STARTING Game Dev at 29 - It's Never Too Late!
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- Опубліковано 4 тра 2024
- Wishlist this project on Steam! store.steampowered.com/app/29...
A couple of weeks ago, I decided it was finally time to try my hand at game development again, this time in Godot! Having recently taken inspiration from my love for high speed platforming, I'm working on bringing my own interpretation of the genre to life! This will be my first attempt to make a full-fledged game experience from scratch and I'm excited to see how it will turn out.
If you'd like to follow my journey, feel free to subscribe!
If you want to catch my livestreams check out: / swinkly
Check out the lovely pixel art assets I'm using in this game:
clembod.itch.io/warrior-free-...
anokolisa.itch.io/pocket-pack... - Ігри
I’m 37, disabled, bedbound and have around 30-45 minutes on a good day where I have the energy to focus on learning. But I’ve just stated my game dev journey too. Why? Because life is short and you can have everything taken from you in the blink of an eye - I went from super independent with a job a love to needing 100 hours care a week and being unable to work or do..anything. The lesson it’s taught me, as painful as it’s been, is to just do things that bring you joy. You don’t need to be the best game dev in the world - you just need to let yourself try the things that bring you joy.
It's so inspiring to hear that you're choosing to pursue something you love in spite of every difficulty. I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiment - life is about doing the things you're most passionate about.
I can relate on a - much - smaller scale because I do suffer from chronic fatigue, but fortunately it's mild enough that I can function normally and work a full-time job. Still, there are days when I come home from work and desperately want to be creative but don't have energy to do anything except collapse on my futon, lol. Fortunately, seeing the potential of this game has really helped me to find motivation even when I'm often very tired.
I wish you the best of luck both with your health and your game dev journey. I can't imagine what it's like to be bedridden when there's so much you want to do, but I'm so happy to hear that you're pursuing what you love regardless. I hope you're able to find tons of joy in it. Thanks so much for your comment!
You got this!!! ❤
go into trading emily is much more worth it
@@majin2909did you actually read what I wrote? This isn’t about money. It’s about joy. I have no desire to go into trading. I’m not going to waste my very limited energy on something that I have no desire or interest in
Love the positivity bro. I hope you do great things with game dev
I'm 17 and I also wish I started gamedev earlier in my life. I did pick up game development at age 15, but I never took game development serious until this recent year. I guess I'm fortunate that this is still a relatively young age to start, but my main point is that it's not only old people who experience the thought that you are too old to start, but even young children can feel it. But these "wasted" years should never be a reason to drag you behind and stop pursuing what you genuinely love.
Anyway, the main message aside, I'm adding this comment in hopes of signaling to the UA-cam algorithm that this video is good content and it deserves to be promoted to a broader audience. I wish you the greatest, Swinkly.
It's always hard to feel like you've "missed out" on a chance to get ahead, but pushing through that feeling and getting started anyway is so worth it.
I really appreciate the kind words! Thanks so much for your comment.
32 and just starting my game development journey as well! Love that UA-cam understood the assignment and recommended your video haha
Subscribed and can't wait to see this project develop!
That's awesome to hear! It's always nice when the algorithm works correctly, lol. Hope your journey is going well so far!
I hope you succeed in game development
Same here ^^ I'm 34.
Really excited to see your content! 28 about to hit 29 and also starting that journey. Wishing you the best!
Thanks so much for the kind words! I hope game dev is going well for you so far!
27 on Thursday, and I'm getting started as well! Baby steps. Best wishes fellas
This is really well done! I'm in my mid-40s and am just now embarking on my development journey. Between you and Thor I'm doing this damn thing, though it make take me a decade or more to get there. Thank you for posting this video. It will help a lot of people find their way.
Thanks so much! I appreciate the positive feedback, and I'm glad that this video and others have helped inspire you to embark on your own journey. Best of luck to you!
You give me hope.
Turning 40 next year, just finishing my BSc in CS & Media, hoping to do some indie beside work soon
im starting now too. I'll be following your progress if you keep posting^^ good luck to all who starts!!
Thanks so much! I've got more updates on the way very soon. And best of luck to you!
It is cool that you are starting game dev. being in your late 20's does not make you old for the hobby/profession of game development. The first best moment to start any hobby is in the womb, the second best moment is right now.
Absolutely agree! I think all that matters is that you've got the passion and desire to learn. As long as that's the case, it's always a great time to start.
Having started game dev at 27 a few months ago, and deciding on Godot aswell, this has hit so close to home especially the >, < symbols haha, or.. writting a line of code youve written before.. for it not to work >.> WHY so you re write it.. exactly the same and suddenly it works hahah
its been a process but its been so so fun, looking forward to see what projects and content you come out with! best of luck to you and everyone else watching wanting to get into the dev space
Yeah, there are definitely a few issues I've fixed along that way that I have no clue HOW I fixed - the joys of trial and error! But at other times breaking my game has taught me some really important lessons because I realized exactly what I was doing wrong. It's all part of the process!
Hello mate, 29 like you and this video hits me really hard hahaha.
This week decided that i wanted to change my life entirely and dedicate to something that i really love during so many years. That thing is game dev too so this video is amazing for me personally.
I´ll be ready to watch your next videos. Good luck and enjoy the process dude :)
It's so great to hear that you made that decision. It's incredibly important that we devote time and energy to the things we love (I've been thinking about this more and more with 30 quickly approaching). I'm glad you enjoyed the video and I hope you have fun starting your own journey!
I'm 36 and just started too, about 3 weeks ago, I feel exactly the same. About the movement feeling too, trying to achieve that rn.
and bou oh boy, the self-taugth way is harsh, it was being very hard for me ultill now. 70% of the videos that I watched didn't teach anything meaningful, it was just people trying to sell courses, I do'nt now if I was dumb or the algorithm was screwing with me haha. Glad it recommended your video tho, great content and looking forward to see yor progress, I'm sure I'll learn a lot.
For the fellow "old" new Devs out there: I was so lost without a roadmap but believe it or not chat GPT helped me a lot to find a efficient line of study to follow, it really sped up my learning. And practice, practice anything, everything.
I'm glad that you're sticking with it! Sometimes the best resources can be hard to find, but there's definitely good tutorials out there that that you can learn a lot from. I referenced the first few entries of Heartbeast's 2D Platformer series pretty frequently when setting up my player controller, and I think that's a great place to start. It can definitely be intimidating to start out but I feel that once you get past the initial steep curve of learning the absolute basics, it gets easier. Really appreciate the comment, keep at it!
pseudoregalia is an amazing game. I started my game dev journey shortly after playing/seeing rittz' logs. Good luck in your journey. It's a slow burn, enjoy the journey!
Thanks so much! It's been a blast so far, but there's a LONG road ahead!
The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, the second best time is now. You don't know what life throws at you, I was a professional chef for 15 years when i had an injury at 31 years old that made it so i could never return to that profession, so i decided to go back to school and get a bachelor of game design, and i have been loving it, I have 6 months left until graduation and i really love the work i have been doing, getting really good grades because I love the work. It is never to late to change careers or start something new, I will be 35 when i finish my bachelor, entering a career that will be full of 20 something year olds, but my journey is my own and i only measure my progress against myself and how much i knew in the past. As long as i am moving forward, it doesn't matter what others are doing, how much they know or where they are at in their life, comparing myself to others is pointless, but comparing myself to who i was before, is a good measure to keep on going.
I love your perspective! And it's so cool to hear that you decided to switch things up and that you've been enjoying it. You're totally right; we don't need to compare ourselves or our timelines to others, we just need to focus on learning and growing!
Welcome to game development! I'm also in my mind 40s and started experimenting with game development on and off last year. I'm planning to get some stuff going with Godot 4 since I am originally an Unreal Engine user. ;) My first game was a speedrunner 2D side-scroller made in Unreal, and I'm planning to do one in Godot next.
Nice! I haven't tried Unreal but if one day I want to do a larger scale 3D project I might look into it. Hope you enjoy using Godot, it's really fun!
Holy crap, I remember playing that back in the day! That sonic game is a nostalgia trip back from when I first started learning game maker!
I know, right! Sonic Zone wasn't "good" by today's standards but I had a LOT of fun playing it with my friends. It also helped to spark an interest in game design early on that I'm finally revisiting today!
Same here man! I'm 28 and have been dreaming about making games for years. It's time for me to start too! Just started my UA-cam channel for it. I just need to get better at making videos... I am excited for my first *real* project! Thanks for the video, you are an inspiration!
That's awesome! So happy to hear that I've helped to inspire you, and I hope your game is going great!
This is amazing man, can’t wait to see more on the journey! Good luck swonk
Thank you Dev
Hey Swinkly, literally just starting getting into game development myself but couldn't even imagine creating what you have so far. Awesome stuff you've made and look forward to what you continue making. The video itself was informative, well paced and your VO was great, definitely keep it up.
Thanks so much! Really appreciate the encouraging words. I'm pretty sure my code is really messy and inefficient at this stage, but it works, which is the main thing! I also failed to emphasize how many times I've gotten stuck trying to figure out really basic features of Godot, but I guess the successes are more memorable than most of the difficulties. Hope your learning is going well so far!
Hi Swinkly, I'm 42 and have dabbled and experimented with game dev for around 5 years...but at the start of 2024 I finally paid for a beginners course in programming (gdscript in godot) and decided "this is the year". Good luck with your jounrney and projects. Just be sure to make some progress every day.
Awesome! I can definitely relate to the feeling of wanting to make this "the year." I feel like I've been close to committing to working on a project like this many times, but always backed down. Best of luck to you!!
I'm also in the beginning of getting dev work out there now. Your project so far looks really cool, excited to see what comes next :)
Thanks so much! I've made some good progress since this video and I'm really excited to share it. Good luck with your own game projects!
I'm 27 and started a month ago. It's great to hear this is more common than I thought! Good luck to us ancient beings making games
Hahaha, "ancient beings" is hilarious. Hope it's going well for you so far!
The way I look at the 'lost time' is that it's not lost at all, I just wasn't ready yet. Started seriously doing gamedev at 31
That's a great outlook! Yeah, sometimes in life you need to be in a place where you're "ready" to invest in something, and getting there can take time. Hope game dev is going well for you!
the algorithm loves you and what a great video
Thanks! This is the first video I've made in quite some time that seems to have done well with the algorithm - it's a good feeling!
I've just started as well. Definitely interested in how this game is going to turn out, as I'm making a 2D platformer as well. Good luck! Looking forward to more videos.
Glad you're looking forward to seeing more - I'm super excited with how it's progressing. Hope you're having fun learning as well!
I love the comments here! I'll add my own. I'm 34 with no programming experience and I just started my game dev journey this year. Good luck to all us old folk. 🤣
Can definitely relate on the "no experience" part, lol! Besides using Gamemaker many years ago and dabbling in code here and there, I very much feel like I'm starting from scratch. In the the grand scheme, though, 30 (or 34) is still young and there's plenty of time ahead to learn! Hope your journey is going well so far!
29? That's nothing, I'm learning Godot at 42 😅
That's awesome! If 29 isn't too late, neither is 42 - best of luck on your journey!
i also just started, very interesting watching someone else also just starting.
Awesome! Hope it's going well for you so far!
I'm 30 and just now really starting to focus on my game dev journey. When i have time after my job. Which isn't a lot of time since I'm always working over time lol
It's definitely hard to balance a full-time job and learning game development on the side. I frequently feel burned out from work, so I've had to pace myself and put the most hours in on weekends when I've got more energy to spare. I hope things are going well for you, definitely keep at it!
i know i cant say much because ive been on and off on multiple different engines and code visualizers, but i really do agree with everything you've said and and genuinely curious to see where the game goes. the problem for me isnt really how much time i have to invest, but its mostly the effort. I'm kind of a lazy person and as a 16 year old girl going through comp sci classes, that wouldnt be surprising. im learning lua and been trying out making mathematical formulas on the console. Thank you for being able to get me to relate with some of the issues i have with programming! I'd love to see your progression soon !
I definitely struggle with motivation sometimes too; I think in my case, once I reach a certain level of investment in a project and I start seeing results, it becomes much easier to focus on it. But different things work for different people, and you've gotta find what works for you! Best of luck with your own endeavors, and thanks for watching!
Thanks man needed this
Glad you enjoyed it! Good luck to you :)
Just hit 30. I wrote in Notion in the day, it takes 5-6 years to make a polished, well liked game. And I probably have time for maybe 6 of those before I “retire”. Being content with that is the biggest motivation because I know I’ll make hundreds of games in between that time. I would love to play your game whenever it gets ready for a demo!
Yeah, it's simply about doing something you love, regardless of the quantity or scale of your results. The game is coming along nicely so hopefully I'll have some type of demo ready within the next few months!
I think the algorithm likes this video, so commenting for the engagement. Good luck on your game!
I truly appreciate the comment, it means a lot that you want to help this video reach more people. Thanks so much!
32 here and started game dev this year. 2 years ago I didn't even know the basics of coding. I'm only putting 5-15 hours a week on it but it's been a hugely fulfilling time for me. I'm nearly ready to do a bit of a reveal myself! Deffo subscribing and keeping an eye on your progress as it's very motivating for me.
The beautiful thing about doing something you're passionate about is that there's no expectations or requirements you need to measure up to, except what you truly WANT to do. You can take it at your own pace! Awesome to hear you've made some good progress and I greatly appreciate the sub!
I started at 28 during covid and have been working full time for an indie studio for two years now, no age is too late really :)
Agreed! And that's awesome, I hope you've been enjoying working in game dev!
Hell yeah, wish you patience and bug-free development!
Thank you! There's been a LOT of trial and error so far, but I'm so happy with how this project is progressing!
I'm 35, and started drawing my first sprits today for a game. I hope that by 40 i can say i have something i'm proud of. I've also decided to go with Godot.
Awesome, and best of luck! I think you'll find Godot pretty user-friendly!
Me too, i am 31 (damn im getting old lol) and starting my game dev journey. I guess all men have an inner kid that never leaves
Hey, no reason to stop doing fun stuff because you're getting slightly older! There's no age limit on game dev!
Goodluck. Game dev is one of the most entertaining and fun parts about coding.
Only next to robotics.
Thank you! It's been really interesting learning coding so far. Applying it to robotics sounds super cool!
This video made me reflect on a lot of things (and made me feel a bit stupid too x) )
I always had an interest for game development and the first experience I had with it was when I was 10 years old and tried to make an RPG on GameMaker 1. I barely made the character move and then gave up.
Then I tried using Scratch and made a pretty decent platformer with it.
Afterwards I would always try to learn how to program in a certain language but I never had the patience for it. I barely start to learn Python then give up. I barely learn C then give up. I barely learn HTML & CSS then give up. Because of my lack of patience for anything, learning was tough and it led me to make some stupid decisions school-related.
Now, I'm 19 years old, which I know is pretty young but seeing people on youtube that are 17, 16 or sometimes 13 years old starting their dream game and having something that's actually pretty decent most of the time always led me to think that I set myself for failure and that it was too late to go back.
Thankfully, I realized that this is not the case. Mistakes have been made but they're all in the past, what matters is what I decide to set in the current present for my current future. Even if my dream game releases when I'm 50 years old, at least I'll make it and doing what I love and what I want to do is the only thing I should be focused on.
Thanks to this video I managed to put words on the way I feel x)
That's awesome, I'm so glad that you've found resolve to do what you love! I've struggled with quitting A LOT of things in the past (sports, music, you name it) and it's only been in recent years that I've learned to persevere in my hobbies despite discouragement and hardships (and regardless how much "farther ahead" it can seem like others are). It's great you're learning that lesson at a young age! Best of luck to you in your journey!
@@Swinkly_ Thanks! Best of luck in your journey too 😁
Im 27 and just started godot again for the 5th time. gonna try to make a full platformer game! I also used game maker as a kid, game maker 7
Yeah, I think using GameMaker at least laid a little bit of foundation to help me understand important concepts later on. Hope you have lots of fun working on your platformer - learning Godot has been super fun for me so far!
The best time to start is yesterday but today will do
Yep, can't get back the lost time but it's always a good time to start!
44 here, we got this.
Yeah we do! 😄 Enjoy the adventure!
Yo, nice job getting into game dev! The project looks cool, but may I suggest at least one more vertical ability?
After hours of playtesting I'm really happy with the movement kit in its current state, but as the game progresses I plan to make harder levels, which might require implementing a new ability or two 😏 we'll see!
I want to add that do add a small tutorial for each movement ability in the game for newer players and thrn make sure that each ability is used throughout the game without the player forgetting about them :)
Absolutely! I'm thinking I may integrate the tutorial into a hub world of sorts, but that idea is still up in the air. Hopefully I'll get to that stage fairly soon!
29? Too old? HA! I'm in my 60s and learning game dev... it's never too late!
Amen to that! Hope you're having fun learning!
I subbed. Loved the video! I love playing platformers too, but haven't played many recently. After I'm done with this chat I'm going to start developing my game. Take a look at Celeste, its my favorite platformer and i think it could inspire you. You've made so much progress in 2 weeks. Keep it up! Thanks for inspiring me, I'm sure you'll inspire more for many years to come. Wishing you all the best, LecomingBegend
Thanks so much for your comment! Celeste is actually one of my favorite platformers of all time. I'm sure I could gather some more inspiration from replaying it since I haven't played it in a few years! Best of luck with your game!
The act of play time is an activity many creatures on Earth take part in. Making games is inevitable. How old you are is irrelevant; the Universe just wants to have fun.😊
Absolutely love this take!
you've gained a sub!
Really appreciate it! :D
It's never too late to start, but... it can be easier for some starting earlier. In saying that, age isn't the barrier, it's the time and resources needed to complete the game(s). To publish onto whatever platform you want to, and then to see it (and other games) flourish.
Yeah, I can't deny that it's an investment - but once you find yourself in a place where you're ready to commit the time and effort, I'd say it's absolutely worth it!
Yep. But it takes time, resources and the effort to connect with other developers or people in (or close to) your industry.
Keep it up
Thanks, gonna do my best!
I literally started game dev 4 months before I turned 30. That was a month ago
Haha, that's awesome. I'll be 30 in 2 months!
33 and I've been stuck in tutorial hell for about 2 years now on unity, but I switched to Godot because it's much easier to understand
Agreed - Unity seemed really intimidating to me when I tried to get into it, but Godot has felt really accessible and intuitive. It might be preference, but I'm really happy I gave Godot a try!
"Great game!. How old was the Dev?" said nobody ever.
LOL, true enough
I’m 43 coming from big studios like Riot and Epic, but am starting indie dev myself now too! Lots to learn.
It’s never too late. ❤
That's so cool! Wish you the best of luck on your own projects!
The main character of this game should be using like "hover skates" that would be really neat, I think.
It would certainly fit with the fast paced movement! Unfortunately I don't think there's any way to make the sprites I'm using look like that, haha
@@Swinkly_ Time for a redesign ;)
I'm literally 29 and have been developing my first game for last 6 months. UA-cam algorithms are wild 💀
Haha, it knows what you want to see! Hope your game is going well so far!
Me too! 29, picked up Godot this month after having dabbled in unity in the past, first game I was excited to make was a momentum based 2d platformer. I've sunk hours into perfecting movement that works on slopes as my point of differentiation .
Would you please link the tut's on how to wall jump, ground pound, etc. Thanks.
I actually didn't use any specific tutorials for these abilities, but if there's enough demand I can make a video on some of the methods I used!
27 here and finally starting! Did you have prior programming experience?
My prior experience in coding is pretty minimal - I know HTML and CSS from way back in the day, but I had very little experience doing actual scripting before starting this project. However, using GameMaker's visual coding tools in the past probably helped a lot with understanding the logic behind it. Best of luck on your own journey!
@@Swinkly_ ah that makes sense!! Thank you by the way, I'll be rooting for you as well and checking in whenever u drop another video!
13 and have most of a platformer game done with shaders, enemies and particles all without a game engine:)
That's insane! I'm sure with all those skills you'll come up with something great.
t... thanks... I never considered my age too late until now
Haha, the whole point is that it isn't too late no matter your age!
Well yeah, I'm fifty and I started it a few months ago.
Hope it's going well!
Welp, time to start digging my grave, thanks.😅
Oh dear, was it something I said? 😅For the record I don't think 30 is old by any stretch, just that I feel like I've missed out on chances to start earlier.
Godotchad
29? 35 or older? LOL I programmed in the 80's and then life happened. I haven't done anything since in that career officially or as a hobby. Now in my 50's I am learning/relearning game design/programming. 29-35 is still very young. I wish I could go back to that age and gain financial literacy instead of waiting until 48. I would be so much better off. (yes, I'm jealous of younger people. :P)
I'm grateful that I've decided to commit to a project like this fairly early on in life, but regardless, it's never too late to pursue something you love. I hope you're enjoying re-learning game design and that it's going well!
Can you suggest me some sources so I can make 1 game like you
Absolutely! If you're looking to make a platformer I'd highly recommend Heartbeast's 2D platformer tutorial - it's been a great help! www.youtube.com/@uheartbeast
@@Swinkly_ thank you so much
I've done some basic game development over the years. I started again recently at 52. 😂
That's awesome to hear! Hope you're having fun with it!
@@Swinkly_ I am. I've been uploading my work on my UA-cam channel.
Do you need college to start a game dev journey?
Definitely not! I don't have a degree of any kind - with all the amazing resources out there it's possible to be entirely self-taught!
FGave a Like Button
FThank You
So im early?
Time 2 Sub
Thanks so much for subbing!
what if you make a good game and then what who cares how old are you the game is good bam bam
jfc you're so young dude, shut up!