Try blinking, my eyes hurt from the eye contact

Now this video is very great to kickstart the validation! Me and my team are making a new game, and we kinda need a proper prototype. There aren't many games like it (closest is bannerlord), so we need to make sure it is a good game before starting. However I keep getting stuck spending way too long on the prototype (2 weeks just learning and making multiplayer work in Godot). Do you have any tips to make a good prototype for complex games?

The idea may be great and game may be fully planned but biggest influence on its quality is the small decisions made during its production, mostly balanced like or feeling-polishing like

In the trenches of game development, skill grows like calluses on a boxer's hands - through the doing, not the doubting. Market-chasing is for cowards; true games are forged in the fire of conviction, and their players will come like moths to the flame.

Why arent you blinking bro

Great set of tips!

what if my job goes to 5pm, then im at the gym til 6-7, then dinner, then next thing you know its 9-10 pm :( then time for bed

Thanks for the shoutout, Kyle! Your videos are the perfect morning coffee companion. Keep up the great work! ☕😎

Yo awesome vid thank you for the tips. I’m not even a game dev or working on one I’m just a 3D artist and cook but I saw this pop up and I think these tips apply to a lot more than just game creation. Also 1:40 was the first blink.

I can't make random games and I don't care about making money and use all my money on my own game. How would you get people to join your project without paying them? Who would want to do that?

I am not good at Art, Coding, or coming up with stories or ideas. but darn it I am making a game!

Thank you for the tips!

I shall use my unfair advantage.....

Can you tell me a community where I can post my ideas of games and progresses and and share their feedback??

Cool to see that you're making youtube videos about game dev :) I work just part-time and even that can present a challenge when trying to make meaningful progress on my game with other stuff going on in life. I recently started getting up early to work on my game even though I've never been a morning person. If nothing else, it provides some peace of mind throughout the day because you've already done at least something to move forward your game.

Nice video!

Good point. I also think it's also important to remember that it's okay to take breaks when needed. If you’re not enjoying a particular task, just switch to another one or take a step back when necessary.😄

This advice works for all types of creative work, not just making games 😂

Instant subscribe :D It is interesting that this approach is starting to be seen as controversial (in my experience), where people fall into sunk-cost fallacy, and feel bad about dropping a prototype, or even worse criticizing others for not finishing the project at any cost. So besides prototyping, one needs to be conscious which feedback to take as valid/worth considering.

Very helpful insight!

You do have a point. So many ideas... It not easy task. Trying different type of projects and game modes. One enjoy creating what I love and try the best to make it. But it come down to art design. XD

...and here I am being distracted :D

I keep writing things down, but never go back bc I keep getting ideas 😂

Yes ❤💯. I live and die by idea logs in spreadsheets and Obsidian. Great video, concise, novel, super useful - well done! 🎉

Why do people put 'first' in comments? 🤔 😉

The theory: "Yeah I'm prototyping to see what works best." In practice: "We'Re MaKinG A mETroiDvAniA wiTh pReTty gRaPhiCs"

Honestly every game is a longform prototype. Every rockstar game outside the GTA franchise is just a prototype for the next big GTA. (Especially in the ps2 era) max payne, bully, rdr etc. They were all ways to conceptualize and play test things before they decide whether they belong in the GTA universe.

Another great video! You also reminded me to ensure I had Beyond Astra on my wishlist

Great insights and pretty unique content compared to the rest of game dev KZbin, well done!

I started my game dev journey at 50 with (almost) zero coding knowledge. At the moment it's a hobby, but nothing is stopping me from learning something new. I don't have the ambition to develop commercially successful games. It's all about having fun. That doesn't make it any less of a game dev journey. Success is only defined by you and what your goal is. Yes, at some point I will release my dream game. But that is not my definition of ‘I am a successful Game Dev’. My advice is to follow your dream and don't forget to have fun.

Paper prototyping is not prototyping though... Just literally isn't, because an idea on paper might suck as an actual working gameplay loop. Yes, including paper card game to videogame conversions. Prototyping is building and testing an actual gameplay loop, ie. coding,, to see if it's fun and engaging. Generally with zero time spend on art assets, as they are irrelevant to this process. It is ultimately about which game concept to go with, which main features to focus on. Paper level design sounds like a slight waste of time to me, but might allow to wrap your head around a more concrete and complex level idea I suppose. But with a properly setup level editor or level generator, that stuff is super easy to just implement directly in a game though and go from there. If it's good, you have it pretty much ready for your game. No one wants to hardcode in all levels anyway. Building an editor early on makes a lot of sense. And it would be a separate thing from prototyping completely. In fact, I don't think the focus should be on level design when the core gameplay loop isn't fleshed out yet. There's an order of how or when to implement things. And _yes_ , you can absolutely overhaul everything when a level idea changes the fundamental (gameplay) loop of a game. There's really only one way to prototype. And the hardest and most important part about prototyping was not discussed at all, which is determining and discarding ideas that suck or changing them so they do work.

So true, tho I just have this problem where I want it to be a game in order to create it..

Great video as always man! I know it's not what you specialise in but your videos have been getting decent views. I was wondering if you had any advice on how to get my longform content to get decent views. If you don't have any advice it's fine and i can see you making it big on KZbin soon. KEEP IT UP!!

Solid advice thanks

Solid advice. Burnout is common in most fields, but I see it especially frequently in the gamedev space. Creative work is hard I guess.

Great video!

I also feel that up to a certain age, burnout can pay a toll more easily if you are not aware and spend too much time in front of the computer. When you are younger and there are not adult responsibilities, energy levels are naturaally greater to deal with anxiety.

I just found your channel and while I do like the topics you cover, I have to say that the shorter duration makes your content a lot more convenient to watch and learn from (as opposed to 20+ minute videos I honestly can't be bothered sitting through most of the time).

What game devs skills did you have when you started? 7 months sounds short but I'm curious how much time was invested before that. I'm considering game dev and while I have a few small ideas that make for a decent first game, I'm not sure how much time I'd need to spend on core skills first.

I want to make paper prototypes of stuff I have in mind but I struggle to translate mechanics over to paper unless it's a certain type of game. How are you going to prototype a stealth game on paper? A racing game? Paper prototypes work amazing for stuff that is closer to a board game's feel like RTS games or other forms of strategy, but a flight shooter or something else just doesn't quite fit.

Awesome video, great information. Only thing i'd like to get improved is the audio. There is constant high pitch buzz going on. I was able to watch this on mobile but i bet my ears would had started ringing if i listened this on my pc with decent headset. Hope u can tweak ur settings (noice cancellation or such filter might be enough - or maybe adjust gain level so it doesn't pick sounds as sensibly in case its fan that it picks now), change mic and/or check the wires (it sounded static so source might be loose wire). Audio might be even more important than visuals. People can tolerate pixelated video but if viewer can't understand speaker (not case here but talking in general) or can't listen the full video (might be case here) then that might mean less viewers. Still: ur tips were spot on. Will tune in on this channel in future as well.

Do not even think about releasing your game, if it doesn't have at least 7.000 wishlists. In the games that I released, it was the bar to put my game in the popular upcoming. Wishlists come significantly faster after getting it. If your game can't get to that point, you need to think about how to showcase it, and if you can't think of anything, it means the game is not marketable, shut it and work on a better concept. Best regards! Edit: It's all about the algorithm, the rich get richer is the main concept of Steam, the more sales you have, the more Steam shows your game, and then the more sales you get. That's why, if you can't even make the algorithm to move, there's no point in putting the game there.

This video reminds me of the LEAN Startup. In that you aim to sell a non-existing product then work with your customers to solve problems, to reduce waste - but in this case it's more feedback from the audience and audience building.

Nicely done. Game Developer Magazine, back in the day, would publish a post mortem of an AAA game each issue, and they insisted on a '5 and 5' format - 5 things that went wrong, 5 things that went right - for balance, with an intro and an summary with improvements / actions for the future.

I Haven't played a Fast-paced vehicle combat game in 20 years but i've always wanted to play another decent one. Last 2 played was Interstate 76' and RECOIL

I do think I could learn from writing out a Post-mortem for myself. All my projects are soo small that I do a self-reflection later by sitting down and thinking it over.(I like to do this for the reasons you stated) One of my favorite people to watch for such reasons, is Tim Cain. He's been in the industry since he was 16 (he's about 60 now and is semi-retired) while avoiding the Spider-Man blaming. lol

You know what's funny.. I wanted my first game to be an RPG. What i didn't realize at the time was that RPG's are the end-all of game-development. Even a large number of companies don't make them because they're soo difficult. I still want to make one though soo i'll probably just start with a Dialogue based game.

from what I have seen through youtube game play is that it is very dark. I found the enemies hard to see. The other thing was that there was no mini map. This is pretty standard and was surprised to see it missing.

You mentioned it over multiple videos, but it didn't really hit me until the 3rd video, that i should throw things up on Social Media to see if that Art-style sparks people attention or interest. I've seen ocasional twitter posts explode because the art style or game mechanic was soo amazing. Soo that, combined with you mentioning it... helped me to realize it Consciously

Hiring Contract work for my game? That's actually something i'd love to do. Embarrasingly though... i would need to pick up more 'real life job hours' to be able to afford outside help 😄