25 Game Dev Tips for Beginners (Tips & Tricks)

00:00 Intro
00:14 Clean Code Isn't That Important
00:30 Begin Marketing Before You Start Your Game
01:00 Unity Vs. Unreal Doesn't Matter
01:10 Focus On Your First and Last Level
01:32 Get To The Point With Your Trailer
01:43 Strive To Understand Player Psychology
01:54 Don't Compete With AAA
02:07 Sound Is Half Of Your Game
02:25 Get Feedback From Your Audience ASAP
02:38 Take A Course
03:34 Take A Break
03:46 Release 2 Crappy Games
04:05 Surround Yourself With Successful Game Devs
04:20 Utilize Color Despite Your Talent
04:36 Join A Game Dev Community
04:44 Don't Think About "Gameplay Length"
05:07 Every Game Dev Feels Overwhelmed
05:37 Don't Let Game Devs Make You Feel Stupid
06:05 Multiplayer Is Profitable
06:19 Focus On Streamability
06:40 Use Assets
06:58 Prototype First
07:14 Give Yourself An Hourly Rate
07:42 Focus On A Solid Hook
08:01 Finish A Polished Demo

[Pixel_Entriment]

"Game engine don't make a good game, dedicated game developers did " I like this quote !!!

[Kyjor_]

“Think of games as toys instead of interactive films.” I don’t know if you got that from somewhere else, but that is an amazing quote. I feel like most people see it as the latter

[captainnoyaux]

the 5' part of being overwhelmed is true for everyone being stressed/anxious, (indies and indie game devs are more prone to that due to the nature of their work). Generally you have to learn to enjoy the process especially when it is hard, and telling yourself "I'm OK" is part of making yourself enjoying the process

[LucasStraub]

Hey Thomas, here is some critique about the 25 tips (constructive ones I hope, I love your videos, and this is not to discourage in any way).
First, I feel a lot of those tips are for indie game development due to how they are explained, even tho, there are topics I disagree with:
1. Clean code is super important, even if you are an indie game dev, you often will add features and fix bugs and the less your code is clean, the harder it will be to maintain. And if you later get yourself a partnership, if your code is not clean, it will demand a lot of your time to help other parts work with it.
4. Agree about the first level and disagree about the last. The first level is essential to retain users by hooking them into your game. But the last... A a lot of players will not finish your game, even if they play your game a lot, and preferred to have an enjoyable middle game than an end because it will players will play the most.
16, 19, and 20. These are really dependent on what you want your game to be, and what are your objectives with the project. Sure a viral/streamable game can make a hit, or it can be replayable lots of times, but it doesn't grant the game success or even if is a good game. Actually, I think these three are the most contradicting with your games, Pinstripe and Neversong are personal story-driven games that work super fine and don't have those three aspects. I see that Father became Happy Hotel from this change of mindset and I actually interested to see how it will turn out.

[rexistreves]

I'm actually appreciating your recent series of indie game development videos. A couple of months ago I started my "journey" but it was abruptlly interrupted by my first "real" job, which is office work, so you get the deal.

I'm willing to start again from scratch because in the way my said "journey" was before, I wouldn't achieve much. It was and still is very hard to me, because I've always had a crippiling difficulty learning things all by myself, but I'm aware I need to start somewhere or It's gonna be office work for the rest of my life. Anyways, thanks for these videos and I'm looking foward to watch more.

[TheRealCzechmark]

I love these tips, as they help me stop overthinking and just focus on what is important. And these tips sound important!

[PrescottLawani]

Good stuff, Thomas! I definitely made some beginner mistakes with my first game. I'm glad I learned so much making it, and I will finish it by February 9, 2023, but there are somethings that I wish I considered when I started this first game.

[jeanMvang]

Thank you so much for your videos! I am using your videos to draft a gameplan to release my first crappy game :) by 2023. Thank you so much for helping me rediscover my first passion!!

[goehlergamedev]

1. I think the argument for clean code is not about efficiency - but readability. And readability is by and large something that will benefit yourself. While coding, you'll spend 70% of your time reading code. Mostly your own. So use clean code to make your own life easier 😊

[carloaquino]

"Every game dev feels overwhelmed, " about to join several game jams this month and am scared about the outcome but heck I'm doing it!

[elliottkva]

Your videos are great! Just curious, how much time and detail do you put into your GDD?

[reedemer]

I'm thinking of releasing a game soon so you and your channel are awesome help

[Andy_S]

I have a question. How you are managing your time? You are pumping out videos like bullets off a machine gun, making a game, and take care of your family.

[casadogaspar]

Good advice overall, but as a software developer I must say this

Clean Code is not about performance, it's about code readability and maintenance.

So do all your can to write clean code for yourself in the future, so he can make updates and improvements on your legacy code easily.

Trust me, sometimes I want to punch myself in the face when I look at code I wrote years ago.

[MarquitoPerro]

I didn't know about the twitch integration. Well, I only watch youtube. Thanks for the tips.

[numaanjaved]

Thank you for your content reminder, I am learning from an online course, and yet I am working on my social media attention and retention, I am very weak at it so struggling, working on email module of my own website.

[MonhooGameDevlogs]

Nice tips, thanks
I will try on my games 😁

[matheustavares]

I liked your content, but I'm not able to buy it, now, so I need to wait until I get some money and get started! By now, I'm still working on my game.

[DJaycerOfficial]

As a beginner in high school, I'm currently just making a text-based version of my game. This will be the pre alpha demo of my dream game which I will probably leave alone until I figure out more about how to make an image move on a screen using code. I have plans for a few horror games (One isn't really horror, more like luigi's mansion) which I will start with the basis of fairly soon.

[Jhohanc]

Hey Thomas! I already had full time game dev, will you make black friday offer for 2d and 3d art pro?? Cheers my friend and thank you