With ya there... Opened my on business 1 year and a half ago and there are some days in which i would just like to stay at home and play video games, but i drag myself to the office and keep on working!
@@codinginflow I Am The Mind. But Most People Don't Control There Mind 100% . If Yes They Can Do Anything They Don't Like To Do And They Will Control Their Feelings Energy Motivation And More And Sorry For My Bad English. I'm Not American
@@lovelife8360 But the mind is not a single thing. It's one large process made up of many many small sub-processes. There is no one in control of "your" mind
Glad that I found your channel. Tbh I'm not working on indie game, but I know I could use the tip you provided for content creating! Thanks a bunch for sharing all of them!
I just finished and released my first little game about 2 weeks ago and this was one of two the main principles I stood on to get through it. I wasn't perfectly consistent, there were some days I didn't do anything but for the most part I stuck to it even if it was just 30min. It's actually a principle I'd already been using in some areas in my life before I started my project or even found this video but to have the idea compacted into words so simply was amazing esp in relations to my own game project!
You have inspired me so much!!! Since i found you and your game i have found something Great and plan to tell a story with and ending rather then a large project with no ending!! :) Thank you
Thank you for your wisdom and insight. You’re truly a good game developer and your experience gives me the inspiration I need to push through development. Thank you again, I hope to meet you one day at an indie convention.
These are great tips, thanks for sharing. As someone with kids and a full time job it’s good to see that it’s possible to get your side project out in front of people. Congrats
Such an awesome, genuine individual with so much passion and intelligence. Thank you for this short video and thank you for the sound insight and advice. The "Never have a 0% day" is such a huge thing. I try to never NOT do anything, even when i'm feeling as burnt out as I am right now. Here's a "summary" of the story behind Metal Heads so far to give you all some insight for those interested. I am working on a HUGE game for a solo dev. An (up to) 8 player online and local multiplayer party game filled with insane mini-games, a board game mode, customization options etc etc. I was working on something much larger before this, and even bigger again before that, and thought to myself "This is feasible"....but it's right on the edge of feasible for ME I think. I don't consider myself to be an intellect, I am mostly durpy...mostly, but I have passion, and determination, and a love for creation. Money is definitely a motivator, but it alone won't motivate you the entire way if you don't love what you are doing. I was plodding along in my own time, some weeks I'd only work for 4 hours a week, others would be 4-8 hours a day while also working my day job and maintaining a healthy relationship with my wonderful girlfriend, but it wasn't until the opportunity to go to PAX Australia arose that I kicked my own butt into gear, because I was developing comfortably....but perhaps TOO comfortably. If I kept going at the rate I was going, it would take another 2-3 years to finish, so April last year I decided it was time to go full time. When I wasn't working an 8 hour shift, I would work 12-14 hours every single day on the game. When I WAS working my day job, I would work another 8 hours on the game, and haven't stopped since then. I went to PAX, and it was hugely popular, I was blown away by how crowded my booth was, and despite the game being buggy, everyone was super friendly and supportive and that was such a great feeling, and I realized that this was what I wanted to be a game developer for, to put smiles on people's faces, to see them enjoying something I created, and my motivation to do better was higher than ever. I decided I would try and launch a demo by the end of 2019, but full time hours at my day job crept in, some shifts were 10 or 11 hours long, and it is in retail sales, so at Xmas time, things get insanely hectic, but I would still come home, and work the rest of the evening until 12am or 1am, get up at 6am and do it all again, with my longest days going for 18 hours of work. This has no doubt had an impact on my body and mind, but somehow I'm still going, and my heart hasn't popped. I got the demo out in January and it hasn't been huge, but now currently up to around 4500 downloads with only about 1400 wishlists since last June. Soon I'll be releasing the online multiplayer update for the demo, but I'm releasing it earlier than I wanted due to the Steam Games Festival coming up soon. I still have a tonne of bugs to iron out, features to implement and a new trailer, because the one I made in 2 days, last year, is still the current trailer, and it's really bad (on a side-note, make a good trailer, it'll save you a lot of stress in the long run). I am currently incredibly burned out, and am generally unhealthy, so as of yesterday, I put in motion a schedule, a plan to get my health back in order, because it's such a huge part to the efficiency of your development. Drink water, not booze, eat your greens, and fruits, even if it's a small amount, it's better than none at all, stretch your hips, and do even small amounts of body weight exercises like squats, lunges, planks, tuck jumps etc and go for a walk, short or long, just do it every day, and you'll immediately start feeling rejuvinated. I did it this morning, and the difference it has made is mind-blowing. You don't take a road trip in a jalopy, unless you enjoy constantly repairing the damn thing. So don't take on the task of making a game if you aren't going to treat yourself right. Sorry that this is a giant wall of text, but I love reading stuff like this from other developers, so I figure why not share my own experience, it may help someone, even if it's one person, and that one person may end up making a bloody fantastic game one day that I love. Thank you if you read all of this. Anyway, if you are interested, my name is Nathan Francis. The game is called Metal Heads and is being developed by just myself, but the incredible music is made by "Mors Principium Est" lead guitarist, Andy Gillion and honestly he has taken the game to the next level with his amazing musical talents. You can download the demo and try it on Steam. Please also wishlist it if you enjoy it too. store.steampowered.com/app/1132670/Metal_Heads/ (If you find your controller isn't working, go to steam controller settings and disable/untick the various configuration settings. Steam developers decided to remove a line of code that broke input for Metal Heads with configuration support enabled.)
HI Dave. I am starting currently my path to becoming something like you. I appriciate the help you provide. And as a token of my appriciation, I just bought your game.And subbed of course.
Your videos are great. I have got so much inspiration from them and I'm thinking of definitely trying out game development. Can I know what languages you used to develop The First Tree? Keep making these awesome videos and games and good luck!
That was really good, thank you. I know that if you count on "motivation" to complete projects, you won't do it. Because adding features and levels and new graphics is fun. Spending time fixing bugs, adding menus, and configuring for publication isn't. All that "not fun" stuff takes as long, and longer, as the fun part.
I have hundreds of unfinished projects, some of which had potential, many of which time investment. All those games, unfinished, like tears in the rain..
And you have learnt a ton of stuff on each project. Personally I found not finishing things comes from a subconscious negative belief that 'I'm not good enough' formed when we were a child. Out of your hundreds of projects, which one could you finish and publish in the next three months? That's the end of August this year?
Last thing I have to do in my project before its first teaser is a note. Nothing special, just a small note. I couldn't make it for a month now, I opened the editor every day, but instead of working I just watched streams, played cookie clicker and watched YT. motivation is a bitch ^^
Hello Game Dev Unlocked, hello guys, we are a young team of old dudes making their first videogame (on Godot/Blender) & we are looking for a 3D skilled enthusiastic or even a fair specialist to complete us (BTW, I hope I don't bother this community with such a topic on this channel, sorry if I do ; I just thinked it was a good place to do so and sorry for my bad or strange english : I'm French). I worked alone for one year on a 2D detective adult noir story-driven game (with 2.5D parts in a Yakuza like spirit). Hoping to find a big editor to support us financially in a close future (the project is allready well advanced I could say) and as the team grows, it becomes obvious that I don't know how to avoid problems like framerate falls in the 3D feature, LOD, proximtyGroups, visibility-notifiers, complex material imports or other things in the same field... we could use any help on this or at least frequent advices. I am busy right now in doing cartoon animations so I cannot manage all this and my new friend is a coder without any 3d knowledge. In this "expecting money" time, we would be glad to meet someone who could be interested to participate in a way convenient for him/her and able to work with us in this project state of mind (we just get an work-hours count for now, expecting to be payed one day or another). Thanks for your attention and again, sorry if I'm inappropriate, if so, please, just help us to find rhe right place and be sweet with the beginners we are. Thanks again and a nice day to everybody. Bye.
how does porting to consoles actually work? in your first video you said you spent the leftover money on console ports, but how does one actually go about that?
Was the first tree made with visual script? I know unreal engine has great visual script but that’s the only engine I’ve known to have some decent option If you did that’s crazy it turned out that good haha
I wish I'd been able to watch this video when I first started gamedev. I've learned many of these lessons myself but it has taken me years. Thanks for sharing. I'm glad I found your channel.
Yep, one of the things to keep in mind is that making a start is the biggest hurdle. Just start doing something productive and you'll get some form of mileage out of it. Hold yourself accountable for only the simplest step, say: "I'm gonna do five minutes of work", and you'll often wind up doing over 30 minutes instead. If you have a bad day and you don't do as much as you wanted, at least you did something and kept that habit going.
@Atur Sams I fully understand this point of view but not every single viewer watching this video is working their dream job (or necessarily dreams about making games). Many of them probably come here to find some form of inspiration.
your video "How Making Indie Games Changed My Life" really hit me so hard, 5 year from now on i will make my own video titled "How David RU-vid Video Changed My Life".. Sorry for bad english
@@xeon2509 yeah a but just a little bit, im more inti business, investing, and animation these day 😂, after 5 years from my first comment maybe i make my own video for this comment 🤣
Wow, I am 80% finished with my mobile app. I started the project almost a year ago, but I never gave up. When I had a day job, I continued every night like you did. Now I quit my job and I am dedicating full time to it and I have never been so close to finish it. You just motivated me to go the last miles. Thank You !
@@storatus hmmmm can u also build an app uhhh more like a community for developers and they would post their own games and apps for mobile pc and other platforms. This way they would be free from copyright issues(if they had to create some unofficial ports and related stuff) and they would also get free beta testers. It would be heaven for people who are more into individual projects more than those which r distributed publicly and are based on some huge company. I can hardly find any unofficial port or any individual fan made game so yea that app would help a lot. And i hope that the app you are currently working on be successful
It's not about motivation (external/chance/finite), it's about discipline (internal/deliberate/generative). But the key to discipline is to understand that procrastination isn't a matter of attention - it's a matter of emotion. When presented with a task you know you should do, you assign it huge importance, and because of that you naturally hesitate, which your emotional mind interprets as yet another failure to follow through, which triggers self-hatred, which leads to denial and avoidance - ie procrastination. This then creates a feedback loop where self-hatred, avoidance, and inflated importance/urgency all spiral out of control. Effective discipline comes down to breaking the task down into its actual components and looking at them realistically by removing your emotional self-image from the equation. For example, the first step in working on your game is usually to open the project file... Does that have anything to do with that one time you were too nervous to say hi to your 6th grade crush? Of course not, but your emotional mind lumps all your failures into one pile deep in your subconscious when constructing your self-image. So you have to separate your self-image from the task. You CAN open the project file. Opening the project file says nothing about who you are as a person. Think of it this way, if you saw someone getting in their car, as far as you knew they were simply someone getting in their car, therefore you couldn't make any conclusions about them as a gym goer, right? In the same way, opening the project file says nothing about who you are as a game developer. Okay, project file is open, what's next? Whatever it is, it has a first step as well. Taking that step also says nothing about who you are. The task is the task. The steps are the steps. Get out of your head and focus on what you actually have to do. Be honest with yourself about your ability to do each step. The task is the task. Remove your self-image. Live in the moment. Do the thing. Let yourself feel AFTER doing the thing so that what you feel is good and accomplished. The best thing you can do when motivation strikes is to write out all your tasks and organize them by priority and difficulty. That way when you have to rely on discipline you know where to start, or if boredom is your obstacle for the day then you know where you can shift your energy. Consistent small chunks of progress beats huge occasional bursts every time. Make the day's goal small and more often than not you'll find that the accomplishment itself produces more motivation. If you really need a break for a day, make that day's goal writing down tomorrow's goal. One sentence - boom - you can call the day a success. If you've read this far, I have a challenge for you to demonstrate the presence of your emotional mind. Do 10 squats right now. Go ahead, I'll do them too... It's such a small challenge it might even come off as condescending or pointless. "Eh, nice try random youtube commment, but I'll pass." Hear me out, the point isn't the squats themselves - the squats are a placeholder for all tasks. The point here is being present and mindful of your capacity for discipline when presented with a task. No point in getting out of your chair right now and doing some squats? Well, "there's no point in finishing this stupid game that no one will want to play anyways," says your emotional brain 2 months from now when you're trying to work on your game. How will you face that voice later on if you can't face it right now? Get up and do the squats right now. Already did them at the start of this paragraph? Do 10 more. Game development is repetitive, too. Discipline is a muscle. When you start working out, you're not going to jump right into 200lb squats. You're going to slowly build up your strength by doing small, easy tasks and incrementing the resistance until eventually you don't even have to think about it. Doing ten squats is like opening the project file. Moving your cursor to the search window and typing in "pathfinding algorithm tutorial" is like opening the project file. Copying some lines of code is like searching for pathfinding algorithm tutorial. The task is the task. The steps are the steps. Break it down. Don't feel. Do. Then keep going.
@@Zio2177 all the above was gleaned from personal experience so I'd be happy to elaborate if you wanted to chat - but two books in this vein that I can recommend are Your Own Worst Enemy and The Slight Edge.
@@dreamer097 Thank you my friend. With the current situation (covid) I feel lost. But I will read those books and I will continue working to be better. Your name reminds me of great quote. All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible. Don't feel. Do.
"Finish something, even if it was small." - That's what my wife says... Ehh, it sounded better in my head. Jokes aside, great content, came at the right time because I'm struggling with it currently. Thanks!
Great tips! Never having a 0% day is so good, even if it's literally 5 minutes a day it is still progress. That's an interesting point about motivation being finite too, and that even if you are super motivated and excited at the start, by the end it may be completely gone and time to move on.
This is really inspiring. I was worried about how much time i'll have to work on my game - I have no kids, no dependents and the only regular commitment I have is the gym. Thanks for sharing, 10 hours a week doesn't seem so bad after all.
For reals. you always hear about how you gotta GRIND GRIND GRIND on your goals, and sacrifice so much. Is it even worth it? 10 hours a day seems very dooable while still working full time, and enjoying friends and family on the weekends.
It all comes down to your creativity, you can create a great game in 1 day if you have the right ideas. The possibilities are endless and you get better by every game or simulation you finish.
I am Terra- Forming Cyber Space, Creating Technology, and Redirecting Human Psychological Pathways.... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-BGX67h-DdgQ.html
I'm a musician struggling to remain motivated to finish my first EP. This video really helped. If the process is no longer fun, that doesn't mean you should put it to rest.
The biggest question I have is how did you release your project? Was it under GPL or did you protect your source? I have a game I used to use in classes, all made in Blender BGE and assets made in Inkscape. Now I'd like to publish the executable version of it from the BGE, but it should be released under the GPL Open Source rule, which I think is fair, but I'd also like to monetize it somehow (donation seems the best way).
Thx so much for giving motivation!!!!!Im 17 and only going in university but already learnt c++ and python with a lot of books and video lessons + was going in it school one year ago.I was wanting to go in game dev company in half year so im studying now for it.But now i have bigger motivation to do that and i have motivation to start learn how to work with unity
Wow man! You are a hero! Even though I haven't played your game and probably won't (Because of my time limitations), but your story and words made my day! Thanks, you earned a subscriber! 👍😊
I take game jam breaks and then go back to my "biggish" game hehe. This weeks devlog will be about a game jam~ I think keeping a schedule is one of the best ides! "NEVER HAVE A 0% DAY!" so cooOOoool!
Thanks for posting the info and your Experiences :) How the Switch and PS4 like, Console ports happen ?? Was it done by you Or it was directly handled by them with the royalty to you How was your experience to go through all the learning curve to port the game or the stages to go through like publishing and all. Or all these were just like the porting from the Unity Engine itself in swift manner ?
As an indie author, we know that “The first draft of anything is shit.” ( Hemingway).... but you can't edit something that doesn't exist... Thanks 4 your videos... very inspiring and full of motivation !
Your course enrolment is closed and there's no option to create a new account on your website even after clicking on the Login and Signup button all it opens is a login menu not a signup menu. :(
These tips are helpful whenever you work on a project by yourself. Be it a indie game, a thesis, a book or studying a subject from home, please always use these hints! Having "Never have a 0% day" is very helpful because you never lose the flow completely.
You motivated me so much! I though that im starting with game dev too late (16yr old), but you started after highschool and made awesome things. Any chance of merchandise to be sold (maby too early)? Cute fox pls :)
Love the Explosions in the sky shirt :D I am a young fullstack developer from germany. Knowing what developing software is like and honestly im seriously impressed you made a game without coding. It would me drive crazy to do everything with this graphical interface haha But honestly, cool stuff buddy! Love to hear more from you
David, I can't even express in words the impact your story had on me a few months back. I am trying to get through releasing our flagship strategy game, but I am married and we both have full time jobs and two children. Your story was the first that resonated with me 100%. I forget where the talk was, but you were explaining about how not everything had to be perfect. It was okay to cut some corners or use some existing assets. Afterall, you are one person! The checklist of similarities between the two of us was striking....and every time I feel like the game won't release, I come back to your story and it helps me realize if 10 hours a week can make that happen, I can follow suit. Good luck on what you are currently working on! New sub here! :)
Wow! Thank you very much for this! Though I'm not doing games but 2D/3D animations the same work ethic applies. I have ADHD big time and doing anything is hard. We have to cut things into micro chunks and yes keep going. I like the get something ANYTHING done every day. Scheduling is hard but I'm going ti try it. Thanks again!
I am Terra- Forming Cyber Space, Creating Technology, and Redirecting Human Psychological Pathways.... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-BGX67h-DdgQ.html
Thanks for the advice. I'm also looking for a bit of motivation to keep doing my youtube videos. I really liked the idea of not having a 0% day (I will try that!).
I have been following the advice of never having a zero percent day. It really helps build good habits. I have also been making devlogs, which take away some of the time I could spend working on games, but they help me stay motivated since I know there are people waiting to see the progress I made. The devlogs also force me to acknowledge everything I have accomplished so far and every small victory helps to keep me going. Thanks for all the advice and inspiration!
i have no clue how to code or anything like that and i really do want to start learning but i just don't got the modivation to learn, i have so many cool ideas what i COULD do if i knew how to code, hell i'm just 16 trying to figure out what i want to do with my life and it's coding but i don't know how or where to start
i have just started learning to code too i am using Godot game engine and watching tutorials and i am slowly starting to understand gdscript which is the language on Godot i recommend looking it up
Aww... That's sad.. I love my game.. I'm always rewriting it over and over.. And it does keep getting better.. Its kinda like playing a really complicated puzzle game...
Dude your channel has me in tears in a good way. It is hard to finish something especially when the vision for it is so strong. Hard not to be a perfectionist. But this Channel gives me hope.
I have been working on a game and am still working on it right now. I didn't think any of this would be possible. But watching how you went through it and how you did things. I gets my hopes up and I want to work on making games for a good long while. Thank you for all the insperation
Amazing content! I really love such people like you who keep their passion and share this to others Very kind and helpful words Wish you all indie devs out there all the best Be blessed
