The #1 Mistake New Indie Devs Make 

AAA games studios be like, "hmm, we'll cut that game in half and release the other half as dlc"

I appreciate how this video is only 2 minutes with only the message.

Wise words, I've just started learning unity and c#, immediately i saw how much effort, time and commitment goes into making a game. Big developers have hundreds of people working on a project of course, but I cant even imagine how much work, coding and art goes into making a big 'AAA' game. I'll never complain again when they take a part of a game of line to fix a problem!, I salute you all!! , single game devs working in your bedrooms, to full on production houses. O7

I miss his videos. They are so motivational. To this day I come back here to watch it again. I hope one day he will post again.

Hi! Just discovered your channel from browsing reddit. I really enjoyed your GDC talk about Finishing The First tree, and the videos I have seen so far on this new channel are also well made and inspirational. It would be great to see more of that in the future too :)

That speech motivated me , but most of all that lightning effect made the speech more Awesome

Cutting the mountain in half would be more powerful tho

This is why I love game jams! You get to grind out a prototype or maybe vertical slice depending on how fast you work or team size; and get to see your game alive and get feedback. It's a lot more driving for me personally since I can see from there what my game could be; and get direct feedback to make it better or know if people will even enjoy it. Your channel is really good dood, real high quality content that definitely should be taken to heart. It's unfortunate seeing new devs with potential get burned up from trying to make something way above them and they don't want to take it step by step.

As someone who has just finished their first game (finally!) what this man says here is the absolute truth. My game is small. Just a simple visual novel with only a handful of choices and one end (story is linear) but omg did I underestimated just how much work was needed to get it done esp with my life schedule. Had the project been any bigger I probably wouldn't have finished it. I also had to abandon all notations of perfection as well and compromise here and their vision wise because I just didn't have the skills to execute those ideas properly yet. It was get it perfect or get it done and hard as it was sometimes I chose the latter and now I have a complete project. It's ain't a masterpiece by any means but its something and I'm actually pretty proud of it. I am now working on my second project with the intention to build upon what I learned with the first. Start small and don't aim for perfection. Do your best, get it done and take what you learn to the next project.

Agree, but I think that it's less like "you can only make small finished games" and more like "you can make big games, but make sure it's always finished so if you atop making it, you can still have a finished, albiet smaller version of your game idea" -Albert Einstein (probably)

“Finish your game even if it means cutting that mountain in half..” Thank you, I will. 🙏

Thank you for making such a concise and useful video which doesn't take an age to watch! Really appreciated!

Please make more, you deserve 500 K subs!!

Wow. This isn't just gamedev advice, this is life advice.

Perfect and straight forward video with no bloatware! XD

Iv’e decided that when im finally understand the base, small project just for fun would be the perfect practice, while doing one that i would say would be a never-ending game. In short a « game » that is a giant sandbox only for test and fun and just to see how far i could go, it might not even be good but if i have fun creating it than it’s alright,

My RU-vid recommendations recommended me this when I was slacking on my RPG maker game, for 2 days straight. Damn! Getting right back into it!

Great video David! Love the illustrative animation!

Wow your channel is growing supper fast

Cutting mountains? ok Toph :O

Awesome ....We need U......You are an Inspiration......

el mejor video que me vi en la vida, me dio la voluntad de seguir soñando con ser un desarrolador de juegos a tiempo completo.

identifying the mountain is the hardest part

this guy gave me motivation to continue working on my game although i am still learning

Hey man so my question is if someone brought to you what their goal was would you help them with that scope. This is something I feel like nobody does.

I'm not a game maker but I still enjoy watching these videos so much! Top-quality content.

I'm... still learning programming languages so that I can START a game. I need to climb that hill before I can even try the real thing. Since you asked so nicely, though, I'll make sure I finish that project, whatever it is. I don't know when or how, but somehow. Someday.

This is the best life advice I've ever seen. Applies to so many things :-)

did you make the visuals for this video in unity too?

I like this! It can apply for a lot of topics

Depends on perspective... at least found someone who made proper tutorial... just about to look other ones... pretty much from hearing you can tell what to do, even gives useful shortcut and maybe odd design choice, but maybe due to habit of "clean" coding. Actually remembered and udnerstood on explaination what he was doing/using and not just copy-paste.

That was so smart, why didn't I think of that? I'm too determined to make this crazy big project game, while I actually need to make a small game project which I can infinitely updates, this is so helpful, thanks

Can you please make a tutorial on how to make animated videos of this type ? lol

Really motivating video. Nice one!

What if I only have a phone and it's a low end phone snapdragon 450??

Im going to make the next Skyrim because of boy it's gonna have a ton of bugs and I'm gonna let the modding community do all the work

How did you make that animation?

THANK YOU

I'm making "the next skyrim" now. I'm going to save a HUGE amount of dev time by leaving the game world completely in my imagination.

The content quality is awesome, you have the perfect base to become a big RU-vid channel in game development

I started making my first game ~2 - 2.5 years ago, and I'm not intending to cut the mountain half. It's the game making itself that satisfies me, not a final product. I still need like 2 years to finish it, but it's fine, it's just a hobby, I'm not in a rush.

Added bonus is that these mountains seem to naturally start GROWING as you walk them… AKA Scope creep! 😅 Doing our best to bring our game to a swift finish soon, aiming small but finding things that matter to us. 💪 Thank you for another quality video, looking forward to more!

This is so true. It's very easy as an indie developer to fall into the trap of setting off to make a massive game. It's not impossible, but it's a huge amount of work -work that big companies do by hiring lots of people and having an enormous budget, and still takes them years to get anything ready for release. Making your game smaller is the logical path for an indie developer, especially if you're on your own. It's much easier, and, more importantly, actually achievable. There is only one problem with that... sometimes, that's just not the game you want to make. And it's easy to get demoralized because... well, it's still a lot of time and work -why put it into something that's not what you want to make? Funnily enough, I'm more likely to drop a small project, precisely because they're so small. Yet if I want to be realistic, I can't pretend to make a big game on my own. It's a struggle.

100% agree on the tolerable animation. So many indiedevs post on twitter the littlest improvements which makes the game take like 5 years to release.

That's some highend quality right there :D The message and point in this is SO simple and yet it's so easy to forget and you can't be reminded enough about it. Keep it up :)

Now someone show this to yanderedev.

It's so true! There just so much things about gamedev that you could only see after you finish/publish a game. Like how polishing, testing, balancing sometimes took forever! . And how 0 downloads hits you in the gut *cries*

Thank you, I recently started game dev. I had a lot of motivation but nowadays i had none. I set my goals too high. I think as a newbie I need to Lower them down.

The same thing goes for video making btw.

The best example maybe Bright Memory... Only a 1hr 40m game.. But the guy still published it for 10 bucks...

So True. That is the Main Problem of Every Software Project: Scope.

I started working on a prototype game 4-5 days ago, the whole idea is to make a horror game like Amnesia series during 60s in underwater City "similar to Rapture from Bioshock" the idea is simple, we live there and one day something happens, we are trying to find what is happening, encounter monsters, try to escape "usuall stuff". This will be a tall mountain to climb up but it's a prototype so it can be changed/cutted, I have split my work into goals so first goal is to make options menu that will contain all graphic settings like resolution, Mipmaping, audio and controls, then planning to make first person controls and setup, then start working on basic mechanics like flashlight, health, fear system, diary and so on. It's already a lot and there is more but still it's and prototype to learn godot, coding and experiment. I am not really counting animations and 3d modeling here because I know basics and more advanced stuff from school so I have a decent workflow already, so that is my comment on that, however, instead of calling my project a mountain I will call it a block of marble that I am sculpting 😂🤔 Ps: you are probably first person that says to cut your idea instead of not beginning with serious project🤔

Your message is a sign of the universe to me. You inspire me more than anything I've ever seen. Thank you very much. Someday I will catch up with you.

I would play the game where you are the little black stick figure blasting mountains in half, those visuals alone are pretty awesome

so valuable advice in less than 2 minutes.. I insta sub this channel. obrigado !

*Just make a simple platformer with one or more extra features.* 😅 It actually worked for me.

Don't feel the need to limit yourself!! If your goal is to make a small game make your goal small, if your goal is to make something big THEN MAKE SOMETHING BIG. The key part in this is that making something big will take a lot of time and effort.

imagine being not able to push a boulder but being able to cut a mountain in half lol

A new comer who wants to make skyrim .....me who quite litterally wants to make the new skyrim but has litterally no experience in game devrlopment apart form a few crap in dreams ps4

Cut your game idea in half! Tada! Unity's Rolling Ball with custom skin

Poor analogy. If this was how it worked you could, at any point just "make your idea smaller" and finish your game in an instant.

I think this is doing a huge disservice for upcoming developers. Rather than advising to simply cut the scope of the project in half, I think it's more important to teach new developers to learn their limits, not cut projects in half. These are two completely different things, because essentially, you're potentially putting the mindset in someone to make half as good, even though they're actually capable. So in short, instead of saying: Cut the goal in half. You should probably say: Know your limits and PLAN AHEAD. The problem with most indie devs starting out is that they DON'T plan ahead. And with that lack of direction comes lack of motivation down the line. Thus the reason so many devs quit their projects early... Not because it's "too big of a game". Plenty of indie devs have made huge games, and I bet you they had a plan. With this, you're essentially telling people to be lazy and bring the goal closer to them instead of advising them how to get closer to the goal more efficiently. Kind of dangerous. Good motion graphics though!

Started to watch and understood that I'm pushing the rock on Everest.

Great game ideas now I will make a game about a man pushing a rock 😅😅

how this guy has the solution of my all problems

Hustle culture: No... *this is not how you're supposed to develop the game.*

How are u able to slash a mountain in half but u can’t push a rock up a mountain???

How is this video under 2 minutes?

I started a new game about 2 weeks ago, I though it would take me 3 days to make. I'm now about 100h into the project already. Scope is hard

I’m working on my first game... and the concept is extremely simple, however it still feels like pushing the rock towards the peak of Mount Everest... I’m stuck. I’m trying to record my whole journey, and start my devlog here in youtube, but so far I don’t even know if I’ll finish the freaking game😪

Wonderful job! I really liked how you managed to become an indie developer. While you are good at 3D, can you maybe shed some light about the sound effects and music. Do you hire someone to do so, or you do it by yourself? If by yourself, would you maybe show which applications or tools you are using?

so true... This is the #1 killer of game developers. Start small.. super small.. launch a super small game or 2 or 5. Only then start "learn game development"..

Great advice thank you. I was doing this without even realizing it. I've decided to do a pixel art platformer like mario but I decided to go super low pixels 16 px /tile and everything is following that. I wanted to get the feel for it first and then scale up go 2.5d if I like doing it. Worked on sprites and tile sets today.

I made donut and tea in blender once.

Couldnt find a better time to watch this video. i'm literally looking at Unity right now with a huge idea on what game I want to make. But , as a beginner its like trying to decipher hieroglyphics.

I just want to thank you for these videos. For being so giving in your genuine advice and tips! You are so inspiring man. Just subbed!

the next Skyrim... seriously? No. I want to make the next "Oblivion Imperial Prison" Remake with Unreal Engine 5!

I'm just going to climb the whole Mt. Everest. It's not the destination it's the journey that counts too. I've waited a little over 20 years for the tech to catch up to my game and for me to do it if not with a small team by myself. It gets better the longer I wait and can add ideas once abandoned but, are now possible for not only AAA games but, indie devs too. I can't wait til Unreal Engine 5 drops. It's practically made for my game. Thanks for the advice!

Tbh my video I have been working on for a while that will be on my channel which is "Making my dream project but I have no idea what I'm doing" where I make a game in unity (with no unity or c experience) and devlog the whole thing Hopefully it goes well even though my whole project atm is breaking this rule somewhat Basically commenting here to hear people's thoughts on what I'm currently doing Also thanks for the amazing video I really appreciate it

That’s why game jams are great, you don’t have time for big mountains in 2days

I REALLY want to buy the First Tree but don't feel like crying myself to sleep. Even looking at the trailer makes me sad.

your channel is a breath of fresh air

It's all useless, unless someone big streams your game you will be forgotten, no matter the quality of your game, it's life, and it's why people play vampire survivors, it's fancy, it's popular, it's horrible, but people play it, all it takes is one video on youtube from someone major.

Well if anyone is interested Im working on my first game and posting Dev blogs on my channel.

STOP LIVING IN MEDIOCRITY! STOP MAKING GENERIC GAMES! STOP CUTTING YOURSELF SHORT! GO BIG OR GO HOME! no one needs another generic little indie casual game no one will remember next week. theres literally dozens of thousands of those each year just because you made a game that doesnt make you a game developer. just like making food doesnt make you a chef.

Just a quick reminder that this doesn't just applied to making games, it can also applied to any kind of work you do such as illustration, Music Composer, animating and many more...

I ordered a laptop from Amazon to produce games, I believe one day my great grandkids may receive this delivery from amazon, with a $2 coupon for the delay of course.

Hi guys I am completely new to unity game building. I am currently learning how to publish a game using WebGL, but I couldn't seem to be able to locate the file after compression, even after I clicked into the file where it is supposed to be saved. I am using Unity 2020.3.17f1 with the WebGL Support module downloaded. It is such a simple problem but it's depressing because I can't seem to figure it out lol... Question 1: In the Install tab, I have a little icon WebGL Build Support under the current version I am on. When I check the "Add Module" it also said I have installed it. However, when I clicked File -> Build Setting -> WebGL, it says there is no WebGL module loaded. Question 2: No file found after Publish -> WebGL Project. After compression no file can be found anywhere.

This is a perfect way of giving advice to new Game developers.. By finishing the game first and focus on the details later on so that we won't lose those inspirations and motivations we had. Great video content as always!

Hey brother💓 What you used to make this animation?

This is so inspiring!

My dream is BIG. I want to take over the world. And because is so big, I'm already mentalized that it will take a long time. Specially because I come from a family of no economic resources, from zero. To fulfill this dream, I promised myself when I was a teenager to be able to speak to the most of the 7 billion people of the planet. So I started learning English (my mother tongue is Spanish), then I studied french, then I went for Chinese (I'm in China right now studying a bachelor in that language) and I'm also taking Russian. I took a course in an academy of game creation (scratch, snap, RPG maker, Arduino, C#, APP maker...) where I got my first approach of coding and game creation. That was just my first step, Now that I feel I had the languages well based, I will start the next step seriously with Unity, Unreal, Virtual Reality, I want to start my own RU-vid Channels (where I will make videos in my different acquired languages) and create audiences meanwhile I completely immerse myself in GameDev... ¡!¡!Here we go🤩 ¡!¡! BTW your channel and your story is of great inspiration, I regularly follow your videos now.

Me:wow..I'm gonna make a simple game like super Mario just with geometrical shapes..lats start with moving controls Unity,my lack of C#,game itself,my text editor,my family and my pillow I cry into when I fuck up my C# code:Haha, no

Glad this wasn’t a “ Ten steps to making the Ultimate indie game.” Great vid

I feel lucky to have discovered this channel. Thanks for the message 🎩

I think this video was VERY insightful and to the point. I'm in the early stages of planning my own game. My takeaway is: I'm currently working on the story outline. If I can't get through this, then I won't get through the coding part. Fortunately I already have the main characters, unique aspect of gameplay (the hook so-to-speak), the beginning, and ending all written. It's all of the content in the middle that I'm struggling with. However, I'm confident I can do this because: First, I'm a lead developer in my current job thus code doesn't intimidate me. Second, I originally got into technology because I wanted to be an artist. I worked in comic book shops for pennies and would draw every waking minute in junior high and high school. Lastly, I've been published in a lifestyle magazine multiple times. I also know that it's the game I've always wanted to play, so if nobody else wants to play it, at least I get to. =)

Also, if u can't live without some features in ur game - just leave it "for DLC". As a result, if ur game would be successful, u'll have a good chunk of content to add as DLC or FLC, but if ur game fails, u'll save a lot of time.

Im trying perfect my game, the map is 4/18 done. The map is located on dubai, its like gta 5, but the story is different. I already planned out the landscape, character model, etc. I also hired a a couple of person from fiverr to do the whole voice over. Got a team of 20. Will be available on steam 2023-2025 :)

Hey. Just discovered your channel. Looks promising. I will be waiting for you to Develop a Small Game, step by step and show us that process (without using the code, ofcourse). Will be waiting for such a promising series, as even though I'm not a Game Developer, I am a Professor and an Architect, who can learn a lot about this software in this interesting way. Kudos!

I began a war game in 1993 as an indie developer. I developed the crap out of it, but I was stymied by the artificial intelligence for the little people that the player controlled by giving orders to them. The pathfinding problem alone was insurmountable. The code to enable computer-controlled beings to move around in a world that has obstacles is mind-bogglingly difficult to think of. It's made worse when these beings have to work as a team, and when the obstacles are not concrete. So I abandoned the project after 2 years. I remember an Ars Technica interview with a project manager for Command and Conquer. He explained how his team produced a solution to the path finding problem. It was far from perfect, but it was adequate. Unlike 3D graphics, which has been figured out, game AI is still an extremely difficult problem.