Making A Demo

I talk about the single most important thing you can do to hone your skills and get a job in the game industry: make a demo.

Videos I reference

[MrFedefire]

Moral of the story, if you want to be mum's favorite, make a demo

[redvorno]

If you don't know how to make a demo, make a demo

[FEV_REJECT]

Step 1: Have five kids.

Step 2: Evaluate said kids.

Step 3: Make a demo game.

Got it.

[benzzodude]

“Make a demo” makes so much sense to me. It’s basically just showing a potential employer that you have the ability, know-how and straight-up proof that you’re suitable for the job

[philbertius]

Parents won’t stop fighting? Make a demo

[swankzilla]

Tim, you might feel that your writing skills are lacking but let me say that your ability to tie your experiences together into cohesive, entertaining and educational talks is unrivalled. You are an excellent teacher and mentor. If you're just "talking around" notes, you certainly have the gift of the gab :)

[jonathanebrewer]

Tim's parents made three demos before beginning full development. Reviews are mixed on the official release, but critics at least like the "Tim" DLC.

[sevenproxies]

"Learn how to learn". A lot of truth in that.

It's one of the hardest parts of education in my experience. Creating a system that let's you retain knowledge and how to apply it.

Because it can be a very individual thing after all.

Some people learn by absorbing written texts. Others by using mnemonics. A third group need to "learn by doing" to get it to stick.

Some have to write a lot of notes.

[ewwitsantonio]

Absolutely! Trying to make a demo 10 years ago made me realize that I had no clue how to make a demo. I identified a long list of skills I needed to work on. Tried again. Got further, but realized with better accuracy where my weak spots were. Spent a few years on those weak spots. I'm definitely better at making demos now, but still have a ways to go! It's a life long journey for me, personally, and I'm totally okay with that.

[pitchforker]

This channel is blowing up for lots of reasons but I especially love Tim's emphasis to "DO" things and "MAKE" things. Ideas are just vaporware.

[TimothyGordon]

I had the Fallout demo the summer of 1997 and played it over and over again, getting different outcomes and finding different ways to get there.

Imagine how psyched I was to open the full game Christmas morning!

[BasicWorldbuilder]

I appreciate that you put so much effort into answering these questions.
Especially when its something like "how do i get a job in the games industry" when the answer is the same as every job, develop relevant skills and apply 😄

Oh and make a demo.

[colonelb]

This is 100% true not just for game programming but any kind of programming. I'm a senior programmer w/ over 25 years' experience in b2b and web apps, and have done a lot of interviewing and hiring, and I will ABSOLUTELY hire the self-taught person with a demo site/apps over someone with a degree and no demo. The industry changes so fast anyway that whatever you have a degree in is going to be mostly obsolete within 5 years anyway, so it's far more important to show you can learn on your own and figure out how to make stuff than just that you could pass some tests once.

[hpph]

Coming from a different field: I'm reminded of things one of my favorite art professors insisted we do - sketch. Sketches aren't finished works. They're ideas. I'm not talking concept art or anything like that. I mean genuine maybe making a fragment of a person, or the gesture of movement. This was from a high end drawing and composition and life drawing professor. People left his classes crying OR tempered to do better. Yes, there were the assignments he gave that were to be done but he also insisted that we play, as in sketch and keep sketching to develop both a problem solving mindset as well as the endurance for long drawing and being able to put in work equivalent to a regular work week. He would also use the analogy of, "Do you think a world class opera singer doesn't warm up their voice?"
This is my take away from the idea of demos for programmers/game makers, as it is a method to sketch out ideas before even making alpha builds (I may be using this term incorrectly).

[DoctorCurse]

Instructions unclear, made a complete game

[Harry-dhpm]

I released a demo for my game, and it went viral.

I learnt immediately about 3 crash buhs from lers plays. Extremely stressful weekend, and insanely valuable data.

Wishlists also exploded.

[endthepainnowplz]

I’m not a game dev, or anywhere close to being in the industry. I think that these insights are just valuable to know how it all works, and your advice is applicable to a lot of different aspects of life.

[Leinkester]

Hi Tim, I’m sure the stories you tell endlessly to us is just a demo to the one your dog hears 😂 love your vids much love.

[EnterpriseKnight]

It really makes sense. One example that comes to mind is Project Wingman. The guy basically made a demo before a kickstarter and the Ace Combat Community ate it up instantly. It was great. The end result was also amazing.

[proydoha]

If you're afraid of job interviews like I am I have an advice:
Get on as much job interviews as you can. You will get firsthand experience that many job interviews ask more or less the same questions. You will know what to expect on your next job interview and you can come prepared. Also job interviews reveal gaps in your knowledge. So if you fail one you will most likely know why and its a great opportunity to fill that gap.

On topic of self-taught vs education. I was self-taught but job interviews revealed that my knowledge was very disorganized. So to fix this I've attended 3 month long course that sorted garbage pile of my random knowledge into usable structure and after that I was able to land a job easily.

Also as a part of a course it was required to "make a demo". Making a demo and talking in front of everyone why some approaches were chosen vs some different ones was very beneficial.