My Most Valuable Game Dev Tip 

"You overestimate what you can do in one day, and underestimate what you can achieve in one year."

"No zero days" is how I finally started making significant progress on projects for a long stretch of time. Momentum is so under-valued

This perspective is great. Just found your channel and subbed. Thanks for the work you put into making these videos and sharing the things you have learned.

"No Zero Days Approach" Game Dev Jesus has been spoken 🙏✨

Even starting my laptop and start Unity to play the current stage of my game and doing nothing more is actually helping me staying connected to the project. Thank you. Awesome channel.

Wishing everyone well. Community discord: discord.gg/yeTuU53 Wishlist my game

No zero day approach: Doing something little bit towards our goal every day I would like to add to it: Use the 2 minute rule = work towards your goal for just 2 minutes and that'll get you started.

The word you are looking for is Kaizen, the Japanese philosophy for: Gradual improvement / effort, great or small towards a goal. (That's the gist of the definition anyway)

Totally needed this. I truly love the way you slap us with reality checks that help us to stay on the ground. John never romanticized game dev. he is very radical and stoic about it.

Very tip from you is valuable, oh secret sage!

I 100% agree! I am in construction by day and used to do the very large jobs because I merely said... get 2 things done today... any 2 things will do. Granted, I tried to stick to a plan but when you hit an issue, don't panic, just find SOMETHING you can do. A trick I use is to save some tasty bits of fun progress for when I feel drained or hit a problem I need to chew. In game dev, it's doing the art. I deliberately save something I KNOW I can do so I keep progressing. I have no problem stepping away from a wall to let the puzzle of solving it gestate in my head.

Hey, this was really a great perspective. Thank you so much.

Honestly man I wish I could do game dev fulltime thats the dream. It was so easy to just spent 5-10 hours everyday on Unity everyday. But rn I just graduated and still gotta find a software development job to pay my tuition so its been a real challenge. I'd rather be learning more Unity but there's more todos: React Native, SASS, Docker, Kubernetes... all those buzzwords companies want you to have to consider you for a job in addition to the ones you already have. 😔 tldr too busy polishing skills, portfolio to find a job than game devving. havent touched Unity since February but VS Code and Intellij more often.

The best results I've got with learning about game dev (or anyhting at all) were during the "0 days" periods. Even if you break your 0 days streak, get back to it as soon as possible.

This is absurdly good advice for pretty much any project that can't be finished in a single day. Break it down, do something everyday. Doing a little is always better than doing nothing. I apply this to my programming projects, to grading student work, to the RPG books I write. Momentum!

Very relatable, I was “afraid” might be the wrong word but I didn’t want to do 3D modeling in blender because it looked like this gigantic mountain of work. Yesterday after a few baby’s steps I finally created my first low poly model for my game and I had a blast. There is a quote and it goes like that: “The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding”. This is 100% true. I can now create 3D models with textures and other features for my projects. This is a huge deal for a small indie like me and many others. Have a great day and thanks for the video!

Powerful message, my son is interested in game development and I am looking for ways to encourage him in a reasonable way that addresses the challenges that I know (from my limited and very outdated personal experience) to inherently exist on that path. So, I am glad to find this channel and I am excited to explore it more.

You need to read steven pressfield war of art. You would love it. He is a writer and he describes the same process.

GMTK GAME JAM HAS BEGUN!!! Who's excited

Great reality check. I would also add that momentum calls momentum, so if you work on it every day it will be harder to let your project fail

Man this is so true. I recently got a full time developer job. And while I’m grateful , I rarely have time to do what I love most, which is working on my game dev side projects that actually interest me. You really do have to set aside the pointless junk in life like tv, social media and all that hubabaloo if you want to put in the hours toward that dream project

Damn this was inspirational

I applied your No Zero Days principle in my game dev journey. Even though my game is too ambitious for a solo game dev, applying your principles to it makes it a bit easier. Thanks you for your guidance. 🙏

This absolutely works, I've used this philosophy to finish big projects so many times. Everything said was spot on.

No zero days have Helped and still Helps me every Day :D Thanks to your video about it while back, since then i focused 100% on my 3D Racing game, always done some thing no matter how smal it is simpel engine loop sound, a texture :D i want to thank you for that specific Video an idea :D and my offer is stil on the table: That i can help you with Viking Info etc for your game (am a Norwegian with Dyslexia):)

I tend to feel like I lose momentum a lot. But if worldbuilding counts, I never miss a day of writing at least something down. If we only count Unity time, I miss a LOT of days. (Let's not talk about blender... 🙃) I'm adhd too, and have a handful of different games I'm "working"(mostly worldbuilding) on. Only two of which I currently have the skills to make. (And I question if my hardware is good enough for one that I'm hyperfocusing on rn) I tend to bounce back and forth, but have learned how to keep that bouncing to a closed loop. (Instead of starting new projects, I bounce to current ones, or ones I wanted to make before I got into game dev, or easier versions of the above options)

You really give solid wisdom in your vids. Thanks.

My greatest fear is living with regret, and wasting my own time. I've totally fallen off my side project that I was really passionate about. I needed this video, thank you.

This is something I needed......Thanks

Hello from Adelaide! Loved this video. Game Dev is so involved and has so many skill sets, it can be overwhelming! But this was such an encouraging video. I loved hearing about your process and philosophy and already did a few of them, I use one drive for my journal, but had limited it. I love your idea of pseudocode code and having a list of jobs so I don’t have to always think of what to do next. Zero days are important as I think it reinforces to your brain the importance of the project and keeps the idea/dream in your memory and imagination/subconscious. I find it’s when that goes stale, then it becomes really hard. Good luck with your project. It looks fantastic. Thanks for the inspiration.

oddly, there is a truth to this I have been sharing with my students, but this is succinct, and I plan on sharing it with my teams. good stuff!

Fully agree with everything, however lately I've started thinking that "Aim higher and you'll still end up higher than if you aimed at mediocre" is not as simple and maybe can be misinterpreted? Because there is a fine line between this and going for over-ambitious projects.

Meh! Had to push out a video after watching this video ;-) Cheers bro!

You have no idea how much of an inspiration you are to me, A big hug from Panama and thanks you for all the amazing and inspiring content!

Love your videos and insight (as always). This is 100% a theme that is worth repeating. Oh, and as game designer on PlanetSide 2, thanks for playing! =D

My wife has said this to me, and also I’ve heard a couple other devs say this too. This really is a powerful thing! :) dedicating to at least an hour a day is powerful! I love this video.

I have the same mind set, it feels happy that there r ppl that think like me! Keep the hard work!

Thank you! Sometimes most of the problem with getting work done in a game is just opening unity and starting, when you get good at doing that everyday, half of the challenge is gone. Our brains like to trick us sometimes and make us think that it's harder than it actually is.

This is such a wonderful video. I had been trying to come up with some mindset to help deal with those "I just don't have it in me" days. Thank you for sharing!

I love these philosophical videos!

"I'll resume the project in April when I'm no longer working full-time". NO PROGRESS "I'll bring my laptop to work and chip away at my project during lunch breaks, one task at a time. I'll also bring a pencil and pad for my train commutes". SLOW, YET STEADY PROGRESS +occasional Weekend work days

I personally suffer from burnout as when I get into a project I get so enthusiastic that I work for too long and every day for weeks on end until I suddenly hit a wall. I dont know how many projects have stalled because of this and I cant count the many times I get back to working on some game only to want to start a new one instead of getting into the old one. One main reason I get burnout is that I also work fulltime so it becomes possibly one too many hour behind the computer and now with covid-19 and home office its hard to know when work ends and hobby projects start. My rational mind tells me to make some kind of schedule and perhaps limit it to a couple of hours per day when I am into a project so I will make a serious attempt at this as the feeling of all those half-finished projects is also one that is hard to carry around lol. I also know I possibly need a sparring partner to show and share progress with as that can also help motivation, but for many solo projects thats often hard.

It's also hard when you compare your productive days to your unproductive ones. You start considering what else you could have done in life instead of be unproductive. But you never know how productive you're going to be. The music you listen to won't dictate it. The energy drinks wont. Etc. I spent all of yesterday doing 2 animations. Just two. But that's two animations I wouldn't have today had I not touched my project. This video's essence is of what money can't buy: wisdom, perspective.

great video

Wise beyond your years

Something I do to remind myself of how far I have come, is at the end of each month I make another build of my game and put it in an archive on my hard drive and then every now and then I can go back and run a build of the game from say 3 months ago and see all the things that have changed. Its a good way to see how all the baby steps over the last few months have combined to move you forward and it really helps keep me motivated.

Alright. No more zero days. I'm gonna boot up unity asap

I love your videos like this, they are just so honest and real about the path to success. I appreciate the motivation for the day, and the tips for the future! Hope your doing well and keep up the amazing work!

2:52 I tried searching for that indie game you mentioned that was shipped after 20 years, but my Google-fu didn't work. What is the name of that title, and is there a development diary or documentary for it?

This resonate a lot with me. Think i can adjust my flow with some of your progression tíos.

Thanks for the video, it was very useful!

The Game Dev Jesus !

I didn't know Jesus is also a game dev... anyway, thank god for the tips 😄

Thank you Sir! As a full time university student with other life responsibilities, it gets hard to focus on my game dev dream and I often end up with the thoughts of quitting entirely. But this video has given me hope and I'm really grateful for it. Wishing you the best of luck on Blood and Mead. ❤❤❤❤❤

Positive vibes I love how you show yourself going out in nature and spending time with your family, I love seeing that real life stuff. Also your advise is very important, no one can eat an elephant in 1 day, but you can 1 bite at a time.

Actually really good advice in general. Its cool to think I can still learn life changing advice to this day.

This is without a doubt some of the best advice I've heard yet. It made me realise that I've been doing this without truly thinking about it, and I've made more progress on my creative endeavours over the last couple months than I have in the past few years.

I first started the "No Zero Days" the first time I saw your previous video about that topic and my development skyrocketed, I have a lot more motivation, I feel more connected with the projects and the most important thing is, I managed to finish and release an Android game! I used to fail so many projects before, but this philosophy works amazing for me so thank you for that! =)

I've always tried to live by this and even more so when I started my game dev journey back in 2018. Its been a long road and hard but I've loved it and it doesn't matter what I'm doing or how uninterested in game dev I might be, I'm always checking the unity subreddits, or pixel art reddits or places like lospec to be constantly learning or improving. Or just simply watching youtube videos on game dev, like this or currently i'm learning probuilder, I am still very confused but slow and steady progress is progress. In a week or two, i'll be working well with it. Learning to walk takes time, but you learn but practicing over and over many many days, then you can begin to learn to run.

This video hit hard. My downfall is that when i get into the zone i have clear vision where im going, but if i have to stop for any reason that vision is just gone. It is extremely hurtful for anything even slightly complex logic. Thanks for the video!

Thank you! Great advice right here

Keep pushing

Very insightful. Subscription earned!

Thanks for providing your wisdom Sir. #subscribed. 😇🙏🏻

This was very impactful information…Thank you 💯

No zero days is the best thing to ever you've brought out.

This is a great follow up to your other video. I really appreciate the authenticity of your channel. This is just a great message for life in general.

For me it's not about time, it's about mental energy. After work, cleaning, working out, running errands, spending time with my fiancé and friends, all I want to do is chill.

Thank you very much! That was inspiring! And useful.

"No zero days" is basically what I've been doing with language learning. I've been studying Japanese for almost 6 years and made it a habit of doing flashcards with kanji and vocabulary daily, as well as reading at least 10 pages in a book. Doing more is great but I won't allow myself to do less. I recently picked up C# and incorporated easy problems on LeetCode into my daily schedule. Now I'm moving over to Unity to work on games as a hobby long term, and I bought detailed Unity books in Japanese so I can hit two birds with one stone. From experience I already know how powerful good habits have been for my language learning so I'm exited to see how far I can go with game dev using the same approach.

As a fellow dev with attention disorder, fragmenting your workload is a very good tip i approve. It helps immensely having a feeling of progress and feels less daunting than to do a big task without sub-tasks. feels better thinking 'i have done 3-4 sub tasks this weekend' instead of a more obscure 'i made progress on this task but aint done yet'.

Great video with some practical and grounded advice. Thanks for sharing!

Hey, Thank you for sharing your Mindset! Every Day I am so excited to work on my Project. Sadly often I really have too much to do else... since everything got expensive I had to take orders of cutting videos for money so often have to start video Projects and my normal work first. But I always have my project open in the Background, so I can get to it, when I have done everything else. I know I still have a lot of coding to do, and it goes quite well! I have attention deficit disorder and It's so hard to stay focused.. It's funny, I am being able to stay focused most of the time while I am working in Unity somehow... I'm even able to work for a hole day on it and still keep the focus like I never did on other tasks... but I still have to get to the point where I can work on my project. Often I get so nervous when I realize I can't work on it today and then ending up doing a small improvements and steps in a few minutes of what is left of the day before bedtime. I wish I could work on it in full time.. My interesting in game development is higher than ever before. So in any way you told me a good lesson.. Even if I just do small stuff a day because I ran out of time, the game still evolves further and further. Thank you very much!

I'm just started learning Unity. Trying to make it right. Very intimate video. Wise words. Thank you

I came across the "No Zero Days" mantra earlier this year, and it really changed my outlook on game dev.

Basically, Divide and Conquer. 👍🏼

Great advice! You're totally right. Gotta make time for the things you love and keep at it no matter how small the progress. Thank you :)

SOME DAYS YOU FEEL LIKE DOING CODE!? Ive been forcing myself to code FOREVER! Still don't know how to code because I go hard, burn out, repeat. I feel like my brains are made of Teflon, nothing sticks!

One point worth mentioning. You say that people get to a point where the project gets overwhelming and then they lose momentum. I'm not sure which game tools you use, but I have found that many commercial game engines make it easy to start projects but difficult to finish them. I have found myself getting to a point where I'm just constantly fighting with their abstractions, and once I started making my own game engines, I found myself running into this wall less frequently. Now it's sort of flipped. The hard part is the beginning, and once I've got the basic systems in place, it's easier to make more complicated systems. I'm just saying this for some people who may want an alternative. Sometimes the problem really is the tool you are using and its inherent limitations. You may not even realize you are fighting your own tools.

(psuedo) shoo-doh? I always pronounced it soo-doh... am I wrong?

A) Know your budget and time frame. B) Be self-conscious and have some degree of tolerance to critiques. C) FOCUS! Do you understand??? FOCUS on the very thing you’re doing, goddamnit!

Just recently discovered your youtube channel. The content on it is super helpful. Thanks for all your help and making such great and helpful videos 👍👍👍

just discovered your channel this moment. I'm glad it got recommended to me. I almost gave up on the first project I started during Ludum Dare. You motivated me to continue with it and test out my three different ideas for it.

Completing one task a day is better than staring at a big unstructured project. That was inspirational✌️

Pen and pad is heavily underrated. I think sometimes we feel that since we are on the computer, we should just use the computer to jot notes, but truthfully that pen and pad is perhaps the greatest tool I use. Sure I use Trello and notepad, but man pen and pad is everything.

Cool vid. Sounds like a game-dev version of the Japanese process Kaizen. Anyone interested I recommend the book "One small step can change your life".

the problem is IDE . IDE's suck . they are built very badly.. even microsoft studio.. yea they are very sophisticated. but they didnt change for centuries.. I would make a really good IDE if i had the right tools.. but until than ill tolerate what i got.

good philosophy! As someone who's working on his 1st game ever (I intend to bring the world a new type of HoMM game... the best ever of this type, too) I have already come across some of the challenges you've mentioned: abandoning ideas and starting afresh, feeling in various moods on certain days, etc. But, by the end of 2025 I will have a well rounded game, mark my words! Now, if I could only find the capital and programmers and designers to work for me as I'm no programmer, and no graphics designer, either.... that'd be bonkers :)

Breaking down concepts like you've described John, to my knowledge, is called first principles thinking - which is what Elon Musk does. From memory, I think it's also called Eastern Thinking - having a look at a large concept, and then breaking it down. Whereas Western Thinking is conversely the opposite - focusing on the smaller concepts first, then learning about the wide scale of things as you go.

what was the 20 yr game? great vids btw love your channel, my indie game is going into 10th yr now.

Hi mate, I just subscribed to your channel. I live in Australia, I have kids and I am developing a game as well. The only difference is that I use Unreal. Thanks for your videos, keep up the good work mate.

Wonderful insight, thank you for sharing

Also don't crunch yourself. That's what the industry is for!

Thank you John for such good advice and motivational talks!

I'm bumblef*cking my way through my first solo dev project atm, I've naturally settled on no 'zero days' & 'task partitioning' as it seems to be more productive & more importantly better for my mental health, working my way through little gestalts feeling successful rather than staring at giant unaccomplished goals. I was (as well as many others i'm sure) so conditioned to the 8-10hr a day * 5 day week system, but personally trying to be creative & problem solve for 8hrs a day just wasn't working. Follow that by 2 days of nothing really halts that momentum & you need 2 days further to build the pace up again.

Key for whatever the passions are. Love it. E.g., A friend of mine has done 0-days without a run||swim||bike since he was 14. He's 44 now. To say he's excellent at those three sports is an understatement.

Actually academics are pretty much 100% certain exactly how the pyramids were built. Sorry I just had to be that guy. Annoys me when people echo this myth.

I'm a Web Developer but I love video games. Unfortunately, my work takes up so much time these days that I don't get to play games much - I went from hardcore to casual gamer over time. I'm wondering how many Game devs actually find time to still play video games - how long & how often do you play? Great video! I have personally used "drive over motivation" but I like the wording "momentum over motivation" better - has a nice ring to it 😃

I have all the time in the world. I just can't seem to pull myself away from RU-vid and Reddit. When I catch myself, like right now, I go back to what I'm supposed to be doing but it never seems to last. I don't even remember coming on to RU-vid to wind up here

I don't agree, the way you talk about motivation is infact inspiration; you can be inspired to make games without doing them; if you're actually motivated you'd be able to find time even if it was just for 10 minutes a day; very few people are so busy that they can't even find 10 minutes in their days. Motivation is more of a need do do something (Rather than a want which again, is driven by inspiration). If you're not motivated, you're simply not doing it; even if you're uninspired you can still do something by motivation because a salary or a boss that yells at you is a form of motivation. Genuine motivation is the result of getting inspired through a concrete & specific plan on how to execute something: "Making a game" is really vague and hard to execute upon; "Building a character controller for an FPS shooter" is way more specific and will motivate more people to execute it. This is why RU-vid is f*cked - Because content creators give vague ideas that initially feel inspiring, but then you realize you don't know how to move forward. Inspiration gets you started and motivation helps you structure habits that help keeping you moving forward. Momentum is indirectly correlated with motivation (Similar to how an obstacle is indirectly related to motivation as it can prevent you from pursuing it), as opposed to the other ideas I listed.