My First Year Learning Coding and Game Dev | GODOT DEVLOG

[@mz_eth]

To try everything Brilliant has to offer-free-for a full 30 days, visit brilliant.org/mz The first 200 of you will get 20% off Brilliant’s annual premium subscription

[@Dream-Wave-Lofi]

Hey mz_eth, do you have any plans for your next video? You should start a tutorial series or something. Honestly, you could become BETTER than Heartbeast, in my opinion you are easier to listen to, you put things in a way that make sense, and you talk like a regular human being

[@mz_eth]

@@Dream-Wave-Lofi haha I think I talk way too fast and don’t know enough for tutorials. Maybe for something like my lighting stuff, but the plan for the next video is all far gone frontier (my main project). Thank you though! I’m happy you enjoy my weird style :)

[@boywonderrr71]

Congratulations on all your successes and failures. Ive heard that we learn more from failures as if we attack it right we learn from it. From this video I can see your progression. Im sorry for the end of your relationship. I had a 10 yr marriage end a long time ago and it hurts. Make sure to grieve the loss and when your ready start a new relationship, but not too soon. Work on yourself in the same way you work on your game learning. I will pray for you. My son @Keithmakesgames is very similar. He does fun stuff with his games and makes new things and is always learning. He pushes himself and I can see your a lot alike. You both will go far. God bless. Lord Jesus, help him with his grieving of the loss of his relationship. I ask that you heal his heart and give him peace. I ask Lord that you supernaturally help him with his dev learning and bring help for this major project and I pray Lord for Mz_eth & Keith's projects to get finished, debugged and on Steam making millions so they can have their own studios and hire help and take over the gaming world. In Jesus mighty name amen

[@TJCook-jg2mz]

​​@@mz_eth I would be very interested in watching a lighting tutorial from u 🫡

[@KeithMakesGames]

Thank you so much for the shoutout to my channel! That really means a lot, solid video dude!

[@Gr8GooseYouTube]

Hello

[@michaljor1360]

I have to say that the background story for Enkindled made me replay the ending again. It´s touching that you shared this and thanks to this project got its artistic charm. You deservedly won because you put your feelings into it and created something that could reach many people, maybe because your thoughts are relatable to all of us.

[@mz_eth]

Thank you so much, I think the game touches on some of the emotions, but lightly because it’s a game jam. I really appreciate it

[@GingerNingerish]

Feeling like I discovered a YT Gamedev legend early, great stuff. Cool games, slick editing.

[@mz_eth]

I love your videos!

[@GingerNingerish]

@mz_eth Well... this is not the switcheroo I was expecting

[@LuximorThe]

Thanks a lot for being so honest. The end went directly in my heart. I hope that the best will happen to you from now! Really excited to continue to follow your journey

[@calebgilbertyt]

I just love your art style so much, it's so cool to see it improve over time. Can't wait to see what you create next!

[@mz_eth]

Right back at you, can’t wait to see more!

[@MattEatsMochi]

not gonna lie, 2d lighting is one of the biggest things making me want to explore gamedev more

[@bl4ckk]

man this video was awesome, great job!

[@mz_eth]

Thanks @bl4ckk !

[@lewessays]

There isn't a more crazy career as solo game dev...it's hundreds of departments stuck in a single person.

[@mz_eth]

Yeah definitely, and it feels like a huge risk a lot of the time

[@GHOST-mj8pq]

sugar in ur mouth 😆

[@Tannerskele]

I found your channel a few days ago and the inspiration you have given me in such a short time is immeasurable. I’m sorry to hear about the breakup, change is always hard, but it’s all part of the human experience. Just know you are making an impact and by creating and inspiring you’re making the world a more beautiful place.

[@mz_eth]

Thank you, I really agree with the change being hard, in so many aspects of life. And now living alone for the first time, it feels truly bizarre. But I think it’ll be okay

[@_r_u_n_]

Hey there! Your snow wolf game really sparked something in me, pushing me to dive into game development myself. Currently, I'm knee-deep in my first project, all thanks to your inspiring work!

[@chris.davidoff]

holy cow, you are a legend. I'm glad you put in the ending, it made things so real!

[@Road_to_Dawn]

I'm just a few weeks into learning Godot and solo game dev for the first time, and I completely agree with what you said about starting with the boring stuff being more likely to kill your enthusiasm. As of last night, I now have the absolute basics done: moving a player character, moving enemies, enemies can hurt and kill you, you can hurt and kill enemies. On top of that, I've drawn a tileset, animated sprites for one enemy, drawn sprites for my character, started building a level, drawing and placing items on the ground, and I even have a working title screen, pause screen, and game over screen. In my limited experience so far, I'd say the best thing is to start with following a tutorial on making something fun, and along the way you'll start to understand parts of why it works the way it does. Then it'll be done, and it'll be cool, so you'll want to do something else cool with it. Then maybe that'll work, and maybe it'll also break the first thing you made. Now you want to get it working again, so THEN you'll dive into some of the boring stuff and connect that with what you learned while making the first two things. The best way to learn is to focus on the fun parts, because that will give you motivation to slog through the boring parts to improve the fun thing you made. It's important to experiment and play around with things and not be afraid of screwing things up.

[@HeuzyGameDevYT]

Another banger video! Super cool to see both your games and channel grow. You absolutely deserve it! One of my favorite game dev channels to date. Keep up the hard work man!

[@mz_eth]

Thank you! that really means a lot

[@jusatin]

Would love to see how you are doing the lightning in your games. Looks absolutely stunning.

[@rungeon83]

This is an awesome video. Going through a really hard breakup at the moment, it's okay to feel pain, it's okay to have feelings and I think more men are realising that's okay now to use them to be productive.

[@marblerun2732]

Props to you for all the work you’ve put in this year! Sorry about the break up good luck and keep on making great games.

[@RKIOrbMage]

You are the main motivation for me to continue using godot. I wish the beat for you moving towards, cheers 🍻 !!

[@tobycollier]

You are probably one of the creators inspiring me the most at the moment all of your stuff is so awesome and your personality is addictive. keep it up man I can't wait to see what you make in 2024, love your stuff

[@chungmyung313]

your videos are so good, and the quality is amazing keep up the work

[@mz_eth]

Damn thank you!!

[@humble-hedgehog]

Awesome recap of your progress! Breaking up after ten years must've been hard, hope the two of you are doing better now. Thanks for sharing and looking forward to whatever it is you're making next!

[@dwilly8408]

Love your pixel art styles, great video and sorry about your breakup. Keep your head up dude!

[@AtchimmTXT-oc3yj]

Great video, love the dinamic of it and good luck with this new chapter of your life, we will be rooting for you :)

[@Smabverse]

I really felt some things you said during this video, currently I'm also in some sort of "making new steps and walking other better paths" phase... thank you mz_eth 💪😎

[@mz_eth]

Love hearing that, good luck!

[@Smabverse]

@@mz_eth Ty 💪❤️

[@cubegaming21]

As a guitar player of 7 years, I can say that I have never and will never learn how to read music.

[@MrCoolguy106]

Wow, your games are amazing, I can't believe you did all this in one year. I caught one of your livestreams on youtube a few weeks ago and it was really cool and fun! More please haha!

[@WarpZe]

Gotta say, I've been really thinking about learning how to do indie game dev for a while now and this vid and your channel does motivate me a bit. I'm working professionally in a relatively large studio currently and while the initial excitement was wow I get to get paid to make games, I think I've been there long enough to start feeling all the frustration of wanting things to be a certain way in the games I make but always met with the reality that I'm being paid there to fulfil someone else's vision not my own. Mad respect to ya being able to balance all the learning and creation process while also being able to document it and make well edited videos. Keep it up man

[@JackSather]

Geeze man all these games look SO polished, you’ve got insane talent! And thanks for sharing the realness at the end ❤ you’re gonna do great things!

[@NotAProducer888]

2:03 as a guitar player and music producer that's now also starting to learn game dev, this was awesome to see! I totally agree with you on skipping the boring parts, as these are inevitable anyway. I prefer to learn things by having fun, because the boring difficult things can be fun too if you try enough and improve! I always advise anyone who's starting on the guitar to just practice songs YOU want to play, unless they're extremely difficult and impossible for beginners. I also love the art style of your games, I'm doing pixel art too in my game because it's the best

[@weir_do2.040]

I love devlogs! It's where I get most of my ideas. This helped me come up with a killer idea that I really can't wait to start on!! Thank youu!!!

[@isto_inc]

Wowow! congrats on a cranking out so many videos in one year. Especially as a solo dev

[@coltonrichard3812]

Amazing video - everyone has a journey in life. Take your passion to another level. Keep it up!

[@cheesymcnuggets]

If you're curious, I can tell you how my first year went... I started at the end of January 2023, i didnt accomplish much. I did an online course, made Pong, start making Space Invaders but then life got in the way for a few months, I came back just as GMTK Jam was around the corner so I thought to myself, what better way to refresh my memory on how to make games, it would be quick and should help a chronic procrastinator like myself... it was horrific, overly simple and boring, I can't call it a game, or at least I refuse to because I don't want whatever that thing was to be my first original game. Shortly after I started working on a proper game, it was going well, I made a highly configurable weapons system and a basic bullet hell system. Then Unity made a stupid dumb dumb smooth brain idea and I lost all motivation, I was questioning their priorities and if they were even making the engine or games anymore, like AI implementation, HUHHH??? I spent the rest of the year contemplating what I was gonna do. By early December I finally bit the bullet and scrapped my game so I could switch to Godot Engine and by the end of the year, I had learnt another game engine. I'm still proud of the progress I did make, I learnt game development, my old childhood dream, at the start of 2023, I quite literally had 0 skills, it was pathetic, I always struggled to commit to things, I was so scared I would get bored of game development like it was just a phase, I have never been more determined to accomplish something in my life, I will make a game, no matter how long it takes. Instead of going back to the bullet hell roguelike i was making, I ended up toning it down a bit, I want to make a game inspired by what inspired me to make games in the first place, while it was many things that inspired me, Toby Fox and his masterpiece Undertale is what reignited my hopes and dreams of becoming a game developer. So since like mid December while i was still learning Godot, I started writing a game about some of my most difficult struggles in life. Narrative writing is so much harder than programming lol, It's taking me forever but I am slowly making progress... almost 3 months in I would hope so, currently no programming or anything, just pages and pages of world concepts, characters, plot, mechanics, etc. When I get to actually constructing the game, the art is what scares me, I want it to be expressive and alive but I struggle to draw a simple character sprite, no matter, I am determined! Also I have accepted I am a very slow person who is unfortunately fused with a chronic procrastinator so it will probably take me twice maybe even thrice as long to finish a game than most. You accomplished a lot for game development, especially for your first year. I'm sorry to hear about your relationship though :( Life has plenty more to offer, all relationships, friends family lovers, they all end eventually, just be glad you ever got to experience them, try not to feel bad and stay strong brother! You really do be the main character of gamedev, dont let all that ego go to your head, you dont wanna look like a narc. Only joking, you are awesome fr!

[@ibluebee2832]

Man i feel you ! Good luck on your game dev journey

[@maximumeffort1689]

Hows it going now?

[@cheesymcnuggets]

@@maximumeffort1689 it was still a good while before i found my groove. I was feeling overwhelmed and lacking a lot of confidence so i thought id try out a 5 month game jam which would be a quicker development cycle then the game i was planning. After a month i got stuck in a state of paralysis kind of like adhd i guess. I did end up doing the 4 day gmtk game jam which boosted my confidence greatly because i placed relatively high for a solo dev. But It wasn't until October 1st, the 2 year anniversary from when i convinced myself i was gonna become a game developer no matter what it takes that i had the realisation that i was nowhere near as good as i expected myself to be at that point. So i decided to "start game dev again" and treat myself like the beginner i was. I found a cool thing called the 20 games challenge where you create clones of games starting from a really simple game like pong and with each game you finish, the next would be a bit more complicated. This was really good for learning the process of making REAL games and for building confidence in decision making and knowing what to work on next for your game development process. I ended up almost finishing Game 6 which was Super Mario Bros before I had an idea for a game system that I just had to make. I didn't even care if this became a game or not, I just had to maje that system. So that's what I've been doing since the start of this year. It's pretty fun ngl. Game dev is so much better when you stop taking it so seriously and simply just make cool shit. I've also gotten back into watching tv shows and playing video games which i used to restrict myself from doing because i just had to work on game development or whatever stupid nonsense i kept telling myself. This also helped my productivity. Though it means i get less done every week, it pays off long term by you not burning yourself out of game development meaning my progress is consistently low-medium instead of high for a month or two and then completely dead for 3x as long.

[@kiokik7457]

Not the ending I expected but the journey sounded like a meaningful one. I love your art style and creativeness! I hope you’re do well.

[@juansebastianriosubeda4693]

You are an amazing gamedev, love your video editing and humor and I know sometimes is hard to self acknowledge our talents, but believe me when I say you are one talented guy and definitely going places from now on!! Keep it up man I'm waiting to see what you come up with next 🎉

[@bibbleses]

Started learning gameDev with godot literally a day ago and came across this video, a bit late but honestly motivated me more than anything else I’ve seen. Discord joined and subbed your games look awesome.

[@geck-wiz]

Super inspiring video also that lighting is beautiful!

[@Greedable]

Great video 🎉🎉🎉

[@mz_eth]

Thank you!

[@Greedable]

@@mz_eth i was thinking of doing a similar video, although I'm a couple months late now

[@mz_eth]

@@Greedable mine ended up being a month late (I started KZbin in February) because I spent a whole month obsessing over creating an inventory system for my main game. Totally worth it lol, also gives me reassurance that this something I genuinely love working on. So definitely go for it!

[@domeen0gt895]

The screen with all your game characters isbpretty cool.

[@andrewzizhen]

I just started my Godot adventure and seeing this devlog was so so inspirational! Thank you for being so authentic and cant wait to see what else you make!

[@viktorilinkolov7114]

Been following since the first long video and MAN are your videos always a treat. Your improvement is very apparent and I'm glad you decided to start posting your journey online. Thank you for this!

[@mz_eth]

Thank you! Those first videos were pretty rough lol

[@viktorilinkolov7114]

@@mz_eth They ought to be when you're just starting out hahah, but as I said I really enjoy all your videos ^^ Really help to peek into the mind of a dev

[@DesignFrameCaseStudies]

You're definitely right about it being a tough space. My channel can't release videos fast enough due to being quite literally the opposite of easy lets play videos lol. So I share that feeling with you. Proud of you man for being open to sharing your journey and your ups and downs. You did great all around! Fantastic jam placements as well. If you want a designer playtester/feedback/second pair of eyes for future projects, feel free to reach out.

[@kingangelo3838]

Dude, i saw almost all of this journey and can’t believe how far you’ve come. You inspired me to try game dev too, and honestly thats better than any tutorial or inspirational talk you can find on this website. Thanks man, good luck on future projects.

[@profesoreniram820]

Got this video on my main out of the blue, so the algorithm has todo something right. If this is how far you have gotten in a year from starting this journey then you my man are on fire. As an old man tryin to get into gamedev as a hobby im really impressed. Leaving a sub and gonna check out your other videos now. Keep up the good work!

[@mz_eth]

Thank you so much! That means a lot, I think once I hit 30 I have been feeling this dread to try and make a big career change. I don’t know if this is a viable path, but the passion and hope keeps me going. And the community, so many cool guys making inspiring things

[@mjtopher3458]

I know it has been a while since you made this video, but I know sometimes those wounds take a long time to heal. The video was absolutely amazing, but heartbreaking at the same time. Keep your head up man. I can tell from your results on the game jams that you have a bright ass future ahead of you dude. Keep up the great work! I'll be praying for you!!!

[@mz_eth]

thank you so much! it all gets better with time

[@AMIGO2.01]

what a journey my man,this is really inspiring,good luck with this year

[@SuperVillianStudios]

Wow. This video was informative and touching. Definitely had to replay the ending. Very much excited to be on this journey with you as a solo game dev myself. I can only imagine what more I can learn from you. Thank You... for this video

[@mz_eth]

Oh damn, thank you so much for this! I appreciate you so much for taking the time

[@FearKarma0]

You are extremely underrated. I enjoy watching every new video you realize. You make the videos interesting and they inspire me to create games

[@jameskh]

Holy smokes you really smashed the first year! Love the style of art you're using for these games.

[@madern3698]

Honestly you have incredibly high quality content and I'm shocked how little recognition you've gotten. I'm looking forward to future videos and games!

[@anzacbiccy1971]

Great video, your story is inspiring, thanks for sharing, keep making cool shit!

[@markoszilagyi9056]

You're an inspiration. I love listening to you talk, there's something calming and charming about it!

[@whilefree]

I enjoyed every second of this video. Good job. Awesome year. Keep up the good work.

[@quinndepatten4442]

This video was awesome. It reminded me that I can do a lot more than I'm currently doing in terms of game dev. I've been kind of lazy and now I feel more inspired than I have in the past 3-4 months.

[@luisbustama1599]

I was waiting for you to upload a new vid and im so happy! You really are an inspiration for a lot of us, nice work, and dont ever forget that your health is more important than anything else, do not push yourself so hard, i know you do your best, enjoy the process! ill be here forever :)

[@CptnAntihero]

Super proud of you, man. Hit me with the nostalgia seeing that timesplitters map maker clip

[@mz_eth]

Thanks! We gotta hangout soon

[@SecretZoneGames]

Awesome video. It's evident that you put a lot of effort into these videos

[@whynotusepaper468]

Amazing video! Enjoyed it from start to finish! Cant wait to see more of you!

[@malavidra]

Wow was this amazing... Really motivating as well. The ending was indeed unexpected though, but hope you feel better nowadays!

[@4chain807]

I appreciate your hard work and effort, good job buddy!

[@szymonharbuz9052]

How do you make those games look so fucking pretty? Can you drop a lighting tutorial or recommend the ones you'd learned from, if there are any?

[@mission-toast]

Nice progress. Your talent is undeniable!

[@badpiggy4177]

This is some seriously impressive stuff. Great job man

[@TyeW]

Sorry about your break up my dude but hoping you are pushing strong going forward.

[@mz_eth]

Thank you, I really appreciate it :)

[@moonstar_connor]

Super inspiring to see how much you've learned in a year! About 3 months into learning Godot and should do a better job of documenting what I learn along the way like you did

[@ericajcruz]

Loved every single second of this video. Thank you for being open and sharing. Please keep posting! You won't be alone forever. Those two things are not related lol

[@nikhilispog]

You’re awesome man, great vid as always

[@Brucci_]

Wow, what a year! Keep it up man!

[@hanh7884]

really inspiring, before the video i was really struggle with reading the documents but now i know what to do. It's to watch Heartbeast

[@gabrilajoga]

Bro, your pixelarts are CRAZY!!

[@noise_dev]

I have said it already multiple times but I will again - I love your artstyle. Are you thinking about making a tutorial or some tips video covering how you manage your lights?

[@mz_eth]

I’m thinking maybe I’ll do a video on lighting for my patreon. I also talk about it on my livestream, but it just doesn’t fit my channel to do tutorials. Also thank you so much!

[@TheFallenN00b]

This was so inspiring. This story really makes me want to pursue expressing my creative mind more.

[@7xmzeh]

you are very underrated, love ur art

[@Marandal]

Game jams are soo fun, i did 3 last month and learned ALOT while having fun.

[@FridaFemm]

Timespliters mention earned that sub. Love your content!

[@adalutegames]

All these games are unique and beautiful. You should be very proud.

[@Lutnar]

Started with godot only made simple 8 directional movement with animation and never heard of heartbeat but now bcs of you I have access to the best godot tutorials channell PS Keep up making in 2 weeks i will make first game in pirate software game jam only bcs you inspiried me to take gamejams and not only do other projects

[@Feeeetham]

Got a Sub from me dude! Been learning python on and off for a while and looking at giving godot a go in the near future! Keep up the inspiring work!

[@mattynice1798]

Dude that upcoming game your working on looks incredible, the store system and all. only 1 year of game development is your experience??!!

[@Max-hn9ib]

Can you point me to a tutorial on how you get your lighting and colors so beautiful in your games?

[@hasHNo0dl3]

that took a dark turn

[@PugStackDev]

Nice video! Great to watch!

[@Alex13751]

Never thought you put that much work into everything

[@blackestbill7454]

i love your style so much

[@vegillito]

The intro is preach 😅 love it. Awsome work !

[@plusplus940]

I hope your channel gets huge

[@sa1ty_pe1icanrkd70]

damn bro thats tough❤

[@calicow]

To answer your musing at the end: It's a bit of both. People who work on games do so because they're passionate about making games. I have yet to come across anyone in this industry who does it solely for the money or the recognition. We do it because we love making games... and companies know that. People absolutely do crunch on their own to polish something they truly believe in. I've done it myself. But companies also exploit that passion to make their workers feel like they have to do this, since the deadlines are (according to them) non-negotiable. All this to say... it sounds like you've had a great journey so far, but be mindful of burning yourself out. :)

[@Gupatik]

can you also tell me why I just love game dev. I'm the last person on earth you'd expect would be interested in this but here I am. I just don't know why?

[@8bitbunnie936]

Amazing video!

[@cooldudemanix1300]

bro why is the background music so good???

[@Beets_Creations]

Great video as always! Looking at it now the limited space one kinda reminds me of the TetherGeist devlogs if you have seen those.

[@dcholaart]

You've earned my subscribe ✌️

[@mz_eth]

Thank you!

[@jabalahkhaldun3467]

i had never realized the ad sense thing. i wonder if you showed more irl footage of you and made it more like a vlog you could potentially make ur videos "lifestyle" instead of the "gaming" category for adsense. it would be more like "A day in the life of a game developer."

[@JiKayPh]

Thanks KZbin. This video is really good

[@DannyDeer]

Wish you all the best, mz. On an unrelated sidenote: do you have any lighting tips or maybe some resources that you found useful?

[@swordrx]

really inspirational. just like the rest of your videos 💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯

[@mz_eth]

Thanks Sword! That means a lot

[@Dream-Wave-Lofi]

I didn't realize any others truly appreciated Heartbeast, I have found the man who is more obsessed than me.

[@ChristianJulesCruto-bp6fe]

Brackey is back after 3 years and mythic legion i guess is alive

[@kobedev]

4:24 Overscoped? Sounds like a cool podcast name if you ask me 🤨

[@samosborne]

aw.. the ending ❤