I’m interested in programming and already started my way, but I always question how do solo developers deal with making art specific for you style of game.
I read that you shouldn’t invest in a broad skillset instead just focus on 1 mastery.
But what if I do wanna learn more about art like character design, 3d modeling and animation. Should I focus first on one skill or mix it up daily.
I’m impressed how devs of Thumper made their own engine and game using shaders.
Depends on what you want but if you’re single dev than maybe focus on programming and outsource art.
Well as a developer it’s not like you’re just going to be doing art or you’re just going to be writing code. You’re going to be creating models and resources importing them in the unity and then you’re going to be wiring them up so they do what you want. It’s more of an assembly line.
What I recommend would be to practice the entire process. Start by creating the geometry for your character then learn how to rig it up so that it has bones. Import into unity and then use code to make it move around and do stuff.
Try to get a quick process down for doing this. Save pieces of code that are reusable so you can import them into future projects.
I found that as a beginner in 3D modeling and animation that this was the most difficult thing so far for me to learn and I’m still learning it. If you can practice this aspect until it becomes second nature to you everything else is relatively easy.
Definitely valid advice that I’ve given many times.
However, it’s context sensitive. You’ve specified “solo developer”. In that context, if you don’t getit done then it’s not getting done.
You’ve got a few options:
Invest in broader skills. Yes, this takes time away from other skills. It means you’ll be less good at any particular thing. Individuals and small teams typically need to do this to some degree, but do give deliberate consideration to just how far you want to go down this rabbit hole. While the typical advice is to avoid doing this too much it has worked for some people in the past. Do keep in mind that being “good enough” at something does not require being an expert at it. Getting the basics right can often get you a long way.
Buy stuff. Getting something does doesn’t mean using your own physical hands. Are there assets available on the Asset Store (easiest location) or other markets that you can use? Even if you need to modify them this could be much faster than learning skills for yourself and then making stuff from scratch. Even if you have skills this can also be a huge time saver. I’m a programmer by trade, but I’ll still buy and use others’ code if it gives me more time to work on my own unique problems.
Design around your limitations. If you know you’re not good at art then you could very well pick projects where strong art isn’t a necessity. Or deliberately pick games that you know can be mostly covered with assets available for purchase. This isn’t just about addressing skill gaps, by the way, it’s also an important part of scope control - if you want to finish projects then you need to keep them finishable with whatever limited resources you have.
Stop being solo. To be clear, if you’re a programmer I strongly recommend making a few small games on your own without worrying too much about art. There’s plenty of other stuff for you to learn. But once you know what you’re doing I would consider (note that word - “consider”) working with others, per the “focus on one or two fields” advice. I want my projects to look good, so I team up with artists who can make that happen.
Buy on asset stores and outsource to freelancers. It takes some time to become good at navigating the crap on the store. And some assets are impossible to see they have some weak spots.
Our game has a realistic art style and its much easier to kit bash a game with that art style than a stylished one. If you stick to realistic PBR assets they should feel ok together. However stylished assets will always have their own style and will not play nice with other assets.
edit: You can not trust a asset is PBR just because they claim it is. They might just put together a weak metalness map in photoshop. Look closely at the screenshots and also look at the metalnessmap in the explorer window at the store. Look at the glosiness. Without proper glossiness the thing will not look realistic.
Coding and art are both key elements in game development. You can master one of it and foundation only of others. So when other aspect of people (Freelance / Teamwork / Out-source) talking to you, you can understand what they are saying and discuss in technical terms of view to bring precise direction for your game. Slowly you gain both side of knowledge and maybe one day you could do the other side as well. This is called experience. A big plus for game development skill set. Keep it up.