ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 พ.ค. 2024
- This is the one thing you need to do to become a better Game Dev and you might already be doing it without realising it. Side Projects. Whether you're an aspiring indie game developer, a solo developer, or a passionate game artist, side projects are instrumental to improving your game development and game design skills, building your portfolio, and advancing your potential career in the games industry.
In this video, we discuss why side projects are essential for game developers of all levels. From mastering game development principles to building up work ethic and determination, side projects create important learning experiences. Whether or not you're an expert in Unity, Unreal Engine, Godot or your own custom game engine, side projects teach us more than you think.
You got this!
💻 Links
Second Channel: / @dax_plays
Support me on Patreon: / darkdax
Follow me on X (Twitter): / thisisdarkdax
Join me LIVE on Twitch: / darkdax96
🎬 Timestamps
0:00 - Intro
00:48 - Building Skills
03:03 - Learning Game Development
05:33 - Learning Game Engines
06:58 - Software Development, Principles and how to code
08:58 - Idea Generation
10:30 - How it Builds a Portfolio
11:41 - Acknowledging Your Potential
12:55 - The Take Away
13:56 - The Best Bit
📹 Mentioned Videos
• I Made Mr X's AI from ...
• 12 Level Design Tips t...
• I Made Fall Guys in 24...
• I made Persona 5's Bes...
📚 Credit
/ @mixandjam
/ @solomon-gumball
/ @crimsonhollowgame
/ @greedable
/ @samyam
/ @unrealuniversity
/ cobracode
Dr Derek Austin - javascript.plainenglish.io/wh...
Massive shout out to / @noclipdocs for their inspirational game development documentaries - without them, the industry would feel a little more lost.
Stay Safe & Thanks for watching! ~(˘▾˘~)
#gamedevelopment #gamedev #productivity #gameengine #indiegame #indiegamedev #gamedevtutorial - เกม
Remember to let me know what projects you’re working on in the comments! Doesn’t need to be game development related, just share with the community!
Keep up the great work guys - you got this!
As always, thanks for watching!
I have about 10 unfinished "active" projects, which is the main ? which are the sides ? who bloody knows. I don't
@@UndeadAlexFREAKING SAME but it's only a few
I'm learning gamemaker 2 and it's gml language (i never wrote a single line of code in my life)
I'm making a simple clicker game, it has upgrade system that makes upgrades more expensive as you buy them, shop in which you can change color of background and related objects, music shop and camera.
i need to polish it visually, fix few camera related bugs,adds few more things to buy and I have finished practice project!
im currently working on Trading Card Game AI players
I enjoyed your video sooooo much.
I've been working on an OOP Solution for Godot 4 and it's done. I'm making tutorials for it sharing in my channel. I'm just like you an efficiency freak. That's why I've never finished any project xD
But based on my OOP Solution I'm about to make actual games!
I changed my entire motivation after some random guy who works as senior in IT told me: "Perfect and clean code or game only exists in imagination, there is not perfect code and universal way"
They are very smart
imperfection is the perfection of nature. That's why people are trying to make imperfections in models like decal and stuffs.
That's exactly why i dont use standart ways to code, and instead of using tab, i use four ;
(I'm joking I'm not a psycopath)
That's a horrible attitude. You should always aim for perfection, and should never be happy with less.
@@carljosephyounger perfection is the enemy of done. You will quickly find that nothing is perfect, and that you are regularly unhappy with the work you produce. I say this as a perfectionist who has had to learn to just leave things be after a certain point because I could never finish nor start anything because it was imperfect.
As a lone wolf hobbyist I strongly recommend everyone that's doing indie games to at least TRY to mess around a bit in every discipline including music, audio editing and some different types of visual art - if you turn out to be okay at it you can get completely self-sufficient, and either way you'll have a much easier time talking to artists and sound guys + doing small edits on stock assets when necessary. (Plus being able to work with art/music when your brain is too tired for code helps you stay productive even when you're relaxing.)
That's such a great point about being able to convey your vision for a particular discipline to someone who's already skilled in it. Having some tangible idea of what you'd like, I'd imagine, makes it a bit easier! Thank for sharing!
I loved this video, which is surprising because I tend to get a bit angry when devs say to make small games or side projects or whatever before working on the game I want to work on. But you didn't really do that.
You listed reasons why I should do side projects. You didn't tell me to or else my game will suck or I'll fail as a game dev. You even listed a very fair option: make side projects out of your dream game's mechanics.
And then you ended it by saying those are the reason YOU do side projects, and reminded us that we all game dev differently. I really appreciate that.
Thank you so much for the support it's greatly appreciated!
I'm glad I was able to keep that balance for the video! What works for some people may not necessarily work for others so it's up to you to try them and figure it out. What works for you is all that matters.
Breaking down a game into small things is part of being a good developer in general
Truly, the people playing your game don't care what you built it with. That applies for pretty much every software out there. So just use whatever you are comfortable with and start creating!
I'm doing exactly that! Took this last month to learn how to work with C# in Godot. This will help me port my main game code to C# and also I'm having a blast on this side project. It's been amazing. Lots of new ideas and a refreshed mind.
Great stuff! I’m currently learning Godot and it’s C# API too so hopefully I’ll be able to do some interesting stuff soon.
Hope the rest of the project goes well!
Amazing cinematography in the opening shot lol
Frame one of this video your reflection looks like a very accurate Vergil from specifically DMC5
Farewell, Dante
Side projects can also a be a great way to try out that thing you want to do, but can't because you work on your main project.
So I might try out making some of rough proof of concepts for a factory game, so I have some knowledge for when I finish my current game, and can work on my next one
Brilliant video! I love seeing peoples portfolios and their unique games.
Having worked with Godot for at least 5 years, it's really cool seeing it gain as much recognition as Unity and Unreal Engine. Of course Unity's odd **cough** business decisions did a lot to help give Godot some well-deserved time in the spotlight as people were seeking an alternative.
Wow, legitimately motivating video. Thank you!
Glad you liked it!
Making a side project is always how i go about learning a new feature or mechanic i want to implement in a future game, such as a small procedural generated level game for a future open world/dungeoncrawler or whatnot
Procedural stuff always interests me - I'd love to learn about making a city or even how to do and use Cellular Automata
@@DarkDax For sure! I caught onto Wave Function Collapse as a form of procedural for world or dungeon crafting, its really interesting how many different ways you can go about it!
This was a great video dude!
Thanks man, really appreciate it!
The programming paradigms joke was perfectly executed. Despite knowing a fair bit of the knowledge, it's clear the video's very Informative and entertaining. You got a new sub!
Thanks for the support Jack!... me?...... Jack?........ me?
As someone who has been working on a game for the past 8 months and decided to take a week off to make a completely different game, this video was amazing. I'm teaching myself Unity's HDRP and how to properly light scenes with the new render pipeline whereas my main project is a 2d top down tower defense game.
That sounds like a great idea! Sometimes just changing what you're doing to explore or learn something new is just what you need. Hope it goes well!
Great video! Glad I discovered this channel :) Every time I work on a side project it levels up my game design knowledge so much, because I'm always learning something new. You can easily get into a real comfort zone if you're focusing on only one project. As soon as you break out of that comfort zone, you start learning so much more!
That’s the spirit!
I'm currently working on not letting the success of others discourage me.
It is very hard.
It can be easy to find ourselves comparing our progression or success to others. I've been there and I'm sure many people have too. Sometimes it happens out of nowhere. I find reminding myself of what I've done and how far I've come has helped me with that. Everyone is different and will find various things easier or harder, but we all start somewhere. As long as you feel you have personally achieved or progressed, no matter how big or small or silly it may initially seem, it _is_ worth celebrating.
You are doing great. Don't let yourself think otherwise!
I've been working on a long term project for a while now and took the last couple of days for a side quest. Just starting a new project and create stuff I had been curious about anyway for a long while now, but couldn't experiment with in my current big project without having to take the mountain of code and systems already in place into account. This week long sideproject didn't just teach me a lit, but it also made me look forward to getting back to my main project again =) Great video and excellent points. (And I really enjoyed your video about the ai and think more people should watch that!)
Amazing to hear and I think that's what it can take to ‘reset’ how you feel towards any one thing. The same is especially true for when you're stuck on a problem, the last thing you want to do is take a break but you might find something clicks afterwards.
I hope the project goes well, keep up the great work!
I'm working on a 3 mini game, game about a caterpillar becomes a butterfly :D
Nice video! :3
That sounds adorable! Good luck with it!
This video tickles my pringle :D
THE FIRST BIT
Hey great video , I have this conversation with a few devs in my discord pretty often. My approach to this is pretty different.
I’ve been working on my first large project for around half a year, it’s a server based survival FPS. I put a minimum of 6 hours a day into my work. I understand this isn’t ideal, especially with what ur preaching in this video. And on a fundamental level I do agree with pretty much everything.
My mindset when it comes to burnout is pretty different. In my mind there isn’t really any sense in becoming burnt out on an idea.
When working on ur game ur designing systems 1 day, photoshop doing ui the next, blender doing any of the many different workflows be it modelling , animation , texturing.
My question is where is the burnout coming from? Each game can’t really be tied into a global idea, it’s thousands of small things all building into an idea.
If you go make another game, ur going to be doing all these same things again just with a different goal in mind.
I think the confusion is coming from a loss of faith in whatever ur making , much less burnout.
Ofc this is just my opinion, but If I’m feeling burnout writing netcode, I’ll go make some ui, bored of ui? Make some sound effects. You get the idea
I have tons of ideas but I didn't manage to do side projects yet (as I work already full time so my games are already my side projects 😂) but if you work on one thing it's a really good idea that is vastly underestimated
I feel your pain there haha
Good video vault boy.
Damn, a really really good video.
By the middle of it I found a graphics tablet in front of me and by the end I've already had something (I've been procrastinating for a week) sketched out in front of me!
Very motivating and a new fresh perspective to me
Now that’s what I’m talking about! You might have inspired me to try mine out again haha
This has been somewhat of my approach so far. Started learning ue5 about 4 months ago and have just been making little stuff. Started off with decent feeling melee combat and health and damage systems, moved onto spell casting, took some time to do a ladder, looking into dialogue systems now. Pretty much doing everything that isn’t modeling or animation and it’s been a pretty fun approach.
Good approach! Sometimes if I need to do something I don't necessarily find enjoyable (like texturing because I've not quite clicked with it yet) I'll do it between two things I get on with. Other times I don't haha.
I'm starting my journey of learning Godot and I'm traversing YT for some tips and guidance. This is the first video of yours I watched and the way you talk just earned you a brand new subscriber. Keep up the good work!
Thank you for the support! We're in the same boat with Godot ahaha
Mate, even my side projects have side projects!!!!! My problem is I cant code, or at least I have given it 3 decent go's and feel like the time I would need to learn to code, I could have designed, illustrated, animated, 3D modelled, textures and produced sound for several games. So Instead i have to beg steal and borrow dev time from programmers, and every months or two I get back on the AI train, see how much further it has come and I'm sure eventually my generative AI wrangling skills and the AI's themselves will make a good enough team that I can code even the nuts game designs I come up with. Until then, Im doing design and graphics for 2 others, plus a humongous whiteboard full of side-side projects! With this many sides I think its technically a back project?
Cheers for the content! Greatly appreciated.
Visual scripting can be a great way to start understanding the logical flow of certain processes. Annoyingly, learning some foundational programming might be the best way to help demystify things you're unsure about. Even with AI, it's useful to understand what it's pumping out so that you're able to break it down in your head.
Hope the rest of your project(s) go well!
This was lovely. I'm a brand new game dev myself. Halfway through some courses I got, I've already got an idea for a side project I'm gonna make to test things out and I have ideas of how to do it. I'm gonna make as many side projects as I can until I feel comfortable enough to make a really big idea I have in mind. Thanks for the inspiration!
Sounds great - hope it's all going well, you got this!
Easter themed hidden object game for a monthly competition
Sounds great! How's the game going? Did you submit it yet?
I'm just finishing up my first ever game, and although it's super short and "unpolished" in my eyes, I've learned so much from the experience. I immediately want to go back after this first version and dedicate all my time to polishing it, but now I realize the value of working on side projects too, expanding your skills and discovering what else interests you. Creating that balance of a passion work and consistent learning is important.
Thank you for this wonderful video, your words are so inspiring!
Thank you for watching! I finishing your game goes smoothly for - just remember you're almost there!
Good stuff!
13:13
hey! Vsauce, Michael here.
I decided to try game development previous year. I tried out 5 engines: Unity, Unreal, Godot, Defold, Monogame. Made 3 unfinished games. Now I decided to make a 2D space simulator with LibGDX, as I'm most familiar with Java. Hopefully I will finish it.
Stick with it and balance that burnout and you'll do it. If I can spend as long as I did on that AI project and finish it, anyone can!
Thank you for your tips! I hope I will successfully apply in my game dev journey!
As long as you do your best, that's all you can ask for! Good luck!
@@DarkDax thank you a lot!
Hey. Well done.
Thanks!
I am now making a tower defence prototype, and... I think as prototype, with basic mechanics, without menu and etc it is ready. But as game it needs some more work over it
Step 1 done! Good luck with your next steps!
I was struggling to make my own games (big ideas, little discipline) so I started trying to make mods for Minecraft Bedrock edition.
I have my first one up and working on my server with my friends (it's just recipe changes but still, it's a start!)
That's amazing! What mods have you made?
@@DarkDax It’s just a small thing, where you can recycle most of the non-stackable stuff and get some materials back (diamond armor & tools, spyglass, book & quill, etc). I’m going to be expanding it so that you can make one wood item instead of multiple in a “woodcutter” (like with the stone items in the stone cutter) (Java edition already has something like this but bedrock doesn’t for some reason so I’m going to see if it’s possible).
I am also experimenting with structure generation and loot tables in bedrock edition and initial tests are successful! I hope that I can make some tutorials for it so that more exploration based add ons are made! (I am a crappy builder lol)
Thank you
this is a very, very good video
I'm making a game!
Hell yeah!
How’s the game goin?
While not really a “full game” i decided to go for making modded celeste maps, while the process is super fun i just sometimes cant get myself to even finish one room in like months and that realllllllly started to kill my fun and motivation, my first map took me around a year to make mainly due to burnout, which if it was any other person than me they would probably spend like a month or less making it..
Welp anyways, banger video :)
That’s really cool! Celeste is such a brilliant game and I’ve not even thought about there being custom maps haha.
Don’t think like that - like I say in another video about devlogs, you don’t always see or get told just how much struggle was involved in certain points of development - sometimes you do!
It took more a lot longer than it could have otherwise to make the AI project, but if I can do it so can anyone else.
Hope you find the motivation to jump back in at some point!
thanks for the positive advice!! As for celeste mods, i realllllly recommend you to look up strawberry jam,its a major mod by the community that is i think double if not triple the size of the original game, i had i think around 1600 hours spent on just playing modded celeste (and also around a whole 400 hours just for strawberry jam, including the optional content)
(Heres a trailer of it if you would like to watch a bit of it th-cam.com/video/v6eyt8iQ9sQ/w-d-xo.htmlsi=SB6vgxAmFyJqdw56 )
I might watch more of your channel, just from this video i think you really do have a good future for TH-cam/gamedev, keep going!!
this is a very good video. thank you
Thank you for watching!
Great video! Side projects are definitely something I could not live without, and I hope the day I can make a living out of them is close. Currently, I'm implementing a handmade version of UE5's nanite subsystem to have a solid but flexible rendering engine well suited to an idea I want to turn into a game.
Now that sounds big-brain and like there are a lot of considerations at play. If it turns out anything like your terrain editor it'll be great. Good luck with the rest of the project!
I am currently working on a Mage Looter Shooter (3D) With Sprites as enemies etc.
Oooo good luck with the project!
@@DarkDax thanks man! It will be quite complex, as what I have in mind is to make a magic system in where you can combine elements to activate different spells
I don't think I've earnt myself a side project yet, i abandoned my game to switch engines and since switching in December, ive made hardly any progress on my new game, im really struggling with the story, i do like how it's coming along but it's taking me absurdly long to finish. So basically all i actually have in engine is a character controller and idle/walking animations for a sprite i made too small and want to replace... 4 months of work... which i couldve got done in a day in my prime excluding the story which with full concentration is probably still only 2 weeks worth of writing. My procrastination is at it's peak... i guess a side project could help with that but personally I think it's better to try and learn to eat the frog.
Sometimes things just take a while. There's seemingly no rhyme or reason for it. Don't see it as a statement about you or your ability but rather an opportunity for you to step back and ask what could you do to help yourself.
Like I say, sometimes it really just does take a while but there can be external factors at play too.
Keep at it and you'll realise you've made more progress than you thought one day.
I have a question guys ! Right now I’m working on a (quite) complex multiplayer video game. I don’t have the confidence to make a great online multiplayer experience and don’t want to ruin the concept with terrible programming. I’m thinking of doing a much smaller in scope multiplayer game just to finish something even if the good is not great and learn more about Unreal Engine. Is it a good idea?
Yes, I think this would be an excellent idea.
I think it's best that you make something on a small project, and learn by thinking "It probably would have been better if I did X and didn't do Y" and have learned this for, not on, your favorite project, than to end up just thinking "Fuck, well it's already too late" and end up unhappy with the project you've been working your heart out on.
I think it's also great if you test the small project with friends, and use them as play-testers and get their opinions.
The good thing with side projects to prototype new features is that if they work out well, you can reuse most of the code and have a much easier time bringing them to your main project. Meanwhile if they DON'T turn out well, you can just throw them away without any lasting damage to your main project! (And then hopefully have more luck next time)
honeypop lesgooooo 🔥🔥
The "Learning Game Development" section was so oversaturated and hyperactive out of nowhere, I automatically fast forwarded it thinking it's an ad.
Still a good video. It's really hard to find reasons and ways to keep working on things you like sometimes. Sometimes to such extent that you forget how you like them... Jesus, sorry
The one day the UK decides to release the sun and it was that day haha
I'm making an action game. Just a simple player character fight against enemies with casual combat system. There is no gimmick or anything special, just pure casual action game. My goal is to understand the entire process of making videogame until publish it. I don't need to have the best game in the world for my first commercial game, it's only $100 to publish anyway. Also the most important thing is that I could learn the entire process first hand.
Sounds like a healthy mindset - keep it up!
Jetpack Joyride but 3D (first person)
ugh game dev is a lot of work.
and sometimes having a team can be a time saver.
You're a bit of a dork. I have subscribed.
I've been slowly building up lore and worldbuilding for a high fantasy game world inspired by isekai fiction and the Italian renaissance. A comatose goddess of balance is awakened by a drastic shifting of fate, and is forced to summon a hero in order to have a chance at preventing a cataclysmic event.
That sounds beautiful - hope it's going well!
I shouldn't make side projects I SHOULD FINISH THEM GODDAMMIT ;-;
on to #265 😭
ahh I see father came back with the milk :)
It's about damn time
Are you the Colin Furze of game development?
if only i had a bunker and hoverbike...
@@DarkDaxyes, yes he is
Nice way to cope for spending so much time on a Behaviour tree
I have to live with myself somehow
sly cooper music, sly cooper music, sly cooper music
1/3 of the OG three
I didn't know tommyinnit was a game dev
ಠ_ಠ
Just write your own game engine, ez
duh 🤷🏼
@@DarkDax In all seriousness, its super fun!
Someone that is doing PR or Marketing or music is not a game developer. That's like saying that you're a chef if you work as a boom for an advertisement for McDonalds.... that's not only putting a huge burden and expectation on the boom operator that hasn't crafted the skill of flipping burgers and dunking fries in hot oil, but also is insulting to actual chefs that have spent time and efforts to be good at what they do...
PR and marketing IS important... you COULD say they work 'in the games industry', or that 'they are working with a video game IP'... but they are not DEVELOPERS.... They aren't even DESIGNERS...
Since you're obviously confused (and thankfully you don't make the rules)... developers 'develop' the game (they make it functional). Designers, use the functional aspects created by developers to make the game fun (ideally) or at very least to make content for the game (using the functional systems and functional assets given to them by developers). There is some back and forth and chicken or the egg between developers and designers - perhaps the developers add a feature that the designers play with and need tweaked, or sometimes designers express a desire for a feature that developers implement... but under no circumstance is there an expectation for ASSETS nor TOOLS to be created by designers, and there is no expectation for CONTENT to be created by developers (if there are designers on a large team - for no other reason than you're overpaying if you have a programmer balance your game and tweak level design - and they likely will be garbage at it as it's not their main field of expertise). Marketing IS MARKETING... and is independent of a games creation... PERIOD. The same marketers can work in any industry and perform the same tasks... again, they are not a chef if they make an advert for mcdonalds... they are not a developer (nor designer) if they make an advert for a game. Same with QA and testing and moderation and customer service... they are not developers, they are not designers, they ARE in fact, QA/testers/mods/cs/etc in their respective fields of study - important to ensuring the quality of the game, both inside the game and out, but they have no role in the creation of the game - they don't make the tools, they don't use the tools to make cool things... they have their own jobs to do, typically playing a game over and over again and noting bugs and trying to reproduce them, etc, etc. Same with musicians in most instances, they are just musicians (barring really intricate instances where tracks are very important to the function of the game, 99.9% of the times not the case- but if the music is interconnected with the gameplay outside of being background music - I wouldn't see fault if they said that they were a developer on the team).
So from your cheeky list:
ACTUAL Developers: programming, tooling, art, modeling, animation, vfx, sfx
Designers: Level design (omitted from your list but equally important: item designers, skill designers, system designers, UI designer, Combat designer, and so on --- the actual 'content' of the game, typically configured by tools given to them from software/tools developers, with assets given to them by asset developers - textures, models, animations, sfx, shaders, etc...)
Marketing: PR, advertisers, Community managers, etc. (none of which touch the game's code, nor make any content changes... THEY CAN be given cheat menus and stuff to get interesting shots of the game, that's typical... but they don't actually make any changes to the game directly that gets shipped)
Musicians: musicians...
(and completely lacking from your list and more apt then musicians...)
QA: Testers (internal, external/ paid and unpaid), QA managers, scrum masters/traditional management, CS, Moderation, etc....
In short... musicians are not game developers; marketers are not game developers; and even designers are not game developers... to claim otherwise is both wrong and daft.
If someone wanted to be incorrect, ill informed, or simple with their description, they can say 'anyone that had anything at all to do with shipping a game',... but that's incorrect, ill informed and worthless as a means of description.... because: if you park cars for the valet in front of the game studio... you're not a game developer... If you drive a truck to put the game in stores,... you're not a developer... if you put the game onto shelves as you stock shelves... you're not a developer... and even if you put the candy in the vending machine in the video game studio, directly impacting both the quality and speed of development of the game, in your small little way impacting the very lives of the developers that are pulling their hair out around you as they try to fix a game breaking bug, by doing the lords work as an unsung hero.... you're STILL not a game developer...
Developers, in all actuality and at great shock I am sure: are developers...
Enter the Dragonfly
Based
This is great advice, but as someone who is finally starting to knuckle down on actually releasing a full project it could not come at a worse time for me lmao
Also, how's things with Unity these days? Are you planning on staying with it for the foreseeable future?
Great to hear mate, wish you luck on the push to release!
I'm currently trying out Godot and then maybe explore some other engines while Unity has more time to stabilise and realise how to position itself. Only then will I know if I want to jump back over. Only time will tell!
Why do I have so many different hobbies 🫠
Because maybe, just maybe, each of those things are not important to you!