Become a Gamedev in 3 Months
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- čas přidán 31. 05. 2024
- One of the questions I get most often is "I want to start a gamedev studio, how do I start, give me some advice". So, in this video, Marnix sits down and goes through his common advice to game devs that are about to start their journey of making their own games.
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Timestamps:
00:00 Everyone wants to be a gamedev
00:50 Why 3 months?
01:37 0: Assemble the team
02:32 1: The dumb stuff
04:26 2: Concepting
06:25 2.5: Solo devs
07:21 3: Planning
08:50 4: Development
09:54 5: Playtesting
10:45 6: Marketing
12:39 7: Releasing
13:32 8: Post Mortem
14:53 Summary
15:12 Outro
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I almost kind of jumped in my seat at 10:48 when suddenly MY store page showed up! Thanks for checking it out
Hope you don't mind, it's a great example 😉 -M
@@bitemegames I was happily suprised! I got the store page up only after I was half way done with the game though, but for my next game I'll make the steam page as soon as I have enough content to make a tiny teaser trailer.
@@NitramiuZgood luck!
Hey man, thanks for this serious and honest talk. It's hard to find someone who would give you a lowdown like this. I really appreciate it.
awesome video guys, these videos really do cover all the things that can help boost your game! And its all packaged in a 15 minute video! Again great job. :)
I've been working on try to make my own games recently, and watched soooo many videos about game dev, this is the first one I found super useful and practical and I took notes along with it.
Highly recommended for newbie game developer like me🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Great stuff. I am thinking about starting a game dev studio so this is invaluable advice here, so I know what I can expect to get myself into...
Fantastic video. Great information, quite inspiring
A big thank you guys!
Thanks for sharing your experience!
I'm starting today, after many years of procrastination. Your videos helped alot, and this one is fenomenal. Thank you.
Love your videos guys.
I always give up after the prototype because i ignore the first tip, make a game of a genre you like to play, i always begin making platforms, shooters or rpgs, but when i create the basis i usually give up, i cant evolve a style of game i dont like or dont know to play very well and because of that i have started making one in my favorite genre of games and started a devlog too, the devlog is great too, even if no one watch it 🤣 we can loose the fear of the cam and the shy to speak with new people. I have a full time job and i a making this for 2/3 hours per day i will aim that 3 months to one year 🤣.
This is a very valuable video. thank you so much.
Thanks for the great advice!
Great video. I want to learn more of the dev side.
As a dev team manager and software engineer myself, this is the best software development advice I’ve seen
Great video and recommendations
I mean if it's just about having a studio and creating a game, that could be done in a game jam, doesn't have to take 3 months. If you want to actually earn money, that is very different. Normally they say new companies take 3 years to become profitable, but video games is a extremely competitive marked. It's a good guide to make your first game.
Agreed - this video is a great guide for understanding the process of concept to release, but creating a self-sustaining studio that creates games and reliably pays salaries is very likely to be a multi-year journey.
@@minix4225 True and being honest, I think that this video probably will work more for solo dev because they won't need to split the earnings and most of the money inverted on the game will be in time and assets (if you don't know anything about art)
@@AquaBlazt yes absolutely - but for a solo dev, is 3 months a realistic ambition? The advice seems good, but the timescale seems off, and I think that most people looking at becoming a solo game dev, or 3 person studio, should set expectations of a much longer time frame to deliver something meaningful (and not be disappointed when they go way past the 3 month recommendation in this video).
@@minix4225 the objective of your first game is rarely to create something meaningful but to get used to the process of creating, marketing and releasing a game. So therefore you can create a short game in 3 months. Then for your next project or the one after that you can create something meaningful without all the usual pitfalls you get from your first release. You could work on a game for a year or two and then still realise that your marketing has been crap and get no sales much better to learn your mistakes quickly.
@@minix4225 Yeah other than the 3 month time line I do agree with most of the video
This is all spot-on advice. Keeping things tiny at the beginning is crucial. Focus focus focus (this is all me talking to myself)
as a hobbyist gamedev with hopeful dreams of branching out a little more one day , i appreciate all these tips :) ty
Great talk. Thanks
Great video, nice to see someone put it all into words! At least you sold more games than my first published one lol! :o)
Wow. This is such valuable advice.
website URL is fundamental to stat or register as a indie startup or as a company , that's why so many people make a simple static one page website
You got subs, great explanation
Solid advice.
I'm working as a Tools Developer for gamedev company, so I can't start my own studio. I can still work on my personal gaming projects as long as I don't directly compete with my employer.
I can't even imagine starting my own company from scratch, especially when I don't have friends with similar interests, because I think that without financial investment it's too hard to find some strangers and just make a game. A lot of paperwork, legal stuff, etc. That's why I'm glad that I can just work on small projects, while maintaining a full time job!
For some this might not be the best system, because of many reasons. Motivation to work after daily job might be hard. I spend not enough time, I think, and my project will take longer than I'd like.
Good video!
a question. how much time is consider full time. i Pretend to give like 2 a 3 hour per day for doing games. make for make a project 6
month is a fair time , or i pushing myselft to much
ty bro
The fact you didn't brand it as ByteMe is a tragedy.
Nice video! Tjhanks!
Appreciated stuff 🤚🤚
Didn't think this would garner a heart, appreciated once more 😵
I have a question can i make games like i have a idea for it but i dont have much knowledge about coding and stuff like i just know basic C++ thsts it
Great!
good advice.
learned alot from this video
Great video. One question. At what point do you need to set up as a business? Should the studio be organized as an LLC before you sell games?
Generally, only set up the business 1-2 months before you are planning on launching the game/getting an income for it. Anything earlier, and you're just throwing away money. -M
don't forget to add good music and/or good story
Very Informative, TY.. thumbs up &-subscribe
I'm currently developing a 3D RPG-style video game in Unity and have encountered an issue with handling upper and lower levels. Despite exploring various methods like fading and transparency effects, I haven't been able to find the desired solution. Is there someone available to assist me in resolving this 3D-related problem?
Whilst I personally don't have an answer, I think if you ask in our Discord server, you can find someone with more knowledge with 3D
discord.gg/WSus22f8aM
-M
Isn't it important to have a website as a "landing page", so that your marketing press kit has a place to live?
Want to know posting trailer to big channel like IGN need to cost money or not ???
I think Red Dead Redemption is so interesting because the developers clearly put into a lot of thought about what a player might react in certain scenarios.
I know this is an older video, but hopefully you still see this and answer my question. I want to make games, but I'm on square negative one... I'm not a dev person, not an art person, but I'm a business person. Ultimately, I know I'll need to learn one of those two things, which is going to likely be the dev part, but I don't know where to start. If you had to learn one or two engines/languages, what would they be? Looking to know where to start, so that I can make effective use of my time.
Go for Unity and C#, no need in learning more languages, their new policy isn't as bad as people make it seem to be, there are the most tutorials for Unity, and it's just a powerful engine as well. -M
I think it may be possible to start a game company without learning any of the creative skills. If you find or know good people to work with for programming and art, you could take care of all the business stuff so they can focus on their craft. Marketing, project management, making pitches, organising contractors if you need them, taking care of finances, community management... The only downside is without knowing much about their work you're just going to have to take their word a lot of the time, so it requires a lot of trust. Also, unless you're paying salary, you would probably have to give up a lot of creative control and be more of a facilitator. Since people generally don't like being told what to do by someone that knows less than them, if you want more control probably best to learn to make part of it yourself.
Hey I'm trying to make my own games and planning to launch it soon I finish it here's the problem I'm solo game developer do I need manager to sell my game on steam or any platform?
No, you don't need that, it is advisable for Steam that you get some form of incorporation for tax reasons though. -M
its really helpful thanks a lot for information@@bitemegames
15:05 Shia LaBeouf force ghost LOL
When I create the Steam page. Do I share the name of the Game there? How is it with IP. Is it protected by Steam or how does it work?
After I had a gamedev project with a team (we cancelled it at 90% which I am offended about), now I'm doing my single development project. (I started with a prototype, I have no name, no website.) It will be a way long journey beside my 40 hours/week job. (I will hire artists for some kind of art.)
Now I have to realize, if I don't do it at least 8 hours a week, I will never get my goal.
I have a off-topic question, where are they from? Their accent seems like they are from europe, prob north europe(Sweden, Germany,belgium, Denmark,..)
Edit: i saw flanders, so Belgium, i knew the accent seems familiar.
Yup! We are Belgian indeed!
-T
Where do they give loans?😅
oh, but what if this is game of my dream? I cant spend only 3 months on it, 3-5 years is bare minimum! Great video by the way, very relaxing)
I wouldn't start with your first game being your dream game, as you are just playing om nightmare difficulty then. Instead it's better to first get a base understanding of how gamedev works, both technically and commercially.
Thanks for watching! - M
If eric barone listen to this advices, unimaginable
@@arze5735 you can't compare that....for every successful dev like eric there is thousands of developers that failed. That depends on your goal - do you want to create game and survive as solo dev? Make game in timeframe 3-5 months. Do you want to enjoy process and create your dream game? sure go for it just dont forget that those 3-5 years you wont have any income and if it fails it could be the end of your game dev career or passion :)
@@Peakaso @Peakaso you are right but im not wrong. if talents like Eric don't know that he is one of the talented and listen to this piece of advice, the world will lose one hell good game.
The game industry should be good enough for every "Eric Barone". Of course, there are and will be only a handful of "Eric".
We all know game creation is not that easy and that's the reason why only a few became successful.
It is not about having a big capital or a big team, AAA companies proved that point.
It is about the deliverance of what players need and want, the Consistency, successful dev proved that point.
Simply, if your dream game isn't other general players' dream game, then you definitely won't get the support from the gamers.
Hey, Unity :D
And what if I am not good at code or art??
Start learning and studying. There's no way around it, developing requires mass amounts of code.
You should probably learn at least one of the 2. Depending on what style of game you want to make you should pick one over the other.
-T
You could also read yourself into blueprinting, there're many Videos on it and you barely need to code.
I suggest you start at learning how to use a game engine. Play around with the engines default shapes and components. Celebrate small wins like making it move by pressing a button. You'll be surprised and humbled (and hopefully amazed), at how much work it needs to make a simple feature such as player movement. If you are a gamer and doesn't have any artistic inclination, go right into 3D!
Game development is like playing a really intricate, meticulous and really drawn out Creative-Sandbox genre were you can literally almost make anything you can imagine.
I spend 2 years working on my first commercial game (before i did some small games,projects etc) and every time i made a video i try to share it on social media,discord and stuff never get too much attention, then i send i think over 300+ emails to youtubers,content creators,media like ign,pc gamer etc... never get any response it is hard launch was okay get few hundred sales, i got many wishlist when i have game on Steam Next fest that was a good boost for a my game (Space Warden) but overall it was a fail i spend maybe more time coding,brainstorming new ideas and fixing bugs then making videos or marketing but overall good learning experience and ye my game get pirated as well day one...
Don't give up though!
-T
Missed out on calling yourselves,"BYTE ME"
1 to 2 weeks for planning and concepting ? Huhh Prototype should be within same week, then decide if the idea/prototype is good to continue
Also avoid social media.. just like real boss, dont allow it during work hours unless for PR
I would even suggest avoiding social media entirely, and just touch some grass, although for a lot of people that's easier said than done... -M
Expect a PM in about 3 months...
Looking forward to it! -m
Yea well there is a high probability that the game is not going to be popular, especially the first one, so you have to spend at least time and money as possible, publish it and if it gets popular, prepare a sequel, if its not, you have to change the bases of the game or scrap it and start with a new idea.
If you’ve marketed your game well enough, you should definitely hire somebody to make a website for your studio. If you’ve nailed social media then you’ll direct a lot of sales to your site that will go 100% to you instead of steam or gog taking their cut
"don't make a website"
"Make a press kit" ... 😂
Nah but really, this is good advice
First
Cool video very interesting
1:20 disagree, diminishing returns implies you aren't making your code cross game form. Most code can be re-used if done properly.
But…I like building the website 😂 in all seriousness, thanks for the reality check.
Did you consider becoming a webdev instead 😂 -M
@@bitemegames I already have been! For about 10 years! That’s the problem! 😂
Man that Hurts I am Web Dev, and Game developer and both are important. Yes, content is always the question. But save money.
Honestly, I feel like devs are shooting themselves in the foot when they propose "make a game in 3 months and release it on Steam." We're just filling Steam with mediocre quality games. Do you really think someone making their first game, without knowing the industry, marketing, or even utilizing the engine properly, is going to create something really good? It might happen, but the reality is that 99 out of 100 "my first game" only adds to the trash on Steam, making it really hard for devs who take 1 or 2 years to produce a polished, high-quality product to stand out among the hundreds of games uploaded daily.
I think it's great that everyone is making and publishing their first game, but at the same time, I believe we need to take care of Steam. I think, without realizing it, we are breaking the most important tool we have for selling games. I think it's a mistake to do it just for the experience, just to say "I have a game on Steam" because, five years from now, when that same dev, if they kept learning and improving, wants to release a game that really aims to generate good income, they will find that their own previously published experiments, and those of hundreds of other indies, will overshadow their work.
We are getting Steam users used to navigating through hundreds of games that aren't worth it to find something decent. We are turning Steam into Google Play.
You should rename this video to, "Create a Dev Studio in Three Months". lol
Sorry, your timeline is a joke. 3 months? You think I want to end up making $50? That's great if you live in Romania, but that won't even pay for the electric bill in the USA.
Babe, it’s just a thought experiment. No one is actually making a game studio in the span of 3 months without the financial runway for it.
People also don't understand that it really depends on your skillset too. It's also just a roadmap. Just plug your own deadline based in your game scope and scale the road map accordingly.@handsoaphandsoap
My problem is when I have asked about how to do something specific, its nothing but BS and back lash.
its WAY easier to get a loan and BUY a small game studio
Kizaru