Watch This Before You Make Your First Game!

Thomas Brush2022-11-23

thomas#brush#making your first game#first game#game development first timer#how to make first game#indie game development#how to make games#unity#tutorial#unreal#solo game dev#how much money#college#game career#game industry#GDC

456K views|1 years ago

💫 Short Summary

Thomas Brush discusses the challenges of indie game development, emphasizing the complexity and time-consuming nature of creating a game due to various elements such as art, music, coding, and game design. He provides a sequence for building a game properly, including starting with a budget, creating a game design document, and building a polished prototype. Brush shares his own experience of using this method to successfully complete his game 'Never Song' in six months after facing pressure from his publisher.

✨ Highlights

📊 Transcript

✦

The developer received pressure from their publisher to launch their indie game, Never Song, in just six months, despite the game being far from complete.

00:00

The developer was surprised to realize that they had been working on the game for two years with no clear end in sight.

There was a concern about potential legal action and the impact on the developer's career.

Game development often takes twice as long as initially expected.

✦

The key ingredients to building a game include understanding the sequence, budget, game design document (GDD), and prototype development.

01:48

Game development involves a complex mix of art forms and crafts.

Understanding how different elements interact with each other is crucial in predicting the time it takes to build a game.

Following the right sequence and seeking advice from experienced developers can save time and money.

Creating a budget and estimating the time commitment is essential for project planning.

Developing a game design document (GDD) serves as a blueprint for the game.

Building a prototype to test the game's basic mechanics and fun factor is a critical early step.

✦

The recommended sequence for building a game properly involves starting with a budget, creating a game design document (GDD), building a prototype, and then polishing the demo for potential funding.

03:35

Compare your budget and schedule to similar indie games to set realistic expectations.

Use the GDD as a blueprint for your game.

Focus on building a prototype or demo to test the core gameplay mechanics.

Polish the demo to a high standard before seeking funding or beginning full-scale development.

Securing funding or using the polished demo as a standard can guide the development of the full game.

✦

The developer for Never Song scaled the game in six months using the first couple of levels as a template after receiving pressure from the publisher.

06:25

The developer used the method of quickly fleshing out several more levels based on the template to meet the tight six-month deadline.

The publisher's pressure ultimately helped the developer make better decisions and improve the game.

Never Song was eventually sold to Apple, released on other platforms, and generated over five hundred thousand dollars in revenue.

00:00 I was at the gym and I got a call from

00:02 my indie game publisher

00:04 they were tired of the delays the tweaks

00:06 the constant changes they wanted to

00:09 launch my indie game Never song in Just

00:11 six months honestly I was panicked

00:13 because I knew the game was nowhere near

00:15 complete and somehow I didn't even

00:17 realize I was two years into development

00:19 with hundreds of thousands of dollars

00:21 spent building this game where did all

00:24 the time go why did a tiny little

00:26 platformer take so long to complete and

00:29 was I about to get sued and lose my

00:31 dream of making Indie Games as a career

00:36 in my experience games take about twice

00:39 as long as you think they're going to

00:40 take to make so if you're thinking of

00:42 making your game in I don't know a year

00:44 it's going to take two years but why is

00:46 that video games are the Pinnacle of

00:48 human expression in fact I like to call

00:50 game development playing God you're

00:52 creating a new dimension and my

00:55 prediction is game development will soon

00:56 be rebranded as I don't know World

00:59 birthing or something like that

01:00 seriously give it 20 years and the

01:02 developers who create worlds will

01:04 essentially be classified as Gods with

01:07 players living and serving their

01:09 creators in their virtual realities this

01:11 little big bang is a cocktail of every

01:14 art form and craft

01:18 mixed into a singular product story 2D

01:21 art 3d art music sound effects

01:23 architecture coding player psychology

01:25 game design voice acting sound design

01:27 lighting

01:32 so that's why it takes so long but the

01:34 real question is why is it so hard to

01:37 predict how long this takes it all comes

01:40 down to the lack of understanding each

01:42 ingredient and how they react with each

01:45 other now before we talk about this

01:46 crucial sequence of ingredients to

01:47 building your first game I did want to

01:49 let you know that my master program

01:50 full-time Game Dev is 50 off for Black

01:52 Friday you're also going to get my 2D

01:54 and 3D art programs totally free there's

01:56 only 100 seats available and these are

01:58 certainly going to sell out the program

01:59 not only shows you how to build your

02:01 indie game from scratch like I've done

02:02 but also how to secure enough money to

02:04 go full time before you even finish it

02:06 my 3500 students worldwide absolutely

02:08 love the programs just take it from my

02:10 student Chris who is now a full-time

02:12 game developer he raised over 150 000

02:14 for his indie game using my methods join

02:17 thousands of other students worldwide on

02:18 this private Discord server and begin

02:20 your indie game Journey so yeah let's

02:22 talk about this massive cocktail of

02:24 ingredients that make up a game for

02:26 example here's the industry standard

02:28 sequence for building a house built in

02:30 about let's say a year for Simplicity

02:33 you prepare the construction site you

02:35 pour the foundation you do the plumbing

02:37 the electrical insulation drywall

02:39 interior fixtures exterior finishes

02:41 interior trim driveway flooring you move

02:45 on to countertops and exterior grating

02:47 and then you finish off with bathroom

02:49 fixtures and exterior landscaping and

02:52 then don't forget you have to sell it

02:54 now how long would this house take if we

02:57 decided to build it in reverse well I'm

03:00 thinking a decade maybe not only is this

03:02 house going to take 10 times as long to

03:05 build but it's going to make 10 times

03:07 Less in profit because it sucks and the

03:11 same is true with a game the order in

03:13 which you create a game is everything

03:14 okay so you're probably depressed by now

03:17 don't be the solution to this problem is

03:19 actually pretty simple basically all you

03:21 need to do is listen to developers

03:23 who've already done it like me and also

03:26 other YouTube channels focused on game

03:28 development like Jonas tyroler game

03:30 Devon locked in David RB so here's the

03:32 sequence to building a game properly get

03:35 your paper and pen out and write this

03:36 down it's going to save you thousands of

03:38 dollars and hours first start with your

03:41 budget and I know what you're thinking

03:42 Thomas I don't have a budget sure you do

03:44 let's give you a pretend hourly rate of

03:46 50 per hour and estimate how much time

03:49 you can emotionally handle dedicating to

03:52 this project let's assume five hours a

03:54 week part-time for six months that's 100

03:56 hours at 50 bucks that's 5 000 AKA a

04:01 really tiny game it's like a little

04:03 condo in Kansas if we're sticking to the

04:06 building analogy so what does this mean

04:08 it means you need to compare your little

04:10 game to Little Indie games that have a

04:12 similar budget or schedule we then use

04:14 this comparison to map out our gdd and

04:17 that's a game design document this is

04:19 basically your blueprint or outline for

04:22 your game here's a great example of a

04:24 gdd it's linked in the description then

04:27 we build the game well kinda we build

04:30 out a prototype a demo the first level

04:33 maybe with minimal Graphics minimal

04:36 being the keyword here minimal sound

04:38 minimal everything

04:41 we want to know that this game idea even

04:43 works and A good rule of thumb is if

04:45 your game isn't fun at its most abstract

04:47 form it's not going to be good at all

04:49 just ask Bob Ross look he always starts

04:52 with abstract colors first and then he

04:55 tightens the screws ah there's another

04:57 metaphor Ikea furniture you start loose

05:00 and then you tighten the screws later

05:02 when you're sure you've built something

05:04 that actually works okay now we have

05:06 this generic prototype that kind of

05:08 looks like crap but it works and my

05:10 method is to polish this prototype

05:12 visually musically ambiently and toss in

05:16 story elements but only for the

05:18 Prototype you don't build out the entire

05:20 game now rather you create exactly what

05:22 this game will be as a finished product

05:25 but only that first level or the first

05:28 15 minutes of gameplay this is where me

05:30 and some other developers might differ

05:32 some developers may want to build out

05:34 every mechanic every level in a

05:36 rudimentary form first

05:38 the problem with this approach is it

05:40 actually removes a huge possibility from

05:42 the developer finding funding for the

05:45 project the reason I recommend polishing

05:47 the heck out of your demo is so you can

05:49 seek funding from a publisher or

05:51 crowdfunding or investors now it's super

05:54 hard to do this with a crappy looking

05:56 demo once you secure funding or maybe

05:58 you decide to not receive funding you

06:00 use this demo as the standard for your

06:03 game this is the template in a way your

06:06 new mechanics and levels are sequels to

06:09 your first level and we all know sqls

06:11 are quicker to make just ask Satan's

06:13 very own offspring Disney what am I

06:15 supposed to say Jesus now obviously

06:17 there's a ton of granular steps nested

06:20 inside this sequence but hopefully this

06:22 gives you a generic road map to success

06:23 honestly I don't want you to make

06:25 mistakes that I made for Never song

06:27 speaking of which did I ever get sued

06:31 nope I took the phone call from my

06:33 publisher well and out of necessity I

06:36 took the current build of neversong and

06:38 essentially used the exact method I

06:40 described and scaled the game I used the

06:43 first couple levels of the game as a

06:45 template and quickly fleshed out several

06:47 more levels and finished it in six

06:49 months it's interesting how I publisher

06:51 breathing down your neck actually helps

06:53 you make better decisions we eventually

06:55 sold the game to Apple released it on

06:56 other platforms and made more than five

06:58 hundred thousand dollars in revenue and

07:00 by the way I can't disclose the exact

07:01 numbers sorry if you found this video

07:03 helpful be sure to leave a like

07:04 subscribe hit that notification Bell and

07:06 download the free resources in the

07:08 description and don't forget guys my

07:10 massive program full-time gamedev is 50

07:12 off right now for Black Friday you also

07:14 get my 2D and 3D art programs totally

07:16 free but only for this short sale event

07:18 my 3 500 students really do love the

07:21 program take it from my student Chris

07:22 who is now a full-time game developer

07:24 raising over 150 000 on Kickstarter

07:27 using my methods join thousands of other

07:29 developers on the Discord server see you

07:32 there cheers

💫 FAQs about This YouTube Video

1. Why did the creator of the indie game Never song feel panicked?

The creator felt panicked when the indie game publisher wanted to launch the game in six months, but the game was nowhere near complete after two years of development.

2. What is the main reason for the extended development time of video games?

The extended development time of video games is attributed to the complexity of game development, which involves various elements such as art, music, coding, and game design.

3. How does the creator suggest mitigating the challenges of game development?

The creator suggests mitigating the challenges of game development by following a structured sequence, starting with a game design document, building a prototype, and then seeking funding or investment to support the development process.

4. What success did the creator achieve with the game Never song after scaling the development process?

After scaling the development process and completing the game in six months, the creator sold the game to Apple, released it on other platforms, and generated over five hundred thousand dollars in revenue.

5. What offer is mentioned for the creator's full-time Game Dev program during the Black Friday sale?

The creator's full-time Game Dev program is offered at a 50% discount during the Black Friday sale, and it includes free access to the 2D and 3D art programs.

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