Jumpstarting Your Creativity: From Hobbyist to Professional

[@TedsWorld101]

“I had started out making small projects but I never finished anything” Very rarely has a phrase penetrated me to my core like that one did.

[@chuckolator1859]

There's a saying in the writing field: "Don't get it good, get it written." It means, stop worrying about things not being the way you want it to be when first starting to make it. Just get it made in some form, that way, you make progress instead of just paralyzing yourself. Plus, it's a lot easier to figure out HOW to make something better once you have an imperfect product in front of you, rather than just ideas in your head. You can always change it later! Just make something! This was a really great talk and I'm glad things turned out well for you, sir. Thank you so much for sharing your story!

[@camilalouisem]

It really helps to follow artists/developers and see the first drafts and ideas they had for their projects, you can see that a lot changed from their original plan and things still turned out great.

[@robrobusa]

Finished is better than perfect (because perfect is never finished).

[@ludensarahan]

"That way, you make progress instead of just paralyzing yourself." This hits too hard. I've been pararyzing myself too long...

[@aussieraver7182]

Analysis paralysis. My worst enemy.

[@Devtrast]

This is one of the most important GDC talks I think I have ever seen. Thanks for this. Definitely heard this at the right time.

[@luminousdragon]

Did you follow through on finishing a small project?

[@Gambit-YT]

After almost a full year of game development experience, I finished my first game about a month ago. Thanks to entering a game jam, I finally got something released. The gameplay was a bit lacking, but only 3 days before the deadline I learned it was a 2 week jam with 2 weeks of judging instead of a 4 week jam. I’m proud of it. It almost feels like a full game. Very happy that I entered the game jam!

[@joaquimneto5617]

Really inspiring because it's a story about a guy that started from scratch like many of us are doing right now. And the talk isn't being given by a "i have 20yrs experience in the game industries" or "i work in a AAA studio" person, it's given by "a person", someone you can relate to.

[@chris_devlog]

Haha great intro. I think all devs, even the ones that complete projects can relate to that first minute

[@chris_devlog]

Just finished the talk, I think you've accomplished your goal

[@esillen]

And his voice is so soothing :)

[@sobAKADUKA]

I've goot hooked up basicaly from very first minute :)

[@GuldorPhotography]

Yes definitely I can! I learned how to get projects done at the art academy but still ever time the struggle of all those things said. Its nice to hear someone's personal story that relatable. I'm about the finish my first android game after starting game development 3 years ago and damn things took longer than i expected at every turn ;) in case anyone is curious its now in open beta here: play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.AlmostABoardgame.CityBuilder

[@TricoliciSerghei]

So true

[@joshuadelossantos2954]

This was an amazing talk and exactly what I needed to hear. I've had so many ideas stuck in my head and this has given me courage to make them real. Stop thinking about them and just make them. It doesn't have to be perfect and not everyone has to love it just make it so I know what that feels like. Thank you so much.

[@moazzarts]

Lol, this literally feels like a sign from God to finish my damn projects.

[@jjones503]

🙏

[@ProgrammerCheema]

IKR!

[@renatusdev]

Charles! Thank you! This is my forum post. I found it very amusing because I did decide on working on a 2 month game before beginning my "dream game". Hearing this though, solidified my resolve to FINISH the small one in 2 months. On top of all this, your take on using small games as tools to learn for your big game, is an idea introduced to me by you and I am currently doing the work to develop this game in a manner that will work as a tool to prepare for my big game! Thank you Charles :)

[@ryanmartin6429]

Holy shit, man, that intro hit me HORD. While I have heard this advice and reacted with "but I wanna make THIS game", I actually love the idea of implementing elements like art style and mechanics in small, fast games to get your skill up. Gonna give it a shot!

[@NeatGames]

Great talk!! I've made 12 small jam games (I think doing so many jams helped me get in the habit of finishing) In April I started this KZbin channel doing Devlogs and now I'm 60% done with my first Steam game :D I'm a gamedev hobbyist for life, Teaching English is my day job XD I think the best takeaways is, you don't have to make the "best" game. Making simple smaller games is great. Just finish!

[@alexhooi7268]

I second the value of joining game jams. They have a very short deadline, so you really need to manage the scope, and help you learn how to work with other people as well (if you choose to collaborate) and manage projects.

[@Patrick_Bard]

You kinda described my history with game dev, but I'm still on that part where a bug or the difficulty to implement something the way I want keep me frustrating and depleting my motivation

[@marktaro]

Keep pushing. Debugging and the ability to implement ideas definitely gets easier with time and experience!

[@ZexellXIII]

Charles, that was very wonderful and it hit all the right notes for someone such as myself; someone passionate about video games and the industry, who hopes to find a way in through game development but finds the process of designing, creating and implementing a video game start to finish daunting. You’ve shown through your story and perspective that it is possible through the right mind set and aligning your goals appropriately for yourself and not setting standards too high, and comparing yourself to them. I greatly appreciate and enjoyed your talk and found it deeply touching. If you’re ever one to read the KZbin comments, I hope you know you reached me through this, and it was the right time. Thank you, Charles for your time and dedication for the industry and passion for those who make it their goal to achieve what you have done.

[@Lunareon]

Great advice! Big projects are intimidating because our brains are bad at dealing with big complex things. Once you divide the project into its smallest, actionable parts, it suddenly becomes doable. By finishing one small part at a time, you suddenly realize you've come a long way from where you started. Thank you for sharing your inspirational story! :)

[@smudge2172]

This hits home. I have been trying to do too-big projects for years. I’ve dropped all of them. Polishing takes ages and finishing will always take longer than one expects it to. Super relatable-I hope that hearing this pushes me to realize how to get to the end. Thanks for this. :)

[@AngryhammerGames]

Thanks for the honest talk. The last 10% of the game takes 90% of the time. Its true. People need to hear this and understand its normal and should be anticipated.

[@GameoverGamedev]

Feeling called out in the first minute, instantly hooked. Great talk!!

[@arashtadjiki]

This is so inspiring! Thank you for sharing your experience

[@ZefugiLive]

My past sounds a lot like what you describe. And I've started making an uncomfortable small game, and your vid makes me feel better about my own project. So thank you. It's hard to stay hyped for a tiny project, but you make it feel more than worth while.

[@beskamir5977]

This talk feels like it's directed right at me XD Edit: Seriously thank you so much for this talk Charles! I definitely needed to hear that even though I've already failed at time limiting myself and trying to keep things reasonably scoped so it's good to have some more encouragements about not adding additional features and the importance of actually getting something finished even if it's not the best.

[@PurpleFreezerPage]

Going from the stress free game development talk to this is so refreshing. This guy speaks my language. The stress free guy was very extreme and clickbaity.

[@deviouschimp4663]

This is kind of scaring me... you described my process of my current project exactly 😅. I hope another idea doesn't distract me this time 😅.

[@lukemacri6557]

Focus on the primary gameplay loop.

[@Evoleo]

ya better hope))

[@TheMagman]

@@lukemacri6557 you are totally right. I can currently play one mission in my "game". Finishing all the mechanics for that first mission was a awesome milestone.

[@alexhooi7268]

Thank you for the great insight, really motivates me to continue my own aspirations to start an indie studio!

[@RaulRiveraArroyo]

Hey Charles, great talk and very motivating. I find myself in a similar place; I've finished and released lots of small games and game jam games, but have yet to release my first commercial project, which is what I know will move me from hobbyist to professional. I'm in that process now to actually do that and your talk has been the extra punt I need to get moving. Thanks again!

[@BaseRealityVR]

Man I felt like you were directly speaking to me between 00:00 - 02:33. thats exactly my current story and mood right now

[@NeverduskX]

Thank you for this a lot. As someone trying to make this exact jump at this exact time, your words really sunk in. It certainly feels like this was what I needed to hear. So thank you again. I'm currently trying to work on a small project before I hit a larger one, but this talk has given me a lot more confidence - and guidance - in how to approach that.

[@equious8413]

Building smaller games that teach you how to achieve the mechanics in your "big idea" is great advice. I'm no professional, but this year, I've been doing just that. Finding small scope projects/tutorials to grasp the creation of my big idea's individual parts. It gives you experience needed to implement the ideas well, and allows you some insight to even expand on initial ideas.

[@gabrieldo]

Really great story, a lot of Brazilian devs should watch this, because in our community we have this problem a lot... I was part of this, but now after years, I really improved!

[@ataleofgamesandcats7672]

Bora trocar figurinhas haha

[@gabrieldo]

@@ataleofgamesandcats7672 Yes ^^

[@donaldclark2735]

Okay, I'll make a smaller MMO RPG :) Great talk btw, your Parents sound cool

[@u263a3]

Having cool parents help a lot

[@dontstealmydiamondsv3156]

What an excellent talk! Simultaneously grounded and encouraging. I've always aspired to be a game dev but I hardly even got myself to start, as if I thought I'd magically just find myself in the middle of the development process one day. I've spent too much time wandering. Not to say that has no benefits, but I seriously ought to set my priorities straight. That's it, I'm going to aim to have an extremely simple game in a playable state within 5 days time. Regardless of how relevant my scenario is to the talk, you kicked off this little commitment of mine and motivated me. Thank you so much for that.

[@chillenld]

Great talk :) I really think I heard this at the right time. I was partway through finishing, but got sidewinded by work. This just keeps me motivated to keep finishing it. A lot of people suggest making a small game. My recommendation: *Let yourself make a bad game*. Look, your first game could be the best thing in the world. But maybe you didn't know to test it on multiple platforms. Or you didn't know how to tell people about it. Maybe you didn't really understand hooks, or audience motivations. Maybe you didn't do enough market research, so you're competing with something with huge marketshare. Don't try to make your first game a hit, because any number of other factors could get in the way. Use it as a learning experience to make your next game a little better. And hey, if you really tried your best and kept to a schedule and released it, remember that every game can be somebody's favourite game. You're not making it for the people who won't like it anyways.

[@SuperEssenceOfficial]

this is not the first time I've heard this but I definitely needed to hear it AGAIN. thank you. lets get it done :)

[@rem3072]

I can relate so much. Game jams are awesome and have taught me so much

[@AceTycho]

Excellent presentation! I look forward to seeing more of what you have to say.

[@luchollandsyd]

Coming out into the industry as a recent graduate this talk was really insightful

[@REXanadu]

When is a game 'finished,' though? I've had that issue ever since I messed around with game dev years ago. I've done game jams before, but the games I made never felt 'finished.'

[@ScrawnyMcMassive]

You can ask the same of any music producer. A song is never finished, you just have to cut it off at some point and decide that it's done. I think we're all chasing this vague mysterious perfection of a "finished" game that's not really realistic, there's always something to add or improvements to be made

[@alexhooi7268]

Imo, a game is never really finished unless you stop working on it. Gamejams projects are more in the territory of prototypes, where as long as they're released and prove your concept/ideas translate to a functioning game, they're done.

[@Kitsune_Dev]

Don’t finish it, make it playable and fun

[@vagabondarcade7633]

"Art is never finished, only abandoned." - Leonardo da Vinci

[@ultimaxkom8728]

A game is finished once the developer changed the first 0 of v0.x.x to 1, or to say make it into the Alpha, regardless of its quality or completion. Anything else after that would be considered as updates and patches. Remember, _"Finished"_ does not equal to _"Good"._ You can finish the race anytime and anywhere on the 'track', because you're the one that made the 'track'. The finish line is just wherever you decided it to be. *And this is where Fallout 76 fucked themselves up...*

[@ptc1997]

OMG, you just described every project I start, 1:17 in and already hanging on every word!

[@DePistolero]

When making a game for my company I can finish the whole game in two -three weeks, everything even polish( hyper casual games ), when making my own game I get into that cycle... Determine the scope and stick to it!!! Thanks for the video, this was scary how similar experiences we can have.

[@nsuarez]

Funny I'm going through the same but as an artist. I want to have an exhibition but I keep getting stuck. I know enough about painting to have my own paintings made and do the exhibition, but I haven't reached the level I want to reach yet. So I keep building my skills and that means failing a lot. However, It's been like 15 years already. I even became an art teacher 3 years ago. I finally start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I hope I pull this off in the next few years. My wife is also an artist and she told me the same things that guy in your story was told. But her art is not as technical as mine so she is already producing more finished products than me. Thanks for sharing! I can relate :)

[@VictorTheVan]

I got mad LeVar Burton vibes from this. Very well done and educational. Thank you for sharing your insight with us.

[@mlmattin]

Wonderful talk! This certainly applies to me, and I imagine it applies to almost everyone that has ever tried to make a video game. It's a vicious cycle that is very difficult to break. The lure of that new idea is strong. Starting fresh and getting that clean slate is so very tempting. I'll do it so much better this time! :) Thanks for sharing your story.

[@cheezcola]

Great talk and hits on a lot of issues that I run into. Glad to have Black/PoC talks in GDC as well and hearing about their journey.

[@RichMcLaughlin]

Cheers from the MinnMax community! Perfect timing for this talk for me personally. Also, HyperDot is insanely fun for anyone who hasn’t tried it yet.

[@SunnyValleyStudio]

"Try to finish a game" - thank you so much for this!

[@godalmighty1188]

That opening monolog is almost an exact account of Creation. I had so many great ideas for life. Then, I created some bugs, and well... before you know it, I was welding ducks and beavers together to try and rekindle that original creative spark.

[@jloor5267]

Good talk, definitely good for me and other people who might not have completed a game but have many ideas

[@bluefake_or_smt]

I also was in the position of endlessly starting and restarting and not finishing stuff... until i made a game for a game jam in 3 days with someone i meet on a discord server. It was a very chaotic experience. We have planed too much and needed to cut things out while keeping the core gameplay. Sadly, we started building and downloading the game to late and couldnt submit the game, but ive send it to some close friends. I was a little embraced when they played it because i thought the game is bad, but i recieved mostly good feedback. This was my switch moment.

[@ollie-d]

I think this hit me at the right time, but we’ll see. Just did a jam and I’m getting really solid reception from my game. I think I can polish it up and release it fully in the next weeks/months of summer where I have some tangible free time. The main reason I did the jam was to finally finish a project and it feels so good, I want more

[@krisbankai1368]

Really inspiring. Time to complete my damn game. Giving myself 2 weeks (and most importantly no more new features)

[@Blue_Blaze72]

This is exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you!

[@magnawiz]

Thank you for this talk. I want to start a project but I've been debating whether I should make my ideal game or a smaller project that I can finish. Think I've made my decision.

[@sorry987654321]

Being able to say "I made that" is really powerful

[@TedsWorld101]

Will start a small project soon. If I remember to check back on this, I’ll send an update.

[@evekakuru2633]

Thank you for sharing. I'm not into developing games but I'm hoping to do creative work professionally. Great talk.

[@ACour008]

This tells me that I have the right idea. I'm going to finish my project. Thank you

[@RetroBreak]

Great talk, I also had Dark Basic when I was young, never really understood it though!

[@Zoonatik]

I had both DarkBASIC and DBPro - I made a full racing game with controller support, split screen multiplayer, and time trial :D It was HUGE for my fundamentals

[@yportne6410]

I think that big project we all dream of completing is what Andrew Price (Blender Guru) refers to as the artist's "North star" (a huge project, beyond your current abilities but the main reason you started your art journey). You need it to keep you motivated but if you start chasing it too early you'll fail miserably and lose a lot of motivation. The question is how does one resist the urge. This has happened to me so many times while trying to learn Blender, it really destroys motivation.

[@hibryd7481]

Thanks for the talk, was worth watching just for the idea at 24:12. That's a really important perspective to keep.

[@RudolfJvVuuren]

Thx man, I kinda needed this. Really spoke to me.

[@TricoliciSerghei]

Thank you for the video, it is really relatable and hits home ;) I think most of us would relate to your story

[@Mark-wq7wd]

I needed this video. Thank you.

[@neuroflare]

I can totally relate to reading that Darkbasic book. When I was in high school I was obsessed with Unreal Tournament and went to Kinkos and had them print and collate into a 3 ring binder the entire unrealscript instructions set and I spent a summer trying to internalize it. I ended up making a couple of neat guns, I really wish I'd stuck with that :/

[@0urher0nik0]

This is inspiring me to just jump into some game jams and let it rip. I get so nervous!

[@G5349]

This was really good advice and it applies to other dev and non dev projects

[@lynxthecreator]

Best GDC talk I can relate to

[@garryguan7115]

Does anyone have a link or archive of the unity forum post by Curtis that he references at 8:28 ?

[@TorQueMoD]

Awesome video Charles! Thanks for sharing :)

[@zekapten1922]

That was amazingly simple and simply amazing!

[@ianandrew1997]

Fantastic video. Definitely needed to hear this

[@Draenal]

This talk hits different from someone who has clearly recently taken this route. There's nothing in here that's wildly different from any "how to break in" talk, but it feels like it matter so much more from someone who's showing off stuff that seems approachable. Rather than some lead game director who's been making AAA titles for 20 years.

[@TZerot0]

Wow,, amazing talk and a great intro as well.

[@skizooooooooo]

Gamejams are the best motivators! Especially if you team up with 2 or more people for it. They will definitely motivate you to get it done

[@Evoleo]

But what do I do if I can only finish game jam games? (btw great talk)

[@SebLeCaribou]

Thank you very much for that talk !

[@maxismakingstuff]

Love it man. Great speaker.

[@PurpleFreezerPage]

A big motivation issue I have is scope. I've finished 2 games in my life. One had extremely simple mechanics, the other was bigger but super buggy (didn't have standards when I was a teen haha). I decided I'm gonna force myself to make a game 20% more complicated than that extremely simple game I finished. Then if I can do that - the next one will be 20% more complicated than that!

[@areallyboredindividual8766]

My motivation for getting my current project done is to move onto the next one once I'm done.

[@felixmikolai7375]

the first point is a big one, my half life everybody was telling me i need to study and get this and this paper b4 i even dream of creating my own buisness, thats bullshit kids if your passionate and able to learn how to code or design go your way and just do it !

[@rewindcat7927]

Fantastic thank you!

[@recurve3234]

Great speech!

[@christian5256]

OH MY GOSH my dad bought Dark Basic for me when I was 12!

[@davinsaputraartandgamedev9453]

lovely talk

[@BastiSan91]

Great Opening and absolutely relatable!

[@scghost]

Fantastic talk

[@domedin9894]

Dude this guy as a child was so good at preparing for the future how do you get that trait I've been working for about a month and made very little progress as I can't stick to a scedule and stay motivated its painful I'm pretty mad at myself.

[@johnklapp9077]

That's the program management part. For a hobby, I'd suggest baking it into smaller and smaller parts, and working on one part. Unrealistic schedules and crunch are for large studios, keep yours fun.

[@bloodydragon]

Personally attacking me and every other creative person in the intro alone with that truth lmao

[@aster5031]

Fantastic 👏 👏 👏

[@abdelhaksaouli8802]

that 1 min intro could be ported to a good horror movie

[@cargorunnerUK]

Great life story - really enjoyed it. For me at the start the game feels like it is going to be great. But as you play it more and more you realise the game is not that great. So I lose motivation. I always want to create something I am proud of. So I change the goal posts to keep it something I can be proud of. So I add more and more ideas and features. Making it more and more impossible to finish. But I know you are right just release it, you might not be very proud of it as you are so "close" to the game you can see the flaws. But the outside world may really like it.

[@MyGanon]

Thank you very much for sharing this with us, so many things come to mind about each point you mentioned that I cannot express everything in one short comment. To work :D

[@Kitsune_Dev]

Thank you so much for making this video,

[@felixmikolai7375]

hahahahahaha :DDDD damn son that intro hit me like a truck, thats the story of my life :`DDD

[@paulpickett4522]

Thanks, man. Good stuff =)

[@kaiser9321]

Why am I getting a notification for this now when it was uploaded 3 days ago

[@Vivi-rw3ki]

Thank you. I needed this :)

[@bossmusic8536]

*GDC* 💙💙💙💙 your work is really fantastic 💙💙💙💙 You have a bright future 💙💙💙💙 i connect to you because of your quality work 💙💙💙💙

[@ArthurVerron]

Thanks for this really helped man!

[@Ashbornking133]

DarkBASIC, that brings back some memories 😂

[@JichaelMonson]

Awesome