I know the value of a "30 years experience Game Dev" giving advice may be extremely significant but I personally find it to be more realistic, more personal, and more connected to hear someone who is in a similar situation of just trying to make it as a Game Dev and make the games they want to make. It's cool that you're confident enough to also have a video talking about this with meaningful advice and insight that you put it online despite the judgement that likely comes by doing that. Nice video, man!
Thats so nice to hear. I felt like a imposter making this video. But then again, this is the real experience in the here and now of someone going through it all. This means a lot, thank you.
I can speak on this exact journey as someone whose taken the road most say I shouldn’t have. I’ve spent the last 3.5 years learning all of the areas of development that I needed to make the game I wanted to. I focused on learning these skills over releasing games I wasn’t passionate about. I’m now about 6 months into my first game and I’m so glad I did it that way. When starting, it seems like you rarely have a good/great day of progress. Feels like you’re always stuck on something. Now I rarely have bad days. The climb is perpetual, but the more time spent building your game dev muscles, the easier the journey is. I wouldn’t be honest though without saying it it takes a toll. Especially when finances and life is weighing you down at the same time when you know a successful game can change all of it. Just have to keep at it and don’t give up. Embrace the pain.
Thanks for sharing. The last part is painfully true. Putting your heart and soul in passion projects when life is giving you a hard time can be incredibly difficult.
This video resonated with me more than most other motivational game dev videos. No talk about making money off your game, nothing about reaching an audience, and actually being in a similar situation. I feel like I've hit not my first, or second, but at least third time hitting a valley of despair.. Maybe even more than that. It's an emotional battle that I'm not sure I can win, but also a physical one having to keep up with a part time job. Currently I'm taking a break from gamedev, but my break has led me to learn how to mod several other games which is pretty neat. Hope this journey of yours is a fun one, no matter where it takes you. =]
Honestly, my brain isn't even considering making money. I just want to learn as much as I can while having as much fun as possible. All good smaller indie games are born from passion and love for the art. Sure, when it's your job and you are financially depending on it, you probably should put more focus on the commercial part. But I think game development is more accessible than ever as a side hustle that can serve as your creative outlet and passion project. :)
This is probably my favorite game dev video advice I've seen, not because it's a typical super professional "I've been a game dev for 10 years" type of video, it's told from a perspective of just trying to make it as a solo dev despite the shortcomings and potential burnouts, it feels more real and humble, and provides personal commentary. Your confidence to make a video like this with meaning advice and insight for people like you is very admirable. Btw I think your 2.5d game looks incredibly neat, the simple artstyle and unique appearance with the 3d perspective gives it an irresistible charm for me, sorta like paper mario as you mentioned. Great video, although I'd recommend using the more accurate Dunning-kruger graph on Wikipedia, as it much more research cited than the millions of cheap inaccurate graphs of the effect. Thanks for the advice!
Yeah I heard about the Dunning-kruger effect being outdated, thanks! Also thank you for the sweet compliments. I am recording a new devlog tomorrow, goes live somewhere this week. I made great progress, can't wait to show ya!
Yes, I also experienced burnout in the 2nd and 3rd years. I relieved the burnout by taking a short break and going to enjoyable places, then returned to making games.
@@ChapC_Creates I am working on a Rougelike 2D Platformer MMO. Look at StarbBreak for example. Been at it with Godot and support from friends. Its meant to be a whole project as a hobby with many fields to learn. Wish me luck :)
thank you for this reason man. It made me realize that I focused too much on the code (I am a software engineer), trying to have it all well organized and structured, with patterns, etc... I've tried too hard to make it good software, instead of just coding enough to try out the game ideas. Because at the end of the day, I need a working game to show others. Code is just one part.
It's all about balance. I believe that your experience will make things much easier further down the road. So many projects are a total mess in terms of code architecture.
Make a 2D game with simple sprite frame animation ;-) And remember: * No shaders * No bone animation * No multiplayer * No Procedural generation * Maximum play time 1 hour! Yes - just 1 hour!
@@wirrougiyran4438 For a 2D game you could easily use default pixel and vertex shader (or even don't use any shaders like developers did pre 2000, but I wouldn't recommend that xD). Use frame animation instead of bone animations - for new game developers that would be easier to make and manage ;-)
Enjoyed this video; i really like your presentation style... Well done! I can really relate to everything you said, and it was good to know about thst graph... Just knowing its a 'thing' and i wasnt the only one feeling like this is encouraging! Thank you!
I've been working on my game for almost 4 years now, and I've burnt myself out quite a few times. In my case, frustrations with the game is usually the catalyst. The first couple of years I didn't have a clear direction for the game, and I spent so much time trying things, only to rip them out again because it didn't work or feel right. When you do that for a prolonged period of time, you lose focus and frustration starts to build up. At some point it overflows and I just abandon the game entirely for a very long time. I've been taking breaks of 3-6 months multiple times. When I come back, the first thing I do is cut scope and simplify as much as I can. And you're right, that really helps. Like, a lot! I've been through that at least a couple of times now, every time refining the game idea even further, and once you have a super clear plan and vision and know how to make it happen, it's pretty much just smooth sailing. I still take breaks (for life reasons, and some times you just need to go do something else for a while), but it's been reduced to weeks at a time. Question is, will I be any wiser when the time for game #2 comes around? Sure, I'll be better at managing expectations for myself, and I'll know it's important not to.. well, try to over-achieve, basically. But still, game development is very much a matter of trial and error. You can't always plan everything in advance. An idea that sounds great in your head and on paper may not work so well once it's in the game. So yeah, these things are bound to happen. But I hope and believe that over the course of multiple reasonably scoped games I'll become better and better and hopefully more efficient.
@@ChapC_Creates My best guess is somewhere in the 80-90% range. I'm currently finishing a build for the publisher, which will double as the public demo, more or less. Depending on their feedback, I might get more work to do.. obviously 😄
Great video! Very well presented, and very practical. And I love your pixel art turtle dude, he's adorable 😁. I've got a specific feeling and 'journey' that I've wanted to make into a game for a while, but I realised that it's completely unrealistic for me to think I could make it exactly like I want on my own, so I thought hard about the absolute minimum that would be required to get across at least the basic skeleton of what I want. And as important as the gameplay would have been, what I was left with wasn't actually a game at all. It would be a comic series. Tbh I doubt I'll even manage to complete that, but whatever, for now I'm working on the script for it because why not. At the same time, I'm also doing something that's actually within my current abilities... Game reviews on youtube. It's much easier to complain about someone else's game than make your own, after all 😅. I love analysing why certain elements of games make me feel certain things. Btw, I assume that gaming titanic was AI generated? Those controllers give me the heebie jeebies, lol
Ah thank you! The little dude needs quite some optimization, but its promising so far. Since I am developing this game, I cant watch other games without wondering how they did some stuff haha.
The bit around "Just make games" was spot on. Don't start making the 3d photo-realistic FPS or MMO of your dreams, start small, start 2D or simple 3D, use pixel art thats "Good enough", and get the game MADE. You can worry about art assets later if you stick with that game, but chances are, you'll learn a lot of valuable skills just making the game and therefor next time you tackle a project, you'll have more time to spend on art if you stay a solo dev. Heck if you get good enough at making a few projects here or there maybe you can get into an indie studio or a small team! Don't go into AAA though unless you want to learn to hate making games and then get fired to make quarterly profits look nicer.
Exactly. There is still so much beauty to be found in simplistic art styles and ideas. When done right, it can be even more impressive than another CoD or Elden Ring clone.
Hey, good advice. I'm approaching this early burnout in a slightly different way, and it's probably not the right way, but so far I'm managing and will switch it up once I feel like I'm sinking. I've had an idea for some time - a game which I have no clue whether it could be successful or not, but I know it's kind of unique and is about something I enjoy. I have been working on it slowly. Sometimes too slowly. I have my ups and downs. Just don't ever give up... unless you find something else that you're passionate about. Just make sure it's enjoyable, else it is not worth it.
this video is awesome, it's good to hear other's journey, from the awesome highs of their journey to the struggling low of their journey, but overall learning to keep pushing expanding their experience by making smaller games, learning from others. thanks chap.c
No problem, glad to help, I love how this video is reaching so many people. Make sure to check out the follow up video too! th-cam.com/video/Jgzs6l63htA/w-d-xo.htmlsi=JERtd8xFGiUoOMGu
Also learning about Production, Marketing, Legalities of using existing tools software APIs, etc. But we do it because we love it or are mentally unwell (probably a combination of the two). Good video!
Thanks for the video! I was burnt out of my first game for like 2 months. It's still kind of on pause. I'm glad you're back into it with renewed focus!
@@ChapC_Creates I was working on a rougelite battler but paused that to work on kind of a capitalism life sim mobile (not microtraction type game). But taking a break to work on a business, I'm unfocused to put it mildly.
@@myykeatsYeah, that's the most difficult part of solo development. Most of us don't do this as our 'real job'-it's basically an extra multidisciplinary job we take on in the evenings.
Great video! I have been wanting to get into game development for years, but, have always felt so intimidated. I even bought some courses from GDQuest that look great, but, just never really started them. But, after watching this video, I think you have given me the push I need to actually do this! Thank you man, you earned a Subscriber today and I look forward to watching more of your videos
Wow, great thoughts on remembering to have fun in the process of creating your game!! It is the part that motivates me the most, because it's nice that other creators think the same way ^-^ Good luck with you games, everyone!
My Simulator game is 2 years into development and there's probably 2-3 years left. So I decided to start a non-serious, smaller spin off this week with the intent of launching in 3 months, then resume my simulator game after that. Turns out I spent 8h sculpting the protagonist monster, 8h retopologing (and then I decided to try Quad Remesher and in 2 minutes it did a better retopology than my 8h of manual work), and 4h texturing and adjustments. And it's not animated yet. I guess my "smaller" spin off is also going to take a long time. Anyway I think if I tried the same as you and did it in pixel art it would take me longer, since I find 2D MUCH harder and I obsess over small details. But in my case I find a lot of pleasure in doing these things in Blender (I've been a professional software dev for 25+ years, so Blender is my "safe place" to relax), but yeah the amount of skills required for a 3D game is INSANE.
Great insight on an indie game dev's journey. I'm a 7 year indie game dev, and there are still so much to learn, programming alone, I still can't do art at all. What I learned over the years as a solo dev, is that, stick to one engine, stick to one programming language, and stick to one project, and keep everything as low cost as possible(buy stock art/audio asset, use existing packages/libraries). More importantly, you need to make a game that stand out from competition. You'll probably make more money from one good game, than 10 average games, given the same amount of time.
@@ChapC_Creates My reply went to spam because of my youtube link.. :( The Brackey's tutorial morphed into a random bomb survival game with drops and a destructible environment. You can see two videos of it on my channel. Next I want to re-capture some of the types of games I played when I was younger like California Games 1 and 2 as well as ski or die.
I fully agree that for your first game you should really make it as small as possible. It took me about 6 months with an average of 4 hours every single day to create 2/3 of a finished product. And even so, I feel like with my current knowledge I could restart the project completely and get most of it done in one day, and the rest of it done in under 3 to get back to that point. Why the drastic difference? Because I learned new systems and better ways to code things as I learned. As a perfectionist, I wanted to fully optimize my code. So when I learned these new systems, I kept redoing the same things over and over again trying to optimize it to be better. I took a break from the project and worked on some smaller stuff to still teach myself some stuff and avoid burnout. I think I'm ready to return to the project, and I'll probably start over from scratch to give myself a fresh start to optimize the code as I'm writing it
Haha, glad I am not the only one. Ive been refactoring the way dust sprites get added to the world based on the player characters movement all night long yesterday. The end result is 100% the same, but 50% less code. Sometimes I wonder it if is worth spending so much time on improving something that already works.
@ChapC_YT Personally I think all the time spent is worth it. It may be unnecessary but it makes you further understand how it works. The only reason I know half of the complicated systems I know now is because I actively look for ways to optimize my code. They don't teach most things in tutorials so all the experience is worth it
It's so warm and comforting to receive some comprehension, even when it's from a TH-cam vídeo ^^ I loved the turtle! It seems to allow some interesting mechanics!
Can watch this stuff all day! And i love both prototypes. My favorite is the 2D but the 2.5D looks rly clean too and it works! We got to keep it real! And then one day in the elderly home we can hopefully laugh about it. “You know that time we made those silly games!” Wish you all the best of fortune on your game making endeavors good sir! Can’t wait to see this come into fruition
🤣👍 I grew up with a Tech-Nerd father, videogames (consoles, PCs), the internet (I *was there as the internet "went mainstream")... making my "own games," etc. I didn't go to school for game dev, but had friends who did (no, I went to school for culinary arts... 😅). None of that mattered... 😅 When I decided to *actually take Game Dev seriously (professionally and no longer as a hobby); I was smacked (hard) in the face with how clueless and ignorant I really was (still probably only barely grasping how little I know/ understand)... But who cares 😅 I still love being creative (and want to make *my dream game)... This video was hilarious and great! 👏 😆 let's all continue to stumble blindly towards the light! *Hang in there brothers, and keep the dreams alive!* - Edit: lol... when I started *my ideas were "cutting edge," by the time I finish I'll be lucky/ happy if people say "what a neat little *retro game." 😅🤣🤘🤪
"Ah, it sounds like you had a great upbringing. Thank you for the compliments! Also, your first priority should always be to have fun with being creative like this. I don't think I could handle game development if I were financially dependent on it...
The 2.5D game reminds me so much of Disney Hercules Action game, especially the maze forest. Another game with the same style of camera movement is The Adventures of Lomax. good luck in you're journey and don't get caught by scope creep.
I can relate a lot to what you are passing through, i had already 3 burnouts since i started to make games. My little 2 pennies : When we start, we need to make it a hobby, enjoy it, and MABE one day some money will come from it, but don't make it a goal. The goal is to love it! Also, take it as a marathon, not a sprint (there's a lot of implications to this simple sentense) 😊. Cheers, enjoy your game dev!!!
I definitely experienced burnout. Just got back into game dev a few months ago after like a 2-year break! During that time I wanted to get back into game dev but every time I thought about it, it was just too daunting. One of the hardest parts of game dev is staying motivated!
@@ChapC_Creates Yes, I think that working with others definitely helps! I have joined a few jam teams and that makes the whole process a lot more enjoyable
Congrats. You have a prototype. I tried to make one for like half a year, but I didn't even make it to "mount stupid" since I just tried to do too many things at once: Learning C#, learning Unity, learning Blender, having no experience in programming or art (except for some really crappy paint doodles) and couldn't quite focus on one idea. Maybe I'll pick it up again at some point. Maybe with some help. Not everyone is cut out to be a jack-of-all-trades solo indie developer. Side note: It's not helpful to try and learn various genres at once. Stick to one, then maybe try out something else. Making a racing game, RTS, sidescroller, etc. may seem similar in terms of code, but they are very different.
i could relate to alot in this video and i just want to share my thoughts about the topics that was talked about! I think gamedev is so enjoyable because of how many elements there are. i get bored of doing one thing over and over and some days i flat out cant do stuff, just a mental block. Ive had this problem forever, i mainly made music and i had such a hard time staying consistent. But with gamedev you have so many new things to do, so many things to cycle through. I find that so amazing. How i can model when i feel like it, or make music for level, write stories, make characters, look for textures while listening to music or try to figure out technical things. its almost endless. It feels scary too because you have to do some of these things eventually, but i find it really freeing if you just let go of having to make something perfect. I love making short little experiences, and i loved the example where he wanted to make an fps so he focused on that instead of getting sidetracked by graphics. Games might be the best medium to create experiences with, it doesnt even need to work as a game. I have played so many weird and random games full of bugs or bad textures but it didnt matter because the experience as a whole was really cool. I think being too much of a perfectionist in solo dev can be super dangerous. I honestly think that one of the most important things someone can do for themselves is to actively stop yourself from spending too much time getting minor specific things perfect, and instead embrace the bigger picture and the core of the experience you want to convey. I also think that the satisfaction of having a completed but not fully refined project beats working on "the perfect project" forever. Doing that also has a big chance of losing its identity and it has grown into this large burden that you cant really get rid of because youve invested so much time. And releasing it as it is will feel bad and dissapointing, and throwing it away will feel like wasted time. I have gone through this myself so often in music, and it helped so much to just turn the scope down so much.
So relatable. Thank you for your long reply. I really have to tell myself out loud not to perfect every little aspect. I can really lose myself in the details, which is both a curse and a blessing, I would say.
The nice thing about multi-disciplinary projects is that when you burn out on one part, you can work on another and it's still making progress toward the goal. Where you run into trouble is when you come up with an idea for a new project and can't resist working on that instead.
Ohh yeah, we have a discord showcasing all sorts of games from the community. Its so tempting to work on an extra project. I especially want to work on a fps shooter someday.
My main struggles are fighting feature creep. I've never had a small game idea in my life. Bite-sized games don't motivate me and I'm equally against downloading plugins made by others as i find trying to stitch them together or moulding them into my idea, harder than to make from scratch. (So I end up spending a long time programming my own camera, for instance) One advice for people however , find a means to iterate quickly. I switched from unreal to Godot so my focus was on adding instead of removing (so much pre-builtl/never going to use this stuff in unreal 😅) , it compiles quicker, the language is simpler, its less overwhelming etc...Maybe you want to do the opposite and kit-bash and use plugins to prototype.
You are pointing out something very interesting that applies to me as well. I know that the simplest game is probably the best way to go about all this, but I am just too stubborn. So, my 'small scope' game is still way too big. At least I am having so much fun working on it, and having fun is still the key ingredient.
As someone considering making a solo game this video is well timed. I already have some 3d art skills (as a hobby) but never tried 2d art, so the idea of a 2d prototype sounds even more intimidating. But I also don't want to be the noob who thinks the advice doesn't apply to him. My plan right now is to learn some coding by cloning the classics - like pong or space invaders.
Pirate Software has a lot of good advice. A recent example: don't worry about making it look good in the beginning. Just make squares (or cubes) and make them move around. Also, start with a design document.
Omg i feel sorry for solos. I have a very small team of three and even im experiencing burn out from just being the art director and doing all the assets, models and animations. I dunno how id cope with learning how to program on top of that, Good luck bro!
Ive beat burnout with game jams or similar. If im feeling burnt out, i just take on a new mini project that i dont care about and just get done in a week or so... I find that finishing the mini project rekindles my love of my main project
And Godot has functionality to enable collision I assume. Wait til you write you 3d game in RayLib (like I do). I implemented the basic collision in the first month of development. Couple of months later I still added stuff to it, because you need player vs walls, monsters vs walls, player vs monsters, projectiles vs walls, projectiles vs monsters, projectiles vs player, plus explosive projectiles and hitscans. Running into something from the side is not the same as falling on it as now you need to play landing sound. Collision objects can be boxes and spheres in any combination. Just last week, exactly 6 months into development, I was adding couple of simple moving platforms. Have barely pulled that off and was seriously considering dropping them. Monsters still don't interact with those moving platforms properly. And it's already clear that with complexity of the world going up I'll eventually have to optimize the entire system using BSP or Octree, which currently I know not much more than their names. And there are only AABBs not OBBs in my game (the fact and the words I learned accidentally on a forum). What you described about rigged Blender models is probably the same struggles, only squared. That's why I only use Doom-like sprites for now. :) Haven't even touched the lighting, and have no idea what that will amount to in OpenGL (that RayLib uses).
Depending on workflows and knowledge of blender it can definitely speed up some 2D animation (Dead Cells is a great example). But speaking as someone who is just learning Blender, yeah, it's a LOT.
Yeah, I completely agree. What Aseprite (sprites) is for me (the solution), could be someone else's roadblock. It all depends on your skillset and how comfortable you feel with the different software and learning curves.
How to Be a GREAT Solo Dev: Keep Inspiration around you and Negative Influences away. People, places and things that draw your attention away from the inspirations are Negative Influences. The worst part with Solo Devving is the wrong environment and being atound people who suck the inspiration out of the area.
Dude, that's exactly what always happens to me. A tutorial pops up on TH-cam, I watch it, and instead of motivating me, it discourages me from trying to do anything because everything looks too difficult. Thanks for sharing that perspective, it's good to know it's not just me.
Yeah, finding the right tutorial can be hard. What kind of game are you working on, or planning to work on? I might be making some simple tutorials soon. Make sure to subscribe because these are going to be very accessible for beginners, since I am one myself. :)
for me I think its been mostly the opposite. I started with unreal engine, because I always hated coding and couldnt get anywhere (unreal has its blueprint system), and blender because I knew I needed to learn how to make assets. 7 years down the line Id say Im now pretty competent with 3d models and art, and have developed a nice handdrawn artstyle for my 3d game, and I have a decent understanding of blueprints however, 2 years ago I started making a 2d game. wasnt interested in pixel art though, so I thought Id try a basic vector style. and with only real experience in 3d, the 2d process is hell. bone rigging a model is confusing for a lot of people but god it makes animation so much more convenient than having to slowly draw every frame of a pixel animation. changed your mind about some minor details on your characters design? better remake all your animations then. I dont know how anyone does it honestly. so as far as I can see, theyre both as hard but in different ways. admittedly though it seems to be easier to stick to a consistent artstyle with 2d, but Ive been making sure to do that with my 3d game as well. also important to set your own limitations as you mentioned
Yeah, I definitely think it's very personal how you narrow the scope and make it more approachable. Since I have a background in hand-drawn frame-by-frame art, this was the best solution for me. But it totally makes sense that it's the other way around for you.
I do programming for pay the bill, I do Bender as hobby for years and it's only touch the surface. I think, I can combine 2 things to make some game (just for fun), then I learn, it very hard to archive this! And yes, I still want to do this, hope I don't burn out (too fast)
I can't count the number of burnouts I have had in the past 8 years. Sometimes stepping away completely from development helps or working on some throw away project to learn something new.
The curse but also beauty in game dev is that there is so much to do. I love to just switch over to shaders, pixelart or animation the moment I burn out on something else.
Damn, the spending all you time in blender part hit deep. I just gave up on the notion of 3d 2 weeks ago just for this reason. I had spent 3 months in blender making models and forgot the whole reason I was there was to make a game.
Everyone faces different challenges in game development that can hold them back. The key is to improve on your weakest areas. While challenges are beneficial from time to time, some discomfort is okay. However, it can be difficult to distinguish between a healthy challenge and an unhealthy one.
Also decided to start with pixel art, only to bump into a huge wall of Godot not supporting proper pixel perfect rendering, movement or collisions out of the box. I’d literally have to write my own engine or try to create one inside Godot just for a simple character moving on screen. It’s been only 12 hours and I already feel burnt out and frustrated.
I'm pondering wether to do 3D or not for my next title. Currently making a fairly wishlisted 2d pixel art game, so I feel I have 2D down. Do you think crocotile3D is a good idea for simple 3D, or is blender just plain better? Basically what I want to do is reuse my current assets, and having them feel "new" by reusing them in 3D.
duude your 2.5D engine looks promising i can say that, as a damn clickteam developer with my game in beta demo i wish i could switch to godot, but i gotta finish my current 2d platformer first, and it sucks
Its interesting to see how it compares to the results so far in the current build of the game in my latest devlog: th-cam.com/video/Jgzs6l63htA/w-d-xo.html
For me I’ve been stuck trying to choose foss programs for game dev. I chose my game engine(Godot 4) and music software(Beepbox), but art is kind of a road block. I want to do pixel art, so I’m stuck between Pixelorama, Libresprite, and Piskel. Piskel is easily accessible, but it’s hard for me to use. Mainly because I used to use an Aesprite alternative called Resprite (It wasn’t for game dev at the time, I just thought it would be cool to try out. It’s inconvenient to use now since it’s mainly for mobile devices). Because of this I’m considering using Libresprite, though I’m concerned about how safe it is to use Libresprite. It may just be my extreme paranoia, but I can’t find that many videos or information about it. I know Pixelorama was made with Godot, so it might be easy for me to use but idk. If Libresprite is fine and I’m just paranoid, I’d like to use that. Again me using Resprite really messed me up with using these kinds of softwares. Thanks if anyone decides to answer!
@@ChapC_Creates Sorry for the late reply I’m doing a game jam. Anyways I don’t think I can run Aseprite on Linux, and even if I could other options would be drastically easier for me to download or pull up on a web page. Also the fact I’m just a hobbyist dev avoiding spending money, in the rare case I end up not wanting to be a game dev.
great video, but I am farther along than you and still feel teh valley of dispair loll. eventually burnout just happens. small wins, violent optimism is MANDATORY!
Instead of working on your game, work on your signature systems so you can use them later on in a modular way to create your signature games. Once you have your locomotion system, your camera system, your combat system, your progression system, your health/damage system, your interaction system, and any other misc system you want to add, then you make the games. My other advice is to hire artists if you're not an artist; it's ok to delegate what you don't have skill to do yourself so you can focus on what no one can do for you, your signature systems, the core of what makes the game your brand, and not another.
Great advice.. I was thinking about this the other day.. whenever I finish this game.. I probably want to reskin the whole thing and make a complete different game with the same code beneath the surface.
@@ChapC_Creates It's also good to work at least in 2 completely different projects at the same time but using the same systems you've already developed: you can bounce ideas between the projects and improve your systems in different ways, and then compile them into a single one; it also helps burnout: you can take a break by working on the other project, or on a different system.
You could make your dream game, but you have to start step by step, it's like wanting to make your best drawing without knowing how to draw, so you try to draw step by step, having some period where you train on something else to return on your drawing and upgrade it.
That’s me. I’m burning out with blender trying to animate a human the way I need you a game project. Ever tutorial I find is using all these editors and stuff and I can’t narrow it down to a specific pathway.
You shared some really good points, I've heard using plug-ins where ever possible is a must to speeding up the indie dev production. What are your thoughts on using plug-ins?
I used LinboAI to handle state machines, which is great. But I've uninstalled it for now because I want to learn how things work from scratch (made one myself now). I will use more I think once I am less of a beginner. I do feel like I want to be selective in the future. As a WordPress developer, there's nothing I hate more than things breaking down because of plugin dependencies.
My brain is entirely visual. I don't get that little "the work is done, this is complete" kick until it looks like what's in my head which can never happen in solo game development. I'd need to start with a handfull of finnished assets to progam the game with and then finnish the game one level at a time. Which means game dev for me would be at least a two person job.
@@ChapC_Creates are you saying I should join your discord and pitch a game idea, see if anyone wants to work with me? I'll join but I'd be a pain to work with so I don't think I will give any idea pitch
Well it's not hard just to make small games that can't be sell. It's another matter when you have to make the commercial viable game even the small one. Many people are either overachieving or straight up lying about their productions, so it's set the gamers expectation to be a bit too high. Luckily for us, Bright Memory actually set the expectations lower than how Stardew Valley set. This kinda give us some rooms to scale down our projects and realistically able to finish a game that could be sell.
@@ChapC_Creates Well those whom got success quickly are either lucky or have more funds than others, taking that everyone are utilizing every possible solutions to be successful. Those whom are not so lucky and don't have as much funds should continued to persist. Who know what will suddenly goes viral right? I think the goal here is to stay in the industry as long as we could instead of trying to have a quick success.
A buddy and I are working on a small scope game. But its not the gameplay or the art that's the problem. Its the setting options. I've been bashing my head against a wall to make a saving/loading function work. I think I am close to a solution. Tutorials give very basic function but don't explain more complex saving features. But yeah, the thing I learned is that you need to have a strong interface. We know the game isn't going to be a block buster, but we do want it to have bare minimum creature comforts.
Ah, the tutorial hell. Feel free to join our discord. We have some dev dedicated text channel. We are always open to think along! discord.gg/4DMnyEDrTC
I think people put too much stock into being a jack of all trades (master of none) solo dev. If it takes you two years to make a game, your cost of living for that time is the cost of development. If you budget $5k or $10k for outsourcing the things you aren't passionate about, you will wind up cutting development time in half (at least), have a better quality game, and likely even more revenue with better reviews.
My advice to not burnout is to buy a fckng course, do each thing at it's time. Don't try to hug the world. Don't Speed run tutorials, because youre not learning watching and doing it one time and them going to the next thing. You can say: "why spend money when it's free on TH-cam?" Because if you get a good teacher/professor it will be well structured and paced to not overload you (unless you play it at 2.5x, thats an error)
Yes, the Patreon pages of many 3D/Blender/Godot artists often contain insanely good, in-depth tutorials. TH-camrs trying to cram everything into 10-15 minutes isn't always the best solution.
Easy: one day of dev, two days of sustained masturbation, one day of fasting. I've been doing this for 15 years and I have never once burned out or shipped a game. Win win win.
I don't think the problem is learning a lot of stuff. The problem is not seeing how the workload scales. I can do modeling and texturing and animating, sure. But can I make ten animated characters for a game? How long would that take? That I was the trap I fell into several times. Learning is easy and fun! but you need to estimate the time it takes for each small task and see how it adds up
Yeah, you are completely right. I have been putting out 'simple thoughts' in Miro just to dump my brain on the display. It turns out there is way more work to be done than you might think.
Instructions unclear: i have now mastered all things. Now i ascend, a new plane of existence, leaving behind only this, the fruit of enlightened intellect. ... *Half finished souls like survival shooter with generational rogue like inheritance mechanisms based around haploid chomosomal inheritance.* As i ascend, you hear my distant voice echo: "Buy the soundtraaaaaack..."
Actually I'm the opposite I would rather to make character in blender and 3d model more than just coding in godot not undrestanding a single thing, my game was story based in the first place I had no passion for the gameplay so yeah maybe I should stick to the animations and make it a animated series
@@ChapC_Creates the shit is so long i just say a dev that hasnt finished his game in 10 years and is still not finished because the person behind is just playing games despite people supporting him in patreon for finish the game
@@ChapC_Creates nothing is finished because life happened but I've made loads of progress in terms of game logic and asset creation. (I've been using Unreal Engine 4 and as soon as UE5 and its several updates came out it basically bricked my code and I had to create the same games all over again) What I'm trying to create is absolutely ginormous in scale and ambition and to execute a large project properly, you need to enlist the help of other people, which I have. I code everything from start to finish on my own and everyone else is voice acting, making models or PNGs for game interfaces. The two main projects I'm working on are called Pumkin Spice Romance and Away From Andrah. The stories for both games are coherent but at the same time way too complex to summarize. As of now my chief focus for both projects is optimization and just getting rid of stuttering. Everything else I'm aiming for and have coded works perfectly but it has to be butter smooth in terms of performance. I'm working on almost completely phasing out casting and integrating blueprint interfaces, which are insanely tricky to work with but they sure perform a whole lot better than cast nodes. My driving motivation for both projects is that I am now able to create what I want to experience in a game or piece of media and do it well. If my 17 year old self could see what I've done now and how his dreams were brought to life he would be crying his eyes out in joy and pure disbelief. I have several people on board and backing the projects and they're already poured so much into me and what I'm working on, and I'm going to honor that by finishing these projects strong and making darn sure that those who play my games are so amazed that they go "how the hell is this free?!". I make the games for the sake of just wanting the specific games to exist and for the people that contribute to them. Either way its a gigantic multipart workflow with countless items to keep track of and you don't get good at any of it unless you want it super badly.
im not gona lie. burnouut for me is hard because i always have and still do love learning the new things like garoud shading etc... but the modeling ight i can relate their.
@@ChapC_Creates As of now and with whatever money I have, which isn't much, I am doing this full time. It's a big risk and I am going all in. How about you?
Ever dreamed of making your own game? Check out my latest tutorial to get started: th-cam.com/video/6T_TDuzEo9o/w-d-xo.htmlsi=lM0y9YXvbm1_EczI
I know the value of a "30 years experience Game Dev" giving advice may be extremely significant but I personally find it to be more realistic, more personal, and more connected to hear someone who is in a similar situation of just trying to make it as a Game Dev and make the games they want to make. It's cool that you're confident enough to also have a video talking about this with meaningful advice and insight that you put it online despite the judgement that likely comes by doing that. Nice video, man!
Thats so nice to hear. I felt like a imposter making this video. But then again, this is the real experience in the here and now of someone going through it all. This means a lot, thank you.
I can speak on this exact journey as someone whose taken the road most say I shouldn’t have. I’ve spent the last 3.5 years learning all of the areas of development that I needed to make the game I wanted to. I focused on learning these skills over releasing games I wasn’t passionate about. I’m now about 6 months into my first game and I’m so glad I did it that way. When starting, it seems like you rarely have a good/great day of progress. Feels like you’re always stuck on something. Now I rarely have bad days. The climb is perpetual, but the more time spent building your game dev muscles, the easier the journey is. I wouldn’t be honest though without saying it it takes a toll. Especially when finances and life is weighing you down at the same time when you know a successful game can change all of it. Just have to keep at it and don’t give up. Embrace the pain.
Thanks for sharing. The last part is painfully true. Putting your heart and soul in passion projects when life is giving you a hard time can be incredibly difficult.
This video resonated with me more than most other motivational game dev videos.
No talk about making money off your game, nothing about reaching an audience, and actually being in a similar situation.
I feel like I've hit not my first, or second, but at least third time hitting a valley of despair.. Maybe even more than that. It's an emotional battle that I'm not sure I can win, but also a physical one having to keep up with a part time job.
Currently I'm taking a break from gamedev, but my break has led me to learn how to mod several other games which is pretty neat.
Hope this journey of yours is a fun one, no matter where it takes you. =]
Honestly, my brain isn't even considering making money. I just want to learn as much as I can while having as much fun as possible. All good smaller indie games are born from passion and love for the art. Sure, when it's your job and you are financially depending on it, you probably should put more focus on the commercial part. But I think game development is more accessible than ever as a side hustle that can serve as your creative outlet and passion project. :)
This is probably my favorite game dev video advice I've seen, not because it's a typical super professional "I've been a game dev for 10 years" type of video, it's told from a perspective of just trying to make it as a solo dev despite the shortcomings and potential burnouts, it feels more real and humble, and provides personal commentary. Your confidence to make a video like this with meaning advice and insight for people like you is very admirable.
Btw I think your 2.5d game looks incredibly neat, the simple artstyle and unique appearance with the 3d perspective gives it an irresistible charm for me, sorta like paper mario as you mentioned.
Great video, although I'd recommend using the more accurate Dunning-kruger graph on Wikipedia, as it much more research cited than the millions of cheap inaccurate graphs of the effect. Thanks for the advice!
Yeah I heard about the Dunning-kruger effect being outdated, thanks! Also thank you for the sweet compliments. I am recording a new devlog tomorrow, goes live somewhere this week. I made great progress, can't wait to show ya!
Yes, I also experienced burnout in the 2nd and 3rd years. I relieved the burnout by taking a short break and going to enjoyable places, then returned to making games.
I can imagine it being even more stressful if its your main source of income. How long have you been doing this now?
@@ChapC_Creates Perhaps now it's already entering the 4th year. I really want to finish this game and then take a long vacation once it's done.
The 2.5D looks so good!
Thank you so much! I made massive progress. Will be recordig new vids soon.
This video helped me after a motivation dump. Really good video, thanks.
Glad to hear it! getting so many wholesome replies. I love it. What are you working on?
@@ChapC_Creates I am working on a Rougelike 2D Platformer MMO. Look at StarbBreak for example. Been at it with Godot and support from friends. Its meant to be a whole project as a hobby with many fields to learn. Wish me luck :)
thank you for this reason man.
It made me realize that I focused too much on the code (I am a software engineer), trying to have it all well organized and structured, with patterns, etc...
I've tried too hard to make it good software, instead of just coding enough to try out the game ideas.
Because at the end of the day, I need a working game to show others. Code is just one part.
It's all about balance. I believe that your experience will make things much easier further down the road. So many projects are a total mess in terms of code architecture.
This video Is so good! (I didnt realise how complicated all the little things could be in game development) terrifying
Make a 2D game with simple sprite frame animation ;-) And remember:
* No shaders
* No bone animation
* No multiplayer
* No Procedural generation
* Maximum play time 1 hour! Yes - just 1 hour!
@@igorthelight как это без шейдеров? как это без анимации костей?)
@@wirrougiyran4438 For a 2D game you could easily use default pixel and vertex shader (or even don't use any shaders like developers did pre 2000, but I wouldn't recommend that xD). Use frame animation instead of bone animations - for new game developers that would be easier to make and manage ;-)
@@igorthelight соглашусь с вами, для старта хорошее решение. Но потом интересно будет посмотреть как оно устроено.
@@wirrougiyran4438 True!
Enjoyed this video; i really like your presentation style... Well done! I can really relate to everything you said, and it was good to know about thst graph... Just knowing its a 'thing' and i wasnt the only one feeling like this is encouraging! Thank you!
Thank you so much! I appreciate the kind words a lot. More of these are incoming.
I've been working on my game for almost 4 years now, and I've burnt myself out quite a few times. In my case, frustrations with the game is usually the catalyst. The first couple of years I didn't have a clear direction for the game, and I spent so much time trying things, only to rip them out again because it didn't work or feel right. When you do that for a prolonged period of time, you lose focus and frustration starts to build up. At some point it overflows and I just abandon the game entirely for a very long time. I've been taking breaks of 3-6 months multiple times. When I come back, the first thing I do is cut scope and simplify as much as I can. And you're right, that really helps. Like, a lot! I've been through that at least a couple of times now, every time refining the game idea even further, and once you have a super clear plan and vision and know how to make it happen, it's pretty much just smooth sailing. I still take breaks (for life reasons, and some times you just need to go do something else for a while), but it's been reduced to weeks at a time. Question is, will I be any wiser when the time for game #2 comes around? Sure, I'll be better at managing expectations for myself, and I'll know it's important not to.. well, try to over-achieve, basically. But still, game development is very much a matter of trial and error. You can't always plan everything in advance. An idea that sounds great in your head and on paper may not work so well once it's in the game. So yeah, these things are bound to happen. But I hope and believe that over the course of multiple reasonably scoped games I'll become better and better and hopefully more efficient.
You are absolutely right. I already changed so much because of new happy little accidents... how far are you with your own game % wise?
@@ChapC_Creates My best guess is somewhere in the 80-90% range. I'm currently finishing a build for the publisher, which will double as the public demo, more or less. Depending on their feedback, I might get more work to do.. obviously 😄
Great video! Very well presented, and very practical. And I love your pixel art turtle dude, he's adorable 😁.
I've got a specific feeling and 'journey' that I've wanted to make into a game for a while, but I realised that it's completely unrealistic for me to think I could make it exactly like I want on my own, so I thought hard about the absolute minimum that would be required to get across at least the basic skeleton of what I want. And as important as the gameplay would have been, what I was left with wasn't actually a game at all. It would be a comic series. Tbh I doubt I'll even manage to complete that, but whatever, for now I'm working on the script for it because why not. At the same time, I'm also doing something that's actually within my current abilities... Game reviews on youtube. It's much easier to complain about someone else's game than make your own, after all 😅. I love analysing why certain elements of games make me feel certain things.
Btw, I assume that gaming titanic was AI generated? Those controllers give me the heebie jeebies, lol
Ah thank you! The little dude needs quite some optimization, but its promising so far. Since I am developing this game, I cant watch other games without wondering how they did some stuff haha.
Superb video, topic and advice. THANKS!
Thank you! Glad to have helped.
The bit around "Just make games" was spot on. Don't start making the 3d photo-realistic FPS or MMO of your dreams, start small, start 2D or simple 3D, use pixel art thats "Good enough", and get the game MADE. You can worry about art assets later if you stick with that game, but chances are, you'll learn a lot of valuable skills just making the game and therefor next time you tackle a project, you'll have more time to spend on art if you stay a solo dev.
Heck if you get good enough at making a few projects here or there maybe you can get into an indie studio or a small team!
Don't go into AAA though unless you want to learn to hate making games and then get fired to make quarterly profits look nicer.
Exactly. There is still so much beauty to be found in simplistic art styles and ideas. When done right, it can be even more impressive than another CoD or Elden Ring clone.
Hey, good advice. I'm approaching this early burnout in a slightly different way, and it's probably not the right way, but so far I'm managing and will switch it up once I feel like I'm sinking. I've had an idea for some time - a game which I have no clue whether it could be successful or not, but I know it's kind of unique and is about something I enjoy. I have been working on it slowly. Sometimes too slowly. I have my ups and downs. Just don't ever give up... unless you find something else that you're passionate about. Just make sure it's enjoyable, else it is not worth it.
You've got me intrigued. Whenever you're ready to reveal, make sure to drop by our Discord. I would love to do community shoutouts.
this video is awesome, it's good to hear other's journey, from the awesome highs of their journey to the struggling low of their journey, but overall learning to keep pushing expanding their experience by making smaller games, learning from others. thanks chap.c
No problem, glad to help, I love how this video is reaching so many people. Make sure to check out the follow up video too! th-cam.com/video/Jgzs6l63htA/w-d-xo.htmlsi=JERtd8xFGiUoOMGu
Also learning about Production, Marketing, Legalities of using existing tools software APIs, etc. But we do it because we love it or are mentally unwell (probably a combination of the two). Good video!
haha, the mentally unwell part had me laughing. Thank you for the compliment!
Awesome video. It's nice seeing an honest approach with realistic expectations.
Appreciated! Glad folks seem to enjoy the vid!
Thanks for the video! I was burnt out of my first game for like 2 months. It's still kind of on pause. I'm glad you're back into it with renewed focus!
Glad to hear, what are you working on? And for how long now? Its so interesting hearing all those stories.
@@ChapC_Creates I was working on a rougelite battler but paused that to work on kind of a capitalism life sim mobile (not microtraction type game). But taking a break to work on a business, I'm unfocused to put it mildly.
@@myykeatsYeah, that's the most difficult part of solo development. Most of us don't do this as our 'real job'-it's basically an extra multidisciplinary job we take on in the evenings.
Great video! I have been wanting to get into game development for years, but, have always felt so intimidated. I even bought some courses from GDQuest that look great, but, just never really started them. But, after watching this video, I think you have given me the push I need to actually do this! Thank you man, you earned a Subscriber today and I look forward to watching more of your videos
Such sweet words. Happy to have you here. If it helps, feel free to join our discord to get feedback and input on your game!
This is a very down-to-earth, informative, and motivational video!
How sweet! Anytime!
Wow, great thoughts on remembering to have fun in the process of creating your game!! It is the part that motivates me the most, because it's nice that other creators think the same way ^-^
Good luck with you games, everyone!
How sweet, thanks, same to you!
My Simulator game is 2 years into development and there's probably 2-3 years left. So I decided to start a non-serious, smaller spin off this week with the intent of launching in 3 months, then resume my simulator game after that. Turns out I spent 8h sculpting the protagonist monster, 8h retopologing (and then I decided to try Quad Remesher and in 2 minutes it did a better retopology than my 8h of manual work), and 4h texturing and adjustments. And it's not animated yet. I guess my "smaller" spin off is also going to take a long time. Anyway I think if I tried the same as you and did it in pixel art it would take me longer, since I find 2D MUCH harder and I obsess over small details. But in my case I find a lot of pleasure in doing these things in Blender (I've been a professional software dev for 25+ years, so Blender is my "safe place" to relax), but yeah the amount of skills required for a 3D game is INSANE.
Your sim game looks great; I've wishlisted it. Just watching your trailer/teaser already makes my head hurt with all the questions that pop up.
Great insight on an indie game dev's journey. I'm a 7 year indie game dev, and there are still so much to learn, programming alone, I still can't do art at all. What I learned over the years as a solo dev, is that, stick to one engine, stick to one programming language, and stick to one project, and keep everything as low cost as possible(buy stock art/audio asset, use existing packages/libraries). More importantly, you need to make a game that stand out from competition. You'll probably make more money from one good game, than 10 average games, given the same amount of time.
Great insights. I am gonna do a follow up videos with tips from the comment section soon. This one is def making it!
@@ChapC_Creates That's great! Would love to watch.
This all seems quite familiar, especially with the using of the Brackey's tutorial. Keep at it!
Thank you! It was very delightful to get limited for once. Its so easy to get overwhelmed. What game are you working on?
@@ChapC_Creates My reply went to spam because of my youtube link.. :( The Brackey's tutorial morphed into a random bomb survival game with drops and a destructible environment. You can see two videos of it on my channel. Next I want to re-capture some of the types of games I played when I was younger like California Games 1 and 2 as well as ski or die.
@@Grimzentide ah so cool. I checked it out. Reminds me big time of those classic worms games!
I fully agree that for your first game you should really make it as small as possible. It took me about 6 months with an average of 4 hours every single day to create 2/3 of a finished product. And even so, I feel like with my current knowledge I could restart the project completely and get most of it done in one day, and the rest of it done in under 3 to get back to that point. Why the drastic difference? Because I learned new systems and better ways to code things as I learned. As a perfectionist, I wanted to fully optimize my code. So when I learned these new systems, I kept redoing the same things over and over again trying to optimize it to be better. I took a break from the project and worked on some smaller stuff to still teach myself some stuff and avoid burnout. I think I'm ready to return to the project, and I'll probably start over from scratch to give myself a fresh start to optimize the code as I'm writing it
Haha, glad I am not the only one. Ive been refactoring the way dust sprites get added to the world based on the player characters movement all night long yesterday. The end result is 100% the same, but 50% less code. Sometimes I wonder it if is worth spending so much time on improving something that already works.
@ChapC_YT Personally I think all the time spent is worth it. It may be unnecessary but it makes you further understand how it works. The only reason I know half of the complicated systems I know now is because I actively look for ways to optimize my code. They don't teach most things in tutorials so all the experience is worth it
It's so warm and comforting to receive some comprehension, even when it's from a TH-cam vídeo ^^
I loved the turtle! It seems to allow some interesting mechanics!
Anytime ekzac! If you ever need feedback, feel free to join our discord.
Can watch this stuff all day! And i love both prototypes. My favorite is the 2D but the 2.5D looks rly clean too and it works!
We got to keep it real! And then one day in the elderly home we can hopefully laugh about it. “You know that time we made those silly games!” Wish you all the best of fortune on your game making endeavors good sir! Can’t wait to see this come into fruition
Same to you partner. See you on discord.
Having fun is a must in game development ❤
Absolutely, also goes for youtube or any creative hobby / side hussle. Without passion, it has no future.
🤣👍 I grew up with a Tech-Nerd father, videogames (consoles, PCs), the internet (I *was there as the internet "went mainstream")... making my "own games," etc. I didn't go to school for game dev, but had friends who did (no, I went to school for culinary arts... 😅).
None of that mattered... 😅
When I decided to *actually take Game Dev seriously (professionally and no longer as a hobby); I was smacked (hard) in the face with how clueless and ignorant I really was (still probably only barely grasping how little I know/ understand)...
But who cares 😅 I still love being creative (and want to make *my dream game)... This video was hilarious and great! 👏 😆 let's all continue to stumble blindly towards the light!
*Hang in there brothers, and keep the dreams alive!*
-
Edit:
lol... when I started *my ideas were "cutting edge," by the time I finish I'll be lucky/ happy if people say "what a neat little *retro game." 😅🤣🤘🤪
"Ah, it sounds like you had a great upbringing. Thank you for the compliments! Also, your first priority should always be to have fun with being creative like this. I don't think I could handle game development if I were financially dependent on it...
@@ChapC_Creates (*Now that I'm older "and a little wiser") I'm grateful for my father (a single parent), and the life he gave me. 🙏💛
Very inspiring bro, keep it going!
Will do! Thnx ❤️
The 2.5D game reminds me so much of Disney Hercules Action game, especially the maze forest. Another game with the same style of camera movement is The Adventures of Lomax.
good luck in you're journey and don't get caught by scope creep.
im gonna look into them. thank you so much for the kind words!
Love this, thank you for the inspiration, motivation, and validation!
You are so welcome! Glad you enjoyed it.
Great video, thank you!
Glad you liked it!
great video, thanks!
Glad you liked it!
I can relate a lot to what you are passing through, i had already 3 burnouts since i started to make games. My little 2 pennies : When we start, we need to make it a hobby, enjoy it, and MABE one day some money will come from it, but don't make it a goal. The goal is to love it! Also, take it as a marathon, not a sprint (there's a lot of implications to this simple sentense) 😊. Cheers, enjoy your game dev!!!
Agreed, it helps if its not the thing you depend on financially. I can image it being such a tough job.
I definitely experienced burnout. Just got back into game dev a few months ago after like a 2-year break! During that time I wanted to get back into game dev but every time I thought about it, it was just too daunting. One of the hardest parts of game dev is staying motivated!
Maybe collaboration is the key for you? I know some on our discord are looking for buddies to do so game jams together.
@@ChapC_Creates Yes, I think that working with others definitely helps! I have joined a few jam teams and that makes the whole process a lot more enjoyable
Congrats. You have a prototype.
I tried to make one for like half a year, but I didn't even make it to "mount stupid" since I just tried to do too many things at once:
Learning C#, learning Unity, learning Blender, having no experience in programming or art (except for some really crappy paint doodles) and couldn't quite focus on one idea.
Maybe I'll pick it up again at some point. Maybe with some help. Not everyone is cut out to be a jack-of-all-trades solo indie developer.
Side note: It's not helpful to try and learn various genres at once. Stick to one, then maybe try out something else. Making a racing game, RTS, sidescroller, etc. may seem similar in terms of code, but they are very different.
Great tips. I get inspired by people on my Discord and have so much trouble holding myself back from working on an FPS game as well.
i could relate to alot in this video and i just want to share my thoughts about the topics that was talked about!
I think gamedev is so enjoyable because of how many elements there are. i get bored of doing one thing over and over and some days i flat out cant do stuff, just a mental block. Ive had this problem forever, i mainly made music and i had such a hard time staying consistent. But with gamedev you have so many new things to do, so many things to cycle through. I find that so amazing. How i can model when i feel like it, or make music for level, write stories, make characters, look for textures while listening to music or try to figure out technical things. its almost endless. It feels scary too because you have to do some of these things eventually, but i find it really freeing if you just let go of having to make something perfect. I love making short little experiences, and i loved the example where he wanted to make an fps so he focused on that instead of getting sidetracked by graphics. Games might be the best medium to create experiences with, it doesnt even need to work as a game. I have played so many weird and random games full of bugs or bad textures but it didnt matter because the experience as a whole was really cool. I think being too much of a perfectionist in solo dev can be super dangerous. I honestly think that one of the most important things someone can do for themselves is to actively stop yourself from spending too much time getting minor specific things perfect, and instead embrace the bigger picture and the core of the experience you want to convey. I also think that the satisfaction of having a completed but not fully refined project beats working on "the perfect project" forever. Doing that also has a big chance of losing its identity and it has grown into this large burden that you cant really get rid of because youve invested so much time. And releasing it as it is will feel bad and dissapointing, and throwing it away will feel like wasted time. I have gone through this myself so often in music, and it helped so much to just turn the scope down so much.
So relatable. Thank you for your long reply. I really have to tell myself out loud not to perfect every little aspect. I can really lose myself in the details, which is both a curse and a blessing, I would say.
The nice thing about multi-disciplinary projects is that when you burn out on one part, you can work on another and it's still making progress toward the goal. Where you run into trouble is when you come up with an idea for a new project and can't resist working on that instead.
Ohh yeah, we have a discord showcasing all sorts of games from the community. Its so tempting to work on an extra project. I especially want to work on a fps shooter someday.
My main struggles are fighting feature creep. I've never had a small game idea in my life. Bite-sized games don't motivate me and I'm equally against downloading plugins made by others as i find trying to stitch them together or moulding them into my idea, harder than to make from scratch. (So I end up spending a long time programming my own camera, for instance)
One advice for people however , find a means to iterate quickly. I switched from unreal to Godot so my focus was on adding instead of removing (so much pre-builtl/never going to use this stuff in unreal 😅) , it compiles quicker, the language is simpler, its less overwhelming etc...Maybe you want to do the opposite and kit-bash and use plugins to prototype.
You are pointing out something very interesting that applies to me as well. I know that the simplest game is probably the best way to go about all this, but I am just too stubborn. So, my 'small scope' game is still way too big. At least I am having so much fun working on it, and having fun is still the key ingredient.
Agreed on all of it. Took me years to just try to make a small game, and then the actual small game took me a couple years to finish! :D
Great minds think alike! Are you currently working on a game?
@@ChapC_Creates I'm hacking out a prototype! Still in the experimental phase, but I'm hopeful I'll find the fun and kick off development :D
@@ChapC_Creates I was bouncing ideas around, but the latest Jam may have spawned one! Good luck to you! :D
this has given me even more motivation, good video man :)
That's great! These reactions are the greatest thing about making these videos. Thnx!
thank you 😊😊💜💜
You're sooooo welcome 😊 Stay tuned for more.
Great video! Lotta good advice in there and the game looks cool!
How nice! Thnx kyjmo!
As someone considering making a solo game this video is well timed. I already have some 3d art skills (as a hobby) but never tried 2d art, so the idea of a 2d prototype sounds even more intimidating. But I also don't want to be the noob who thinks the advice doesn't apply to him.
My plan right now is to learn some coding by cloning the classics - like pong or space invaders.
3d could still be the way for you. But just keep your first prototype as simple as possible 👍
Pirate Software has a lot of good advice. A recent example: don't worry about making it look good in the beginning. Just make squares (or cubes) and make them move around.
Also, start with a design document.
@@andhemills Y'know, I was just thinking about starting a design document earlier today. That's the reminder I needed - thanks!
Keep it up!
Thanks, will do!
Omg i feel sorry for solos. I have a very small team of three and even im experiencing burn out from just being the art director and doing all the assets, models and animations. I dunno how id cope with learning how to program on top of that, Good luck bro!
Thank you my dude! Glad to have some confirmation from the actual field!
Ive beat burnout with game jams or similar.
If im feeling burnt out, i just take on a new mini project that i dont care about and just get done in a week or so...
I find that finishing the mini project rekindles my love of my main project
Ive been hearing so much good stuff about those jams. Once I am a bit further, I will definetely participate.
@@ChapC_Creates I've only been doing game dev for 6 months. They are great fun
Nice, a fellow Dutch Godot user.
Awesome! Youve got some interesting videos on your channel.
And Godot has functionality to enable collision I assume. Wait til you write you 3d game in RayLib (like I do). I implemented the basic collision in the first month of development. Couple of months later I still added stuff to it, because you need player vs walls, monsters vs walls, player vs monsters, projectiles vs walls, projectiles vs monsters, projectiles vs player, plus explosive projectiles and hitscans. Running into something from the side is not the same as falling on it as now you need to play landing sound. Collision objects can be boxes and spheres in any combination. Just last week, exactly 6 months into development, I was adding couple of simple moving platforms. Have barely pulled that off and was seriously considering dropping them. Monsters still don't interact with those moving platforms properly. And it's already clear that with complexity of the world going up I'll eventually have to optimize the entire system using BSP or Octree, which currently I know not much more than their names. And there are only AABBs not OBBs in my game (the fact and the words I learned accidentally on a forum). What you described about rigged Blender models is probably the same struggles, only squared. That's why I only use Doom-like sprites for now. :) Haven't even touched the lighting, and have no idea what that will amount to in OpenGL (that RayLib uses).
Yeah, fixing 'one problem' exposes 4 new ones. Sounds relatable. In the next devlog ill be tackling a few of these. Can't wait to show it to you guys.
Depending on workflows and knowledge of blender it can definitely speed up some 2D animation (Dead Cells is a great example). But speaking as someone who is just learning Blender, yeah, it's a LOT.
Yeah, I completely agree. What Aseprite (sprites) is for me (the solution), could be someone else's roadblock. It all depends on your skillset and how comfortable you feel with the different software and learning curves.
U deserve a sub :)
Thank you 🙏🏻
How to Be a GREAT Solo Dev: Keep Inspiration around you and Negative Influences away. People, places and things that draw your attention away from the inspirations are Negative Influences. The worst part with Solo Devving is the wrong environment and being atound people who suck the inspiration out of the area.
Naysayers, in general, are people to avoid. I completely agree.
Dude, that's exactly what always happens to me. A tutorial pops up on TH-cam, I watch it, and instead of motivating me, it discourages me from trying to do anything because everything looks too difficult. Thanks for sharing that perspective, it's good to know it's not just me.
Yeah, finding the right tutorial can be hard. What kind of game are you working on, or planning to work on? I might be making some simple tutorials soon. Make sure to subscribe because these are going to be very accessible for beginners, since I am one myself. :)
What are these kind of video's?? What a quality❤
Thank you Clap.C!
Kinda close to this atm, Great vid
What are you working on? Keep sharing the struggles with other. On our discord for example. Kinda helps! What are you struggling with the most atm?
for me I think its been mostly the opposite. I started with unreal engine, because I always hated coding and couldnt get anywhere (unreal has its blueprint system), and blender because I knew I needed to learn how to make assets. 7 years down the line Id say Im now pretty competent with 3d models and art, and have developed a nice handdrawn artstyle for my 3d game, and I have a decent understanding of blueprints
however, 2 years ago I started making a 2d game. wasnt interested in pixel art though, so I thought Id try a basic vector style. and with only real experience in 3d, the 2d process is hell. bone rigging a model is confusing for a lot of people but god it makes animation so much more convenient than having to slowly draw every frame of a pixel animation. changed your mind about some minor details on your characters design? better remake all your animations then. I dont know how anyone does it honestly.
so as far as I can see, theyre both as hard but in different ways. admittedly though it seems to be easier to stick to a consistent artstyle with 2d, but Ive been making sure to do that with my 3d game as well. also important to set your own limitations as you mentioned
Yeah, I definitely think it's very personal how you narrow the scope and make it more approachable. Since I have a background in hand-drawn frame-by-frame art, this was the best solution for me. But it totally makes sense that it's the other way around for you.
I do programming for pay the bill, I do Bender as hobby for years and it's only touch the surface.
I think, I can combine 2 things to make some game (just for fun), then I learn, it very hard to archive this!
And yes, I still want to do this, hope I don't burn out (too fast)
You seem to have great fundamentals, you can do it!
hell yea lmaooo, we're all climbing out of the pit of despair together LOL
Right?! 😂 We're basically forming a support group at this point. Next meeting: everyone brings their best bug stories!
Use free assets to reduce the scope. Also AI can help.
Yes, i bought some texture packs just the other day. Great tip.
Thank you for good advices
No problems! Glad I could help.
I can't count the number of burnouts I have had in the past 8 years. Sometimes stepping away completely from development helps or working on some throw away project to learn something new.
The curse but also beauty in game dev is that there is so much to do. I love to just switch over to shaders, pixelart or animation the moment I burn out on something else.
Damn, the spending all you time in blender part hit deep. I just gave up on the notion of 3d 2 weeks ago just for this reason. I had spent 3 months in blender making models and forgot the whole reason I was there was to make a game.
Everyone faces different challenges in game development that can hold them back. The key is to improve on your weakest areas. While challenges are beneficial from time to time, some discomfort is okay. However, it can be difficult to distinguish between a healthy challenge and an unhealthy one.
Also decided to start with pixel art, only to bump into a huge wall of Godot not supporting proper pixel perfect rendering, movement or collisions out of the box. I’d literally have to write my own engine or try to create one inside Godot just for a simple character moving on screen.
It’s been only 12 hours and I already feel burnt out and frustrated.
Ah so weird, I havent had any issues yet. But maybe im not paying attention enough.
@@ChapC_Creates there are literally no issues if subpixel movement doesn't bother you.
I'm pondering wether to do 3D or not for my next title. Currently making a fairly wishlisted 2d pixel art game, so I feel I have 2D down. Do you think crocotile3D is a good idea for simple 3D, or is blender just plain better? Basically what I want to do is reuse my current assets, and having them feel "new" by reusing them in 3D.
I feel like learning Blender is a great deal tbh, It will get you further later in life in game dev
@@ChapC_Creates Thank you! Gonna look into blender more then :)
i had multiple burn outs. i dont work for weeks. i just spend my time playing other games and going out.
Understandable tbh, I switch up the type of work tbh. There is always something else to do.
Same I always can't stop playing games please make a video
What software did you use for that 2d pixel art
Its aseprite, you can find it on www.aseprite.org/
If you wouldn't like Aseprite - try Krita ;-)
duude your 2.5D engine looks promising
i can say that, as a damn clickteam developer with my game in beta demo
i wish i could switch to godot, but i gotta finish my current 2d platformer first, and it sucks
Thank you! A made great steps regarding the design. Hopefully uploading the results in a week or 2. How far along are you with your current game?
@@ChapC_Creates 3 years
now i got a team tho and they help me
but at the moment im kinda taking a rest
8:20 a faux game screenshot, this is really smart 🤯
Its interesting to see how it compares to the results so far in the current build of the game in my latest devlog: th-cam.com/video/Jgzs6l63htA/w-d-xo.html
Such a warm video, thanks.
ahh thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.
I feel like I go through this almost daily lmao. So fun.
haha, hold on champ.
For me I’ve been stuck trying to choose foss programs for game dev. I chose my game engine(Godot 4) and music software(Beepbox), but art is kind of a road block. I want to do pixel art, so I’m stuck between Pixelorama, Libresprite, and Piskel. Piskel is easily accessible, but it’s hard for me to use. Mainly because I used to use an Aesprite alternative called Resprite (It wasn’t for game dev at the time, I just thought it would be cool to try out. It’s inconvenient to use now since it’s mainly for mobile devices). Because of this I’m considering using Libresprite, though I’m concerned about how safe it is to use Libresprite. It may just be my extreme paranoia, but I can’t find that many videos or information about it. I know Pixelorama was made with Godot, so it might be easy for me to use but idk. If Libresprite is fine and I’m just paranoid, I’d like to use that. Again me using Resprite really messed me up with using these kinds of softwares. Thanks if anyone decides to answer!
What holds you back to just use asesprite?
@@ChapC_Creates Sorry for the late reply I’m doing a game jam. Anyways I don’t think I can run Aseprite on Linux, and even if I could other options would be drastically easier for me to download or pull up on a web page. Also the fact I’m just a hobbyist dev avoiding spending money, in the rare case I end up not wanting to be a game dev.
great video, but I am farther along than you and still feel teh valley of dispair loll. eventually burnout just happens. small wins, violent optimism is MANDATORY!
Yeah tbh, I am nowhere near qualified to make this vid 😅 but good tips for absolute beginners can never hurt. Thank you!🙏🏻
@@ChapC_Creates I have never stopped being a beginner sadly. it is what it is. never stop building!!!
Instead of working on your game, work on your signature systems so you can use them later on in a modular way to create your signature games.
Once you have your locomotion system, your camera system, your combat system, your progression system, your health/damage system, your interaction system, and any other misc system you want to add, then you make the games.
My other advice is to hire artists if you're not an artist; it's ok to delegate what you don't have skill to do yourself so you can focus on what no one can do for you, your signature systems, the core of what makes the game your brand, and not another.
Great advice.. I was thinking about this the other day.. whenever I finish this game.. I probably want to reskin the whole thing and make a complete different game with the same code beneath the surface.
@@ChapC_Creates It's also good to work at least in 2 completely different projects at the same time but using the same systems you've already developed: you can bounce ideas between the projects and improve your systems in different ways, and then compile them into a single one; it also helps burnout: you can take a break by working on the other project, or on a different system.
You could make your dream game, but you have to start step by step, it's like wanting to make your best drawing without knowing how to draw, so you try to draw step by step, having some period where you train on something else to return on your drawing and upgrade it.
I agree. If you don't depend on it financially, you could simply take your time.
omg make a short with that intro you'll go viral 😆
I was planning to! Won't forget it. Thnx!
That’s me. I’m burning out with blender trying to animate a human the way I need you a game project. Ever tutorial I find is using all these editors and stuff and I can’t narrow it down to a specific pathway.
The videos starts with: I am going to show you step by step.... just to press 5 shortcuts in 2 seconds XD
You shared some really good points, I've heard using plug-ins where ever possible is a must to speeding up the indie dev production. What are your thoughts on using plug-ins?
I used LinboAI to handle state machines, which is great. But I've uninstalled it for now because I want to learn how things work from scratch (made one myself now). I will use more I think once I am less of a beginner. I do feel like I want to be selective in the future. As a WordPress developer, there's nothing I hate more than things breaking down because of plugin dependencies.
My brain is entirely visual. I don't get that little "the work is done, this is complete" kick until it looks like what's in my head which can never happen in solo game development. I'd need to start with a handfull of finnished assets to progam the game with and then finnish the game one level at a time. Which means game dev for me would be at least a two person job.
We are gathering quite a few devs on our Discord. I can see myself teaming up with them after finishing my own game first.
@@ChapC_Creates are you saying I should join your discord and pitch a game idea, see if anyone wants to work with me? I'll join but I'd be a pain to work with so I don't think I will give any idea pitch
Well it's not hard just to make small games that can't be sell. It's another matter when you have to make the commercial viable game even the small one. Many people are either overachieving or straight up lying about their productions, so it's set the gamers expectation to be a bit too high.
Luckily for us, Bright Memory actually set the expectations lower than how Stardew Valley set. This kinda give us some rooms to scale down our projects and realistically able to finish a game that could be sell.
I can imagine how difficult it is with the pressure of having to earn money with it too.
@@ChapC_Creates Well those whom got success quickly are either lucky or have more funds than others, taking that everyone are utilizing every possible solutions to be successful. Those whom are not so lucky and don't have as much funds should continued to persist. Who know what will suddenly goes viral right? I think the goal here is to stay in the industry as long as we could instead of trying to have a quick success.
fellow solo dev here, and i came here to say:
yeah...
cheers!
A buddy and I are working on a small scope game. But its not the gameplay or the art that's the problem. Its the setting options. I've been bashing my head against a wall to make a saving/loading function work. I think I am close to a solution. Tutorials give very basic function but don't explain more complex saving features. But yeah, the thing I learned is that you need to have a strong interface. We know the game isn't going to be a block buster, but we do want it to have bare minimum creature comforts.
Ah, the tutorial hell. Feel free to join our discord. We have some dev dedicated text channel. We are always open to think along! discord.gg/4DMnyEDrTC
I think people put too much stock into being a jack of all trades (master of none) solo dev.
If it takes you two years to make a game, your cost of living for that time is the cost of development. If you budget $5k or $10k for outsourcing the things you aren't passionate about, you will wind up cutting development time in half (at least), have a better quality game, and likely even more revenue with better reviews.
Teaming up sounds about healthy. In some cases ego and money stand in the way if you are trying to make this work as a side-huffle/passion project.
My advice to not burnout is to buy a fckng course, do each thing at it's time. Don't try to hug the world.
Don't Speed run tutorials, because youre not learning watching and doing it one time and them going to the next thing.
You can say: "why spend money when it's free on TH-cam?"
Because if you get a good teacher/professor it will be well structured and paced to not overload you (unless you play it at 2.5x, thats an error)
Yes, the Patreon pages of many 3D/Blender/Godot artists often contain insanely good, in-depth tutorials. TH-camrs trying to cram everything into 10-15 minutes isn't always the best solution.
I felt personally attacked by the intro. :P
haha... we are in this together, brother.
Easy: one day of dev, two days of sustained masturbation, one day of fasting. I've been doing this for 15 years and I have never once burned out or shipped a game. Win win win.
haha, you heard it boys!
You see my only problem is texturing and rigging, but each i can master soon enough.
I agree. My latest 3d model looked kinda good, but animations looked clumsy due to bad rigging.
What program did you use to make the 2d turtle?
I use aseprite. Free if you compile yourself. Only a few buck on steam.
28 seconds and I say THINK FOR YOUSELVES and man up . Soz but I'm continuing this vid
Ok!
Aspiring Dutch gamedev here: is there any good Dutch gamedev community I can join?
I just started tbh, we do have a discord with a #game-development text channel.. currently 2 active dev there ;) you can make it 3!
I don't think the problem is learning a lot of stuff. The problem is not seeing how the workload scales. I can do modeling and texturing and animating, sure. But can I make ten animated characters for a game? How long would that take? That I was the trap I fell into several times. Learning is easy and fun! but you need to estimate the time it takes for each small task and see how it adds up
Yeah, you are completely right. I have been putting out 'simple thoughts' in Miro just to dump my brain on the display. It turns out there is way more work to be done than you might think.
Instructions unclear: i have now mastered all things.
Now i ascend, a new plane of existence, leaving behind only this, the fruit of enlightened intellect.
...
*Half finished souls like survival shooter with generational rogue like inheritance mechanisms based around haploid chomosomal inheritance.*
As i ascend, you hear my distant voice echo: "Buy the soundtraaaaaack..."
haha, have nooo clue what I just read. But I love it.
and don't forget, the returns of doing all these things is a gamble for most of us 😂
Thats the scary part tbh, years of work only resulting in a handfull of sales.
Actually I'm the opposite I would rather to make character in blender and 3d model more than just coding in godot not undrestanding a single thing, my game was story based in the first place I had no passion for the gameplay so yeah maybe I should stick to the animations and make it a animated series
Yeah thats the interesting part depending on different skillsets. Something that drains energy in my situation could be a life saver for yours.
one way is tell yourself "are you gonna be worst thqn yandere dev?"
Who is yandere dev? Im such a boomer... what did he do... almost afraid to ask by now
@@ChapC_Creates the shit is so long i just say a dev that hasnt finished his game in 10 years and is still not finished because the person behind is just playing games despite people supporting him in patreon for finish the game
No I won't 😭. I've been at this for over 3 years.
how many games have you worked on, and/or finished so far? Working on something right now?
@@ChapC_Creates nothing is finished because life happened but I've made loads of progress in terms of game logic and asset creation. (I've been using Unreal Engine 4 and as soon as UE5 and its several updates came out it basically bricked my code and I had to create the same games all over again) What I'm trying to create is absolutely ginormous in scale and ambition and to execute a large project properly, you need to enlist the help of other people, which I have. I code everything from start to finish on my own and everyone else is voice acting, making models or PNGs for game interfaces. The two main projects I'm working on are called Pumkin Spice Romance and Away From Andrah. The stories for both games are coherent but at the same time way too complex to summarize. As of now my chief focus for both projects is optimization and just getting rid of stuttering. Everything else I'm aiming for and have coded works perfectly but it has to be butter smooth in terms of performance. I'm working on almost completely phasing out casting and integrating blueprint interfaces, which are insanely tricky to work with but they sure perform a whole lot better than cast nodes. My driving motivation for both projects is that I am now able to create what I want to experience in a game or piece of media and do it well. If my 17 year old self could see what I've done now and how his dreams were brought to life he would be crying his eyes out in joy and pure disbelief. I have several people on board and backing the projects and they're already poured so much into me and what I'm working on, and I'm going to honor that by finishing these projects strong and making darn sure that those who play my games are so amazed that they go "how the hell is this free?!". I make the games for the sake of just wanting the specific games to exist and for the people that contribute to them. Either way its a gigantic multipart workflow with countless items to keep track of and you don't get good at any of it unless you want it super badly.
im not gona lie. burnouut for me is hard because i always have and still do love learning the new things like garoud shading etc... but the modeling ight i can relate their.
Thats the problem with game dev 😅 there is always this new thing to learn.
Jack of all trades, master of none, but often times better than a master of one. It's a tough career choice, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
Has always been the story of my life. I gift and a curse for sure! Your doing this full time? Or as a side hussle?
@@ChapC_Creates As of now and with whatever money I have, which isn't much, I am doing this full time. It's a big risk and I am going all in. How about you?