Lessons Learned: 1 Year of Gamedev While Working Full-Time
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- Опубліковано 30 лип 2024
- A year ago I decided to take a serious shot at game development and focus on finishing projects. I knew it would be an uphill battle since working full time as a software engineer takes a lot of my time. Nevertheless, I decided to start working on games, set weekly goals, try to be active in the community and see where I’m at after one year. These are the results, and the lessons I’ve learned along the way. I really hope you can find them useful to make this process (that’s already hard enough) a bit easier.
Wishlist Quetzal on Steam: bit.ly/3xeOuYJ
Join our Discord Community: / discord
0:00 Intro
1:30 Start Small
1:57 Finish Games
2:12 Show your Progress
2:58 Consider Your Genre
3:18 Help Others
4:03 Sacrifices
4:31 Reuse and Recycle
4:46 Listen to your Players
5:10 Strengths & Weaknesses
5:46 Game Feel
Daisy Games: Sokobos & Sokochess / daisygames3
@MrEliptik: Dashpong / mreliptik_
@TallStoryGames: Lucy Dreaming / tallstorygames
@AlastairLow Lowtek Games: Playhead / lowtekgames
True Colors: / truecolorsdev
🐦 Follow us on Twitter: / tissueinu
🎮 Play the demo: bit.ly/3xeOuYJ
🔥Wishlist Quetzal on Steam: bit.ly/3xeOuYJ
🎵 Follow us on TikTok: / tissueinu
🎧 Join our Discord Community: / discord
#gamedev #gamedevelopment #devlog #indiegame #indiedevlog #tissueinu #godot #indiegamedev #quetzal #gaming - Ігри
What are lessons you have learnt from game development? I would love to hear your experience!
Join our Discord: discord.gg/MCV3pcKGZh
Wishlist Quetzal: bit.ly/3xeOuYJ
Gabriele from True Colors here. I agree with everything you said and I think your game has made incredible progress! Also you keep saying that you're not great at art but the game looks really clean and polished.
Anyway, I believe that being supportive and helping out others is one of the most important elements of doing something like this. The market is big enough for good games and there's no point in not being helpful towards others!
Please be kind and honest to every other dev, especially the one starting out. Honest feedback goes a long way.
And thanks for the shoutout!
Thanks! I think my art is functional, but I think it mainly works because I don't deviate much from the formulas I understand and feel comfortable with. Perhaps one day I'll be able to create art like the amazing models you've got in your game. By the way, congratulations again on the Steam page! The capsule looks sick
Cool video! They just keep getting better. Also thanks for the shoutout!
More recruits for the puzzle cult!
Nice video! It has some good advice for beginner devs.
Don't forget that game jams are a very good way to start your journey as a game dev, You will avoid some of the problems you will face if you started with a big project like the ones in the videos and it can provide you with some great ideas that can be used in big projects. Also, be careful of working a lot on the same game without any breaks in between, this will lead to burnout. I was taking a lot of my free time developing my game without taking enough breaks and after a lot of work, I just didn't want to work on the game anymore. I'm now working on another project and trying to avoid this mistake.
Thanks! I agree about game jams, I really want to find time to participate in more because it's a great way to practice game design. As for taking breaks, rest is critical...burnout is hard to avoid without regular rests for sure.
Good on ya maaaate! You've come a long way, learned alot and it really show. I really think Quetzal's going to be well received on release
Thanks for the support! Fingers crossed, it's a gamble!
Your game looks fantastic!! So much advice from gamedevs not to prioritize game feel until the game is further along but then I see games like yours and realize what a huge difference in can make!!
Seems like you've had a fantastic year making games and constantly learning new skills!
My own experiences have been here and there. I made my first games in game maker around 2009 but unfortunately lost most of that progress due to a failed laptop. Since then I studied games at uni, tried various engines and participated in a few game jams. With all that, I only say I've been a proper game dev in the last few years, even if it's still just a hobby.
I actually have learned a ton of stuff! Looking back it really is true that we overestimate what we can do in a day, but underestimate what we can do in a year.
Sorry to hear you lost all that work...but it is a good lesson to always use version control!
Great video! Really cool to see your progress as a solo-dev over time. Some good advice I can use for myself as well :)
Thank you! It's a hard path at times...Looking forward to see news about your project!
Awesome video! It's so cool to share what you're going through like this, I really think this can help people. Keep up the good work and thanks for the shoutout!
How did you connect with other developers?
From following each other on twitter/youtube and just reaching out, and also from the gaming festival we attended.