My Game Dev Workflow & Tools in 2024

[@jamie_dev]

Get a playable prototype of the game I'm making. I'll send it to you when it's ready. Sign up here: jamiedev.io/waiting-prototype

[@duncan-dean]

@@jamie_dev The confirm subscription link in the convert kit email seems dead. I don’t think it’s my end but will try a bit later.

[@PatrickChoi]

this was such a great video with many valuable tips! Are you using the paid version of Miro for the functions you need/want?

[@PatrickChoi]

Actually my question would be how do you prioritize all these tasks? Bc it feels quite overwhelming to me now that I have all these tasks and areas laid out

[@IamMurderwords]

Hey Jaime, what are the odds of an outsider getting into this industry these days? Call me a half degreed lifelong enthusiast self taught game theory basics and an avid TTRPG amateur developer. Regards from the Yukon.

[@tmanley1985]

I never looked at using mindmapping as a task management system but it makes perfect sense seeing it all um... mapped out like that! Thanks!

[@Yurgen_S]

WOW, the mindmap tip is incredible! Congratulations, your work is great, and thanks for the effort on sharing it all with us with such high quality!

[@thelittlecousinto]

I agree, I do this on paper when I hit a road-block.

[@ggnorekthx]

Just discovered your channel - as a bit of a project management nut, I really loved how streamlined and simplified your workflow is. It makes getting the work done so much easier when you aren't spending all of your time working on your todos and all that, lol. Subscribed!

[@DocGeraud]

The keynote thing is an amazing tip, thanks! Great video 🙏

[@jamie_dev]

Great for making tutorials, hope it was helpful!!

[@tom.wallis]

Fantastic video - as a software developer who is trying to dabble in KZbin & side projects, this is so helpful. Thank you, Jamie!

[@jamie_dev]

Glad it was helpful!

[@CodingWithLewis]

Love the Apple keynote animations. I was wondering how these animations looked sleek and love how the answer is simple. Love the vid

[@jamie_dev]

Thanks! I hope it was helpful 😊

[@penewoldahh]

So simple yet so effective

[@MattEatsMochi]

came here to comment the same. i'm a motion graphic designer and never even occurred to me to use a tool like this, just so used to doing it by hand. genuinely thank you so much for posting this.

[@somebodyHereFor]

Yooo its dope, having everything organised is half the work

[@Wuddigot]

Yoooooo, the shoutout to mind maps was great! They changed my everything. Also I saw the glimpse into your bjj map and got super happy because I do that too to logically organize what positions/transitions to review/train. I loved this video!!!! Thank you

[@nethminchamika]

Great insights on your game development workflow! Really appreciate the detailed explanation of how you use mind maps for task management and the efficiency it brings. Looking forward to more of your vlogs and learning from your experiences. Keep up the fantastic work, Jamie!

[@iHeartGameDev]

Thank you for sharing!🤟

[@jamie_dev]

Wow! Thanks so much!!

[@WILDFLAME101]

Hi, just wanted to say that I appreciate your approach to a simple yet functional workflow. I also love to keep the amount of tools and things I add to my workflow to a minimum. Thank you for sharing!

[@sukaina4978]

the keynote tip is life changing, thank you so much

[@thomasrichards8055]

Coming from an Agile-driven world, the mind-map tip is invaluable! Awesome video!

[@yoDQ]

Thank you for this indie gamedev vlog into your proces-- the tools, breakdown, and tips were very insightful and useful!

[@jseneque]

You really connected to me. Very glad the youtube algorithm found me. I have been using mind maps and trello and found there was something about trello that did quite fit till you pointed it out to me. Also, I always wonder how these simple but effective animations worked to articulate concepts to the audience. Thank you for sharing. Keep it up! You now have re-inspired me to dev log and you have a new follower ;)

[@jamie_dev]

Thanks so much for the follow 😊 really glad that you connected with the video too

[@thisisnottaco]

You got me on mindmap which I've been doing for years to help manage my adhd, you got me to subscribe when you said you're working on a game about a cat!

[@omar.mahmoud.ahmed10]

the animation part was so good, I didn't know you can do high quality animations like this! it looks so professional

[@leifashley]

What's the best breakdown of using a mind map I've ever seen. Very nice.

[@TwunhuStudio]

I love the simplicity of this entire workflow its incredible

[@mossymarsh]

I've been looking for something like Miro for years, thanks for pointing it out!

[@creativeburgergames]

Really nice to see videos like these for complete workflows! Cheers! 😎

[@iHeartGameDev]

Omg -- I use mind maps at my day job when architecting schemas for development. I never thought to use it as a productivity tool. This seems like a game changer! Liked and subbed! Thank you Edit: And thank you for sharing keynote animations! Had never heard of that but love the animation style and will definitely help with my future videos!

[@jamie_dev]

Glad that it's helpful!

[@missdesgames]

Great video, thanks for the tips on how to make really cool smooth animations!

[@2WinGs2]

Your task maps are amazing, I'm borrowing it for my prototype project. I envy you all who know proper coding and logic. Thank you so much for this video!

[@innerb1oom]

Thank you so much for sharing your workflow, definitely learned a lot and I am starting the mindmap right away! Also your game is adorable 🥰

[@ehlingard]

This much organized than what I have! Keep up the good work.

[@MaryMejias333]

Love this! Specially loved learning how you use apple keynote to create animations. Thank you for sharing your workflow--very helpful for a game dev wannabe like me.

[@NyteShade76]

Great presentation, transparency is so good for other aspiring game devs, even current game devs to see. Making games is just like writing, everyone who is starting or even veterans are always trying to find ways to improve their craft, or get to a more optimal way of working, that is what coding is all about. "Make it work" and the next time, make it better. I love how you snuck in Brackeys in there :)

[@MonamiTech]

영상 좋네요.. 집에서 유니티로 게임 만들어보려고 책사놓고 몇주째 읽지도 않고 있는데 취미로 이정도라니 대단하시네요.. 저도 이 영상보고 무기력 떨쳐버리고 다시 시작해보겠습니다.. 감사합니다..

[@jamie_dev]

화이팅입니다 ㅎㅎ

[@Alexandre_Keo]

Fantastic video. It's always nice to see what other people use as tools and how they organize to make it simpler to understand and boost productivity. That mindmap is something I will experiment with, for sure. Thanks

[@corpsinhere]

I *love* your pixel art style! So much cute for so few pixels :D

[@corpsinhere]

Though naked mole-beaver will haunt my dreams :O

[@jamie_dev]

thanks so much, I love all cute things 🥰

[@jamie_dev]

🤣🤣

[@jonasqueiroga5106]

Using Keynote for quick animations like this is genius! Never tough about that.

[@conchii]

Whoa! These are all great tips for software engineering in general! Love that keynote protip

[@drioko]

i wish i had seen this video a lot earlier in my life! thanks! :) such a cozy video too

[@spaderdabomb]

You just instanatly switched me to mind maps, thanks!

[@BitLyrist]

I started using a similar mind map structure to describe various activities required for larger teams and organizations to build - it’s very effective tool to describe not only at the executive level but also to the individual contributors to see how their piece fits into the larger picture. Something I stumbled on accidentally and glad to see others leveraging something similar too.

[@jamie_dev]

glad to meet you! mind maps are underrated haha

[@BitLyrist]

@@jamie_dev the format I started with was much heavier with more detail and I’ve now switched to your format for a couple things this week which is a nice compliment to the more detailed approach. Lucid also has a Mind Map template similar to Miro which is also working well - thanks!

[@PatrickChoi]

how do you prioritize effectively the areas and tasks in the mind map? It feels overwhelming to now having all these tasks laid out?

[@BitLyrist]

@@PatrickChoiGood question, and likely a few options there but finding something that feels organized to you and lets you keep track of the work that needs to be done is priority 1. For me the mind map is really about structure, communication, and easier for me to find gaps. I saw in the video that Jamie numbers the leaf nodes- that’s a good option and in Miro/Lucid the mind map can be changed by dragging and dropping. On other option is to create work items in another system and link to them from the chart. Sometimes the work doesn’t have a priority as well, and in those cases it doesn’t matter where you start or end. In my case leaf nodes represent 1-3 months of work and so I move that information into Jira for others to work on.

[@PatrickChoi]

@@BitLyrist oh, the leaf nodes being the circled center nodes like "0.0.1 prototype"? i guess i shouldn't have my entire game as center node but smaller parts of it or different stages of the game. seems a bit complicated, it's like I'd have duplicates of the same feature areas, say Dialogue system, just that one Center node may be with earlier version of Dialoge system and another center node is the later game version where Dialogue system tasks still exist..

[@metras.]

I have never seen anyone giving the sauce so easily! Awesome content you got there!

[@jamie_dev]

Thanks! hope it was helpful!

[@redmyopia]

Very insightful, interesting, short, snapy informative. Very nice. Thanks for sharing.

[@bavman2130]

Thanks for the video, I found it really helpful. Love the way you breakdown tasks in Miro. You’re great at explaining things too😊

[@dkarbaev]

Thanks for the tip about using Keynotes! It didn't even cross my mind that it can be used to create videos.

[@DevlexOnline]

Hey Jamie, awesome Video! My biggest struggle in my journey so far ist to keep track of all my todo's. I tried several Tools and Lists. But it's never feels organic. Mindmaps I usually use for brainstorming, but I never got the thought to use it for task management, but this is a brilliant idea! You keep always the context and it's easy to extend! I think I will try this! Really, really awesome!

[@envilonscript]

Amazing video and great tips! The use of mind maps for task tracking was very surprising to me. It is so intuitive and I can't believe I haven't tried this. Will do on my next gamedev project!

[@XenoStranger]

Really glad that I watched this video. It's really great! Thank you

[@tbrws]

The Mindmap tip is awesome. Thank you! My mind can go crazy with ideas sometimes, and usually im just walking around and typing notes on my phone which is a bit messy if you look at it a few days later... Im sure this will help me to keep my thoughts a bit more organised, without adding too much complexity on the writing them down aspect!

[@lavendercode]

Awesome video. Thank you for sharing your insight and experience on how to use each product mentioned.

[@JoeTheis]

The views on this one really went wild for you! Who would have thought that "tools I use" would be the breakout topic? It was really well done of course, so I'm sure that played a role. Cheers!

[@taiji9681]

The king is back

[@jamie_dev]

With Godot!!

[@bruno.myrrha]

Using keynote as its original intention deserves a sub for sure. I'll try the mind map, I think you've found the solution to all my jira problems.

[@Brandon-w3o]

Excellent video and exactly what I needed! Thank you!💯

[@theunityguy_yt]

Awesome Video! The more I think about it, the more I realize that using a mindmap to plan is actually so much better than what I've been doing with online task managers. I've also always thought those video animations were really neat, and knowing that I can use powerpoint to do that is really helpful. thanks :D

[@jamie_dev]

glad if it was helpful unity guy!

[@UmbralLogic]

I did not expect to learn about keynote, that’s pretty awesome advice

[@rel6889]

Thanks, this mindmapping technique was exactly what I was looking for and I love how you're a Godot dev.

[@NickGapp]

This motivated me to give mind maps another try as part of my project management workflow. Thanks!

[@byGDur]

1:08 this is where my prof always said "divide and conquer". If you have a problem too great to solve, divide it up into smaller solvable problems :)

[@Htbaa]

Interesting use of a mind map. I like the approach!

[@shaps]

Love this! I’ve tried a lot of apps with sub tasks but they’re generally more limited and don’t “map” to my mental model well, and def don’t have the flexibility you demonstrate here. I’ve also been a longtime fan of MindNode on iPad but haven’t used it in some time. This video prompted me to check back. I was so pleased to find it’s even added task (toggle/checkbox) support to nodes. And also has an amazing nested list layout if preferred for org etc Thank you so much for talking about this - genuinely useful.

[@shaps]

MindNode is now my go to tool and since I watched your video I've migrated 3 entire projects into it. It's mind blowing and I can't believe I hadn't considered this before. Thanks again. I'm rarely impressed with productivity videos but this was truly inspiring. 👏

[@ozanbirinci1654]

This looks great, Jamie! Looking forward to your future vids (^^)

[@kitansan]

this is insane presentation animation for technical videos. I love the simple breakdown approach to project management too, definitely usable for any solo software projects. Godsend ❤

[@FolksOfBeaveryTown]

TY 4 sharing ur invaluable experiences! I've improved my knack for mine.😄

[@tizio13]

Dang ty so much for the Keynote animation tip. Very handy!

[@BancyCo]

We're also devs and we loved the use of Miro for visual task-tracking; great tip And the Keynote tip blew our minds! 🤯

[@lcdcstudios]

I have been using miro for years and never even thought of using it that way, thank you!

[@TKEnvironments]

Awesome tips, I’ll definetely include mindmaps in my work too!

[@cew182]

So horizontal hierarchy instead of vertical. I'm glad it works for you. The video PR hustle is something I haven't thought a lot about for a long time. Wearing all of the hats that I'm used to seeing spread across a team must be exhausting.

[@Ninanomori]

Hello! I just started thinking of taking my art skills and turning it into game assets and this was so helpful for me. Making the mind map and applying it to workflow is so brilliant and sharing us your process with these tools was inspiring, thank you!

[@CreativeSteve69]

Yay a brand new Jamie vdieo dropped. Welcome back gamedev queen. I'm also learning godot via a udemy course I found and loving every bit of the journey as well myself. I'm also learning the basics from using Kenneys free asset packs as my starting point before I venture out on creating my own in the near future which I'm sure I'll enjoy as well. glad to see your game is coming along smoothly. Great seeing a new upload from ya again. :)

[@jamie_dev]

Thanks! I love Godot so much, never regretted switching to it 😊

[@logicaestrex2278]

@@jamie_dev it is pretty nice, i took inspiration from it for my language. keep having fun!

[@logicaestrex2278]

nice bro! keep it up, hit me up with questions if you'd like. you can just reply here or i can give you my email if thats easier. im sure your doing great though!

[@jennamartineau4619]

Hey thanks for this video, i love it that you remind us that simplicity can be better in this cyberworld

[@anajamx]

you wrote premiere twice , one on the premiere logo and the other on the keynote logo lol , i loved you're video , u're a wonderful person , have a good life

[@mohac11]

Wow, your animations are so smooth! And the game you're making looks cool! Just followed. I can't wait to see more of your devlogs :>

[@DEVDerr]

Combine it with Obsidian Canvases and their ability to make single item in such mindmap a separate note and here you go - perfect project productivity system

[@hoangtongvu9952]

currently using obsidian canvases for mind map stuff and it is so good, any plugin to enhance my work flow?

[@JonathanYeong]

Love the keynote tip! Subscribed!

[@jamie_dev]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@headshot4256]

I am a indie dev And i really like the way you presented ! I may adapt to your style to blog my Journey.

[@RustaceanCo]

I learned many things from a 6-minute video . thanks

[@michaelmano7261]

I have to say, well done. Thanks for the mind map tool. I jump around so much,

[@xvii145]

Stumbled across your vid, Got some cool ideas to kickstart my journey as a game developer thanks!

[@colleennicole7835]

The naked mole rat!! Love it! Great video, thank you for sharing!

[@brandonbell3133]

Keep the vids coming please! Great wisdom

[@Selfpowered]

Thanks for sharing this, I've just started my own GameDev journey

[@sanchesrfl]

Graphs for managing tasks, just love it!

[@VVGameLabs]

I like the minimalist kind of approach.

[@askmuhsin]

Really enjoyed the video, a lot of very actionable and practical tips !

[@OdotRIH4KRC]

This was extremely helpful. Thank you.

[@cosmicslime1496]

I realized the core idea behind Mindmaps is the same with Outliner apps. The main difference being that Outliners (like Dynalist and Logseq) are primarily text based and Mindmaps are visual. For people with ADHD, like me, I think outliners are better. I feel overwhelmed just looking at that Mindmap. Great video!

[@thanhtung24]

I have just figured out this chanel and I love this video

[@hawkgamedev]

I remember commenting one of your videos saying your maps looked crazy, but you have changed my mind about them, I'm starting today with them, and since I already use Miro I guess it might just work like have it all in one place, thanks for such amazing videos. Also your way to explain things is really nice and structured, you should consider creating tutorials and selling them.

[@jamie_dev]

Thanks! I used to make programming tutorials and hope to make game dev tutorials once I get more experience some day. I checked out your work on your channel and it looks sick! I want to make 3D games too

[@hawkgamedev]

@@jamie_dev hello and thank you, my work in my channel is old when I used Unity, I've been using Godot for a while but I'm shy about it video wise lol, honestly thank you for the mental map idea its really working for me.

[@jamie_dev]

@@hawkgamedev looking forward to your updates if you decide to post about your new godot game 😊

[@andyzhong1144]

wow, this is quality content! Thanks for that keynote tip!

[@rickloyd8208]

Thanks for an idea of mind map. I was doing it in simple txt document. When task is way big, I simple delete it and replace with smaller ones. However, mind maps allow you to view whole picture and what looks the most promising: ability to see a progress per node!

[@afaemor]

You are amazing! Thank you for all the valuable info :D

[@analog_ape]

What a great video. I feel very inspired to try mindmaps and PPT animations. Thanks!

[@jamie_dev]

Glad to hear that :) hope the video was helpful

[@slimehero777]

You are a strong girl. Making game is not an easy task for one person. I have been on and off trying to make one but didnt have time and motivation enough to do so.

[@Dribbles88]

Thanks for the miro tip, gonna try for a small project and see how it goes.

[@thygrrr]

I never understood mindmaps. They are totally alien to my way of thinking. But... they are ABSOLUTELY EYE OPENING for task management and oh my, what have I been doing with my life all this time -.- (been making games and software professionally for decades)

[@BMJYDK]

ooooh as someone who's had massive issues planning using Trello and Notion and actually tracking whats next, I'm really keen to see how you do this. NB I haven't watched the full vid yet!

[@MrKogarou]

This is a wonderful video - thank you for sharing your setup in such a clear and actionable way.

[@kinwaing85]

Great video! I'm also an indie developer, but I'm an artist trying to learn coding. Going solo is hard. I hope you make a successful game!

[@ThyTrueNightmare]

This was quite help as someone new to your channel. Personally, I don't think there is enough flowchart tools out there because I use them for planing quests and dialogue options for games I want to create. I'm also in love with obsidian md for planning and research; and for planning D&D sessions. Nice about the animations though, makes sense and I will be definitely using these once I start a KZbin game developer journey

[@LexZapRetro]

Nice video , the mindmap idea is pretty cool and the simple pixel art is quite cute as well.

[@duncan-dean]

Great walkthrough! Looking forward to seeing more!

[@Hojusigol]

Great video especially the keynote tip was superb! Good to see you again tho🙌

[@jamie_dev]

Hello!! 오랜만입니다! Hope you're well!!

[@maxfrischdev]

Wow, that was a great walkthrough, thank you Jamie!

[@jamie_dev]

Thanks, I totally understood when you said "sober game addict"