The Last Game Dev Advice You Need
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- čas přidán 5. 06. 2024
- Support my game design hot takes on Patreon: bit.ly/2SwPWDB
I started making games back when Flash was a thing and it seems that I’m most
known for making Kawairun, Concerned Joe & Move or Die. I started with browser
games and somehow managed to release a title on steam and even consoles, which
is still mindblowing. And even though a lot of things changed since then, the broad
strokes of how to do things right remained the same.
Relevant Links
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Twitter: bit.ly/3wGQ1TR
Discord: bit.ly/3wI5ovB
Useful Resources
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Fail Faster - A Mantra for Creative Thinkers - Extra Credits : • Fail Faster - A Mantra...
Practical Creativity : • Practical Creativity
Everything is a Remix Part 1 (2021), by Kirby Ferguson : • Everything is a Remix ...
Video Contents
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0:00 Intro
1:06 Starting Advice
2:43 Start Small
5:31 Fail Fast
7:29 Value of Ideas
11:25 Define Success - Hry
I've seen some people achieving nothing after years and years because they took the "fail faster" way too seriously and stopped their project to work on something new with the slightest inconvenience. And on the opposite end people who took "don't give up" way too seriously and worked on their impossible big dream project for years and accomplished nothing. There's a very tricky line between these two.
The lesson: *Extremity is **_almost_** always bad.*
your never supposed to quit when it gets hard, just grit or find a different way to do something similar.
Fail faster isn’t about giving up on a project before it’s turned into anything, it’s about making small enough projects that you can have a playable game quickly
And then there's Tarn Adams and Dwarf Fortress
@@jacobpinson2834 Yeah, you're supposed to get a game through the entire process from idea to release as quickly as possible, and the fail faster ideology applies to every step in that process, from beginning to end. You're supposed to launch a game and risk it being a failure rather than failing to launch at all.
"Don't make your own engine"
- ok imma gonna make my own programming language that'll work with the engine
In-game scripting!
well, if you know Assembly well enough, everything is open source!
Game design is the ultimate form of creation I think. You are creating an experience that encompasses every form of media into one that fully immerses the person it is for.
There are physical, interactive artworks that are even more creative than video games - even VR.
@@RobLang I'm not here to diss every other form of art, but I feel that the sheer accessibility and limitless potential for creation and expression that comes from video game design is what makes it the ultimate form of creation.
Completely agreed
Sometimes having constraints offers you better creation thinking and challenges.
Having less constraints as you explain make it more difficult, not systematicly better.
So from what you're describing I'd rather say it is the most difficult way of creation than the ultimate one.
For now, or at least for what considered possible, yes I think that is true. But theoretically speaking, simulations is the true ultimate form of creation. If one can simulate another simulation recursively or humans making video games, that is.
"Dont give up"
Me with my 78 unfinished scratch projects : Crap!
Well, time to reiterate and finish that 79th one.
12:33 THIS STATEMENT. So true. No matter how experienced you are, you will always underestimate how much work is still left to do.
Mostly because something that seems to simple and that a new developer would take for granted, hit detection, can steal several hours of your life
Yep, I'm suffer this faith right now...
I read "the last 10% is another 90%" rule for the first time in Derek Yu book and it has stuck with me ever since.
Great video as always!
Best advice for your legit first game, make a hypercasual game with as minmal mechanics as possible, then polish the shit out of it so you understand the full process from start to finish.
And if you are lucky you'll end up with Vampire Survivors
Got it, I should create my own engine in Assembly and spend 5 years creating my game without talking to anyone.
While at it you should make an OS development company to not only make the OS that game is going to be for, but also raise money for the game
@@walter3934 Let's not forget to build custom hardware for the OS too!
@@SeanFrancisNBallais honestly just make a whole new universe because those godly graphics aren't gonna get processed fast enough here
Yes, and make sure you have a vague and lofty goal of "I want my first game to be the next big MMO". Actually, better yet, don't state your goal at all. Leave success vaguely defined as a cluster of synaptic configuration only your brain can possibly hope to decipher.
Oh, also make sure to get childishly attached to the ideas and code of the game, so any time someone contradicts you or even slightly inconveniences you with code improvements and optimizations, you block them
...and don't forget the high-poly toothbrush.
I have been subbed to the channel since the 3rd video came out and I love the high quality content you've been putting out, might even say my favourite. I just found out that it was YOU who made kawairun, one of the first games I ever played, it had a major contribution towards my inevitable love for videogames and now you've been fuelling my will to be a game dev which I am not sure about but time will tell. I just want to thank you and tell you that you have my respect sir
@@MentalCheckpoint Figured you were some developer talking fancy but each video is super high quality and actually feels from someone who had their fair share and now that you developed not just a good flash game but one I actually played it just blew my mind just like seeing the Dev from fancy pants adventures here on youtube. Awesome!!! ;)
13:00 As someone who has also tried making his own engine, I have this to say: go ahead! Do make your own engine, it can be really fun and educational! Just, you know, don't expect to actually use it for any _games._
Or maybe one might like pain, feeling incredibly stupid and/or has 72h days.
Good advice, especially the "choose an engine, not make one" part.
Unless making an engine is a goal, there are those who like to suffer.
Also, what is wrong with games in the MS Office engine? Bejeweled plays wonderfully in Excel 🤣
(No joke there is a version that is almost indistinguishable from the original, if you ignore the tools banner...😅)
Oooo! Can you link it?
The make an engine point depends on what you want from game development.
If your goal with it is to become a really good programmer, making an engine and iterating on it can teach you a lot of things.
Making an engine can also look really good on your portfolio if you plan on working for strong game development companies as a programmer.
On the other hand, if you just want to make a game, it's not a must for sure, again, it just really depends on your goal(s)
@@taxxon_ I wish I could but haven't found it so far. Neither in my backups nor in the internetz -_-
It was really awesome 😞
Always think of a certain bald-headed man when advice like this comes up lol. Randy certainly does like to suffer
@@hanzofactory Engine is an abstraction layer on which you build a game. It's near impossible to create good abstractions without specific examples.
If you create engine disconnected from a game then there's a big chance that you made wrong decisions for things that really matter. Or it may be impossible to do some things in it but you didn't realize that until you tried to make a game.
Yeah, you will learn a lot, but I'm sure that a lot of those things will be learned incorrectly and you will need to relearn them later.
When HR people look at it then it may look good, but for someone technical probably won't matter as much.
It's a great video and I largely agree. What's not clear is the contradiction between "fail fast" and "don't give up". How do you know when to choose to fail? When should you give up? When should you push through the failure? I have a theory but I'd like to hear your take.
I would think the difference lies in the complete process of don't give up and the goal that wasn't achieved failing.
You can still "not give up" while failing, if your goal is to create a game that generates revenue or is even profitable. Ultimately "Fail Fast" is a janky term to describe "Start Small, go up in Scale" but that's essentially what it is if you take it at face value.
Behind that also lies the second term of don't fall in love with your ideas, while on the other hand, don't give up means accepting the fact that you aren't there yet but you can learn it, best while doing a single project which's function is to teach you that mechanic or whatever.
The common nominator between the 2 is TIME.
Fail Fast means to spend as little time as possible and not get hung up on barriers that absolutely dwarf your motivation (at least it was a huge problem for me so far), while don't give up entails that you need to manage time expectations realistically.
They really go hand in hand.
"Minecraft is just Legos with zombies"
i have never heard such a simple, yet accurate description
I never knew you made kawairun! You truly made my childhood sir.
“Developing the first 90% of your game is easy, developing the second 90% . . .”
Too true
The "don't give up" advice is really important!
This is by far the most instructive and over just best "how to start gamedev" video I have seen so far. I have been making games for a year now, and this was still just such a refreshing video to rap my head around what I'm actually doing, lol. Thank you so much!
I started a very large project a year ago with my friend and it has taught me so much. Tackling game dev with university study is hard and I wish I could go back and start again with something smaller, but we have invested so much time and effort, at this point we need to finish it. As you said, DON'T GIVE UP!
How is it going with it? What is the project?
@@keepyoursins I replied to you but i think my comment got deleted? Anyways basically a management and simulation game where you have to run a secret government facility. It's called Containcorp. I would elaborate further on how the project is actually going but since my comment may have been deleted (not sure) I am just going to leave it at that.
@@theimperialkerbalunion7568 Sounds awesome! I guess your comment was deleted then. Is there anywhere I can follow the project or you?
@@theimperialkerbalunion7568 Is it somewhat based in SCP? Do you make videos or devlogs?
"First 90%, second 90%" you absolutely slayed me, it's so true.
I actually didn't know this dev/creator made kawairun. I remeber those days. I remeber talking with people I met on there back and forth using email.
I'm subscribed to several game design and dev channels, so I always knew the "start small" advice..... but they also never really define what "small" is.
I took a reddit post on the deep rock galactic sub way too seriously and started learning Unreal to try and make it, before quickly realizing that there's no way in hell I could do it alone (like I'd literally just selected the template and everything).
So, I scaled back and decided to make a 3D platformer, but that's *also* complicated.
So I scaled back even further, and am now trying (and failing) to make a 3D maze game based on an old idea for a Minecraft map/modpack I had in highschool.
If I do release it, I doubt I'll do anything else - I'm just not good enough to do anything.
you can do it!!!
@@MentalCheckpoint Thanks!
I played kawai run in 2014 and never thought who made it, and here we are
Edit: you have also brought alot of notalgia to me
I REMEMBER PLAYING KAWAIRUN AND CONCERNED JOE SO FUCKING MUCH AS A YOUNGIN I LOVE YOU
Another great video. I myself struggle with the "First" step of making games because of me not being able to make good art for my games. Even if someone tells me that it is fun I can't believe them which is a problem in itself. I really like the avatar as well.
making the art shouldn't be the first step, your first prototype should just use simple geometric shapes while you focus on the design and the code, make it fun first, pretty can come later
@@nicoleboudreau2646 I mean, i cannot even make geometry shapes look okay.... ._.
@@lightedtwice i literally just makes squares with the rectangle tool in ms paint, coloured them different colours, and stretched their sizes 0 effort. only started making actual game sprites once I knew what i was making was fun
Just look at Dani. He started with "haha circle go zoom zoom" to getting voted the best competitive game with Crab Game.
I have such immense respect for people who actually did go out of their way to do everything from scratch and stuck by the project, know a developer who did actually make their own engine for their first game - a game full of unique ideas, all specially made for it and insanely catered towards the consumer, seemingly barely making any profit.
8:41
"Overwatch is a worse Team Fortress"
Oh boi, I hear the shitstorm coming.
As a game designer as well (No I haven't published anything anyone would know), one bit of advice I have for young designers, is: Design a board game first. Make a board game, a card game, DM for tabletop games. Find out what rules work, what rules suck. Find out what keeps your "testers" laughing and smiling, and what things they immediately try to house rule. (Nobody plays Uno with the Rules As Written, "If you don't have an applicable card, draw one card and skip your turn". Most play Draw To Match. Also you don't get money on Free Parking in standard monopoly). Change some rules, make new boards. When you're ready, make PAPER COPIES of the game you want to play. Represent characters with squares and walls with lines. Define your mechanics as simple as possible, make it work in Tabletop Simulator -or at least make it so you can show how it will play-. Consider using RPG Maker to start, keep it easy for yourself! These are all great tools for making your games fun and interesting!
Super Mario Bros - italian man on mushrooms killing turtles and other wildlife in a drug fueled rage...
3:42 You just gave me some incredible nostalgia with that voxel-rendering elephant statue demo lol
For a perfectionist, "Good enough" and "Don't give up" sounds contradictory. Then again, being a perfectionist is the problem itself.
Not a game developer but a singer here, and it's astounding to me how all of these concepts are the same no matter what industry you're getting into:
Fail fast
Complete your projects
It's crazy that the recipe is the same everywhere
Can we take a second to appreciate the quality of this man's content?
No.
kawairun was a big part of my childhood !! found your channel by chance and it feels so surreal knowing you made a childhood favorite
Yoooo, so you made kawaiirun? I've been playing this game most part of my childhood! This game has embedded in my brain just as an outstanding example of attractive game design. Really thank you for making or participating in making this game. I love your channel even more now, you are a creator of 2 masterpieces :)
Talking avatar is Pog, I still remember trying to make my first game in roblox using roblox studio :/ and then moving on to unity, as a kid I thought that my games should be the popular ones and believed that I put in more hard work then other, getting older I realized making games should be something that is fun and not a quest to becoming famous, love the advice you gave in the video especially about not needing to be great at all skillsets like programming art etc. if u can code there's free assets if u can draw and/or 3rd model and such you can probably find other people to help you with your code, tutorials or lets be fair just yoink somoenes code(we've all done it) or maybe if you have a friend who is interested in programming or already knows how to code you could pitch your ideas to them and make a game together, I got into making games because my friend had no idea how to code and so I did some random coding for him here and there until we both started working on projects all the time, hope more new game devs get to see this video and people who have been thinking about starting get enough motivation from your advice
8:39 thank you for unlocking this memory hidden deeply in my past
WHAT, YOU MADE KAWAIIRUN TOO?! Man I still love that game!!!!
I just realized that my current project isn't my first game. I've had numerous microprojects, pong clones, and false starts over the years. The big difference with this one is that it's my first serious project that I think I can actually finish.
Finding out that you created Kawai run is amazing to me, because it was a game of my childhood. I played it with my brother and for me it's the strong memories. I' didn't and don't spend much time with him, but this game(like a few others) established good rlationship between us. Thank you a lot.
I've been trying to make games for several years already, but don't really have something finished. Your advices really help. Never thought that it's possible to use drawing learning patterns with games(of course, they are suitable for many areas, but I thought not here, and it was a big mistake). But now I think I gave up too soon with it. Thanks again. It's hard to progress now.
I've started watching your videos since a month ago and holy i didn't knew you created kawairun! I had so much memories and fun playing that with friends! Keep up with the videos, All of these topics are very interesting!
I did not know you could make your videos *even* better, yet here we are! definitely a video to be proud of :]
This is so informative and wholesome. Tysm for the quality content
this video is so inspirational i'd download an engine and start programming literally right now if it wasn't 3:30 AM and i didn't have school tomorrow. thanks tho
and your avatar is sooo cute, but i like your new style, distracts me less and lets me pay attention to your hidden meanings behind what games you choose to display.
when i was like 6 years old and my brothers where like 8 and 10 we would play kawai run for so long until we beat it, i had forgotten about the game until just now when you showed that 2 second clip of it and it sparked that memory in my head, gonna go and show this to my brothers now
Randomly found the channel and now loving it.
U love you for adding that Jake quote at 13:32
I don't think I've ever heard an adventure time reference like that in any serious video
You've earned my true respect
As another example about videogame developers who did other projects before their big hit(s), toby fox actually made different small mods (and maybe other games) before they did other things like undertale, so I found that's a pretty good idea as well- not even necessarily starting with a full game, but maybe small mods to an already existing game.
this video is a masterpiece with all the advice and references you put in. thank you.
I just got like a a wave of flashback when I saw kawai run, genuinely forgot that existed but I would play that game so much, WHAT!!
Dude i love your videos so much, i cant stop watching them and your videos always manage to get my really excited to learn how to develop games
Holy crap, I used to play your games on NG when I was like 13!
This was so inspiring, thank you. I'm just beginning to learn to code, and it's really encouraging to hear your take.
I’m glad I watched this, I started working on my dream game by trying to create a really advanced active ragdoll game(gang beasts characters). I do not think I will stop mid creating of the characters but I do not think I will try to make the game I am dreaming of just yet.
that part about the 90% being easy and the other 90% being difficult is so true!
oh yeah, the avatar is cool but I feel like It needs a few more expressions for different scenarios
The best advice is to not make any backups. That way, if anything happens to the files, all evidence of being unexperienced disappears.
I wish I had done my first games locally instead of on replit 😭now that code is out there forever
This was great, thank you for sharing! I think the talking avatar style works well, I wouldn't be opposed to seeing it used more 🙂 (Although I'm a little biased because I'm doing the same haha)
Lets go! This is exactly what I ve been waiting for
Okay but that notebook graphic was freaking amazing and I noticed
I love the talking avatar. I always get distracted by background gameplay, stop listening to the narration and rewind 10 - 20 seconds. With the avatar that doesn't happen.
bro ur transitions are fire
The avatar is great but it needs a bit more expressions because some you put in the video didn't exactly fit the moment
Seeing Kawairun makes me remember about my memories with Kawairun 2
man i i think you just opened my eyes today, thank you
this really clears up a lot of stuff and as a lazy person, it makes the problems less daunting because i know what these problems are now.
thank you!
I can't wait 2 weeks for new videos ahhh these are soo good
haha. i literally stopped the sketchbook scene after seeing it in the beginning and played it again, because it looked so good. Really well animated.
That's definitely the best advice I've heard so far. Also I like your avatar!
I love the stills! Appreciate the advice too!
The best way you can know this is good advice, is because everyone who HAS made a game agrees on starting small. Even people who didn't start small.
"start small" was the first piece of advice i got when i wanted to start with game dev, an it's basically stuck in my mind since.
You made Kawai Run?! Hot diggy Damn! Both games where my childhood! I miss them so much!
Keep up the good work!
This video rings true on so many levels. I've always wanted to work on games and create my own, but instead of starting small, I wanted to create things that would rival the massive games that inspired me to try in the first place. After which I would fail. After a decade of failing trying to make "masterpieces" I finally learned to scale down and just get basic games done first. I've learned more in the past 6 months remaking flappy bird and single levels of Mario, Castlevania and Touhou games than I have the previous 10 years trying to create those "masterpieces". I'm having fun creating for the first time! Maybe that masterpiece will come, maybe it won't. I'm just glad I finally got to finish some small projects.
The moving avatar is a nice touch to the video
as always, you have made an awesome video that gets me wanting to make a game!
Watching this video now made me realize that I didn't really miss your avatar speaking to me, but coming back to this video was… I don't wanna call it a nostalgic experience, but it felt kind of familiar.
Lol, I very much remember playing Kawairun with my best friend, we always had a great time! Thank you!
I was already mesmirized by the video but seeing The End is Nigh footage reminded me to leave a like
Awesome video !
Nice vid, gave good advice and motivation :)
Also wasn't a fan of the avatar at first but after got used to it and yeah I think it's a bit helpful to keep the vid more engaging and perhaps even to let the viewer focus more since you can choose to think hard on some topic or 'rest' a bit and look at the avatar
Hi! Bit of a late comment but thought I should leave it either way. I initially didn’t watch this video as it didn’t really interest me in the same way as your other ones, but after seeing you change the thumbnail multiple times and seeing that the video did worse than most of your others made me think about something. This video has shown up as a 9/10 ”this video didn’t do so well” in the horrible youtube studio thing. Please don’t let this demotivate you from making what you want to make.
All your videos are really high quality and I quite enjoy watching them, just that this one wasn’t really a subject I was too interested in myself, and that’s fine! There’s nothing wrong with this video, no matter what youtube tries to tell you.
2:20 wow u made this game this is my childhood flash games
I really like you, your game and your channel.
I just love the outro
13:03 randy felt peronally attacked on that one
Great video! I love the new character you made to represent yourself. :)
Though I think it needs a bit more variety, as in more versions, as they quickly feel repetitive.
man your channel is a huge helping hand , im an straight out of the oven rookie programmer. making an space survival game in godot! i haven't made any games before but this is a dream for me and im taking it slow and heading for a demo !
keeping me more than motivational and giving really helpful tips!
I remeber playing kawairun so much as kid and move or die also
Fire as usual. Thank you.
Loved this! Great advice thank you!
The survivors bias is a very good thing to point out. Creative fields are saturated with romanticized inspirational examples, and while that can certainly give a bit of a motivating spark, it can be discouraging to feel like you don't live up to such examples yourself. Also just the information that s often withheld in those examples. A big one being Scott Cawthon, so many thinks he made like a game or two before criticism lead him into FNAF, but he was freelance making games for like 20 years before then and even still is an outlier as he just pumped out small games like crazy (making over 20 games in 2014 alone) it really is important to see their journey not just the destination they managed to reach.
"Stop thinking about which engine is best"
I should've thought about it long ago when I start in rpg maker
Wait WHAT? You are the creator of Kawairun? This game was my childhood. I felt so nostalgic right now.
0. Brainstorm (because a lot of stuff starts from here.)
1. Start with a good foundation. Because the good idea inside your head can lie to you. (Paraphrased, idea from Game Maker's toolkit)
- If you are starting with a game idea, do the bare minimum to test your game idea. See if the mechanics are fun.
2. Start with your kernels. (The things that you must implement to function.) [Move forward, move backwards. The things that must make to function in a rc car.]
3. Make milestones. This allows you to set duedates and expectations for each kernal. If a kernal is taking to long then:
4. Re-assess. Start back with your kernels and see what you can do to change it.
5. record a log. If you record a daily summary log, it can help you re-view and learn from the experience.
Those are some summary tips in case that helps.
7:20 is Wally and the FANTASTIC PREDATORS. For anyone curious like I was.
This is your daily reminder the undertale was not a solo project. I need to keep reminding myself that.
I have more thoughts but most of them are variations of self doubt so I'll just say this video is fantastic.
3:56 NOW WAIT A MINUTE... ITS THAT... MY GOD YOU ARE THE ONE WHO ME THAT? WOW WHAT A HERO YOU ARE THANK YOU SO MUCH I REMEMBER PLAYING THAT IN A 600 GAMES IN 1 CD ON MY PC
Thanks for the hard working you made my childhood!
dang this advice can also apply to art which is pretty cool cause i feel like i suck at it. not anymore. well i still do but maybe not as more.
This literally is the last game advice i need, it's so good
This is like a motivational video "Just Do It!!"