Something I learned from my boss actually is to learn enough to be dangerous. You can fill in a lot of gaps with assets. Being able to manipulate those assets in ways that you want is what's more important. Don't focus on becoming a pro on everything, nobody can. Fill in the gaps, but just enough to be dangerous, but become a pro in specific things. Wish you luck!
Same things with software development. Use libraries where necessary or where you can so you don't need to invent the wheel again. And your wheel is probably worse than the wheel made by persons who specialize in making wheels.
Dude, chill. All decisions you make aren't binary. You don't need to quit game development, you also don't need to invest your entire life into it. You can balance stuff how much you want and as much as it fits your life professionally. If you feel demotivated, take a step back and let yourself fall back into it naturally.
Solid advice, wouldn't have put it any better, sometimes you just need to take some time off, take a walk, go on a week or month vacation, find God, draw new inspirations... so Dude chill
I've been developing software for almost 7 years, and I've been making games as a hobby for around 10 years. I think the most important thing when it comes to making video games, it's to not dream bigger than what you're able to achieve. Keep it doable. If you have a habit of dropping off projects, or being intimidated by what you have to do for the project, that's a sign that you're biting off more than you can chew. Scale down (fewer features, simpler systems, shorter playtime), lower the stakes (release for free, don't try too many new things at once, don't put all your eggs in one basket), and stick to what you can actually finish. Anyone can start projects, anyone can have ideas for huge projects, but actually pulling through requires a lot of knowledge and experience. The only way you can get to a point where you can comfortably do big projects is by doing a hell of a lot of smaller projects first. Projects you finish, stuff where you think "okay, this is done now, there is nothing more to add". Doing that gradually builds up your experience and confidence, and it lets you occasionally do some slightly bigger projects. Which in turns lets you do even bigger projects. Eventually you'll get to a point where you've made so many games and done so many projects, that doing something bigger feels like it's just a matter of doing a bunch of smaller things you already know how to do, and at that point there is nothing intimidating about it, and the steady progress keeps you motivated to continue. If you can't do it that way right now, don't try to do it that way. Keep making the stuff that gives you an appropriate and non-intimidating challenge, keep leveling up before you try to tackle the main boss. It's all a balancing act of figuring out where you're at, and then taking a tiny step beyond that.
I'm glad to hear that you're not quitting game dev, but I also think you should reconsider tower quest, bro. There was a point in your vid that got me thinking. Particularly the part when you mention connecting with other game developers (@4:00). Having other game developers as learning-resources is good and all, but only if you look to those resources through the right lens. The WRONG "lens" is comparing your knowledge to theirs--there will always be someone who knows more than you--that's just how the world is. Also, as far as those other game developers who "seem" to know more than you, they've likely gone through some hard times too in order to solidify their knowledge. It's very easy to take notice of a person's success and think "oh, they're just naturally talented" or "they're better than me without having to try", etc, but the reality is they probably went through the same demotivating shit that you're going through right now. As I see it, you're still on your way of leveling up BUT that's only if you get back into the correct mind space and forge ahead. Another thing I wanted to note => @4:24 you mention your realization that you had a "huge gap" in knowledge. I think that's nonsense. A chef doesn't first look to his kitchen to see what utensils/tools he has to dictate which recipes he can cook. He decides on a recipe first. What I mean is that as long as you have a fully formed idea (at least to pump out a first iteration/version) of a game, you should be able to piece your game together feature-by-feature. Improvements will come as they are needed, so don't get hung up on that. Cultivate the idea first (recipe), then find the right tools (utensils). Lastly, like the other comments here say--trying to chase after all the knowledge that it takes to create a game completely solo is a dangerous use of time. I understand the desire to try to make a game from total scratch but one of the best things I've done to get over this time consuming hang-up is to ask myself, "Is it more important to ME that I learn/master ALL the tools/aspects that allow me to create a game? Or is it more important to ME that I simply MAKE my game?". Take small victories and with each new challenge make it a bigger win.
Im a self taught game dev. I've been learning and doing now for about 7 years, working on my first "big" release right now. I've never seen one of your videos before but the honesty and passion that was clearly on display has earned a new sub! Thank you for uploading, I hope progress on the project really excels this week. You got this.
bro u seem ambitious & a dreamer, i can see it in your eyes, i hope u read this comment and i hope it might clicks something in u, i am a game developer i have participated in some projects for couple a years doing something i thought i love, and then i have came along to the state that u WERE DESCRIBING, demotivated, wanting to quit, my dream game is just too big for me, but then i said this to my self : "why don't i work on other smaller projects ? and work on my dream game at the same time", or "why don't i work on smaller projects, each project has my craft and it has a main mechanic from my dream game's design", so i started designing my dream game from A-Z, and try to pick up some interesting mechanics from it and make a whole other small game around that mechanic, trust me buddy, starting small is the general rule that works for everyone, (unless u r an exception), so try to work on smaller games, not game jams, release small and slowly build and learn about ur craft buddy till u can mentally and professionally capable of making ur dream game bro, good luck with every step, don't give up , u have a lot of potential bro
Every time I get discouraged like that, I imagine myself being pushed to my limit and instead of giving up, I work even harder. It's like a last stand where you're in a battle and you still haven't used you most powerful ability - the ability to continue. Don't think of these obstacles as a giant wall you can't traverse, but rather an obstacle that you WILL overcome either by climbing or going around it AND you WILL get to your finish.
I’ve been making games for 15 years, most of that in Unity. I’m a Unity software engineer for a day job. I still don’t know everything. Here is my advice: Don’t worry about that. Just make games. Don’t make games for other people. Make them for yourself. Make small games. Make quick games. Learn more about your trade while doing them. Also, 13-14 years ago I also was streaming and making videos while doing game dev. It’s a lot of work. Too much to do both learn how to do game dev while also managing a TH-cam content schedule. I decided that I couldn’t do both and stopping producing TH-cam videos to focus on game dev. Sometimes I see all of these channels finding success and wish I kept at it BUT I’m probably a better Software Engineers because I didn’t. There is no single answer but I do feel that you should focus on one thing at a time. Good luck & don’t forget to have fun.
Bro you might be the only guy I know in game dev that truly is emotional about games. I can see huge potential. I too had same breakdown game after game, failure after failure. After 7 years I came back to game development and realized I was making so many mistakes I was speechless. But getting a job as a software developer, allowed me to understand what was really going wrong, especially in project management. For example, I usually started all projects from scratch. Meanwhile, now I always start from the previous game I was doing, so I not only don't lose progress, but half of the game is already made! This meant less work and more production quality.
I also participated in the Secret Santa Game Jam. All my santas dissapeared as time went on. My santa letter was very loose. All i wanted was lots of enemies to destroy. The rest was up to the Santa. I did have a better experience with my giftee. He did play the game and had a lot of fun, sending back a nice message and even giving some constructive feedback. I wish I had more time to polish the game but December is a hectic month for me.
Hey man its ok to take a break, you do you first. When you are ready to dive back into making a steam release and churning out videos, the platform will be there ! I also took 1 year off from making videos to learn new skills and improve my art, also shifted the channel identity entirely 😅
I am going through the same thing. The game industry is so competitive that over scoping your game to try and make it more interesting is way too easy. And this makes it very intimidating. It's easy to get burned out :(
I'm busy learning game development with my brother, and we're struggling to keep up with all the skills we need. It's tough, but seeing others struggle gives me comfort that at least we aren't alone.
Small steps, one step at the time. Don't put any deadlines if you don't need to. Don't think about finishing the whole project, but just focus on a feature and then another, and another. I believe that this is the way of going forward and actually succeeding
The best thing you can do is focus on your passions and skills. Make content when it feels right. I'm starting to try game development now as well with my kids. Enjoy the journey. I'll follow along.
I've noticed that most succesful indie developers aside from like toby fox have a lot of experience and are typically in their mid twenties already graduated from university. Even the cave story progenitor was 27 upon release. If were talking about musicians youll hear stories like how ryo fukui was 22 when he started learning piano, but he made his first album 6 YEARS later and was grinding the whole time. Time is the most valuable resource that we have as humans, and you cannot buy it back
Pretty much every game developer working on games is in their upper 20+ years. Its not unusual for developers to be 30, 40.. Even some 50 years old work on video games. Games take a lot of time to build and create. It takes a lot of background knowledge and skills from multiple areas.
I didn't start until I was 25 (if you don't count playing around with rpg maker & zquest in the early 2000s) and I'm 38 now and just now getting it down as far as advanced coding goes. It takes time and practice.
As a fellow TH-camr, I definitely truly understand the work that goes behind the scenes but I new to game development and have no idea how you balance it. Keep it up and enjoy the process. Sidenote this is the first video I’ve seen of you, can’t wait to go. Check out the devlogs
Yo man! It was super cool hearing your story and I definitely feel like I can relate to a lot of those points you made, thinking a project will be simpler than it is, bouncing from project to project, realizing you have a lot to learn as a dev, especially compared to other people, TH-cam video creation taking up dev time, it's not an easy time for sure. Thanks for sharing. I love hearing stories from other devs in this kind of more candid format, so I just subbed! :) That merchant game sounds cool. Off the top of my head, it makes me think of Moonlighter, but there's a lot of room for exploration there and it will be neat to see what you do with it.
I don’t know you man but I wish the best for you. Don’t be discouraged but be encouraged! Every hero has had to go through hardships and obstacles and you are currently going through yours. Wish you luck man 💯
hey im an aspiring dev, currently in college and i absoloutely love your vids. ive seen you grow so much. youve made it this far theres nothing that can stop you really. stay hard!
Game Jams are a real struggle just because it can be so easy to feel like it's a waste of time when it goes nowhere (whether it means collaborators drop out, the jam somehow ends, etc.) So I definitely feel you there. Good luck in your future endeavors!
The learning never really stops. The problem is that if you approach it as "make every type of game" which is what game jams predispose you to, you can never get really deep into any specific type of game, either. And a certain temptation is, "oh, well then I'll just lean on the engine or an asset pack or these tutorials" and that actually doesn't fix it, because programming an interesting, novel game is always going to touch on things that there are no tutorials for, real "computing and art fundamentals" types of stuff where you go outside of what the engine is built for and what you can communicate in terms of straightforward assets. Going to 3D is often a distraction that lets you avoid finishing by expanding the scope. Finishing requires keeping a Venn diagram of "what I want to do, what the project needs technically, what people say they want to see in a game" around and reviewing it to make sure you're still aligned with each other and it's not falling into some kind of contradiction. When I got burned out by programming, I decided to become a cartoonist, and I think this was good for my sense of what I was doing gaming-wise, not just in a practical sense, but in a: if games are art, what kind of art am I making here? Turns out, the grind needed to do decent drawings is roughly as difficult as the grind needed to learn assembly coding for a retro system. So I'm doing both of those things now.
Hey man, I believe in you and I want you to succeed. Take a gander at some of these comments before mine because I think they feel the same way. I've spent three days developing and I'm 34 years old. I don't have any experience but I'm so excited at what is possible in the world you guys live in. All I can do is go through the motions (a lot of times over) and wait for things to click. The dream game will eventually make itself. If you still love doing what you do, don't give up!
Stumbled on this & really enjoyed it. Don't quit, game development is hard but its also super rewarding. Reach out and catch up some some other game devs maybe it'll help to talk about the struggles!
Hey man, just came across your channel. Thank you for opening up like that, it can't be easy. Good call on pulling back on the youtube, I think the pressure of having an audience and feeling like you have to have something to show to them and having that schedule bearing down on you is not easy and can be unhealthy. But yeah, keep going on your gamedev journey and just enjoy it and do it at your own pace. Best of luck!
just randomly stumbled across this video, hey duders you're too hard on yourself. give yourself a break, doing anything in games is insanely difficult. I work as a 3D artist for games and its tough, i have days where i feel like everything i make is crap. and sometimes i have weeks of no inspiration. Its okay to take a step back and focus on yourself and relax. You're not a bad person for taking a break. take sometime and remember what made you excited about game dev, and when your good and ready make a smal lsimple project you can knock out of the park. i did this with a cube, i took the default zbrush cube wore some of the edges away and made a stylized cube with some carved runes, it was simple fun and fast but it reminded me why i came into this field. i also think your stretching yourself too thin by trying to wear too many hats, start small hit your MVP and watch the scope creep wishing you the best chief.
My mentality on game jams: An interview method & process. I care more about the work ethic and vibe the people i work with give off than the game, or idea of the game itself. Game jams can flop. But relations with people should not be toxic in any capacity. If we have differences, it must be resolved maturely, or i'm out. No matter how big i contributed to the game, or how "good" the state the project is at. I'll cut my losses. It's not worth the toxicity.
yah, i get you man, but i hope you dont give up! i'm just getting started into game dev, and i have the hope that one day we'll be able to play eachother's finished game! so yah, don't give up! 🎉
I really feel this man. I started my first commercial project this year. Released a demo in the steam nextfest. It flopped hard. I realized that a month or two later, I knew way more about development and decided to recreate the demo. It is going well and I have actually finished updating most major features and the demo is looking better. But I still have months left until I have a finished product and I have a few prototypes I am enjoying way more. It is slow going and its been rough to find the motivation. I think anyone who has developed a game has been here. Once you are done the things you enjoy (programming in my case) all thats left is a lot of tedium that you dont feel like dealing with. The best way I have found to avoid this for myself is by trying to create things that don't involve implementing systems I hate (inventory systems are one). I notice when I play a lot of games I think "wow this would have been so easy to make, what a great idea". That really opened my eyes to how much of game dev is just good planning. You can't outwork a bad plan, and a good plan can really hide your lack of skills in certain areas. Unfortunately all games need UI and that is my biggest weakness for sure
Glad to hear that your remake is going well :) Yeah definitely a solid idea is a great solution. I've been playing Bullets Per Minute recently and I've had that same thought. It seems like such a simple game to make but the idea is so solid
Thanks man! I hope the merchant game ends up going well for you. I know it isn’t everyone’s thing, but one thing that has helped me out is doing some parallel development. I work on my main project as much as I can, but sometimes I just hit a block. I have an itch game I like to up date occasionally and a prototype I am enjoying a lot. Working on different project has definitely been a good way to learn several different skills and give me some gamedev goals when I feel like I have hit a brick wall on my main project. I know it’s super defeating when you hit that block but sometimes coming back with more skills is really the best thing you can do. I have a feeling we haven’t seen the end of tower quest
Yeah bro, I totally feel you. Ironic that this video came across my feed today. Been at this for 5 years and still have nothing to show for it. But like you said, as demoralizing as this experience can be, I still feel like this is something I can win at. Idk, I think back to the beginning of Mass Effect 3 when you go to recruit Garrus and when you get there he is literally watching his home burn, but yet he still believed that that home could be saved. This is war and no matter how many battles we lose it is faith that will eventually win the war.
Being intimidated because it's part of a large project is such a relatable feeling. I have yet to discover anything to help out other than the mentality of "just do it".
You clearly have a passion for this stuff and it's tough when you really want to be doing it but it's not going the way you hope, so go easy on yourself - you're clearly good at this but burning out mentally is a killer for these kinds of fields so go steady and you'll find a way through.
Hey dude thanks for being so real. I took a lot from this, especially the importance of allowing yourself the time to explore new concepts and interests without feeling the need to attach it to this grandeos project. Keep the dream in mind, but just have relistic goals and enjoy the processes of creativity and curiosity
Bless you my love! These are the beautiful ups and down of game dev that we all go through. I've quit and come back and it's just the reality of this love hate relationship. Can't wait to see more about what you're working on :D
there is no easy answer to the situation you've described. So whatever you do try to do it the best for you in this moment. Try different things, looking for different perspective of game development , learning new stuff and trying what is the best for you. I hope it will be a great time and it won't be so harsh for you going through it.
I think this happens one way or another and is the most normal thing in the world. Do whatever you feel is right. The sooner you quit stuff that doesn't feel right, the better. Don't worry about what people say
Making games is difficult and easy to feel overwhelmed. I just stumbled across you and this video as im watching it now but firstly If you are passionate about being a game dev i would suggest not giving into the feeling or defeat but rather restructure your goals and ambitions to a point where you can learn, grow and hit manageable goals so you feel rewarded. this normally translates to much smaller projects. I found it interesting that you talked about wanting to learn other aspects of game dev such as creating the art and so on, this is great. tailor your goals for wanting to learn other areas in the way of still being able to finish smaller games, im assuming the plan is to be able to start releasing things, if so if you keep your games smaller for now and follow through on them along side of learning other skills, you will feel good about reaching your goals and reaping the rewards. This is long winded but my point is i would suggest reapproaching game dev in bite sized achievable portions to build yourself up and put you on the path of creating you long term large games. if nothing else, keep your head up man :)
ngl, I heard "secret santa gamejam" and thought it sounded like a bad idea because a lot of people drop out of gamejams, and then you managed to make it sound like a worse idea than I originally thought Hopefully other people in the jam had a better experience
I've been working on a game for over 6 years and in March my body decided to completely break down. To say I'm quite demotivated at the moment is quite the understatement.
99% of us make it nowhere because we refuse to take a risk. It's amazing what the human spirit is capable of when you force yourself onto a single path. Set a goal, take away your options and go all in on yourself. There's never a guarantee that things will work out, but you have the highest chance of success when you do all you can to steer things that way. That's not to say you should purposely steer yourself off a cliff, but consider heading towards it and be confident that you'll find the path before you reach the edge. Look at it this way, right now you have the choice of "Maybe I shouldn't do this anymore". When you get to "I have no choice but to make this work" you know you're giving 100%. You can't ask more than that of yourself.
Hey mate, very relatable situation. Keep in mind that consistency is key, keep doing whatever youre doing and eventually it will pay off. Try not to overextend doing too much… regarding the editor: it sucks but its probably for the better. Just keep the editing super low level, dont worry about it. People are not here for the crisp editing. Keep the head up 😊
From an old timer.. just do it. You can push back your release dates. A little bit at a time and just do it. Don't worry about what you don't know. Have small casual games as a distraction from the main game, for when you need a break and a boost. You can do it.
Yo man, first time watching your channel and I resonate a lot with the burden of creating a big game and feeling intimidated. Every time I start a big project I end up working on it for a couple of weeks and it all just gets so daunting I give up. Recently what's helped me is just prototyping small stuff, going for simpler game ideas, and not projecting this huge scope and trying to execute it quickly. I feel like going one step at a time, trying to improve little by little and, most importantly, trying to have fun by learning new things is the way to go. Hope to see more stuff about the merchant game, subscribed!
If you are gonna do something. Ya gotta commit. Its always tempting to quit, especially with the starving artist trope which is most definitely relevant. Keep evaluating projects that have potential with consumers, keep developing and learning, but most of all, don't quit. If you have to get a job you don't want, do it. But save money to for the day you can quit again. If you have a skill that can earn you some money, go search for clients. I am currently running a studio that does work for corporate clients at reasonably high rates, and am slowly stowing money away in a reserve for the day when we can focus less on corporate client work, and more on dev. Took me a while to find such valuable clients honestly. But between all the work with our clients, im still trying to delegate free time to our game software. For over 5-7 years for me its been an up-hill battle. Keep learning, but utilize your strengths. Make games you are capable of doing, but make every game project you pursue contain some things you are willing to learn. But don't let it go too far out of scope so you can release within a year. Good luck!
Thanks for your honesty man. I'm no expert, the opposite in fact. But I reckon it's all just part of the process and if you stick it out, it will come back around for you. Good luck with everything!
15 year Game Developer here. My advice that no one asked for: start small. Going in and just building a single inventory system outside of an actual game is still Game Dev. Making a single level is Game Dev. Making 3D art or VFX, making game prototypes, doing game jams, are all still Game Dev. Not every step forward has to be a big one. The small steps matter too.
i believe in u human. u can do this game dev thing. intriguing story, hope u find motivation again. a majority of game devs work will probably never pay off the way they thought or wished for but in the end i do believe its all worth it. to see a project grow and evolve to finally be released somewhere on internet to the masses.
Yeah it’s completely too much to ask solo game devs like myself to do the art and everything g else as well. I’m a full time blue collar with a firey passion for game dev and actually started 8 months ago on a project. And I can’t do all the art and still haven’t look good so I will use assets and do exactly what u said. And that’s what I do. I love to do that/ and down the road I will need to change the look of all assets anyway to fit my vibe. Cheers mate
hey man, don't stress about making videos. build your skills and update on games you're working on every like 3-6 months to see your progress. keep after your dreams
"Every step is one step closer" You didn't make that game for nothing, you learned a ton because I know that I learn with every game I make. So don't feel too bad. It sucks but the things you learned can never be taken away. from you.
I got burned on that Secret Santa Jam as well, that jam was probably the worst setup jam I have ever joined and I joined and completed over 12 jams in the last 6 months. I completed my jam game and my secret santa was happy with it, but I didn't get a game out of it. No one else got a chance to play my game, there was no community voting, nothing. That jam had such a good premise but left the worst taste in my mouth. Great jam idea, crappy, terrible, absolute shite management. I learned a lot by building the game so I got what I really wanted out of it, but that one almost sent me down the same path you are on.
As a game developer: you should know that one person DOESN"T finish a game. Except very simple games. Games is about teams making games. Join a team. You could talk with me and we could make a very small project togheter if you want to. But anyway, don't expect being good in development alone. and be prepared, is even harder than it looks. Even after learning modeling and animation you STILL wont be able to finish a great game alone, is simply too much stuff.
Don't listen to anyone in these comments, you know yourself better than anyone and you just have to do you. If you want to collab or just bounce some ideas around feel free to shoot me a message.
You have to deal with precipitation I've been doing sports for 10 years and 6 of those years in boxing and Thai boxing Do get punched is a part of these live! Stay motivated don't let it get you down I feel the same way about game design I started the whole thing with 0 experience neither coding nor graphic design what should I say? Do you know how difficult this whole thing is for me? but I remain stubborn and motivated as I know it from fighting and sport WIN OR VALLAHLA AHHHUUU!!! this mentality comes from sport! Thank God I train every day so that I don't fall into a hole like you are currently... KEEP UP, YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE HAVING IT HARD
Game development is a lot of work totally understand❤️ and I would not recommend participating in a game jam that doesn't offer anything in return most of those are just scams at least according to me it's not hard to think about it they could only be interested in your code, game mechanics and other stuff in a game you create
Video idea.... I do dev here and there and since my efforts are so small in user count i dont gave to pay for licensing... They talk about games costing more to make Sometimes i wonder why folks dont just use UE123 etc... or Unity123 etc... I would think the new licenses cost a lot and that could he throwing the price up for AAA dev.s amd others So something saying game dev cost is going up also because of software fees going up Hope this makes sense
I’ve just started using gdevelop at the mo, I’m ground zero…so I’m learning the very very basic things like how to make my sprite move etc 😂 even this seems a little more complicated in some ways than I imagined…I’m gonna try to improve but will probably just be a hobby for me if I can pick it up. I can’t see myself ever doing it professionally even if that is the eventual dream…😢 but who knows, the hardcore coding stuff…now that is something I don’t think I’ll ever get my head around…so if I’d need to find someone to help with me with that stuff, I think the art and game story/concept are the things I enjoy thinking about the most.
That's cool to hear! I hope you do well in your game dev journey and who knows what the future holds. Definitely I enjoy certain parts of game dev more than others so I feel you on that. :)
You are at a point where you have to wonder to yourself : do you want to keep game making as a hobby, doing whatever game you like to make, not for anyone but for yourself, or do you want to become a profesional game developer and do games for others. By "others" I don't mean to make game for the "players", because games are inherently for being played by the players, but for other peoples with a different specifications from what you like to do, with different expectation on quality, delivery time and sometimes without even telling you if the players like the game. Your experience with that game jam and that guy asking for a very specific type of game is what a profesional game dev have to deal with. If you can't cope with that stress/pressure/demoralization, maybe you should stick to game dev as a hobby? I'm a 40yo profesional game programmer myself, I like my job, I like my coworkers, we do great games, but we don't necessarily do games I like, and they expect a lot from me, and I want them to expect a lot from me to justify my salary. But the more time passes, the more I'm asking myself if I want to continue that way, or just get a part time job that pays just enough and do games for myself again, even with my lackings in art and game design. I wish you to find your answer soon, before getting stuck with possible regrets.
Do not quit. Do not quit. He who says he can and he who says he can’t are both usually right. Don’t say you can’t. Because you can. If you’re really looking to go 3D, then consider migrating to Unreal Engine 5.4. I started on Unreal and cant ever see myself using anything else.
Sometimes you have to accept that you're not capable of making the game you want to make by yourself. As yes, it's never the code. The choices are to quit, do a lower scope project or to collaborate. Positive thinking is useful when your primary problem is a general lack of motivation and you're not even trying. But once you're past that phase, the 'you can do it' attitude really doesn't help you. I think your pivot is logical so long as you have enthusiasm for the smaller scoped project. Good luck
To be fair the flip side is having a time-bound and specific goal. I've joined over 70 game jams in the past 5 years or so, and have submitted about 20. Wanna know how many personal game dev projects I completed outside of game jams? Just 2. And one of them was actually for my company's marketing department :))
@@mdo Nice for me though there are only a few game projects I want to make so I focus on building those. I enjoy the slow process of building what I want to build.
There is no such thing as knowing everything or keeping motivated on a project for that long. Nobody can keep motivated with one thing for a long time. We do it because we have to. There is so much to discuss, and, as a psychologist, I think the main thing in your video is not even about game development or anything. It's about you. Failure, hardships, challenges, rejections... That's the kind of stuff we talk about in therapy in order to know ourselves better and overcome. I feel like you would take great benefit from psychotherapy, and that's not something you should be ashamed of. And if I may go even further, I suggest you try psychoanalysis.
Fail crew lets go!! Nothing wrong with failure, the road to progress and improvement is paved with mistakes. I also get leaving the youtube video on the side, as a gamedev i think making the game should always come first. Maybe just try to focus on what brings enjoyment for you about the process and least about what the ideal gamedev should be like, the more you enjoy making game the easier it gets to keep working on it and the more this failures seem like a minor setback. Keep it going!!
Golden Knights? *clicks off* I jest, good video man. As someone who moved from gameDev (4 year degree and tons of hobbie projects) I feel your pain. I moved into a corpo job recently and not looking back.
Getting intimitated by all the stuff a normal game has, and how hard some of this actually is to code or gettting to work is normal, and i guess, many hobby devs hit that point sooner or later. Don´t give up, but maybe you could use a shift in perspective. Instead of trying to somehow create your big game, concentrate on those smaller games, that you are able to complete, like those ones for your game jams (or just look at itch io). And from there you can always step up your game little by little, until you gathered enough knowledge and confidence to realize your bigger ideas. And don´t pressure yourself into anything - life is already hard enough, no need to make it harder :) Aslo true, that coding isn´t everything for a game ^.^ i came to that conclusion too. I am somewhat decent in Unreal Engine, but i realized, without a good story to tell, or a good idea for fun game mechanics etc. or knowledge about good level design (what makes a level a good level), all that coding knowledge is only good for some tech demos. Having all the knowledge in the world about creating the perfect code is no guarantee for being able to create an enjoyable game. Thats why i shifted from the idea of making a game towards tinkering and coding and exploring all the possibilities, and if there happens to come a game into existence during all my experiments, then thats a nice accident ^.^
This is only my first tie watching one of your videos, but i think you should try and push past this mental block and find a way to get back into game dev in a different way. It could be by trying to get a group of other indie developers with different levels of skills in areas that you might feel you lack, and build somehting small with them. Learn from them while you go and when you can come back to finishing off your own project, you will have more skills and knowledge from the people around you. Good luck dude and i wish you all the best!!!
0:17 Yuh
Yuh
Yuh
Something I learned from my boss actually is to learn enough to be dangerous. You can fill in a lot of gaps with assets. Being able to manipulate those assets in ways that you want is what's more important. Don't focus on becoming a pro on everything, nobody can. Fill in the gaps, but just enough to be dangerous, but become a pro in specific things. Wish you luck!
This is the correct answer :)
Same things with software development. Use libraries where necessary or where you can so you don't need to invent the wheel again. And your wheel is probably worse than the wheel made by persons who specialize in making wheels.
danger coming through!!!
Dude, chill. All decisions you make aren't binary. You don't need to quit game development, you also don't need to invest your entire life into it. You can balance stuff how much you want and as much as it fits your life professionally. If you feel demotivated, take a step back and let yourself fall back into it naturally.
Solid advice, wouldn't have put it any better, sometimes you just need to take some time off, take a walk, go on a week or month vacation, find God, draw new inspirations... so Dude chill
I've been developing software for almost 7 years, and I've been making games as a hobby for around 10 years.
I think the most important thing when it comes to making video games, it's to not dream bigger than what you're able to achieve. Keep it doable. If you have a habit of dropping off projects, or being intimidated by what you have to do for the project, that's a sign that you're biting off more than you can chew. Scale down (fewer features, simpler systems, shorter playtime), lower the stakes (release for free, don't try too many new things at once, don't put all your eggs in one basket), and stick to what you can actually finish.
Anyone can start projects, anyone can have ideas for huge projects, but actually pulling through requires a lot of knowledge and experience. The only way you can get to a point where you can comfortably do big projects is by doing a hell of a lot of smaller projects first. Projects you finish, stuff where you think "okay, this is done now, there is nothing more to add".
Doing that gradually builds up your experience and confidence, and it lets you occasionally do some slightly bigger projects. Which in turns lets you do even bigger projects. Eventually you'll get to a point where you've made so many games and done so many projects, that doing something bigger feels like it's just a matter of doing a bunch of smaller things you already know how to do, and at that point there is nothing intimidating about it, and the steady progress keeps you motivated to continue. If you can't do it that way right now, don't try to do it that way. Keep making the stuff that gives you an appropriate and non-intimidating challenge, keep leveling up before you try to tackle the main boss. It's all a balancing act of figuring out where you're at, and then taking a tiny step beyond that.
where do you release a game for free? doesn't steam take $100 from you first?
I'm glad to hear that you're not quitting game dev, but I also think you should reconsider tower quest, bro.
There was a point in your vid that got me thinking. Particularly the part when you mention connecting with other game developers (@4:00). Having other game developers as learning-resources is good and all, but only if you look to those resources through the right lens.
The WRONG "lens" is comparing your knowledge to theirs--there will always be someone who knows more than you--that's just how the world is.
Also, as far as those other game developers who "seem" to know more than you, they've likely gone through some hard times too in order to solidify their knowledge.
It's very easy to take notice of a person's success and think "oh, they're just naturally talented" or "they're better than me without having to try", etc, but the reality is they probably went through the same demotivating shit that you're going through right now. As I see it, you're still on your way of leveling up BUT that's only if you get back into the correct mind space and forge ahead.
Another thing I wanted to note => @4:24 you mention your realization that you had a "huge gap" in knowledge. I think that's nonsense. A chef doesn't first look to his kitchen to see what utensils/tools he has to dictate which recipes he can cook. He decides on a recipe first. What I mean is that as long as you have a fully formed idea (at least to pump out a first iteration/version) of a game, you should be able to piece your game together feature-by-feature. Improvements will come as they are needed, so don't get hung up on that. Cultivate the idea first (recipe), then find the right tools (utensils).
Lastly, like the other comments here say--trying to chase after all the knowledge that it takes to create a game completely solo is a dangerous use of time. I understand the desire to try to make a game from total scratch but one of the best things I've done to get over this time consuming hang-up is to ask myself, "Is it more important to ME that I learn/master ALL the tools/aspects that allow me to create a game? Or is it more important to ME that I simply MAKE my game?".
Take small victories and with each new challenge make it a bigger win.
Thank you for the different perspective and motivational word :)
Im a self taught game dev. I've been learning and doing now for about 7 years, working on my first "big" release right now. I've never seen one of your videos before but the honesty and passion that was clearly on display has earned a new sub! Thank you for uploading, I hope progress on the project really excels this week. You got this.
bro u seem ambitious & a dreamer, i can see it in your eyes, i hope u read this comment and i hope it might clicks something in u, i am a game developer i have participated in some projects for couple a years doing something i thought i love, and then i have came along to the state that u WERE DESCRIBING, demotivated, wanting to quit, my dream game is just too big for me, but then i said this to my self : "why don't i work on other smaller projects ? and work on my dream game at the same time", or "why don't i work on smaller projects, each project has my craft and it has a main mechanic from my dream game's design", so i started designing my dream game from A-Z, and try to pick up some interesting mechanics from it and make a whole other small game around that mechanic, trust me buddy, starting small is the general rule that works for everyone, (unless u r an exception), so try to work on smaller games, not game jams, release small and slowly build and learn about ur craft buddy till u can mentally and professionally capable of making ur dream game bro, good luck with every step, don't give up , u have a lot of potential bro
Every time I get discouraged like that, I imagine myself being pushed to my limit and instead of giving up, I work even harder. It's like a last stand where you're in a battle and you still haven't used you most powerful ability - the ability to continue.
Don't think of these obstacles as a giant wall you can't traverse, but rather an obstacle that you WILL overcome either by climbing or going around it AND you WILL get to your finish.
I’ve been making games for 15 years, most of that in Unity. I’m a Unity software engineer for a day job. I still don’t know everything.
Here is my advice: Don’t worry about that. Just make games. Don’t make games for other people. Make them for yourself. Make small games. Make quick games. Learn more about your trade while doing them.
Also, 13-14 years ago I also was streaming and making videos while doing game dev. It’s a lot of work. Too much to do both learn how to do game dev while also managing a TH-cam content schedule. I decided that I couldn’t do both and stopping producing TH-cam videos to focus on game dev.
Sometimes I see all of these channels finding success and wish I kept at it BUT I’m probably a better Software Engineers because I didn’t. There is no single answer but I do feel that you should focus on one thing at a time.
Good luck & don’t forget to have fun.
Bro you might be the only guy I know in game dev that truly is emotional about games.
I can see huge potential.
I too had same breakdown game after game, failure after failure.
After 7 years I came back to game development and realized I was making so many mistakes I was speechless.
But getting a job as a software developer, allowed me to understand what was really going wrong, especially in project management.
For example, I usually started all projects from scratch.
Meanwhile, now I always start from the previous game I was doing, so I not only don't lose progress, but half of the game is already made!
This meant less work and more production quality.
Yeah I should definitely look at reusing code and projects. Thank you brother
I also participated in the Secret Santa Game Jam. All my santas dissapeared as time went on. My santa letter was very loose. All i wanted was lots of enemies to destroy. The rest was up to the Santa.
I did have a better experience with my giftee. He did play the game and had a lot of fun, sending back a nice message and even giving some constructive feedback. I wish I had more time to polish the game but December is a hectic month for me.
Hey man its ok to take a break, you do you first. When you are ready to dive back into making a steam release and churning out videos, the platform will be there ! I also took 1 year off from making videos to learn new skills and improve my art, also shifted the channel identity entirely 😅
Thank you, yeah that's a good thing to keep in mind, but I hope this break has been enough for me to jump back on the horse
@@VerasStudios rooting for you man, I like your videos and I am sure when the time is right you'll get some closure on whats coming next
I am going through the same thing. The game industry is so competitive that over scoping your game to try and make it more interesting is way too easy. And this makes it very intimidating. It's easy to get burned out :(
I'm busy learning game development with my brother, and we're struggling to keep up with all the skills we need. It's tough, but seeing others struggle gives me comfort that at least we aren't alone.
Interested to see what your brother duo comes up with :)
Small steps, one step at the time. Don't put any deadlines if you don't need to. Don't think about finishing the whole project, but just focus on a feature and then another, and another.
I believe that this is the way of going forward and actually succeeding
The best thing you can do is focus on your passions and skills. Make content when it feels right. I'm starting to try game development now as well with my kids. Enjoy the journey. I'll follow along.
I've noticed that most succesful indie developers aside from like toby fox have a lot of experience and are typically in their mid twenties already graduated from university. Even the cave story progenitor was 27 upon release. If were talking about musicians youll hear stories like how ryo fukui was 22 when he started learning piano, but he made his first album 6 YEARS later and was grinding the whole time. Time is the most valuable resource that we have as humans, and you cannot buy it back
Pretty much every game developer working on games is in their upper 20+ years. Its not unusual for developers to be 30, 40.. Even some 50 years old work on video games. Games take a lot of time to build and create. It takes a lot of background knowledge and skills from multiple areas.
I didn't start until I was 25 (if you don't count playing around with rpg maker & zquest in the early 2000s) and I'm 38 now and just now getting it down as far as advanced coding goes. It takes time and practice.
As a fellow TH-camr, I definitely truly understand the work that goes behind the scenes but I new to game development and have no idea how you balance it. Keep it up and enjoy the process. Sidenote this is the first video I’ve seen of you, can’t wait to go. Check out the devlogs
Yo man! It was super cool hearing your story and I definitely feel like I can relate to a lot of those points you made, thinking a project will be simpler than it is, bouncing from project to project, realizing you have a lot to learn as a dev, especially compared to other people, TH-cam video creation taking up dev time, it's not an easy time for sure. Thanks for sharing. I love hearing stories from other devs in this kind of more candid format, so I just subbed! :) That merchant game sounds cool. Off the top of my head, it makes me think of Moonlighter, but there's a lot of room for exploration there and it will be neat to see what you do with it.
good luck on your project! I'll be here making sure you finish your project brother 😈
I don’t know you man but I wish the best for you. Don’t be discouraged but be encouraged! Every hero has had to go through hardships and obstacles and you are currently going through yours. Wish you luck man 💯
hey im an aspiring dev, currently in college and i absoloutely love your vids. ive seen you grow so much. youve made it this far theres nothing that can stop you really. stay hard!
Game Jams are a real struggle just because it can be so easy to feel like it's a waste of time when it goes nowhere (whether it means collaborators drop out, the jam somehow ends, etc.) So I definitely feel you there.
Good luck in your future endeavors!
Thank you brother, btw I've been keeping up with your devlogs super cool to see your progress :)
The learning never really stops. The problem is that if you approach it as "make every type of game" which is what game jams predispose you to, you can never get really deep into any specific type of game, either. And a certain temptation is, "oh, well then I'll just lean on the engine or an asset pack or these tutorials" and that actually doesn't fix it, because programming an interesting, novel game is always going to touch on things that there are no tutorials for, real "computing and art fundamentals" types of stuff where you go outside of what the engine is built for and what you can communicate in terms of straightforward assets. Going to 3D is often a distraction that lets you avoid finishing by expanding the scope. Finishing requires keeping a Venn diagram of "what I want to do, what the project needs technically, what people say they want to see in a game" around and reviewing it to make sure you're still aligned with each other and it's not falling into some kind of contradiction.
When I got burned out by programming, I decided to become a cartoonist, and I think this was good for my sense of what I was doing gaming-wise, not just in a practical sense, but in a: if games are art, what kind of art am I making here? Turns out, the grind needed to do decent drawings is roughly as difficult as the grind needed to learn assembly coding for a retro system. So I'm doing both of those things now.
Hey man, I believe in you and I want you to succeed. Take a gander at some of these comments before mine because I think they feel the same way. I've spent three days developing and I'm 34 years old. I don't have any experience but I'm so excited at what is possible in the world you guys live in. All I can do is go through the motions (a lot of times over) and wait for things to click. The dream game will eventually make itself. If you still love doing what you do, don't give up!
Stumbled on this & really enjoyed it. Don't quit, game development is hard but its also super rewarding. Reach out and catch up some some other game devs maybe it'll help to talk about the struggles!
Nah you wont quit! You'll be back. I can tell you're a true developer so you'll always be working on something.
Hey man, just came across your channel. Thank you for opening up like that, it can't be easy. Good call on pulling back on the youtube, I think the pressure of having an audience and feeling like you have to have something to show to them and having that schedule bearing down on you is not easy and can be unhealthy. But yeah, keep going on your gamedev journey and just enjoy it and do it at your own pace. Best of luck!
just randomly stumbled across this video, hey duders you're too hard on yourself. give yourself a break, doing anything in games is insanely difficult. I work as a 3D artist for games and its tough, i have days where i feel like everything i make is crap. and sometimes i have weeks of no inspiration. Its okay to take a step back and focus on yourself and relax. You're not a bad person for taking a break.
take sometime and remember what made you excited about game dev, and when your good and ready make a smal lsimple project you can knock out of the park.
i did this with a cube, i took the default zbrush cube wore some of the edges away and made a stylized cube with some carved runes, it was simple fun and fast but it reminded me why i came into this field.
i also think your stretching yourself too thin by trying to wear too many hats, start small hit your MVP and watch the scope creep
wishing you the best chief.
My mentality on game jams: An interview method & process.
I care more about the work ethic and vibe the people i work with give off than the game, or idea of the game itself.
Game jams can flop. But relations with people should not be toxic in any capacity.
If we have differences, it must be resolved maturely, or i'm out. No matter how big i contributed to the game, or how "good" the state the project is at.
I'll cut my losses. It's not worth the toxicity.
"I can do that in 2 days at the most" and then it eats up your entire week, is the most programmer experience possible.
yah, i get you man, but i hope you dont give up!
i'm just getting started into game dev, and i have the hope that one day we'll be able to play eachother's finished game!
so yah, don't give up! 🎉
I really feel this man. I started my first commercial project this year. Released a demo in the steam nextfest. It flopped hard. I realized that a month or two later, I knew way more about development and decided to recreate the demo. It is going well and I have actually finished updating most major features and the demo is looking better. But I still have months left until I have a finished product and I have a few prototypes I am enjoying way more. It is slow going and its been rough to find the motivation. I think anyone who has developed a game has been here. Once you are done the things you enjoy (programming in my case) all thats left is a lot of tedium that you dont feel like dealing with.
The best way I have found to avoid this for myself is by trying to create things that don't involve implementing systems I hate (inventory systems are one). I notice when I play a lot of games I think "wow this would have been so easy to make, what a great idea". That really opened my eyes to how much of game dev is just good planning. You can't outwork a bad plan, and a good plan can really hide your lack of skills in certain areas. Unfortunately all games need UI and that is my biggest weakness for sure
Glad to hear that your remake is going well :) Yeah definitely a solid idea is a great solution. I've been playing Bullets Per Minute recently and I've had that same thought. It seems like such a simple game to make but the idea is so solid
Thanks man! I hope the merchant game ends up going well for you. I know it isn’t everyone’s thing, but one thing that has helped me out is doing some parallel development.
I work on my main project as much as I can, but sometimes I just hit a block. I have an itch game I like to up date occasionally and a prototype I am enjoying a lot. Working on different project has definitely been a good way to learn several different skills and give me some gamedev goals when I feel like I have hit a brick wall on my main project.
I know it’s super defeating when you hit that block but sometimes coming back with more skills is really the best thing you can do. I have a feeling we haven’t seen the end of tower quest
Yeah bro, I totally feel you. Ironic that this video came across my feed today. Been at this for 5 years and still have nothing to show for it. But like you said, as demoralizing as this experience can be, I still feel like this is something I can win at. Idk, I think back to the beginning of Mass Effect 3 when you go to recruit Garrus and when you get there he is literally watching his home burn, but yet he still believed that that home could be saved. This is war and no matter how many battles we lose it is faith that will eventually win the war.
Thanks for letting us know your experience!
Being intimidated because it's part of a large project is such a relatable feeling. I have yet to discover anything to help out other than the mentality of "just do it".
You clearly have a passion for this stuff and it's tough when you really want to be doing it but it's not going the way you hope, so go easy on yourself - you're clearly good at this but burning out mentally is a killer for these kinds of fields so go steady and you'll find a way through.
Whatever comes, just don't quit. Ever.
Hey dude thanks for being so real. I took a lot from this, especially the importance of allowing yourself the time to explore new concepts and interests without feeling the need to attach it to this grandeos project. Keep the dream in mind, but just have relistic goals and enjoy the processes of creativity and curiosity
"is game developement realy that hsrd" - WAY harder than normal programation, just to reference
Bless you my love! These are the beautiful ups and down of game dev that we all go through. I've quit and come back and it's just the reality of this love hate relationship. Can't wait to see more about what you're working on :D
I can't wait to see more of the merchant game! it better have loot boxes
Will do just for you
there is no easy answer to the situation you've described. So whatever you do try to do it the best for you in this moment. Try different things, looking for different perspective of game development , learning new stuff and trying what is the best for you. I hope it will be a great time and it won't be so harsh for you going through it.
I think this happens one way or another and is the most normal thing in the world. Do whatever you feel is right. The sooner you quit stuff that doesn't feel right, the better. Don't worry about what people say
Making games is difficult and easy to feel overwhelmed. I just stumbled across you and this video as im watching it now but firstly If you are passionate about being a game dev i would suggest not giving into the feeling or defeat but rather restructure your goals and ambitions to a point where you can learn, grow and hit manageable goals so you feel rewarded. this normally translates to much smaller projects. I found it interesting that you talked about wanting to learn other aspects of game dev such as creating the art and so on, this is great. tailor your goals for wanting to learn other areas in the way of still being able to finish smaller games, im assuming the plan is to be able to start releasing things, if so if you keep your games smaller for now and follow through on them along side of learning other skills, you will feel good about reaching your goals and reaping the rewards. This is long winded but my point is i would suggest reapproaching game dev in bite sized achievable portions to build yourself up and put you on the path of creating you long term large games. if nothing else, keep your head up man :)
I love how transparent and honest you are, and perfect video btw, I like how you explain and put things. Keep it up man!
ngl, I heard "secret santa gamejam" and thought it sounded like a bad idea because a lot of people drop out of gamejams, and then you managed to make it sound like a worse idea than I originally thought
Hopefully other people in the jam had a better experience
I've been working on a game for over 6 years and in March my body decided to completely break down. To say I'm quite demotivated at the moment is quite the understatement.
I'm sorry to hear :(
Hope you get better
99% of us make it nowhere because we refuse to take a risk. It's amazing what the human spirit is capable of when you force yourself onto a single path. Set a goal, take away your options and go all in on yourself. There's never a guarantee that things will work out, but you have the highest chance of success when you do all you can to steer things that way. That's not to say you should purposely steer yourself off a cliff, but consider heading towards it and be confident that you'll find the path before you reach the edge.
Look at it this way, right now you have the choice of "Maybe I shouldn't do this anymore". When you get to "I have no choice but to make this work" you know you're giving 100%. You can't ask more than that of yourself.
Hey mate, very relatable situation. Keep in mind that consistency is key, keep doing whatever youre doing and eventually it will pay off. Try not to overextend doing too much… regarding the editor: it sucks but its probably for the better. Just keep the editing super low level, dont worry about it. People are not here for the crisp editing. Keep the head up 😊
From an old timer.. just do it. You can push back your release dates. A little bit at a time and just do it. Don't worry about what you don't know. Have small casual games as a distraction from the main game, for when you need a break and a boost. You can do it.
Yo man, first time watching your channel and I resonate a lot with the burden of creating a big game and feeling intimidated. Every time I start a big project I end up working on it for a couple of weeks and it all just gets so daunting I give up. Recently what's helped me is just prototyping small stuff, going for simpler game ideas, and not projecting this huge scope and trying to execute it quickly. I feel like going one step at a time, trying to improve little by little and, most importantly, trying to have fun by learning new things is the way to go. Hope to see more stuff about the merchant game, subscribed!
Thank you very much brother. That's the same approach I think I'm going to take and hopefully, I'm more successful with it
If you are gonna do something. Ya gotta commit. Its always tempting to quit, especially with the starving artist trope which is most definitely relevant. Keep evaluating projects that have potential with consumers, keep developing and learning, but most of all, don't quit. If you have to get a job you don't want, do it. But save money to for the day you can quit again. If you have a skill that can earn you some money, go search for clients. I am currently running a studio that does work for corporate clients at reasonably high rates, and am slowly stowing money away in a reserve for the day when we can focus less on corporate client work, and more on dev. Took me a while to find such valuable clients honestly. But between all the work with our clients, im still trying to delegate free time to our game software. For over 5-7 years for me its been an up-hill battle. Keep learning, but utilize your strengths. Make games you are capable of doing, but make every game project you pursue contain some things you are willing to learn. But don't let it go too far out of scope so you can release within a year. Good luck!
That's rough, I totally get it. It's hard juggling so many things. Hope you feel better with your new project!
Thank you so much!
Game Dev isn't easy. You got this. It's a mentally intensive field man.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! 🎉🎉🎉
Thank you brother :)
Yo Happy birthday man!
@@joshuagillespie763 ty brother
Thanks for your honesty man. I'm no expert, the opposite in fact. But I reckon it's all just part of the process and if you stick it out, it will come back around for you. Good luck with everything!
Im so so sorry about the editor situation man, that's definitely rough.
15 year Game Developer here. My advice that no one asked for: start small. Going in and just building a single inventory system outside of an actual game is still Game Dev. Making a single level is Game Dev. Making 3D art or VFX, making game prototypes, doing game jams, are all still Game Dev. Not every step forward has to be a big one. The small steps matter too.
Cool. Your channel is really down to earth. Best of luck fellow game dev.
Good luck bro. You got this!
Just watched through the whole thing, take a break fam and come back strong.
i believe in u human. u can do this game dev thing. intriguing story, hope u find motivation again. a majority of game devs work will probably never pay off the way they thought or wished for but in the end i do believe its all worth it. to see a project grow and evolve to finally be released somewhere on internet to the masses.
Yeah it’s completely too much to ask solo game devs like myself to do the art and everything g else as well. I’m a full time blue collar with a firey passion for game dev and actually started 8 months ago on a project. And I can’t do all the art and still haven’t look good so I will use assets and do exactly what u said. And that’s what I do. I love to do that/ and down the road I will need to change the look of all assets anyway to fit my vibe. Cheers mate
Cheers hope things go well for you
Hang in there. You got this!
Good luck bro, also on the grind... but I simply couldn't live without it
hey man, don't stress about making videos. build your skills and update on games you're working on every like 3-6 months to see your progress. keep after your dreams
"Every step is one step closer"
You didn't make that game for nothing, you learned a ton because I know that I learn with every game I make. So don't feel too bad. It sucks but the things you learned can never be taken away. from you.
I got burned on that Secret Santa Jam as well, that jam was probably the worst setup jam I have ever joined and I joined and completed over 12 jams in the last 6 months. I completed my jam game and my secret santa was happy with it, but I didn't get a game out of it. No one else got a chance to play my game, there was no community voting, nothing. That jam had such a good premise but left the worst taste in my mouth. Great jam idea, crappy, terrible, absolute shite management. I learned a lot by building the game so I got what I really wanted out of it, but that one almost sent me down the same path you are on.
As a game developer: you should know that one person DOESN"T finish a game. Except very simple games. Games is about teams making games. Join a team. You could talk with me and we could make a very small project togheter if you want to. But anyway, don't expect being good in development alone. and be prepared, is even harder than it looks. Even after learning modeling and animation you STILL wont be able to finish a great game alone, is simply too much stuff.
Game dev as solo developer is very difficult you have to do many things and be good at art and coding. Focusing only on coding is way easier.
Don't listen to anyone in these comments, you know yourself better than anyone and you just have to do you. If you want to collab or just bounce some ideas around feel free to shoot me a message.
Hey, keep your head up. Liked and subscribed, i loved your open and honest talk on this.
You have to deal with precipitation
I've been doing sports for 10 years and 6 of those years in boxing and Thai boxing
Do get punched is a part of these live!
Stay motivated don't let it get you down I feel the same way about game design I started the whole thing with 0 experience neither coding nor graphic design what should I say?
Do you know how difficult this whole thing is for me?
but I remain stubborn and motivated as I know it from fighting and sport
WIN OR VALLAHLA
AHHHUUU!!!
this mentality comes from sport!
Thank God I train every day so that I don't fall into a hole like you are currently...
KEEP UP, YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE HAVING IT HARD
Game development is a lot of work totally understand❤️ and I would not recommend participating in a game jam that doesn't offer anything in return most of those are just scams at least according to me it's not hard to think about it they could only be interested in your code, game mechanics and other stuff in a game you create
Video idea....
I do dev here and there and since my efforts are so small in user count i dont gave to pay for licensing...
They talk about games costing more to make
Sometimes i wonder why folks dont just use UE123 etc... or Unity123 etc...
I would think the new licenses cost a lot and that could he throwing the price up for AAA dev.s amd others
So something saying game dev cost is going up also because of software fees going up
Hope this makes sense
I’ve just started using gdevelop at the mo, I’m ground zero…so I’m learning the very very basic things like how to make my sprite move etc 😂 even this seems a little more complicated in some ways than I imagined…I’m gonna try to improve but will probably just be a hobby for me if I can pick it up.
I can’t see myself ever doing it professionally even if that is the eventual dream…😢 but who knows, the hardcore coding stuff…now that is something I don’t think I’ll ever get my head around…so if I’d need to find someone to help with me with that stuff, I think the art and game story/concept are the things I enjoy thinking about the most.
That's cool to hear! I hope you do well in your game dev journey and who knows what the future holds. Definitely I enjoy certain parts of game dev more than others so I feel you on that. :)
You got this dude!
I struggle with becoming a hobby gamedev due to engines... i just wish i could code everything. I know I shouldn't, but I do anyway :)
You are at a point where you have to wonder to yourself : do you want to keep game making as a hobby, doing whatever game you like to make, not for anyone but for yourself, or do you want to become a profesional game developer and do games for others. By "others" I don't mean to make game for the "players", because games are inherently for being played by the players, but for other peoples with a different specifications from what you like to do, with different expectation on quality, delivery time and sometimes without even telling you if the players like the game. Your experience with that game jam and that guy asking for a very specific type of game is what a profesional game dev have to deal with. If you can't cope with that stress/pressure/demoralization, maybe you should stick to game dev as a hobby?
I'm a 40yo profesional game programmer myself, I like my job, I like my coworkers, we do great games, but we don't necessarily do games I like, and they expect a lot from me, and I want them to expect a lot from me to justify my salary. But the more time passes, the more I'm asking myself if I want to continue that way, or just get a part time job that pays just enough and do games for myself again, even with my lackings in art and game design.
I wish you to find your answer soon, before getting stuck with possible regrets.
Keep on keeping on
Good luck dude!
Do not quit.
Do not quit.
He who says he can and he who says he can’t are both usually right.
Don’t say you can’t. Because you can. If you’re really looking to go 3D, then consider migrating to Unreal Engine 5.4. I started on Unreal and cant ever see myself using anything else.
hey I know what you're going through and hope you get better
Thanks your mom has been a big help going through this. Especially during the late nights ;)
Sometimes you have to accept that you're not capable of making the game you want to make by yourself. As yes, it's never the code. The choices are to quit, do a lower scope project or to collaborate. Positive thinking is useful when your primary problem is a general lack of motivation and you're not even trying. But once you're past that phase, the 'you can do it' attitude really doesn't help you. I think your pivot is logical so long as you have enthusiasm for the smaller scoped project. Good luck
Have you considered joining a Team?
This is why I don't do game jams. I don't like having a rush to complete things.
To be fair the flip side is having a time-bound and specific goal. I've joined over 70 game jams in the past 5 years or so, and have submitted about 20. Wanna know how many personal game dev projects I completed outside of game jams? Just 2. And one of them was actually for my company's marketing department :))
@@mdo Nice for me though there are only a few game projects I want to make so I focus on building those. I enjoy the slow process of building what I want to build.
There is no such thing as knowing everything or keeping motivated on a project for that long. Nobody can keep motivated with one thing for a long time. We do it because we have to. There is so much to discuss, and, as a psychologist, I think the main thing in your video is not even about game development or anything. It's about you. Failure, hardships, challenges, rejections... That's the kind of stuff we talk about in therapy in order to know ourselves better and overcome.
I feel like you would take great benefit from psychotherapy, and that's not something you should be ashamed of. And if I may go even further, I suggest you try psychoanalysis.
Keep going, dude.
never quit. LEEES GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Fail crew lets go!! Nothing wrong with failure, the road to progress and improvement is paved with mistakes. I also get leaving the youtube video on the side, as a gamedev i think making the game should always come first. Maybe just try to focus on what brings enjoyment for you about the process and least about what the ideal gamedev should be like, the more you enjoy making game the easier it gets to keep working on it and the more this failures seem like a minor setback. Keep it going!!
This is not the reality of game dev. This is the reality of your mentality which needs to be fixed.
Golden Knights? *clicks off*
I jest, good video man. As someone who moved from gameDev (4 year degree and tons of hobbie projects) I feel your pain. I moved into a corpo job recently and not looking back.
If you want to get into Unity 3D, take it a step further to the cutting edge of VR/MR!
The sad thing with game dev is you can work really hard, but if the result doesn't have a public you can throw it to the garbage.
Good luck fellow sailor
You seem like you'd be such a fun guy to hangout with
He has a discord
Genius vs AntiChrist 1 Very Science !
Getting intimitated by all the stuff a normal game has, and how hard some of this actually is to code or gettting to work is normal, and i guess, many hobby devs hit that point sooner or later. Don´t give up, but maybe you could use a shift in perspective. Instead of trying to somehow create your big game, concentrate on those smaller games, that you are able to complete, like those ones for your game jams (or just look at itch io). And from there you can always step up your game little by little, until you gathered enough knowledge and confidence to realize your bigger ideas. And don´t pressure yourself into anything - life is already hard enough, no need to make it harder :)
Aslo true, that coding isn´t everything for a game ^.^ i came to that conclusion too. I am somewhat decent in Unreal Engine, but i realized, without a good story to tell, or a good idea for fun game mechanics etc. or knowledge about good level design (what makes a level a good level), all that coding knowledge is only good for some tech demos. Having all the knowledge in the world about creating the perfect code is no guarantee for being able to create an enjoyable game.
Thats why i shifted from the idea of making a game towards tinkering and coding and exploring all the possibilities, and if there happens to come a game into existence during all my experiments, then thats a nice accident ^.^
This is only my first tie watching one of your videos, but i think you should try and push past this mental block and find a way to get back into game dev in a different way. It could be by trying to get a group of other indie developers with different levels of skills in areas that you might feel you lack, and build somehting small with them. Learn from them while you go and when you can come back to finishing off your own project, you will have more skills and knowledge from the people around you. Good luck dude and i wish you all the best!!!