Hey Thomas, I love your videos and have been watching for a long time. Any tips or info you have regarding the copywrite/trademark process for your game? When to secure that, what is important etc Thanks!
Hello Thomas, i new to game dev - I've actually been into it for like a year now- and i still feel like i know nothing about game dev. First, i suck a coding, because i was busy following tutorials without getting to know the basis of c# and now i have to start all over again. I saw a video here on RUclips about starting with old classic games like asteroids, pong etc. can i learn game Dev by creating these games without learning c# or i should dive into c# first before actually going into game dev. By the way I'm using UNITY engine.
Again thank you for the advice thomas, it was reslly nice talking with you. Ive implemented doing 2 hours a day on gamedev everyday and so far its been incredible.
Lack of sleep is so detrimental to brain function, it's a domino effect that can affect so many things in your life. It can cause you painful stress. It can cause you to over eat and gain weight because of stress. Obesity from over eating can cause you sleep apnea that is a feedback loop into less sleep and more health problems. It can cause you depression. It can cause brain fog. It can cause lack of focus. It can cause lack of self esteem cause you can't focus. It can cause you to lose gray matter in your brain. All those things by losing sleep. So do yourself a favor, and sleep as much as you need to wake up in the morning fresh, without feeling like you have to sleep again by noon. Sleep is that important.
I have 3 kids and a full time job. I've been working on my game for 8 years now, haha. There were 3-4 years where I hardly touched my game, but I've been finding 10-20 hours a week to work on it for the past 2 years. It's not easy. It usually sucks. I would definitely be happier if I gave up on it, but I can't bring myself to give up on it. Thomas's advice to make a schedule is great, if you can do that. For me, if I ONLY worked on my game when I could block out the time, I would be lucky to find 2 hours a week. That would be great if I could "get into the flow" and work without distractions, but it's not a luxury I can afford. I take every damn second I can find to work on my game, regardless of how I feel. It's the only way for me.
On *idle*, brain takes 20% of energy. I would assume the numner goes up when you do brain work. Brains are extremely power hungry, that's why we prefer mental shortcuts and forget things.
Not true. You can skip any meals you want as long as you're getting enough calories in the day. I do intermittent fasting in the morning/ early afternoon and that's when I feel the most energetic.
darianlp is correct, for the majority of people regular fasting while still eating a balanced diet will improve energy levels. When you eat typically you get more tired. There are four things to work on to improve energy levels, diet, exercise, sleep, and mental health.
Thank you for creating this video Thomas. It’s crazy how you made this video and I was thinking about how to fit time to work on my game. I work about 11-12 hr shift days. But maybe the thing I needed is a cap of how much I work on the game. Good luck to the all the game devs out there 👍
I would really love to become an indy dev and keep my work till I can make enough to be able to support my family. The problem is that most lessons have SO many gaps or they are TOO expensive, including Thomas :( It would help my current YT channel also.
What's my life as a game dev while working?? I drive a school bus. I drive long distances for about 6 hours per day. My hours are broken up between 3 hours in the morning when taking kids to school aka driving long distances, and 3 hours in the evening when taking kids back home aka driving long distances again. I get a 5 hour break in between. But, in that break, I should be sleeping so that I could drive safely. Thus, when do I do game dev, etc? I do it on the weekends and on holidays when school is out. It's still not always easy. But, this has been my life as a game dev.
you are doing an awesome job! i still remember the school bus 🚍 driver that took us to school till date! thats over 40 years. those were good memories. keep devving keep making stuff.
Just curious but why would you need to sleep between taking them to school and picking them back up? I also drive as part of my job but don’t feel a nap in the middle of my day should be something I need to do. Maybe a change in your diet would help with the energy?
Im running a studio while working full time. The answer: Design the game but hire other developers to help develop the game. Negotiate good deals, and work your ass off at your day job to pay the other developers. Get good at managing and designing.
Our dumb little game is getting the chance to demo at Geekfest West 2024. I'm hoping there's a publisher there. We got 44 days to get as much polish as we can. Luckily I have a talented dev willing to share some time with me. Also my game isn't dumb it's actually pretty awesome. I would be a fan if I wasn't making it. Which I think is pretty important
Thanks, Thomas! I just made a list last night of all the pillars of balance that I needed in my life, and it turns out sleep is kinda the bedrock, right before food and water. Thanks for the awesome videos!
This has been my life for the past 3 years, but I'm slow at making big transitions. Of course there have been breaks, sometimes for months at a time because I don't want to hate gamedev. It's a difficult balance with a family and full time job, but pacing yourself and managing your time is important.
Hey Thomas thank you much this video up things in order for me, for I was getting upset that I only got 1-2 hours making games, for I work a 8 hour full time job, and felt like I was not achieving anything, in game dev (since I have been trying to do so for 3 years), but after seeing this and the advice you gave for how to set up the time, now I see I can do the games and get away with doing the other things I need to do. Thank you.
This speaks to me. As a solo dev with a full time job, its really not easy. 2 young kids doesnt help. Im struggling here and there to get things moving sometimes. Its not an easy thing if you cant go full time yet (i made the choice of not dealing with Publishers so thats on me)
Same. Only one kid here but between work, kid and wife it's rough. I definitely spend a fair amount of time re-convincing myself that I can do this. Maybe I should start a Game studio/youtube for learning parents 😂
@@ahmadabdallah2896 the role of publisher can but doesn't always necessarily include: funding, strategic decisions for game direction and other things to optimize sales, marketing, and distribution.
@@ahmadabdallah2896 publishers will basically lend you money in exchange for residuals in sales (dependant on contract). They basically take on the risk of in your place. Where I'm not comfortable, its first, can I actually go all the way through with this? And then, I dont want to have deadlines to meet. Not because I dont want them but because I cant always meet them, what with the kids and all.
I just finished a game jam over the weekend where I stayed up until 1:30am most nights and got up early for my 9-5 job. It was difficult, but it feels worse after the last few days of the jam being over. It was my first game jam and an interesting time, but I don't think I will be doing it again. So I would agree that working yourself to death is not the right way. Spend a few hours every night or every other night, or whatever you can do, and just keep making progress. But don't burn yourself out trying to make your game and sacrifice your mental and physical well being. The good news as an indie dev doing it in your free time with a 9-5 is that you have your bills taken care of and your game will be released when it is ready. You don't have to set unreasonable timelines or expectations. Make progress, yes, but don't push yourself to your limits to get something done that you are doing as a hobby in your free time until you get a publishing deal or a huge stack of cash from launching your game yourself. Take care of your health and the game will take care of itself, as you put in reasonable time.
This helps me alot because I believed something like 2 hours a day is way to little and that i needed to put in atleast 4-6 hours a day along with my day job
You need to focus on yourself before anything else,your sleep,eating habits and mental state, find a routine and stick to it and if you need a break listen to your brain and take one
i have a job that is physically demanding. Always when I get home I'm to tired to do anything, I need more sleep than I needed before starting my job. It is really hard to concentrate, what would you recommend Thomas? So that I can still make some progress on my game.
Here are my priorities at the moment. If I am ever unsure what I "need" to be doing I just go through this list and stop at the one that needs the attention for that day. Most days I am able to fit all of these in. Although it is pretty tough some days. 1) Family/Kids 2) Sleep 3) Diet 4) Exercise 5) 9-5 Job 6) GameDev
working as a gamedev at home 🏡 was very difficult because of noise from kids, neighbours etc. recording and concentration was very difficult. so what i did was to separate tasks i could do during the day that didn't require lots of focus(sketching, level design, folder 📂 organisation,scheduling ect) and i shifted the more intensive tasks like coding, recording etc when everyone is asleep(usually by midnight) i also avoid burnout by being very kind to myself. i am a human, i can't work for 13 hours during the week and expect to sit for another 6-8 hours (am 40 and my back hurts) so i work for as little as i can (less than an hour or 30 mins) What i do is to have a schedule of what i want to do before i turn on the computer 🖥. I realise if i don't have a plan, i usually just wander off and do some other stuff and get distracted. If i have a note 🗒 that says "work on enemy jump" thats what am gonna do! And finally seek help...no ONE MAN is an army. if you cant code a concept after trying, google it, stackoverflow it etc. i wish all indie gamedevs out there success.
Burning the candles at both ends is so hard, but also its such a hard habit to break. Like if you are only learning how to push the boulder up the hill and watch it roll down, and nobody comes in and tells you there is another way to do things, how would you know you know
I just started to make a game part time a month ago,I am 23 yrs old living with my girlfriend,maan reading the comments makes me feel so lucky I don't have Kids while trying to be a part time game developer😅
i have a question , i really want to learn everything for game dev ( animations , art ,etc ) , sooo , is it healthy for me to learn literally all of it or should i get a few things and then focus all my energy in it?
My first night really planning and starting concept work, i worked my day shift, put the kids to sleep and worked 8 hours through the night til 5AM Youre saying to cap at 2 hours 😢
What were the age of your kids when you started your routine. I have 2 under 3 and its a challenge to find time. I really want to figure thay element out.
This is my fear I tell people working on my projects. They tell me to get a full time job and better pay, but that'll SIGNIFICANTLY reduce the progress I make to my game.
I'm just starting out on my game dev journey meaning I'm in the learning phase still, I'm struggling with time I am married and have 7 children and I work an 8-5 which with my drive is more like 7-6 so I don't have a lot of play I work in construction so working on it at work is out of the question
i work from 6am to 3-4pm everyday and almost every 2nd saturday for me its really hard to find even on weekends time for my game. But i try to get atleast 10hours a weeek for unreal engine..
If you got kids, that makes it tough. I'm so glad I'm single and have no kids. I work on my game all the time off of work and my cost of living is SUUUUPER low.
@SixgillStudios I looked at some of the recent stuff and how they are changing the coding language of the engine to be less "offensive" with no unified standards to replace them with and that's what's making me worried. These things are usually the canaries in the coal mines to the decay of a product.
I love Godot, its absolutely just as capable as the other engines, minus a few bells and whistles and maybe some help/support. A lot of it seems pretty subjective in my opinion. Each engine has their own paradigm and way of doing things so I feel like a lot of comparisons I see are kinda moot. In the end it is just a tool so switching shouldn't be the end of the world. That's not to say it won't be really inconvenient to switch midway through a game project. For me personally I am using Godot but I am also designing everything I do, as best as I can, to make it so switching is not a huge deal if needed. So for example I tend to abstract things in code more than might "really" be necessary, partly because its fun but also because I may want to switch in future. I feel you though, after the Unity thing I don't trust any public corporations anymore but that also doesn't mean the tools are bad, Unity and Unreal are both great engines, I am just wary of the people making decisions. At the same time its entirely possible Godot funding dries up somehow or gets edged out by another engine and support just ends for it. You can't predict the future, in my opinion its better to focus on not backing yourself into a corner than what a company may or may not do.
I stick to Game Maker Studio 2 for now and keep things simple when working alone. I want to have a team one day (for which I will scale to 3D unreal or unity engine to match), but I find the simple more manageable.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
Hope this was helpful :)
► Learn how to make money from your indie games (free webinar): www.fulltimegamedev.com/opt-in-how-to-make-six-figures
Hey Thomas, I love your videos and have been watching for a long time. Any tips or info you have regarding the copywrite/trademark process for your game? When to secure that, what is important etc
Thanks!
Hello Thomas, i new to game dev - I've actually been into it for like a year now- and i still feel like i know nothing about game dev. First, i suck a coding, because i was busy following tutorials without getting to know the basis of c# and now i have to start all over again. I saw a video here on RUclips about starting with old classic games like asteroids, pong etc. can i learn game Dev by creating these games without learning c# or i should dive into c# first before actually going into game dev. By the way I'm using UNITY engine.
Again thank you for the advice thomas, it was reslly nice talking with you. Ive implemented doing 2 hours a day on gamedev everyday and so far its been incredible.
Lack of sleep is so detrimental to brain function, it's a domino effect that can affect so many things in your life. It can cause you painful stress. It can cause you to over eat and gain weight because of stress. Obesity from over eating can cause you sleep apnea that is a feedback loop into less sleep and more health problems. It can cause you depression. It can cause brain fog. It can cause lack of focus. It can cause lack of self esteem cause you can't focus. It can cause you to lose gray matter in your brain. All those things by losing sleep. So do yourself a favor, and sleep as much as you need to wake up in the morning fresh, without feeling like you have to sleep again by noon. Sleep is that important.
There are also other lasting physical effects like increased chances of heart attacks and such
I have 3 kids and a full time job. I've been working on my game for 8 years now, haha. There were 3-4 years where I hardly touched my game, but I've been finding 10-20 hours a week to work on it for the past 2 years. It's not easy. It usually sucks. I would definitely be happier if I gave up on it, but I can't bring myself to give up on it.
Thomas's advice to make a schedule is great, if you can do that. For me, if I ONLY worked on my game when I could block out the time, I would be lucky to find 2 hours a week. That would be great if I could "get into the flow" and work without distractions, but it's not a luxury I can afford. I take every damn second I can find to work on my game, regardless of how I feel. It's the only way for me.
Don't skip lunch. You need brain food. If you're hungry, eat.
On *idle*, brain takes 20% of energy. I would assume the numner goes up when you do brain work. Brains are extremely power hungry, that's why we prefer mental shortcuts and forget things.
He said sacrifice the hour of lunch not skip lunch. Just be quicker instead of taking a full hour to eat I think is what he meant 😂
Not true. You can skip any meals you want as long as you're getting enough calories in the day. I do intermittent fasting in the morning/ early afternoon and that's when I feel the most energetic.
darianlp is correct, for the majority of people regular fasting while still eating a balanced diet will improve energy levels. When you eat typically you get more tired. There are four things to work on to improve energy levels, diet, exercise, sleep, and mental health.
I fall into this a lot also xD
Thank you for creating this video Thomas. It’s crazy how you made this video and I was thinking about how to fit time to work on my game. I work about 11-12 hr shift days. But maybe the thing I needed is a cap of how much I work on the game.
Good luck to the all the game devs out there 👍
I would really love to become an indy dev and keep my work till I can make enough to be able to support my family. The problem is that most lessons have SO many gaps or they are TOO expensive, including Thomas :( It would help my current YT channel also.
What's my life as a game dev while working?? I drive a school bus. I drive long distances for about 6 hours per day. My hours are broken up between 3 hours in the morning when taking kids to school aka driving long distances, and 3 hours in the evening when taking kids back home aka driving long distances again. I get a 5 hour break in between. But, in that break, I should be sleeping so that I could drive safely. Thus, when do I do game dev, etc? I do it on the weekends and on holidays when school is out. It's still not always easy. But, this has been my life as a game dev.
you are doing an awesome job! i still remember the school bus 🚍 driver that took us to school till date! thats over 40 years. those were good memories. keep devving keep making stuff.
Just curious but why would you need to sleep between taking them to school and picking them back up? I also drive as part of my job but don’t feel a nap in the middle of my day should be something I need to do. Maybe a change in your diet would help with the energy?
Im running a studio while working full time. The answer: Design the game but hire other developers to help develop the game. Negotiate good deals, and work your ass off at your day job to pay the other developers. Get good at managing and designing.
Our dumb little game is getting the chance to demo at Geekfest West 2024.
I'm hoping there's a publisher there. We got 44 days to get as much polish as we can. Luckily I have a talented dev willing to share some time with me.
Also my game isn't dumb it's actually pretty awesome. I would be a fan if I wasn't making it. Which I think is pretty important
That’s cool. What is your game called?
@@silent_reaper7461AlakaBLAM!
Yooooooo,
@@silent_reaper7461 AlakaBLAM!!
Hope your video game studio is a SMASH HIT!! keep grindin!!
Thanks, Thomas! I just made a list last night of all the pillars of balance that I needed in my life, and it turns out sleep is kinda the bedrock, right before food and water. Thanks for the awesome videos!
This has been my life for the past 3 years, but I'm slow at making big transitions. Of course there have been breaks, sometimes for months at a time because I don't want to hate gamedev. It's a difficult balance with a family and full time job, but pacing yourself and managing your time is important.
Hey Thomas thank you much this video up things in order for me, for I was getting upset that I only got 1-2 hours making games, for I work a 8 hour full time job, and felt like I was not achieving anything, in game dev (since I have been trying to do so for 3 years), but after seeing this and the advice you gave for how to set up the time, now I see I can do the games and get away with doing the other things I need to do. Thank you.
This speaks to me. As a solo dev with a full time job, its really not easy. 2 young kids doesnt help. Im struggling here and there to get things moving sometimes. Its not an easy thing if you cant go full time yet (i made the choice of not dealing with Publishers so thats on me)
Same. Only one kid here but between work, kid and wife it's rough. I definitely spend a fair amount of time re-convincing myself that I can do this.
Maybe I should start a Game studio/youtube for learning parents 😂
@@CryinOverSpilledTea haha I wanted to do the same. My problem was to find time for that too XD
Can i ask what do publishers do? Or more accurately what is their role in the indie game development cycle?
@@ahmadabdallah2896 the role of publisher can but doesn't always necessarily include: funding, strategic decisions for game direction and other things to optimize sales, marketing, and distribution.
@@ahmadabdallah2896 publishers will basically lend you money in exchange for residuals in sales (dependant on contract). They basically take on the risk of in your place.
Where I'm not comfortable, its first, can I actually go all the way through with this?
And then, I dont want to have deadlines to meet. Not because I dont want them but because I cant always meet them, what with the kids and all.
I just finished a game jam over the weekend where I stayed up until 1:30am most nights and got up early for my 9-5 job. It was difficult, but it feels worse after the last few days of the jam being over. It was my first game jam and an interesting time, but I don't think I will be doing it again. So I would agree that working yourself to death is not the right way. Spend a few hours every night or every other night, or whatever you can do, and just keep making progress. But don't burn yourself out trying to make your game and sacrifice your mental and physical well being.
The good news as an indie dev doing it in your free time with a 9-5 is that you have your bills taken care of and your game will be released when it is ready. You don't have to set unreasonable timelines or expectations. Make progress, yes, but don't push yourself to your limits to get something done that you are doing as a hobby in your free time until you get a publishing deal or a huge stack of cash from launching your game yourself. Take care of your health and the game will take care of itself, as you put in reasonable time.
This helps me alot because I believed something like 2 hours a day is way to little and that i needed to put in atleast 4-6 hours a day along with my day job
Full time dev job with game dev is definitely a rough experience. Game dev just feels like more job work sometimes.
You need to focus on yourself before anything else,your sleep,eating habits and mental state, find a routine and stick to it and if you need a break listen to your brain and take one
i have a job that is physically demanding. Always when I get home I'm to tired to do anything, I need more sleep than I needed before starting my job. It is really hard to concentrate, what would you recommend Thomas? So that I can still make some progress on my game.
I think this can be applied to any creative endeavor, not just game Dev. Kids do make things that little bit harder. Especially weekends.
Here are my priorities at the moment. If I am ever unsure what I "need" to be doing I just go through this list and stop at the one that needs the attention for that day. Most days I am able to fit all of these in. Although it is pretty tough some days.
1) Family/Kids
2) Sleep
3) Diet
4) Exercise
5) 9-5 Job
6) GameDev
Can you make a video about how to work with music artists? Like what it would look like to work with them, reaching out, commissioning, and contracts?
working as a gamedev at home 🏡 was very difficult because of noise from kids, neighbours etc. recording and concentration was very difficult. so what i did was to separate tasks i could do during the day that didn't require lots of focus(sketching, level design, folder 📂 organisation,scheduling ect) and i shifted the more intensive tasks like coding, recording etc when everyone is asleep(usually by midnight)
i also avoid burnout by being very kind to myself. i am a human, i can't work for 13 hours during the week and expect to sit for another 6-8 hours (am 40 and my back hurts) so i work for as little as i can (less than an hour or 30 mins)
What i do is to have a schedule of what i want to do before i turn on the computer 🖥. I realise if i don't have a plan, i usually just wander off and do some other stuff and get distracted. If i have a note 🗒 that says "work on enemy jump" thats what am gonna do!
And finally seek help...no ONE MAN is an army. if you cant code a concept after trying, google it, stackoverflow it etc.
i wish all indie gamedevs out there success.
Burning the candles at both ends is so hard, but also its such a hard habit to break. Like if you are only learning how to push the boulder up the hill and watch it roll down, and nobody comes in and tells you there is another way to do things, how would you know you know
Bro, how to purchase your course? I follow the link and see only a webinar...
Homie just described my entire mental health struggles around game ideas without even knowing me
I just started to make a game part time a month ago,I am 23 yrs old living with my girlfriend,maan reading the comments makes me feel so lucky I don't have Kids while trying to be a part time game developer😅
so early it feels criminal
i have a question , i really want to learn everything for game dev ( animations , art ,etc ) , sooo , is it healthy for me to learn literally all of it or should i get a few things and then focus all my energy in it?
Thomas, I must ask, what is your opinion of Visual Scripting in Unity?
I feel sick, due to working.
My first night really planning and starting concept work, i worked my day shift, put the kids to sleep and worked 8 hours through the night til 5AM
Youre saying to cap at 2 hours 😢
what laptop would your recommend for starting game developers???
What were the age of your kids when you started your routine. I have 2 under 3 and its a challenge to find time. I really want to figure thay element out.
I have 3 kids working night shift Amazon 6:30pm to 7am and been having a hard time trying to work on my game.
This is my fear I tell people working on my projects. They tell me to get a full time job and better pay, but that'll SIGNIFICANTLY reduce the progress I make to my game.
I'm just starting out on my game dev journey meaning I'm in the learning phase still, I'm struggling with time I am married and have 7 children and I work an 8-5 which with my drive is more like 7-6 so I don't have a lot of play I work in construction so working on it at work is out of the question
PLEASE TELL ME YOUR LYING!!!! 7 CHILDREN!!!!!??
i work from 6am to 3-4pm everyday and almost every 2nd saturday for me its really hard to find even on weekends time for my game. But i try to get atleast 10hours a weeek for unreal engine..
Hi, I just noticed The Solo Game Dev RoadMap video is missing, but why did you hide it? I was going to analyze it.
Most sad thing is when your SO don't support you in it...
or your friends and family like what I'm going thru :(
I mean why not just cut back on costs and switch to part time?
If you got kids, that makes it tough. I'm so glad I'm single and have no kids. I work on my game all the time off of work and my cost of living is SUUUUPER low.
@@Mark-se4dr True kids and a wife would definitely make it more of a challenge.
Ayyeeee, dats meee lol
Next Question: How to become a Game Dev (And also get a Full Time Job) Lol
Sleeping 4-5 hours a night is just so biologically unhealthy it is not worth it under any circumstances
Still selling this shit years later… 😂
Think Godot is worth it?
I worry unreal and the other paid engines will pull a Unity and poop the bed.
Unreal doesn't need to. They got so much fork knife money
@SixgillStudios I looked at some of the recent stuff and how they are changing the coding language of the engine to be less "offensive" with no unified standards to replace them with and that's what's making me worried.
These things are usually the canaries in the coal mines to the decay of a product.
I love Godot, its absolutely just as capable as the other engines, minus a few bells and whistles and maybe some help/support. A lot of it seems pretty subjective in my opinion. Each engine has their own paradigm and way of doing things so I feel like a lot of comparisons I see are kinda moot. In the end it is just a tool so switching shouldn't be the end of the world. That's not to say it won't be really inconvenient to switch midway through a game project. For me personally I am using Godot but I am also designing everything I do, as best as I can, to make it so switching is not a huge deal if needed. So for example I tend to abstract things in code more than might "really" be necessary, partly because its fun but also because I may want to switch in future. I feel you though, after the Unity thing I don't trust any public corporations anymore but that also doesn't mean the tools are bad, Unity and Unreal are both great engines, I am just wary of the people making decisions. At the same time its entirely possible Godot funding dries up somehow or gets edged out by another engine and support just ends for it. You can't predict the future, in my opinion its better to focus on not backing yourself into a corner than what a company may or may not do.
I stick to Game Maker Studio 2 for now and keep things simple when working alone. I want to have a team one day (for which I will scale to 3D unreal or unity engine to match), but I find the simple more manageable.