What New Game Developers are Doing Wrong

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Thank you for watching! Don't take this video as a perfected algorithm on how to build your indie game career but rather a new perspective.
I'm the founder of codingmadesimple.com that hosts high quality, fun to learn and straight to the point course material for game developers. I'd really appreciate it if you'd check out my content.
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• What New Game Develope...

[@FyberOptic]

This is old advice that can't be repeated often enough, because people still fall into the same trap all the time.

[@AROD-oh5ez]

Yup. It's sad.

[@thedrhax1410]

Actually even worse... They reskin games into the worse thing in the world. For example, in google play there are like 6 hello neighbors

[@shapefactoryiosandroidgame1539]

So true..

[@LTswiftnests]

Lol this are not famous and are just the stupid hello neighbor fans games as well if you try to play the game will force you to rate this game 5 stars....this fan made game are totally can't be play also same as others...

[@DxBlack]

Don't speak unless you can be understood...

[@JonFawkes]

I think while this is obvious, it needs to be said But a big problem with this video I think is that, while you were giving good examples of "big" games at the beginning, you didn't really give any examples of small games. As a beginning game dev, should I start with a platformer? Is that too big? Should I start with tic tac toe? I think the main problem really presented here isn't "you shouldn't start here" but rather "where do I start?"

[@redsprites5216]

JonFawkes DYYAAAAANG!!! Well put.

[@bfs7668]

JonFawkes every time when I start new game project I aim high and try to make most complicated game I can. So in meantime I can lookup some help on unity forums, stack overflow and thus learning new techniques and habits. And each time I do this I can feel that I'm better than let's say 2 months ago

[@vladimir_ckau]

There are such lists on the internets, like, uploaded in the stone age. (gamedev.stackexchange.com/a/945) Not to say that your commentary is wrong - I do really dwell idea of content-creators really moving from useless repeating "Don't do this" to the constructive "Do this because".

[@ScrewOz]

True Valhalla has been making small, basic HTML5 games for a number of years. His business has grown exponentially in that time. You can check out what kind of games he makes on his website truevalhalla.com

[@temps1959]

Do a platformer game that's a good start

[@Eclipsed_Archon]

the first 4 minutes of this video, whether intentional or not, are very demeaning to new developers. Not every new game developer jumps into it with the mindset of a 5th grader... When I started out, my biggest challenge was getting taken seriously because everyone assumes that every newbie designer is an idiot with zero prior knowledge and zero common sense. Now I opt to work alone, and my workflow is much better, because at least I can take myself seriously. If a guy like me can build a 3D RPG from the ground up alone, making the 3D models, textures, audio, and programming etc, without any college learning, then nobody has any excuse to give up on their "big" games... These people fail because they make the mistake of thinking it'll be easy, that's the real issue here, lack of motivation.

[@TheGuardian163]

honestly it applies to medium games, and "not small enough games" as well but I agree with your point

[@no00ob]

EclipsedArchon finally a comment I agree, you can start as big as you wish, just don't expect It to be easy, and of course don't give up, then anything is possible.

[@artbyrobot1]

well said archon well said! I'm glad I'm not the only one pissed off hearing these quitters bitch about hard work after only 2 months and giving up holy shit! Man up people it takes decades to do anything worth while and there is NOTHING you can't do if you have the patience and sheer will to overcome all obstacles that come your way!

[@Notakas]

8 minutes of video to explain something that could take 30 seconds

[@bissash103]

Better 8 minuts of video than 2 years stuck in these cicle...

[@psyoptic]

Took 9 minutes to say "start small and work your way up".

[@CoreggonOfficial]

I had a lot of ideas when I was younger and when i started learning programming a started to work on my dreamed games. Now I am developing 3 games at a time, sometimes I stop having creativity for one game so I return to another and I like it :)

[@MCilja]

Coreggon Music This sounds really fun! Good luck for your projects man :)

[@Halo3machenima]

I almost always have a long-term project and a short-term project in the works at any time. While I work on the big one slowly but surely, I can pump out some small projects along the way to hold over until the big one hits.

[@anonco1907]

Yeah I'm working on 14+ games, so far it's been two or three years and none have more than a few seconds worth of game play.

[@DePistolero]

If you want to start game development from scratch you have to start with crumbs. Set a goal what kind of a game you want ( I started with an FPS game )And divide it into small elements. What is the first thing you need( how to shoot bullets? ) First make that. What is the next step( How to make enemies? ) Do that .... Build the first, crude terrible version of no-one-wants-to-play game. Learn through that process and feast HARD and I mean very hard on those small successes, later you will upgrade, and upgrade... You will have a feeling of progress which will keep you motivated and you will stay with your BIG game. And eventually, finish it. Bare in mind, it is difficult, take small steps, do what you enjoy and celebrate your success. We are all here because we love gaming if you lose that love along the way of creating something that is not inspiring for you, it kinda beats the purpose. Don't stop and may stack overflow be with you.

[@Halo3machenima]

My first game was pretty much developed over the course of a few years. It was a big one, but it came out fine. I just pretty much worked on it little by little. Only doing anything with it when I felt I had some idea worth trying out.

[@PHNeutre49]

Yeah, good thinking. If your heart is not at it, it probably won't come out as good anyway. That's what I try to do, only code something when I'm feeling it (which is most of the time thankfully) and rush my computer when I have a good idea about a function or a functionality.

[@artbyrobot1]

AMAZING ADVICE depisolero! I cannot agree with you more! It is all about baby steps and refusing to give up once you start a project. Projects, once started, should become a part of who you are. They are like your children. You might not see them for a while, but they are always yours and you always need to pay them a visit as soon as you get a chance. They are yours for life and should never be given up on. They can take a lifetime and that is OKAY! Just be sure to have another way to make money while you do them or you will go broke.

[@russellvoss7575]

I think you need to compress this video in terms of script. I just wanted to skip around the video and I got the concept pretty well that way. Also, can you tell us what you mean by "small" game? Clearly they'd have to be small enough to create inside a week or a month, but you aren't talking about the minimum viable product either. When I started game development, I had the idea you mentioned in the second half of the video, where you start small and work your way up, but even the "small" game I was working on turned out to be too big in order to stay motivated with. Tell us what specifically makes a game small, (like simple platformer mechanics, lack of upgrade systems, a playtime of 10 minutes or less, etc.) and how is that different from a medium sized game, and a larger game.

[@aidang2788]

things I consider to be small games: Pong Tetris Breakout Asteroids Tic Tac Toe etc etc

[@metalim]

Thanks for reminder. I thought about making Tetris clone for warmup, but decided to check what I have already done. And found out I have done in 7 day marathon: Tick-Tack-Toe 15 puzzle Tetris Minesweeper Pong! Collapse and Match-3. metalim.github.io/21/ That motivates me to do some more hacking, but this time to finalize the games.

[@brysonmorton1968]

Russell Voss when I think small game I usually think arcade game, maybe board games like checkers (or chess which I'd like to do)

[@Cynadyde]

That's a good question. I have trouble with this because no matter how small of an idea I start with, I always end up expanding its complexity too rapidly, and from there I have to pull back and let the dust settle for a while-- maybe start from scratch, that being faster than trying to walk it back. I see it as a problem of managing the scope of complexity, but where one "session" ends and another begins to focus on is extremely difficult to keep in check...

[@adrianmarzec5953]

You are completly right:D I stuck in this cycle for..7 years:o Now i am finishing very little platform game and i am so proud of it:3

[@ChannelOfJoris]

Do you have a link to a demo or gameplay video or something? I would love to check it out.

[@adrianmarzec5953]

Yep:) You can find it on my website: www.add92.org :)

[@rixlayer]

⚔️ Susperia 🤘

[@the_survivalist1603]

very nice job mate, keep up good work ;)

[@karolledzinski710]

ciekawa gra,to jest na smartphony?

[@jbdbibbaerman8071]

For my first game, I'ma make God of War: Online! That's not too big, is it?

[@OwenPrescott]

Something I learned is that you can still build your big game, just build it in chunks as individual smaller games. MAke entire mini games and to you can even keep them themed on the same story. For example, if in your big game you have vehicles. Start a smaller game where you can focus specifically on vehicles, later you can use those assets in combination for a bigger project. That's what I'm doing now with Atoms4D which is is a VR adventure game, I'm working on smaller projects which all loosely based on the Atoms4D universe.

[@SuPeRNinJaRed]

Great point dude! As many other people have commented although this seems so obvious- often developers don't even realize they're in the cycle. Just to sort of "piggyback" on what you were saying; a huge problem I ran into (still running into) is not failing on projects but simply not even starting them due to constantly changing ideas/concepts for games! It's like I'm plagued with too many ideas that I want to do and I end up getting nothing done... * SOBS *

[@pikmin4000]

As long as one doesn't give up, there is no right or wrong path. Continuously attempting to create a 3D FPS from zero experience will eventually lead that person to become talented. It can be discouraging to fail repeatedly on large projects, but it's not wrong. If anything, some people are inspired when they pursue games they want to create rather than starting on abstractly small 2D projects.

[@eyeCU13]

U mad bro? Have you ever attempted to "create a 3D FPS from zero experience", by yourself? It will never ever happen! In fact what you’re suggesting is the exact recipe for a career suicide. Let’s be realistic. It’s better to pick the right scope in the beginning, than to be sorry later. If you continuously misjudge your capacity you’ll waste your time, money and effort. Eventually you’ll be forced to give up, or you’ll simply loose the passion. You gotta make your effort count. 1 successful small project = 10 unsuccessful large projects. Imagine if you decide to look for a job in the industry, at some point. What are you gonna tell your potential employers? “Well I tried to make a game a dozen times and I failed each one of them”. Wow that sounds really impressive! U think they will hire you? Don’t be silly, start small and build up from there!

[@pikmin4000]

Yes I have. No such thing as a career suicide if you have zero experience. Potential employers want to see quality, not quantity. They would rather see 1 amazing game you were passionate about rather than 100 mediocre ones. It's not a waste of time since with every failure you are pushing the envelope and expanding your skillset faster than if you were to play it safe. Nothing is forcing you to give up, like I said before, as long as you don't give up, either way is fine. One shouldn't intend to fail, but one should also take risks and not be afraid of failure.

[@eyeCU13]

Of course, I can't possibly see what could go wrong with your approach! You are kidding right? I suspected that you might have a hard time seeing the error in your chain of logic. You talk about “quality”. Would you enlighten us how exactly you associate chronic failure with quality. Are you suggesting that companies out there are full of people who fail all the time and never finished anything properly? That’s not exactly what employers are looking for. They tend to like people who GET THE JOB DONE! At best failure could serve as a valuable experience. It’s not a bad thing, but it’s not the end goal either, right? When you set out to make a game you don’t start by thinking: “oh I know I’m gonna fail again, for sure, but that’s ok as long as I don’t give up”. At some point you actually want to succeed. And you can’t succeed if you persistently pick projects which are way out of your league. This is what this video is trying to explain, but unfortunately you don’t get it! That’s kind of sad. I hope that at least others will hear the warning and not fall for this trap. By the way, I also speak from experience! While you’re add it, why don’t you try to become an astronaut with zero experience? You’ll get there, right, as long as you don’t give up?!

[@pikmin4000]

Game development, unlike other professions, is fueled by people's unique ideas they want to create. There is no penalty to failing a game; it's not a waste of time and effort because you learn something from each failure. When I was a beginner, I was obsessed with trying to recreate the Legend of Zelda on Game Maker. This vision I had inspired me to research on my own and study the code from other Zelda clones. I would private message other talented game developers and get them to teach me enemy AI so I could replicate Zelda. It was overly ambitious of course and thus I failed many times. But in the end I still came out of that experience with lots of knowledge. I'm not saying to persistently pick projects out of your league. I'm saying to pick a project you want to create and then pursue that project even if you have zero experience. Going from small projects or attempting one big one leads to the same end result. But chasing a project you care about just means it is more self-motivating -- it's more fun.

[@eyeCU13]

You make some good points, but look… I never said that you shouldn’t choose a project that you care about. Of course you should pick an interesting idea to develop into a game. Just because it’s a small project, doesn’t mean that it can’t be interesting. The big difference, however, is that in the end you will have something to show for: a successful project! Then the next one will be slightly larger, but still interesting and manageable. After you complete that one, you start an even bigger one and so on. U get the point, right? At the end you will still get to those big, exciting projects that you talk about, but you will also have a solid portfolio of successful projects. I know that this approach is better, because I’ve also tried yours and it doesn’t lead very far, especially if you want to make a profession out of it and you don’t have endless time to experiment. I would rather work on a bunch of different projects, then remake the same one over and over again. You will get a lot more experience this way. “Game development, unlike other professions, is fueled by people's unique ideas they want to create.” - True! “There is no penalty to failing a game” - not entirely true! You pay with your time! You only have so much to spend / experiment, before you have to get serious or find something else to do. The way I see it my approach is more practical and result oriented. Yours, on the other hand, is more romantic and not very well suited for the hard reality of game development. Anyway, nice talking to you. Good luck!

[@ths3385]

Game Dev Tycoon tutorial XD

[@dancer4723]

i actually started out making big games and it worked out for me because going into it i knew i wouldn't finish it so instead of working on a "big game" i worked on different little features and parts of the game each day until i had learnt enough to actually start a decent medium sized project. keep in mind this was over the course of about 4 years i didn't just go right into making a medium sized game.

[@davechen8549]

Thank you Zach. I stumbled upon your video and it described my situation completely. I've been inside the loop of making large games - and completely failing over and over. However, I've begun to release smaller games and started to try to work on execution rather than just ideas. According to your diagram, I should work on a medium sized game and go from there. It's just so hard to release a small game because I know it won't get popular - it's quite a struggle.

[@TheMesoria]

Another useful trick to do not get stuck: "Learn how, to learn." I know i do not help. But those who achieved something, will understand ;D

[@nighatabdullah3316]

I understand

[@twisterlord665]

Holy crap, this explains me in my early game development days. I made 4 games so far, 3 of which had failed: -Twister Party: Something based off Mario Party. All of it worked and all the scripts worked perfectly. The board game script worked very well, but I lacked motivation to continue it. I discontinued. -Intergalactic: Space RPG, but the camera had a rendering glitch and error and the save system wouldn't work anymore after some updates. I discontinued it. -Welcome to Septaplonia: Was going to be an awesome multiplayer game, but I had a lack of budget to even buy the servers for a day. Discontinued due to lack of funding. -Outside (My Current Game): I've had some close calls to which it failed, such as the student AI not working. However, I won't let it go to waste like my other games, but if it does, then it will probably be due to something I cannot control. Honestly, I hope this game doesn't fail since even though I had my struggles with it, I won't give up on it.

[@joshuagriffiths3991]

I've just gone through the Wave tuts, not only did I enjoy making and playing it, but I keep showing it to friennds and family and so far everyone finds it addictive. Point ... a game doesnt have to be huge and 3D to be a great game. That was my first game by the way... thank you RealTutsGML

[@vaughanmacegan4012]

I actually started out making a 3D FPS and was making slow, sometimes sporadic progress - you know mo-capped baddies, a gun that shot and left remnants on objects that it shot, basic pathfinding, doors that open/closed, 3D terrain, interacting with objects, going underwater. The thing was I did learn a HELL of a lot. I had to stop working on that game because life got in the way and because I never really wanted to make a 3D game in the first place - I just got caught up in what can I do next. So, when some time opened up I went to work on my real love which was 2D games and I found that a hell of the lot of skills crossed-over to the 2D world. So, I say do what you love, but, keep in mind that you do need to learn the basics as well, so start that Pong game too. As you go along ask yourself will this help me reach my ultimate goal and pay close attention to the things that will. And while working on the basics plot out more fully what your ultimate game is, what it will entail, mechanics of gameplay, breaking down the big things until they are more bite sized chunks that are solvable. For instance, you are going to want baddies in your 3D shooter, so first step, get a single FBX (if using Unity) baddie to appear, then look at mo-cap, get a basic action happening, then after that add more actions, then look at a creating a motion blend in the animator, then look at getting the character to move around a set-path using waypoints .... You can find all those things as dedicated tutorials on KZbin. Oh and when going through all those tutorials write out the code yourself don't take the lazy approach and download the provided source code - you will learn more in writing in the code yourself, then tracking down the errors as you learn HOW the code actually works.

[@Theflamers08]

Very good video! I would recommend you did a small video of making a short game and what your objectives be for your first games

[@xoctavia1418]

i don't fail at making my games, rather, i find a better use for the aspects i've got. such as story/charactor desien. and i incorperate them into a different game, revising till i get a solid story base, and begin working on code

[@IamAAnimator]

I finally finished my first commercial game! The trailer is on my channel. Another great video Realtuts!

[@bezakor]

Hey! So Im a graphic designer (of sorts) and really wanted to get into Game design. Honestly didnt know where to start but knew the direction/styling of the game I wanted. I watched this video, and decided to start simple! Its coming along great, and you are so right - there is a myriad of small nuances and details to finesse and learn in the simplest of games! I am so glad I didnt go big. The progress is going well too! Again, like you said, its a game that I like and want to play which has really helped me not abandon the project. Your advice was gold. Im going to post on twitter some of the behind the scenes because as a first timer I am sure others can learn from my process. Thanks Zak!

[@npc6924]

"Minecraft but with space creatures" Give me an hour and a ruby dung .jar. One of the later ones. *GIMPs the Steve skin* Done.

[@PoshoDev]

The video took way too long to get to the two main points of the video. But it's a very important topic, though. I've been on the big game loop for nearly 10 years and it was until early this year that I set myself to do nothing but small games all year. Great video, I think this is a major issue among us creators.

[@johngrey5806]

Yes, yes and yes! I have 2 friends who are doing exactly this, stuck making HUGE games for years and never getting anywhere, never finishing. Love this video.

[@Renacyde]

I thank you for this video I'm in this loop and starting today. I'm going to start with your video and go from there every time I feel like I'm off course I'm going to pull this video up and watch it again.

[@nickbeard3098]

that's not an "algorithm," its a box... 0:36

[@memester9611]

Alright what studio name should I use thanks Frag track studios Fire zone media Bullet time interactive Dead Trap studio Or solorflare games, Maximum studio Rebel productions. Which one thanks I just have so many and can't pick Some of these were just thrown together I have some other ones too

[@Sheep_Alot]

Fell for this too, now just working on small games that might have already been created but just with a small twist of my own fantasy, and most of these games don't even end up in public but just for myself and maybe a couple of friends to get feedback from and learn what can be improved on :)

[@erangoldstein9932]

I remember being in the first stage of the cycle, just stuck. Then I watched extra credits.

[@kelliekohler4458]

I feel like you just shot down my pong aspirations...

[@alecrutz6979]

lol

[@Nova-op1ob]

My first game was a recreation of pong

[@Anothergames]

Very nice info. I didn't know I was on the right path. I have like 15 games finished, all unsuccessful. But what I realized is that more people wanted to come in with my latest game, without even launching anything, just its art.

[@TorQueMoD]

I can attest to doing this for years and I still struggle with coming up with ideas for games that aren't huge even after releasing a small title already. Another good tip, ignore the art while you're prototyping. Literally just make everything out of cubes while you're putting together the code for your core gameplay loop. Once the gameplay is awesome with your cube art THEN you can worry about swapping out the cubes with proper meshes.

[@mysteriousmop7686]

First comment: Great information...many people often fall into this horrific cycle. Second comment: Im a strong believer in constructive criticism....and I am sure you would appreciate feedback since you are trying out this new type of video style....so I will give you my 5 cents: don't teeter totter, or lean left and right. It is unnoticeable at first, but becomes pretty distracting...great video!

[@yashwanthcb]

obvious answer..doing it differently. I.like it

[@soulman902]

Start Small. I did a Small Game in the Span of Two Weeks that was fun and I'm planning on re-doing for GameMaker 2 and include additional things in it.

[@extremegta5stunters317]

Thank u for informing me this really help , this made me realize that I just cant be trying to make a big game when I don't know the coding as well or the art , this help me a lot and I want you to know I appreciate it, keep up the good work

[@platonp1436]

1.5 speed was ok... but still to slow for the amount of info but cant be faster coz ill dont understand his words if ill do faster XD

[@lolxdfi]

One of my friend should REALLY watch this :)

[@Donejail]

You're writing that sentence, so it sounds like you only have 1 friend

[@magicpillowmp]

don't judge

[@manxy1392]

Donejail lolol

[@battosaijenkins946]

@RealTutsGML, hey man great video. In other words, people think they can just jump right in and they will get overwhelmed. Start small and make it simple, and it's a progress because along the way you understand the process along with coding experience. As for me, along the way in 3 years I went from website design to database management to finally jumping into canvas/javascript games. I learned CSS, HTML, PHP, MySQL, Batch script, Perl, Lua, and into Javascript now. My final hurdle is C++ and after that into 3d games. It's a process. I programmed my first blackjack game through perl, started a private everquest server, wrote a portal website from scratch, ported more gambling games to Lua, and now working on sandbox canvas games with Javascript. It's so fun now to be developing it instead of playing and I can now appreciate what developers do and how they take time to make a game simple and fun.

[@nategirvigian411]

My problem is I don't know how to get more than one person working on my video game.

[@unfa00]

This applies to any creative process. I used to be super ambitious (in a bad way) about my music videotutorials. I made one video, it was broken I did the best I could, I've put a ton of effort into stuff that doesn't really matter, and I was so burnt out I didn't make another video for years after that. When I finally recovered I started doing small, easy videos that I can record in one go, and be done. They were crappy, yeah,m but still I got some positive feedback for sharing the knowledge, and I got doing it - without hurting myself in the process. Now I'm slowly making my videos better, and I'm not longer trying to make "the best video. period", that is an unreal goal, that cannot be achieved and you can only get frustrated by trying to do that, when you just started out. Do small, all the time, and grow only as fast as you can without getting frustrated of unrealistic goals.

[@alexsafayan]

Go to 4:00 to see the actual start of the video

[@alexsafayan]

lol

[@strai8665]

This advice is... not 100% wrong? But the examples are awful, and it shouldn't take near 10 minutes to deliver.

[@PHNeutre49]

Althought it was non-pretentious somewhat good advice, it could have taken 2 minutes to explain the all thing. Like, dude, stop stalling;

[@clintstapleton2289]

I started with game maker studio 2 I made like 4 games then I got unity made a simple third person shooter and now I’m working on my first game I’m releasing to the market place with a group of people I must say your video is 100% correct you have to start somewhere small and build up over time

[@T3WGaming]

I don't understand the 500+ dislikes on this video, as someone who is just starting out, this helped me immensely. I'm planning on making a game in Unity to learn and experiment with C#. Even though the "game" (more of a demo/learning experience) I'm attempting is small, this still got me in the correct mindset. Thank you very much, you have earned a subscriber :).

[@hagarbebado]

Minecraft is actually much easier to develop as a one man team (it was developed by a single person initially after all) than MMO's or story driven single players. Just because the game-world is big doesn't mean it is costly to develop...

[@georgeytg]

*unless you're toby fox*

[@calebf3655]

George YTG he's made smaller games before he made undertale

[@georgeytg]

like what? I only know Earthbound

[@burgers1]

undertale, if you actually think about it. Is a small game

[@AnsityHD]

It took him 2 years to make, a small game should take a week or 2, such as a game jam. and yeah Toby Fox had done other stuff he didn't make Undertale after watching a few gamedev youtube videos lmao.

[@azzzaazz5809]

Toby learned gm for many years before he started UT

[@sebastienbrassard]

Not just new game developers.. the old ones fall into that trap as well.

[@Armendicus]

yep just look at all these giant ass open maps with nothing compelling in em.

[@hatac]

Nice work. One way to do it is to break your game up into bite sized chunks. A static crafting game, a racing game, open world car exploration demo, alien shooter, then combine them into a bigger game where you drive, craft stuff in your boot or on the flatbed and avoid the aliens in the big world until your ready to battle the ET boss with your super war car. Yep I have a crazy big game design up my sleeve but modularizing it should work.

[@abysscodes]

*cough* Elysian Shadows *cough*

[@TomasEPC]

what's that? a big game made by a beginner?

[@skaruts]

By no means made by a beginner, but by all means taking -ages- eras to make. I keep forgetting it even exists... :)

[@VillegasCar]

estai terrible weno xdd

[@tabooization123]

This loop isn't just for games but also for writing. I have been in a writer's block and always thought writing a new would be better stimulating for my previous work. I guess I have to review my own method. Thanks for the helpful advice.

[@mynewcolour]

What's that? Walk before you run? Cheers genius.

[@raffi2001]

call of duty explained xD

[@dragonfyzex1546]

ImRaffi call of duty is the same game 100 times

[@fakedeltatime]

because that's all the devs want to play and are able of doing (joke)

[@maurices.3194]

This is how business works bro

[@TimeWisely]

2:53 He farted

[@MafiosoGame]

Sharted

[@JustJunuh]

Good advice even though I've heard it dozens of times at this point. Currently, I'm at the point where I can really experiment with games right now and see what does and doesn't work. I'm moving under a slightly different philosophy and would love to hear your take on it. I got this one game in mind, that will absolutely take a long time to make, but I'm not gonna give up on it. I'm sure I won't be working on it consistently, but I'm willing to pick up where I left off rather than make dozens of games that don't interest me in the slightest. If my dedication and work ethic stays true (while still not being with a company), you think this works too?

[@eastpawz7986]

What are new devs doing wrong? 1. Worrying about Artwork and they first have no idea what the game they want to create is about. 2. Lack of knowledge on Design or no story. 3. Making games that can be completed in 3 hrs. and no replay value. One dev put an impossible achievement in his game so the game is not on anyone completed list and then they never open it again. He knew it would be put aside and has no replay value. 4. Have no background knowledge on how to make a small business flow. For example hiring people to do work. 5. Pricing games wrong if they are a small team... trying to make games that are free with paid content when they should just set a price for their game. 6. Trying to rush a game to market that is not finished. 7. if a game has DRM it should function offline as well as online. ( small indie game ) Some devs have games on steam that won't work unless u are logged into steam and the game is mainly single player .. has a multiplayer function that is rarely used.

[@dynastylobster8957]

THESE ARE THE MOST OBVIOUS THINGS! if you have common sense don't watch this video

[@Vekkuli001]

Dynasty Lobster I disagree. It's really common to do that. Even though I know these, I still might make the mistakes.

[@eggaming8292]

Dynasty Lobster No it's not common sense. Everyone falls in the same mistake. Or let me say most people.

[@woottipat06]

@Phil Donovan Yeah, but will making those 'text and drivers' watching a video about 'Don't text and drive' stop them from texting and driving? I don't think so. Same goes with smokers.

[@jamesoren7238]

Not only is this really common, but I actually think it's becoming more common as more and more people get their exposure into game making through modding very large games instead of building simple ones.

[@bloodyfx1065]

Woottipat Herabat, actually, videos of "stop smooking", and "stop driving and texting" works for most of the people.

[@RC-go2kl]

Don't label yourself a game dev.

[@lorenzvo5284]

Don't label yourself as someone who can decide that

[@Pointlessparodys]

Lol OK well what are your qualifications?

[@The212b]

Leone Kaiser They just wanted to post a comment! You don't have to take it so personal, jeez.

[@RC-go2kl]

Deer Viehch haha, rubbed a few the wrong way it seems. Besides, I wasn't taking a jab at Mr. Realtuts there. He is genuinely a good guy with some helpful info.

[@RC-go2kl]

***** I like to sip starbucks grandes and draw stick figures in obscene positions.

[@gfxtechstudio6965]

Nice , this is not just about game project, but for every other projects you can apply this pattern.

[@realdeal1657]

helped me tons, I have been stuck in the loop for a couple years, hopefully this will help me out :D

[@gavinglennmcdowell]

This guy has no idea what he is talking about.

[@robertszacki1628]

Very nice video! Thank you very much. This cycle was a big problem also for me! I hope thanks to your video I will finish my games.

[@tobyhendricks9951]

This is exactly what I did when I started development, I broke the cycle by building game jam games. Forces you to come with something you can make and finish in a certain time period. It got me used to scoping my project before starting them, it also helped my design skills, forcing me to explore a small set of mechanics in a small amount of time, developing new mechanics would take too long.

[@alec_almartson]

Thank you man! It's a simple but yet too important philosophy to start learning ANYTHING, not just game dev...

[@orenong]

What you are saying is not limited only to game devolopment, The same happens to me when I make videoes, over the years I learned that when I try to make a new kind of video I have to start small

[@Zenithium67]

you're completely right when it comes to this. I myself have tried to make several massive games and each one failed due to funding, not knowing enough, and everything else you mentioned. Currently working on a huge project now with a very small team and minor funding, but its moving slow and im really starting to consider delaying the development just to start making smaller games to get into the mix. Thanks for this video

[@benanderson6218]

this course that your offering has a game maker section but says its for GM2 is the info translatable or will you be doing another course on GM1?

[@zoomspilo6798]

I love this video. It has a lot of personality and perfectly illustrates the cycle you can get stuck, and what happens wen you avoid it. Bravo, Zack.

[@RealTutsGML]

Thank you

[@RomainCourtois]

Very interesting thank you ! I will use it for my games

[@travisoliver2288]

My format for my first three or so years was to spend a week or so making whatever came to mind. I've gotten pretty good at coding, my modelling skills are getting better, and I'm finally starting on my first big project. I'm two months in and very satisfied. I'd say it's Medi-Big, but I still haven't published anything yet, but I plan on steam. It will be challenge! I accept it.

[@domlight7254]

I saw where you were going with this:"Big loop that suck motivation to keep it simple and progress!"But, when I start something I HAVE to finish it because, I have a massive amount of hidden motivation that will turn into regret if I don't do it.So I'm in that first loop but, I've gone for reasonably sized big game(metroidvania if you were curious) and use my determination to keep me going but this video...I like it!it's inspirational I need to find more of these to keep me focus!I've got the motivation but not the focus...that's what I need to work on!

[@gamedevrod4192]

Awesome vid - ensure you finish your projects & ship them - good advice & so true :)

[@BingtheLizard]

I've hit this cycle so often. My current means of managing it is the following: - Conceptualize a small game. - Simplify it. - Permit myself to add 1 feature which I would consider to be new to me. - Research that feature and write a small code library which I can use in my game and in other games after it. Often I won't finish the game, but I'll have laid more groundwork for the next game/iteration. For example: - Conceptualize top-down 2D turn-based game with units on a tiled grid. - Simplify by aligning units to grid instead of permitting abstract coordinates and then having to involve more complex collision mechanics. - Permit myself to add feature to make grid procedurally generated. - Research PRNGs, white noise, Perlin noise and Simplex noise. Implement as a separate library which I can use in this or future projects. Repeat cycle instead of starting from scratch again with zero foundation code.

[@ThatGamePerson]

I do a lot of contracting work for small indies and something I see a LOT (I really just clicked the vid to say this) is that there is little to no planning. And you can't plan everything but at least try to make a GDD. Even my prototypes for small game jams have a doc so that I know what my actual goals are. Even if they change during development its nice to have goals to work towards right away.

[@Noisy_Cricket]

Yeah, I've been stuck in this cycle since I was 18 years old and I'm 28. Partially because of college but still... this is very good advice.

[@hughadams9703]

Hey, you stopped me before getting into that loop trap!!! Thanks man!!!

[@peoplethesedaysberetarded]

Neat. So how many games have you made and what are their sales/hit metrics?

[@willkingsley3515]

Well put. Every beginner goes through this. Upon my first week using Unity I downloaded UFPS and jumped straight into my first game. BAD MOVE! I overcomplicated everything doing this and it's unnecessary. I eventually got it all figured out but by "running" into Unity you're actually taking a step back because you're making it harder on yourself.

[@OsquiExe]

What you said on this video, it's totally true, as game developers we have to find our own style to make videogames, and this is not easy at all, so we have to start from the small games with these easy mechanics that we all know from other videogames, dude thanks for the advice, this video should be a motivation for all those game developers out there.

[@userunknownxx1]

I'm learning how to use Unity. I stopped for some months but I'm coming back and continuing on an rpg game from a course on youtube which is extremly good by GameGrind. After, I'm done I am them going to use those concepts and start my very own rpg but small. That is after experiencing the simple rpg first. Really recommend the course.

[@mmyesrice2522]

My first game (maybe it wasn't a game) was a menu system where you could make a password and log in. I made it in collaboration with my friend when I was 9 or 10. It was only about 10 lines of horrible code but we were so proud when we finished it!

[@anshuchaurasiya4479]

You are right. I was in the third big phase. lol. But now i am going to give a pause and will be developing small games.

[@CorinaVR]

Another tip for beginning (and any) game developer: Design Document. Write it all out. Cover the rules of the game, the assets needed, the function and features of your player-character, AI/Mobs, environment, controls..everything. Run through the design document. See where you can streamline it. Cut what you can cut. Do all this before you even start coding.

[@brohmarr]

Man, I really just wanna thank you here. Although this is kinda obvious, I really needed to hear everything you said there. I´m just starting my game dev career (still in the begning of college and solo projects) and that was something that was slowing me down A LOT. I had an idea for a project these days that looked a bit small for me, but I going for it, cause, after all, I liked it. Thank you again for the video and may the dev force be with you. o/ PS: Sorry for the (probably) wrong punctuation and the (also probably or not) wrong english there. Hahahah

[@parmpreetgill8205]

I've been doing this for over an year now, never managing to complete or even get far into a project due to a lack of motivation. I fixed my issue by making a game of the same targeted scale but about memes.

[@julsanityplay]

Thank you man, that's actually inspires me and realized what i did wrong in the past. That's awesome!

[@MacShrike]

For a young Padawan, much wisdom you show =) Very good advice and very well brought. I salute you and hope far you will go. Yes I do he does. thx, Mac

[@totomomo1113]

You have totally right, this is what I did, now I know what I need to do, thanks dude !

[@Masfugo]

but in reality , even we intend to "start small" we always want to add more and more feature into it that makes it into a giant mess of unconnected ideas

[@memine5595]

good info thanks i sometimes get too much into a big idea and dont focus on small ideas first.

[@karolledzinski710]

I am now doing my 2nd small game because first one had a good feedback. So now on my 2nd small game I involved a little bit more coding a little bit better graphics and I have learn and fixed mistakes from 1st game:-). I know I am not ready for team work yet but I am at least moving forward :-)

[@3vc0ph]

My first ever game was a platformer. I made 2 levels, but then my 30-days free version of a game making program ended, and I was only 9 years old so I couldn't buy it. Then, after 3 years, I made one of the most simple games ever. You moved as a black square, you avoided red walls and had to touch the green square. I made 20 levels and it was a finished game. Now, I'm almost 14 years old and I have Game Maker. I'm currently making a game where you move with a character and you shoot enemies that chase you. I worked on it for 3 hours, and It's already almost finished. I'm planning to make a huge RPG game with a super long story, but I didn't even start, because I'm not skilled enough yet. So yeah, I'm pretty much following this process.

[@Eryniell]

heh last whiteboard image looks like my business plan ;D and I think it can be even helpful to work on a big game first (but not as a business), because it gives kind of a good idea on how long you can work on something before you get demotivated...and then you can use that as a good estimate on how long the development time of your small games should be at max :) of course, one could also simply increase the size of smaller games gradually and see at what point it starts to become difficult as in fighting with motivation.

[@PandiiMan]

Hey man, nice video! You're are making a very true and compelling point about video game design, but "start small" is not exactly new advice. What we are lacking as an industry (in terms of advice) is the guidance on how to make "small games". For example, my first game started as a platform, a cube and some walls. Step 1: Decide how to move my cube around, and to note the process for making that decision (Should I move my cube with physics? - pro/con list. Where should the camera be? - how to play around with the camera, and how does camera mode/location/etc... effect the game.) Step 2: What is the challenge? for me, I decided to make the challenge "The player must figure out what to do" (by which I mean, it wasn't obvious where the game was going, so why not keep that vagueness and work on it? the player starts in an area in which it isn't obvious where he should go). To provide that, I made the next room slightly more conspicuous in the background. Realising how important it is to "catch the players eye" with the next objective. I think this is enough to make my point. I just really want to hear as many thoughts and variations on that process, in order to hopefully get more insight into the "game making mind" (Please feel free to take this idea for a video - if you will, no need for credit. You may even take my exact example, I just want to hear more) Thank you for your video, please PM me if you plan to make a video going in this direction, I'd be glad to help if I can.

[@jackbessant1936]

My technique, though I'm still yet to make my first game after getting a design degree, is to think of the room in The Matrix where Morpheus fights Neo. Create a single room demo to try to test out your ideas, and yeah keep developing things that work well. And I just ordered myself a whiteboard! need it so badly

[@ViniciusJorgeMunhoz]

Great advice and video. I just found it funny that you took almost 10 minutes do say "start small" hahah