Spreading Wisdom: what's your advice?

News & General Discussion
1

No matter how new, or how seasoned you are, what’s one thing you wish you knew when you started making games?

For me, I wish I knew how bad I was at time estimates…

“Yeah, fleshing out the mechanics should take a few days, then maybe another day or two to make some levels” - A younger, dumber me

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2

“Don’t read Arowx threads when you could be working”

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3

Restrict ideas focus on getting it done.

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Wow, I was just saying something very much like that…

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I guess if Im giving advice to younger self it would be:

  1. Take more time on it, it takes time to come up with interesting ideas (enemies, mechanics etc) and concepts to make the levels unique and interesting
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Specifically for this thread: Get it in front of players early and often. Get their feedback, use it to shape your game for the better.

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7

Those threads remind me of Above Top Secret, and the denizens that inhabit that place.

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Have someone else do all the hard work.

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9

Yes!!! I can’t believe how long it took to get over not wanting to share my work until it was “perfect”

…It was never perfect

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10

Sometimes things look better unpolished, but not everything.

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Time estimates are usually pretty accurate if you are experienced but if you lack motivation they are useless.

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12

Stop watching YouTube when you should be working.

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13

that: “I can get what I want…in the polish stage”

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14

mathematics.

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15

There’s a lot I wish I had known regarding developing games in general, but estimating time is perhaps for me as well.

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16

hahahaahaa yeaah!!
iam a TOTAL math flunky… its pretty terrible… i should try to learn sometime >,>

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If you have a use for it, it is easy to learn and retain. I was terrible at math as a kid and it was all because I didn’t care about it. Now that i have a use for it I have the strongest math skills at my studio.

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18

If you have a epic idea that you want to make, restrict access to Youtube until you’re in the game. My little brother watched DanTDM and now I have another idea in my head.

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I totally relate to this. I mean, I’m not even close to the best at Math or Programming in my studio, but I felt so unable to learn those subjects academically. As soon as I started making games, it was like a switch had flicked, and it all started making sense.

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The number one piece of advice I give new game developers/students, based on what I have seen many times when visiting game studios:

Please don’t build your game for the first time, for its intended target platform(s), just before you intend to release it. You should be building as frequently as possible from near the beginning of development!
Editor Performance =/= Device Performance (Especially Mobile)

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