100 Gamedev Tips for New & Aspiring Game Developers [100th Episode Special!]

[@AskGamedev]

Thanks for watching, and thanks again to all of the devs who submitted their tips! Be sure to check out the description for links to all of their work. For more Ask Gamedev, check out this playlist of our gamedev interviews: kzbin.info/www/bejne/kKXbeGiYjbJlnK8

[@anewbeginning277]

After weighing you, is it possible to sell a game on gaming platforms such as uplay, Steam, and GOG? Please reply back and thank you.

[@theulfhednar2655]

Discord link doesn't work :(

[@kristian_personal]

My tip is in the video, so happy tho I dont know anymore what my tip was XD

[@AskGamedev]

Thanks for participating!

[@Cheeseness]

Thanks for inviting me to participate, and thanks to everybody who contributed. Congratulations on 100 videos! -Cheese

[@AskGamedev]

Hey Cheese, thank you and thanks again for your great tip!

[@codinginflow]

Many of these tips can not only be applied to game dev, but to life in general 👍

[@pyt3z]

Agreed

[@Cryptic0013]

The "marketing" tip from Dan is so crucial. So often I see games on Steam or in bundles and ask myself "What the heck even is this game?" and "Who was this *made* for?" It's easy to get caught up in your passion project and let it become a vanity project.

[@severestudios4039]

Thanks for including my tip. This video was filled to the brim with great advice for all game developers! I’ll be coming back to this again and again to gain more insight. I’m having a massive brain overload! 😅

[@gaminking007]

Same.

The "avoid burning out" part is especially true if you already managed to do a game big enough that takes you well over a year to complete... as your first project as well... and that you are doing in your free time after the job that keeps the food on the table. :D In a way I wish I had read some beginner tips early on, but at least I can tell myself that I am playing the thing on hardcore difficulty. :D With some (always approx 1 month) breaks I had like 3 or 4 of these breaks already... and I learned to accept these as a part of the process, because the more I forced myself to work on it despite not wanting to, the more I half-assed certain aspects of the game, and I had to come back to them and fix them later on anyways. Better take time, remember, you're not owned by EA, you can release when you want. :)

[@AskGamedev]

That's great advice - thanks for sharing your gamedev story!

[@ArtofWEZ]

I appreciate how you included tips that contradict each other, it shows not all solutions are set in stone for every kind of developer. Congrats on the 100 vids and thank you for all the work you do.

[@muddasheep]

These tips are all amazing! One tip I'd add is: Start using version control as soon as you set up your new game project (i.e. git), and commit early and often.

[@AskGamedev]

Thanks for the additional tip!

[@Kevintendo]

@@AskGamedev is this only possible/applicable for games you distribute yourself?

[@JimiCanRead]

@@Kevintendono

[@Hobbitstomper]

I'm a web dev (non-game related) and pretty much everything applies to my work as well.

[@frogrammer7954]

Hey! Thanks a lot both channel and everyone who tipped! All of them were really useful and I’ll be back there for some tips to listen again, glad to be mentioned)

[@BurgosGames]

Sweet. Thanks for selecting my tip! 100 great tips here, great episode! Keep up the good work!

[@AskGamedev]

Thanks so much for sending it in, and good luck with Neko Ghost, Jump!

[@VtheFifth]

We need genuine tips like this channel

[@OnyeNacho]

This turned out to be a very great video! I had not expect my tip to even make it with such traffic of users the server has! Thank you!

[@JacobKinsley]

"when you see a blank page, put something down (in regards to code). Nothing you see that's good was the first attempt" I so needed to hear that lol. I'm not a perfectionist I just hate writing code that's going to be hard to adapt later, instead of having "go forward when w pressed" I'll make "when input player forward is held down and player is on ground and dot product is less than Player_ground_normal_vector_cross_product_threshold_min_for_move_forward" and to make input player forward instead of hard coding it I'll make a custom key bind menu which means making a main menu to access it, which means designing a ui, which means making some art, and on top of that I want the ui to be responsive to different aspect ratios, and sound effects for each button, I need to assign each sound effect to a menu in the options which lists all sound channels, then store it all in a config file, I create a million nested subcategories for options in the config file, it's been 3 days and I've forgotten what I was even going to make the game about, and the code is still not perfect so I can't reuse it, my breath stinks etc.

[@1_Man_Media]

Great video as always. I think tip 28 was the best one, but I might be a little bias since it was my tip ^^. All joking aside I am honored to have had my tip included in your video, I love you guys / gals and the community you have created has been really helpful for me in my game dev journey. All the best, and I look forward to the next content drop :)

[@Just_Poncho]

CONGRATS ON 100 VIDEOS!

[@d.r1775]

Thank you ask game dev for existing, if i goin to lose the motivation you always upload the video that I need to continue this difficult journey. And thanks for all the community tips and tricks, it's helping to the other to not feeling alone in this Journey. Work hard, play nice.

[@KingbladeGames]

Glad my advice got in, hopefully it will help some of you out there (:

[@shoostudios2767]

Thanks for including our tip! Hopes it helps some developer out there :)

[@AskGamedev]

Thanks again for your tip!

[@Magixxar]

My situation is similar to the those Cuba guys... I was having a very bad time lately and was very depressed. Watching this really helped reignite the passion to continue Thank you so much

[@AskGamedev]

That team is super inspiring - really glad that they were able to reignite your passion!

[@UghTske]

I loved the tips! Going into game development has been a dream of mine but I've never had anyone to talk to about it so I truly knew very little. These tips have helped to really solidify my dream and direct me on how I should proceed in the future!

[@jamiemorrison2389]

Same here. I am working on bigger and bigger practice games and the logic on even some small features can melt my brain. It's great to see other people's brains are being melted also and it's not just me 'not getting it'. I take heart and soldier on, watching these videos and learning a bit at a time.

[@blaze_kick]

I'll be revisiting this video continuously for motivation for sure! Now if only we could make these tips into a desktop background slideshow...

[@aivisv_]

Great video, thank you :) Only thing I would have liked to see a bit more of would have been "art / writers block" or basically the problem where your development slows down / stops, because you're not sure what to do next. Something that I would probably divide into 2 issues: 1) The usual problem of having "too many things to do / work on" or decisions to make - feeling overwhelmed by the amount of things you need to focus on, that you end up not getting anything done. 2) Not knowing what to do with the game / design or in what direction to take it - Something I've been having a hard time with as I'm mainly about gameplay and presentation. Knowing how the entire game should play out, while having a hard time to come up with the things "in between" that actually make up the game (outside of the few key things you do know) The best solution for [2] in my case was to just not think about it that way. Rather than try to figure out all of those questions at once, I will just collect small ideas. Realize them in-game and try to build up the game from those. Be it smaller scenarios or whole missions / puzzles / etc.. Maybe that sounds super obvious to some, but it's something I've been kinda struggling with for a good amount of time XD ... also for [1] - it's basically just getting yourself to work on something or anything, really. Prioritizing is important, but if you really dont feel like working on the most important parts right now - then don't. I found it to be a lot more enjoyable and fulfilling to work on just something I feel like working on, rather than always just focusing on the "high priority" stuff, which can get boring after a while. Just do something you feel like doing. Like right now I'm just creating some simple 3D placeholder character models, simply because I felt like doing some modeling / animations, because having characters represented as "cubes" in a Prototype just doesn't feel super engaging.

[@AskGamedev]

Thanks for sharing your gamedev experience! We can definitely try to look at addressing both of those scenarios in a future video.

[@jamdonut]

thanks guys, and everyone who contributed.

[@StrayCatInTheStreets]

Honestly these are all core tenants of software delivery

[@lakeviewgames2975]

As always, great advice! Thanks a lot for this video 😁and congrats on the 100th video 😎

[@jessestewart5109]

This is a goldmine of advice.

[@AskGamedev]

Thanks Jesse!

[@cyomo]

Thanks again for featuring me and StoryArcana!

[@AskGamedev]

Thanks again for submitting your tip! Looking forward to StoryArcana!

[@cheesemastergames4017]

So many good tidbits in here! You guys are amazing!

[@AskGamedev]

Thanks for popping by, and thanks again for sharing your gamedev tip!

[@blossomghuntla4525]

I have been in the Indian industry for 5 yrs now, I learnt programming, became partial generalist, and I am looking forward to develope a game. you guys are doing an awesome job keep it up 🤩

[@AskGamedev]

Thanks so much and good luck on your making your game!

[@stewartdahamman]

How is the Indian industry? I hear global demand for Indians is high and they cant be produced quickly enough.

[@blossomghuntla4525]

Honestly from my 9+ yrs of exp in India, we lack direction, we only produce good or great work when we team up with clients like ILM or EA, because they are streamlined. We in India hardly have any pipeline unfortunately so if the work is given to small indie studio it takes time, because there is a steep learning curve, but we like learning and plus cheap market that is why we are growing rapidly, I guess😊. this is my take.

[@HelperWesley]

These are some awesome tips/ideas. I'll definitely use these in games I make in the future. Thanks. :)

[@denysuhendraproject5251]

THANK YOU. THIS IS SOMETHING WORTH TO LEARNING FROM

[@ShadeMeadows]

CHEESEMASTER!!~ My friend is on the video! * *PROUD*

[@themysteriouscrimestudios4493]

As Always You Guys ARE AMAZING!!!!!

[@000Gua000]

I like your music choice for this video.

[@mauriciocortespersonal]

100 thanks!

[@MrKingJavo]

Tip #89 here baby! Cool, now go find your passion and start building an awesome game!

[@imperiartegames]

Great tips!!!

[@akash5176]

This video is just make me emotional 💗

[@Maj87]

Love this video. Thank you Ask Gamedev and all the people who gave the tips.

[@realstan53]

Awesome, good job on the vid. I'm glad you added Adrorium to the list too! It's an Alpha game, but it's fun.

[@ERIKCLARKK]

AMAZING this opening/intro ! Wish a lot success to this channel! Hugs ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[@idiaz502]

What an amazing video. Thank you so much for this. As someone who is working to release my first game on mobile, this is very useful to me.

[@omerfarukbykl6097]

Great video, well made.

[@paglababa9551]

Wow! Thank you very much for this video. I have learnt so much especially some of the free tools available that will help a lot.

[@Pixlfish37]

Great tips everyone!

[@Pixlfish37]

I feel incredibly narcissistic rn, I've been replaying my tip over and over again lol

[@CardielMedia]

Amazing, this video goes straight to the point

[@hdhwkq]

Thxs for dropping this video

[@sebastienmorin9020]

I love the quote from Leonard Menchiari "...as long as you keep loving the process..." I think a lot of aspiring game devs (hobbyist or professional wannabe) get frustrated at the very beginning because they want to make A game (as in "THE game they want to make") as opposed to make games in general (as in "any game as long as I'm becoming a dev"). Sure, you'll have your preferences and specialities, but the important part is to enjoy the process of making games. Like you don't become a chef to cook one dish. You become a chef to cook period. I mean, it can be super tedious and not rewarding at first, with so many parts to understand (especially as a solo dev). If you only work for the end goal, working on your own from scratch is an uphill battle...

[@jamiemorrison2389]

Some good points there. I am working on two series of games (long way off completion), but I think I will spend more time on small games in lots of different genres to hone my skills and just love the process (which I certainly do, but never thought of actually doing that). Thank you and good luck with your game Dev journey.

[@Tcrakman]

Thank you for this, this was a really helpful session full of interesting tips!

[@AskGamedev]

Our pleasure - thanks for watching!

[@KrakenStudiosGames]

A note on starting small. I started HUGE. I created a very high level WW2 grand strategy wargame encompassing all of the European theater. It took me 6000 hours. It was a much harder process than I anticipated. I already has UX design skills, some graphical skills, and a 2 year degree in computer programming to kick start me. What I didn't know was marketing. I got Matrix games to publish and market my game. It did very well that led to a 2nd game focusing on the Pacific. I discovered both my games fell in the top 10% of money making games compared to all developers large and small. It was tough. So do start small. I was lucky to have 3 fields of experience, a great publisher to help with some art and marketing giving me tips. I also had my wife that has a masters in UX and a friend who is a professional coder help me with some coding. The advice in this video is spot on for developers. My games are WarPlan and WarPlan Pacific. WarPlan has a mostly positive rating on Steam. The other game isn't out on Steam yet. I feel very fortunate.

[@AskGamedev]

Thanks for popping by! Awesome to hear about your gamedev journey - congrats on all the success!

[@KrakenStudiosGames]

@@AskGamedev Cool. Keep up the good work guys.

[@dusandragovic09srb]

You guys are gold.

[@AskGamedev]

Thanks!

[@PhilipLL]

This is great stuff, also great to see some of my own advice featured. Kinda surreal tbh. :HappinessNoise:

[@Евгений-ж7ж2ш]

Brilliant! Thank you

[@ToeSoupGames]

Nice and informative video thanks. Helps a lot.

[@syzygy8212]

Pure content! 💜

[@spongyoshi]

Great video, I gotta come back to it! I don't really have the time right now with my studies but it makes me eager to make something again! I don't know if it's a great tip but if I can suggest one thing, that would be to put your idea out of your mind. Not as a program right away but as text and especially as a sketch. Visualizing an idea of the final product is very important imo, even if it's ugly with stick figures and unrecognizable letters, it'll help a lot in the long run and help yourself understand better what your goal is.

[@nullbyte_interactive5309]

I really like the start small and grow tip tbh. However no matter how big or small you are I would personally recommend you start with a minimal viable product and then start adding features when it's fun also play test it when it's the minimal viable product. See if it's fun for players before starting to iterate on it.

[@AmazonicoIndio]

wow, tip 96 is just bananas

[@etchasketch222]

At 22:00 I feel like Star Citizen/Cloud Imperium Games needs to take note here haha

[@MajesticMindGames]

Love this video ❤️

[@Tokorai]

This video is restoring my sanity.

[@MEGA_TREE]

Astonishing

[@error17_]

top narration work

[@laabedmedsami9357]

This dude motivate me 😢

[@Verinius]

A lot of amazing advice here! Wow. Thank you everyone!

[@AskGamedev]

Great to see you, Verinius - thanks again for your gamedev tip!

[@igretrovods9189]

Tip 8 “don’t work alone” Well, how? I have no name and no budget. I can’t really hire people. I can only ask for opinions, I guess

[@funreloadedgamedev]

Oh man! this help me a lot thanks for this vedio. This vedio inspired me a lot. thanks☺

[@sagesurya7221]

Support from INDIA🇮🇳 We need GAME DESIGN tips and tricks also buddy.

[@cyberpunkdenton9497]

"We need GAME DESIGN tips and tricks also buddy." What do you mean? These tips are going to be universal. Its not like these tricks are for the Brits or Americans only.

[@sathish5470]

@@cyberpunkdenton9497 yo wtf he didn't mention he wants game design tips and tricks for India lol

[@sathish5470]

@@markangelogarcia2584 toxic human spotted

[@Burger44]

@@cyberpunkdenton9497 it's a joke, because everyone says that indians are smart and they teach everyone. r/woosh

[@domeen0gt895]

the knight with the hammer on the left at 0:16 seems familiar, what game is it from?

[@AleksandarPopovic]

Good job this is advaice from expirience people who make productive game, i dont like people who make tutorials and give advice who dont have one single pubilic relised game, good job keep going, and good luck with yor projects!!!!

[@preyinteractive6434]

A few conflicting tips like with programming debt, but generally really good tips for new people, and a few for others.

[@kirstenbell1268]

Does anyone know what that astronaut game is at 11:47 in? Thanks!

[@GGFTV]

WOAH, my tip made it lol

[@zyrnnh110]

Remember lads, all these tips not only apply to game dev but also to anything creative.

[@ethanwasme4307]

23:40 what is an input vector in this context?

[@husseinmohammad]

I loved if you continue

[@dimitrijmaslov1209]

Thanks!

[@blablamccain4986]

Can somebody please explain or guide me to some documentation on this : ""While coding movement, use an input vector instead of setting speed when a button is pressed." ?

[@avgchoobafan]

In most game engines there's a way to get the "force" of an input, even if it's from a PC keyboard, it's value is usually 0 or 1, meaning that specific input is true (pressed) or false (released). Or a float between 0 and 1 if the input comes from a joystick. You can add these values to a InputVector, for example Inputs from key W and S goes into InputVector.Y and Inputs from key A and D gies into InputVector.X The thing is, these are all positive numbers, so you need to do some really simple math to figure out. A common way to do this is: InputVector.X = W - S InputVector.Y = D - A You should always rest the Inputs that should return negative to the Inputs that should serve as positive in the Vector. This way if W is not pressed it means your X value is 0, and if S is pressed instead; 0 - 1 = -1, and you should be able to move backwards. Even if all Inputs returns positive values! This is what a InputVector means. And don't forget to normalize the Vector afterwards, because if is not normalized, you should be able to move faster in diagonal than in a straight line, and this is something you don't want in your Player's movement. Hope it's all clear about InputVectors

[@blablamccain4986]

@@avgchoobafan Thank you for answering so thoughroughly. I will come back to this comment several times haha

[@SleepingInAshes]

The biggest thing this video taught me is how much I do not know

[@zeiksz]

Where it actually starts: 1:16

[@mOGUSSUSSS]

Best video with the best tips for new indie devs, I recommend it!

[@TomMaljaars]

I use the Observer pattern always in games. It can be used to fire events to several classes. For example a "Low power event": every script subscribed to this event can execute a method to handle this event. Very handy! refactoring.guru/design-patterns/observer

[@itzalion]

"As Valery Legasov said" Ah yes, video games are like atomic energy.

[@gaminking007]

Going to be honest..... This helped a ton. Although i'm still probably going to make something too big at first by accident😅.

[@aniotod]

@mistnft on twitter hosting a community contest for creation of a NPC potentially be implemented within the game.

[@karthanok6859]

I just got lost in thought and jammed to the music

[@jkingjay9545]

14 years developing my mmo rpg 7 years of actually working

[@3nkidu465]

What game is at 41:00 ?

[@itsME-dc4vm]

Nice ;D

[@DrWho2008t101]

thanks

[@kingsonudeh3957]

I want to start but i kmow little about coding Please can you recommend app for me to download

[@feedmind4669]

can you guys make an admob video for unreal/godot?

[@Danielktrevejo]

who even dislike?, the stream even haven't start

[@TheBugB]

Perhaps that’s why?

[@TheBugB]

Hype

[@anewbeginning277]

After weighing you, is it possible to sell a game on gaming platforms such as uplay, Steam, and GOG? Please reply back and thank you. I follow you from 🇪🇬🇪🇬🇪🇬

[@TheKrensada]

What have I gotten myself into?

[@abhishek-farswan]

W video

[@divyanshporwal9720]

Guys i m new to game development...... I m not a complete noob but i know how to make simple racing game and visual scripting. I have game ideas but they are so big that i can't make such games by myself.. but i want to start publishing games.... As the video suggests : start by publishing a simple 2D games.. so the problem is I don't have ideas for 2D games and my own ideas are not for 2D games😅.. how should I start?? Pls give suggestions Thank you🙏