What should my next video be about?

@victorphilip875

21 күн бұрын

I found your idea that a game like Minecraft with "mods and chaos" has something to it. It seems like in general, software that's configurable and opinionated does well. Maybe something along those lines?

Game development goes far beyond just knowing how to code and being a developer. There is so much nuance on "finding the fun".

@ChangeNode

27 күн бұрын

Yeah, no kidding. I touch on that a bit WRT to playtesting my first levels, and tbh that challenge around finding the fun, etc is part of what I still find hard. Even just playing games nowadays - I mean, I easily have *hundreds* of games in my Steam lib right now, plus GamePass, etc and yet I keep firing up CivVI lol.

@gaiustacitus4242

24 күн бұрын

Bethesda is proof of your point. The developers at Bethesda are accomplished programmers and graphics artists but the last few games released by the Studio have been failures in the fun department.

@CallousCoder

24 күн бұрын

If you are just a game dev using an engine then you only need mediocre programming skills and that gets boring quick. If you want to do game engines, then you’ll need a lot more and that’s where the fun is for some. To me play testing is the worst thing.

@ChangeNode

24 күн бұрын

@@gaiustacitus4242 Oof. I played, I dunno, 80 hours of Starfield? And... wow. What a strange "let's jam No Man's Sky into CE" experience. I genuinely have no idea why nobody hasn't just sat down and said "let's make Skyrim/Fallout/scifi version" and just make it clean, easily moddable. The Betheseda team seems comparatively small for AAA. So weird.

@ChangeNode

24 күн бұрын

@@CallousCoder My kid loves Undertale, and the code is apparently horrible but I guess it works. 🤷‍♂ eg www.reddit.com/r/YandereTechnique/comments/ufya27/apparently_undertale_has_a_1000_long_case_switch/

As someone who is a hobby game dev on the side, the games industry in in one of the worst places its been in decades. It is not the time to transition to those jobs.

@briannaalejo9226

20 күн бұрын

Why? How does that compare to software development, where there are tons of layoffs going on? What about joining smaller indie studios?

@ThatGamePerson

20 күн бұрын

@briannaalejo9226 the problem is you take the already unstable market that is software as a whole, then you double it. Then remember that game devs on average make less money, have worse benefits, and work more hours. Indie studios aren't as bad but it's still not ideal right now.

Great advices, specially about not trying to code everything and instead to use the editors bundled into the game engine of choice. "Make a game, don't make a game engine".

@ChangeNode

28 күн бұрын

Yeah, absolutely. The really interesting one to me is when folks want to make a game engine but they never even learned an existing one. As an academic exercise I can kind of get it (eg learning raylib). My hope is that Godot being open source & alternative languages via GDExtensions will help some folks with that.

@Weaseldog2001

26 күн бұрын

Exactly. The current game engines are so well developed, that coming in fresh and expecting to do something better, is a fool's game. I'm a C++ developer with 40+ years of experience. I am currently learning the UnReal engine. I will probably write some C++ addons at some point, but only to incorporate elements that are outside of the normal gaming scope.

@dancingdoormanable

24 күн бұрын

I think wanting to create a game engine stems from having learned the fundamentals, but finding learning the tools available daunting. That's kind of opposite of what one should do as when you are making a new product you should know what is out there so you can improve upon it. That implies having learned multiple game engines before starting a new engine. The practical advice is, just watch a number of courses on for instance Godot while practicing with simple games. Personally, as a C# veteran, I'd watch a mountain of courses just to see all the tools available and the situations to use them in. Having an UI that is optimized for the task is generally more effective then writing code in a general purpose language. Even devs would think it strange to write code for a tool like Photoshop, so why should a game engine be different?

@user-ek2jc1xf3y

24 күн бұрын

@@ChangeNode trust me most of us have gone through (several) engines. the reasons as to why you'd want to make your own engine are simple: 1. know how it works, and what you can/can't do with it (you'll never find an engine that will tell you its limitations, explicitly). 2. missing a feature? know where/how to implement it, because you know the codebase (you made it yourself) 3. not having to hop because Unity/Godot/Unreal does not work for what you want to do (throwing away most of what you learnt) 4. not having to do +100h courses on how to use the engine / language (learning Graphics, Physics and Math is easier and more valuable than knowing how to use a premade GUI that does stuff under the hood you have no idea how it works) 5. being able to use the same language / framework / library you already master and use in your day job (c,c++,c#,js) Having a day job, college AND this hobby is hard AF on your brain. I don't have the energy to learn how to use a piece of software as big as an engine, I'd rather make it myself only with what I need. If I need something else, I just learn how to do it. It took me a week to make a 2D editor, and a month to make a 3D one (including understanding how 3D really works). Animation is easy too, everything is just data! Be it spritesheet, bone, spine, etc.. You kinda missed the point that, well, for a lot of people (and especially for SWEs) it's easier to make one than to learn an already existing one. Don't scare people just because you think of yourself as incapable of doing it! It'd be an insult to the people behind Terraria, Stardew Valley, Balatro, VVVVVV, Dead Cells, Celeste, jdh, ThinMatrix, etc. IF you really want to make games, you'll make them, even if it makes making an engine along the way.

@Dunkable

24 күн бұрын

​@@dancingdoormanablelearning the tools is so satisfying. I just started learning Godot and although it is quite daunting, it has mostly been very intuitive so far (even without programming/development experience). I can't wait to get to a point where I can boot it up and work on my own game!

I recently ordered a book on game development thinking it was just another branch of programming like web dev, enterprise applications, mobile apps, etc. I receive the book and I would be lying to you if I wasn't stunned at how different it was compared to the aforementioned types. Game development is literally a science onto itself.

@RoastLambShanks

26 күн бұрын

Which book?

@ninjaboi230

26 күн бұрын

@@RoastLambShanks Introduction to Game Development by Steve Rabin. I got a used version on Amazon in decent condition for $3.00. However, its a bit pricey for a new copy (hovering around $70 or a bit more). Then again, its a massive text book with over a 900 pages.

@ChangeNode

26 күн бұрын

Yeah, when I was a kid there was a lot more overlap in terms of design between regular desktop apps and games. The web in particular really split that up.

@justarandomguy-gn2tu

26 күн бұрын

Game development is one of the hardest field in software development, change my mind.

25 күн бұрын

It's several sciences all at once.

Yes to the “Godot for enterprise developers” video idea. Particularly interested in extensibility features like: data driven entities and custom in editor tools development capabilities.

@ChangeNode

26 күн бұрын

Just realized potential ambiguity - Godot for building enterprise apps vs Godot enterprise devs looking to make games… 🤔

@dansanga

26 күн бұрын

@@ChangeNodeAs an active enterprise developer who has been working with game engines over the past several years, all aspects of that statement interest me: including your take on the differentiation and/or overlap between them.

@MinibossMakaque

21 күн бұрын

​@@ChangeNode Both. Both would be great. Building apps with game engines is something that is so overlooked as well.

Starting with the visual tools is such a huge tip. I learned programming through game dev and in chasing being a “real” programmer, I ended up making systems that were a pain to design with, having to go back and edit code when I wanted to add new stuff. Now I write code *with the editor in mind* and it makes the process so much smoother.

I’m surprised that this wasn’t mentioned in the video, but one of the important (essential) part of making a video game, is Game Design. Learn what is Game Design before going to make a game inside any engine. I’m currently studying Game Design in a 3 years course (finishing 2nd year right now) and let me tell you it’s really not that simple and there is so many aspect that you have no idea exists in the making of games. But I would still recommend trying to make games on your own using an engine, but really small games, as it was said on the video, like little arcade game, to learn the basics of it, while learning game design on the side thanks to the many tutorials you can find online. And then try make Game Jam, or small game in a month, but keep it simple as you learn, and mostly don’t quit your job x). At the end you should have better knowledge and might be able to make full games that you designed yourself.

I've been doing hobby dev for 4 years now. For anyone just starting this is excellent advice

Switched to backend dev and it's Soo much easy that i can't even believe how easy it is, it's like 1/10 of gamedev and more money. I'll never return back. So i can spend more money on games in my free time.

Good stuff! Well done on launching your game!

@ChangeNode

26 күн бұрын

Thanks! 😁

AAA games ARE enterprise software, at least in terms of how they are planned, staffed, budgeted, architected, and what the profit expectations are. They are even large-scale distributed systems when you take multiplayer into account. For a time IBM even sold "gameframes" which were game servers built on their System z mainframe platform.

The circles I hang out in people learn how to program specifically with the intent to make games so the opposite perspective of starting with that foundation and then bringing it to game design is interesting to think about.

Very interesting

Interesting video.

I've been a Blender modeler/animator for many years now but this year I decided to learn game development in Godot (I got lost in Unreal 4). Great Video with real world advice than you.

Finally, an indie game dev who actually has solid information to share without all the click bait KZreadr stuff you see from every other content creator who thinks they’re a pro game dev, but are just imposters who simply want views!

Great video! As a software engineer that does games as a hobby, I always wonder what makes you take the leap into full time games.

Hell yeah ill go buy your game! Thanks for making it 😂🎉

@ChangeNode

26 күн бұрын

😁👍

100% Agree that video game dev as a passion is very cool... just don't _deeply_ sink into it if that's only for a passion project... don't ask why... lol!

I'm just at the start of the video, but it's already resonating with me. I went down a similar path, thinking I was going to be making games one day, but then for multiple reason ended up writing business software (web apps). But I still toy with the idea of trying to switch industries despite fickleness of game sales

@dandogamer

24 күн бұрын

I had a very similar path as well, had an internship in web/app development 9 years ago and then it was very easy to get more web jobs when game development was always the thing I wanted to do and was what made me learn to program in first place

@undeadpresident

21 күн бұрын

game sales are worse than fickle, the market is super-saturated

I definitely want to dive into games more, but I'm not sure about the whole editor thing. I tried Unity and Godot before, but for anything that isn't static (scene initialisation), i.e. focusing on behavior and how things update, things tend to go into code, and for anything that is static, it could go in a config file or be setup in blender. Its maybe a bit of a taste thing, and I'm also probably quite naive and don't care all that much about actually being productive, but I feel like in the long run (maybe the long-long run) learning fundamentals and reinventing the wheel a bit is a good investment in yourself. Maybe we don't have to worry about the vulnerability/exploitability of being dependent on one tool so much, with open source engines being available, but still, the more independent you can be the better in my opinion. Edit: Live tweaking parameters is useful, but you can do that by similarly reflecting your own structs in a debug ui (and mostly just display the things you need/want).

@ChangeNode

27 күн бұрын

WRT the editor stuff, I did a lot of procedural gen but there were just a lot of art assets, animations, ui etc etc etc that was a giant PITA via code. I mean, I hope you don't edit bitmaps via code lol. I technically started with libGDX (Java engine) and there was very little in the way of UI tooling. It was awesome for learning but in practice once I started trying to do art assets I had to switch over. I was able to do things like add in custom editor controls to Unity (eg placing and configuring firing arcs on space ships in the editor) that would have taking forever to sort out via code only. The open source side + being so much faster/lighter than Unity is part of why I'd recommend Godot. They have a nice clean model for stuff like writing a bunch of native code and exposing it if that's your jam. But they still have nice stuff for visual editing, and reimplementing something like github.com/ramokz/phantom-camera is a giant PITA.

I think a lot of developers who arent in games would find the current state of the games industry and most games jobs extremely unappealing. Games dont pay as much, have extremely difficult multi disciplined work and often require a lot of overtime. From someone in the industry; Do some game jams and try things out, but if you dont enjoy it really reconsider a pivot. If you're not in love with it burnout is a serious possibility. If you love it, come on in!

The YT algorithm must be reading my resume 😄 Enterprise mobile dev by day, Unity dev nights/weekends. (I too went from BASIC -> Java for games: first applets, then a sojourn with JavaME & Flash, finally went commercial with Android.) I agree with your takes on almost everything, except re: platforms. Steam/PC is seen by indies as easier, but it's very sink-or-swim, and winner-take-all as far as Steam algo support is concerned. While discoverability is also hard on mobile, the sheer volume of users means the odds of snagging a few are in your favor. Console is admittedly harder to code for, but once you jump through the technical & admin hoops, it's a prime market for anyone at the indie scale. Even as a hobbyist, you can at least do a game on Android/iOS for friends & family - nothing beats showing your grandma (or an interviewer!) your game on your phone 😆 Will check out your other vids!

@ChangeNode

27 күн бұрын

Yeah, there's a happy buzz esp that first time you get an app up and running on hardware. My sense is that mobile is totally dominated by F2P and casual. Also very low price points. Part of what wrecked me on Steam was the shift to adding the wishlist in as part of the pipeline. And of course GamePass setting an expectation. Etc etc etc. Xbox at least is swamped right now with stuff as well. At least on PC/desktop the edit/compile/debug cycle is way more fun lol. If you want to check out data on this stuff check out newsletter.gamediscover.co/

@mandisaw

27 күн бұрын

@@ChangeNode Large-scale mobile relies on the numbers that F2P brings in, for sure. But most indies would be happy with sub-$100k sales, I'm sure LOL Most markets outside US/EUR/JPN were new-to-gaming with mobile, so they were still at the sort of arcade = casual stage. Statista, Newzoo, etc all point to a shift towards more "midcore" tastes, as the markets mature. It's just the price points need to be lower, because US$70 is a few months' rent in some places. There's a sweet-spot for indies on mobile & console, esp for genres that are basically new to that context, like how Stardew Valley basically brought Harvest Moon to non-Nintendo players.

New viewer here, would love an enterprise look at Godot! Been working in unity and big tech for 8+ years and I want to learn Godot next

Eh Game Development is "hard" but not as what you think. Yeah, I can make a simple game on Android with Java or in C/C++ with tech stacks from odd 20/15 years ago, something that is similar as SHMUP, Colums, tetris, etc etc. with your average time/project management, it's doable But making it good enough as a commercial product, yeah, that's kind of a different challenge.

I originally taught myself how to code to make video games, then I graduated from school and realized nobody is hiring, so I pivoted to fullstack web development. Then web development dried up and now I have pivoted to AI and large language models. Maybe one day I will have enough money to go independent and make my own video games. With Generative AI like ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion it is becoming insane how much productivity a single developer can output.

@cryora

26 күн бұрын

How long did it take you from deciding to pivot and learning enough to get hired?

@herp_derpingson

26 күн бұрын

@@cryora I realized that I need to pivot to fullstack when I was doing my bachelors and realized that there are literally zero internships in game development. The only internships available were in fullstack. For AI, I joined an AI company as a fullstack developer and moved internally. 1 year each, I would say.

@badluckprophet9103

26 күн бұрын

​@cryora Sharing my two cents since I have a very similar history. I sat on my degree for a long while (~2 years) and then after moving to a big city, started looking for "real" programming jobs. It was probably four months and some self teaching on SQL (a common ask in the available job listings I was seeing) and I got a job. With a decent market and showing you can and will learn new things if the company needs that skill, will carry you pretty far.

@briannaalejo9226

20 күн бұрын

Web development dried up? I wanted to do this as a backup after my bucket list of joining a game studio (wanted to try tech art role). I like a lot of design + creativity + tech, that’s why I hope I can get into front-end or even full-stack to be more competitive. Do you have any advice for a CS student and what industries best suit those who not only value tech, but also the visuals, creativity, and design aspects? Is web dev really a no go?

@herp_derpingson

20 күн бұрын

@@briannaalejo9226 Nothing is a go as long as the feds dont cut interest rates.

Thanks. I've read/heard many times about recreating existing Atari /etc era games as a good first step but personally that never appealed to me as the last thing I would want to do creatively is make something that already exists, but I do see the logic in it. Maybe a compromise could be to incorporate some of those game play elements into your own simple game.

@ChangeNode

23 күн бұрын

Absolutely - the main thing is to try to get folks to descope down from trying to remake Skyrim or WoW or Final Fantasy etc lol

@erdrick22

23 күн бұрын

@@ChangeNode absolutely

Good advice, I'd add the low lvl games starting out is for beginners and hobbyists. I grew up playing many of those games, and was the kid always looking for glitches and interrupts not intended 😊. After I started to study game dev, I could tell almost precisely what was happening under the hood. I didn't learn if for a hobby, though I enjoy it, nor for money, artists just aren't that appreciated, not like A.I. is. A good topic to touch on would be indie developing itself. Indie doesn't mean all by yourselves, but some literally take it this way. Indies would get more done, and make more money teaming up on projects. Like the gamejam crap of which I see as little use to developers, and more useful for game engine, assets, ect. promoting. I'm just not a fan of half finished, or barely got it running, which technically doesn't qualify as a game, but whatever.

Congrats! Game interest went into Enterprise development. Same. LOL.

Unless it's for a hobby, the simple answer is no. You're not just creating a product with video games, you also need to build a community. That second part isn't a skill-set most developers will have by default, plus bearing in mind that stress/burnout are significantly greater than anything you've experienced in your career. And at the end of it all, you can have a product nobody cares about. Imagine spending years of effort only to produce something that is effectively DOA. Video games aren't a dream job, or sustainable career choice in general.

@ChangeNode

24 күн бұрын

Yeah, if I had been betting the farm on my game the launch would have been one of the worst disappointments in my life. As it was it only really represented a lost year, but it was a lot of fun and tbh I wanted to make a game like this ever since I was a kid. Certainly taught me a lot about the dangers of nostalgia.

Minimum wage?! I'm still waiting to reach the $100 threshold for Steam to pay me anything. My next game probably will be an open world RPG, because of tinkering with that and my other idea (an open world dollhouse life simulator), I realized the RPG will actually easier to finish and far, far easier to make good. (Though there is something about the making of autonomous simulated people that is so fascinating.)

@cryora

26 күн бұрын

What's your game?

@ChangeNode

26 күн бұрын

Yeah, if you have built and shipped a game on the Steam store and you want to tackle an RPG go for it. Scope management ftw. If it’s fun & doesn’t feel like work that’s the sweet spot. Esp the testing/play test

I did enterprise Java for an insurance company. Wonder if it was the same one?

@garoyse

26 күн бұрын

LinkedIn says no. ;)

@ChangeNode

24 күн бұрын

lol highly unlikely but you never know... I was working on rebuilding the web apps as a consultant for a big medical HMO in Seattle, a complete rebuild of every single app they had from prescription renewal to delivery services to billing/processing. It just sort of hit me one day, how I had gotten into all of this making a sort of FTL-like text game on my Apple //c and somehow wound up in a very OfficeSpace like environment.

Game Development is hard.

@TESkyrimizer

27 күн бұрын

this statement is true. i both love and hate it. making a webapp is difficult but at least it doesnt take years

@ChangeNode

27 күн бұрын

Yeah, "finding the fun" "does it look good" etc are all pretty outside the box for most devs. WRT making a web app tbh I just went through a bunch of the bubble.io stuff after building a bunch of stuff with SvelteKit and it's certainly making me think pretty hard.

@Rockyzach88

27 күн бұрын

Why does it pay less then? Because bad developers don't get fired? Or because there are just so many good game devs?

@ChangeNode

27 күн бұрын

@@Rockyzach88 millions of kids who think it'll be fun to make games. Huge supply, not enough jobs/money to go around.

@SpeaksYourWord

25 күн бұрын

@@Rockyzach88 Because websites are much more productive than games

Very very interesting that you say to go to Godot or Unity over Unreal Engine 5. As an indie dev and 3d artist I would totally disagree here. I would say go with UE5 for sure. I much prefer the UI, the tools, the power, the lighting, the blueprints, and the already massive library of content and tutorials. It's just way easier to use, and easier on the eyes. I've not used Godot, but I'm not a fan of many Unity workflow, and I dislike the UI. For reference, I'm a '70s baby. ps. Thank you for these videos, I'm not trying to flamewar or be negative. It just kinda blew my mind UE wasn't even mentioned.

@ChangeNode

23 күн бұрын

Oh totally, I was more just trying to point people who are just thinking about game dev for the first time to start with something a bit lighter weight. If someone has never touched a game engine before I think Godot in particular is way less intimidating than UE. Plus FWIW I do think that UE tends to push/inspire folks into "I'm going to make a Skyrim MMO" mindset lol... Could do a which engine to pick vid and cover more of 'em w/some branching pros/cons. Hmm...

..."The video game industry is swamped right now '".... Safe to say the Industry will always be Swamped. The Question is how your product stands out.

Hello, i have in mind creating a videogame named Portugal and it would be a mix of World of Warcraft with Deus Ex and players could choose to play as a Werewolf, a Griffin, a Chimera or even a Gargoyle

@ChangeNode

23 күн бұрын

Sounds like a big game!

Are 2D engines still way out of scope for a beginner game dev? What's a good engine if I want to make a 2D strategy game (or possibly isometric)?

@jesustarsia6994

26 күн бұрын

Unity

@prince_of_stride123

26 күн бұрын

There a bunch of engines you could use. Defold, godot, unity, gamemaker. These are all free, so I'd get them all and just spend some time in each one and figure out which one has a workflow that feels most comfortable to you.

@ChangeNode

26 күн бұрын

This - there are lots of engines that are good. Well worth spending a day or two with a checklist to see which works best for you.

@dancingdoormanable

24 күн бұрын

Godot has pixel perfect 2d while Unity does 2d via 3d making the alignment off. Simpler engines like Gamemaker, RPGmaker, G-develop, Löve can probably do what you want too and most can be customized to the level of a pro game, but they are simpler at first and hard later in the process. Godot also has a wider use area so you can use your experience to build your next more ambitious game or rebuild your old one in a fancy way. For a beginner gamedev the community around an engine is also key as similar people makes it easier to talk to and I think the one that matches most is Godot. Unity community is also great, but it has more professionals and Godot has more hobbyist. The tooling in the new versions of Unity is more oriented towards professionals while the new stuff in Godot is more focused on ease of use as it's hobbyists creating stuff for hobbyists.

Fellow game dev of 11 years, I sold 2.1M units of game product. I checked out your game. Technically you’re very capable however you ought to dive your efforts into cohesion. Think of game design like water, how quick is it to go from A-B? If you design your flow to be open, people are going to get lost as shown. So you’ll need to be hierarchal & pace the player. Hope you continue making games, please realize that capability is not why people buy games. You can make a tiny game, but if it is fun, it will sell. How can you maximize fun for something small? All the best!

@ChangeNode

23 күн бұрын

RE sales etc congrats! I absolutely agree that the pacing etc really were off for most folks. I did a mix of things, eg the random fights that spawn were auto-leveled for the user whereas the prebuilt quest fights were not. It really threw people off, as most people *hated* having to leave a fight to go level up and come back. I really loved that sort of thing in games like Morrowind but it's clearly not what people expect nowadays. I'm taking notes and still thinking about a game someday but right now I am swamped with projects. Hmm.

Thoughts on writing a game in javascript?

@cryora

26 күн бұрын

With modern JS frameworks and libraries, like three.js, it can be a viable option nowadays. Web apps have advantages over apps that you have to install, and you can build social media features around them like accounts, profiles, and stats. I imagine it isn't terribly difficult to port web apps to mobile apps, but I could be wrong.

The market is sooooooo saturated. You get paid in “getting to make games” not money. It’s not worth it.

@ChangeNode

24 күн бұрын

Yeah, it's wild. I mean, I might go take photos or paint a painting for fun, but if I'm out taking pictures of birds expecting $ that's not going to go well. I think the way to break it out is a combo of random generation/mods to get streamers excited and something that's new/weird enough to get online attention. But that's pretty thin gruel for execution.

Developers, please make insurance software in Java. You'll make more money than making a game and I don't want more competition ;)

@-Engineering01-

23 күн бұрын

Games are just a toy to entertain people, the world need more insurance and healthcare software than games.

It's not as transferable as people think. The code part of games is very specialized, and it's only about 10% to 20% of what goes into a game. Design, writing, advertising, animation, sound, music, settings, theme, there's so, so much that goes into it.

Alright fellow dreamers. IF you want to build MMORPG, start with single player RPG. MAKE YOUR DREAM GAMES.

@ChangeNode

24 күн бұрын

Dwarf Fortress but an MMO. DO IT PEOPLE

You know how streamers do like to play RPGs is with randomizers. Makes me think devs should add it as a feature out of the box. Endless content and funny moments like when you randomly encounter the final boss at the beginning of the game.

@ChangeNode

26 күн бұрын

Yeah, really makes me wonder about combining games with an LLM like Llama 3… 🤔

I would love to say that if you make a great game you will make money. It should be true. there are dozens of outlets whether it be publications or youtube channels that do nothing other than shill obscure indie games but still, sadly, many amazing games go undiscovered. If your game is great enough to appeal to ~75% of people then you will make money hand over fist once the public learns of it. But for many games they only appeal to ~5% of gamers if not lower. I know tons of amazing games that only appeal to a small subsection of gamers and sadly have few players. It seems quite random to an extent though which games get big though. I can name a dozen off the top of my head that are incredibly quality but have very few players because of the genre. Sometimes it's because that genre is over-saturated, other times it's because the genre is super obscure, still others are just super obscure and not advertised anywhere ever. Copy Kitty End of Dyeus Lucah: Born of a Dream (and sequel) Deadeye Deepfake Simulacrum Fates of Ort to name a few.

I disagree with 9:20 where you suggest starting with PC first, then go to mobile. If I ever take the plunge and release something, to me mobile is the clear winner for where to start. It's a much much larger audience to pull from, simpler games are already expected there, and you have a better chance at offering a free-to-play, because the platforms already handle ads and purchases for you. And with a free-to-play model or a demo, gamers are more likely to try a game from your small studio no one has ever heard of. I think the barrier to entry for a PC game is higher

@centripetal6157

26 күн бұрын

This. Always start small - mobile games are the way to go.

@ChangeNode

26 күн бұрын

Yeah, you can make a case either way. If the edit/compile/test/debug cycle for mobile works for you go for it. There’s a lot of design work in ads, f2p, etc that is easy to mess up.

@westonmcnamara

15 күн бұрын

Yeah something else to mention is that if you're not someone who plays a lot of PC games you wont really understand the nuance and how to target people who play PC games. Especially platforms like steam require a nuanced understanding of how people who play there think, and what they want, mobile is much more forgiving. Coming from someone who has developed indie games and works on AAA PC games.

So I make games as a hobby so take this with a grain of salt, but I think there is no worse background to have going in to gamedev. It could be helpful, but all developers I know who switched to gamedev stopped pretty quickly and it always seems to be the same reason. When you make games, code doesn’t always end up being text book and beautiful and there is no one way to do one thing. That really seems to be frustrating when your used to more structured and by the numbers code like in web development for example

@ChangeNode

27 күн бұрын

I think that's more of a take on the personality of the dev. I found knowing good techniques to be very helpful, and I never would have been able to ship w/o having test cases for things like my proc gen and all the headless systems. I think the hardest part for non-game devs moving in is the recognition that there's so much art, that playtest and iteration over and over is so core. By way of example a typical REST service can be described in a pretty short reqs doc, but "is it fun?" and "does it look good?" and "we have to change that thing again that we already changed twenty times" are pretty rough for a certain kind of dev.

@xephyrxero

26 күн бұрын

I would wager it's similar to working at an agency as a developer. Where you work on a project, then it ends and you move on to a new one. As opposed to evolving and maintaining an ongoing product like you usually do in application dev. Unless you build an MMO or live service game

I started tinkering with game development and I am not a fan of this view of looking at video game development as playing the lottery or just optimizing for the bottom line, that's how we get shitshows like dragon's dogma 2, which was a money grab. It wasn't an accident that Baldur's Gate 3 was so successful, it was successful because of the quality that went into its development combined with Larian's responsiveness to the community. Larian could've tried to squeeze out microtransactions from it's community, but it didn't, instead it focused on delivering what the community wanted which in turn did huge things for the Larian brand. For smaller games I guess there is more of an element of chance, but even then you can look at trends...things like lethal company are successful because they are focused on delivering a game that creates social cohesion among it's players, same with helldivers 2. I'd rather see quality games being put out (quality in terms of how much the game focuses on delivering a quality experience for players vs how much money it's trying to squeeze out of every customer) rather than see the market saturated with slop.

if you cant work with game engine but if you are capable i definitely encourage ppl to build their own engines . 1. If the game is popular you dont have to worry about royality 2. You dont have to worry about a game engine studio scrweing you . 3. You will gain a lot of knowledge that too low level knowledge which helps you tremendous in getting good at game dev

@ChangeNode

27 күн бұрын

Yeah, 1 and 2 are the big reasons a lot of folks are looking at Godot. 100% recommend raylib or libGDX or whatever works as a baseline for building an engine if one is so inclined. Trying to get a GPU API context rendering is non-trivial for most nowadays, but if you are game (ahem) go for it. The big one I see is folks who have never even touched a game engine deciding to start from scratch, which is fine for learning etc but it's a long slog for a lot of folks.

@This_Guy-

27 күн бұрын

@@ChangeNode yup agreed I started my journey by making my own engine and now my full time job is building game engine for a big reputed gaming studio

Make games for fun and art because ai tools and content are going to change everything. We could hit a giant cliff when it comes to the concept of selling a game.

y'know, many aspiring indie game developers pivot to being youtubers instead because it's easier to see results.

@ChangeNode

24 күн бұрын

I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Ahem.

great video

@ChangeNode

26 күн бұрын

Thanks!

Hi, interesting talk. I have an enterprise background like you. Started on ZX Spectrum, BBC Model-B back in the day. I would love it if you would play my prototype game called Lordenfel RPG (Two levels so far). I can send you the key of course. It is my hobby not my job but would really appreciate your input.

@ChangeNode

24 күн бұрын

Oh, thank you for the offer but I'm so busy I barely have time to play anything right now. TBH one of the things that really gave me pause was someone explaining to me that other game devs are happy to help out with technical stuff but don't ask 'em to do playtest. FWIW. You want to find non-game devs to play your games and get feedback. Game devs are already starving trying to build & test & play their games...

Funny enough, I also started with video game programming and now doing Java insurance software. (Much less experience, though). Maybe it's less exciting than game dev, but I like keeping work and art separate. I think I would quickly hate making games if it were as scientific as with your Google game dev.

I'm making a game! It's a ton of work, and it's just something I've always wanted to do, I don't care if it sells. I expect it not to.

@ChangeNode

24 күн бұрын

Good luck - where/how are you going to post it...?

Are you alex jone's long lost brother?

@ChangeNode

17 күн бұрын

Nope!

Similar path - made games in highschool then spent 25 years building software. Sold my company to Bill Gates a few years ago and now back to game programming! It is rediculously addicting I've found.

@ChangeNode

26 күн бұрын

Very cool. What kind of games?

no. if you own a marketable IP, pay a studio to do it. otherwise... just no.

I laugh that you said Atari classics and show a pic of E.T.

@ChangeNode

22 күн бұрын

Gotta get my lols in somewhere 😁

Game development is requires someone with vision and a story to tell. DJ Pooh is what made GTA San Andreas so good. Certain story element and things said make you wonder. No offense but most of you guys just don’t have any story to tell. And because of that your works borin. It dosnt matter how good a programmer you are if the story sucks and you forget it in a day.

@dancingdoormanable

24 күн бұрын

Not all games need a story, but in most cases the game would improve if they did. What's really needed is a hook or better jet multiple hooks. By the way even games like Loop Hero or Space Warlord Organ Trader have a story it's just not told in a regular fashion.

@ChangeNode

24 күн бұрын

I have gone around and around on this one. The story and the dialog IMHO actively hurt my game esp with streamers. My favorite games are all big RPGs, tho. My most played in Steam are big Bethesda stuff and CivVI, and even though I think of myself as someone who likes the indie stuff I keep coming back to stuff like modding Morrowind. Same w/my Kindle library. I think of myself as a scifi/fantasy reader but something like 85-90% of the books I've read over the last decade are non-fiction. 🤔

@dancingdoormanable

23 күн бұрын

​@@ChangeNode @colinhutchins2795 I think we can agree the story is important, but would you go as far as to write a screenplay before the game in for instance Fountain format or even write Interactive Fiction in for instance Twine or Renpy to iron out the choices? Or alternatively go for a lighter approach by only outlining your game story with Story Beats, Jill Chamberlain Nutshell Technique or Eric Edson's Hero Goal Sequences?

I hate visual editing tools. Urg. I need a dark terminal to feel my Hygge.

@ChangeNode

27 күн бұрын

Yeah, I kind of started like that. I was so used to just reading a reference book on something and then writing code. I had to literally force myself to watch KZread videos (often on 1.5x or 2x) to get through the tutorials for how to use a lot of the visual tools in Unity. But the edit/compile/test/debug for visual stuff like UI, particles, placing things like gun turrets on 3d ship models etc etc etc would take forever. :\ Eventually I got it, but oof.

@CallousCoder

24 күн бұрын

A terminal that’s luxury. Naah just go straight into the system monitor and write assembly like we did on the C64. I didn’t even have an assembler the first 3 years 😂That was a relief when I for one and soon after I was learning C so…

Disagree about "Use the editor". The editor is just in the way when you make a procedural generated world.

@ChangeNode

23 күн бұрын

FWIW depends on the kind of proc gen and assets. eg on my game there are portions that are proc gen/random and some that are prebuilt, eg the ship turret/gun placements and firing arcs. Most proc gen games still use a bitmap editor for 2d image data. Just depends on the title. If you have a game title that gens every thing including the art post a link!

Im a software engineer, I won’t be pivoting to game development.

@-Engineering01-

23 күн бұрын

Same here

A warning for web developers watching this: video-game development is much harder and much more competitive than doing web. If you are a mid web developer, you have no chance.

@-Engineering01-

23 күн бұрын

+ toxic environment with harsh conditions with a garbage salary.

Game development is a harsh industry. Plus, everyone is biting at the bit to work on a game. This is not the right advice IMO

please change your microphone

@ChangeNode

24 күн бұрын

What's not working? Too quiet/loud/background noise...?

@furkannarin2844

24 күн бұрын

@@ChangeNode inaudible and inconceivable in higher play rates

@ChangeNode

24 күн бұрын

@@furkannarin2844 huh seems fine on my desktop, phone and via AppleTV KZread app, both regular speed and at 2x. Not sure what to say... 🤷‍♂

You're not Tim

@ChangeNode

24 күн бұрын

How do you know? 🤔

Bro they laying off in the video game industry too, jobs are drying up to AI

@ChangeNode

17 күн бұрын

Yeah. There's kind of the "video game as personal art expression" version, solo/indie dev versions and the just get a job version. Kind of the point of the vid was to gently try to say that video game dev for personal expression is cool, but think hard about making it a career. tbh that was true before AI and now it's just... oof.

I think most if not all developers want to be game developers however the money is such a crapshoot. With 14k games being released on steam last year your chances of making any sustainable money are next to nil and its such a massive time sink. You could put so much time into learning this stuff and make a game that sells nothing. That time which you will never get back could have been used to learn better job related skills.

@ChangeNode

24 күн бұрын

Yeah, there's some stuff that is IMHO just good to learn, eg I think shaders/GPU compute is weirdly transferable to some other stuff, also some of the math esp given how GPU compute is good for LLM stuff. Good design/UI/UX is a win too. But a lot of it doesn't help, esp given how much stuff is network bound and that side is so different on games vs apps.

I would recommend not start with 2D game, because there are too many of those.

@dancingdoormanable

24 күн бұрын

True, but there are also too many 3d games. 2d or 3d is a stylistic choice that should support the gameplay and maybe give some energy to the gamedev to carry on.

lol I quit two weeks ago to spend 12-18 months to just do recreational coding (including games)

@ChangeNode

24 күн бұрын

Going to post anything? FWIW this book was very helpful for me gamemath.com/ - it's now posted free

@insertoyouroemail

24 күн бұрын

@@ChangeNode That looks like a good book. Thanks! I don't know what I'll post. I'm not very charismatic for camera but I will definitely document my efforts on GitHub.