Buddy I have spent almost 4 years just learning every single aspect of game design and writing down all the ideas and every single thing I need to do with my own game and it's not even begun yet and I hate it and I want it to be better and yet it's not even a thing yet. I think the problem is sometimes we're so hard on ourselves instead of just having fun making something we're really passionate about that will help push out feelings that we want to express to the player. Just take your time and have fun and also don't hate your old creations honestly be proud of where you started and where you are now
That's true, I started my project as a very newbie at game development 8 months ago, you can see how it's going on my channel, you need to start making, perfect it at the end
It's like sculpting a perfect pot but in order to do it you have to fuck up like 20 times making the pot and then finally when you make the pot then you can add things into the pot. Wow that really does sum it up. Video game design is just making a pot and cooking perfect soup in it.
Not to mention, you making it perfect right away, means you put restrictions on everything else in the game and affects what you can and can't do in the future. So leaving things unfinished, unperfected, leaves you more flexibility in what you are doing. Only start perfecting once you have all core features made in some form and then tighten and polish it. Also, stop putting features in that don't enhance the core gameplay you want to deliver. If you can't find a good reason to add something into your game, don't add it in. It's very likely just a waste of time.
I hope this vid gets huge cause every single game dev needs to see this on their very first day. I feel like making multiple, small bad games is the only way to develop one the most important skills, seeing the game as a whole.
Yes. When i initially released “Animal Friends Adventure” i had hated it so much by them. Steam showed 2000+ hours of coding, testing, crying. I had quit my day job and buried myself in the office for 10 months of nothing but that game. Then another 2 years updating and localizing to different languages. It was a project of passion and learning. Now i’m working on another game, an RPG that’s gone through so many iterations. I’m stuck on dungeon crawl vs semi open world. Topdown vs 3rd person.
@@SoulEngineDev short answer: Yes. while i am not employed in the game industry, what I learned in C#, Python and AI development got me a career in Machine Learning. I still have lots of free time to continue my dreams to make games. I don’t see learning skills as a waste.
Great video!! First project can be really hard as you can get stuck with something not knowing how to make it or you don't have clearly an idea of your game, but the best for me in that cases is to learn what you need when making the project and define your game idea and try to not change it during development
Totally get what you mean! It can be such a mess if you don’t have a plan. Just gotta keep it simple and stick to the game idea! Thank you for being here!
My writing teacher always makes sure to tell me and my classmates like every other week to *not* edit our works as we go. It’s a quick way to get burnt out and overwhelmed and, like you said, edits and fixes should only be done when the story is finished.
I had a huge existential crisis at the beginning of August, I went through this case in the video, I was hating my project because I didn't know what to do anymore and it seemed so basic... I sat down and wrote down everything that was missing, I played for 2 hours to identify things that I could change, and it worked, now I have a list of things to do. I keep a monthly changelog to keep me motivated too, I've been on this project for 8 months and I intend to launch it in 2026, it will be my entry as a game dev, and I want people to have the experience I want to pass on to its highest point.
thank you for your feedback. im making my first major project now and sometimes i get very frustrade how things are looking bad and those details that drives me crazy... ill stop caring that much for them from now on. i think that we must first make our games comes to reallity so then we start making them precise, prettier or whatever we want.
Super helpful video! Noticed I was doing this recently but then when I went to play some games I liked in a similar genre I noticed that things I'd waste ages on trying to perfect were kept simple and nicely working in those games I like. So that made me realise sometimes it just needs to smoothly work, not be perfect.
there was one game that i hated because not only because of perfection but because i couldn't think of the coding very well, which is bob the blob, cause it is my first go of making my first actual game, i've ended struggling looking for tutorials after tutorials, but it's also me being a one man band wanting to learn everything as solo developer. just dang. like don't get me wrong i've always put the effort in to make new levels or the required mechanics for the game but you don't have that kind of fun when making it, and becomes a struggle to to get back in, then i go of making another project that are smaller and simpler. but yeah i think it comes time down to looking after yourself and your well being, and taking the time to have fun playing games that made you want to be a game developer.
Thanks, I needed to hear this. I've been getting bogged by trying to get my prototype perfect, but I'm also lacking time due to applying for jobs and other things that are keeping me busy. I need to just get my prototype working and move forward.
Okay! I wanna hear all about the games that gave you guys the most trouble! What about them tripped you up, what did you learn from them, and how have you moved forward? Can't wait to hear from you guys!
I can give you a persepective from a Uni student. It's our first major group project. All lecturers/tutors made a huge point to get students focusing on the prototype and level layout + systems. Yet being one of the only groups that decided to tackle a 3D game in unity and needing to sort of write the logic completely from scratch.... when we had our first playtest a lot of people really criticized the lack of feedback and visual cues. I think that was the point I realised when it comes to 3D vs 2D for some reason people are just more critical. given the 5 week period of working on it I think I spent 3-4 weeks just honing the how the player character moved and provided feedback, camera and respawn to getting it look right, as well as how abilities appeared, selected etc and almost became a detriment to the goal of the project which is funny enough is meant to be about level design.
There is a problem that was much less like 10-15 years ago: there are just so many other Indy games out. Literally thousands. So while perfection should not be the goal, the game must still stand out from the crowd. Perfection in some area (mostly graphics, or a novel mechanic) can just do that. If the game appears lame or has been done 100 times similarly, it will just go under quickly.
I totally get that, I actually had to start looking at them differently, and started looking at them as more of assignments, which allowed me to detach myself from them more. That sounds counterintuitive, but this really helped me to worry less about all the details, and just helped me get good a releasing content. It’s tough, But you got this! Thank you for being here!
Dude, the usage of that clip from the Incredibles at 1:20 is absolute GOLD, and perfectly encapsulates the issue.
Haha! Such a great movie.
Buddy I have spent almost 4 years just learning every single aspect of game design and writing down all the ideas and every single thing I need to do with my own game and it's not even begun yet and I hate it and I want it to be better and yet it's not even a thing yet. I think the problem is sometimes we're so hard on ourselves instead of just having fun making something we're really passionate about that will help push out feelings that we want to express to the player. Just take your time and have fun and also don't hate your old creations honestly be proud of where you started and where you are now
This is great advice. It’s taken a bit to realize that for me, for sure. Thanks for being here!
That's true, I started my project as a very newbie at game development 8 months ago, you can see how it's going on my channel, you need to start making, perfect it at the end
It's like sculpting a perfect pot but in order to do it you have to fuck up like 20 times making the pot and then finally when you make the pot then you can add things into the pot. Wow that really does sum it up. Video game design is just making a pot and cooking perfect soup in it.
Not to mention, you making it perfect right away, means you put restrictions on everything else in the game and affects what you can and can't do in the future. So leaving things unfinished, unperfected, leaves you more flexibility in what you are doing.
Only start perfecting once you have all core features made in some form and then tighten and polish it.
Also, stop putting features in that don't enhance the core gameplay you want to deliver. If you can't find a good reason to add something into your game, don't add it in. It's very likely just a waste of time.
@@GerpidyGerpson i spent like 7 years learning Unity and just switched to Unreal in January. It’s pure passion to learn all this.
I hope this vid gets huge cause every single game dev needs to see this on their very first day. I feel like making multiple, small bad games is the only way to develop one the most important skills, seeing the game as a whole.
I’ve heard a lot of people say this too! Share with every game dev who needs to be reminded-we have to encourage each other!
Yes. When i initially released “Animal Friends Adventure” i had hated it so much by them. Steam showed 2000+ hours of coding, testing, crying. I had quit my day job and buried myself in the office for 10 months of nothing but that game. Then another 2 years updating and localizing to different languages. It was a project of passion and learning.
Now i’m working on another game, an RPG that’s gone through so many iterations. I’m stuck on dungeon crawl vs semi open world. Topdown vs 3rd person.
Was that experience worth the struggle?
@@SoulEngineDev short answer: Yes. while i am not employed in the game industry, what I learned in C#, Python and AI development got me a career in Machine Learning. I still have lots of free time to continue my dreams to make games. I don’t see learning skills as a waste.
Great video!! First project can be really hard as you can get stuck with something not knowing how to make it or you don't have clearly an idea of your game, but the best for me in that cases is to learn what you need when making the project and define your game idea and try to not change it during development
Totally get what you mean! It can be such a mess if you don’t have a plan. Just gotta keep it simple and stick to the game idea! Thank you for being here!
@@SoulEngineDev And yes, that is true!! You're welcome!!
My writing teacher always makes sure to tell me and my classmates like every other week to *not* edit our works as we go. It’s a quick way to get burnt out and overwhelmed and, like you said, edits and fixes should only be done when the story is finished.
Great teacher you have there! I love the 'When the story is finished' moto. Thank you for being here!
I had a huge existential crisis at the beginning of August, I went through this case in the video, I was hating my project because I didn't know what to do anymore and it seemed so basic... I sat down and wrote down everything that was missing, I played for 2 hours to identify things that I could change, and it worked, now I have a list of things to do. I keep a monthly changelog to keep me motivated too, I've been on this project for 8 months and I intend to launch it in 2026, it will be my entry as a game dev, and I want people to have the experience I want to pass on to its highest point.
This is a great idea. I’m glad it’s helped!
2:00 welp I have tons of scraps idea... oh my... I just checked and I had 7 scraps idea this year lol.
This is nice, thanks 🙏
Thank you! And thank you for being here!
thank you for your feedback. im making my first major project now and sometimes i get very frustrade how things are looking bad and those details that drives me crazy... ill stop caring that much for them from now on. i think that we must first make our games comes to reallity so then we start making them precise, prettier or whatever we want.
Keep going my friend. As long as we continue to learn and grow, we will continue to move forward. Thank you for being here!
Super helpful video! Noticed I was doing this recently but then when I went to play some games I liked in a similar genre I noticed that things I'd waste ages on trying to perfect were kept simple and nicely working in those games I like. So that made me realise sometimes it just needs to smoothly work, not be perfect.
I can relate to this so much. When we stop trying to be perfect, it changes the perspective. Keep at it!
there was one game that i hated because not only because of perfection but because i couldn't think of the coding very well, which is bob the blob, cause it is my first go of making my first actual game, i've ended struggling looking for tutorials after tutorials, but it's also me being a one man band wanting to learn everything as solo developer. just dang. like don't get me wrong i've always put the effort in to make new levels or the required mechanics for the game but you don't have that kind of fun when making it, and becomes a struggle to to get back in, then i go of making another project that are smaller and simpler. but yeah i think it comes time down to looking after yourself and your well being, and taking the time to have fun playing games that made you want to be a game developer.
It’s all about the journey, and having fun with it. Thank you for being here!
Started working on my first game a month ago in my free time. I'm a perfectionist so hopefully you saved me some trouble in the future.
Stay vigilante my friend! haha just keep learning, and growing. You got this!
Great video! thanks for sharing this
glad i stumbled upon this.
I as well :)
Thanks, I needed to hear this. I've been getting bogged by trying to get my prototype perfect, but I'm also lacking time due to applying for jobs and other things that are keeping me busy. I need to just get my prototype working and move forward.
I’m glad this resonated with you! It’s awesome that you’re making a prototype but you’re right, it doesn’t need to be perfect. Keep at it!
Okay! I wanna hear all about the games that gave you guys the most trouble! What about them tripped you up, what did you learn from them, and how have you moved forward? Can't wait to hear from you guys!
I am an artist and I hate everything I do.. Until like 10 years later then I look back and I'm like "huh.. it wasn't that bad"
I literally do that as well. Why is this the case, it’s so annoying lol
I can give you a persepective from a Uni student. It's our first major group project. All lecturers/tutors made a huge point to get students focusing on the prototype and level layout + systems. Yet being one of the only groups that decided to tackle a 3D game in unity and needing to sort of write the logic completely from scratch.... when we had our first playtest a lot of people really criticized the lack of feedback and visual cues.
I think that was the point I realised when it comes to 3D vs 2D for some reason people are just more critical. given the 5 week period of working on it I think I spent 3-4 weeks just honing the how the player character moved and provided feedback, camera and respawn to getting it look right, as well as how abilities appeared, selected etc and almost became a detriment to the goal of the project which is funny enough is meant to be about level design.
Yesssss. Continuing to learn, continuing to grow is always the way to go. Keep going!
There is a problem that was much less like 10-15 years ago: there are just so many other Indy games out. Literally thousands. So while perfection should not be the goal, the game must still stand out from the crowd. Perfection in some area (mostly graphics, or a novel mechanic) can just do that. If the game appears lame or has been done 100 times similarly, it will just go under quickly.
I just released my game. And at the end I was tired and feel my game was bad. But it just because I was to much working.
Happens to the best of us!
my issues with gamejams is it always goes the same way, the theme is announced and my inspiration dies
I totally get that, I actually had to start looking at them differently, and started looking at them as more of assignments, which allowed me to detach myself from them more. That sounds counterintuitive, but this really helped me to worry less about all the details, and just helped me get good a releasing content. It’s tough,
But you got this! Thank you for being here!
That video could have had a better timing as I'm polishing for 3 weeks right now without real progress 😂
Haha, keep going! Just remember it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Buddy I'm making a worse no man's sky, because space terrain is a project just by itself 😢
hi again, SoulEngine ^D
There he issssss. haha How are you