Why Nobody Becomes a Video Game Developer but Everyone Wants to
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- Опубліковано 1 сер 2019
- We discuss game development, and the truth behind it. It's a hard subject to start.
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A prof once said to me : " The more you study a complicated subject, the easier it gets". But most of us give up early
I'd say its more like you start to realize how much more you truly do not know.
@@ReubMann You both are correct lol.
sounds like my calc prof
@ENZO therefore you do something about what you don't know...
It doesn't get easier, you get better at it
learning to make games feels like trying to learn 5 languages at once
It is; programming, graphics, animation, storytelling and marketing so people actually play it 😁
Game creation = mastering ALL digital artforms there is at the same time + the game engine itselt (if you do it by yourself) = U need to master drawing, authoring, filmmaking, animation, sound/music creation and programmig + some more. Making games is basically the ultimate form of art ,combining all of them into one! The fact that you learn all these amazing art skils as u go is however also what I really love about it and what keeps me going. It makes you into a multi artist = aweome! (if you have the patience)
That's why most professionals focus on becoming fluent in one aspect before trying to become fluent in a second one.
Yeah, but I am actually glad of learning not only game development, but publicity drawing.
My art teacher had a saying: "If you want to teach a man how to build a boat, you don't teach him how to build a boat, you teach him to love the sea."
@@DonVigaDeFierro that is a fantastic saying, can i steal it?
There is a reason why companies put a whole team on it... a lot of respect for the indie game developers!
Exactly!
Thank you. Appreciate it
@Peter Lustig who?
@@basicallytutorials2107 toxic elitest alert.
btw he uses Arch...
@@TheVertical92 I'm a developer and i've met a lot of people like that guy in my field, lol
I really don't know where that kind of narcissism comes from, but it's something like "I could make this app to end world hunger if I wanted to", but at the end of the day they don't do anything and just bash people that try, smh...
Oh well, best we can do is just ignore xD
I just had one of that Situations today:
I hate programming
I hate programming
I hate programming
Oh it works
I love programming
:-)
Kinda like algebra
Sounds like programming isn't for you then. You're blaming programming itself instead of your own shortcomings.
@@DasAntiNaziBroetchen wtf? Typical german. No sense of humor or sarcasm
@@spectre1725 Typical racist. Always assuming shit about people. I ain't german.
@Karl Burnett There's nothing to be whooshed about.
I started making games in game maker when I was like 11. I'm 25 now and have still never "finished" a game. I moved to Japan and am working full time as a game programmer for a studio you've probably heard of, and yet I still feel like finishing a game is just an impossible task. It's ridiculous. Seeing these proprietary AAA game engines from the inside just increases my distress.
The fact that any game has ever come out is honestly a miracle. Sometimes I just can't believe any of it works.
I remember showing my game to a person who worked at Zynga during GDC and when I saw their projects all I could think was... Why is this guy making 70K and I am living out of my car? There is definitely a huge multiplication of effort you get by working as a cog in a company.
@@JohnMarkIsaacMadison Sadly very few indie devs actually manage to get enough publicity to make a decent wage off of their efforts. Hopefully we'll both get there eventually, but for now I'm glad to be working a day job that's at least related and might net me useful connections.
TMTLive I’ve only started learning game dev about 3 months ago and I feel this distress you’re talking about all the time, the more I learn the more I see how much I don’t know. But, I started cause I like it and I’m sure you did to, so I’m going to keep at it as long as I enjoy it and if something real ever come out of it then great, but if not that’s fine too. I’m glad you have a steady job and hope to one day see your own personal game out there! Thank you for sharing :)
@@kerenbuff Oh yes, I love it. Including the distress ;)
Keep at it, man. Good luck.
Two sentences into reading your comment, I thought that I must have already watched the video and commented. But then I looked at your name of the poster and it wasn't me. Then I read that you moved to Japan, so it looks like we haven't lived the exact same life. Also I'm 24 not 25, so... OMG am I getting a job in and MOVING TO JAPAN IN ONE YEAR?!!
"Headache after headache" - that's just so right. Been into indie-hobby solo gamedev for the last 5 years, accomplished two games, made a bit of money (not enough to cover even 25% of dev expenses). It just takes ALL your free time. Sometimes I am thinking like "Why on earth am I doing it?" But it seems that I just can't help but to create worlds. Starting the 3rd game...
One thing I’d say about that based off of what I’ve heard from other people, it’s probably not best to be the only person working on your game because of multiple things. The biggest problem with developing solo is that it’ll take a really long time to make a good game that enough people will buy. But if you have a good team, you can get so much more done in less time.
@@griffinvonkswalgoperson9499 emphasis on "good team". I understand both paths and both have their pros and cons. It is hard work and time consuming to build a good team. Also, there is a third path. Solo plus outsourcing certain tasks like graphics. But one needs money for that.
Yes, but we get better and faster every time. Keep going!
@@GroundbreakGames Thanks for support!
Long story short you are not acouch potato. I hear you. My ex once said she hada boring time and then it struck me, I said "Boring? How does that feel?" She said kinda :Whaat?" and "Yea I just don"t have that in my register". I've been in custody for being too drunk four times, those days I did'nt know how my traffic accident messed up my alcohol tolerance. And even in there I find things to do. I run, jump, sing, think, visualize things, and then they open the door."
"I wanna make a game" is the same as "I want to make a movie". I think everybody would love to make some big thing for people to enjoy, but the reality of making these things is a long learning process, and a lot of time to get anywhere in the industries.
Kinda, but i believe the barrier for entry is fsr higher in game design, but i also believe a game has a higher chance of profiting because of said barrier of entry and because of availability of platforns like steam.
Basically any profession that is defined as "Creating a world" is like this. Writing a book is seen in this same light for many.
I thought of something similar. *I was going to say it's like making a building.*
You can make a tree house, a chicken coop, a dog house, or a small family home, or a city building, but whatever you choose to make, the bigger it is, the longer it can take.
But you *CAN* do it!!
Just don't set your sights immediately on something too complex, try to make a small game you like, maybe an infinite runner, and that may be successful. Good luck!
Making film is way harder Unless it's animation. But for live-action you need people. with game development, you can do everything yourself. You control everything. In film you really can't unless you do some weird tricks.
I started age 32, self taught, got my first programming gig working on unreal and unity age 34.
If i Can do it, anyone can :)
Hi man, can you please tell your email?
i also started at 32
I started at 22, I know it will be a long and rocky way to go but I am sure I'll be fun doing it. Thanks for your motivation man.
@@tims7686 why the f you asking him to make his email vulnerable here?
like jesus did@@theshounfiles7898
9 years game dev here, thank you for your understanding words. You will be surprised that, nowadays if I meet anyone at a gathering, I won't mention I make games unless the topic gets to it. I'm used to people don't understanding what I do.
During college I encountered many folks who thought they wanted to make games but didn't start on anything. Out of the many advise I was given throughout the years, the most important one for me, is always have fun making games. If it's too hard, you might take on too big a project. Always aim to finish something small and go from there.
Start small. Thank you. Good advice.
But there is a catch. Once you will get to a better coding skills - you won't have fun making anything small. And the project you would want to work on - will be too hard to manage on your own. So technically you need money (to no die as part of the workflow) and that passion (the yet can drain away) instead of skills, that you better get along side with development progress. I guess this is where it might be great to pay for some help, but you know, economy is the base of development. If you get funded - new level of pressure is unlocked. Now you have to meet deadline and expectations, and so you should be a skilled manager with good employees. And here is where a studio is starting, so maybe by working somewhere you actually can have a better quality of life? But there will be pressure, deadlines, bad experience and even degradation as you might have to do some repetitive constraint work. In any case it is about swimming among reefs. But still the only thing that feels great is to be able to make games on your own (or with a super small team) as this is the real power. But the problem is to handle it.
@@dadlord689 I agree with you 100%. I go through periods when I want to make simple stuff and periods when I want to commit to bigger projects. Sounds like you understand the restrictions from game dev and I hope you are still enjoying the process. :)
@@txu2011 It is tricky but possible ) But yet I have hit the wall, when no matter how passioned I was about the code I was written - management sucked. And so, I just burned out heavily, I even got PTSD and was afraid to write code for about month. But it has pass away, so I am ok now. Passion seems to be able to give benefits only within your own project. But maybe people are wiser than me ))
@@dadlord689 This advice might not apply to you, but coding is only a part of making a game, are you in games to make games or just in games to practice code? Many game devs have written bad codes just to realize their vision, understand that question might help you with your bottleneck.
I KNOW ITS HARD, but the feeling you get when the result comes is just awesome
I'm pretty sure that's what she said.
"Am I a game developer?" - Are you developing a game? Then you're a game developer. No need to have any weird requirements like "sold at least 10 copies" or "got my game published" :)
Exactly!
Or in the words -of Stephen King- (very paraphrased):
_"When I went to parties and people told me, "I always wanted to be a writer myself", I used to be polite, but at some point I started responding with "I always wanted to be a brain surgeon". You want to be a writer, you write. You can't say the same about brain surgery."_
EDIT: actually, now that I think about it, I read that in the preface of one of his books, which was probably not written by him.
By that logic, anyone who picks up a pencil and draws a stick man is an artist. There's a big difference between someone like that, and someone who does it regularly and/or proficiently and/or makes money off it...
@@JingIeFett artists come in all shapes, sizes, experiences, proficiencies, and levels of sophistications.
Yes, anyone can pick up a pencil, draw a stickman, and call themselves an artist. Hell, they don't even need the pencil, they can just put a trash can on the floor in a modern art museum and be called an artist. People will sit around and ponder the meaning of their creation. Some may even call them a genius. And sadly, even the art world will embrace them as artists.
The discussion about where you draw the line in a subjective media is a big one. I think game dev isn't too different anymore with walking simulators really lowering the bar for what can be considered a video game, and lazy asset flips financially validating many mobile game studios. But at the very least it still requires a high enough time investment to keep most of the frauds out.
It's all about wearing a bunch of different hats. The thing is, for every hat you wear, there are new challenges and frustrations and milestones that look soo big that you'll never achieve them. It is hard, and some courses do marketing that says "making your own game is easier than you think" just to make a bunch of ppl underestimate the challenge. It is not impossible, to be honest, it is pretty possible, a lot of ppl did it, but the most important part of the process is to have a good planning, and a huge amount of discipline to follow it.
Bro u said the EXACT TRUTH
I had the same kind of challenge to lern how to make games , and now i'm working at Ubisoft and also making my Own MMO RPG part time.
We never stop lerning in this world :D
Tell the devs at Ubisoft to fix their games.
No real game dev is working on an MMO side project on their own.
@@NerdsPlayhouse Well Come watch my Channel ;) You will be surprise my boy
Checked your channel, your game looks beautiful, love the style of it!
@@NerdsPlayhouse why not ?
“Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well. -Theodore Roosevelt
basically to get into game development, think of a game you would like to play or an existing one you would like to enhance/change. Perfect starting point.
I started learning game programing last year and it's overwhelming. Make a full game on your own is a true test of resilience and strength of will.
I'm where you are, this is HARD!
Thank you for sharing, I know now I'm not the only one having these difficulties.
Everyone does...
As professional programmer I know exactly why it's so hard.
In programming you're supposed to make frameworks, this allows those that come after you to not have this pain.
In game development (talking about unity and unreal) there is 0 frameworks written. There's no default RTS frameworks, no default RPG framework, nothing. Every single time someone does something they write everything from scratch. Every other industry is built on shoulders of those before us. Except gamedev.
Wouldn't the game engine be the framework?
Normal software development is usually the same type of problems. RPGMaker clasifies as a framework for RPGs. For RTS I do think Unity store has something for it but I do agree that it is not like .net. Where you just check the library that does what you want and use it. Game development since it is more artistic is like trying to know what each button on the SOYUZ space capsule does.
@@wij8044 nope, as long as you have to recreate same components every single time
You can set up camera any way you like, however most of the time you're okay with same predefined number of options. Rts camera, 3rd person camera, 1st person camera, top down, side view, orthogonal side view. However AFAIK, you have to set them up yourself or at least copy paste from other projects. This kind of things are done on presets in other languages.
And if you say that will make game engine too big, well others solved this problem already. Game engines with all their features are actually quite a distance behind modern developing technologies
Good thinking. As a former web developer I can relate to that analogy since in there, the frameworks help to get the job done more easily.
Dude, unity and unreal are big ass frameworks 😆What you want to write all the graphics, physics and rendering code yourself? Good luck 😆
Bro that was depressing and motivating...I can feel your pain when I just started editing my gameplay videos....and that's what I think of everyday that I want to make a game...I don't know how will it end
Udemy courses helped me the most
The way I like to think of learning any subject is there are 3 stages:
Learning
Practice
Production
Your brain needs to learn how to do something first, before you can practice it loads/understand what you're doing, then go on to produce something good.
With game development, I think it's hard because there are so many things you initially need to learn to get anywhere, more time required to practice those skills before you are good enough, or feel good enough to produce the games you want to make.
The difficulty I think lies in finding the right balance between these three things- So many gamedevs spend a lot of time learning, but don't make anything, so you just forget what you've spent all that time learning. There are people who learn one thing, and then just remake the same sort of simple games, not really expanding their skillset, so they don't get closer to making the kind of games they want to make and give up because they've made 50 text adventure games but really want to make 3D shooters, despite never learning 3d modelling, and of course you can't just skip learning and practicing stuff, unless you're rich and can pay a dev team to do the work for you.
Ultimately I think becoming a successful gamedev (especially as an indie) requires a great deal of reflection, not just asking yourself "what did I do this week?" but also having in mind the goal you want to achieve, breaking it down, having a plan of action to reach that goal, and frequently checking it. Also timeboxing helps, if you plan out your schedule to do a bit of study on a particular subject, then a few hours working on a project, you can ensure you have that balance between the three areas necessary for success.
My problem right now is just committing to getting done all the stuff I plan out for myself, sticking to a routine, dealing with burnout, I think when you chase after something like gamedev or any creative pursuit, you can easily neglect other priorities in life like earning enough money to live, talking to friends, exercise etc. In my case I'm a long way from being able to make a living from gamedev, but I don't have any particularly good base to rely on to make a liivng.
Search catsoft studios on unity asset store or look for Game Creator (it's made by them) They make some nice assets that simplify the system of coding without coding (much like playmaker and game flow does) but they handle more of the different aspects of you will need to make any type of game. Its affordable and there are great addons they make for it that are very affordable and easy to learn. Learn each one, put the game together generically first then learn the blender or download assets and customize them to replace prototypes of game objects that you use in the game including main character ect. Focus on one area or scene for the basics but jump to another one if you have a good idea so you wont burn yourself out. Use dnd generator sites for inspiration on story if you aren't creative. If you prefer to develop with play maker on the unity there are many tutorials online but it's only a matter of creating events and linking states that have different action commands to manipulate the game objects. Creating variables helps you expand on simple functionality and allows the game to reference/remember more than we tell it by creating list variables as well as global variables and using them like place holders or those creates we use to store things in to save them in RPGs. That's why I love unity compared to other developer software, so many helpful assets to get you started and so much documentation online.
Man, I remember when I first started doing graphic design work. Didn’t even know the difference between JPG and PNG or raster and vector, etc. But I kept going and learning until these things became second nature to me. Eventually other questions become easier to answer because I already have other answers that help solve it. Knowledge builds upon knowledge. You just have to keep learning and working at it. You won’t get to that point by quitting at your first question.
I tried getting into 3D and level design. I found out that it requires having artistic ability plus understanding how a game engine works. If you dont have artistic ability, it will be very hard. If you don't have knowledge about the game engine and its limitations then it will be even harder. Combine the two and you're just looking at failure.
Most hobbies can be turned into a profession. Music, 3d art, programming, writing, etc.; the list goes on. What most people seem to fail to realize about 'making a game' is that it is the culmination of all of these things and more, any one of which could take a lifetime to master.
Whenever someone says "I want to do X one day" while not actually working towards said goal, they like the idea of it more than actually doing it.
It's more like the 10 years or so you gonna waste learning to get to what you wanted to be at the start of the journey
Start small, like tic tac toe; otherwise you’ll give up before finishing anything.
I've made like 6 little games. One was a vr maze lol. Agreed, starting small is key
Thank you for for actually respecting the art of game development. So many people don't understand how much goes into building games. I've been doing this for 14 years and I'm finally getting some actual traction. It's not easy. You truly have to love it.
There are much easier paths into game development by the way. Stencyl is a very good starting engine that I swear by.
What's your opinion in GDevelop?
@@adog4661 No clue. I use Unreal Engine.
For those aspiring game developers out there , join game jams , its the most helpful!
What are game jams? I would to hear more about it
Arun Somasekharan same
@djavocard A game jam is a challenge to make a game in a set time period, usually over a weekend. A couple of the most well known game jams are the Global Game Jam, which happens over 48 hours (6 PM on Friday to 6 PM on Sunday), usually on the last weekend of January every year, and the Ludum Dare, which is a 72 hour game jam that happens in April and October each year. Both events ask you to make a game that fits the event's theme within the time frame. Teams are encouraged, and many people try to do it with as little sleep as possible. I find this "no sleep" approach to be somewhat counter productive, personally I recommend just cutting your night's rest a bit short, not entirely out. Maybe 4 hours instead of the usual 6-8 hours many people get. You tend to lose time to being unproductive to sleep deprivation if you just don't sleep.
Anyways, game jams are a great place to practice game development, or even to just join a team and learn about the process if you aren't very familiar with development. You don't technically have to have any game development skills to participate, but you should at least try to find some way to contribute to your team. The common roles to be filled are programmer, artist, designer, and audio roles. Game jams are a great way to quickly pick up skills and learn about game development, and can sometimes even lead to finding fellow game devs to collaborate with after the event ends! I highly encourage trying going to one if you want to start making games, they can be a real crash course in the process!
Lord Pytheas Saving this for later
Thank you for making this video! I'm in a very similar situation and you really hit the nail on the head. It is very hard to wear so many hats, especially if you want to produce original content. Thanks for the burst of inspiration!
Great video! This stuff is hard. :)
I've been making games since the eighties, became a pro dev in the studio system in 1994 (EA, etc.), and then started making them independently with my wife in 2001. We've been releasing games on our own ever since.
Way early on we went down a particular path/genre that made a good profit, and we kept in that genre for 20 years now. We never planned it, but I guess we were pretty good at it (or just got lucky) and stuck with that genre, even though we were never actually "into" it. What happened, though, is we never did find our way back to the genres we originally wanted to do, and never made our "dream game". Ultimately, making games has been way more of a business adventure than a super satisfying creative one. Bills to pay, kids to raise, and bit by bit you realize this is a job. A really really hard job that takes a ton of time. Lots of long days and not a lot of time off when in the middle of a big update cycle or trying to finish up our latest new game release.
So now after all this time we're just going to update our last game we released and not make any more. I started as an artist before I got into the industry, and eventually became a programmer/artist/audio/designer/everything, and now I'm going back to where I started, as an artist. Not for games, though. It's been fun in ways and absolutely crushing in others.
Don't get me wrong, I love making games, but after so long grinding away, I'm moving on. Good luck to everyone out there who goes down this path. Be careful what you dip your hands into, and be careful what you wish for, because you may actually get it.
Just curious, what are you planning to move on to after games?
Thank you for this insight. I am a freshman comp sci major, hoping to get into a game design major. Coding is kicking my ass and i needed a different perspective of how people work with code.
You know, I hate how there's this internal calculus people do in our society that asks us to justify an act financially before we decide an act is worth taking up. Here's my feelings on the matter: if you like the business of gamedev, go the business route; you like the process by which games make money rather than the process by which they are made. If you like game design/development, flip my previous statement.
A short story: the original drafts for The Hobbit, were not written as a commercial product. At the time, JRR Tolkien had been pursuing an academic career at Oxford Univeristy (where he would famously join The Inklings, an informal literary discussion group made to appreciate narrative and literary works, composed of many now-famous authors of the time including C.S Lewis among others), and had actually began drafting The Hobbit as a way of keep track of the stories he would tell his children during bedtime storytelling.
Hobbies need not be moneymakers, and the introduction of the need for money can poison everything that you may have liked about the hobby in the first place.
Oh I can so relate.
I spent about 4 months on my first game (i've messed around and made some other unfinished ones) and published it to the app store and I can't tell you how proud I am, it's like watching your child compete at the Olympics or something like that. One of the main things I learned along the way is that you have to be consistent, and no game is ever really "complete" so you shouldn't put too much pressure on yourself. Make a really good game and improve on it with time.
I’m in that grind process. I haven’t slept in 20 hours . This has been my life for like 5 years. It will be worth it in the end
Sometimes I keep thinking that I'm overthinking and doing it the wrong way instead of just... doing it
Yeah, love what you do, as long as it aligns to your goals.
Part of being a good developer is balancing your life. You're not as efficient and prone to make mistakes when you don't take care of yourself. You might want to consider that so you don't get burned out and move on to a different field, many people leave the industry because they burn themselves out after a few years.
@@chrish7308 That's a true fact. Even I hate going to school because it stressed me out.
You just detailed the last year of my life!! Got to keep pushing though.
I am learning game development and I agree with you, every word of it. Yes game development is multi disciplinary job, its tough, it drains every drop of energy in you. But the feeling of satisfaction which you get even after getting little success, is no match to anything on this planet.
Gotta tell you this has been the most relatable video I've seen when it comes to this game dev journey. Like everyone else has mentioned already this isnt easy and its definitely not for everyone. If you don't find any type of enjoyment in this theres no point.
Great video thanks for the share! I have a very similar experience and it's great to see other game devs story and how they get into the space. Keep it up!
You know, your advice applies to many other things. Great video.
took me 1 month from learning godot, graphics gale sprite making, bosca ceoil for music... to get my first 5 levels with 5 enemy types, music, sprites, scores for the first version of my 2d platformer...(though i had a comp. software degree before). Working now on second version to have better arquitecture (was getting heavy on v1) and new animation method so that i don't have to sprite each single frame for moving things.
Making games is a whole artistic process from beginning to end just like fine art but it dynamic art .
I have a bachelor degree in physics and started to learn godot engine for 2d game dev, during university i studied linear algebra and alot of advanced math concepts, it happens also that i paint and draw using various mediums like oils and watercolors and digital art too, fine art taught me about color theory perspective and light and composition all these concepts took me alot of practice many years and lots of books to read !
I cant imagine if i didnt have any background in these topics how i would ever approach game dev, because every concept would be totally new to me , i see alot of people when they try to learn about game dev from unity tutorials they go back to khan's academy tutorials to learn about vectors and basic math and physics, also they may have to visit tutorials teaching about photo or audio editing softwares
Here is short example : there is something called parallax scrolling in 2d games, i know its easy to apply but how on earth i would know this term if i didn't take introductory astronomy class ?!
The learning curve for game dev is a whole complicated process, i learned Blender since 2014 just because i wanted to create realistic simulations, blender has so many features that have to be learned modeling texturing rigging inverse kinematics sculpting node editor motion tracking...etc .
Can anyone imagine or even dream to make a game without years of learning ?
Its not just copying code and downloading free assets
I recognize and agree with what you mean. In my own experience, I can just about barely make a 3D game myself where you can walk around and stuff, but that's only because I used to be a mapper for Halo: Custom Edition. So I got to know how to construct maps and learn about map design, item placements etc. If I never got into that I would have no idea how to make 3D maps. But I still feel like I need to know a lot more, such as math/algebra. And with enough math knowledge I could make it a lot easier for myself to learn how to understand programming and scripting etc and just gradually get into that process of learning and adapting.
Thank you for the input, game dev is something I have pondered in maybe some day trying out. From what I heard its incredibly hard and complex. But hearing someone who has gone out and tried it and then left it, is helpful.
Really interesting discussion. I actually studied game design at uni and still feel the same way you did!
Join the discord! discord.gg/PRHbGsBz
Hey, 3 year update! Here's how you can get started making games yourself. ua-cam.com/video/-H8FQJG0agc/v-deo.html. I work at an xr company and make XR apps in the unreal engine daily now. This channel morphed into a indie game design focus since then. A commonly get tips for how to get started as comments, but hope it come across that this video was celebrating getting THROUGH the rough learning curve. It is possible for you too! You just gotta want it. Thanks for watching!!
135 dislikes? This guy is honest and humble as noone i've seen recently speaking about gamedev. Thanks for the video man! Real Talk.
thank you for sharing your experience
Trying to learn all aspects required to make a game from code to presentation, by yourself, leads you to a deeper understanding of how frontal lobotomies became a real thing.
Great video. You're so on point and real, while simultaneously offering hope. Even as a veteran C# developer, this is all insanely daunting.
this was a great description of... the thing :)
this is such a huge rant on how being a designer/game dev is SO MUCH AT ONCE and i feel it in me bones lmao
Thank you so much for validating my feelings about this! I think that some people (who might've started when they were super young) completely forget what the beginner process of gamedev is like. Awesome video!
great video Space Dodo, I'm beginning my gameDev jounrey and i'm finding like you that it's got it's own set of problems so this video helped alot!
Enjoyed watching this. Your perspective is easily relatable. I could see a lot of people making this and I would be annoyed in the first 20 seconds. Thanks for sharing.
I just made a follow up video after looking at a lot of your feedback. Here: ua-cam.com/video/Y_jlkWdyK58/v-deo.html And here's the 25 Free Game ideas you can have. ua-cam.com/video/tqDkaOORe6g/v-deo.html
This video was made quite some time ago. I took a break from dev.-ing for a while, then switched to Unreal. here's a sneak peak of the game I hope to bring to market. ua-cam.com/video/CRAbElT17AY/v-deo.html
Some FAQ: Yes, I've done a game jam. Yes, I've made more than one game. This video is talking about the struggle of "sitting down and just making a game." and how I finally feel like I can do that after a lot of hard work. YOU CAN GET THERE TOO!
You should try doing game jams. Trying to make a game in 2 days will help you a ton, even if you don't know anything about making games. Also try to get together with groups who can help you in those jams.
Why nobody makes games, is because it is incredibly difficult to make a good game. Forget about the coding aspect. Try to make a good card game, or a board game, or a social deduction game. You have to make all of the rule books, and the rules have to make sense and not contradict each other. And the game has to be fun to play, so if the rules make for a clunky or tedious mechanic, then it's a bad game. You also have to make all of the assets -- cards/board/game pieces, dice, etc. And you have to make some damn good art work for those assets. You also have to make the theme and the story. It had better be interesting or immersive in some way, or else the game will suck. This is just to make a prototype of a game that is barely playable. Then, there is the endless play testing and revisions. And then your product may be a total flop, and you put in all those hours and make no money, even if it's a great game.
I found out just how difficult game dev is when I actually took some classes on it and had to actually design some games. It is not easy, at all.
@@mushroomsteve When I was younger ... countless years ago... I made many many games (pen-paper-cardboard) and moved to computer games because a computer could manage the "details" ... Gaming in this context has remained a hobby of mine forever. I love making games, all my games are free, most of my games suck as they were made for me; by me. The "Great Games" may have been created the same way (as an idea) but maybe others also enjoyed the game making it a great game. A great place to start for a "beginner" has always been "Checkers" or "Tic-Tac-Toe" as the AI is simple, and the game is simple. Text based games are a great next project (my game "Baby Brother" comes to mind, written for my daughter) just to get into a story.... Puzzle, Platform games should be next, then maybe a FPS or RPG game (did both) before moving on to a challenge like an RTS (did 2 of these too, released only 1, though lost to history).Choice of language, is not important. "A real carpenter makes his own tools.." but, just because I know how, does not make it a great game. I like to call my games "coffee break games"... You can play the whole game in the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee. WOW! such a long winded reply to exclaim "Yes! It is hard, but some people make bird houses or models, I write because it is what keeps me sane".
@Poda Poramboku That's awesome. Yeah, I tried to make a Zork-style text-based adventure game back in the '80s when I was a kid. I used Applesoft BASIC, and after making about 4 rooms, the if...then...else statements got so complex that I just gave up. I tried to get it to understand simple commands, like "east", "west", "get book", etc. It was cool for those 4 rooms and the few commands it could recognize, but it was nowhere near complete. I've also done tic-tac-toe, nim, very simple dungeon crawls where the "dungeon" was ASCII characters, and so on. I also made variations on existing games. It's a lot easier to borrow/change something that already exists than to try to create something brand new from scratch.
never say its like japanese i almost passed the class first try heres the thing i ts nothing like japanese its like trying to defuse a bomb while your tied up 50ft away and theres a train coming and you have both your hands and legs tied and your hungry and thirsty and need to use the bathroom and you dont even know how to defuse the bomb let alone how to untie yourself that is game development japanese is like someone put you in a carousel and put it in reverse at a pretty fast speed...
Thank you for this video. I've been learning game development for around 5 years now, maybe a little more, and it sometimes honestly feels like I'm not making any progress, but looking back (and seeing this video for instance), gives me a great understanding about just HOW much work it took to even get where I am now, developing small games. I've taken a few jobs teaching Unity to newbies in the field and it just reminds me of how difficult it is to get into this thing, and how much it helps when someone explains it clearly to you. Sometimes it tough to believe that you're truly gettin the hang of something when all you see is amazingly talented developers all around you on the internet. Just keep going! We're all gonna get there if we put in the work :D
Bro this is the most relatable video someone has ever made. Thank you for this.
You’re a game developer if you’ve developed a game. No matter how many people played or purchased it.
Only 500 downloads on my first game... Crushed my spirits but made me incredibly hungry.
I'm an architect, I work as a urban furniture designer but I've always wanted to make videogames, so I decided to just do it. I've been learning on my own for the last couple years on my free time and it's certainly not easy. Learned how to code from scratch, bought many books and cookbooks for Unity, followed many tutorials and online courses and did many prototypes for practice, both 2D and 3D. I still have a looong way to go, it seems endless, but when I think about what I've managed to learn so far I can see it was worth my time. I'm convinced all I've learn will be useful even if I don't end up making videogames: there's 3D modelling, there's also VR/AR which I'm very interested in, real-time visualization for architecture, etc..; in fact I'm currently making an app to visualize and edit urban furniture in real-time on my job, which I wouldn't have been able to do if I didn't decide to get into it.
Very nice and euphoric! You’re a honest person
Thank you for your advices, I know now that I've to hard work and be happy with what I learning.
Grettings from Venezuela.
Shrek appearing when you said layers earned a like from me
The reason why it's tough to develop games, is because many people work on them, not just one person. There are people who specialize in just modeling characters, and just lighting them, and just rigging them, and just animating them.
Then other people write the script and programming. Its a whole pipeline of things. Its best to pick one aspect of making games and learn that.
you have given me hope sir... live long n prosper
I like your optimism and your honesty in this video
As someone who got a computer science degree and made some hobby programs (plus pong clones and barren prototype platformers to test engines) before, learning game dev has been a hell of its own. Everything runs in realtime which forces you so often come up with reasonably efficient solutions, assets can be extremely difficult to make (2d or 3d) and it getting those art skills good enough takes time (I've started to dedicate some of my time to just learning art fundamentals)... 3D math is a pain and I avoid it as much as possible for now, but whenever I need it I lose hours on a single simple peoblem. Not to mention that time management and even figuring your your to-do list is a hard problem of it's own, and motivation comes and goes. Seriously, indie game dev is an incredibly huge time sink.
I wish my youngr self had been interested in art as well as programming, because the learning curve wouldn't feel *quite* so steep now, but I'm getting there and getting comfortable. After almost a year since starting this process, soon I'll have a fairly simple demo out of my first real dedicated project. I feel like the first dedicated project using any new skill is always the hardest, and with game dev there are soooooo many skills to learn, so many features to implement, so many things to tweak, and a shortage of time to do everything you want to in a nice timeframe.
That said, when stuff works and starts to come together, it's amazing to see that you made it, even if in the grand scheme of things it's a small project and everyone else is doing things better. My critique and advice on this process is the same as yours: game development, especially indie or solo dev, is incredibly hard, and it takes a lot of time. A LOT of time. But man, the constant problem solving, that grind to make stuff work, it's all quite satisfying.
After 8 mins of listening to his vent, I have decided, I have more productive things to do, as in make software and games.
Thank you for sharing! hope your doing fine today 😀
As a current game dev student - i recommend approaching it all with a sense of curiosity and play. Dont stop learning just because a class is over.
Also- don't limit yourself based on your knowledge. If you want a specific feature or look- try your hand at figuring out how to achieve it!
I feel this. I went into it foolishly thinking RPG Maker would be easy and it turns out it comes with its own complications, just like any other game engine. It's hard. And I'm not detail oriented, so it's unlikely I'm ever going to be able to wrap my mind around C# enough to work in Unity. That's okay; much as I like 3D games, I'd rather keep to 2D for my own peace of mind. But I saw a lot of other game projects start like I did, thinking RPG Maker would make game development easy and realizing quickly that it was going to be a lot harder than expected. It takes a lot of determination but it's also a lot of fun.
I'm a music producer. I'm deep into it. I can tell you everything about sound. I totally went in thinking like "I'm fluent in so many DAWs, picking up a gamedev software should be easy!"
Hahaha nope. It's hard. Really hard. But it's something I feel I've really got a passion for
very true words. starting is easy. sticking through is hard
You’ve put my thoughts into words precisely. I tried getting into it last summer before my final year of university and I came very quickly to the same realisation. It’s so much more difficult than people realise. I followed a Brackeys tutorial for a game and I completed it but when it came to wanting to create something myself without my hand being held you realise just how much goes into it and the different skills and knowledge you need if you’re making a game by yourself. And also are you now a game dev 😉.
For all Newbies that learned some Python:
Try out Godot Engine. Its very beginner friendly and there are lots of good Tutorials.
And Godot's native Programming Language (GDScript) is based off of Python.
I just got into game development before I made desktop applications ... I use pygame to make games is that good?
@@syafiqfadillah7747 Im no expert, but for what i know pygame is just a library/framework (idk which one).
So it depends on what you wanna do.
I think pygame is a good entry point for absolute coding beginners. But with a Engine (like Godot), you can make your life easier on bigger projects.
The way I learned how to make games is I dove right into it. I thought of the game that I wanted to make, and then I found tutorials on how to make it and started making the games that I wanted to make right off the bat. Thus, I started off making a double dragon styled kung fu game. And from there I kept improving.
Nice, I'm building a fps game in that style right now using ue5. My primary time spent is on the charactor models and damage skins. Am making custom collision log events that show damage where you hit and how.. im mixing double dragon, bushido blade and something like for honor.. obviously power quality than aaa developers, but its fun, and ienjoy this learning..
The last couple of years I spent a lot of time getting into rendering and game engine dev. But even then making a game for a game jam or something else was pretty challenging, you have to consider so many artistic things. Where to place stuff, how does the player move, what mechanics are in the game, are they fun and the list just goes on. So as a learning experience I can totally recommend game jams.
And these days I am pretty happy to see that I am making a 3D game with two (and soon three) other people with the goal to sell it on Steam with my own game engine. It feels a bit like all the hard work paid off in some sense, although the game is not yet finished but just being on that track feels satisfying.
Thanks For all the amazing advice 👍
Thanks! Got more on the way!
for me it is easier if you start learning programming first. just the basic. then start following basic game tutorials in youtube. just basic like making things move, making things interact. just follow exactly what is in the tutorial. dont think about how it looks yet focus on the basic so that you will slowly learn how to use the game editor. with the background of programming you will easily understand what you are doing. once you know the basics, you can now make simple games. i suggest start with FPS because its player controls can be applied in many different kinds of games. then start using assets that can be downloaded. make it move. then start appplying animation from those assets. dont make your own animation yet just use the ready made animation. once you know all of this you can make a simple game. next will be making your own assets,animations,effects,game concept etc.
A lot of wisdom, but I can't get over the fact that he looks like Justin Roiland fused with Seth Rogen.
I think based on your description, I know which course you bought. Those guys are great and they helped me too, greatly!! Shout out to Rick and Dave for teaching it simple and fun!
Working environment artist here. Just wanna chime in and say I have mad respect for indie devs, it's a rare thing to find a person who is both artistically and technically inclined, and even then those kinds of people usually end up as technical artists. To put it into perspective, I have focused 4 years entirely into my field and I still feel like I have so much more to learn.
In the industry we have specialists for everything, art has sub categories of technical art, animation, environment, etc. Each sub category has sub categories, for example technical art encompasses rigging, procedural modelling, shaders etc. By attempting to learn all of these at once you're overloading yourself, it's like studying for 50 tests in 1 evening.
Honestly you're probably better off with at least a team of 3 people, with 1 per major discipline; programming, art and design.
Spent years just making tiny bits of code, finally decided to learn how engines work with lots of reading, help from people who know software engineering, and months of perseverance, and just started building an engine. Its finally useable, just about time to work on a game, going to start small, a simple roguelike using my engines text renderer, camera, and input tools
As my roguelike grows, I'll just store all of the procedural generators and tools that I need for that in the engine, future games can utilize these things, and so on.
One day, my link to the past style survival building and crafting game will happen. I don't know when, could be months, years, idk, but I'm building the tools by learning the things I'll need to get it done
The ammount of different skills needed to release a satisfying, polished (maybe even profitable) product is just staggering, literally. If everything you'd need is programming, it wouldn't be too hard the very same way it would be alright to be able to just use blender for example. But skills stacked on skills which are interdepentent on another to make a product just slow you down sooooooo much.
I appreciate this video a lot thank you. I am going down a similar road and this is a bit inspiring. I also like that you refer to it as building a world because i always explained my love of video games as the medium that allows me to explore different worlds and thats just what is it to me
Thank you for making this video, for so long I thought I was stupid for not understanding or getting it right away like I do with everything else. I’d more or less abandoned making games, but I’m going to keep in mind what you said and just keep pushing.
Been making games 15 years. 4 years in on my latest project with 6 months left. The main reason imho is because it's way too hard and competitive for the level of compensation. Most people that work this hard make way more for less effort. It's run on "passion" which basically translates to large scale exploitation because everyone would be doing it for free anyway. Someone will always underbid you. Makes me feel bad that lots of friends work at tech companies and get way better treatment across the board. Not to mention the egregious effect on your personal life. Most people who are good transition to other tech stuff eventually. None of my old leads work in games anymore. Likely that I'll follow suit unless this one makes me rich, haha. Fingers not crossed but it would be cool.
Don't let them abuse you.. the concept of crunch is just shit management. I've taken management in college, crunch is taught as "what not to do". They cut timelines, budgets, and their oversight responsibilities, so they can make more money and deliver products they keep promising too soon.
This right here is the stone cold truth. Unless you make a breakthrough with a stellar game (and that is equal parts luck imo but i don't know about this) and make loads of money, isnt it better as a hobby?
Me and a childhood friend said the same thing, It feels hopeless at first at least we kept saying the same thing over and over again. We started programming in Roblox him always being the programmer and me working on 3D design and textures. We never published a single game. We make a bunch then give up one way or another now we've moved on to unreal engine in hopes that it will work out better. We've made more progress than ever, and we never made a small title we always work on the big ones first. Doesn't sound right but that's what we're at and we have no ideas for smaller titles. Thank you . Great video
One thing that got me to actually make bigger projects was to work on making a game in one week. And no matter how far you guys got at the end of the week, you have to move onto the next project. And you guys will learn strategies to plan and execute better. And once you have done lots of one week projects, move onto making games in two weeks. And expand a bit on those projects.
KEEP MOVING FOWARD. you figure how
Hey look at us now. We're still making relatively big games. But we're dedicated now on this one for 9 months now..
I feel this, I took a different route from the other side.
I started as a traditionally trained artist/painter, then self taught comic artist, then self taught concept artist, then I taught myself 3d to help with concept art, then at work I started using our game engine more(Unreal) and fell in love with it. It took 20 years to get where I am at art so I have very uh humble expectations of what I can do in the other disciplines.
I haven't had the urge to give up yet thankfully and it's been about a year, so fingers crossed. Let's do this!
this is a very interesting video and something not a lot of people really realize or discuss in detail
As someone who says that he's A+ certified, who says that he has a background in building computers, and making/editing videos, you inherently are multi-hatted across multiple industries. The media industry (videography, editing, directing, etc) is a multi-hat industry because it requires you to be. The same could be said for computer sciences. My fiance is A+ certified, he knows how to take apart and rebuild phones, tablets, laptops, and computers, he built my desktop and his own, and specifically tailored them for our own needs. He has dabbled in C# programming, and works on cars as a hobby in his spare time. Yet his job only requires him to be able to install and troubleshoot software problems, and occasionally build a computer. You yourself hold the multi-hat that requires you to do well in your industry.
The game industry is no different. I film and edit videos. I'm fluent with Premiere Pro, Photoshop, Dreamweaver (when it was a thing), and audio engineering programs. I can't draw worth my own life, but I found I have a proclivity for 3D modeling. When I started my game development journey I looked for tutorials and resources that weren't there for me to use between Unreal 4 and Unity, and I was so overwhelmed by the lack of available resources that were specifically for the type of game I wanted to create, I shut my computer down and cried for 2 days because I was so upset that I couldn't figure out how to do what I wanted. There were no resources that could help me with my specific vision.
And then once I was finished being a dehydrated mess in 2 day old clothing, I found a different solution to my problem. I was starting too big, and I needed to focus on something smaller that I was capable of doing to get me started.
People say they want to make games because it's cool, but are incapable of doing one aspect or another on their own, and instead of putting in the time to teach themselves, they give up and move on to something else.
People don't make games because they are incapable of finding a proper solution to the problem they're facing, and would rather give up than find that solution. Plain and simple.
Thanks, this was kind of motivational. This is my second time (at 30 years old) jumping into game development, and although I am a programmer, the first time I tried to learn GameDev, I just dropped it. Now I'm back at it, learning, trying and fixing bugs all the time. I feel much better this time around!
In september I'm starting with game graphics production at school, I'm gonna learn how to make assets and environments for games, this for 3 years, I'm super excited !
it is sooo complex and has many fields of study before you can get to a point of actually using your knowledge and skill to create a playable and hopefully enjoyable game. I think there is much power and momentum in the idea of a game. Keeping that in mind through a recording or drawing or something you can look to, can be inspiring during the process of gaining knowledge and skill. 🦋
I'm the guy who likes to watch only intros of tutorials
Theres something I want to clarify and add to your point:
Making games is hard - by yourself.
Every good game is a team effort, you could grind away your whole life to spit out one indie game, but you truly thrive and enjoy yourself in the company of others.
I am an Environment Artist with Tripmine Studios, working on Operation: Black Mesa. It is such an ambitious project there is absolutely no way in hell any of us would have a chance at pulling this off if we didnt have each others backs. It's easy to get burned out, but when you got your close associates on the front lines with you to pull you back up you can keep your momentum going.
Truly game design, good game design, is a momentous undertaking incompatible with narcissism, it is humbling, you learn alot about yourself, and the stress and pressure constantly cause you to grow and evolve, every day to a higher caliber of skill and ability. This is only possible because of your team.
Because of my experience, it is my dream within the next few years to establish my own small studio to create meaningful family friendly high intensity adventure platformers, and I am truly grateful for the opportunities I've had to get this far.
thats awesome, this is why I want to get into a team some day. Ive been learning game development for a few years and honestly I hate it but what keeps me going is how badly I want to see my ideas become a reality. but naturally, I cant make anything big by myself, its not usually possible for one person to make a whole big game themselves of course
also cant wait for operation black mesa
@@DJL3G3ND keep it up! whatever you're working on, I would suggest that as soon as possible, and as often as possible, get it in-game! test regularly, and avoid getting stuck on something for so long that you get totally burnt out on it.
Are you studying 3d modelling? level design? programming?
@@MagmaSloth64 thanks, Ive kinda been trying all 3 at once but Ive decided the best thing to do is to make a small game right now that I should be able to manage (ua-cam.com/video/jKj4umu8_KY/v-deo.html) unfortunately though, trying to do all these things at once means I can't improve at one thing as much as I'd like. right now I can only program using unreal engine blueprints, and my modelling isnt the best
I agree about group efforts, especially with these tools, like unity and unreal, which are not individual or average intelligence user friendly tools. It's rare one person can be a creative story teller, a digital artist, and a computer science programmer so you need a team to make games. The game engine tools are just not good enough for individual game creation. Even for 2D. Until a game engine exists that is user friendly, drag and drop, and just about attribute selection instead of programming these tools are not for average individuals or even higher intelligence individuals because when every game forces a new creator to reinvent the wheel then the result can only be lost time. Digital art asset creation and game engines should be 2 separate things. I just want to buy my characters pre programmed with their behaviour and controls so I can drag and drop. Create a cut scene should just be an option where I select dialogue times. A game maker should not need to program anything only select an option, programming should be back end of the package and be done by professionals that create game engine characters and assets. The end of level point and new level points should be drag and drop. Inventory and game settings should just be easy to drag and drop. Inventory items, objects, characters, what else do games have. I quit therefore because I'm not Einstein . These development tools are rubbish and stopping developers from making better games. You can really see that in recent years , good games always require corporate level efforts and even with corporate effort most games are poor
@@DerekFolan unreal engine is the game engine that powers countless games, and you can always edit source code . It's also so user friendly I dunno what to say.. learning cpp for years will still not yeild you the same creative freedoms in the compressed time frame.
Great talk mate.
My biggest mistake was learning how to code by following random UA-cam tutorials on implementing game mechanics.
coding never made sense until I started to go back to the basics, the fundamentals
now I can comfortably implement applications and most game mechanics with any language since they syntax is only slightly different.
Exactly!
This is a very honest video. Great job in bringing to light how multidisciplinary and complex the world of game development is.
Thanks!
I started making a game two days ago. After 3 years of saying that I want to make games lol.
Nice. Keep it up fam.
1 month later, are you still learning consistently?
@@leonardodavinci4259I took a break for a week in between, but I still continue.
TL;DW: It's too hard.
Thanks for making this content. Interesting !
Good for you man! Been working in Unity since 2016 regularly. Working on a Pearl Harbor VR tour.
I'm making a game with zero technical skills, Im living with my parents so I have no expenses, working full time and investing the majority of my money into paying freelancers .
Do you have a video of your game, I would like to give you feedback (for free of course).
Anyways, I hope it turns to be good.
Ill make the sound design!
How has this gone for you? I'm curious if things worked out, if you don't mind sharing.
Thats bad, you pretty much learn nothing.
So… 9 months later, do you make games now? 😁
This has been my life for a few years now. Slowly learning while going to work full time and taking care of 2 kids. I had 2 partners who did the programming for our first game who have since left my studio and my 3rd partner is even more busy then myself. We managed one game but i keep trying.
totally agree with the part of going different places, right now I'm learning how to draw from scratch (it takes a lot of effort and time, specially if you're bad at it like I am lol) just so i can get better at sketching / designing to continue with pixel art and 3D game development, i know a little bit about C#, Js, HTML, CSS, Python however i still need to put months / years of work into it if i want to get somewhere in this development industry. Thanks for sharing your experience man!