Crucial - when we can't define goals, our priorities are lost. It's super important to establish what we want in order to know how to get it (and then proactively work on it as you mentioned with pushing away new game ideas until you complete your current project.) - Great advice!
Lovely first video as always! Cool to see how some of your ideas have been core to your whole journey as a game dev. Good luck this year, I know you are going to crush it.
Happy New Year! Such good advice. These principles carry over into whatever you do as well (just substitute 2 and 3 with keep learning). 🙂Thank you Thomas, and all the best, everyone!!
There are people like me whom couldn't handle when things get messy. I have to stress over and over again that planning everything from the start is crucial for finishing the project. many devs also confused between pre-production and production phase. many people including myself stuck at the pre-production phase and never get into the production phase, by ignoring the pre-production phase and even thought that the moment you open the engine it's already production. No! When you're developing prototype and finding the game direction, it's still in the pre-production. This is when you don't need assets to work. But you still need to work on the overall plan for the design side, like sketches and synopsis. Some people fill GDD for the sake of filling it. Work on milestones for your project development and use GDD as your reference, so you won't mess up the direction. In short, I want people to take time working on the pre-production before getting into the serious part. Also to understand that working on prototype is still part of the pre-production despite opening the game engine for it.
Thomas thanks alot for this video! any recomenddation of where to learn color theory? I find a lot of things that look basic online, so not a good way to choose
This is super helpful: color.adobe.com/create/color-wheel You can see what combos work according to different harmonies (analogous, monochromatic, complementary, etc) Also, another trick I've done is to find pictures that I really like the colors - then use an online color sampling tool to mimic the same color schemes.
There are tons of books and tutorials on the fundamentals of art & aesthetics, from color, light, and shadow, to composition, layout, and cohesion. No need to start with the expensive software either - you can learn a lot with just a notebook, some colored pens or pencils, and a simple paint program (or the open-source composition program of your choice). For games, specifically, Nonsensical 2d has been doing some good vids explaining various principles for adv beginners & intermediates, and there are a lot of great GDC talks as well. Good stuff too in postmortems from indies & AA discussing how they came up with and implemented style ideas. The most useful tool for any artist is your own sense of observation - start looking at natural and manmade things around you, consider what looks pleasing or not, what emotions they evoke, see if you can breakdown complex forms into their shapes / parts, etc. Keep notes of your thoughts, and the stuff you don't understand right away, to come back to later. Maybe go to a museum, or a park, or even a mall, just to look with your new "artist eyes" and see what tickles your brain.
where did you look, do, and ask in order to get paid in the short term to learn? that is my problem right now, all my time and energy is being sucked up by a unfulfilling full time dead end job? I would love to be able to learn while getting paid enough to live. Where should I look?
Having "getting rich" as the main reason for developing games is reason enough to reconsider your priorities in life. Having said that, I'm not sure if there are better ways to make more money with less competition as you said. Making games is hard but considering the amount of money that you, in average, make by making music, movies, being an engineer, making games is definitely a bargain. Also, pretty much all industries have a ton of competition nowadays. In fact, this industry might be (arguably) the only one where you might get rich by mere chance and we shall be thankful about it when it happens to one of us. In short, wanting to get rich by making games is understandable but shall not be your main reason.
Working a "regular" job is pretty much the best way to make money. Steady pay outearns erratic pay over the long-term, and media in general is very volatile & hit-driven. Make games for fun, or start a business because you enjoy the challenge of entrepreneurship. But hoping to go viral is just gambling, not a sound strategy for making money 😅
@mandisaw you are right, that's the best way to make money in a monthly basis, but in no way a regular job can grant you MORE money than when you work steadily as an indie developer, it only grants you a "secure" paycheck each month (I recognize that could be more desirable for most people), but that's assuming the fact that you are even employed which most people are not. Entrepreneurship is what, at the end, can give you more growth over time even though, as you said, could be considered a gamble.
Crucial - when we can't define goals, our priorities are lost. It's super important to establish what we want in order to know how to get it (and then proactively work on it as you mentioned with pushing away new game ideas until you complete your current project.) - Great advice!
Yeah exactly! Clarity about what you're trying to accomplish is so helpful in the long run
P
Dope game at 0:22 🙃
Great video as usual ❤
INCREDIBLY dope game!
Sometimes I wonder why I watch these videos, I already make games lol.
I already released a game this year! I made it last year, but still 2025 Let's go!
That intro 🤣
Awesome tips, I think this might be a video I'll bookmark and send to friends when they ask me what it takes to make games.
Lovely first video as always! Cool to see how some of your ideas have been core to your whole journey as a game dev. Good luck this year, I know you are going to crush it.
Happy New Year! Such good advice. These principles carry over into whatever you do as well (just substitute 2 and 3 with keep learning). 🙂Thank you Thomas, and all the best, everyone!!
Ooh I like that a lot! Might be worth refining more...
1. Set Goals
2. Learn
3. Follow-Through
Something like that...
But the last step is hard duuuude!!! Scope creep has been kicking my butt
Yeah I feel ya. I can't finish anything unless I set a hard deadline.
Step 1 is huge yet almost no one mentions it.
There are people like me whom couldn't handle when things get messy. I have to stress over and over again that planning everything from the start is crucial for finishing the project. many devs also confused between pre-production and production phase.
many people including myself stuck at the pre-production phase and never get into the production phase, by ignoring the pre-production phase and even thought that the moment you open the engine it's already production.
No!
When you're developing prototype and finding the game direction, it's still in the pre-production. This is when you don't need assets to work.
But you still need to work on the overall plan for the design side, like sketches and synopsis.
Some people fill GDD for the sake of filling it. Work on milestones for your project development and use GDD as your reference, so you won't mess up the direction.
In short, I want people to take time working on the pre-production before getting into the serious part. Also to understand that working on prototype is still part of the pre-production despite opening the game engine for it.
Thomas thanks alot for this video! any recomenddation of where to learn color theory? I find a lot of things that look basic online, so not a good way to choose
This is super helpful: color.adobe.com/create/color-wheel
You can see what combos work according to different harmonies (analogous, monochromatic, complementary, etc)
Also, another trick I've done is to find pictures that I really like the colors - then use an online color sampling tool to mimic the same color schemes.
There are tons of books and tutorials on the fundamentals of art & aesthetics, from color, light, and shadow, to composition, layout, and cohesion. No need to start with the expensive software either - you can learn a lot with just a notebook, some colored pens or pencils, and a simple paint program (or the open-source composition program of your choice).
For games, specifically, Nonsensical 2d has been doing some good vids explaining various principles for adv beginners & intermediates, and there are a lot of great GDC talks as well. Good stuff too in postmortems from indies & AA discussing how they came up with and implemented style ideas.
The most useful tool for any artist is your own sense of observation - start looking at natural and manmade things around you, consider what looks pleasing or not, what emotions they evoke, see if you can breakdown complex forms into their shapes / parts, etc. Keep notes of your thoughts, and the stuff you don't understand right away, to come back to later. Maybe go to a museum, or a park, or even a mall, just to look with your new "artist eyes" and see what tickles your brain.
Can you make a video on how to think about making 3d games as an indie developer. Time to finish specially when it only involves a limited place.
That step 4 is a doozy! Working on it though. 😅
where did you look, do, and ask in order to get paid in the short term to learn? that is my problem right now, all my time and energy is being sucked up by a unfulfilling full time dead end job? I would love to be able to learn while getting paid enough to live. Where should I look?
Having "getting rich" as the main reason for developing games is reason enough to reconsider your priorities in life. Having said that, I'm not sure if there are better ways to make more money with less competition as you said. Making games is hard but considering the amount of money that you, in average, make by making music, movies, being an engineer, making games is definitely a bargain.
Also, pretty much all industries have a ton of competition nowadays. In fact, this industry might be (arguably) the only one where you might get rich by mere chance and we shall be thankful about it when it happens to one of us. In short, wanting to get rich by making games is understandable but shall not be your main reason.
Working a "regular" job is pretty much the best way to make money. Steady pay outearns erratic pay over the long-term, and media in general is very volatile & hit-driven. Make games for fun, or start a business because you enjoy the challenge of entrepreneurship. But hoping to go viral is just gambling, not a sound strategy for making money 😅
@mandisaw you are right, that's the best way to make money in a monthly basis, but in no way a regular job can grant you MORE money than when you work steadily as an indie developer, it only grants you a "secure" paycheck each month (I recognize that could be more desirable for most people), but that's assuming the fact that you are even employed which most people are not. Entrepreneurship is what, at the end, can give you more growth over time even though, as you said, could be considered a gamble.
Could you please send a link to the Boomerang Fu podcast?
I'll try to find it, but here's a tweet about it too: x.com/boomerangfu/status/1293697987697242112
Here it is: th-cam.com/video/BSZDTFbAOG4/w-d-xo.html
4:19 This is called Dad Humor
Haha yes - I play this game a lot 😂
I've not seen the video, but never gonna happen. don't try.