I'm not a game developer, but written software professionally for years. One extra hint: write software that's (just) good enough, as it will never ever be perfect.
Your videos have been on fire lately, really hitting the right points. Great work! David Wehle talked about never having a "Zero" day when working on The First Tree. Makes sense. Basically just building a habit of working on your game. Keep up the great work! Time to get off TH-cam for me (per your last video.)
When I'm not feeling the energy I come to this channel and find a video exactly like this one! Great videos! I'm setting off on my own and these videos are super helpful! Looking forward to more. An idea on a future video -- how do you guys plan your development roadmap: tools, major milestones, playtesting, alpha/beta/release, etc. Keep it up M! Thanks!
the principle that helped me the most was the commitment to work at least 12 hours a week on the development of my game, obviously not enough to be successful but it is a mandatory step. Then another thing if you fail always try again and learn from your mistakes, I will continue to try again, I will continue to fail but I will improve to the point of succeeding
I'm personally prone to the mindset of keeping my nose to the grindstone and just puttering away at all hours of the day as if I can keep that up until a huge project is finished. All it leads to is burn out. It's really important to pace yourself.
One thing i like to do is like a "work meeting", it's talking the "Accountability buddy" one step further. You schedule with someone that also have some project is working on for a work session, you both just work for X amount of time, each on their own project. This could be a physical meeting, a video chat meeting (where you might want to share you screen just so you can't be procrastinating).
What I like to do is write down every thing I did in a Week. When I feel like I didn't make any progress, I can look back and look at it. My Memory sometimes plays tricks on me, like "You haven't implemented anything new since the last feature." But then I can go back and see that that feature was made less than a week ago in only a day when I planned it to take a week or so. I think lost of People focus too much on the negatives. You only see the 30 minutes you took a break to watch some Netflix, but you don't see the 5 Hours of work, you already did that day. At least that's the case for me.
i love this channel, i have 70 days to put out my biggest project yet -the last one made $100k and this new one is 20x better, but i can NEVER find the motivation to work on my dream project with guaranteed success
I can CONFIRM "the 5 minute a day" rule WORKS. I've been following the same rule for the last 6 years. Release my game after 4 on mobile, now living half of the indie dream (half normal job (stability) + half game dev (variable income)) for the last 2 years. This rule is the SINGLE BIGGEST rule that you need no matter what (except holidays, or times where you dont have access to your PC). CONSISTENCY is the key to this career.
Really nice video! One thing though, I guess it was more for the sake of the argument anyway but I wouldn't say TH-cam is just a simple numbers game. If someone comes in with the mindset of "just release garbage videos and at some point you'll grow anyway" they are in for a rude awakening 🤣. My channel was not doing great at the beginning even though I was releasing one ok video per day... I figured ways to improve my videos and grow my community and it started growing. Then I stopped giving it my all and it plateaued really fast at around 4.5k. Now I just keep losing views and subs. Unless I put more effort into my content, even if I release a video per day, it's not going to work.
The good/bad thing when I don't know how to proceed with my game I just let it go for a while, since I have a full time job. It's good on the one hand because I can work when I want on my game and if I wouldn't work on it for a month I'm still able to pay the bills. But the bad thing is I don't have the push to really work hart on my game and make it reality. Maybe that's a good new years resolution. To take game development more serious and put more time and effort into it.
As someone who builds prototypes constantly just to learn new things (not just game related), I find that for an actual project I need to have at least 1 other stakeholder. My constant need to not feel like I'm holding someone else up drives me to go further than I would on my own.
1:45 Yep I do have zero days becuase disabled but even then I try to just open TH-cam or devinatrt or Intch.10 just to stare at my past work and how well it's doing... so thinking about it I rarely have zero days and becuase I have ADD-autism. I can't focus on one task at a time for days on end so I switch and always work on something always be gaining that EXP. Which something you can do is simply have word or something with notes on your phone on your home screen just there ready to check on it or maybe a 2D print of a screen shot of the game on the wall as a reminder... Litterly just be remined it exists helps so much for me.
10:58 I switch between my many projects or start a new one... which if you are like me a ADD-autistic Super savant then that is what you need to grow and finnish anything... Me and my audience knows I'll be back becuase I always am and know 2 of my novels have gotten finished chapters which I posted about and they did well for me... In fact great given PDFs don't do well on Devanrt compared to my other art... I made the cover for my big TT game collection and worked on it some with it's 4 years old brother which I did slow steps but never not did anything as I knew I would never want to say "I didn't even edit this month" to my veiwers in the monthly update. Like swapping projects is fine as long as you have a mix of big and small ones that you always work on and come back to.
I have been too afraid to think very highly on where my game studio would be. Because I seem to fantasize about things that may or may not happen, like buying a studio and selling merch. I just feel like thats at least 10 years away if ever 😅
going off the logic of finishing what you start, if you got halfway through Forge Industry and realised that it had limited commercial potential, would you have kept going for another 6 months to finish or pivot to a new project? The people who made Soulstone Survivors apparently pivoted from their original game when Vampire Survivor became superhot.
Finish it, we knew Forge Industry wasn't going to be a smash hit, but mama ain't raise no quitter. In all seriousness, finishing your first game isn't really about the money, but it's about just learning how the launch of a game works, and all the pains that come along with it. You also just know that you are physically capable of shipping something, which will do wonders for your morale. -M
7:19 I have over 7k videos over 11 years and which each video my channel gets a more diverse and massive libary that still bring people in 11 years later... Although the trick is make every video ever green and good so people whould want to watch it 100 years from now... And it works and now I have finally been able to get more views it's becuase of no zero days and getting that libary of stuff.
You developed the habit. Most people not only put off the work because it's hard but they also plan far beyond their capable scope. I know they all say it but actually make a small game, it's so rewarding to feel like you could actually accomplish something.
I remind myself that I will die, that there will never be another like me in the universe. And what I could have brought to the world, I will never know what it was, how it looks, because I focused on the feeling of procrastination. While in an alternative universe, there is another me, who already has accomplished what I dream about, and only imagines how his life could have been if he had stopped. Which is that reality of mine that I can find myself in, if I stop and just trow in the towel.
What about artistic vision and passion? I don't care what is the trend, if I do a game, I'm gonna make it for myself first, and I don't want it to be a trendy hit and vanish 5 days later.
All of the things mentioned here still apply. If you're a fulltime gamedev, and you have a 0 day, that an issue (it's your main job after all), whereas if you aren't fulltime, 5min of gamedev a day can still be achievable usually. Are you struggling with something specific in terms of getting work done, not progressing enough,...? -M
@@bitemegames Wow. That was a quick response. I guess I don't think I'm progressing fast enough. I try to find the best method to do things through trial and error. Most things don't have a standard method too. For example, a save system still requires you to create the classes, save them at specific times, etc. Maybe i just need more practice. Actually, maybe a video that summarises everything a game needs before it can be published would be useful. The first time i uploaded a game to the play store, i had to make changes cause of google's policy which i was unaware of. Like you need to have a age verification if you want to show ads. (Sorry for the long reply.)
this channel is literally the worker therapy i’d pay $100 for
Did you know we have a Patreon, therapy for just $35 ;) -M
@@bitemegames That was smooth.
I opened up the replies just to see this plug😅 @@bitemegames
I'm not a game developer, but written software professionally for years. One extra hint: write software that's (just) good enough, as it will never ever be perfect.
The burger king trick is fantastic. You sound like you are well on your way to being an amazing CEO or just leader in general. Keep it up!
Your videos have been on fire lately, really hitting the right points. Great work! David Wehle talked about never having a "Zero" day when working on The First Tree. Makes sense. Basically just building a habit of working on your game. Keep up the great work! Time to get off TH-cam for me (per your last video.)
Agreed, he's talking about the most important topics. Working/learning/improvement habits
When I'm not feeling the energy I come to this channel and find a video exactly like this one! Great videos! I'm setting off on my own and these videos are super helpful! Looking forward to more. An idea on a future video -- how do you guys plan your development roadmap: tools, major milestones, playtesting, alpha/beta/release, etc. Keep it up M! Thanks!
the principle that helped me the most was the commitment to work at least 12 hours a week on the development of my game, obviously not enough to be successful but it is a mandatory step. Then another thing if you fail always try again and learn from your mistakes, I will continue to try again, I will continue to fail but I will improve to the point of succeeding
Here's another gem: "Motivation is a consequence of action, not the other way around." Merry Christmas 🎄
I'm personally prone to the mindset of keeping my nose to the grindstone and just puttering away at all hours of the day as if I can keep that up until a huge project is finished. All it leads to is burn out. It's really important to pace yourself.
One thing i like to do is like a "work meeting", it's talking the "Accountability buddy" one step further.
You schedule with someone that also have some project is working on for a work session, you both just work for X amount of time, each on their own project.
This could be a physical meeting, a video chat meeting (where you might want to share you screen just so you can't be procrastinating).
This is exactly what I needed. I've been working on polishing my game and I keep getting stuck playing other games and watching TH-cam.
"no zero days" ... Every cyber pros dream
What I like to do is write down every thing I did in a Week. When I feel like I didn't make any progress, I can look back and look at it. My Memory sometimes plays tricks on me, like "You haven't implemented anything new since the last feature." But then I can go back and see that that feature was made less than a week ago in only a day when I planned it to take a week or so. I think lost of People focus too much on the negatives. You only see the 30 minutes you took a break to watch some Netflix, but you don't see the 5 Hours of work, you already did that day. At least that's the case for me.
i love this channel, i have 70 days to put out my biggest project yet -the last one made $100k and this new one is 20x better, but i can NEVER find the motivation to work on my dream project with guaranteed success
That phone case is awesome lol 😂
I thought I ordered a black one, turned out I misordered and got a transparent one, may as well make the most of it. -M
Thanks man. This motivated me😊
I can CONFIRM "the 5 minute a day" rule WORKS.
I've been following the same rule for the last 6 years.
Release my game after 4 on mobile, now living half of the indie dream (half normal job (stability) + half game dev (variable income)) for the last 2 years.
This rule is the SINGLE BIGGEST rule that you need no matter what (except holidays, or times where you dont have access to your PC). CONSISTENCY is the key to this career.
Really nice video! One thing though, I guess it was more for the sake of the argument anyway but I wouldn't say TH-cam is just a simple numbers game. If someone comes in with the mindset of "just release garbage videos and at some point you'll grow anyway" they are in for a rude awakening 🤣. My channel was not doing great at the beginning even though I was releasing one ok video per day... I figured ways to improve my videos and grow my community and it started growing. Then I stopped giving it my all and it plateaued really fast at around 4.5k.
Now I just keep losing views and subs. Unless I put more effort into my content, even if I release a video per day, it's not going to work.
I like the quote from hamza on the back of the phone, didn't expect to find a youtuber that watches hamza
Soon I'll end the videos with "Gimme a kiss bro" -M
The good/bad thing when I don't know how to proceed with my game I just let it go for a while, since I have a full time job. It's good on the one hand because I can work when I want on my game and if I wouldn't work on it for a month I'm still able to pay the bills. But the bad thing is I don't have the push to really work hart on my game and make it reality. Maybe that's a good new years resolution. To take game development more serious and put more time and effort into it.
As someone who builds prototypes constantly just to learn new things (not just game related), I find that for an actual project I need to have at least 1 other stakeholder. My constant need to not feel like I'm holding someone else up drives me to go further than I would on my own.
1:45 Yep I do have zero days becuase disabled but even then I try to just open TH-cam or devinatrt or Intch.10 just to stare at my past work and how well it's doing... so thinking about it I rarely have zero days and becuase I have ADD-autism. I can't focus on one task at a time for days on end so I switch and always work on something always be gaining that EXP. Which something you can do is simply have word or something with notes on your phone on your home screen just there ready to check on it or maybe a 2D print of a screen shot of the game on the wall as a reminder... Litterly just be remined it exists helps so much for me.
When I'm feeling unmotivated I like to get inspired by art and other forms of creative media to remind myself that this is what I'm working towards
10:58 I switch between my many projects or start a new one... which if you are like me a ADD-autistic Super savant then that is what you need to grow and finnish anything... Me and my audience knows I'll be back becuase I always am and know 2 of my novels have gotten finished chapters which I posted about and they did well for me... In fact great given PDFs don't do well on Devanrt compared to my other art... I made the cover for my big TT game collection and worked on it some with it's 4 years old brother which I did slow steps but never not did anything as I knew I would never want to say "I didn't even edit this month" to my veiwers in the monthly update. Like swapping projects is fine as long as you have a mix of big and small ones that you always work on and come back to.
I have been too afraid to think very highly on where my game studio would be. Because I seem to fantasize about things that may or may not happen, like buying a studio and selling merch. I just feel like thats at least 10 years away if ever 😅
going off the logic of finishing what you start, if you got halfway through Forge Industry and realised that it had limited commercial potential, would you have kept going for another 6 months to finish or pivot to a new project?
The people who made Soulstone Survivors apparently pivoted from their original game when Vampire Survivor became superhot.
Finish it, we knew Forge Industry wasn't going to be a smash hit, but mama ain't raise no quitter.
In all seriousness, finishing your first game isn't really about the money, but it's about just learning how the launch of a game works, and all the pains that come along with it. You also just know that you are physically capable of shipping something, which will do wonders for your morale. -M
7:19 I have over 7k videos over 11 years and which each video my channel gets a more diverse and massive libary that still bring people in 11 years later... Although the trick is make every video ever green and good so people whould want to watch it 100 years from now... And it works and now I have finally been able to get more views it's becuase of no zero days and getting that libary of stuff.
Inspirational! Thanks!
Bro when i get bored with my project, i work on a side project for a while. Later return to main project
Can anybody relate or is it just me that i don’t have any motivation problems? For me it is so automatic to open Unity every day.
same, once i get in the zone I can just work for hours every day, especially late at night lol
Man, you're pretty much gifted.
You got quite lucky.
I wish I can become like you
I bought a computer and downloaded unreal engine with the mindset that I will make something cool. Still haven't made anything cool
You developed the habit. Most people not only put off the work because it's hard but they also plan far beyond their capable scope. I know they all say it but actually make a small game, it's so rewarding to feel like you could actually accomplish something.
Good video like always!! 🙂
I have no problem finishing my games and launching them, but I do have a problem marketing them, though...
Are you guys from Belgium? I hear some accent :) Greetings from Bruges.
Helemaal correct! -M
I remind myself that I will die, that there will never be another like me in the universe. And what I could have brought to the world, I will never know what it was, how it looks, because I focused on the feeling of procrastination. While in an alternative universe, there is another me, who already has accomplished what I dream about, and only imagines how his life could have been if he had stopped. Which is that reality of mine that I can find myself in, if I stop and just trow in the towel.
Memento Mori -M
What about artistic vision and passion? I don't care what is the trend, if I do a game, I'm gonna make it for myself first, and I don't want it to be a trendy hit and vanish 5 days later.
Then you can completely ignore this video, and a bunch of other ones on this channel. -M
I honestly don't have anything that motivates me to move forward towards my dreams beyond "they exist", plenty of things that demotivate me though :\
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Any advice for those who aren't full time game developers?
All of the things mentioned here still apply. If you're a fulltime gamedev, and you have a 0 day, that an issue (it's your main job after all), whereas if you aren't fulltime, 5min of gamedev a day can still be achievable usually.
Are you struggling with something specific in terms of getting work done, not progressing enough,...? -M
@@bitemegames Wow. That was a quick response.
I guess I don't think I'm progressing fast enough. I try to find the best method to do things through trial and error. Most things don't have a standard method too. For example, a save system still requires you to create the classes, save them at specific times, etc. Maybe i just need more practice. Actually, maybe a video that summarises everything a game needs before it can be published would be useful. The first time i uploaded a game to the play store, i had to make changes cause of google's policy which i was unaware of. Like you need to have a age verification if you want to show ads.
(Sorry for the long reply.)