From around the beginning of high school, I've always thought that I was incapable of making games because I had ADHD. I've tried medications, but they just don't really seem to work on me, and nor does caffeine. Now that I'm starting college, I've had to learn coping mechanisms to keep myself in line and make sure I don't get overwhelmed. I've been using Google Calendar for literally everything, just so I don't have to keep anything in my brain. I'm learning to break things down into smaller bite-size pieces, and it's helping me a lot with getting stuff done! I finally feel like I'm getting somewhere, and with enough practice, I could get to a point where I'm making games completely independently. Feels good man.
Thanks for sharing that story and advice! I use my 1 Thing keychain to help me focus. It reminds me to stop doing 10 things at once and train my brain. Fortunately, I don't really need meds and can usually manage with mental exercise. But I still struggle with loss of interest as my sporadic video uploads show!
I'm a therapist and an ADHDer/Autistic, who work with ADHDers and Autistic folks, including many in game dev and stem. This is great information for me and my clients. And, as a licensed therapist, I want to say self-diagnosis is absolutely, 💯 valid!
This was probably the best video in general I've seen talking about ADHD yet, it does really hit different when it comes from a much more real place of someone else learning what it means to have ADHD. Thank you for sharing this video! -that little talk at the end (--15:23--) actually made me tear up a little mannn-
as a developer myself, breakfast analogy was what hit me the hardest. Thank you so much for this video. I got diagnosed recently and I'm still learning how to adjust the way I work to how my brain works. Your tips are spot on!
You've always lived with your own brain. It's just somebody put a label on it and explained it for you. You know how to be you and you'll keep learning more now. You got this.
I have ADHD and I also do game development. I recently graduated from high school (where I was in a video game development program) so I don't have a job in the industry yet, but I'm building my portfolio by doing game jams and other projects. At the start of a project, I also always feel overwhelmed and starting to work really seams like climbing mount Everest. To surmount that, I think of it as a question building up of momentum; the more I work, the more focused I will be and eventually, I will become hyper focused and get a huge load of work done. For some weird reason, I also find that moving as little as possible or just keeping the same posture really helps getting into that state and keeping it for a much longer time.
Cool mindset. It seems like stuff that works for one person may or may not work for someone else and the real trick is to stop fighting yourself, beating yourself up, and start cooperating with your own brain.
I needed to see this video, I've recently been diagnosed with ADHD (i suspected i had it around the end of high school) and its been making my transition from Unreal Engines blueprint system to Godots GDScripting incredibly difficult, hearing others struggles to eventually success makes me feel so much better about the situation and instills hope in me, ill have to come back to this video from time to time to remind myself of that xD
That's awesome - good to know yourself and learn to live with it. I taught myself GML scripting in GameMaker through a lot of Google and trial and error. Good luck with Godot.
I want to be in game dev and get into c# coding but everytime I look into it I almost fall asleep from fatigue. I have to fidget alot to try and concentrate. Hopefully I can make it fun so tht my brain gets engaged. Came here to look for advice on how to pursue game dev without giving up cus of how challenging it is
Tell me about it! I fall asleep when I try to read a lot of stuff. I started making games with GameMaker's visual system and then I started swapping bits of it with code. I didn't sit and read a manual. I would literally type some words that I had seen, such as "DRAW" and then see what was available. Tutorials that aren't too long were helpful too.
I’ve been going through the same discovery journey. Bite sized tasks are the way to go. I’ll pick the quickest tasks to get me going then use that built momentum to tackle tougher ones. Recently read The Power of Now, a book about mindfulness and being present, that has been starting to help a lot in controlling and dealing with the racing thoughts. Great video, glad it was recommended to me!
I appreciate you sharing! Being really "present" and paying attention to what I have decided to do is helping. As is making very intentional, conscious decisions about what I'm going to do.
I've been loving Godot. The UI is so clean and free of distractions, and having a scripted language is great for getting quick feedback on what I'm doing.
@@foldupgames Thank you so much for this video btw. I feel less alone now. Its frustrating to know I'm capable of some kind of success in life, but am pulled behind by so many brainular road blocks.
