0:00the the every year we get a lot of requests to do sponsored shows and we
0:09end up turning the vast majority of them down
0:11but every once in awhile somebody approaches as and suggest something
0:14really interesting
0:15like those pulic Wars episodes we did it's usually something that as soon as
0:18they pitched the idea
0:19we all go wow I did we can connect well recently the folks at Unity asked us to
0:24do a series on creating your first game
0:26frankly I'm actually shocked we haven't addressed that before now so
0:29time to fix that the truth is I have run into too many people who at some point
0:33decided they wanted to make games
0:35and it picked up an engine and they started diving in and they quit before
0:38they ever finish their first game because the experience was just
0:41frustrating
0:41it seemed like it was going nowhere and I don't know if we can help but this
0:45team has quite a lot of collective game making experience so
0:48hopefully some other advice here will help you avoid common pitfalls
0:51the first thing you're gonna wanna be careful about is scope
0:54many many people pick up a game engine dreaming up making the title games they
0:58play
0:59unfortunately this often just is not possible games like
1:02got a ball or Final Fantasy are made by teams have at least 40 people sometimes
1:06way more than 40 people
1:08over the course of several years even if you're just amazing and you throw your
1:12whole life into creating your game
1:13you're not gonna make a God of War Final Fantasy not even close
1:17and especially not on your first attempt truth is you're not even gonna create
1:20something like Super Mario Brothers is your first game
1:23you may create like one levels were them super mario brothers but
1:27even that's kinda pushing it your goal with your first game
1:30should be to get something built that you can actually play even in the most
1:33rudimentary fashion
1:34as soon as possible think if your first game as a learning exercise
1:38not your masterwork if you start with a huge project
1:41you'll find that you don't even know where to begin and you'll get bogged
1:43down doing little bits and pieces that have no tangible result
1:47it'll seem like you're not making any progress at all and you'll hit
1:50roadblocks that you don't know how to overcome
1:52simply to be left flailing for what even work on next trust me
1:55keep it simple if your first attempt at making a game turns out to be a one-room
2:00platformer with bad collision that you took three weeks to build
2:03be prouder that because you build it you actually got it done
2:07you made a game that more than most people ever manage
2:10to play it
2:11showed your friends and don't worry when they don't understand it or are critical
2:14because they're still thinking in terms of the big-budget game they're used to
2:17playing
2:18you know how much work went into making that game and more importantly
2:21you know the next time you'll be able to do it even better and faster soon
2:25you'll be building games that people are asking you to let them play second thing
2:29to keep in mind
2:30and I know this is gonna sound weird but don't go into your first game with a
2:33specific idea
2:34learn what you can do and design around that don't like yourself into an idea
2:39and beat your head against it for weeks or months
2:42instead learn a few tricks what a few tutorials then start working toward
2:46something you're pretty sure you can build
2:47it's okay if there are still a few parts about you have no idea how to even start
2:51to do but
2:52make sure it's only a few parts when you're breaking your project down in
2:55planning things out
2:56which of course brings us to tutorials any major engine has tons of people who
3:01happily make tutorials about pretty much everything
3:03go find them watch them study them then if you're stuck or if you can't find an
3:08answer to your question
3:09just ask you'd be shocked at how many people are happy to help you through
3:12things if you just post on a forum ur
3:14earlier thought under the message boards and don't be afraid of coding
3:17lot of people say they can't code but if you design your game right
3:21you would be shocked at how little coating you actually have to do to get
3:23something done
3:24it's a small enough amount that any of you out there watching this right now
3:27can handle it
3:28again just start small keep it simple you learn as you go
3:32and here especially there are plenty of sight out there that'll help get you
3:35started
3:36Stack Exchange is a fantastic place to look if you have questions
3:39which leads us nicely into one of the big ones design your game around your
3:43skills
3:44part of understanding your scope is understanding your resources and in this
3:47case
3:48you are your resources are you a great artist but you've never coated in your
3:51life
3:52in that case have your game lean on your art skills while pushing you just enough
3:56on the cold side that you learned some new things
3:58are you somebody who can't draw our model or animate that's alright
4:01there are plenty of games out there that get away with what you'd call minimal
4:04graphics
4:05accept that and embrace it as part of your design constraints forces to be
4:09creative
4:10and if there's something you really just have to have if there are some coding
4:13task or some piece of art that you came just can't live without but you just
4:17don't have the top to do it yourself go to the asset store
4:20there's an amazing amount of stuff that you can get there for next to nothing
4:23James just talk to a prof
4:25personal studio that picked up their entire voice chat code from the asset
4:28store for less than it would have cost them all to go to the movies
4:30James really wishes he had this sort of thing when he started out working in
4:34games
4:34to take advantage of it finally don't give up there is a lot of life that's
4:39gonna get in the way
4:40most people start out doing this between juggling a job for a full school
4:43schedule
4:44and it's very very easy to let days and then weeks passed before you get back to
4:48working on your game
4:49it's gonna be a struggle at first no question I wish I had more comforting
4:53words for you but
4:54all I can say is that most things worth doing are a struggle
4:57and if you stick with it maybe one day you'll have the option to make games
5:00instead of having to do all that other stuff
5:02but that's it for the basics I know that was all brought basic stuff that most of
5:06you probably already knew but
5:07I think it's important to start there because when you're deep in the process
5:10of making a game
5:11it's often that really high level basic stuff that people forget
5:14but join us next episode for more of the practical nuts-and-bolts up making your
5:18first name
5:19see you next week
5:21well
5:23well
5:45well
5:51it