I often found myself starting large 3D environments and never finishing them, and then one day I stumbled on Jeff Parrott post where he said that small dioramas are good example of a good scope for a personal portfolio piece. I always knew that somewhere back in my head but stupid large projects and my passion for world building just pulled me away from logical thinking lol...
I just finished (more like quit early) on my 36 page comic book. It was too ambitious for me. I need to go back to studying art fundamentals for a while. Great video as always, Trent!
Reminds me of an argument I had in high school. A guy was like "you car is shit I'd have a Corvette." And I was "ok but you don't have a car so mine is better than yours." Then he was "But I'd have a Corvette." And it went around and around for ages. Sometimes it's good to have a shit thing in front of you than a pipedream that never happens.
I think I've watched that video called "When Your Dreams Seem Impossible and Hopeless" 20 times since I remember leaving a comment on a video of yours and you proceeded to quote my comment word for word in the video and a few others who were making indie games and were falling into the self talk trap. Social media clout chasing led me to getting almost no game dev done for most of 2022 - fan art pieces were getting loads of likes compared to the indie game, and I believe I complained about seeing another indie game developer getting thousands of followers on Twitter within 3 months while after 2 years at that point I had less than 1000. On the flip side, those fan concept art pieces did implement what your gumroads teach and dramatically sped up my process and helped me create an art style designed for social media flashiness and speed and later helped create an art and animation style to speed up the game dev side - I went from spending 12 hours on a piece to 4-5 hours without losing quality. Cheating and taking shortcuts as much as humanly possible without losing visual quality is what I'm shooting for. Things like using 3D models with some material shaders in Blender to animate boss enemies and certain vehicles and enemies too complex to animate by hand, creating background assets in greyscale to cut out having to immediatly decide the color scheme of an environment since gradient maps exist. Intentionally doing things like having a specific set of brushes I use on animated characters,props and tilesets and backgrounds, sticking to limited color palletes made in Aesprite ripped from screenshots of my favorite games, etc. I did notice that taking a break and traveling/living in a different country for a month subsequently led to me getting more done in 9 months than in the first 3 years of development - probably because I want to kick the current game out the door ASAP and move onto the next game that's inspired by the country's history, culture and mythology I stayed in. Hint: it's the same country that Hades and the PS2 God of War games milk for inspiration.
One thing that helped me the most is doing game jams. It allowed me to learn to finish games in time, learn to cut stuff out and focus on the essential. I also made some meaningful connections along the way!
I started a while ago solo gamedev journey thanks to GDevelop engine which has relatively easy visual scripting. It's really good to try it yourself because you can fully realize how even simplest game can actually be super complex. Overall I always really liked more realistic mature narratives but it doesn't match quite well simple style of games that are easy to make at the beginning. I learned though to pick first whatever I can finish and just give it more personal twist. So far I finished a simple endless runner game which is now published on itch and this is now my first stepping stone towards something more ambitious in the future.
Not exactly related. but watching how you completely re-sculpt the face of a character / feel out / completely and utterly change the tone of their expression is endlessly fascinating
I'm starting a project with a co-worker and this is pretty close to our actual scope lol Make something not that big, and the goal is to finalize it. And the roles I already felt that, as a designer I had to start doing many things around design, art and animation to establish the bases, while the programmer have to start thinking about everything we want to do!
Hey Trent, thanks so much for responding! This was super helpful and encouraging to hear! You gave so much helpful advise and covered a lot of ground here. Luckily Im working with a programmer and have some prior experience, but your totally right, Metroidvanias are waaaay bigger than you'd think they'd be. It was motivating to hear that story about the devs that released their first game, then took what they learned from that game and made an even better one. I think I gotta realise this is my first commercial release, I gotta scope in and just enjoy the process like you said. Thank you again! Cheers!
Hey man, I used to animate against you in the monthly challenges in the animation guild and have been following you since then, even the most current UA-cam dev logs. Loving the work so far man! You can totally finish your awesome game!!
Man this is a tough issue for me because usually when I do things its super bipolar: it's either im trying too much or i'm not trying hard enough. If theres a middle ground somewhere where someone can be successful but also not get overwhelmed by too much ambition they can't achieve, I still have no clue how others manage to reach that lol I have no other choice but to do everything else on my own too due to personal circumstances (and I honestly like working alone more anyway), and I was very much raised in a place where in learning new skills I had to improve in large dramatic steps rather than small gradual ones because it was just * that * super meritocratic and it was the only way to survive.
For my game, I do art, scripting, mechanics, the whole script, character design, sound design, and some of the music. It doesn't cause ANY moral problems as long as YOU LOVE what YOU're doing. AND AS LONG AS YOU UNDERSTAND, it won't be fast. And my game is a party RPG with a voluminous plot and a lot of variability in the play through)) I have also written 11 published books. I'm finishing the 12th))) Just do it! Don't reflect. Set tasks and complete them on time.
@@TrentKaniuga My first project was Disciples III Resurrection. A small studio with a total of 8 people +\- the basement of a minimarket on the outskirts of Moscow. It was easier there, where I only dealt with the narrative and the script. In close conjunction with level designers and game designers. With artists only at the stage of designing the main characters and creating commercials. Yes, not everything turned out as we wanted. But it was there that I realized exactly what I like to do besides writing books) I learned how to draw, understand code, create music and sound effects, and chose a simple and flexible engine to get the most pleasure in the process) Sometimes I think that it would be good to have a team. Just like in the old days. But those guys... let's just say that my political views did not coincide with them (I have always been nothing but a patriot of my country). And someone said goodbye to gamedev forever. Only in my rhythm, no one has time to work. I had an artist. But he slowed down the work so much that I had to part with him and learn myself. It turned out faster))) As it is, I am a solo developer.
@@TrentKaniuga That's why I love your advice, sunshine. Mine tend to suit mostly well... me. But my one piece of advice is relevant for everyone - not to be afraid, not to fill your head with doubts, but to do it. We Russians have a saying - eyes are afraid, but hands do.
I'm trying to get back to a lot of the way that I used to make videos as well. Just a casual peek into my everyday work that I'm doing, with less edited video cuts. Its been fun, and I'm glad that you're on board!
@@TrentKaniuga Thank you Trent! I gotta admit I gave up on professional art a long time ago but I still watch your content religiously. Makes me feel good about art and games in general and I can't wait to play Twilight Monk!
Thank you for sharing this knowledge :) It is a very easy trap to get started on projects too ambitious for our skills and get discouraged. Thinking smaller and finishing a project is indeed a hard pill to swallow sometimes but ultimately the reward is so much more valuable 😊 Great lesson! 🌞✨
Yes! thank Yee for this. I’m working on a visual novel with this organization (I’m just working on the script for now) and I’m happy you posted this. ❤ patience is the name of the game.
Awesome advice and it's so true for both game development, art, and comics. A quick side question for you since you mentioned comics and the advice on starting small projects. This is what I'm personally trying to do and I'm definitely a new comic maker and there's so much I'm learning as I go, so it makes me curious about how as you became more experienced in making your own comic projects what parts of comic making did you find "holy heck I didn't realize just how important understanding this skill is for doing this" is? There's so many things a person needs to learn like obviously how to tell a good complete story, page layout, pacing, panel design, ect. It's crazy! So like I said I'm curious what you found in your experience. Hope it's not a silly question! Thanks for reading and great video as always!
I love these portraits! They have so much personality - I really can't wait to play your game. ~ The scope of a project is really the deciding factor - I'll have to size my current project down by a few pages to finish in time... but maybe that's a good thing. I really struggle with finishing stuff, so I really want to finish this project and still be proud of it. As always, you are an inspiration! Thanks, Trent! :)
Thanks Trent! Another practical video. Just thought I would let you know that I found your channel a year or so ago while I was in a big life transition. It inspired me to go to school and try to put my artistic talent to work for me. It was a bit intimidating being over 40 and starting over. I've been learning to master 3d modeling and game workflow. I'm a year in on my final project and I haven't quit yet, and it's partially your fault! Thanks man keep it up, bring the truth. You mention finding people to work with. As a guy doing an at your pace schooling, where should I start looking for people to collaborate with?
Hey trent, is art school really worth it? I am a self taught artist but I am confused right now if I should pursue my degree in design. I am considering joining some online courses which provide valid certificates and enhancing my skills as much as I can. But it's a gamble and I don't know what I should choose.
I often found myself starting large 3D environments and never finishing them, and then one day I stumbled on Jeff Parrott post where he said that small dioramas are good example of a good scope for a personal portfolio piece. I always knew that somewhere back in my head but stupid large projects and my passion for world building just pulled me away from logical thinking lol...
Learning how to delegate is a skill that many people need.
I just finished (more like quit early) on my 36 page comic book. It was too ambitious for me. I need to go back to studying art fundamentals for a while. Great video as always, Trent!
Reminds me of an argument I had in high school. A guy was like "you car is shit I'd have a Corvette."
And I was "ok but you don't have a car so mine is better than yours."
Then he was "But I'd have a Corvette."
And it went around and around for ages.
Sometimes it's good to have a shit thing in front of you than a pipedream that never happens.
I think I've watched that video called "When Your Dreams Seem Impossible and Hopeless" 20 times since I remember leaving a comment on a video of yours and you proceeded to quote my comment word for word in the video and a few others who were making indie games and were falling into the self talk trap. Social media clout chasing led me to getting almost no game dev done for most of 2022 - fan art pieces were getting loads of likes compared to the indie game, and I believe I complained about seeing another indie game developer getting thousands of followers on Twitter within 3 months while after 2 years at that point I had less than 1000.
On the flip side, those fan concept art pieces did implement what your gumroads teach and dramatically sped up my process and helped me create an art style designed for social media flashiness and speed and later helped create an art and animation style to speed up the game dev side - I went from spending 12 hours on a piece to 4-5 hours without losing quality. Cheating and taking shortcuts as much as humanly possible without losing visual quality is what I'm shooting for. Things like using 3D models with some material shaders in Blender to animate boss enemies and certain vehicles and enemies too complex to animate by hand, creating background assets in greyscale to cut out having to immediatly decide the color scheme of an environment since gradient maps exist. Intentionally doing things like having a specific set of brushes I use on animated characters,props and tilesets and backgrounds, sticking to limited color palletes made in Aesprite ripped from screenshots of my favorite games, etc.
I did notice that taking a break and traveling/living in a different country for a month subsequently led to me getting more done in 9 months than in the first 3 years of development - probably because I want to kick the current game out the door ASAP and move onto the next game that's inspired by the country's history, culture and mythology I stayed in. Hint: it's the same country that Hades and the PS2 God of War games milk for inspiration.
One thing that helped me the most is doing game jams. It allowed me to learn to finish games in time, learn to cut stuff out and focus on the essential. I also made some meaningful connections along the way!
I started a while ago solo gamedev journey thanks to GDevelop engine which has relatively easy visual scripting. It's really good to try it yourself because you can fully realize how even simplest game can actually be super complex. Overall I always really liked more realistic mature narratives but it doesn't match quite well simple style of games that are easy to make at the beginning. I learned though to pick first whatever I can finish and just give it more personal twist. So far I finished a simple endless runner game which is now published on itch and this is now my first stepping stone towards something more ambitious in the future.
Not exactly related. but watching how you completely re-sculpt the face of a character / feel out / completely and utterly change the tone of their expression is endlessly fascinating
I'm starting a project with a co-worker and this is pretty close to our actual scope lol
Make something not that big, and the goal is to finalize it.
And the roles I already felt that, as a designer I had to start doing many things around design, art and animation to establish the bases, while the programmer have to start thinking about everything we want to do!
it's funny, i clicked this video hoping to take some tips from an art project so I can apply it to game dev - but here we are
Hey Trent, thanks so much for responding! This was super helpful and encouraging to hear! You gave so much helpful advise and covered a lot of ground here. Luckily Im working with a programmer and have some prior experience, but your totally right, Metroidvanias are waaaay bigger than you'd think they'd be. It was motivating to hear that story about the devs that released their first game, then took what they learned from that game and made an even better one. I think I gotta realise this is my first commercial release, I gotta scope in and just enjoy the process like you said. Thank you again! Cheers!
Hey man, I used to animate against you in the monthly challenges in the animation guild and have been following you since then, even the most current UA-cam dev logs. Loving the work so far man! You can totally finish your awesome game!!
@@Infa-N8 Thanks so much thats awesome!
I couldn't imagine trying to make a game by yourself - SO MUCH WORK.
i miss seeing your scifi concept art bring it back when you can!
Man this is a tough issue for me because usually when I do things its super bipolar: it's either im trying too much or i'm not trying hard enough. If theres a middle ground somewhere where someone can be successful but also not get overwhelmed by too much ambition they can't achieve, I still have no clue how others manage to reach that lol
I have no other choice but to do everything else on my own too due to personal circumstances (and I honestly like working alone more anyway), and I was very much raised in a place where in learning new skills I had to improve in large dramatic steps rather than small gradual ones because it was just * that * super meritocratic and it was the only way to survive.
For my game, I do art, scripting, mechanics, the whole script, character design, sound design, and some of the music. It doesn't cause ANY moral problems as long as YOU LOVE what YOU're doing. AND AS LONG AS YOU UNDERSTAND, it won't be fast. And my game is a party RPG with a voluminous plot and a lot of variability in the play through)) I have also written 11 published books. I'm finishing the 12th))) Just do it! Don't reflect. Set tasks and complete them on time.
Thats amazing! I think my advice was more for folks who are just getting started. Were your first projects much smaller in scope?
@@TrentKaniuga My first project was Disciples III Resurrection. A small studio with a total of 8 people +\- the basement of a minimarket on the outskirts of Moscow. It was easier there, where I only dealt with the narrative and the script. In close conjunction with level designers and game designers. With artists only at the stage of designing the main characters and creating commercials.
Yes, not everything turned out as we wanted. But it was there that I realized exactly what I like to do besides writing books) I learned how to draw, understand code, create music and sound effects, and chose a simple and flexible engine to get the most pleasure in the process)
Sometimes I think that it would be good to have a team. Just like in the old days. But those guys... let's just say that my political views did not coincide with them (I have always been nothing but a patriot of my country). And someone said goodbye to gamedev forever. Only in my rhythm, no one has time to work. I had an artist. But he slowed down the work so much that I had to part with him and learn myself. It turned out faster))) As it is, I am a solo developer.
@@TrentKaniuga That's why I love your advice, sunshine. Mine tend to suit mostly well... me. But my one piece of advice is relevant for everyone - not to be afraid, not to fill your head with doubts, but to do it. We Russians have a saying - eyes are afraid, but hands do.
You da best, Trento, Lord Jesus bless, my friend!
Now I'm really curious to know what you said about Elden Ring 😅
I just wanna say... I love that intro man! Thanks for bringing back that music!
I'm trying to get back to a lot of the way that I used to make videos as well. Just a casual peek into my everyday work that I'm doing, with less edited video cuts. Its been fun, and I'm glad that you're on board!
@@TrentKaniuga Thank you Trent!
I gotta admit I gave up on professional art a long time ago but I still watch your content religiously. Makes me feel good about art and games in general and I can't wait to play Twilight Monk!
Thank you for sharing this knowledge :) It is a very easy trap to get started on projects too ambitious for our skills and get discouraged. Thinking smaller and finishing a project is indeed a hard pill to swallow sometimes but ultimately the reward is so much more valuable 😊 Great lesson! 🌞✨
Yes! thank Yee for this. I’m working on a visual novel with this organization (I’m just working on the script for now) and I’m happy you posted this. ❤ patience is the name of the game.
Awesome advice and it's so true for both game development, art, and comics. A quick side question for you since you mentioned comics and the advice on starting small projects. This is what I'm personally trying to do and I'm definitely a new comic maker and there's so much I'm learning as I go, so it makes me curious about how as you became more experienced in making your own comic projects what parts of comic making did you find "holy heck I didn't realize just how important understanding this skill is for doing this" is? There's so many things a person needs to learn like obviously how to tell a good complete story, page layout, pacing, panel design, ect. It's crazy! So like I said I'm curious what you found in your experience. Hope it's not a silly question! Thanks for reading and great video as always!
I love these portraits! They have so much personality - I really can't wait to play your game. ~
The scope of a project is really the deciding factor - I'll have to size my current project down by a few pages to finish in time... but maybe that's a good thing. I really struggle with finishing stuff, so I really want to finish this project and still be proud of it.
As always, you are an inspiration! Thanks, Trent! :)
Thanks Trent! Another practical video. Just thought I would let you know that I found your channel a year or so ago while I was in a big life transition. It inspired me to go to school and try to put my artistic talent to work for me. It was a bit intimidating being over 40 and starting over. I've been learning to master 3d modeling and game workflow. I'm a year in on my final project and I haven't quit yet, and it's partially your fault! Thanks man keep it up, bring the truth.
You mention finding people to work with. As a guy doing an at your pace schooling, where should I start looking for people to collaborate with?
there is a game dev channel on my discord. That’s a start. Also, you could look up indie game dev forums on Reddit (if you dare to use Reddit!)
not over my head > ,. > its just i spend all my energy on stupid work to survive and I do my projects on the side
We were working on small game 2 yrs and no even close to finish it 😅
Hey trent, is art school really worth it? I am a self taught artist but I am confused right now if I should pursue my degree in design. I am considering joining some online courses which provide valid certificates and enhancing my skills as much as I can. But it's a gamble and I don't know what I should choose.
Every project is too ambitious if youre lazy enough.
So many videos! I'm here for it. Loved this one too
Thank you!
hey man,is there any video in your account which talks about finding your art style? if not,,im looking forward to hear it from you!!