I just got done watching another video were someone reached the exact same point as you and decided to start over. I am so proud of you for pushing though and making it through the muck instead of starting over. It's gonna be great, and it's gonna be easier for the next game
Stoked on your progression and sticking with it! This has been extremely inspirational for me as well, since i've had an enormous problem with sticking with just one game. thank you for this!
Any major project I always relate to running ultras. Things go up and down during the day, but every time, when you're near to the finish line, suddenly things feel bad. But that's when you really dig deep and push. You're almost there, you've got this. I cannot wait to see this game! It's channels like this that motivate me so much. I was a mechanical engineer for almost 20 years, and last week I did my first week as an intern as junior software developer, at age 42. All roads have tough moments, choosing not to quit is only a choice we can make. I choose to keep on keeping on. Good luck! Take care of the family too.
I am also currently in a bit of a game dev hell, just like you the game has now morphed into something different than what it was originally and the architecture has not kept up with this. I was demoing it to a friend the other day and ran into bugs and performance issues which was a little demoralizing. This video came out at the perfect time really. It brought me a lot of happiness watching this video, seeing someone also having gone through the mental anguish of playing catch up with your code, animations, story...well, everything! Keep on struggling struggler
The first portion of the video resonated with me so much. I released a post-hardcore album a couple of months ago, and that took way longer than I ever thought it would, with the scope changing drastically every time I thought it was getting close to release. It took 4 years, and I did everything myself outside of the featured vocals and engineering, but even that came out of pocket on my end. I definitely appreciate this sort of story, and will be playing Blood and Mead! This is a crazy achievement for you, and I can't wait for you to get the extra dopamine when you drop the full release!
Thanks so much dude. Right there with you. Gave up on all the superfluous chit chat and output. Just skill up your programming and design skills and keep buffing your game everyone. We all know what we need to do. Making devlogs of your plants and your cat won't get you there. Thanks for the encouragement.
3:07 I experienced this with my final year game for my bachelors degree, trying to scale up and introduce new features, it really opened my eyes to just how crucial it is to develop robust systems, I really do feel ya man, big up to ya 💪🏾
Amazing! Glad to have you back man, I kind of relate, now, I too am trying to escape game dev hell, moving forward. Your videos also give me the heads up to continue on my journey, so KUDOS for Blood and Mead and keep the good work!
finally somebody who pulled trough and has a positive video about his journey ! usually its the other way around which is also a part of game dev, but this is also very nice once in a while !
Really glad to see you back! Big props to you for taking your time and handling everything properly instead of pushing through and rushing things. Rooting for a mega successful release now, good luck!
You are doing an amazing job!! Great to get an update and good seeing you come out the other side of the game dev hell with the confidence to tackle the next hurdle!!
Great to see you back on TH-cam, the game is looking awesome congratulations on your accomplishment so far. Always a source of inspiration for me, glad you're back and kicking ass!
Good job for being able to grind it out in 6 months. Game looks awesome. Really excited to try the Demo and eventual release. I'm feeling this right now. Had a good half year of solid dev time, but now I feel like I'm flailing trying to figure out what I need to do next. Happy you're back!
Had the great privilege of playing an early demo build of Blood and Mead a few weeks ago and i can promise it lives up to expectations! Chunky combat, clever level design and tons of variety. And the blood....so much blood! Good to see the channel back mate !
Thanks for this video. I've been banging my head against the wall recently on seemingly MINOR issues that snowball into game breaking bugs, but this was a good pick me up. It's great to see another dev come out of the struggle alive.
I've been in that desert for about 4 or 5 years, I made changes like you in the design, the mechanics, and I totally identify with your experience, your emotions made me have hope, I guess it's part of the process. I think partly it's because I'm too critical of myself, maybe it happens to others the same, and partly it's because this is also my first game, I never made something small, I directly immersed myself in the game I wanted to make, and I noticed many improvements at the art and programming level that I improved and continue to do so over time. Don't give up brother, keep up the good work, regardless of the success that our game may or may not have, I think the important thing is to have achieved it. Greetings from Argentina!
I had never forgotten you. I liked your channel and the stuff you were doing. Happy to see you are fine and put the important things on front. Family and mental health are the most important things we should care on life. We should work to live and not the contrary. Take care.
Thank you so for much for this video and perfect explanation. As game dev content creators when we release videos about our games, its easy to chase after visual progress and neglect important systems that are not noticeable and overall design to wrap the game up. Its also so easy to feel lost in the desert as you phrased it when you're aware of the daunting task ahead of you, not being sure if the systems can tie together or whether its possible to fill enough of the void with exciting content. Really glad you pushed forward head down. To be honest, in the past when I saw clips of your game, it didn't interest me as much. But seeing all these changes and systems, I'm definitely gonna give it a wishlist and I'm excited about the release. Good luck!
I've spent the last several weeks of gamedev time refactoring and cleaning up. It's fun but after a while can be a bit draining when you consider how little 'progress' your game has made from a feature or content perspective. That said - the joy of working with code/systems that are easy to extend and re-use is worth every hour (need to stick this message on my wall or something!)
The game looks incredible. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I am just getting started on my first game and the information that you share is very valuable, especially your personal trials and tribulations. I've created a lot of web applications, some of them fairly large, but I'm 100% sure I have no idea what I am getting into creating a game! Thank you! Much appreciated.
Dude, we miss you! Your game looks awesome! I'm in a similar situation to the one you mentioned. I'm making a game, and I know all the work I have to do to complete a good demo. It's a lot of hard work for something that I don't even know if it will catch some eyes. But in the worst-case scenario, I'll gain a lot of experience doing it. Glad to see you back!
Ah it's so great to hear from you again! Your timing is spot on, I've been thinking about you recently and wondering how you've been doing. I'm so glad you didn't throw in the towel! I was afraid you might have, but was hoping you were in an intense focus period. What a devlog! The ketchup thing was a super fun touch. You never fail to entertain. The game is looking and sounding absolutely amazing. Can't wait to play the demo!
As a fellow game dev I can totally relate to those hardships, making a game is just SO MUCH to do. Glad you've found your way through, the game looks amazing
I hadn't even noticed you had taken a break from YT or, apparently, that six months had passed (wow). I just saw that you posted a new video, and was like, "Oh - I wonder how he's getting on? Let's watch the latest update." Speaking as a casually observing internet random, who is not a game dev, but who endlessly crafts 3D models with which game devs dev games. Time/life is absolutely flying by. Indeed, periods of "deep focus" is where **** gets done. Genuinely glad you've been able to push through and continue the journey!
Respect for your inspirational story. I am just a web dev trying to push further myself a bit and I am trying to make some nice and solid game in at least Javascript and this, this I really feel is a story I needed to hear. Thank you!
Ayy early gang!!! Just wanted to let you know that you have been a huge inspiration to me for not only my project but as a beginning game dev! learnt a lot from your past few videos and it really motivated me to keep trying to learn and hopefully make something playable! Glad to see your back and many thanks!!
Congratulations! This game looks amazing! Sounds like you're at a very good point with it, it looks very polished, you did an awesome job. I can't wait to see this succeed, and I'm sure it will. BEST OF LUCK!
Randomly found you and just wanted to tip my hat to you. Mad respect to you for disappearing from the face of the earth until you had your demo ready and everything else you set your mind to. As someone who has issues with workflows, ignoring stuff and just focusing on a single task, you are an inspiration and looking forward to the full release of your game.
Bro ur legit a hero. For yourself, for your family, for your viewers and for the ones who watch this video and get a belief and a hope of someday getting out of their personal hell. It can be either a game dev hell or something else, doesn't matter. Watching this video gave all of us a hope for life. Thank you, and you're welcome back o7
I did open this video expecting a give up and I was pleasantly met with a healthy game still kicking. Get a wishlist! Keep it up and a big hug from a colleague
I have to admit finding motivation in continuing the project I was making is difficult and this video gave me more motivation than any other videos on TH-cam. Thanks man.
Man, I love the way you hardworked to get to this point. You did deep work, and it worked! It's not the first time a see a video from you that shows the way you are, super inspiring to see someone working constantly and hard, putting things aside to achieve his goals.
I clicked expecting a "Woe is me, game dev is too mean" type video, it was quite the opposite. Congratulations on hitting your milestones the game is looking epic !
solo passion projects can really only be achieved with just that: passion. borderline obsessive passion my friend. never seen your game or channel but i’m glad you bit the bullet to see your vision through. looks awesome, i’ll keep my eye out for this games release
Glad to hear about you again! You developed a massive amount of content for the game here and have overcome a pivotal, very difficult stage on the project. I already have blood and mead wishlisted but seeing this raises my interest for the game, thank you so much for all the work!!
Congratulations on getting things back on track! For everyone else reading: As soon as your start seriously prototyping even a small indie project, get your stuff in order. Especially extensible data structures and design patterns. Implement those early and save yourself a lot of heachache! Also a writing tip I learned: besides story writing, do personas. Like Jojo' Biazzare Adventue's Araki level exhaustive. You don't even have to be super serious about them, just make some and then you will get ideas on what to add. Make them interesting to you. Together with the overarching story, this will make writing the dialogues so much more easy. You look at the plot, you look at the people who are having the conversation. Not saying the dialogue writes itself but it becomes pretty fun and natural.
@5:10, you're absolutely correct. People do not understand what it actually takes to make a game. People, and this includes friends and family members of game developers, think you can do this in your "spare time". They think it's like reading a book in that you can sit down for 30 minutes to an hour everyday and make progress. In that sense it is about the same but it takes a LOT more time and dedication to even start to show results. It takes AAA companies years with teams of hundreds of people to release some of their titles. If you're an indie game dev and you're working alone, be ready to put the time in and yes, you are going to have to make sacrifices in your life to achieve your goals. Anyone who has ever achieved their goals has had to make some type of sacrifice. You have to push forward knowing that in the end it will pay off and all be worth it. That's how dreams are made into reality. I'm glad you hung in there. Stepping back when you did sounds like it helped to clear you r head. Sometimes that's a good thing. Just make sure to get back to it. :)
This is inspiring for any artist or any person engaged in a creative endeavour. Beautiful work my friend. Spectacular. Will purchase this for Xbox (and Switch if I ever purchase one).
This is so relatable! It's awesome to see you push through and make your return. I've been patiently waiting for so long to buy Blood and Mead day 1, it looks amazing!
Congratulations! Been following your work for a long time now, that 6 month power grind is amazing. You've overcome a challenge so many TH-cam devs haven't. Well done!
I'm glad that you managed to overcome this dev pit you got yourself into and that you didn't have to scrap the project all together. You're very strong!
Wow...after a long time of not seeing you, you're back. You know, your video game inspired mine as well. But I abandoned my project a few years back. But glad to see yours still in action. So cool!!!
Congratulations mate, for you perseverance. Some TH-camrs can post motivational videos all day long, but the most inspiring thing is when they actually deliver. Good luck for your project, it looks cool!
Wow! This game looks really cool! I'll add it to my wishlist. At first glance, it's close to popular platformers like Hollow Knight. TH-cam recommended this video to me and I enjoyed watching it. I also want to make my own game and have already started learning Unity. Unfortunately, I have to work and it takes a lot of time and effort, but your video inspired me to continue making my dream a reality.
This video has inspired me more than my last 6 semesters of digital design career man wtf. I don´t know how to draw, any design skill is dead. But you my friend, you are giving me hope. Congrats! and thank you...
Way to go G. This game looks and feels great. Really excited to play this, even more than some of the AAA-Games is see these days. Whish you good luck and success!
What a legendary comeback. Sounds like gruelling but much needed 6 months of focus. I can definitely relate to the struggle of work life balance. The thought of adding content creation into that mix is harrowing to say the least. Inspirational my dude, What awesome progress.
I can relate 100%. very difficult to keep the passion for a projects while you are facing the struggle and you enter the loophole of "what if..." Can't wait to play your game and the many more you will develop in the future.
I think I speak for everyone when I say, it is so good to have you back. You did an unbelievable amount of work in those 6 months, and we as the perspective players thank you for it. I cannot wait to play your demo and I am rooting for this game to bring you all the success you deserve!
This is the first time I see one of your videos, and all I have to say is thank God you sorted that out. The design, style, and SFX are crazy. And as a person that knows the amount of hard work and discipline that finishing a project takes, kudos to you man. Really awesome game
Thanks for sharing! I’ve been there and totally understand the feeling. Good luck with publishing your game! I know you’ll do great, and I can’t wait to play it!
Been there before. Mad respect for pushing through bro. Sometimes you just gotta put your head down and work as hard as possible. The game is looking amazing. I'll be buying it on release.
So glad to see you and this game pop up on my feed again, mate! Thanks for sharing so candidly, and it's great to hear things are revitalised and heading in a positive direction. Blood and Mead is looking unreal, and I can't wait to take it from instant-wishlist to instant buy. I'm in the process of completely overhauling and restarting my own game, so it's encouraging to hear of similar experiences. All the best, and definitely looking forward to watching more!
this sounds like what i was just going thru and i summed it down to forgetting to have fun. having fun, releasing smth asap so others can enjoy ur hard work and provide constructive feedback so you know where to move forward and most of all, remember that it doesnt need to be perfect! its sad that we devs actually forget to have fun, like think about that for a moment, how the fk can we "forget" to have fun?? but none-the-less, we do. so, im taking a new approach going forward with my dev projects, 1) constantly reminding myself to have fun, 2) release smth asap for others to try out n provide feedback, and 3) reminding myself again that it doesnt have to be perfect! its easy to get stuck into the pitfall of it having to be "perfect"!! it does not. i wish u the best and remember bud.. have fun !! :)
I was going to buy your game even if it ended up being a turd, so it’s great to see how far it’s come. For what it’s worth, I thought it looked really good 6 months ago, but all the additions and polish you’ve added since the looks like time well spent. So glad to see you are back and doing well! Your videos have always been source of inspiration for me.
This is so inspiring! What an amzing game your making!! I truly love everything of it, the music, the style, the energy you put in describing it. I wish i will one day be able to create something of this magnitude. Keep it up!! 🎉
As project managers used to say, “the hardest part after you complete the first 90% of the project is the second 90% of the project”
I wish i could work with a project manager that understood this ;)
The best company I ever worked ditched project managers completely and I never found such bliss again. Letting competent people manage themselves and talk to clients is 1000% better than having unmotivated, unqualified people manage people they don't understand what the fuck they're doing and much less can communicate with clients about it. Hardest job is to do the 100% on 60% of the budget because a PM was looking over your shoulder half the time.
@@dontaddmehobo Yes. The PMs I've worked with in recent years I wouldn't employ to run a child's lemonade stand. Literally performing anti-work by wasting time with meetings on topics they (wilfully) don't understand, chasing, panicking and destroying flow, but still managing to claim the glory. Most likely threatened and desperately justifying their existence. Ahem. I have worked with good PMs before, but it's been a while...
@@crtglowgames 100% bro, haven't read something truer in a bit of a while.
That‘s why project managers are a thing of the past in most companys.
TH-cam is a lot of work and can make you chase the wrong things, distracting you from what the real goal is: making a good game.
Indeed, you can get lost in videography, it's a lot of fun to film, talk, edit and all the rest. At the end of the day, you decide on your own priorities. :)
@@devsuvara Yeah there's a limited amount of time in a day and if people have the time for it, good for them, but most of the time it's about prioritizing what you do with your time.
@@RockyMulletGamedev i like to see it as a choice between a filmmaker or a game maker. 😊 Is your day job in game dev?
Preach it. Not uploading shit until I can personally play through the core game loop
the real goal is to have fun
Making a computer game alone is like fighting a multi-headed hydra. You chop off one head and two grow in its place. And you did it - you defeated the monster. I feel proud and envious.)
BRO IS BACK! Have been binge watching all of ur devlogs which eventually led me to make my very own game and make vids about it haha.. thanks for giving me the confidence mate. Wish you all the best for Bloof and Mead.
That's cool, man! Your channel seems to be doing pretty good!
Bro made me think he scrapped the project then dropped the most epic update of all time. Hell yeah!!!
Glad you’re back, brother - can’t wait to play the demo.
take care four this man. he is number one race four india. he never talk four india game and never make youtube video four hindi my dear. it hurting four me. very hurting. my colour good colour. all colour amazing colour
ae
Looks great man! I think that moment when your wife screamed when playing is a golden nugget for you because you don't get that reaction from someone just playing, but more from someone that's hooked. I wishlisted this game and I know it's going to take time for you, but I'm pumped and cannot wait to see the release of the game come to fruition for you.
I appreciate you sharing this as I personally find this extremely relatable. Glad to see you back!
I know it’s hard, but any of you game devs listening finish your game! you got this! if you don’t you’ll end up an old man wondering what could have been 😢
it's not as simple as motivation in most cases. And it's not about it being hard. We love that it's hard. That's why we do it. Eternal learning paths are something for the soul. It's about time + money + real life. Often you need money and you can't work on a game for 12 hours a day if you have to get a job for 8-10 hours a day. And trying to make a game with 2 hours downtime spare per day means it will takes a decade to do anything. It's all about how many people you have helping you. If you are solo, you are fucked. If you are in a team, you are as fucked as the project management deals you.
@@tehf00n nah I disagree about the solo dev thing, I think your mindset is the problem. we literally see people doing it. im an artist, Im learning coding, I have tools that help me be more efficient. I feel empowered more then ever to get a game done.
@@skrolreapr Brother... I've been grinding unreal engine for 15 years on a daily basis. I can code (been coding for 25 years), I can make art, I know every single area of Unreal and I can do anything I want with it. The problem arises when you have ideas. Ideas cost time, money or both. We do literally see people making games solo. You are right. But you don't know the stress and mental health issues that arose from doing it. It also requires an income source outside of a job. So if you don't have any income how are you supposed to survive? A developer has to eat.
I have no problem with empowerment. My skills are some of the most sought after in the industry. My job offer list is backed up for years. But when I work solo, it's nothing like working in a team. It's 10000000x more difficult and often it's unsustainable.
Now back to my mindset. I chose to be a game dev. I spent every day training myself to become one. I spent years training others with Unreal Engine too. This is my life for the rest of it. I'm also experienced enough, as a technical artist who does his own project management, to know when a project isn't do-able solo. Sure you can try, you will learn loads. I learned more from my failed projects than my released games. But take reality into account. Living a dream still requires you to open your eyes from time to time.
Ending up an old man if you don't finish your game. Take that as a warning female game devs!
@@Ash_18037 now thats what I call character development!
Never give up on game dev. You and many other devs on youtube have inspired me to start creating my own games. :D
Dude! I'm going through that same dread right now with my current game. When it started to gain traction, I immediately started thinking about how people might not like it, and I'm constantly staying up all night on YT avoiding going to sleep due to the stress. I feel your pain. Great to hear you managed to force yourself out of the hole relatively quickly :)
I am so pleased you have said this. I have an axe to grind with a lot of the "game dev" channels on YT that promote these ridiculous systems and workflows (not yours obviously). Almost none of their systems are scalable, which makes them worse than useless because they actively prevent you from shipping a game. Same goes for a lot of asset store packages, and even unity's own systems like netcode can be a trap unless you have an engineer on hand to patch up the functionality (independent scene management, network object permanence without loading every scene in the game simultaneously, client prediction - the list goes on and on, and that's just one package).
I think people are finally starting to figure out that there is a lot of snake oil in the indie game dev business that's sole purpose is to make money, not actual games. I'm sorry things have been so tough dude. So few people realise that their projects are completely scuffed because they have watched a bunch of YT tutorials that show off a shiny new "system" in a complete vacuum that no studio would ever use in their production pipeline.
Absolutely. I'm sure I've got a least a couple of these in my project that I keep tripping over...
Professionally as a software architect I always strive to keep things simple and keep to the well-trodden path. Seen too many smartarse senior developers, architects or people fresh out of university build over-engineered systems that collapse under their own unintuitiveness when used by others.
My problem with gamedev is the path though well-trodden, keeps branching and is always full of pitfalls and trade offs. Far more so than vanilla web or application dev. And as you point out: shiny short form TH-cams where the author miraculously solves something you were battling with for a weekend in 10 minutes. Except it only (mostly) works for their very specific case :)
Amazing! I was following your progress! I went from "I will buy your game tu support you" to "I will buy the game, because it looks great!"
Making a full game alone is very very very hard. Especially close to the finish lines. So respect. it's your dedication and consistency that took you to the finish line. It has nothing to do with game/coding.. issues. it is all habitual behaviors that every game dev should have if they want to succeed. IT IS ALL MENTAL
I just got done watching another video were someone reached the exact same point as you and decided to start over.
I am so proud of you for pushing though and making it through the muck instead of starting over.
It's gonna be great, and it's gonna be easier for the next game
What you did over the past 6 months is amazing! I don’t think I would have had the drive to make it happen. Congrats!
We are all human so sometimes we just have to take a deep breath. Dude, your game looks awesome and like many others already said: Can't wait!
Of all the games on my wishlist, this is the one I've been looking forward to the most. Awesome to see the progress, man.
Stoked on your progression and sticking with it! This has been extremely inspirational for me as well, since i've had an enormous problem with sticking with just one game. thank you for this!
Any major project I always relate to running ultras. Things go up and down during the day, but every time, when you're near to the finish line, suddenly things feel bad. But that's when you really dig deep and push. You're almost there, you've got this. I cannot wait to see this game! It's channels like this that motivate me so much. I was a mechanical engineer for almost 20 years, and last week I did my first week as an intern as junior software developer, at age 42. All roads have tough moments, choosing not to quit is only a choice we can make. I choose to keep on keeping on. Good luck! Take care of the family too.
You're an inspiration sir.
@@powerlogic1992 thank you kindly. Have a great week. Make it count!
I am also currently in a bit of a game dev hell, just like you the game has now morphed into something different than what it was originally and the architecture has not kept up with this. I was demoing it to a friend the other day and ran into bugs and performance issues which was a little demoralizing.
This video came out at the perfect time really. It brought me a lot of happiness watching this video, seeing someone also having gone through the mental anguish of playing catch up with your code, animations, story...well, everything!
Keep on struggling struggler
The first portion of the video resonated with me so much. I released a post-hardcore album a couple of months ago, and that took way longer than I ever thought it would, with the scope changing drastically every time I thought it was getting close to release. It took 4 years, and I did everything myself outside of the featured vocals and engineering, but even that came out of pocket on my end. I definitely appreciate this sort of story, and will be playing Blood and Mead! This is a crazy achievement for you, and I can't wait for you to get the extra dopamine when you drop the full release!
Thanks so much dude. Right there with you. Gave up on all the superfluous chit chat and output. Just skill up your programming and design skills and keep buffing your game everyone. We all know what we need to do. Making devlogs of your plants and your cat won't get you there. Thanks for the encouragement.
I have been following you from Brazil. Congratulations on the work! You may not know it, but it is definitely your family's pride!
3:07 I experienced this with my final year game for my bachelors degree, trying to scale up and introduce new features, it really opened my eyes to just how crucial it is to develop robust systems, I really do feel ya man, big up to ya 💪🏾
Amazing! Glad to have you back man, I kind of relate, now, I too am trying to escape game dev hell, moving forward. Your videos also give me the heads up to continue on my journey, so KUDOS for Blood and Mead and keep the good work!
Wrestled with the devil and came out the victor. Extremely impressive work mate.
Now go take some well deserved sleep!
finally somebody who pulled trough and has a positive video about his journey ! usually its the other way around which is also a part of game dev, but this is also very nice once in a while !
Really glad to see you back! Big props to you for taking your time and handling everything properly instead of pushing through and rushing things. Rooting for a mega successful release now, good luck!
Way to go! Happy you buckled in and pushed through the pain!
You are doing an amazing job!! Great to get an update and good seeing you come out the other side of the game dev hell with the confidence to tackle the next hurdle!!
Great to see you back on TH-cam, the game is looking awesome congratulations on your accomplishment so far.
Always a source of inspiration for me, glad you're back and kicking ass!
Good job for being able to grind it out in 6 months. Game looks awesome. Really excited to try the Demo and eventual release.
I'm feeling this right now. Had a good half year of solid dev time, but now I feel like I'm flailing trying to figure out what I need to do next.
Happy you're back!
So proud of you man, this looks amazing! You've been a huge inspiration on my own gamedev journey. Glad to see you back!!!
The Grind was King👑. You choosed to defeat hell🔥. Grats my friend.
Feel 10 year older but 20 year fresher.
Had the great privilege of playing an early demo build of Blood and Mead a few weeks ago and i can promise it lives up to expectations! Chunky combat, clever level design and tons of variety. And the blood....so much blood!
Good to see the channel back mate !
Keep moving, never stop. Congratulation on the big milestone.
Thanks for this video. I've been banging my head against the wall recently on seemingly MINOR issues that snowball into game breaking bugs, but this was a good pick me up. It's great to see another dev come out of the struggle alive.
Happy to see you're back and with great progress and news! You were missed.
I've been in that desert for about 4 or 5 years, I made changes like you in the design, the mechanics, and I totally identify with your experience, your emotions made me have hope, I guess it's part of the process. I think partly it's because I'm too critical of myself, maybe it happens to others the same, and partly it's because this is also my first game, I never made something small, I directly immersed myself in the game I wanted to make, and I noticed many improvements at the art and programming level that I improved and continue to do so over time. Don't give up brother, keep up the good work, regardless of the success that our game may or may not have, I think the important thing is to have achieved it. Greetings from Argentina!
I had never forgotten you. I liked your channel and the stuff you were doing.
Happy to see you are fine and put the important things on front. Family and mental health are the most important things we should care on life.
We should work to live and not the contrary.
Take care.
Thank you so for much for this video and perfect explanation.
As game dev content creators when we release videos about our games, its easy to chase after visual progress and neglect important systems that are not noticeable and overall design to wrap the game up. Its also so easy to feel lost in the desert as you phrased it when you're aware of the daunting task ahead of you, not being sure if the systems can tie together or whether its possible to fill enough of the void with exciting content.
Really glad you pushed forward head down. To be honest, in the past when I saw clips of your game, it didn't interest me as much. But seeing all these changes and systems, I'm definitely gonna give it a wishlist and I'm excited about the release. Good luck!
I've spent the last several weeks of gamedev time refactoring and cleaning up. It's fun but after a while can be a bit draining when you consider how little 'progress' your game has made from a feature or content perspective.
That said - the joy of working with code/systems that are easy to extend and re-use is worth every hour (need to stick this message on my wall or something!)
All that in just 4 months!!! That is a herculean amount of effort, congratulations man. Good to see you again.
The game looks incredible. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I am just getting started on my first game and the information that you share is very valuable, especially your personal trials and tribulations. I've created a lot of web applications, some of them fairly large, but I'm 100% sure I have no idea what I am getting into creating a game! Thank you! Much appreciated.
Dude, we miss you! Your game looks awesome! I'm in a similar situation to the one you mentioned. I'm making a game, and I know all the work I have to do to complete a good demo. It's a lot of hard work for something that I don't even know if it will catch some eyes. But in the worst-case scenario, I'll gain a lot of experience doing it. Glad to see you back!
Ah it's so great to hear from you again! Your timing is spot on, I've been thinking about you recently and wondering how you've been doing. I'm so glad you didn't throw in the towel! I was afraid you might have, but was hoping you were in an intense focus period. What a devlog! The ketchup thing was a super fun touch. You never fail to entertain. The game is looking and sounding absolutely amazing. Can't wait to play the demo!
As a fellow game dev I can totally relate to those hardships, making a game is just SO MUCH to do. Glad you've found your way through, the game looks amazing
welcome back !
It looks like a real and unique game now, well done !
I hadn't even noticed you had taken a break from YT or, apparently, that six months had passed (wow). I just saw that you posted a new video, and was like, "Oh - I wonder how he's getting on? Let's watch the latest update." Speaking as a casually observing internet random, who is not a game dev, but who endlessly crafts 3D models with which game devs dev games. Time/life is absolutely flying by. Indeed, periods of "deep focus" is where **** gets done. Genuinely glad you've been able to push through and continue the journey!
Respect for your inspirational story. I am just a web dev trying to push further myself a bit and I am trying to make some nice and solid game in at least Javascript and this, this I really feel is a story I needed to hear. Thank you!
Ayy early gang!!!
Just wanted to let you know that you have been a huge inspiration to me for not only my project but as a beginning game dev! learnt a lot from your past few videos and it really motivated me to keep trying to learn and hopefully make something playable!
Glad to see your back and many thanks!!
Congratulations! This game looks amazing! Sounds like you're at a very good point with it, it looks very polished, you did an awesome job. I can't wait to see this succeed, and I'm sure it will. BEST OF LUCK!
Randomly found you and just wanted to tip my hat to you.
Mad respect to you for disappearing from the face of the earth until you had your demo ready and everything else you set your mind to.
As someone who has issues with workflows, ignoring stuff and just focusing on a single task, you are an inspiration and looking forward to the full release of your game.
So glad to hear you pushed through! Huge congrats man. That is a mammoth effort to put in solo. I'm so happy for you.
Bro ur legit a hero. For yourself, for your family, for your viewers and for the ones who watch this video and get a belief and a hope of someday getting out of their personal hell. It can be either a game dev hell or something else, doesn't matter. Watching this video gave all of us a hope for life. Thank you, and you're welcome back o7
I did open this video expecting a give up and I was pleasantly met with a healthy game still kicking. Get a wishlist!
Keep it up and a big hug from a colleague
I have to admit finding motivation in continuing the project I was making is difficult and this video gave me more motivation than any other videos on TH-cam. Thanks man.
Man, I love the way you hardworked to get to this point. You did deep work, and it worked! It's not the first time a see a video from you that shows the way you are, super inspiring to see someone working constantly and hard, putting things aside to achieve his goals.
I clicked expecting a "Woe is me, game dev is too mean" type video, it was quite the opposite. Congratulations on hitting your milestones the game is looking epic !
Now! the game looks like fun.
I was often pushed away from the feel it had through the development.
Honestly and genuinely, GOOD JOB!
Welcome back! looking forward to see more from you
solo passion projects can really only be achieved with just that: passion. borderline obsessive passion my friend. never seen your game or channel but i’m glad you bit the bullet to see your vision through. looks awesome, i’ll keep my eye out for this games release
I'm happy to see you didn't give up. This is great news.
Glad to hear about you again! You developed a massive amount of content for the game here and have overcome a pivotal, very difficult stage on the project.
I already have blood and mead wishlisted but seeing this raises my interest for the game, thank you so much for all the work!!
Good to hear from you! Game is looking better and better! Good luck with the next phase and final release :-)
Congratulations on getting things back on track! For everyone else reading: As soon as your start seriously prototyping even a small indie project, get your stuff in order. Especially extensible data structures and design patterns. Implement those early and save yourself a lot of heachache!
Also a writing tip I learned: besides story writing, do personas. Like Jojo' Biazzare Adventue's Araki level exhaustive. You don't even have to be super serious about them, just make some and then you will get ideas on what to add. Make them interesting to you. Together with the overarching story, this will make writing the dialogues so much more easy. You look at the plot, you look at the people who are having the conversation. Not saying the dialogue writes itself but it becomes pretty fun and natural.
@5:10, you're absolutely correct. People do not understand what it actually takes to make a game. People, and this includes friends and family members of game developers, think you can do this in your "spare time". They think it's like reading a book in that you can sit down for 30 minutes to an hour everyday and make progress. In that sense it is about the same but it takes a LOT more time and dedication to even start to show results. It takes AAA companies years with teams of hundreds of people to release some of their titles. If you're an indie game dev and you're working alone, be ready to put the time in and yes, you are going to have to make sacrifices in your life to achieve your goals. Anyone who has ever achieved their goals has had to make some type of sacrifice. You have to push forward knowing that in the end it will pay off and all be worth it.
That's how dreams are made into reality.
I'm glad you hung in there. Stepping back when you did sounds like it helped to clear you r head. Sometimes that's a good thing. Just make sure to get back to it. :)
You hit the nail on the head. I've had the same experiences with an RTS game I'm working on. It's a lot to take on but a passion project
Congrats on GSD. That is the best feeling. Best wishes for future progress!
This is inspiring for any artist or any person engaged in a creative endeavour. Beautiful work my friend. Spectacular. Will purchase this for Xbox (and Switch if I ever purchase one).
This is so relatable! It's awesome to see you push through and make your return. I've been patiently waiting for so long to buy Blood and Mead day 1, it looks amazing!
Congratulations! Been following your work for a long time now, that 6 month power grind is amazing. You've overcome a challenge so many TH-cam devs haven't. Well done!
I'm glad that you managed to overcome this dev pit you got yourself into and that you didn't have to scrap the project all together. You're very strong!
Wow...after a long time of not seeing you, you're back. You know, your video game inspired mine as well. But I abandoned my project a few years back. But glad to see yours still in action. So cool!!!
The great return! Amazing looking progress!
Congratulations mate, for you perseverance. Some TH-camrs can post motivational videos all day long, but the most inspiring thing is when they actually deliver. Good luck for your project, it looks cool!
Dude your videos about the reality of indie game dev changed my mind on solo making a game. Thank you for staying with us bud.
Wow! This game looks really cool! I'll add it to my wishlist. At first glance, it's close to popular platformers like Hollow Knight.
TH-cam recommended this video to me and I enjoyed watching it. I also want to make my own game and have already started learning Unity. Unfortunately, I have to work and it takes a lot of time and effort, but your video inspired me to continue making my dream a reality.
The portal at 8:13 gives me the Stargate meets Conan vibes and I love it!
This video has inspired me more than my last 6 semesters of digital design career man wtf. I don´t know how to draw, any design skill is dead. But you my friend, you are giving me hope. Congrats! and thank you...
Way to go G. This game looks and feels great. Really excited to play this, even more than some of the AAA-Games is see these days. Whish you good luck and success!
What a legendary comeback. Sounds like gruelling but much needed 6 months of focus. I can definitely relate to the struggle of work life balance. The thought of adding content creation into that mix is harrowing to say the least. Inspirational my dude, What awesome progress.
I can relate 100%. very difficult to keep the passion for a projects while you are facing the struggle and you enter the loophole of "what if..." Can't wait to play your game and the many more you will develop in the future.
I think I speak for everyone when I say, it is so good to have you back. You did an unbelievable amount of work in those 6 months, and we as the perspective players thank you for it. I cannot wait to play your demo and I am rooting for this game to bring you all the success you deserve!
take what time you need, we'll be here when you come back... so if you disappear again dont worrya about it. Youre a great solo dev!
This is the first time I see one of your videos, and all I have to say is thank God you sorted that out. The design, style, and SFX are crazy. And as a person that knows the amount of hard work and discipline that finishing a project takes, kudos to you man. Really awesome game
Thanks for sharing! I’ve been there and totally understand the feeling. Good luck with publishing your game! I know you’ll do great, and I can’t wait to play it!
Been there before. Mad respect for pushing through bro. Sometimes you just gotta put your head down and work as hard as possible.
The game is looking amazing. I'll be buying it on release.
Amazing news man, hearing of the progress and how you are now more able to have a life, genuinely made me happy
Your videos help me keep going bro, glad to have you back! :) Much love from Mexico
So glad to see you and this game pop up on my feed again, mate! Thanks for sharing so candidly, and it's great to hear things are revitalised and heading in a positive direction. Blood and Mead is looking unreal, and I can't wait to take it from instant-wishlist to instant buy. I'm in the process of completely overhauling and restarting my own game, so it's encouraging to hear of similar experiences. All the best, and definitely looking forward to watching more!
Hey thanks for the kind words, appreciated
Man, from the footage you have show you have put an enormous amount of work and love to this project.
this sounds like what i was just going thru and i summed it down to forgetting to have fun. having fun, releasing smth asap so others can enjoy ur hard work and provide constructive feedback so you know where to move forward and most of all, remember that it doesnt need to be perfect! its sad that we devs actually forget to have fun, like think about that for a moment, how the fk can we "forget" to have fun?? but none-the-less, we do. so, im taking a new approach going forward with my dev projects, 1) constantly reminding myself to have fun, 2) release smth asap for others to try out n provide feedback, and 3) reminding myself again that it doesnt have to be perfect! its easy to get stuck into the pitfall of it having to be "perfect"!! it does not.
i wish u the best and remember bud.. have fun !! :)
So happy to see you post this video, Looking forward to playing the game!
Your work is very inspiring. What you are able to do is amazing.
You’re an inspiration, congratulations on pushing through and sticking with it!
I was going to buy your game even if it ended up being a turd, so it’s great to see how far it’s come. For what it’s worth, I thought it looked really good 6 months ago, but all the additions and polish you’ve added since the looks like time well spent.
So glad to see you are back and doing well! Your videos have always been source of inspiration for me.
Dude! Congratulations! I’ve been following your progress for over a year. Balancing game dev and a healthy lifestyle can be a challenge!
good to see you back, amazing progress on the game, it is looking really polished. Can't wait to play it myself.
This is so inspiring! What an amzing game your making!! I truly love everything of it, the music, the style, the energy you put in describing it. I wish i will one day be able to create something of this magnitude. Keep it up!! 🎉
Congrats on the epic achievement mate!