Lots of great tips! I absolutely agree with all of it, I find "sustainable" to be an extremely important factor in how I make my games, I want to keep doing this until I'm 80!
Thanks a lot CodeMonkey! Yeah it's not important for me to put all of my waking hours on my own projects. A little bit every day is enough to make me happy :) Also congrats on the release of your game!
Very important to keep in mind! I'm currently having a lot of trouble keeping my indie development sustainable. I don't think I've felt rested in months which has led to me not being able to work on everything that I could've. My goal right now is to scale back my expectations and letting the game take a bit longer to finish and instead focusing on rebuilding all my habits and actually get some proper sleep.
I think that's a very good idea! Since you want to be in the industry for a long time, it's important to not burn yourself down in the process! I'm rooting for you!
Happy 4 years! Dope journey! You've done so much already. A good jumpstart in games. - Work-Life balance is so important! And it's so hard lol. - Lol at the well timed "engine" advice haha. We all needed to hear this a year ago. - Writing down what you have to do before you get to your desk is the most important thing I do, because otherwise I'll waste so much time trying to plan out my day and getting distracted... and then the day is done lol Keep the videos and advice comin Kev!
Lol I realize that now, I've worked on a lot of stuff (according to my document I've worked on 18 commercial games). Glad to hear you're also writing down stuff!
thx for the tips, I'm not step into full time indie developments yet, making game is still my enjoyable hobby, the tips are inspirational, hope i can move on in certain stage of my life
Huge congrats on the 4 years dude! Absolutely great of you to share your whole experience with us! And all those tips are so so valid, I think not only for gamedev but legit any creative endeavor! Thanks for sharing this with us man! Also the engine comment: 😂😂😂
Thanks for sharing, was great to hear your perspective, especially regarding keeping the stable day job. Not a morning person myself, but I have mandatory early-morning alarms via cats
Hi WhyKev, how did you get started in the gaming industry? And how would you recommend getting into game dev with no degree and only personal self taught experience?
Hey Lane, I started with school (I was 16) where I got to do game dev in some classes. Then studied at another School where I later got internship at a game company. I never stopped making games, that's more or less my path (very short version) :) So with self taught (this also depends on what you do in a project but in general) I would probably make a few smaller projects to get them to players, gather feedback and possibly a small following. Then I'd try to go to local game dev meet-ups, having personal contacts at companies doesn't hurt. But then I'd start making a resume and send it around. Companies want to know that you're capable of delivering on your tasks (especially in "real projects" with deadlines etc). This might've been a bit of a ramble but I hope it helps.
No, that was super insightful. Thank you for taking some time to explain to me and give me some personal advice from experience. I am very interested in game dev and want to do whatever it takes to be in it full time as well! This information is always very interesting and helpful to me. I appreciate you sharing your journey.@@WhyKev
I envy people who have a lot less time than I do, and yet can get a ton more done. Or I could say I don't have a lot of time. It seems I can only work about 4 hours a day before I have something else to do. And right now that time is being used for some small income doing some freelance coding. You're like "I get up at 5 or 6, then I spend 8 hours doing x, and then I get home, and I spend the rest of my night making my own game" -- I'm just like, I wish I had that amount of time.
I totally get that things are different for everyone, for me it helps to have that "north star" as a motivation. I'm also working from home so I don't spend time going to and from work every day. So that time where I would sit on a bus can now be spent in the gym or a short walk... or more work when deadlines are around.
Dam you have everything looking great man, well done! Would have been cool if my life also went into the direction of yours, might have made more interesting stuff sooner and might have a longer CV :^) kinda envy you :^) would have been cool if i had more possibilities to learn about computer science etc earlier in life. Instead i just got to take a microsoft excel/windows explorer course because it gave upper secondary school credits or something?? 😂 Kind of interested how you got arround making money from your first game :^)
Thanks a lot! Hey you know, this could be the start where you make games. Even if it's just for fun and get going :) So as I mentioned in the video, I always had a job of some sort (except for when we did Elden Pixels full time to work on Alwa's Legacy). But the first commercial game outside of my job was Alwa's Awakening. We released it on Steam and people seemed to love it. But we "toured" Sweden to these retro events for 2 years as we were making it.
@@WhyKev i do have some projects on github and i did a lot of casual modding and game maker projects before university :^) just never released anything :^) i suppose steam greenlight or what ever it is nowadays was not a thing back then though :^) being full time employed also doesn't help with having time on the side of trying to graduate 😁 even if it gives experience on executing project work :^)
Lots of great tips!
I absolutely agree with all of it, I find "sustainable" to be an extremely important factor in how I make my games, I want to keep doing this until I'm 80!
Thanks a lot CodeMonkey! Yeah it's not important for me to put all of my waking hours on my own projects. A little bit every day is enough to make me happy :) Also congrats on the release of your game!
I love to hear other gamedev talk about their experience! It's awesome, thanks for sharing
It can be so healthy to hear about others perspective!
Very important to keep in mind!
I'm currently having a lot of trouble keeping my indie development sustainable. I don't think I've felt rested in months which has led to me not being able to work on everything that I could've. My goal right now is to scale back my expectations and letting the game take a bit longer to finish and instead focusing on rebuilding all my habits and actually get some proper sleep.
I think that's a very good idea! Since you want to be in the industry for a long time, it's important to not burn yourself down in the process! I'm rooting for you!
I'm going to have "it helps out with the mental" stuck in my head every time I exercise from now. Great advice and appreciate your perspectives here!
Oh yeah I'd rather cut 90 minutes of my own projects in a day to go to the gym. Hope it helps you!
Great stuff Kevin - super applicable for my own journey. Thanks!
Glad to hear that Thomas! :)
Happy 4 years! Dope journey! You've done so much already. A good jumpstart in games.
- Work-Life balance is so important! And it's so hard lol.
- Lol at the well timed "engine" advice haha. We all needed to hear this a year ago.
- Writing down what you have to do before you get to your desk is the most important thing I do, because otherwise I'll waste so much time trying to plan out my day and getting distracted... and then the day is done lol
Keep the videos and advice comin Kev!
Lol I realize that now, I've worked on a lot of stuff (according to my document I've worked on 18 commercial games).
Glad to hear you're also writing down stuff!
On my side i'm 2 years in and its going well too! :) was fun to watch man! keep it up
Haha I'm getting there, in February 2024 it would be 2 years!
Cool video and really good advices!
Glad that you think that Doc!
Thanks for the video Kev! It's great to see how far you and your dev journey has come! Think there was a lot of great advice in this!
Appreciate it Saul!
thx for the tips, I'm not step into full time indie developments yet, making game is still my enjoyable hobby, the tips are inspirational, hope i can move on in certain stage of my life
I hope that you have a balance for whatever you choose! Glad to hear you're making games in any way at least :)
Huge congrats on the 4 years dude!
Absolutely great of you to share your whole experience with us! And all those tips are so so valid, I think not only for gamedev but legit any creative endeavor! Thanks for sharing this with us man! Also the engine comment: 😂😂😂
Thanks a lot friend! Good point, could be applied for other creative work! Engine comment is on point haha
Really amazing tips Kev! More aspiring indie devs need to hear things like this. A lot of your journey is very relatable as well
Dude you've got now idea how happy this comment makes me! Appreciate it a lot
Recently discovered your channel and loving it... Thanks for the tips
Thank you Lucas! Appreciate the comment!
Thanks for sharing, was great to hear your perspective, especially regarding keeping the stable day job.
Not a morning person myself, but I have mandatory early-morning alarms via cats
Haha well that sounds like a cute alarm though!
Happy 4 years!!!
Thanks friend!!
Nice video and thank you so much for the tips. Ima start working harder and better than before so thank you Kevin ☺️❤️ Also happy 4th anniversery.
Do it! I believe in you!
🙌
Yay!
Amazing, your content is great
Appreciate it, this was a different video for me to make. Glad you like it.
Hi WhyKev, how did you get started in the gaming industry? And how would you recommend getting into game dev with no degree and only personal self taught experience?
Hey Lane, I started with school (I was 16) where I got to do game dev in some classes. Then studied at another School where I later got internship at a game company. I never stopped making games, that's more or less my path (very short version) :)
So with self taught (this also depends on what you do in a project but in general) I would probably make a few smaller projects to get them to players, gather feedback and possibly a small following. Then I'd try to go to local game dev meet-ups, having personal contacts at companies doesn't hurt. But then I'd start making a resume and send it around. Companies want to know that you're capable of delivering on your tasks (especially in "real projects" with deadlines etc). This might've been a bit of a ramble but I hope it helps.
No, that was super insightful. Thank you for taking some time to explain to me and give me some personal advice from experience. I am very interested in game dev and want to do whatever it takes to be in it full time as well! This information is always very interesting and helpful to me. I appreciate you sharing your journey.@@WhyKev
@@lanefaulhaber875 Glad to hear that! I wish you the best of luck!
I envy people who have a lot less time than I do, and yet can get a ton more done. Or I could say I don't have a lot of time. It seems I can only work about 4 hours a day before I have something else to do. And right now that time is being used for some small income doing some freelance coding. You're like "I get up at 5 or 6, then I spend 8 hours doing x, and then I get home, and I spend the rest of my night making my own game" -- I'm just like, I wish I had that amount of time.
I totally get that things are different for everyone, for me it helps to have that "north star" as a motivation. I'm also working from home so I don't spend time going to and from work every day. So that time where I would sit on a bus can now be spent in the gym or a short walk... or more work when deadlines are around.
Can you be my dad please?
Joke aside, very nice video, very inspiring! Thanks for sharing that with us!
We can try?
Thanks Shidy, you know I appreciate the support!
Dam you have everything looking great man, well done! Would have been cool if my life also went into the direction of yours, might have made more interesting stuff sooner and might have a longer CV :^) kinda envy you :^) would have been cool if i had more possibilities to learn about computer science etc earlier in life. Instead i just got to take a microsoft excel/windows explorer course because it gave upper secondary school credits or something?? 😂
Kind of interested how you got arround making money from your first game :^)
Thanks a lot! Hey you know, this could be the start where you make games. Even if it's just for fun and get going :)
So as I mentioned in the video, I always had a job of some sort (except for when we did Elden Pixels full time to work on Alwa's Legacy). But the first commercial game outside of my job was Alwa's Awakening. We released it on Steam and people seemed to love it. But we "toured" Sweden to these retro events for 2 years as we were making it.
@@WhyKev i do have some projects on github and i did a lot of casual modding and game maker projects before university :^) just never released anything :^) i suppose steam greenlight or what ever it is nowadays was not a thing back then though :^) being full time employed also doesn't help with having time on the side of trying to graduate 😁 even if it gives experience on executing project work :^)
Daddy
Yes my son
Yeah, that's how I look.