00:02today i'm going to be talking about
00:05i'll talk about my own game dev journey
00:07and how finishing games led to me
00:09becoming a full-time game developer
00:11and i'll add in some practical tips that
00:12will help you finish your game div
00:15but first we need some coffee
00:56all right so here's the thing when i
00:58first started making games i was
01:00following online tutorials
01:02i was looking stuff up on forums and
01:04troubleshooting errors
01:05and i was just kind of messing around to
01:07see what was possible
01:09and what was within my skill set to make
01:12and i think that that's fine and that
01:13sort of experimentation is necessary
01:16when you're starting out learning game
01:19but if i could go back i would change
01:23of a lot of my earlier projects so that
01:26more goal oriented because this is what
01:30once i learned enough of the basics i
01:32started creating game prototypes and
01:34maybe you can relate
01:35i would have an idea for a game build
01:37out the very basics of it get it working
01:40as a proof of concept and then i would
01:43so i would drop my current project and
01:45move on to the next one
01:47this is what's known as shiny object
01:50wikipedia defines shiny object syndrome
01:54where people focus all attention on
01:55something that is current and trendy
01:57yet drop this as soon as something new
02:00this is what happens when you get stuck
02:04you end up with hundreds maybe thousands
02:07of hours of game development
02:09with nothing to show for it that's what
02:13this is what kills most game developers
02:16a lot of you are probably in the same
02:18doing game dev as a hobby in my free
02:20time as a solo developer
02:22with no obligations to anyone else this
02:25means you can work on whatever you want
02:27whenever you want that makes it very
02:29easy to get distracted and begin working
02:31on new projects or leaving old projects
02:34so here's my encouragement for you today
02:37you need to make smaller games
02:41and finish them because finishing
02:44is a skill that you can cultivate
02:47and strengthen just like going to the
02:51finishing is a skill that takes reps to
02:54the more you see things through the
02:55easier it will be in the future and
02:57you'll be able to finish larger projects
02:59but just like anything the beginning is
03:01the toughest part and let me tell you
03:03how that played out for me
03:07you see i reached a major pivot point in
03:10realized that finishing is a skill i was
03:12making websites professionally but i
03:14wanted to do game dev full-time
03:16after creating a million prototypes and
03:19leaving dozens of projects half
03:21baked i realized that i needed to start
03:25finishing games and that's when my game
03:27dev journey took off
03:29so i decided to sit down and write out
03:33simplest game concept that i could think
03:35of it was going to be
03:37the smallest scope the absolute
03:40game idea that i could think of but i
03:42was going to see it through
03:43all the way to the end give myself one
03:47and then by the end it was going to be
03:49done and published on the android app
03:51that was my plan let me show you how
03:54simple this game was
03:55there's only one control you tap the
03:57screen to get this ball to jump
03:59you have to time it to avoid obstacles
04:01and see how high you can get
04:02and that's it i spent a little bit of
04:04time adding colors and stuff in the
04:06background to make it look a little
04:08my goal was to have everything from
04:10start to end finished and published
04:14and do you know what happened in that
04:15one month i learned more in that one
04:17month than i had in countless months
04:20before that because what happened was
04:22instead of just concentrating on
04:24developing the core gameplay
04:26i was pulled out and i had to create
04:29polished product even though it was so
04:33it had to be rounded out which meant i
04:36music which i hadn't done before and if
04:38you have music and sound effects you
04:40settings so that people can adjust the
04:42volume and toggle it on and off so i had
04:45i had to add a menu so that people could
04:48access the main game
04:49versus the settings i added in
04:53and learned how to sign up with google
04:57show ads in my game i had to look up how
05:00on android fill out all of the the
05:03google android dashboard
05:05information i had to come up with a
05:06title and a description for my game i
05:09android developer fees that i could
05:13there's so much like like localization
05:16and like content ratings and a lot of
05:19hoops to jump through
05:20with that publishing process and just
05:24so valuable to me i finally had
05:26something that i could add to my online
05:28portfolio it was done
05:30it was complete it was published people
05:32could go get it and download it
05:35it felt amazing and i didn't stop there
05:38i kept going but this time for ios
05:41i came up with a very simple game
05:43concept this time i created a game
05:46added in-app purchases paid apple's 100
05:49developer fee figured out the crazy
05:51process for signing and exporting ios
05:55and launched on the ios app store and
05:58the ball kept rolling i continued
06:00to start and finish projects now you can
06:02look at these games and you can say
06:05these games are nothing special you know
06:06you can go to twitter or reddit
06:08and you can see games that are way
06:12better than these games but that's not
06:15i know that the games that you can find
06:17on social media are much better than the
06:18ones that i made but
06:20the point is that they were done if you
06:22look at reddit or twitter
06:2375 of those games aren't gonna see the
06:26because people get stuck in the weeds
06:29and they don't know how to finish
06:31my muscle that i've been strengthening
06:34games is getting stronger so i know i
06:38but it takes baby steps these finished
06:42allowed me to drastically change my
06:45now i'm a full-time game developer and i
06:48i might make a video about that in the
06:51let me give you some very practical tips
06:53that you can use to finish your own
06:56number one keep an idea journal this can
06:59hand written in a notebook or typed out
07:03but ideally it's something that is
07:04instantly accessible for you
07:06this way whenever you get that great
07:08idea for your next game
07:09you don't need to instantly sit down at
07:11the computer and start prototyping a new
07:14you can simply write down your idea and
07:15come back to it once you finish your
07:18number two set a deadline artists can
07:22continue adding or modifying their
07:24infinite number of times having a time
07:26constraint is an easy way to make sure
07:29maybe you don't need to add 10 more
07:30levels to your game maybe you don't need
07:3315 more features before you decide to
07:35publish maybe you need to cut out adding
07:38multiplayer to your game
07:39you definitely should cut out
07:40multiplayer from your game
07:42number three cut your scope here's what
07:46i would suggest you do
07:47write out all of the features that you
07:49want to have in your game
07:51and then i want you to cut that list in
07:53half then i want you to take that list
07:56and cut it in half again now you have
07:59a good scope that you have a high chance
08:03make your next project the absolute most
08:05simple idea to carry out
08:07number four never have a zero percent
08:09day i got this idea from david whaley
08:12developer who made the first tree even
08:14if you just open up your project to
08:16change a color or something else super
08:19if you work on your project every day it
08:21will never stagnate and die
08:23the fifth and final tip enter a game jam
08:27game jams are my jam they are amazing
08:31projects that must get finished it's
08:33probably the best way to start growing
08:35your finishing muscle
08:38i know this sounds like a lot of work it
08:40is especially if you're working a
08:42full-time job or if you're going to
08:44something i found is that everything in
08:46this life worth doing
08:48requires hard work but it's totally
08:51if i could go back to a younger version
08:53of myself and tell them one thing
08:55it would be to stop starting
09:04well that's it for today do that thing
09:06where you hit the thumb
09:08and the thing that tells you when i make
09:11you can follow me on twitter i post
09:13gifts about my current project on there
09:16anyway until next time i'll see you guys
09:23can i just say that there's a little bit
09:25of a tear in your crotch
09:29tuck that in we're good
