The Reality of Game Development

In this video, I discuss my experience with a recent Secret Santa game jam. From team changes to solo development, it was a wild ride. Watch to hear how it went down!

[Iamjake]

Something I learned from my boss actually is to learn enough to be dangerous. You can fill in a lot of gaps with assets. Being able to manipulate those assets in ways that you want is what's more important. Don't focus on becoming a pro on everything, nobody can. Fill in the gaps, but just enough to be dangerous, but become a pro in specific things. Wish you luck!

[realmarsastro]

I've been developing software for almost 7 years, and I've been making games as a hobby for around 10 years.
I think the most important thing when it comes to making video games, it's to not dream bigger than what you're able to achieve. Keep it doable. If you have a habit of dropping off projects, or being intimidated by what you have to do for the project, that's a sign that you're biting off more than you can chew. Scale down (fewer features, simpler systems, shorter playtime), lower the stakes (release for free, don't try too many new things at once, don't put all your eggs in one basket), and stick to what you can actually finish.

Anyone can start projects, anyone can have ideas for huge projects, but actually pulling through requires a lot of knowledge and experience. The only way you can get to a point where you can comfortably do big projects is by doing a hell of a lot of smaller projects first. Projects you finish, stuff where you think "okay, this is done now, there is nothing more to add".

Doing that gradually builds up your experience and confidence, and it lets you occasionally do some slightly bigger projects. Which in turns lets you do even bigger projects. Eventually you'll get to a point where you've made so many games and done so many projects, that doing something bigger feels like it's just a matter of doing a bunch of smaller things you already know how to do, and at that point there is nothing intimidating about it, and the steady progress keeps you motivated to continue. If you can't do it that way right now, don't try to do it that way. Keep making the stuff that gives you an appropriate and non-intimidating challenge, keep leveling up before you try to tackle the main boss. It's all a balancing act of figuring out where you're at, and then taking a tiny step beyond that.

[Fralleee]

Dude, chill. All decisions you make aren't binary. You don't need to quit game development, you also don't need to invest your entire life into it. You can balance stuff how much you want and as much as it fits your life professionally. If you feel demotivated, take a step back and let yourself fall back into it naturally.

[brilliantchicken]

I'm glad to hear that you're not quitting game dev, but I also think you should reconsider tower quest, bro.


The WRONG "lens" is comparing your knowledge to theirs--there will always be someone who knows more than you--that's just how the world is.
Also, as far as those other game developers who "seem" to know more than you, they've likely gone through some hard times too in order to solidify their knowledge.
It's very easy to take notice of a person's success and think "oh, they're just naturally talented" or "they're better than me without having to try", etc, but the reality is they probably went through the same demotivating shit that you're going through right now. As I see it, you're still on your way of leveling up BUT that's only if you get back into the correct mind space and forge ahead.

Another thing I wanted to note => @4:24 you mention your realization that you had a "huge gap" in knowledge. I think that's nonsense. A chef doesn't first look to his kitchen to see what utensils/tools he has to dictate which recipes he can cook. He decides on a recipe first. What I mean is that as long as you have a fully formed idea (at least to pump out a first iteration/version) of a game, you should be able to piece your game together feature-by-feature. Improvements will come as they are needed, so don't get hung up on that. Cultivate the idea first (recipe), then find the right tools (utensils).

Lastly, like the other comments here say--trying to chase after all the knowledge that it takes to create a game completely solo is a dangerous use of time. I understand the desire to try to make a game from total scratch but one of the best things I've done to get over this time consuming hang-up is to ask myself, "Is it more important to ME that I learn/master ALL the tools/aspects that allow me to create a game? Or is it more important to ME that I simply MAKE my game?".

Take small victories and with each new challenge make it a bigger win.

[ssuversa]

bro u seem ambitious & a dreamer, i can see it in your eyes, i hope u read this comment and i hope it might clicks something in u, i am a game developer i have participated in some projects for couple a years doing something i thought i love, and then i have came along to the state that u WERE DESCRIBING, demotivated, wanting to quit, my dream game is just too big for me, but then i said this to my self : "why don't i work on other smaller projects ? and work on my dream game at the same time", or "why don't i work on smaller projects, each project has my craft and it has a main mechanic from my dream game's design", so i started designing my dream game from A-Z, and try to pick up some interesting mechanics from it and make a whole other small game around that mechanic, trust me buddy, starting small is the general rule that works for everyone, (unless u r an exception), so try to work on smaller games, not game jams, release small and slowly build and learn about ur craft buddy till u can mentally and professionally capable of making ur dream game bro, good luck with every step, don't give up, u have a lot of potential bro <3

[hazusuki]

Im a self taught game dev. I've been learning and doing now for about 7 years, working on my first "big" release right now. I've never seen one of your videos before but the honesty and passion that was clearly on display has earned a new sub! Thank you for uploading, I hope progress on the project really excels this week. You got this.

[BossyStudios]

Every time I get discouraged like that, I imagine myself being pushed to my limit and instead of giving up, I work even harder. It's like a last stand where you're in a battle and you still haven't used you most powerful ability - the ability to continue.

Don't think of these obstacles as a giant wall you can't traverse, but rather an obstacle that you WILL overcome either by climbing or going around it AND you WILL get to your finish.

[tommiebennett]

As a fellow YouTuber, I definitely truly understand the work that goes behind the scenes but I new to game development and have no idea how you balance it. Keep it up and enjoy the process. Sidenote this is the first video I’ve seen of you, can’t wait to go. Check out the devlogs

[mdo]

I also participated in the Secret Santa Game Jam. All my santas dissapeared as time went on. My santa letter was very loose. All i wanted was lots of enemies to destroy. The rest was up to the Santa.

I did have a better experience with my giftee. He did play the game and had a lot of fun, sending back a nice message and even giving some constructive feedback. I wish I had more time to polish the game but December is a hectic month for me.

[Strange_Heroes]

I’ve been making games for 15 years, most of that in Unity. I’m a Unity software engineer for a day job. I still don’t know everything.

Here is my advice: Don’t worry about that. Just make games. Don’t make games for other people. Make them for yourself. Make small games. Make quick games. Learn more about your trade while doing them.

Also, 13-14 years ago I also was streaming and making videos while doing game dev. It’s a lot of work. Too much to do both learn how to do game dev while also managing a YouTube content schedule. I decided that I couldn’t do both and stopping producing YouTube videos to focus on game dev.

Sometimes I see all of these channels finding success and wish I kept at it BUT I’m probably a better Software Engineers because I didn’t. There is no single answer but I do feel that you should focus on one thing at a time.

Good luck & don’t forget to have fun.

[KeithMakesGames]

good luck on your project! I'll be here making sure you finish your project brother 😈

[mattjvr]

I'm busy learning game development with my brother, and we're struggling to keep up with all the skills we need. It's tough, but seeing others struggle gives me comfort that at least we aren't alone.

[aleksdeveloper]

Bro you might be the only guy I know in game dev that truly is emotional about games.
I can see huge potential.
I too had same breakdown game after game, failure after failure.
After 7 years I came back to game development and realized I was making so many mistakes I was speechless.
But getting a job as a software developer, allowed me to understand what was really going wrong, especially in project management.
For example, I usually started all projects from scratch.
Meanwhile, now I always start from the previous game I was doing, so I not only don't lose progress, but half of the game is already made!
This meant less work and more production quality.

[MostafaNassar]

Hey man its ok to take a break, you do you first. When you are ready to dive back into making a steam release and churning out videos, the platform will be there ! I also took 1 year off from making videos to learn new skills and improve my art, also shifted the channel identity entirely 😅

[JH-pero]

The learning never really stops. The problem is that if you approach it as "make every type of game" which is what game jams predispose you to, you can never get really deep into any specific type of game, either. And a certain temptation is, "oh, well then I'll just lean on the engine or an asset pack or these tutorials" and that actually doesn't fix it, because programming an interesting, novel game is always going to touch on things that there are no tutorials for, real "computing and art fundamentals" types of stuff where you go outside of what the engine is built for and what you can communicate in terms of straightforward assets. Going to 3D is often a distraction that lets you avoid finishing by expanding the scope. Finishing requires keeping a Venn diagram of "what I want to do, what the project needs technically, what people say they want to see in a game" around and reviewing it to make sure you're still aligned with each other and it's not falling into some kind of contradiction.

When I got burned out by programming, I decided to become a cartoonist, and I think this was good for my sense of what I was doing gaming-wise, not just in a practical sense, but in a: if games are art, what kind of art am I making here? Turns out, the grind needed to do decent drawings is roughly as difficult as the grind needed to learn assembly coding for a retro system. So I'm doing both of those things now.

[simmeringstudios]

Yo man! It was super cool hearing your story and I definitely feel like I can relate to a lot of those points you made, thinking a project will be simpler than it is, bouncing from project to project, realizing you have a lot to learn as a dev, especially compared to other people, YouTube video creation taking up dev time, it's not an easy time for sure. Thanks for sharing. I love hearing stories from other devs in this kind of more candid format, so I just subbed! :) That merchant game sounds cool. Off the top of my head, it makes me think of Moonlighter, but there's a lot of room for exploration there and it will be neat to see what you do with it.

[gaelonaquest]

I am going through the same thing. The game industry is so competitive that over scoping your game to try and make it more interesting is way too easy. And this makes it very intimidating. It's easy to get burned out :(

[noise_dev]

Small steps, one step at the time. Don't put any deadlines if you don't need to. Don't think about finishing the whole project, but just focus on a feature and then another, and another.
I believe that this is the way of going forward and actually succeeding

[nika_]

I've noticed that most succesful indie developers aside from like toby fox have a lot of experience and are typically in their mid twenties already graduated from university. Even the cave story progenitor was 27 upon release. If were talking about musicians youll hear stories like how ryo fukui was 22 when he started learning piano, but he made his first album 6 YEARS later and was grinding the whole time. Time is the most valuable resource that we have as humans, and you cannot buy it back

[SkylerFoxx-GameDev]

Game Jams are a real struggle just because it can be so easy to feel like it's a waste of time when it goes nowhere (whether it means collaborators drop out, the jam somehow ends, etc.) So I definitely feel you there.
Good luck in your future endeavors!