As a dev out there doing their own thing: Yes you can do it, yes you're talented and smart enough, go ahead, go make games, right now. Don't shoot down your own dreams before you even attempted to follow them.
@@PlzUnbanme Good question, I wouldn't post links or anything on THE legendary Tim Cain's channel, that's disrespectful. But I got an itch link in my channel's description. Game's free until it's done and beyond.
I'm not in the games industry & never plan to be. But I've been procrastinating on important things in life for months, I needed to see this title this morning. Thanks Tim
I'm not a programmer and work full time in a job unrelated to game dev and programming. But I love video game, and been wanting to make it. So a year ago, I started making it on my free time. I took free programming courses on the internet to learn how to code and I watched your channel religiously to learn game design. I released the early version of my game about two weeks ago and people are giving good reviews despite the game screamed 'amateurish'. In fact, the game is buggy, lacking content, and very flawed, but I'm really proud. I'm already working on the update while working on the design for my 2nd game. So, thank you for your videos. It really helps :) edited: Hey everyone, thank you for the kind word. I'm sorry I didn't notice I already have several people asking for my game. But I'm not gonna say 😊. It wasn't my intention to self promote (the game isn't that good so you're not missing anything). I was commenting because I want to tell Mr. Cain that his videos inspired and helped newbie like me to actually make his own video game.
Congratulations! It's the hardest thing in the world to take a shot. Def post your project! It's weak to self-promote, but now you're getting asked so you're absolved.
There are few things as enjoyable in life as getting the very faintest of an idea to appear on screen. Getting all the pieces in place and playing a game that you are the very first to witness is extremely rewarding.
I've been modding games since I was 10. Some mods quite complex with tens of thousands of lines of code, dozens of subsystems interacting with each other, cascading into one living thing. It is a really great feeling.
Yes, I don't have the slightest clue about programming, but just messing around with file editing and being able to change various parameters for various entities in the game's world was really motivating and I ended up making a little mod for Shadow of Chernobyl, just for myself.
My basic problem with all these "motivation" and "tough love" and "everyone can code" videos is that in the end when I read stuff devs write and what they say and it turns out their experience of coding is/was different on fundamental level. Like it seems that being passionate about technologies and commanding computer to do things is a sort of a basic prerequisite for really getting anywhere. I feel like lots of people come here because of Fallout 1 and Arcanum but in the end liking these games doesn't have much in common with being into programming. Like existence of these games feels almost accidental.
Well man here I am. I got an LLC, I pay 4 people (an artist, a programmer, a writer, an editor/web guy). We are about to wrap up year 4 of development (we've had a few setbacks). But we are finally hitting that stride. So we're here. And don't worry I'll be blasting out to every channel once I got a demo (due out in Sept)
@@vornamenachname594 Nothing wrong with subsidizing yourself. Do some math, what are you worth per hour. What is your estimation. Do the math and figure out how much your own efforts cost per hour. And make damn sure that's what is going into your projects. Stay strong.
Yeah, it's just truth. A lot of people are not used to this, but it's the way we all need to think. Especially when you want to make games and actually dont have the time.
I literally had a custom phone case made with the logo of the game I’m working on so every time I turn my phone over I get that urge to get back to work and write some code. Great video as always Tim!
While iam very passionate about gaming the reason why I never pursued a career in game development is because making and playing games are two very different things and it’s quite tragic if your hate for game development ends up killing your passion for gaming.
One tip I'd add - do what you're passionate about now, not later. Don't try and do a project as a warmup that you aren't genuinely interested in, especially if it's long. Just do the thing you want to do, and if it sucks the first time, try try again.
I actually started making a game after I watched your video where you said "Uncle Tim needs your games". That motivated me a lot! I have a player character and I have mob and a few animations already. I'm programming a combat system for a turn-based RPG next.
I first saw this video a few months ago, and I knew what you were saying was true... but I still didn't do it. Until today. Today I dedicated myself to making the game I've been wanting to make for years now. I'm not making anymore fucking excuses, not when the guy who made my favourite thing makes youtube videos about game design. Thank you, Tim
And don't be afraid to fail! It is not only inevitable. It is NECESSARY. It will teach you, don't reject or try to prevent failure. It's your biggest teacher if you are serious about learning.
When it seems like too much I treat one system in my game like it is the whole game. Instead of figuring out 10 systems I'm breaking down one. Helps a lot
Tim, I needed to hear this today. I'm 35 now but, ever since I was a kid I loved video games and have always wondered how they were made. There has always been a "creator" inside me ( I've created music EP's and LP, designed logos, made short comic stories using the old windows movie maker and other things.) yet here recently, I have almost let my "creator self" go due to work, family, pets and so on. You are so correct that we actually DO have the time to work on our passion even if it's just 15 mins a day. I have forgotten that and I want to thank you for this video. It's sometimes hard to focus on your own self or projects when one is stressed all the time and not allowing myself peace throughout the day. But! from here on out, I'm going to try my best to go after things I've been wanting to do for an eternity it seems like. Thanks again, Tim!
@@ScienceDiscoverer Ayy brotha, we can get our creative side back, I believe in you and I need to start believing in myself again too. We gotta start making baby steps forward. If you’re anything like me, we have all these ideas and projects we want to work on but it’s hard for us to start something due to the overwhelming nature of it all. Anyways, I’m babbling. WE CAN DO THIS.
I made a map in Quake using Trenchbroom. Blocking out the map, refining the level, texturing it, testing it. The end product felt like a massive accomplishment.
He's absolutely RIGHT! I highly recommend joining a game jam if you're having trouble getting started, lacking motivation, or you just need an excuse to make something. You'll learn so much on 1 quick project that moving on to project 2, 3, 4 and so on will get easier and easier. Just hang in there guys 😁
I have been teaching Game Dev in high school for a decade now. At the start of every intro course, which is basically a tabletop game design class, I tell my students "The way to get better at making games is to make games." The students that advance to my Graphics class get the same speech, "The way to get good at modeling/animation/pixel art is to make Models, Animations or pixel art." By the time they get to the third class, a Unity based Digital Game Dev class, one of the snippier students will do the speech for me usually. When we wrap up our time together, the students that make it eventually realize that I really just taught them to start. To break their creative inertia and get them rolling. Because that is the actual hard part in my experience. Is building enough creative momentum, that it carries you to learn all of the other things you will need to know. You have to grind and crawl and tumble and roll until you build that momentum to take you where you are trying to go. In my own practice, my game has taken me in directions I never thought I would want to go until I needed to. I just had to build the momentum to get me there. The hard part is getting through that uncertainly, the discomfort and the frustration of starting up, spinning your tires and not really getting anywhere for a bit.
Hi Tim. I've been a watcher of your channel for a long time. But I've been binging yout videos lately becuase your channel is definately more in my wheelhouse and inspires more productive thoughts and, for lack of a batter phrase; helps stir the cauldron of creative juices. I had been putting off actioning an idea because I had convinced myself the project seemed so immense, that If I started it, it would be yet another project I never finished. There were too many obstacles I couldn't tease apart. It would be time consuming. ect. Fantasizing about what it would be like to have that project finished and your videos but me to take that fisrt step. I've put more than 20 hour into it in the past 2 days, because my ADHD brain won't let me do bite sized chunks. But I believe Another 20 hours and it should be ready for playtesting (It's a board game) I want to do video games too That's a whole other kettle. I guess I do need to stop making excuses. I wish I got my feet wet 15 years ago - life always seemed to have other plans. Your videos have been a huge help. I'm installing unreal engine as I write this. I have so many ideas Like RPG mechanics I'd love to talk about with you, but I know that's not something you particularly like doing. Your videos, your channel is truly inspirational. Thank you for making these public!
The most significant change I have made regarding working on personal creative projects, specifically a game demo and a fantasy novel, has been doing it in small increments of time between work. You don’t need a three or four hour session of writing or coding or designing per day. Take half an hour or 45 minutes in the morning or before bed to make small advances. It really adds up and you feel fulfilled each day. Good morning and thanks for another great video, Tim.
I think what helps the most is just living in that project and letting it constantly build up. You'll find yourself spending more time just ready to jump right back into it and jot down all your thoughts between sessions, so quickly "a few minutes" turns into the culmination of an entire afternoon. This is pretty much what the creator/lead programmer of ET (the Atari game) said about working on the project, the only way he could even come close to managing the insane work demands Atari had on him was by constantly having his mind on the project-- even just driving to and from work, he'd be trying to think up solutions to programming problems he faced. ...just make sure to take care of yourself and avoid burning out. Work hard, but keep it fun.
I think the biggest problem is that society has chosen to train us from a young age that there will be "doers" and "consumers" and that if you are in the consumer biz you cannot change. This is so false I can't even stomach saying the words. Folks, take control of your life and create things. This, to me, is the meaning of life - to create things (art) and leave the world richer for it.
Take it from a guy whose creating an RPG in an indie's outdated RTS editor - You can make it. You won't know what to do at first and your skillset will be very limited. But as long as you are willing to put at least one intentional hour each day into learning, you will soon exceed your peers and your prior preconceptions. I know that the secret fear you harbor is that you will put in your maximum effort and will fail. Internalize that quitting is the only failure.
Sometimes I feel like the road to doing something worth existing is so so long and arduous. I'll try once again to work towards that goal if only a couple of minutes a day. Thank you for this video.
@@ScienceDiscoverer That wouldn't be true even if we had infinite time, due to constraints on other resources, including raw materials and mental power.
This is why I like Roguelikes as hobbyist projects. Simple by design but with a potential for enough mechanical depth to remain interesting and encourage creativity.
Hi. I’m new here. Thanks for all the great content. 35 years old and just started my Japanese study game on RPG Maker MV. Already got money from Patrons and not even half. Best - Light
I'm working on it, I swear! Though sometimes it really does feel like I only get 15 minutes to work on my project(s) before real life kicks in again. I feel like there's only two superpowers in this world: 1) getting off your ass and actually doing something 2) not giving up on what you really want.
I am not a videogame creator/developer... But I also felt affected by this video, I want to do many thing and sometimes I kep making excuses! Thanks for the video Tim! I have to start working on my goals NOW
I was a software developer 20 years ago, but started doing hair instead and your videos are part of what inspired me to start coding again and taking programming classes start learning how to make small games just for fun. Thanks Tim! Keep the videos coming.
I feel extremely anxious when I spend a long period of time NOT creating. I start drawing on napkins in restaurants with family, I start writing storylines into my phone, I get anxiety from not working on something. It completely fills my days and nights, my dreams are full of ideas and adventures, my conversations with friends are usually about games or movies or story ideas, skits, If you have to ask yourself should I start doing this should I do this. Ask yourself, what are you obsessed with? and if you're unsure JUST DO IT. Try new things, get uncomfortable with situations and goals you have never exposed yourself to. If after all that you're not obsessed with that thing, go find the next thing you'll be day dreaming about and scribbling on napkins about.
Every single day for the past 12 months we’ve been working on an isometric dark fantasy RPG inspired by Baldur’s Gate 1 and Fallout 1! Still 24 months to go, give it or take. For those of you dreaming about it: just start, start small and then expand. If you have the passion, you’ll find a way to perservere. Life’s too short to be doing stuff you have zero passion about. ❤
This couldn't come at a more opportune time. I spent eight months working on an RPG in Unreal Engine 5. Learned C++, bought assets, got skeletal meshes setup, animations, sound, unit systems, targeting, ability systems, spells, experience, threat and aggro, gear, and it's all networked and replicating correctly and all of my friends can play it. And for some fucking reason I GAVE UP. I had a few major stumbles and that was enough to crush me even though this is the best project I've done thus far. This video was opportune. THANK YOU.
Text based games can be written in C. The most complex multiplayer game mechanics that I have ever experienced. These were only found in a MUD, which proceeded all other MMOs.
@@Filipfill123 Yes, but I promise you if you just stay consistent a lot of things will become easier to you over time. Sometimes you need to try doing few times, then something clicks in your head and it becomes obvious :)
@@Jovianoid Thank you for the encouragement :). Do you recommend starting with blueprints or try to code it in C++? I didn't know even know about the blueprint language when I decided to try UE5 out so I simultaneously also started learning C++ (I am an ok Python and JS/html programmer).
@@Filipfill123 As Java programmer I as well thought I'm gonna just use C++ but blueprints are surprisingly fun to use :) For most simple and easy tasks I prefer to use them, and if BP system doesn't allow me do something I just write quick C++ snippet and use it inside BP. My recommendation would be try both and see which fits you better :)
For me it was helpful to think of this like, when you first start you are basically just banging your head against the wall. You might get stuck a lot and not learn a lot efficiently, but each time you will pick up something here and there. You have to keep coming back and trying over and over, eventually you'll really start to get it.
I think why "Video games" is important to ask first before anything else. Like what is fulfilling about the process and what motivates will be a bit different for everybody. Though a 5 second video of tim just saying "Do it" would also suffice.
I'm currently doing a lil game involving images and it was a massive learning curve to save and load images but it's soo rewarding to have it be a thing I can actually use in a game
people build prisons in their own minds. when i was really young computers scared me. in computer class in the late 80s i would ask other kids to turn the computer on and off for me because i was afraid of it, and i was worried i would flip the wrong switches in the wrong order. we got a family pc in the early 90s and i deleted dos, and i was told "you broke it now you have to fix it." after that i got over my fear. i learned to program on a commodore 64 when i was like 10 years old from reading books and looking at people's source code. and then later when we got the internet, i downloaded qbasic and c source code and read it like books to figure out how other people made things. we didn't have youtube or anything back then. i never touched a game engine because i thought it was cheating when i was a kid if i didnt do everything from scratch, plus game engines weren't really an accessible thing. my first game engine was when i taught myself blender in a weekend in college because i wanted to finally wrap my head around 3d. 3d didn't make sense to me until that point, but i took a sculpting class in college and i was like, hey now 3d makes sense so since i love programming i can learn 3d programming. in the 2020s it makes a lot more sense, you don't reinvent the wheel, everything you need is there through google. now my learning curve is learning the way the industry does things instead of how i learned how to hack things together growing up. i hate puzzles but programming is the most enjoyable puzzle i can imagine. i'm not saying all this to sound elitist or anything. when people say "you're a computer programmer you must be smart" i tell them that it's just the way my brain works. i'm not good at whatever they're good at, i just happen to be good at this thing. but i hated computers when i was really young, until i got over that prison i made in my mind, and now computers are all i care about. and honestly even today, until i do something it's scary, but all you have to do is try and you can do anything these days. don't let that prison you made in your mind stop you. you have the key to the jail cell, and you have youtube and discord etc now. you dont have to even go to a library and open one book. just do it!
I agree with almost all the things you said, although in my experience, 15 minutes a day makes it very hard to make progress, in theory the 'baby steps' practice is a great approach to everything in life, but in this case, the actual 15mins is just not enough for any tangible progress. When you are a beginner, it can often take you 30mins+ just to understand a new concept you hadn't encountered before - like when I first had to use an IEnumerator it absolutely baffled me, I couldn't really grasp the why or how to it (writer background so coding is my bane), but now it makes perfect sense, and whenever I need a coroutine in my game I don't have to spend an hour understanding the concept of it beforehand (i still probably don't though haha). All this to say, the 15 minutes of a veteran are worth hours for a beginner, and the kind-hearted advice to just spend 15 minutes can have the unintended consequence of crushing people's spirit when they encounter the very real fact that most beginners can't do much in short bursts of time (especially when you consider that five of those minutes are spent recompiling haha). I wholeheartedly agree that we all make way too many excuses, and I think you nailed the point when you mentioned the fact that we have the time to watch this video when we could be working on our projects. In a nutshell, it's all about what we are willing to give up to follow our dreams, just like with any other creative discipline, the process requires a huge degree of self-mastery and the ability to reject instant gratification for something grander you envision in the future. Anyway, I should probably stop procrastinating with this comment and get back to it =) Thank you for being a regular source of inspiration and self-reflection in my life, kind sir, keep up the good work!
I was working in Unity on an FPS/RPG for a while, but after Unity did the whole per-download-fee junk, my project came to a standstill after I started making an effort to migrate it to Godot. This video has put some wind back in my sails to continue migrating it so I can finish it in Godot and hopefully release it. Thanks Tim, I appreciate this video a lot.
I feel this so much. I was just starting to finally get the ball rolling when Unity's fiasco felt like the floor getting kicked out from underneath me. I had a bit of life chaos on top of that which really just flatlined my gamedev work. But really, the best day to start again was yesterday, and the best day available is today. I personally gravitated to Flax Engine and Cocos Creator based on platform but as long as you have the tools you need to flourish, the rest is just down to effort and passion. Good luck out there. 👍
Mr. Tim, I stopped making excuses last year after my second codependent relationship. I quit my monotonous job. I have disability pay and medical as a disabled vet. I have two ideas for indie games and an idea for a series of books/ movies and a massive impetus to learn music. I have no experience in these fields but I'm picking up books and self educating. I'm taking music lessons currently. The purpose of my art is to navigate my CPTSD but if one of my projects pops off then that's a bonus. There are so many pieces of art (games, movies, books, music) that got me through so many traumatic events and abuse that I want to honor them and further explore their impact on me. I need to continue that artistic conversation with my point of view. Thank you for this. I will definitely come back to this next year. This year for me is focused on music and writing. Much love Mr. Tim ❤
Couldn't agree more The harsh reality of success in all forms is it requires sacrifice. You want to start making games and don't have time? That means you have to buckle up and start playing less games in order to make that time
@@elroma7712 True on both your point and on @Itcertdoctor but with the small caveat that, if you stop reading altogether, or stop playing games altogether, it's going to be harder to make quality art. At least temporarily, you do need to stop consuming those things to enjoy them and start consuming them to critique them, then make sure you also allow time to then create.
I love this guy. Feeling overwhelmed can be paralysing and stop you from doing anything. I keep hitting this same wall and the 15 minutes a day method, without having an expectation of completion, is helpful for me. What I find hard is looking at my code after a long time doing a different part of the game and not understanding how I did it. 😂😂😂
Wonderful video, Tim. I'm currently a game dev student and I've been feeling extremely scared and unmotivated lately and really needed this. Imposter syndrome is real.
I just dabbled in creative work myself and I couldn't agree more. Sometimes we have to just do it. It might suck, we might hate it etc. but we WILL improve, as long as we make things.
I've never been able to code, instead I've volunteered to join multiple (10+) game jam teams as an artist, and I've learned a ton about game design along the way. Highly recommend for those who have ANY skills making digital art and are interested in making games.
I'll just own up to it. I'm just a lazy bum who only wants to fantasize about making a game but don't actually want to do it. I do work in game development though, but as just one of many 3D environment artists I see it more as some tangentially related manufacturing job rather than being at the actual core of game dev. Anyway for the more 'technically challenged', honestly nothing stopping you from making some sorta card/board game. Print stuff out, art doesn't need to be final. Make some friends at local board game cafes and whatnot, there might be gatherings and communities and see if they might be keen on trying it out. Or just get your own friends to try it out. I was enrolled in a gamedev course at uni, and one of our assignments was to make a card/board game. I literally just printed out placeholders, cut them out by hand and slipped them into card sleeves with my old Pokemon cards as the backing. This allowed us to playtest it. You don't always have to fling yourself off the deep end, get some small victories first.
Neil Patrick Harris, don't compare yourself to him, lol. I've been self learning for years. My enthusiasm tends to wax and wan but I am almost always working on designs. If my video game designs get boring I pivot to a board game or ttrpg. My only excuse is a really big one, though. I have 2 kids and both my wife and I work full time. But, I totally agree that if I committed to even 15 minutes each day, I would be so much further along. Instead, I sometimes go weeks without touching my designs in a tangible way. Well, thanks for the encouragement!
It's so true! There's no reason not to start. Just start where you are and go from there. I like how your tough love is incredibly accommodating, nuanced, and generally supportive, too. I'm not a fan of "tough love" or "harsh truths," because there's no reason for those things not to be metered, patient, and compassionate, so it's really endearing to me that you version of tough love is just basically encouragement grounded in anecdotes and your personal experience. I really want other amateur devs to take your message to heart. The democratization of this art is so necessary right now. Art resonates with people and can change the world and we're only going to get more of the same if left to the rich kids, gatekeepers, and taste-makers. If we want boundary -breaking art, we're going to have to accept that the walls aren't really there. I do wanna give a shout out to the imaginative folks whose material conditions are actually pretty prohibitive to what it means to make games. A lack of income, access, and opportunity are real, so I hope they at least feel seen and heard in future games.
I had zero experience doing anything game design wise, but I have a passion for it. The barrier of entry is small. I downloaded Unreal and Boom it took me a few hours and a free TH-cam class and I created an entire river, plants, and learned how to create water reflections my first night. There are so many parallels between Unreal and sculpting ( which I happen to love) There's so much free stuff online you just have to look at your strengths, amplify them and have creativity! Mine are: I'm an insanely fast learner, have a passion for design/ gaming and an idea- and I've seen enough things start that way. You can always come up with a million excuses not to do something- but just focus on the one that makes you want to- you love it. period. Great video as usual!!
If it’s something you want to do, time shouldn’t be a factor. I work full time 50-60 hours a weeks sometimes. Second job in the evenings in gig economy, primarily food delivery. I still make some time each day to play around with making games, because it’s fun for me.
Thanks for the encouragement. I'm working on making an RPG and learning Unity at the same time, and it's pretty hard, and repeatedly I've questioned if I can even make the story work. Thanks for reminding me I lose absolutely nothing by trucking on❤.
Thanks for the wise words! For me the challenge is always around "what idea should I pursue? Which one of these game ideas I have should I pick to make a prototype / vertical slice / demo". Which brings a question I'd like to ask you Tim: If you were making a game on your own now, with your current experience, what game would you make? Assuming you would need to do it on your own, or let's say pick you're allowed to outsource one skill / field (e.g.: you outsource music or art). What kind of game would you make now? Thanks again for your time, every video you post is valuable and help me get some perspective on the industry and on my personal growth.
Like Tim said, there are obvious logical reasons why there’s nothing stopping you from making your game. If you still feel like you can’t do it even though you don’t have a good reason, consider your mental health, and do research into neurodivergent traits you may be struggling with and unaware of. Believe in yourself!
This is a very inspirational video. I made a couple mobile games in the past few years that were simple narrative driven RPG-lite clickers. I made all of the assets myself and used some royalty free music with the artist's permission. Even though they were personal projects and I learned for the sole purpose of maintaining mental health, it was a blast! I'm planning on learning GODOT very soon once I get through a few personal hurdles. Thanks for the video, Timothy. You're an absolute legend!
I think a problem a fair few people (including me) have is when they say "I want to make a game, but (insert excuse X)" they really mean that they want to have already made a game, but without putting the effort in to it. It is way easier and more fun to daydream about how cool it would be to do x, make a million bucks and be famous instead of actually doing x, which often is hard and frustrating and confusing and has a high chance of failure. For me the the only thing that works is to put my focus more on the process of learning and creating, and less on how cool it would be if the end result materialised in front of me magically. If you don't want to take that step, then I think you probably don't really want to make games at all.
It's rare to see self-honesty on the internet; I salute you :D And yes. Wishing to have had made a game instead of wishing to actually make it, is definitely what I find myself doing, too. I agree that you gotta have the love for the process and the love for creation itself, rather than the love for just the end result, and I'm not so sure I have it.
Your dream is always safe as a fantasy if you never act on it. Acting on it means discovering all the problems, troubles and also confronting your own inability which is not something everybody deals with particularly well.
My friends and I taught ourselves how to make games on our old pcs back in the late 90s, We had no internet, We had no books. Just a few tools we took from magazine demo cds and we learned 3d modelling and C, Nowadays everything is free and available online. So its weird hearing people say that they don't have the opportunities. There's also a lot more woman in the industry now which is great but a portion of them often talk about how they weren't able to get into the industry because of men. When I've asked them to explain how, it seems to be that they think men were just given the answers and somehow had it easy, Just knowing that men existed out there was somehow preventing them from taking action and learning on their own or applying for jobs. Its a very common and very sexist crutch.
Love your content. I'm not a game developer (I'm a compiler developer, embedded developer, distributed systems developer, web developer, and some other areas, but never did anything that wasn't just curiosity in learning game development) and I know I'll never be a game developer (I like playing, but to be honest, the challenges of game development are so bizarrely different from other areas, in things that I really am not interested in trying to be better). However, I do *really think* your content is valuable in all areas of computer programming (the video that got me hooked was "Game development caution" which I think applies in all areas of computing nowadays, unfortunately) and is really fun to hear. I love gaming, and it interests me lots of aspects about game development and I really think I enjoy gaming more with that.
I think the main issue is how difficult it is for a complete beginner to find the courage to actually make a game. There's so much to learn, and filling the gaps takes a lot of knowledge and time that not many people have or are willing to invest. It took me like 4 years to feel confident enough to finally start making a game I'd be motivated enough to work on beyond the prototype phase. There's a whole world between following an udemy course and actually understanding how to apply software concepts like patterns, abstraction, interfaces, events, architecture, etc. Personally I pushed through with a lot of dedication, on top of my completely unrelated full-time job.
Appreciate the tough love, Tim! I would however LOVE to see those first initial steps when starting a new project from scratch and watch you rapidly prototype something playable (not finished of course).
"How'd you get into programming and game development?" My response: "I just started doing it." "Oh, you're so lucky!" (Literally gone through this interaction countless times over the years.) Luck has nothing to do with it. I prioritized it until I made it, making ends meet however I had to until finally getting the career I wanted (that I recommend to no one too, but that's a different story/explanation).
Luck has everything to do with it. You rolled a base character statistic block that can just get into programming and game development. Do you think you could just get into programming if you'd find programming offputting and hard to focus on or if you'd simply lack intelligence to grasp it? Blank slate theory is nonsense. It's even more absurd when people who played Fallout spout it.
@@fuzonzord9301 Yes because it didn't come naturally. I worked at it. I banged my head against the wall over and over again until I understood it. I felt stupid and defeated. Hell, that's literally just a natural part of the process. If you can't get over feeling stupid sometimes, that's a you problem - and a poor excuse at that. We all start with a lack of intelligence. You making it an excuse instead of working at it is a you problem and has nothing to do with luck. I did find it offputting and hard to focus at times, and I still kept at it. I worked at it when I was homeless. Luck and circumstance tried very hard to stop me and still didn't. That's how I know it wasn't luck. But that's on you. Keep making excuses. They only hurt yourself.
@@lockekosta9014 "We all start with a lack of intelligence." False, intelligence is largely genetic. " I did find it offputting and hard to focus at times, and I still kept at it. " For something to be classified to be hard, you need to consistently fail at it 75% of times. Did you find yourself unable to focus 75% of times when trying to program? Or perhaps you mean easy? As in 20% failure rate?
@@lockekosta9014 Anyway, just this answer shows that "I just started doing it." was a lie. If you tell a fake version of the story, how do you expect people to say anything other than "Oh you're just lucky."?
@@fuzonzord9301 The only thing shown here is how badly you feel you need to try to hold on to your own excuses and it's just sad. I didn't respond earlier because I thought I made that clear already but here you go. Good luck living with your excuses. o/
I did a lot of prototyping and even some smaller full projects with Game Maker back in middle and high school, but for the past 10 years have barely written any code past SQL. This pep talk got me to take a day and familiarize myself with Godot and write a simple assistant tool.
I've been putting off making a game for years, every so often I'll pick up a engine or framework and make a start and then give up after a week or two because I feel like I don't have the time. Truth is I have plenty of time, I just waste it playing games and watching youtube. Going to start again this week and make sure I do a little bit each day.
it took my over 10 years but my life's work releases this year. It's an entirely kick-ass game that stands out. Fallout is one of the reasons I'm here. Thanks Tim, I never gave up.
I entirely agree with the video, but did have a little thing that I wanted to add from personal experience: I managed to cut through my own nonsense a fair few years ago and try my hand at making games... and I bounced off of it. Not because I found it hard, but because I just couldn't focus; I would get distracted by TV, or just need to take a break and play a game (whose allotted "half hour" would turn into "the rest of the day"), or... something. Each time I'd try and block out another distraction and it would just make things worse, to the point where I was having borderline panic attacks trying to may myself focus, and failing. Eventually I just gave up, because I just couldn't work out what was happening with me. Diagnosed as some sort of anxiety disorder but wasn't really looked at - maybe creating something for other people to see just wasn't for me? But then it reared its head again while I was at university, leading me to eventually fail out. It seemed like it got better for a bit after then, but then I eventually got a job, and it started happening again, and "well, maybe you just have bad anxiety?" seemed to be the only answer I was being offered, with not very much help alongside it. Turns out therapy doesn't help much if you don't even understand why you're anxious. Anyway, to cut a long story short - partly because I'm not even sure exactly how I came to this conclusion - I eventually worked out my issue was ADHD. It took years to get a diagnosis and I'm still waiting on medication some years after that, but just understanding what it is has helped me take measures to mitigate it - including that it totally flips the advice for other problems I was having (e.g. sleep) on their head. However, it also made me reassess my earlier excuses; I had just dismissed myself as lazy, or too troubled, or just not mentally cut out for it, but now I understand that something was happening to me that I didn't understand, and I was trying to find a reason, and those were the obvious reasons. Wrong, but obvious, and felt like all that was necessary to find. I guess if i had to tl;dr it: Sometimes the excuses are just excuses and sometimes people are just lazy - but if this (or something else constructive or creative) is what you actually want to do, but you can't seem to stay on it, consider that the issue might be something like that. You may just have to do some introspection and work out if these excuses are actual justifications or post-hoc rationalisations.
When I was getting into writing I have discovered a podcast called "Writing Excuses" (it is by Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells and Howard Tayler btw) and they would always finish a podcast with "You're all out of excuses. Now go write!"
This is exactly what I needed, Tim. It's so easy to uplift and motivate others but when it comes to uplifting oneself it feels nearly impossible and everything feels overwhelming. Needed to hear this from you today. Thank you!
I think many new devs will hit a road block, and think it's a reflection of them not being capable or doing something wrong. I had this mindset myself, and I nedded to change it. Hitting road blocks and running into problems is where you will learn the most. You have to be curios about it, and treat it as play. But also yes... sometimes you will feel stupid, and it can hurt a bit, but sometimes pain is a necessarry investment for progress. Go at it everyone!
Great video! Another thing I've seen a lot recently is "Everyone learns differently" being used as an excuse to not start anything. It's a very true statement on its own, but you can proceed with whatever style of learning works best for you, while also actually starting game dev. Being someone who learns from reading or learns from watching or learns from experimenting does not mean you can't just start with tutorials in the best format for you and get your hands dirty as you go. By the way, to all you folks out there that want to start game dev but keep making excuses: All of these excuses are laughably transparent. You are only fooling yourself, so what's the point in making them? Stop wasting time creating excuses and get off your ass and make the first step right now. Install a game engine, create a new project, then pat yourself on the back because you just kicked procrastination and fear of failure in the balls.
But Tim, I am busy building other things. I don't want to make games. That's a lie, I'd love to make a couple games, but the games I want to make right now are like Pen and paper RPGs and I don't have a good schedule for testing my design. But really, I am learning like two skills right now by practicing every day and I feel like taking on a new project would negatively affect my quality of life.
I have been working as a game designer in mobile games for 5 years and I still been finding some excuses in order not to create my own games. Idk why, I know it's just about laziness and I can overcome it. Thanks for motivation sir. Good content as always
First time I'm commenting on one of your videos. I haven't actually seen *that* many of them as of yet, but enjoyed the ones I saw. This one shook me up. Really hard. I had started typing a comment explaining how it did so, and I'd be fine sharing it in a dialogue with you, but it quickly became too personal to post publicly. So I'll say this instead: I feel deeply pessimistic right now due to regret and a couple of other things, but I hope that I will be able to turn it around. It may sound strange after what I just wrote, but thank you for this video.
I've been working on little projects, its unlikely I'll ever release a game but right now im just having so much fun making them. 'Game' is definitely a strong term, but im really enjoying learning how to do it. Programming does my head in, but when it works it so satisfying. Just getting a main menu to work was fun, let alone movement systems and whatnot.
Thanks for the advice! Something I found useful to use as reference to make little games are the mini-games in titles like "Mario Party". Those are simple, often one-mechanic games that could serve as a base for learning projects. I love this channel! Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience!
The problem with making games isn't that the barrier of entry is too high, since as you accurately pointed out you can get started for no cost with many free tools available. There is literally no barrier to entry. The problem is that it's not a useful skill anymore. The indie market is oversaturated beyond belief with to the point that getting your game noticed is like winning the lottery. Some of this is due to the aforementioned removal of any barriers to entry opening the floodgates for asset flips and other garbage, but tons of legitimately wonderful games die in complete obscurity as well. Meanwhile the other pathway would be to work for the so-called "AAA" companies, which are widely regarded as a terrible place to work with brutal hours, low pay, and dubious job security. I love video games; they've been my primary interest since I was old enough to hold a controller. But I honestly think you'd have to be crazy to look around at the current environment and conclude "this is what I want to do for a career". Now, if we're talking about just making little games in your spare time as a hobby then that's all well and good, but it's very important to remember that you're doing that *for you* and not for anybody else. Expecting to be noticed or receive fanfare will likely lead to frustration and disappointment just because of cold uncaring probability.
also, keep it stupid simple. i have made countless unfinished games over the years and not one complete game. this time, i decided instead of trying to perfect every detail, if it works it works and i can fix it later, and the more i keep at it, the better i get. if i actually finish something, that's the most important part. i can take what i learned and make the next one better, but the important thing is, i finished something, and that's saying a lot.
Working in video games has been my dream since the 90s. Ended up working in dead end corporate jobs and hating it. Americans don't realise how lucky you are with so many studios and opportunities in your country.
Regarding the hardware needed to start developing a game, the Godot editor (the thing you actually use to make a game) will run on a smartphone. I'm not saying it's the most productive option, but it's a place to start if you don't have a desktop/laptop.
I think the problem is most people don't know where to start. I've picked up and dropped coding/programming lessons two times within the span of six years.
Tim is spot on. I made an entire game engine in my spare time while working a full-time job as a software engineer. You really can chip away at these things.
Great video! I was on multiple game jams, however never really enjoyed those. However making a game is on my bucket list, I already wrote a children book and made it as perfect as I could instead of focusing more on quantity... Turns out, I forgot all the marketing side, and now I'm sitting on 200 very expensive 800 word books. In game design you don't need to worry about that as much as you don't have these expenses. It freaks me out to put in a lot of time into something not knowing how to market it, if I think about it, it really freaks me out at this very moment, I currently read a book about it, I mean I want to read it but I don't, because it's a book that encourages doing over reading, and I need to do the doing before continuing reading the book. Either way I heard insomnia, in the video - I have a solution to it that might help. It's called NSDR or Yoga Nidra.
I'm one of those people that firmly falls into the 'at least I tried' category. It cost me a lot of things in life but I'd never consider it a failure or a waste of time. It was the best time I had in my life and I'll always compare any future endeavors to it. Who cares if you don't make it? Most of you won't make it for most things you shoot for in life. If you want to go for it, go for it. That one simple sentence he said of 'if it doesn't work out, at least you tried' is absolutely the most important. The bigger regret will always be to not take the shot.
My excuse is the same excuse I use for everything else. Nuclear strength executive disfunction. I'm sometimes amazed I manage to survive this long at all. But once I figure that out, I'm doing all the things.
Tim, over the last two years I’ve started two games. One is about 10% done (my first real attempt), while the other is about 60% done. Both I paused for good reason: essentially, I overwhelmed myself with scope creep in both cases. I’m back to developing software because of this video, banging out a little utility to help a friend with some tasks at work. When that’s done I’m going back to gamedev, a third game a little more focused that I think will take less work than that 60% of the second game did. Thanks for speaking the difficult truth.
I agree. I'm not good at programming and I only learned a software called construct2. Limited, with incomplete and primitive unofficial 3d plugin, but I am using it for many years now and know it's quirks, possibilities, limits, work arounds , and I am working on my own game within those limitations. I could switch to another program, but after so many years it would be a waste to do it now before completing whatever I'm doing. The point is, whatever you are using, just do what you can and have access too, and maybe in the future things might be different.
I'm making a game right now and I'd just like to say thank you for the encouragement to keep going. Historically it's been very easy for me to give up on projects, but ever since you mentioned the value in having game demos to showcase, I've really tried to push myself to finish (in a minimum viable product kind of way) as many of my projects as possible.
My problem.... excuse... is that I have zero self-confidence. Open up krita, tap once with a brush and "Nope looks terrible, I'll never be able to do this." Open up Godot, import some 3d tilesets I somehow convinced myself are good enough for now as placeholders, build a room, and "Bap. This isn't going to happen. I can't make this." I remember being fine back in high school. Never released anything, but just liked playing around with the engine (RPG Toolkit. It was slow, but sparked my interest in programming). What happened to that me? Why can't I just accept that whatever I can do is good enough for now? I know I should soldier on and just do it. I think I know it. But the problem is I can't accept any positivity, or complements; "They're just saying that to make me feel better, they don't actually think it's good." This perpetual negativity is insurmountable. I should make a game about this feeling. Should. I even had the idea to make a youTube devlog/diary, regularly posting updates, as that would stick me to a schedule, expectations, deadlines. The fear of disappointing others is quite a bit stronger than disappointing myself. But the negativity kicks in: "no one would watch that. You're too negative, too low energy." And putting out videos with 0 views, week after week just tanks motivation. I tried it once with a let's play. 0 Views. 0 Views. 0 Views. Delete videos. Quit.
This was a lesson I had to start making games to really learn, if that makes sense. It took awhile for me to truly realize that I can improve my skills by investing time into learning and practice, but while the skills I was training were related to passions I had, these weren't personally creative projects. When I started making tabletop games and video games, though, I found that feeling that I had when writing stories in my school days. It made me realize that it was up to me to give life to these ideas that I had or else they would remain ideas, which, as you have pointed out, are cheap. Rather than waiting for the ideal budget and time to make games, I decided to start making games I knew I could make. Your channel has helped me greatly in this journey, Tim. Thank you!
As a dev out there doing their own thing: Yes you can do it, yes you're talented and smart enough, go ahead, go make games, right now.
Don't shoot down your own dreams before you even attempted to follow them.
Soo where are your games???
@@PlzUnbanme Good question, I wouldn't post links or anything on THE legendary Tim Cain's channel, that's disrespectful. But I got an itch link in my channel's description. Game's free until it's done and beyond.
@@FoxyHxCMacfly Man, your game just made me feel even more inferior lol. Really good stuff, hope you make it big, man.
just because you can doesn't mean everyone can
I'm not in the games industry & never plan to be. But I've been procrastinating on important things in life for months, I needed to see this title this morning. Thanks Tim
I'm not a programmer and work full time in a job unrelated to game dev and programming. But I love video game, and been wanting to make it. So a year ago, I started making it on my free time. I took free programming courses on the internet to learn how to code and I watched your channel religiously to learn game design.
I released the early version of my game about two weeks ago and people are giving good reviews despite the game screamed 'amateurish'. In fact, the game is buggy, lacking content, and very flawed, but I'm really proud. I'm already working on the update while working on the design for my 2nd game. So, thank you for your videos. It really helps :)
edited:
Hey everyone, thank you for the kind word. I'm sorry I didn't notice I already have several people asking for my game. But I'm not gonna say 😊.
It wasn't my intention to self promote (the game isn't that good so you're not missing anything). I was commenting because I want to tell Mr. Cain that his videos inspired and helped newbie like me to actually make his own video game.
What's the game called dude?
That's great! Why not drop the game title here so we can check it out?
@@ChorklyYea, what's it called? I'd love to play it
So proud of you. That is awesome!!!!
Congratulations! It's the hardest thing in the world to take a shot. Def post your project! It's weak to self-promote, but now you're getting asked so you're absolved.
There are few things as enjoyable in life as getting the very faintest of an idea to appear on screen. Getting all the pieces in place and playing a game that you are the very first to witness is extremely rewarding.
There’s nothing like it. I haven’t finished a game, but I keep going because of that feeling.
I've been modding games since I was 10. Some mods quite complex with tens of thousands of lines of code, dozens of subsystems interacting with each other, cascading into one living thing. It is a really great feeling.
Back in the 80s it was a magical experience just to get a couple squares moving around. Things being as simple they are today is honestly pretty meh.
Yes, I don't have the slightest clue about programming, but just messing around with file editing and being able to change various parameters for various entities in the game's world was really motivating and I ended up making a little mod for Shadow of Chernobyl, just for myself.
My basic problem with all these "motivation" and "tough love" and "everyone can code" videos is that in the end when I read stuff devs write and what they say and it turns out their experience of coding is/was different on fundamental level.
Like it seems that being passionate about technologies and commanding computer to do things is a sort of a basic prerequisite for really getting anywhere.
I feel like lots of people come here because of Fallout 1 and Arcanum but in the end liking these games doesn't have much in common with being into programming. Like existence of these games feels almost accidental.
Well man here I am. I got an LLC, I pay 4 people (an artist, a programmer, a writer, an editor/web guy). We are about to wrap up year 4 of development (we've had a few setbacks). But we are finally hitting that stride. So we're here. And don't worry I'll be blasting out to every channel once I got a demo (due out in Sept)
Well done! Were you always in game dev or did you transition into it from another job? Please do post the game title in the comments when it's ready!
@@davidharrow9025 it’s the side hustle. I work a 9-5 and do this in the evenings
Awesome stuff!
I cannot even finance myself and here's a guy paying 4 others
@@vornamenachname594 Nothing wrong with subsidizing yourself. Do some math, what are you worth per hour. What is your estimation. Do the math and figure out how much your own efforts cost per hour. And make damn sure that's what is going into your projects. Stay strong.
I literally stopped this video, went and worked on my game project for a few hours, then came back and finished watching. Thanks Tim!!!
Damn Tim woke up today and choose violence with that title
Not even. Just plain truth simple as that
Title Caution
Yeah, it's just truth. A lot of people are not used to this, but it's the way we all need to think. Especially when you want to make games and actually dont have the time.
“The Dog part 8” moment for sure
I literally had a custom phone case made with the logo of the game I’m working on so every time I turn my phone over I get that urge to get back to work and write some code. Great video as always Tim!
While iam very passionate about gaming the reason why I never pursued a career in game development is because making and playing games are two very different things and it’s quite tragic if your hate for game development ends up killing your passion for gaming.
One tip I'd add - do what you're passionate about now, not later. Don't try and do a project as a warmup that you aren't genuinely interested in, especially if it's long. Just do the thing you want to do, and if it sucks the first time, try try again.
I actually started making a game after I watched your video where you said "Uncle Tim needs your games". That motivated me a lot! I have a player character and I have mob and a few animations already. I'm programming a combat system for a turn-based RPG next.
I first saw this video a few months ago, and I knew what you were saying was true... but I still didn't do it. Until today. Today I dedicated myself to making the game I've been wanting to make for years now. I'm not making anymore fucking excuses, not when the guy who made my favourite thing makes youtube videos about game design. Thank you, Tim
And don't be afraid to fail! It is not only inevitable. It is NECESSARY. It will teach you, don't reject or try to prevent failure. It's your biggest teacher if you are serious about learning.
When it seems like too much I treat one system in my game like it is the whole game. Instead of figuring out 10 systems I'm breaking down one. Helps a lot
Tim, I needed to hear this today. I'm 35 now but, ever since I was a kid I loved video games and have always wondered how they were made. There has always been a "creator" inside me ( I've created music EP's and LP, designed logos, made short comic stories using the old windows movie maker and other things.) yet here recently, I have almost let my "creator self" go due to work, family, pets and so on. You are so correct that we actually DO have the time to work on our passion even if it's just 15 mins a day. I have forgotten that and I want to thank you for this video. It's sometimes hard to focus on your own self or projects when one is stressed all the time and not allowing myself peace throughout the day. But! from here on out, I'm going to try my best to go after things I've been wanting to do for an eternity it seems like. Thanks again, Tim!
I'm in a similar situation, level 31... The only difference is that I have no work, family and pets (._. )
@@ScienceDiscoverer Ayy brotha, we can get our creative side back, I believe in you and I need to start believing in myself again too. We gotta start making baby steps forward. If you’re anything like me, we have all these ideas and projects we want to work on but it’s hard for us to start something due to the overwhelming nature of it all. Anyways, I’m babbling. WE CAN DO THIS.
I made a map in Quake using Trenchbroom. Blocking out the map, refining the level, texturing it, testing it. The end product felt like a massive accomplishment.
He's absolutely RIGHT!
I highly recommend joining a game jam if you're having trouble getting started, lacking motivation, or you just need an excuse to make something.
You'll learn so much on 1 quick project that moving on to project 2, 3, 4 and so on will get easier and easier.
Just hang in there guys 😁
This. I'm a Uni student and some of the projects I'm proudest of and learned the most of were 48-hour game jam titles I made with classmates.
I have been teaching Game Dev in high school for a decade now.
At the start of every intro course, which is basically a tabletop game design class, I tell my students "The way to get better at making games is to make games." The students that advance to my Graphics class get the same speech, "The way to get good at modeling/animation/pixel art is to make Models, Animations or pixel art." By the time they get to the third class, a Unity based Digital Game Dev class, one of the snippier students will do the speech for me usually.
When we wrap up our time together, the students that make it eventually realize that I really just taught them to start. To break their creative inertia and get them rolling. Because that is the actual hard part in my experience. Is building enough creative momentum, that it carries you to learn all of the other things you will need to know. You have to grind and crawl and tumble and roll until you build that momentum to take you where you are trying to go.
In my own practice, my game has taken me in directions I never thought I would want to go until I needed to. I just had to build the momentum to get me there.
The hard part is getting through that uncertainly, the discomfort and the frustration of starting up, spinning your tires and not really getting anywhere for a bit.
Hi Tim. I've been a watcher of your channel for a long time. But I've been binging yout videos lately becuase your channel is definately more in my wheelhouse and inspires more productive thoughts and, for lack of a batter phrase; helps stir the cauldron of creative juices.
I had been putting off actioning an idea because I had convinced myself the project seemed so immense, that If I started it, it would be yet another project I never finished. There were too many obstacles I couldn't tease apart. It would be time consuming. ect. Fantasizing about what it would be like to have that project finished and your videos but me to take that fisrt step. I've put more than 20 hour into it in the past 2 days, because my ADHD brain won't let me do bite sized chunks.
But I believe Another 20 hours and it should be ready for playtesting (It's a board game) I want to do video games too That's a whole other kettle. I guess I do need to stop making excuses. I wish I got my feet wet 15 years ago - life always seemed to have other plans. Your videos have been a huge help. I'm installing unreal engine as I write this. I have so many ideas Like RPG mechanics I'd love to talk about with you, but I know that's not something you particularly like doing. Your videos, your channel is truly inspirational.
Thank you for making these public!
The most significant change I have made regarding working on personal creative projects, specifically a game demo and a fantasy novel, has been doing it in small increments of time between work. You don’t need a three or four hour session of writing or coding or designing per day. Take half an hour or 45 minutes in the morning or before bed to make small advances. It really adds up and you feel fulfilled each day. Good morning and thanks for another great video, Tim.
> It really adds up and you feel fulfilled each day.
>> It really adds up and I feel fulfilled each day.
Speak correctly. Speak for yourself.
I think what helps the most is just living in that project and letting it constantly build up. You'll find yourself spending more time just ready to jump right back into it and jot down all your thoughts between sessions, so quickly "a few minutes" turns into the culmination of an entire afternoon. This is pretty much what the creator/lead programmer of ET (the Atari game) said about working on the project, the only way he could even come close to managing the insane work demands Atari had on him was by constantly having his mind on the project-- even just driving to and from work, he'd be trying to think up solutions to programming problems he faced.
...just make sure to take care of yourself and avoid burning out. Work hard, but keep it fun.
I think the biggest problem is that society has chosen to train us from a young age that there will be "doers" and "consumers" and that if you are in the consumer biz you cannot change. This is so false I can't even stomach saying the words. Folks, take control of your life and create things. This, to me, is the meaning of life - to create things (art) and leave the world richer for it.
Take it from a guy whose creating an RPG in an indie's outdated RTS editor - You can make it. You won't know what to do at first and your skillset will be very limited. But as long as you are willing to put at least one intentional hour each day into learning, you will soon exceed your peers and your prior preconceptions.
I know that the secret fear you harbor is that you will put in your maximum effort and will fail. Internalize that quitting is the only failure.
Sometimes I feel like the road to doing something worth existing is so so long and arduous. I'll try once again to work towards that goal if only a couple of minutes a day. Thank you for this video.
If only we had infinite time... Everything would be possible...
@@ScienceDiscoverer That wouldn't be true even if we had infinite time, due to constraints on other resources, including raw materials and mental power.
This is why I like Roguelikes as hobbyist projects. Simple by design but with a potential for enough mechanical depth to remain interesting and encourage creativity.
Hi. I’m new here. Thanks for all the great content. 35 years old and just started my Japanese study game on RPG Maker MV. Already got money from Patrons and not even half. Best - Light
I'm working on it, I swear! Though sometimes it really does feel like I only get 15 minutes to work on my project(s) before real life kicks in again.
I feel like there's only two superpowers in this world: 1) getting off your ass and actually doing something 2) not giving up on what you really want.
I am not a videogame creator/developer... But I also felt affected by this video, I want to do many thing and sometimes I kep making excuses! Thanks for the video Tim! I have to start working on my goals NOW
I was a software developer 20 years ago, but started doing hair instead and your videos are part of what inspired me to start coding again and taking programming classes start learning how to make small games just for fun. Thanks Tim! Keep the videos coming.
I feel extremely anxious when I spend a long period of time NOT creating. I start drawing on napkins in restaurants with family, I start writing storylines into my phone, I get anxiety from not working on something. It completely fills my days and nights, my dreams are full of ideas and adventures, my conversations with friends are usually about games or movies or story ideas, skits, If you have to ask yourself should I start doing this should I do this. Ask yourself, what are you obsessed with? and if you're unsure JUST DO IT. Try new things, get uncomfortable with situations and goals you have never exposed yourself to.
If after all that you're not obsessed with that thing, go find the next thing you'll be day dreaming about and scribbling on napkins about.
Every single day for the past 12 months we’ve been working on an isometric dark fantasy RPG inspired by Baldur’s Gate 1 and Fallout 1! Still 24 months to go, give it or take. For those of you dreaming about it: just start, start small and then expand. If you have the passion, you’ll find a way to perservere. Life’s too short to be doing stuff you have zero passion about. ❤
Thank you, I now have a video to send to all my friends who say they “can’t make games”
This couldn't come at a more opportune time. I spent eight months working on an RPG in Unreal Engine 5. Learned C++, bought assets, got skeletal meshes setup, animations, sound, unit systems, targeting, ability systems, spells, experience, threat and aggro, gear, and it's all networked and replicating correctly and all of my friends can play it.
And for some fucking reason I GAVE UP. I had a few major stumbles and that was enough to crush me even though this is the best project I've done thus far. This video was opportune. THANK YOU.
Text based games can be written in C. The most complex multiplayer game mechanics that I have ever experienced. These were only found in a MUD, which proceeded all other MMOs.
Yes, please give us more of your tough love Tim :D This was the video that I needed, today after work I'm going back to my UE5 tutorials.
Exactly! I just started learning UE5 a week ago and man is it complicated for a total newcomer to video game development.
@@Filipfill123 Yes, but I promise you if you just stay consistent a lot of things will become easier to you over time. Sometimes you need to try doing few times, then something clicks in your head and it becomes obvious :)
@@Jovianoid Thank you for the encouragement :). Do you recommend starting with blueprints or try to code it in C++? I didn't know even know about the blueprint language when I decided to try UE5 out so I simultaneously also started learning C++ (I am an ok Python and JS/html programmer).
@@Filipfill123 As Java programmer I as well thought I'm gonna just use C++ but blueprints are surprisingly fun to use :)
For most simple and easy tasks I prefer to use them, and if BP system doesn't allow me do something I just write quick C++ snippet and use it inside BP.
My recommendation would be try both and see which fits you better :)
For me it was helpful to think of this like, when you first start you are basically just banging your head against the wall. You might get stuck a lot and not learn a lot efficiently, but each time you will pick up something here and there. You have to keep coming back and trying over and over, eventually you'll really start to get it.
I keep banging my head against linear algebra (._. )
I think why "Video games" is important to ask first before anything else. Like what is fulfilling about the process and what motivates will be a bit different for everybody.
Though a 5 second video of tim just saying "Do it" would also suffice.
I'm currently doing a lil game involving images and it was a massive learning curve to save and load images but it's soo rewarding to have it be a thing I can actually use in a game
people build prisons in their own minds. when i was really young computers scared me. in computer class in the late 80s i would ask other kids to turn the computer on and off for me because i was afraid of it, and i was worried i would flip the wrong switches in the wrong order. we got a family pc in the early 90s and i deleted dos, and i was told "you broke it now you have to fix it." after that i got over my fear. i learned to program on a commodore 64 when i was like 10 years old from reading books and looking at people's source code. and then later when we got the internet, i downloaded qbasic and c source code and read it like books to figure out how other people made things. we didn't have youtube or anything back then. i never touched a game engine because i thought it was cheating when i was a kid if i didnt do everything from scratch, plus game engines weren't really an accessible thing. my first game engine was when i taught myself blender in a weekend in college because i wanted to finally wrap my head around 3d. 3d didn't make sense to me until that point, but i took a sculpting class in college and i was like, hey now 3d makes sense so since i love programming i can learn 3d programming. in the 2020s it makes a lot more sense, you don't reinvent the wheel, everything you need is there through google. now my learning curve is learning the way the industry does things instead of how i learned how to hack things together growing up. i hate puzzles but programming is the most enjoyable puzzle i can imagine. i'm not saying all this to sound elitist or anything. when people say "you're a computer programmer you must be smart" i tell them that it's just the way my brain works. i'm not good at whatever they're good at, i just happen to be good at this thing. but i hated computers when i was really young, until i got over that prison i made in my mind, and now computers are all i care about. and honestly even today, until i do something it's scary, but all you have to do is try and you can do anything these days. don't let that prison you made in your mind stop you. you have the key to the jail cell, and you have youtube and discord etc now. you dont have to even go to a library and open one book. just do it!
I agree with almost all the things you said, although in my experience, 15 minutes a day makes it very hard to make progress, in theory the 'baby steps' practice is a great approach to everything in life, but in this case, the actual 15mins is just not enough for any tangible progress.
When you are a beginner, it can often take you 30mins+ just to understand a new concept you hadn't encountered before - like when I first had to use an IEnumerator it absolutely baffled me, I couldn't really grasp the why or how to it (writer background so coding is my bane), but now it makes perfect sense, and whenever I need a coroutine in my game I don't have to spend an hour understanding the concept of it beforehand (i still probably don't though haha).
All this to say, the 15 minutes of a veteran are worth hours for a beginner, and the kind-hearted advice to just spend 15 minutes can have the unintended consequence of crushing people's spirit when they encounter the very real fact that most beginners can't do much in short bursts of time (especially when you consider that five of those minutes are spent recompiling haha).
I wholeheartedly agree that we all make way too many excuses, and I think you nailed the point when you mentioned the fact that we have the time to watch this video when we could be working on our projects. In a nutshell, it's all about what we are willing to give up to follow our dreams, just like with any other creative discipline, the process requires a huge degree of self-mastery and the ability to reject instant gratification for something grander you envision in the future.
Anyway, I should probably stop procrastinating with this comment and get back to it =)
Thank you for being a regular source of inspiration and self-reflection in my life, kind sir, keep up the good work!
I was working in Unity on an FPS/RPG for a while, but after Unity did the whole per-download-fee junk, my project came to a standstill after I started making an effort to migrate it to Godot. This video has put some wind back in my sails to continue migrating it so I can finish it in Godot and hopefully release it.
Thanks Tim, I appreciate this video a lot.
I feel this so much. I was just starting to finally get the ball rolling when Unity's fiasco felt like the floor getting kicked out from underneath me. I had a bit of life chaos on top of that which really just flatlined my gamedev work. But really, the best day to start again was yesterday, and the best day available is today. I personally gravitated to Flax Engine and Cocos Creator based on platform but as long as you have the tools you need to flourish, the rest is just down to effort and passion. Good luck out there. 👍
@anchorlightforge I do hope to see your project grow and eventually become complete as well, good luck :)
Mr. Tim, I stopped making excuses last year after my second codependent relationship. I quit my monotonous job. I have disability pay and medical as a disabled vet. I have two ideas for indie games and an idea for a series of books/ movies and a massive impetus to learn music. I have no experience in these fields but I'm picking up books and self educating. I'm taking music lessons currently. The purpose of my art is to navigate my CPTSD but if one of my projects pops off then that's a bonus. There are so many pieces of art (games, movies, books, music) that got me through so many traumatic events and abuse that I want to honor them and further explore their impact on me. I need to continue that artistic conversation with my point of view. Thank you for this. I will definitely come back to this next year. This year for me is focused on music and writing. Much love Mr. Tim ❤
Couldn't agree more
The harsh reality of success in all forms is it requires sacrifice. You want to start making games and don't have time? That means you have to buckle up and start playing less games in order to make that time
The same for writing. Stop reading and start writing
@@elroma7712 As if it where that simple...
@@elroma7712 True on both your point and on @Itcertdoctor but with the small caveat that, if you stop reading altogether, or stop playing games altogether, it's going to be harder to make quality art. At least temporarily, you do need to stop consuming those things to enjoy them and start consuming them to critique them, then make sure you also allow time to then create.
I love this guy. Feeling overwhelmed can be paralysing and stop you from doing anything. I keep hitting this same wall and the 15 minutes a day method, without having an expectation of completion, is helpful for me.
What I find hard is looking at my code after a long time doing a different part of the game and not understanding how I did it. 😂😂😂
Wonderful video, Tim. I'm currently a game dev student and I've been feeling extremely scared and unmotivated lately and really needed this. Imposter syndrome is real.
I just dabbled in creative work myself and I couldn't agree more. Sometimes we have to just do it. It might suck, we might hate it etc. but we WILL improve, as long as we make things.
I've never been able to code, instead I've volunteered to join multiple (10+) game jam teams as an artist, and I've learned a ton about game design along the way. Highly recommend for those who have ANY skills making digital art and are interested in making games.
I'll just own up to it. I'm just a lazy bum who only wants to fantasize about making a game but don't actually want to do it.
I do work in game development though, but as just one of many 3D environment artists I see it more as some tangentially related manufacturing job rather than being at the actual core of game dev.
Anyway for the more 'technically challenged', honestly nothing stopping you from making some sorta card/board game. Print stuff out, art doesn't need to be final. Make some friends at local board game cafes and whatnot, there might be gatherings and communities and see if they might be keen on trying it out. Or just get your own friends to try it out. I was enrolled in a gamedev course at uni, and one of our assignments was to make a card/board game. I literally just printed out placeholders, cut them out by hand and slipped them into card sleeves with my old Pokemon cards as the backing. This allowed us to playtest it. You don't always have to fling yourself off the deep end, get some small victories first.
Neil Patrick Harris, don't compare yourself to him, lol.
I've been self learning for years. My enthusiasm tends to wax and wan but I am almost always working on designs. If my video game designs get boring I pivot to a board game or ttrpg. My only excuse is a really big one, though. I have 2 kids and both my wife and I work full time. But, I totally agree that if I committed to even 15 minutes each day, I would be so much further along. Instead, I sometimes go weeks without touching my designs in a tangible way. Well, thanks for the encouragement!
How could I forget NPH?!
@@CainOnGames haha, I was practically yelling at my screen while you were drawing a blank. I still think you're better than Neil.
It's so true! There's no reason not to start. Just start where you are and go from there. I like how your tough love is incredibly accommodating, nuanced, and generally supportive, too. I'm not a fan of "tough love" or "harsh truths," because there's no reason for those things not to be metered, patient, and compassionate, so it's really endearing to me that you version of tough love is just basically encouragement grounded in anecdotes and your personal experience.
I really want other amateur devs to take your message to heart. The democratization of this art is so necessary right now. Art resonates with people and can change the world and we're only going to get more of the same if left to the rich kids, gatekeepers, and taste-makers. If we want boundary -breaking art, we're going to have to accept that the walls aren't really there.
I do wanna give a shout out to the imaginative folks whose material conditions are actually pretty prohibitive to what it means to make games. A lack of income, access, and opportunity are real, so I hope they at least feel seen and heard in future games.
I had zero experience doing anything game design wise, but I have a passion for it. The barrier of entry is small. I downloaded Unreal and Boom it took me a few hours and a free TH-cam class and I created an entire river, plants, and learned how to create water reflections my first night. There are so many parallels between Unreal and sculpting ( which I happen to love) There's so much free stuff online you just have to look at your strengths, amplify them and have creativity! Mine are: I'm an insanely fast learner, have a passion for design/ gaming and an idea- and I've seen enough things start that way. You can always come up with a million excuses not to do something- but just focus on the one that makes you want to- you love it. period. Great video as usual!!
I stopped making excuses and joined a game jam. It was great! If you're out there on the fence.. just do it!
Yeah, ppl learning C++ should absolutely learn Java too to really appreciate the freedom of C++.
If it’s something you want to do, time shouldn’t be a factor. I work full time 50-60 hours a weeks sometimes. Second job in the evenings in gig economy, primarily food delivery. I still make some time each day to play around with making games, because it’s fun for me.
Thanks for the encouragement. I'm working on making an RPG and learning Unity at the same time, and it's pretty hard, and repeatedly I've questioned if I can even make the story work. Thanks for reminding me I lose absolutely nothing by trucking on❤.
Thanks for the wise words! For me the challenge is always around "what idea should I pursue? Which one of these game ideas I have should I pick to make a prototype / vertical slice / demo". Which brings a question I'd like to ask you Tim:
If you were making a game on your own now, with your current experience, what game would you make? Assuming you would need to do it on your own, or let's say pick you're allowed to outsource one skill / field (e.g.: you outsource music or art). What kind of game would you make now?
Thanks again for your time, every video you post is valuable and help me get some perspective on the industry and on my personal growth.
Like Tim said, there are obvious logical reasons why there’s nothing stopping you from making your game. If you still feel like you can’t do it even though you don’t have a good reason, consider your mental health, and do research into neurodivergent traits you may be struggling with and unaware of. Believe in yourself!
This is a very inspirational video. I made a couple mobile games in the past few years that were simple narrative driven RPG-lite clickers. I made all of the assets myself and used some royalty free music with the artist's permission.
Even though they were personal projects and I learned for the sole purpose of maintaining mental health, it was a blast! I'm planning on learning GODOT very soon once I get through a few personal hurdles.
Thanks for the video, Timothy. You're an absolute legend!
I think a problem a fair few people (including me) have is when they say "I want to make a game, but (insert excuse X)" they really mean that they want to have already made a game, but without putting the effort in to it. It is way easier and more fun to daydream about how cool it would be to do x, make a million bucks and be famous instead of actually doing x, which often is hard and frustrating and confusing and has a high chance of failure. For me the the only thing that works is to put my focus more on the process of learning and creating, and less on how cool it would be if the end result materialised in front of me magically. If you don't want to take that step, then I think you probably don't really want to make games at all.
It's rare to see self-honesty on the internet; I salute you :D
And yes. Wishing to have had made a game instead of wishing to actually make it, is definitely what I find myself doing, too. I agree that you gotta have the love for the process and the love for creation itself, rather than the love for just the end result, and I'm not so sure I have it.
Well said.
Your dream is always safe as a fantasy if you never act on it. Acting on it means discovering all the problems, troubles and also confronting your own inability which is not something everybody deals with particularly well.
"You're watching this video: You do have time!" Ah, touche.
My friends and I taught ourselves how to make games on our old pcs back in the late 90s, We had no internet, We had no books. Just a few tools we took from magazine demo cds and we learned 3d modelling and C, Nowadays everything is free and available online. So its weird hearing people say that they don't have the opportunities.
There's also a lot more woman in the industry now which is great but a portion of them often talk about how they weren't able to get into the industry because of men.
When I've asked them to explain how, it seems to be that they think men were just given the answers and somehow had it easy, Just knowing that men existed out there was somehow preventing them from taking action and learning on their own or applying for jobs. Its a very common and very sexist crutch.
Love your content. I'm not a game developer (I'm a compiler developer, embedded developer, distributed systems developer, web developer, and some other areas, but never did anything that wasn't just curiosity in learning game development) and I know I'll never be a game developer (I like playing, but to be honest, the challenges of game development are so bizarrely different from other areas, in things that I really am not interested in trying to be better). However, I do *really think* your content is valuable in all areas of computer programming (the video that got me hooked was "Game development caution" which I think applies in all areas of computing nowadays, unfortunately) and is really fun to hear. I love gaming, and it interests me lots of aspects about game development and I really think I enjoy gaming more with that.
I think the main issue is how difficult it is for a complete beginner to find the courage to actually make a game. There's so much to learn, and filling the gaps takes a lot of knowledge and time that not many people have or are willing to invest. It took me like 4 years to feel confident enough to finally start making a game I'd be motivated enough to work on beyond the prototype phase. There's a whole world between following an udemy course and actually understanding how to apply software concepts like patterns, abstraction, interfaces, events, architecture, etc. Personally I pushed through with a lot of dedication, on top of my completely unrelated full-time job.
Appreciate the tough love, Tim! I would however LOVE to see those first initial steps when starting a new project from scratch and watch you rapidly prototype something playable (not finished of course).
"How'd you get into programming and game development?"
My response: "I just started doing it."
"Oh, you're so lucky!" (Literally gone through this interaction countless times over the years.)
Luck has nothing to do with it. I prioritized it until I made it, making ends meet however I had to until finally getting the career I wanted (that I recommend to no one too, but that's a different story/explanation).
Luck has everything to do with it. You rolled a base character statistic block that can just get into programming and game development. Do you think you could just get into programming if you'd find programming offputting and hard to focus on or if you'd simply lack intelligence to grasp it?
Blank slate theory is nonsense. It's even more absurd when people who played Fallout spout it.
@@fuzonzord9301 Yes because it didn't come naturally. I worked at it. I banged my head against the wall over and over again until I understood it. I felt stupid and defeated. Hell, that's literally just a natural part of the process. If you can't get over feeling stupid sometimes, that's a you problem - and a poor excuse at that.
We all start with a lack of intelligence. You making it an excuse instead of working at it is a you problem and has nothing to do with luck. I did find it offputting and hard to focus at times, and I still kept at it.
I worked at it when I was homeless. Luck and circumstance tried very hard to stop me and still didn't. That's how I know it wasn't luck.
But that's on you. Keep making excuses. They only hurt yourself.
@@lockekosta9014 "We all start with a lack of intelligence."
False, intelligence is largely genetic.
" I did find it offputting and hard to focus at times, and I still kept at it. "
For something to be classified to be hard, you need to consistently fail at it 75% of times. Did you find yourself unable to focus 75% of times when trying to program?
Or perhaps you mean easy? As in 20% failure rate?
@@lockekosta9014 Anyway, just this answer shows that "I just started doing it." was a lie.
If you tell a fake version of the story, how do you expect people to say anything other than "Oh you're just lucky."?
@@fuzonzord9301 The only thing shown here is how badly you feel you need to try to hold on to your own excuses and it's just sad.
I didn't respond earlier because I thought I made that clear already but here you go. Good luck living with your excuses. o/
I don't want to make games from scratch. But I do want to mod games. I'm off to start learning how to mod Oblivion. Thanks, Tim.
Tim dropping the truth. I'll make you proud Uncle Tim. :)
I did a lot of prototyping and even some smaller full projects with Game Maker back in middle and high school, but for the past 10 years have barely written any code past SQL. This pep talk got me to take a day and familiarize myself with Godot and write a simple assistant tool.
I've been putting off making a game for years, every so often I'll pick up a engine or framework and make a start and then give up after a week or two because I feel like I don't have the time. Truth is I have plenty of time, I just waste it playing games and watching youtube. Going to start again this week and make sure I do a little bit each day.
it took my over 10 years but my life's work releases this year. It's an entirely kick-ass game that stands out. Fallout is one of the reasons I'm here. Thanks Tim, I never gave up.
I entirely agree with the video, but did have a little thing that I wanted to add from personal experience:
I managed to cut through my own nonsense a fair few years ago and try my hand at making games... and I bounced off of it. Not because I found it hard, but because I just couldn't focus; I would get distracted by TV, or just need to take a break and play a game (whose allotted "half hour" would turn into "the rest of the day"), or... something. Each time I'd try and block out another distraction and it would just make things worse, to the point where I was having borderline panic attacks trying to may myself focus, and failing.
Eventually I just gave up, because I just couldn't work out what was happening with me. Diagnosed as some sort of anxiety disorder but wasn't really looked at - maybe creating something for other people to see just wasn't for me? But then it reared its head again while I was at university, leading me to eventually fail out. It seemed like it got better for a bit after then, but then I eventually got a job, and it started happening again, and "well, maybe you just have bad anxiety?" seemed to be the only answer I was being offered, with not very much help alongside it. Turns out therapy doesn't help much if you don't even understand why you're anxious.
Anyway, to cut a long story short - partly because I'm not even sure exactly how I came to this conclusion - I eventually worked out my issue was ADHD. It took years to get a diagnosis and I'm still waiting on medication some years after that, but just understanding what it is has helped me take measures to mitigate it - including that it totally flips the advice for other problems I was having (e.g. sleep) on their head. However, it also made me reassess my earlier excuses; I had just dismissed myself as lazy, or too troubled, or just not mentally cut out for it, but now I understand that something was happening to me that I didn't understand, and I was trying to find a reason, and those were the obvious reasons. Wrong, but obvious, and felt like all that was necessary to find.
I guess if i had to tl;dr it: Sometimes the excuses are just excuses and sometimes people are just lazy - but if this (or something else constructive or creative) is what you actually want to do, but you can't seem to stay on it, consider that the issue might be something like that. You may just have to do some introspection and work out if these excuses are actual justifications or post-hoc rationalisations.
When I was getting into writing I have discovered a podcast called "Writing Excuses" (it is by Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells and Howard Tayler btw) and they would always finish a podcast with "You're all out of excuses. Now go write!"
This is exactly what I needed, Tim. It's so easy to uplift and motivate others but when it comes to uplifting oneself it feels nearly impossible and everything feels overwhelming. Needed to hear this from you today. Thank you!
I think many new devs will hit a road block, and think it's a reflection of them not being capable or doing something wrong. I had this mindset myself, and I nedded to change it. Hitting road blocks and running into problems is where you will learn the most. You have to be curios about it, and treat it as play. But also yes... sometimes you will feel stupid, and it can hurt a bit, but sometimes pain is a necessarry investment for progress. Go at it everyone!
Turning 50 next year and just filed for a solo studio name. I have more time now that the kids are grown up and why not?!?
Great video! Another thing I've seen a lot recently is "Everyone learns differently" being used as an excuse to not start anything. It's a very true statement on its own, but you can proceed with whatever style of learning works best for you, while also actually starting game dev. Being someone who learns from reading or learns from watching or learns from experimenting does not mean you can't just start with tutorials in the best format for you and get your hands dirty as you go.
By the way, to all you folks out there that want to start game dev but keep making excuses: All of these excuses are laughably transparent. You are only fooling yourself, so what's the point in making them? Stop wasting time creating excuses and get off your ass and make the first step right now. Install a game engine, create a new project, then pat yourself on the back because you just kicked procrastination and fear of failure in the balls.
But Tim, I am busy building other things. I don't want to make games.
That's a lie, I'd love to make a couple games, but the games I want to make right now are like Pen and paper RPGs and I don't have a good schedule for testing my design.
But really, I am learning like two skills right now by practicing every day and I feel like taking on a new project would negatively affect my quality of life.
I have listened to more than a few of your talks. This one is one of my favorites.
I have been working as a game designer in mobile games for 5 years and I still been finding some excuses in order not to create my own games. Idk why, I know it's just about laziness and I can overcome it.
Thanks for motivation sir. Good content as always
Also, keep in mind that you can still implement C++ dlls to use in C#. Write the program in C#, but write the heavy lifting in C++.
First time I'm commenting on one of your videos. I haven't actually seen *that* many of them as of yet, but enjoyed the ones I saw.
This one shook me up. Really hard. I had started typing a comment explaining how it did so, and I'd be fine sharing it in a dialogue with you, but it quickly became too personal to post publicly. So I'll say this instead: I feel deeply pessimistic right now due to regret and a couple of other things, but I hope that I will be able to turn it around. It may sound strange after what I just wrote, but thank you for this video.
I've been working on little projects, its unlikely I'll ever release a game but right now im just having so much fun making them. 'Game' is definitely a strong term, but im really enjoying learning how to do it. Programming does my head in, but when it works it so satisfying. Just getting a main menu to work was fun, let alone movement systems and whatnot.
Thank you! I love that there is at least one person out here speaking the hard truth.
Thanks for the advice! Something I found useful to use as reference to make little games are the mini-games in titles like "Mario Party". Those are simple, often one-mechanic games that could serve as a base for learning projects.
I love this channel! Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience!
The problem with making games isn't that the barrier of entry is too high, since as you accurately pointed out you can get started for no cost with many free tools available. There is literally no barrier to entry. The problem is that it's not a useful skill anymore. The indie market is oversaturated beyond belief with to the point that getting your game noticed is like winning the lottery. Some of this is due to the aforementioned removal of any barriers to entry opening the floodgates for asset flips and other garbage, but tons of legitimately wonderful games die in complete obscurity as well. Meanwhile the other pathway would be to work for the so-called "AAA" companies, which are widely regarded as a terrible place to work with brutal hours, low pay, and dubious job security. I love video games; they've been my primary interest since I was old enough to hold a controller. But I honestly think you'd have to be crazy to look around at the current environment and conclude "this is what I want to do for a career". Now, if we're talking about just making little games in your spare time as a hobby then that's all well and good, but it's very important to remember that you're doing that *for you* and not for anybody else. Expecting to be noticed or receive fanfare will likely lead to frustration and disappointment just because of cold uncaring probability.
I'm already on it! Working on a game AND a TH-cam channel. Thanks for the double inspiration.
also, keep it stupid simple. i have made countless unfinished games over the years and not one complete game. this time, i decided instead of trying to perfect every detail, if it works it works and i can fix it later, and the more i keep at it, the better i get. if i actually finish something, that's the most important part. i can take what i learned and make the next one better, but the important thing is, i finished something, and that's saying a lot.
Working in video games has been my dream since the 90s. Ended up working in dead end corporate jobs and hating it. Americans don't realise how lucky you are with so many studios and opportunities in your country.
Regarding the hardware needed to start developing a game, the Godot editor (the thing you actually use to make a game) will run on a smartphone. I'm not saying it's the most productive option, but it's a place to start if you don't have a desktop/laptop.
I think the problem is most people don't know where to start. I've picked up and dropped coding/programming lessons two times within the span of six years.
Tim is spot on. I made an entire game engine in my spare time while working a full-time job as a software engineer. You really can chip away at these things.
Your videos inspired me to start a solo dev project last month! Still going strong, but no big deal if it fizzles out eventually!
Great video! I was on multiple game jams, however never really enjoyed those. However making a game is on my bucket list, I already wrote a children book and made it as perfect as I could instead of focusing more on quantity... Turns out, I forgot all the marketing side, and now I'm sitting on 200 very expensive 800 word books. In game design you don't need to worry about that as much as you don't have these expenses. It freaks me out to put in a lot of time into something not knowing how to market it, if I think about it, it really freaks me out at this very moment, I currently read a book about it, I mean I want to read it but I don't, because it's a book that encourages doing over reading, and I need to do the doing before continuing reading the book.
Either way I heard insomnia, in the video - I have a solution to it that might help. It's called NSDR or Yoga Nidra.
I'm one of those people that firmly falls into the 'at least I tried' category. It cost me a lot of things in life but I'd never consider it a failure or a waste of time. It was the best time I had in my life and I'll always compare any future endeavors to it. Who cares if you don't make it? Most of you won't make it for most things you shoot for in life. If you want to go for it, go for it. That one simple sentence he said of 'if it doesn't work out, at least you tried' is absolutely the most important. The bigger regret will always be to not take the shot.
My excuse is the same excuse I use for everything else. Nuclear strength executive disfunction. I'm sometimes amazed I manage to survive this long at all. But once I figure that out, I'm doing all the things.
I wasn't even floating the idea of making a game but now I want to make a game. Fantastic! Great! Add it to the other projects.
Tim, over the last two years I’ve started two games. One is about 10% done (my first real attempt), while the other is about 60% done. Both I paused for good reason: essentially, I overwhelmed myself with scope creep in both cases.
I’m back to developing software because of this video, banging out a little utility to help a friend with some tasks at work. When that’s done I’m going back to gamedev, a third game a little more focused that I think will take less work than that 60% of the second game did.
Thanks for speaking the difficult truth.
I agree. I'm not good at programming and I only learned a software called construct2. Limited, with incomplete and primitive unofficial 3d plugin, but I am using it for many years now and know it's quirks, possibilities, limits, work arounds , and I am working on my own game within those limitations. I could switch to another program, but after so many years it would be a waste to do it now before completing whatever I'm doing. The point is, whatever you are using, just do what you can and have access too, and maybe in the future things might be different.
I'm making a game right now and I'd just like to say thank you for the encouragement to keep going. Historically it's been very easy for me to give up on projects, but ever since you mentioned the value in having game demos to showcase, I've really tried to push myself to finish (in a minimum viable product kind of way) as many of my projects as possible.
My problem.... excuse... is that I have zero self-confidence. Open up krita, tap once with a brush and "Nope looks terrible, I'll never be able to do this."
Open up Godot, import some 3d tilesets I somehow convinced myself are good enough for now as placeholders, build a room, and "Bap. This isn't going to happen. I can't make this."
I remember being fine back in high school. Never released anything, but just liked playing around with the engine (RPG Toolkit. It was slow, but sparked my interest in programming). What happened to that me? Why can't I just accept that whatever I can do is good enough for now?
I know I should soldier on and just do it. I think I know it. But the problem is I can't accept any positivity, or complements; "They're just saying that to make me feel better, they don't actually think it's good." This perpetual negativity is insurmountable.
I should make a game about this feeling.
Should.
I even had the idea to make a youTube devlog/diary, regularly posting updates, as that would stick me to a schedule, expectations, deadlines. The fear of disappointing others is quite a bit stronger than disappointing myself. But the negativity kicks in: "no one would watch that. You're too negative, too low energy." And putting out videos with 0 views, week after week just tanks motivation. I tried it once with a let's play. 0 Views. 0 Views. 0 Views. Delete videos. Quit.
This was a lesson I had to start making games to really learn, if that makes sense. It took awhile for me to truly realize that I can improve my skills by investing time into learning and practice, but while the skills I was training were related to passions I had, these weren't personally creative projects. When I started making tabletop games and video games, though, I found that feeling that I had when writing stories in my school days. It made me realize that it was up to me to give life to these ideas that I had or else they would remain ideas, which, as you have pointed out, are cheap. Rather than waiting for the ideal budget and time to make games, I decided to start making games I knew I could make. Your channel has helped me greatly in this journey, Tim. Thank you!