I Spent 100 HOURS Making a Video Game 

The first 500 people to click the link will get a 1 month trial of Skillshare: skl.sh/cypherden03241 I hope you enjoyed this video! :D This challenge was chaotic as heck and I most definitely struggled

ALL THE DESIGNS IN THIS VIDEO ARE ADORABLE

I love the concept you came up with! Please don’t torture yourself with an unfathomably short time limit if you end up picking this up again. From personal experience, learning an entirely new medium in a short time span will shoot down your motivation and self esteem, straight into the garbage can. Be kind to yourself! I’d hardly call this a failure💛

Thank you for releasing this! I think it's important for the visibility of not every project works out and that's okay because you can always try again.

The bit at the end about people only posting their success stories and how that leads to intense imposter syndrome and feelings of failure really resonated with me. Thank you for putting this out there, I really needed to hear that.

Emo and normal Dem at the beginning 😂

Holy shit I love the owl house, gravity falls, Amphibia, Star Vs the Forces of Evil, and Steven universe background.

Please make this a real game pls

Unity gang, as a guy studying game development. It's honestly difficult

15:11 it honestly is quite refreshing to see someone be like "i tried doing this thing and... failed" rather than setting expectations that tend to feel unrealistic. i'd totally be the type to take on a project like this, all motivated at first, then get stuck and give up

As someone who loves Harvest Moon, we need more games like it. I'd play a Harvest Moon-like game by CypherDen! Also, RIP Recreyo. The whole group was always able to make me smile when I was down over the past four years. I've followed it since the beginning and I look forward to seeing everything you guys do in the future.

As someone that does game dev, you did really good and got really far. im impressed you was able to do as well as you did with coding because while there are plenty of tutorials, not all of them mesh well with each other. One of the hardest part about game dev is finishing your game, so no one will fault you for taking a needed break. hope your game turns out great, and keep up the hard work.

I like that you posted it even though you didnt finish! Seems like making a game is a lot harder than it seems

As a game developer. It's pretty cool to see CypherDen interested in learning game development in Unity. Even if you failed the challenge. I hope you finally get to play rhe game you wanted.

Several things that I want to say: 1_Misspelling "vertical" and spending hours trying to figure out why code doesn't work is very common even among professional programmers 2_Your progress was actually really good, especially for someone teaching themselves (I would know, that's how I learned myself) 3_You probably could have used premade stuff first to make it easier to just see how far you can go with coding, but I get that you are an artist and want to have your art there first and then see it move and not have lots of default characters or blank squares doing stuff that doesn't look pleasing

me: i could do that also me after 30 minutes:😴😵😴

I am so happy you decided to upload this video. The progress you made is insane and I'm absolutely in love with the pixel art! It's really inspiring to see stuff like this.

You are NOT A FAILURE!! Everyone has to start somewhere and you learned from the experience

Good job, its really hard. Games are not usually made by a single person, because its just too hard to be able to do all of the aspects of the game by a single person

I think that is one of the most common struggles for artist, having a really awesome idea in mind but not having the skill set at the time to fully execute it. BUT super satisfying when you can go back to a project and finally finish -or remake- it. I def have my own projects that have been in W.I.P limbo for a handful of years... -like 7 years- 💀

As an aspiring game dev, myself. This is a fine idea, I've been on my grind for close to half a year now, still bumping to roadblocks and shit. Still, it's a fun, albeit tiring ride... I do not recommend you to start with a very complicated project with 10+ systems onboard. Start with two or three things, then when you think you've got the hand of those, try and see if you still have space for another two--if not, then stick to the minimum you have. Better to accomplish something with all that effort, rather than putting it on hold and letting it go to waste.

As someone who programs for a living but has the artistic capability of a squirrel: it’s so crazy seeing this from the other side. I’ve dropped so many games because art is SO HARD.

I feel like making and maintaining a farm and gradually bringing in more people may actually be the best way to survive the zombie apocalypse!

You took on creating a game that takes a crew of people to make and you did outstanding. Plus now you've gained so much more knowledge and experience. I don't count this as a loss for sure.

I know you said this challenge was a failure, but I really hope you come back to this game and maybe even get this kickstarted, because I love the concept of this game so much!

Now, I know less about games than you, but from what I've heard, the first step for any game is figuring out what a minimum viable product is and working on it. That is, the minimum required for you to be able to have your game work. For instance, the minimum viable product for the original super mario bros would be a sprite that could run left and right and jump. And then you build from there.

A week before my brothers wedding I had learned about Adventure Game Studio I was like..... I'm gonna make him a game! With no experience whatsoever. I have never hypefocused so hard in my life I drew, the characters the back rounds, items. Added sounds and music with my Ukulele. When the wedding game it tool him about 20 minutes to beat which was what I was hoping for. Now I am trying to make a game for everyone to play

im just now seeing your setup for the first time, AND WOW, IT LOOKS AMAZING! ESPECIALLY THAT CHAIR AND PENCIL! And judging by your chair, you may end up being one of the few artists out there with good posture

Making a video game takes a lot of work and there are so, so many skills you need to master to do it all by yourself. It really is no wonder that a ton of people find themselves unable to finish their projects. Creating games can also be a joy though and you'll never be bored if you like learning new skills. Thank you for showing your work and I hope you'll get back to it in the future! Maybe lower your scope for future projects? Something small that you can finish faster can help you stay motivated!

I think it's quite impressive what you've accomplished, I started attending a programming course two years ago and that was great and all, but now for the past 5 months I've been writing my own game on my off-time. I really thought I'd have it about finished by now, but I'm still just busy writing the engine, adding features and fixing bugs, barely any progress on assets except placeholder stuff. So it's a long grind, I feel you.

This is helping me get back into trying to make a game. I’ve been too scared to try again but I see that I’ve just gotta get through the stress of not getting it right the first time. Just got to keep it it

Don't sell yourself short you made quite impressive progress for taking on a project solo. I speak from experience, after over 10 years of hard work my team and I released our first game Pixel Noir just this year. Game Dev is a whole beast because it has so many moving parts that may seem simple but takes a lot of trial and error to get right. Hope you pick up this project again in the future, would love to see your progress.

I haven’t watched a video on this channel for so long and this was very awesome! I don’t know why I haven’t watched in awhile, but I recall you inspired me to get back to animation and it led me to going into making my own games which this channel is about! Thank you for the inspirations!

Ah, thank you for releasing this! Seeing how can someone make a cool looking video game in 24 hours and such and in the meantime me struggling to do basic task in the game engine for hours can be daunting x3 I am a programmer, so at least that is much easier for me, but art is soooo difficult and Unity seemed very unintuitive to me. Godot feels better, but of course overall gamedev is just not an easy set of skills to do. Maybe you will get back to it at some point, or not, both options are valid!

i plan to learn coding this summer i don’t know what i want to make yet but i should probably start coming up with ideas seems like having a goal for what you wanted to make helped you stay motivated

As someone who did exactly this, it's not an easy task at all for a beginner to learn and research for himself. Your typing skills have to be on point, your logistics have to be sound, your ability to query for problem solutions must be top notch, and the further along you get in the project the more complicated the interactions which means you have to be absolutely sure to organize it correctly. Any little issue with the organization of your project and you spend a couple of weeks looking for one single bug that completely wrecks your whole game if you are not careful (ask me how I know lol). Something as simple as a missing character can screw up the whole process. Breaking up your code into bite sized chunks controlling single types of objects and functions is a must as your project gets larger and larger so best to start early. I can't tell you how much time organization saved me from scrapping sketchy shit that somehow cohesively worked together. I want to eventually get back to the project that started it all for me, but honestly I've been to lazy to pull it back up. It's not just you. Designing and programming a game takes a lot out of you if you don't pace yourself.

Great job Den! It's honestly really impressive how far you got with all the projects you had at the same time. R.i.p Recreyo 😭❤️ and hopefully you'll have more time for other stuff

Even if you didn't finish the game you made it incredibly far. I'm currently learning game development in school and getting to see someone else go through the same things makes it feel not as difficult, and seeing you not finish the project also makes me feel less of a screw-up, cause I know I'm not alone in it now. Good job Den!

I love this video. I love that you showed your viewers it ok to start projects and not find success first try. Everyone starts somewhere and I think you did awesome for a beginner. Don’t stress it. Maybe start out small, like a video focused on designing characters. Or a video on creating backgrounds. Or a video on creating assets. Rome wasn’t built in a day! (one of my favorite sayings haha.) Take your time let yourself rest. Your viewers will enjoy the ride wherever it takes you :3 ❤

Video game development is a difficult and stressful job because you have to solve various problems such as coding the code, making animations for your characters or solving bugs and many other things... Sometimes, however, even if you are not able to immediately create something or satisfy a goal you have set, you have to look ahead and try to overcome the difficulties. you don't have to worry if everything doesn't work as it should straight away because mistakes are part of life and you can always improve.

Hi den your one of my favorite RU-vidrs 😁

This was cool, and I think your art was all really good. I think you'll be able to pull something like this off eventually even if right now its too hard. All the tools we use for everything get more accessible as we move forward in time.

I've been doing this for 9(?) years. Congratulations you have encapsulated the game dev experience 🎊

This would be a sick game I encourage you to continue working on this

If this ever got finished I would absolutely play it. But what matters most is your health and sanity, and that you tried. At the very least, I’m proud that you got that far!

Great vid! appreciate the month of skillshare too, looked through some of the classes and saved some good looking ones, so I'll give that a try tomorrow. Glad you showed the moments of failure too, very relatable and i wish more people would show the uphill battle producing a decent result can be :)

Den it's ok to quit. Coding is hard and takes a lot. This is how it was when I first started coding so it is completely understandable why you quit.

i love wasting my time on watching other better people who did things with their lives instead of actually getting up and going to he store and stocking up on Reese's peanut butter cups before realising i hate peanuts and going to my next store and getting 20 packs of jaffa cakes then sitting down and getting a job. cool video though

This game looks absolutely adorable, and im glad you recognize the fact that not every project works first try. Maybe you'll come back to this, matbe you won't. That's up to you! But, if you do come back to it. Make sure you give yourself deadlines, but reasonable ones! And prioritize your mental and physical health above those deadlines. Okay, that's all bye folks :).

I love how the eyebags got progressively bigger and bigger by the day. Tiredness is real aaaa 😩

i would have personally recommended Game Maker because its alot easier than those engines while still being incredibly flexible, especially for beginners

I've been working on multiple projects including developing a game on my own. I've gone back and forth through many things such as "Do I want it be 2D or 3D? Do I want it to be simple or complex?" I've come up with a lot of ideas. I'm more of an artist than a programmer. In the past few days I figured out I should focus on creating the level(s) first to get my mindset into the world I've created. That way I can fly or walk around in Blender as if I'm one of the characters. I chose 3D because I wanted players to be able to change their outfits like a Sims game. I use mostly free programs. The only things I spent a lot of money on are Adventure Creator(a plug-in for Unity that helps a lot), it cost $80.00 USD. I don't have a nice enough drawing tablet as the one in the video. I just have an XP-Pen Artist 16 (Gen 2), it was $256.00 USD when I bought it. Right now it's $319.99 on the website. Sometimes I need weeks or months to clear my mind so I can come back to the project in a stable and focused mental state.

There is actually a really good game called Farm For Your Life thats a chill zombie apocalypse cooking and fram sim it's a lot like what Den wanted to make but in 3d and you also run a restaurant

6:52 Den, you are not the only one here. Although, it wasn’t just the pets that were in my room, it was also dust, I think. Luckily, an air cleaner of some sort will be in my room soon and it’ll fix everything, I hope.

don't start with the art. ALWAYS DO EVERYTHING ELSE FIRST.

Thank you for still posting this despite not finishing the challenge, it really makes me feel a lot better about how overwhelmed I get trying to learn to make a game. I've been trying, watching tutorials to figure out what is going on.... but sometimes it really is just a lot. When all you see are success stories, sometimes it makes me feel like I am falling behind, or it isn't meant to be because I am not succeeding how I think I should So, thank you for still posting this, you've restored by confidence as an aspiring creator

Real life Georgey and Den are adorable.

Why was this me in my game design class 😭😭 The heartbreak, the high expectations, the pain, but the adorable graphics make it worth it

With time and patience things work out great 👍

In order to create a video game, you start small, make small prototypes that get bigger over time, then try to participate in game jams! You have to make a ton of small projects before making something huge! Trial and error is a huge part of game development, and never goes away. Good luck with your future projects!

0:04 oh look a Glaceon

Thank you for sharing this! I myself have so many unfinished things and its nice too see im not alone in this.

0:51 the amount of game and tv show refrences in this one scene is insane.

I really think it's cool and SUPER appreciate you releasing this even though you "didn't finish" (yet). Because being reminded that you're not alone and other people also get disheartened and move on for a bit really helps when those moments happen in my life. :)

Not me, spending 3 years developing the same game that is not near done and then my favorite animator makes a game in 100 hours. **sad dev sob**

"Nothing got done today!!" *designed, created AND animated a whole character* As someone who's studying game art... that's literally weeks worth of work right there. Don't be too hard on yourself, appreciate your successes

That’s some really good progress 🎉 Starting with game dev is intimidating, take it slow, and do little mini micro games, you’re already an artist, so you have half of an indie dev skillset 😂 And use a Version Control if you’re not 😂😅

I refuse u give up DONT CAUSE I WANNA MAKE A GAME AND LEARN MYSELF, u can DO IT BRO

For pixelated player sprites, I recommend that script that turns a 3D model into 2D pixelated sprites, giving you the freedom to change only 1 model and not have to redo 8 sprites every single time you want to change something. (i forgot what it's called, tho)

Okay but why does George look really awesome at 3:26

I've been sitting on an idea for a video game for a couple of years now, and it's exactly how yours started: a combination of two other games I love playing. Not only have I not started, but it would be 3D, and that's exponentially worse than 2D... I love coding, but I am _horrible_ with art and I have zero experience with 3D assets and even 3D coding. So I feel this video very hard.

I have been wanting to make a visual novel forever! I've looked at a few different programs that look super user friendly (I got Tyrano builder off steam) I had this idea where I am going to draw all my own characters and backgrounds. But I have been procrastinating. I'm going to do it. It will get done.

dude I thought it was waaaaayyyyyy harder to make a video game. like you have to have a degree in 1000 different things or no chance. I wanna make a game! I've had an idea forever!

Suddenly, real life Den holding a sword for no reason. 10/10

11:23: the actual physcial high I got seeing the Recryo "He can't move!" Was unhealthy

Hi, professional game programmer: You are feeling the same thing every programmer does when they first begin. Its cool. It happens. You got this.

I hope a game dev will contact you and ask you to be the artist for this game while they do all the coding for you. the concept of the game is great and would be fun to play

Got more done then I could have so I reckon you did well, I also love the quote "Don't be afraid of failure, the only failure is to never try"

As someone who knows how to program, getting a working movement in sub 50h is impressive, especially since you also made all the sprites yourself. If I'm to be honest, there is no way you would get the game done in 100h. Games, even Indie ones, are the result of hours upon hours of development. The progress you made is still impressive af.

I haven't seen your channel in ages.

Georgey petting your head was the cutest thing ever 🥰

0:24 i love the little references in the back

100 hours isnt EVEN CLOSE to enough

Yo, making games isn't one skill, it's like... seventeen? Going for it at all is impressive, and getting as far as you did, while learning programming and juggling other stuff is remarkably fast progress. Without more experience trying game dev, you might not have a frame of reference to evaluate this, but I can assure you that you did quite well in the time given from the place you were starting.

The designs look awesome hopefully this game comes out

0:52 COOKIE CAT

At first I thought you made a game where a recently turned zombie still has a conscience, and decides to live his life to the fullest as a reattachable immortal by starting their own farm. The challenge? Human Raiders try to destroy your little humble abode or they try to befriend you..

For someone with no coding experience that was crazy the progress you made

This is super cool! Also random but the art guy you drew at the beginning is cuteeee lol

Honestly the emotional roller coaster of this is familiar; since trying to learn pixel art and animation and coding at once is trying to do three ENTIRE CAREERS at once basically. A failure that taught you a lot isn't a failure imho.

Honestly, I'm happy you released this. It can help others know that... it isn't always easy to keep going on things, and yeah, sometimes you bite off more than you can chew. That doesn't mean you should kill yourself over trying to keep it going, nor does it mean whatever you were aiming to do is impossible. (Unless you're trying to eat the sun... then there are other issues to address) I'm happy to have seen this as it shows that all the elements of making a game are needed. Your sprite work kicks the noodles out of mine, without any contest, but I am pretty sure I can code a little smoother than you. We aren't better or worse than each other. And when someone like us tries to take on something like building a game, we gain one thing above all else. Understanding how much the elements of making a video game are tricky to do all by yourself. Stay safe and Aloha.

I have a tip as someone who has made at least one game. Try using a program made for making a game like what you want to make. I used RPG Maker XP, very good for making those top down pixel art games, and while it is designed for rpgs, you can alter how it processes your game and make it something more along the lines of what you want. Makes it a lot easier for making maps and characters and junk. I suggest you try it out!

I think you made the right choice in posting a video about a "failed" project. Becuse I think more people need to see that failure is okay. Also, your game idea sounds cool. I think it would do well if it ever get's finished.

I like this video bcuz it shows that everyone has their ups and downs in life. & I'd say u gave it ur best at trying something u were interested in learning how to do. Which u could pick up later. But personally, I would also say ur mental health should come 1st. 👍 So good job for trying.

As someone making a game on my own similar to how you tried, the first thing i had to get over was that it wouldnt be quick, the 50 hours you put in are amazing and your progress was awesome. Maybe a better mental healthy aproach would be making a game for 100 hours and seeing where it leads maybe you hated it maybe you want to put in 100 more

nice, it’d take me a decade (or two) to create a game

You dont have to do the whole project alone! Find someone who will help with the programming while you focus on the art and overall vision of the project, you can do this!

5:34 omg I love your setup!!

I know this whole video was about the game you made but i love that the braincell shop had various disney stuff on the shelf behind

I appreciate you documenting and uploading, even if you didn't finish! It was refreshing since I'm so used to everybody succeeding by the end of their videos haha (me included). I just released my first game back in December, but I've struggled to do much since then. If you even want to get back into it, start stupidly small and maybe lean into the art side of it. Been loving your videos!