Why Veteran Developers say "Make Small Games & Finish Them!"
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- čas přidán 6. 06. 2024
- Jeremy attempts to take the advice of elder game devs, but finishing is harder than starting.
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Hosted, Filmed & Edited by Jeremy Jayne
0:00 - Good Advice
3:10 - Revelation
6:09 - Low & Behold, there was horror
12:10 - Important Exercises in Futility
17:22 - Building Game Design Muscle - Hry
This is why, this is one of my favorite series ever. He’s not just learning how to make games, he’s discovering all the joys and pains of being creative. It’s so encouraging and beautiful. Never stop making things Jeremy!
I think playing small games like those on itch would help a lot.
People start making games too big because their gaming experience are often from playing those big budget long games.
There's nothing wrong about enjoying those polished, detailed commercial products.
It's just you will felt disconnected from what you are able to do from what you are familiar with.
When I was learning about film, that's a similar situation while what we know is 2 hour feature film, but lack of knowledge about how a 5 minute film would work.
Well, you're spot on with your revelation of why people like me have been saying for decades, "make something small, FINISH something small! You'll learn more from completing Space Invaders than pursuing your magnum opus." I'll give you this advice, with regards to "learning game design", don't start with genre or mechanics, start with INTENT. What do you want the player to FEEL? What do you want the player to DO? Start with that INTENT, then look at mechanics to support your INTENT. If a new feature looks all bright and shiny and you want to (SQUIRREL!!) pursue it, always refer back to your INTENT and ask, "does this enable my intent or distract from it?"
Man this is gold. I was thinking about how much I love hades, and how it makes me feel - in adrenaline, exited, focused.
And it makes sense, the best games makes us feel something through the gameplay. Be it survival horror (weak, vulnerable), action (powerful, strong), or adventure (the feel of discovery).
I was confused on how to do this in my own games, but "start with INTENT" helps a lot!
Wise man once said sucking at something is the first step in being kinda good at something. We all start out as being dumb. The other lesson this really highlights to me is the importance of iteration. Make something, get it done, learn a lesson, repeat. And by extension I was always told quantity over quality. The more you do, the more you learn, and the more things you can sift through and find the diamonds. And then elaborate on those diamonds and continue. I had friends that went to grad school and the biggest aspect of the program was every weak they had a new deliverable due. A toy, a game, whatever but it was the process of getting them to finish small things over and over again
A wise dog*, said that. But yeah you're 100% right!
Worth noting that this is great advice for creative work in general. I've worked in games and novels, and writing fiction generally has the same advice - write something small you can finish, learn how to actually finish it, then learn how to reproduce that result with different ideas. It's a big part of why short stories are still considered a good beginner medium, despite being way harder to sell than novels.
You hit the nail on the head, I fully agree - it's incredibly important to just finish something. At least a couple of times if you're a beginner, to get that experience, for a variety of reasons. It's very easy to underestimate those "last 10%" of a project, and you need to go through that to truly know it. But overall, you need the experience of getting out of that "oh it's just a prototype" comfort zone. It can be simple, it can be Tic-tac-toe, it can be Pong, but make it *complete*.
Imagine a random stranger downloading it off of the internet - would it work to their satisfaction? Somebody that you don't get to hand-hold and guide and pre-load with excuses and cop-outs, would it work for them the way they'd expect a "real" game to work? Would it be clear how to install and/or run it? Does it have a nice icon? Would they be greeted with some sensible menu or intro? Would they know how to play from the game itself, without you telling them? Do they have saves? Can they restart the game without killing the app? Is there sound? Do they get to switch languages? Etc, etc.
And as Jeremy elaborated - is it actually fun and engaging to play? Can you imagine somebody willingly sitting down to spend some time with your game? Somebody who isn't your friend or a family member that you've shown it to yourself and told to play it?
I know I'm not saying anything revolutionary here, but I just wanted to underline it, because I know first-hand how valuable that experience is. It's completely fine to mess around and try out half-baked ideas, and start a bunch of new projects that you'll lose interest in. But if you haven't done so already, make sure you bring *something* all the way to the finish line, I promise you it will be worth your while.
I don’t know how many times I heard this advice before, and yet this video was so humble and relatable that it truly resonated for the very first time. This is me. This is my problem. This is what I need to fix. Thank you so much for this and please: we need more of these.
I've been at this point for years but still can't seem to keep doing small things. My small idea of blocks for characters and zombies turned into a mashup of ideas which blew up the scope and now I have three versions for a game with the same title sorta 😅
God I love this series. I am going to gush for a moment so please excuse me.
First, Jeremy, you are a freaking genius and don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. The journey on this devlog has been so insightful so far and I really can't wait for the next episode. I think the epiphany that led to this video was so worth making on because for me, it has just changed the way that I am going to approach game dev.
I've always wanted to make games, small demos even, but it's always been an overwhelming thought, small or large. And the part in this video where you discover that you are still avoiding the GAME DESIGN aspect, the muscle for designing games, is where it clicked for me too.
I have so much that I love about this episode and the previous devlogs. They're just so insightful and unique. This journey is so much different than the other devlogs I've seen because it is in the effort to explore the artistic side of game dev for yourself. I love how much your art grew throughout the series, it truly is lovely and on the level that I would consider professional! I love the 3d art and animations, and the paper prototypes. I just love so much about this!!
I am one of those people who found this so damn interesting and it affected me greatly, and I hope you don't ever stop. I fell asleep listening to this and I just woke up and watched this again to really wrap my head around these ideas. You are a gem!! :D
edit: I also just wanna say that whatever game(s) you end up making, I cannot wait to play it and experience your artistry in it.
This series shows so well that a creative process and the philosophy of creating using that process are one and the same. Sometimes the spontaneity of creation and the thoughtfulness of reflecting on what you've created can be hard to reconcile, but, as so beautifully illustrated here, they just feed into one another as needed. Another fantastic chapter of a great series.
as (non-game) software developer I've really appreciated you sharing your experience learning how to make games. hopefully new developers watch this and it helps them better contextualize and prioritize all the skills they need to learn
This video change my life, literally. I just started making games, made a short not even a game but a demo following a tutorial, I had ideas but I really wanted to make another game that would be bigger and something I really wanted to make ... but it was just a macro idea, no gameplay loops just vibes and not fully realized ideas. And after watching this video I decided to return to my demo and a lot of interesting gameplay ideas started coming to me, now I have a concept for story, gameplay loops, progression, skills, enemy designs, levels, bosses and everything that would make that a small but complete game. I was just overwhelmed with inspiration and desire to finish that demo into full game, that in the end, will let me learn everything that I need to know to make the game that I really want to make and have time to finalize the ideas for that game. Thank you so much for this wonderful video, and good luck on your gamedev journey!
tis a path paved in blood, best of luck to you scotty
might be interested in this short gdc presentation: czcams.com/video/sYWkiv1hTPM/video.html
I recently finished building my new PC; it's been a very long time since I've had one. I told myself that when I finished it, I would get Unreal Engine. I love environments; the games I enjoy spending the most time with are those with worlds I can feel fully immersed in. I don't know if the things I'm learning will turn into a game. I feel like somewhere in the back of my brain is an idea, but I'm not there yet. But, this series is really giving me so much to think about. I'm enjoying coming along for what really is an evolving journey. I don't think there's anything else out there right now that is so honest and transparent when it comes to the learning process of all this; in showing how iterative not just the designs and ideas are, but the philosophies and processes too. I can't wait for more.
To all the old-school devs who made the whole, complete, quality tested games of my childhood, THANK YOU.
It sounds like you're learning an important aspect of the discipline of game making. As someone who knows nothing about making games I found it insightful.
In my experience this is a lesson, regardless of what creative field you're in, veterans will hit you with. You can make an analogy with speedrunning: If you spend all your time resetting when things aren't going your way you can find yourself even more stuck than before. Intermittently you have to finish runs even if you're wildly off the pace just to practice the end game as well. Another amazing video Jeremy!
Absolutely massively helpful as someone about to dip their toes into learning game design. I'm already doing sketches of characters etc and high level ideas - and then when it comes to game mechanics it starts getting... vague. Yeah it's an obvious lesson, but sometimes you just have to hear someone explain their journey and "why" and then it makes sense.
i think it’s also (mostly?) about learning to deal with the grind. the absolute slog of trying to finish a thing. getting it to a presentable state instead of abandoning it. going through the entire process. much easier to do on a tiny project.
This x 1000. Any creative endeavour requires the grind to slog through IMO. I've experienced it in music and game projects. Even with things like getting into shape. You have to embrace the grind, and a lot of the time the process is far from glamorous, but every once in a while you get a little jolt of energy from a success, or finally seeing something work in the game that you've been struggling with for a week. Those moments are precious, grab them and use them as fuel to keep going.
@@nicholasmuiseYT Great comparison to working out. When you are out of shape the progress is immense in the beginning and its joy to excercise but if you have set a high goal that joy will soon diminish and grind sets in with small victories daily. This happened with every game project I tried... The development eventually grinds to a halt.
@@mrfatuchi Trying To achive peak performance is hard in any sport. But when it comes to strength, you have to be smart about it and make sure train at a certain threshold but not go past it. Trying to do an essay is offten like making a game everything comes togeather at the last second.
This is so endearing and so relatable as someone who has dipped their toes into some IDEs and game dev. I am focusing on being a dad and love games, have loved them my whole life but just haven't found the time to really dive in. thanks for making this vid and making me feel as little less odd and a bit more normal.
I only did game design major for 2 years before I switched, but main things that save your butt is to seriously downscale your scope to one simple idea that then you can build on first. Small goals that are playable and fun on their own that you then sculpt into as to not overwhelm yourself. Just like with art, start with a basis and then start to getting some construction before you add color and shading and extra rendering and effects
This is great! I would love to see more content like this!
thanks! and make sure you check out the other 2 episodes of Jayne Dev on this channel if you haven't already
No idea how I got here, but great video! A lot of the same principles apply to songwriting. It's easy to get swept up on chasing the next idea (and thus never finishing what you started), or getting too elaborate and perfectionistic on one song when you're better off working on the next one. Recognizing that we have limited time and bandwidth really helps be prudent on getting stuff done asap. That, and having discipline and a consistent work ethic to sit down and chip away at the next thing without looking for an out.
This series is really incredibly inspiring and motivating. I know it’s been a while since you did one of these videos, but I’d love to see more of this series! It really makes game dev (and creativity in general) feel like something potential fun and achievable in a way that no other series has quite done for me.
Dude, right off the rip you got my attention when you said that the reason you gravitated to game dev is partly because it lets you tinker with all these different hobbies and interests that you have in one place, and man... that is SO how I feel. I am a very very very noob game designer, but I've been a gamer, artists, and storyteller for at least 2 decades now, and I've just been coming to realize that so many of my ideas always revolve around wanting to make a game at some point. And so hearing that bit at the start really made me feel more excited about continuing to tinker with games, because it IS a great way to do all of the various hobbies I like in one place! And now that I'm done typing this, I am going to watch the rest of the video! EDIT: I watched the rest of the video and was not disappointed. The idea of starting and finishing small loops is great advice, especially for aspiring noobs like me. I so relate to having the "big picture" ideas by default... almost all my ideas are vast and grand, almost to the point where it can be paralyzing to think about how to tackle them. So this is good, actionable advice... make a series of many smaller loops.
Loving this series. I've been trying to learn to draw while watching. I think you've really hit on something important with this mentality of drilling down to individual mechanics and designing versions that can stand on there own, but I think there's another aspect of the "finish small projects" advice that is so common in creative fields and it's something you talked alot about in your last video. I.e. that a finished game is more than just it's mechanics. There are all these other parts that need to mesh together. The art, the story, the sound etc should all be working together to make something that is more than the sum of it's parts. And then you've got to worry about how
I don't see what you did with the horror game as getting sidetracked. You made a project that stayed small in scope but reached a level of completion beyond all the others that you mentioned in this video.
"Stop. We are not taking over any kingdoms until it feels good to swing a sword."
Best line I have heard about indie game development :)
"Maybe I'm just an idiot". Even if ANYONE thought that, figuring out how to make yourself happy and enjoy the things you're spending your time on, AND in a way that's productive and fulfilling is such an amazing skill to have. This video is one of the most motivating pieces of content I've seen in quite a long time, whether that was your goal, initially or otherwise. Thank you for this and I look forward to more content.
Real, honest stuff is the best! :)
Hey, I think you draw really great conclusions out of you experience. The video helped me. Especially seeing your progress and recognizing just before you said it in the video: you have now a bunch of reusable code. The same with experience. You make experiences and keep yourself to a limited amount of possible errors so you actually can get something done. Gamedev is so crazy complex and it totally makes sense to start with small parts. Thank you so much for sharing!
Oh and your ending analogy: it is not stupid! I can relate to that very well!
This was fantastic. I'll admit I've missed a few episodes here and there but I love the way you talked about this subject and why it's important. I've looked at making games since 2011 and never really put in all the time I needed or I got side tracked and never went back. So seeing someone really push through it and try new ideas and prototypes really gets me back into it. Good luck on your game and all the developing along the way!
I always thought the purpose of this advice was to not just hone game design skills on smaller projects but also to experience firsthand the amount of effort that goes into the polish of the "last 10%" .
Working on games can get quite monotonous towards the end of development. The reality of a creative project as it comes into fruition is that it can rarely live up to the raw excitement of the initial idea. Committing to finish and release small games helped me learn about this uncomfortable reality and how to push through it.
I think you’re right about focusing on the short loop. Good to hear your thought process on that.
Also, I was thinking, at just about the time you started to talk about it (hats off to good video editing and delivery ;) ), with the amount of drawing, you can’t not get better at it :) Those little thought sketches are great!
Awesome video. I've been toying with game development since 2009 and this lesson never truly sunk in no matter how many times I heard it. One thing I didn't hear mentioned in his video is that taking part in game jams is likely an excellent way to build this skill and hold yourself accountable.
When I think about your guitar analogy, it makes me think it's closer to learning techniques and the basics, and then finally putting it all together and learning a COMPLETE SONG. Not just the chorus and intro, or the solo, but the bridge too. Same deal.
I relate so much to the issue described by Jeremy of always coming up with the high level concept for something and struggling to come up with the low level, moment to moment concept. Also I love his drawings they're so fun!
Hey man, this is the first video I've seen of your channel, and I just want to say it really resonated with me! I'm not even a hobbyist game dev yet, but I'm very interested in it and definitely suffer from the grandiose idea mentality. Your perspective and experience here actually has given me ideas and has me excited for the iteration process of making something simple really fun. I love that question - how can I make something simple (like jumping around) fun? I think that is the correct place to start as opposed to having to feel like I have to make something super original or perfect from the start. Thanks for sharing!
For me game development is a way of trying to express myself as a sort of art therapy for the trauma I struggle to actually talk about in person
(my approach is using the story as the groundwork for everything)
Really great talk. Cant agree with this more.
Thanks for the share!
For me; programming is simple. I can program anything you tell me to given enough time.
But god is coming up with what to program for my own games in a way thats meaningful and fits with the universe is so much more difficult.
I usually find myself in a loop of over scoping and cutting features over and over again.
Why its also good to write down what you are making and dont just doodle your projects.
Having clear direction helps alot.
-written by guy whos never released more than a game jam
Your revelation that it's important to be able to experience your design like you're not you and experiencing it for the first time, is a critical skill in any creative endeavour, I think. As a composer I try to always put myself in the shoes of someone hearing a piece for the first time. That's what film directors and any kind of visual designers do as well... And I think it's one of the subtle skills that a lot of beginner to intermediate people lack.
Dude this video was awesome and totally incapsulates my entire mindset on game dev recently, so glad I found your channel and can’t wait to follow your journey as I continue my own 😄
I love that, no matter how simple or bare bones your prototype is, you've put some effort into an aesthetic. It may just be repurposing post-processing effects and textures from other prototypes, but even your combat prototype looks like some long-lost PS1 dev footage.
I love this video, and you seem to love anything that is heavy in the roleplay which is probably why you struggled to get into the game design side of things. I would say it would be really awesome to look into fighting game design. They have so much detail focused on making the core gameplay responsive, addictive, and satisfying, and quite literally putting every aspect of your connection to your character purposeful and intentional (rarely will a fighting game character do something you didn't tell it to). If you look into those, I think they give you a firm idea of what the core values of game design are, and how to strengthen the connection between player and the game (in whatever form that may be).
Man, I have that same tendency to dream a little too big. My story ideas always turn into Lord of the Rings in terms of scope, and now I'm watching this series thinkin', "Hey, maybe I can make a video game!" What is wrong with me?? haha
Easiest subscribe ever. I felt this video so hard. I just took my first CS course at college this year learning C++. My goal over the break is to make a text-based video game based off the Oregon Trail instead of that time period do a game set in the Middle Ages where you are running from an invading army invading your village and the end goal is to make it to the safety of a keep or castle. It will include random events, multiple party members, some basic combat a high score system and save and load system. I plan to do this over the Holiday break and see how far I can get to keep all the things I learned cemented and learn new stuff. Your video just captures why I want to go into game development. Constantly solving problems and making cool stuff. I don't know how to make graphics and I kind of wanted to download a Udemy course on Unity but they all use C# and I really don't want to learn a new language in between semesters of learning C++. Your video inspired me to go work on my game even more than I already did lol. Keep at it! I feel like the world of game development opens a whole world of possibilities. It makes me feel like a kid again.
Thank you! This resonated a lot with me. I've been struggling to figure out how to take an idea and bring it to fruition for a few years, and I think it's due to me approaching the problem wrong. I've been trying to start with a genre, instead of just making something small and fun first.
Really loving this series, kinda fuelling my own desire to jump in to game dev despite my total lack of wherewithal with practical programming skills. Thanks, and keep up the good work!
Thanks so much for making this series and sharing your journey Jeremy, i find each episode so inspirational.
This is just so relatable! While it's probably good advice to finish a game, it's also kind of hard to hone in on that small idea that you'd WANT to make... Or rather settle for that. :) Here's an idea though to what you have going on here: why not combine the sneaking of the Township concept and switch into the Souls-like combat when detected? I dunno, maybe there's something there worth exploring? Might be a bit hacky, might make for an interesting experience. :)
This is great and super relatable! Thanks for capturing this experience
This video is great. Love hearing about the thought process!
Always enjoy these. Thanks.
awesome work Jeremy! Please make more this kind of video. I really enjoy following your experience :)
Great video and great revelation! I truly believe this is the biggest key to success in game dev. With some extra emphasize on playtesting also. Rapid prototyping and then testing on actual people as early as possible is the best way to not waste years only to realize afterwards that the foundation is rubbish.
"Identify those blind spots and not be upset that you haven't been working on that up til now but just to recognize where you're at and appreciate all the progress you've made in other areas" 19:31
I've been feeling this way for a few weeks now but hearing you put it in the words made it click in my head.
Really enjoying these! Every episode makes me wish I was spending more time and effort on my own ideas and passion projects!
Love this video. It applies to creativity in all mediums. Not everything you do is the big picture but it’s all a part of the process. I like what’s going on here! Just found the channel from a Wipeout video
Makes a lot of sense. I've recently started a game design/dev course with a Uni and it's going alright. But these videos of yours are really helping to lessen my anxiety as your thoughts are often similar to my own.
Wow this video was amazing!
Although I'm a software developer I really liked the concept of making lot's of small projects.
I've been procrastinating and not doing much, but making small projects is a great approach.
It's also how I first started to get good at my craft, but for some reason I stopped.
Liked & subscribed.
I certainly can't code games, but as a writer, it is definitely relatable. Most of the projects I want to do would eventually turn into some big full novels due to all the set-up that would be needed to make them work. However, I also don't have the will to actually do that, because I know I will never be on the level of some of my favourite authors. Yet, I just want to do some small ideas that I find fun or interesting.
I've been wrestling with trying to be a game dev for multiple months now but I just keep on failing to do it. I can't really describe it, but it was just impossible to me.
You just fixed all my problems
I've been feeling the same way
"Googling middle school math" lmao. You're not the only one my man.
Amazing video. This certainly helped to shift my perspective. I've tried getting into game dev several times but ALWAYS get discouraged when I try to jump headfirst into a massive project. I always felt like making a ton of small games was like peeling potatoes on your first day at a restaurant, it's just grunt work for the simpletons. Then I realize I am a simpleton, not a head chef. Not yet anyway.
This is awesome. You seem to know your stuff!
I don’t know if you’ve played designer board games but lots of those games are meant to be distilled gaming experiences done within 2 hrs typically. Because of that timeframe, making game design choices meaningful, easy to understand, and work on a macro-strategic level in phases(I.e. blood rage, small world, Race For the Galaxy, etc.) is crucial in holding player’s attention in a fairly static activity.
Maybe analyzing some of the board game rules can help with reigning in your ideas and tighten gameplay to the core while making a small finished concept.
Ticket to ride for example, is really simple; collect sets of cards to build routes on the board to score points. But the design elements in that game (the secret objectives, how many points a route scores you, choosing to use a turn to place a route or draw cards, etc.) come together to form an incredibly fulfilling strategy game.
The fighting game based on Sekiro could be a gladiatorial fighting game with just focus on ultra-refined combat and a randomized tourney to complete the game loop. Again, tight and engaging gameplay is more interesting than lots of half-baked gameplay.
This could also be applied to storytelling in screenplays as well.
"We're not taking over any kindgdom until it feels good to swing a sword"
Brilliant!
I love seeing people like you going through a similar creative journey as me. I'm going through the exact same revelations.
I want part 2 of this! Great video
This is the most honest devlog in existence. Guy knows the struggles
Your series here really clicks with me, personally. I even wanted to start out with a tactics rpg myself, being hopelessly in love with FFTA since it first came out.
Wondering if you'd recommend any specific books, articles, docs, channels, etc... that really just focuses on the principles of game design. Like, just how to think about designing mechanics that are fun to engage with.
Excited for the next peek into your devlogs 👍
Jesse Schell's book of lenses helped me a lot when I started out
there's a free app version of the "deck" of lenses as well
I can very much relate to your struggle. I have massive documents filled with story ideas and character concepts in my Google Docs but no functional game projects. I love story telling so much and really don't care for the busy work of building the core gameplay loop so it has been one hell of a struggle to get anything done. After watching your video though I think it's high time I bit the bullet and focused on the fundamentals for my ideas before going all in on everything else lol
Fuck, you keep inspiring me! I like to see your journey through trial and error, experimenting with stuff and every time I'm listening to you or Mark from GMT I always think about how I'm approaching my game idea, how I'm drawing inspiration from other well established gameplay mechanics or genres. The week after next week I'm going on a holiday and I really hope I can pick up learning Unity and try to finalize my game idea's core loop. I have the parts already but it's not coming together. I'm coding, drawin, I too have pen and paper ready, the ideas are flying left and right but the very core of the game is just not coming together.
Wow..THIS. THIS has been me since I started game dev a few years ago. I have to make a massive effort to not design everything else but the game design. It's always there, I know it's important, buuuuut I'm just going to sketch up this character, throw in some music and start planning a grandiose plot real quick. Subscribed. Let's get through this.
You being excited about game dev has made me excited! Im going to go try to do it!
this is so epic! Great advice for any creative field, and I love seeing your thought process
You had a stagger mechanic, I think making enemies stagger if you hit a parry, would improve the combat, as the player would feel like they create an opening.
This series is so inspiring to me. Thanks for making it
This was interesting and motivating! On the topic of rapid prototyping, I recommend game jams. Prioritising gameplay is basically essential when you don't have time for polish.
Truly, this is the coolest stuff. Absolutely love this and hope to see more.
Great video, beautifully explained!
Another great reason that veteran developers recommend doing small games is that the people hearing the advice are unlikely to have done any big projects. Keeping motivation on a big project is hard and until you've done it, it's impossible to know how to do it.
Your wonderful documentaries are definitely on the big project scale so you have that skill - which is more important than game design.
So much of what's on CZcams (a brilliant resource for learning) is "I made x in 24 hours!" And that gives a skewed perspective of what's possible as that CZcamsr will have made countless projects before.
Above all else keep it small because big projects are very hard to keep motivation on!
I really appreciate this video. I’ve started nearly a dozen game ideas, I think decently interesting in their own rights. But I always hit a coding, artwork, or creative design roadblock. Then I slow down, and eventually stop developing it. What this video illustrates might not be the objective answer to that issue, but it seems to be a good one.
I've had somewhat of an inverse of this problem.
My dream-game idea has perhaps a lil bit of grandiosity, but one of my strengths is that I'm very imaginative and have strong mental visualization skills. I've always been able to picture my game ideas with a lot of granularity, essentially letting me test many of my ideas without developing them and when I think of ideas for gameplay mechanics I go through and simulate how those mechanics interact with other mechanics.
As an example I love realistic gunplay and thus magazine based ammo-management. But if the player has the ability to repack their magazines then the game needs and immediate element to push the player forward, for otherwise they'd stop to top off their magazines after every fight, which would hamper the flow of the game severely.
But my problem has been just getting myself to learn programming. I've lacked the programming vocabulary to express my ideas through code. Getting frustrated and stuck when my ideas collapse at the point of struggling to modify a character controller to have different speeds depending on if the player is moving forward, sideways or backwards.
Not to mention how badly my inner perfectionist got tilted when the move_and_slide function of Godot 3 on a character controller would slowly slide down all slopes and the bug would seemingly get fixed and brought back every other update to the engine.
So I just need to finish smaller projects to engage with programming to learn to express myself through code. Just as one has to engage in conversation to truly learn a language.
"We're not taking over any kingdoms until it feels good to swing a sword." is an excellent way to remind yourself to stay focused on the important foundations of a game. :)
One way you can go about game design is to pick a handful of high-level themes; what do you want the player to feel/experience/do?
- feel powerful and skilled
- make strategic choices
- etc.
And then with every game design choice, reflect on how it affects the experience with regards to these themes. It can help create a more cohesive experience. Deducting these themes (or 'design pillars') can be an effective way of analyzing other games as well.
This reminds me of my first year in game design studies. When everyone was running around, trying to make the biggest game ever with 180 characters and best graphics and what not. I just took a deck of cards and thought of a fun mechanic.
And i won first place 😇
Great insights, thanks a lot
Also, the resident evil type space station horror game actually looked really neat. The colony sim meanwhile seems incredibly mechanically complex, one of these forever in development projects, and it's difficult to understand what the goal of that game is. More involved combat than what you normally see, yes, but then it's also a colony sim but that part isn't fleshed out at all. These colony sims universally have simple "bad" combat or none at all, because combat isn't the point. You have a system for a squad shooter ala Frozen Synapse or real-time Xcom Chimera Squad, not a colony sim
Only making prototypes, messing with technology and art, you often don't get far enough to the point of realizing a cohesive game, with gameplay mechanics, a game loop and progression that is entertaining for more than a few minutes.
"We're not taking over any kingdoms until it feels good to swing a sword."
What a profound statement. You can't attain the epitome of skill without taking time to develop the fundamentals that make it possible.
That would be awesome to put on a poster... might have to make that.
There was a phrase I heard said about editing of movies. It was like, "No line is worth a scene, no scene is worth a story". The point is that every smaller element must benefit the greater elements. So starting from a story for a game and then working backwards is a bad idea.
Games start with gameplay and as problems arrise in development you don't want to be forced to discard good solutions because they don't "fit" within the story or narrative already planned. Instead make the story serve the gameplay by doing the narrative last.
Lots of great advice in this vid! Thanks!!
‘’ We’re not taking over any kingdoms until it feels good to swing a sword ‘’
Great heuristic, great video.
I'm 33 and trying to move from architectural design to game development and this video is consistent helpful guidance for me
Enjoyed this a lot. Looking forward to more videos like this.
This is absolutely true, I have spend 1 whole year just refining and working on the core gameplay of the current game I am working on (soon to be my 5th published game). When that core gameplay became really refined and engaging, it was time to start working on the actual game content
Great vid thanks. I think as someone just starting out, i know none of what you have spoken about, so even if other people say this is obvious information, well its not obvious the newbie, so it still helps.
Hell yeah! Love this stuff!
I think you've stumbled into something that would make a really interesting series of videos -- the intersection of filmmaking and game dev. I think a lot can be learned approaching it that way -- ie, what techniques have games used that are in TV and film? What have film and movies taken from gaming? The answer to the latter I think is a lot more interesting and deep than the surface leads one to believe.
There's a ton of comments so I'm not sure if you'll see this or not, but you are 100% on the right path to learning game design and production as a skill. I recommend trying a weekend game jam if you haven't already since that will also give good experience on what it's like to finish something top to bottom, even if it is unrefined. But you're getting there and learning all the good lessons that no, are not obvious from anyone who has been doing gamedev for a while.
Thank you for making these videos and being honest about your journey
I wrote out an objective and turn sequence on less than one page. I wrote down all probabilities, conditions, and functions on a couple more pages. This is for a card game and now I have enough rules for material. That could produce thousands of unique cards based on probability. I agree that you should see through all mechanical designs. Add the fluff after you get the essential loop completed on paper. Run low cost low thrill play tests. Ask others to play.
These videos really do for some reason help my brain click with development and game design
This video is an interesting companion to Tom Francis' "Consider Giving Up" GDC talk.
I think it's also just so you don't spend years on a passion project only to have it all finished and then conclude "Oh this isn't fun to play at all". Extra Credits also has a bunch of stuff on this; focus on getting something into a playable state so you can get other people to play it and give feedback; fail fast so you don't need to scrap a lot of work. It's also about creating manageable challenges and being okay with throwing things away that don't work. Since you're already a creative professional you probably have a leg up on that though.
This is such a great video, and a timeless reminder. Thank you.