The LIES You've Been Told About Gamedev

In this video, we'll unravel five common myths in indie game development.

From the widely-held belief that starting with your dream game is a recipe for disaster to the notion that certain genres are bound to fail, we challenge these misconceptions head-on.

We'll also explore the role of tutorials, emphasizing a balanced approach to learning, and discuss the importance of quality over gimmicks when it comes to hooking players.

Additionally, we'll shed light on the potential of devlogs to captivate a broader audience, highlighting their role in showcasing the creative process behind game development.

Whether you're a new developer or a seasoned veteran, these insights may offer you a new perspective on some common misconceptions and widespread beliefs about "the right way" to do game dev.

If you're new to our channel, we're Brandon & Nikki from Sasquatch B Studios. We sold our house to start our game studio, and work full time on building our business and making our game Samurado.

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[sasquatchbgames]

Try Codecks & get 30% off their pro plan for the 1st 3 months here: codecks.io/sasquatch

[ryanjdev]

I'm 9 months into learning ue5 and was trying to learn everything I could about making my dream game. Nothing was clicking with me until I started doing game jams. Now I'm 2 jams in an my confidence is threw the roof for my main project . I highly suggest game jams!

[grindalfgames]

I always suggest that a person puts their passion project on hold and make smaller games that work around some of the main mechanics they will need for their passion project. That way not only do they gain experience and confidence they also put finished games under their belt. and when they eventually get to their passion project they have a better idea of what to try and what not to try

[Zertryx]

I slightly disagree with your take on #4. i think the problem here is your personal definition of what a "Hook" is. A Hook doesn't mean something never done before, what it means is something that is attractive and enticing enough to pull people in. All your games you listed do that. Hollow Knight for example its art style is a very big factor into hooking players. similarly so is Ori. Hades the way they did story telling in that game made it one of its biggest hooks. So I do think your game needs passion and I think this is what most people are referring to when they say a game needs a "Hook" it needs to show some sort of love and care and a PART of it needs to stand out and catch peoples attention aka a Hook. But a hook can be something that isn't new. it just has to be personalized.

[Strange_Heroes]

Celeste didn’t come out of nowhere. It was made by an already successful group of developers (Towerfall) who had a NOT INSIGNIFICANT amount of insider connections in the indie game “community”.

[ccl]

Great video! Here are my personal contributions to each note, based on my own experience as a small indie designer.

1) Do make your first game in the genre or subject matter of your dream game, but don't make it in the scope of your dream game. Do stick to the subject matter you want to see built into a dream game- it will keep you focused so you can grind your skills.

2) Pay attention to statistics, facts, and trends from time to time- they do reflect current truths. But if you're making all your design decisions about what will give the best return on investment, I don't like you.

3) Watch as many tutorials as you want. But be careful who you listen to. And second, you are honestly going to save yourself way more time if you buy a good course, or book, from someone with a career, or better, a degree. Drop the "college is for chumps" nonsense if you value your time. Also, if you watch some tutorials or take some courses, apply your knowledge with an experiment or small project 2 to 3 times.

4) You don't need a literal hook, but you do need to maintain player interest. People do have bad attention spans these days. Maintain contact with your player long enough for them to become intrinsically motivated. Also, literal hooks do become more important in narrative based games.

5) If you want to share on Youtube, do it. But be aware that it costs time as well. Make sure to focus on your game more than making videos about your game.

Good luck on your projects, everyone!

[Konitama]

I agree on a lot of this. Especially to attempt to make your dream game as your first game. You are going to have the most passion for your dream game, so you will have the most motivation to make that game, specifically. If or when you fail, you learn what your limits are and know what you need to do to either surpass those limits or rework the game to be within your limits, or even know that you'll need to hire a team to make your dream game a reality.

I also fully agree that you should market your game to other devs. I think it's nonsense that people tell you "other devs aren't your target audience" because like... hello? We buy games too! I don't get the weird disconnect of thinking indie game devs don't play or buy other games... Not only have I bought dozens of indie games from devs I've followed on social media, but I've also backed other indie games on Kickstarter.

[flamart]

Always start with your dream game, that way you'll fail pretty quickly and get that you need to learn a lot of things first. If you continue, eventually you'll learn everything you need to make it, probably after a decade or more decades. Anyway, you can use separate knowledge about your dream game for smaller games.

[OandCoGames]

I'm glad you said this. You challenge public opinion here in a way that strikes up healthy conversations rather than expanding on our all-to-common echo chambers.

[AlpacaHacker]

I agree with some of these, but also want to point out that the majority of the 'lower' performing genres (pixel platformers, puzzles games, etc) are, relatively, easier to make and design than, say, a good 4X game. I think this is why when there is a good 4X game it gets traction. Having said that releasing into those underperforming genres just means that there is a lot more competition and if your game doesn't stand out (which as a first game it won't) it will be buried. Celeste wasn't made as a first game. Attempting to make your first game your dream game just means that you will end up after 18 months demoralized and less than half way through. Everyone wants to make the next GTA or whatever but those games take years with a very large team. Scoping is a thing and if your (first) game is going to take you more than a year then you need to descope it. This might mean that it's not like the game you wanted to make, and some people, understandably, don't want to compromise on their dream game. Make and release small games in a short period, it will bring confidence, teach you all about failure and give you the experience to make that dream game.

[Olematonnimi]

All of those games have amazing art as hook. Except maybe Vamp Survivors, but it had an extremely cheap prize at the time.

[serenegeneration]

Ive actually been thinking about this a lot. Tutorial hell isn't just a thing for game developers but gamers too. I may do a detailed video on it but even myself in games we all go to tutorials first unstead of using our brains. Even when it comes to simple things like figuring out ui instead of uding oyr eyes.

[goldone]

Agree with most of what youre saying, other than with your point on making your dream game. Yes, failing hard is a good lesson but for some this can take long to realise and may discourage them for good. I am convinced the best path is to learn the very basics through a more organised course, and then jump straight into a game jam, where you'll be forced to cobble things together. Then you can try your dream game and fail if you want

[Surkk]

I honestly wish I could get the passion needed to start making games again, but it's honestly not easy when I am aware that my weakest aspect is understanding coding and that is about 75% of the job. Also good to know confidence is another aspect since I can't figure that out either...

[Beets_Creations]

Great video! I agree with every point you made! Especially the dream game thing. Besides even if you fail at making your dream game it's not like you can't make it again.

[whorubeta]

Oh this is interesting - thanks for this video! So important!
I want also say something about that.
1. "Don't make your dream game" - heard so often ..well if its a new GTA then no you shouldn't :D But mostly you can try and if you fail you make other games...and maybe..you come back later after years and know why you failed and can try it again.
2. "Pick the right Genre" - i would say pick the genre of games you want to make. I heard some days ago the advice and it makes total sense..why would a guy who makes rock music switch to hip hop because its more trendy ? He have no passion for it. So here is it: make the game in the genre you want to make. Celeste is a great example! Before celeste came out there where guys who advice in a GDC talk to not make a puzzle platformer :D And then celeste was there.
I also love making platformers - i also make other games but platformers are my passion.
3. Yeah this is Tutorial Hell - but if you start gamedev you need to understand whats going on. I think instead of saying "dont use tutorials" its better so say "try what you learn directly on your gamedev workflow". When i use tutorials i have a project that i want to make and instead of using the assets and stuff i try directly to use this tutorial to make my game.
5. Absolutely - i love devlogs and i have added many games to wishlist and bought them because they were great. I also plan to make devlogs as i would love to share how is my game coming along :)

[scotmcpherson]

My first game project outside of tutorials was an MMO. It still is. 4 years later I am still working on it. Though, I did start over again when I switched from Unity to Godot in September. Even so, I am farther along with my project in Godot than I ever was in Unity.

[jipjomon]

The others are fine, but I think number 2 is pretty silly, that's textbook survivorship bias. It's fine to just make whatever if you're doing it exclusively as a hobby, but if you are sincere about wanting to have a stab at make a living, telling yourself "well Hollow Knight was successful, so my metroidvania isn't going to get swamped by the one hundred other (probably better) indie metroidvanias released on the same day" is just burying your head in the sand.

[ClaytonElam]

This! Thanks for putting this out there. You did a great job at breaking down these topics for beginners. You are right, it is hard to understand a lot of the advice many of these channels are giving without the background or experience that teach these lessons the hard way. Keep up the good work.

[threeqs]

I enjoyed this video. Thank you. Felt honest and I appreciated that. I love your channel. Thank you.