Powerful Habits to make Games Quickly
الملخص
TLDRIn this video, the creator shares valuable insights on efficiently making time for game development by making lifestyle changes and optimizing productivity. The person discusses dividing the process into three key areas: personal (setting bed alarms, meal prep, exercise), development decisions (focusing on one project, scalable systems), and mindset (saying no, using Parkinson's Law, avoiding distractions). Emphasis is placed on efficient work routines, utilizing feedback systems, focusing on deep work rather than planning, and drilling into problems without distractions. Delegating tasks and refining skills are also viewed as pivotal to progressing in game development, culminating in a better and faster creation process. The video also highlights the use of internal steam as motivation and the importance of gradual self-improvement to increase productivity and achieve one's goals.
الوجبات الجاهزة
- 🛌 Set an alarm to go to bed, ensuring proper rest.
- 🍽️ Meal prep to save time and focus on development.
- 🏋️♂️ Include efficient workouts for overall well-being.
- 🛑 Learn to say 'no' to focus on what matters.
- ⏱️ Use Parkinson's Law to set tight deadlines.
- 🔍 Focus on one project at a time for better quality.
- 📊 Delegate tasks to enhance development speed.
- 🛠️ Use scalable systems for efficient game object management.
- 💼 Prioritize action over excessive planning.
- 📈 Continuously improve skills to boost efficiency.
الجدول الزمني
- 00:00:00 - 00:05:00
The speaker talks about their personal lifestyle adjustments to develop a game called Dodge King in three months. They emphasize the challenges and time demands of game development and outline their organized approach into three categories: personal adjustments, development decisions, and mindset framework. First, they stress the importance of rest by setting a bedtime alarm and not a wake-up alarm.
- 00:05:00 - 00:10:00
Meal prepping is advised to save time. The speaker suggests consolidating chores into a single session to avoid spreading tasks throughout the day. The importance of exercise is highlighted, recommending efficient workouts to maximize time. Saying 'no' to distractions and unnecessary commitments is encouraged to preserve time and focus on what's important. Autopilot on decision making can help conserve time, but be mindful of distractions like social media.
- 00:10:00 - 00:15:00
They advise making shorter breaks to maintain momentum and efficiency. Large chunks of uninterrupted time are preferred for deep work on essential game elements. They introduce Parkinson's law as a method to set tight deadlines and focus productivity. They emphasize the importance of realistic goal setting and staying committed to deadlines, using development strategies tailored to productivity.
- 00:15:00 - 00:20:00
Focus on one project at a time to avoid overcommitment and maintain productivity is advised. The importance of scalable systems in game development is stressed, using a single game object with variable changes instead of creating multiple unique objects. This approach saves time in testing and debugging.
- 00:20:00 - 00:25:00
Recycling assets is encouraged to save development time, reminiscent of practices from older game development limitations. Delegation is recommended when possible, using external resources to handle tasks outside the developer's primary skill set, allowing them to focus on what they do best. Accurate and detailed programming notes are crucial for efficient debugging and iterating on game systems.
- 00:25:00 - 00:30:00
The speaker suggests implementing both active and passive feedback loops for testing games, favoring passive testing once the game is more developed for more comprehensive testing results. They stress the importance of maintaining large periods of time for deep work on core gameplay while allocating shorter periods for smaller, less intensive tasks. Responsible use of tools is encouraged, focusing only on necessary tools to avoid over-planning.
- 00:30:00 - 00:35:58
The mindset framework concludes by emphasizing the importance of learning through challenges and not avoiding hard problems. This perseverance builds skills and efficiency in development. The speaker advises maintaining internal motivation by not sharing successes prematurely. Finally, continuous improvement is crucial, as skill development leads to faster and more productive game creation. The overall advice is tailored for both casual and dedicated developers.
الخريطة الذهنية
الأسئلة الشائعة
Why is setting a bedtime alarm more important than a morning alarm?
Setting a bedtime alarm ensures you get adequate rest, helping maintain energy and efficiency throughout the day.
How does meal prepping save time during game development?
Meal prepping reduces daily cooking time, allowing you to quickly reheat meals and focus more on development work.
Why is saying 'no' considered a powerful tool?
Saying 'no' helps you avoid distractions and keeps you focused on what truly matters for your goals.
What is Parkinson’s Law and how does it apply to game development?
Parkinson’s Law states that work expands to fill the time available. Setting tighter deadlines helps compress work into shorter periods, enhancing productivity.
How can scalable systems in game development save time?
Scalable systems allow you to use a single object with variable attributes, reducing redundancy and allowing for easier debugging and updates.
Why should time-consuming tasks like asset creation be streamlined or delegated?
Streamlining or delegating tasks allows you to focus on core development, improving efficiency and using time on tasks aligned with your skills.
How does practicing 'active' versus 'passive' feedback benefit development?
Passive feedback, like surveys, allows players to engage on their own time, providing developers constant input without needing to be actively involved.
What is the importance of taking programming notes?
Programming notes help quickly identify and resolve bugs, improving productivity during debugging sessions.
How should tools be used effectively in game development?
Tools should aid rather than hinder progress. Focus on essential tools needed for development rather than over-planning.
Why is it important to continually improve skills during game development?
Improving skills increases efficiency in both time management and development, leading to faster and higher quality game completion.
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- 00:00:00hey so I made some lifestyle choices
- 00:00:02that allowed me to adjust my time in
- 00:00:04order to make more time to make my game
- 00:00:06and I actually ended up making Dodge
- 00:00:08King in three months so I'm going to
- 00:00:09share some tips that I took in order to
- 00:00:11be very efficient when making your game
- 00:00:14um so let's go ahead and get that
- 00:00:15started but before we begin let's go
- 00:00:17ahead and ask this important question
- 00:00:18that you probably have why is this
- 00:00:20important and the truth is you know
- 00:00:22making games does take time it's a
- 00:00:24challenge there's going to be obstacles
- 00:00:25that we're going to have left and right
- 00:00:27and I remember when I was working on my
- 00:00:28first game it took over a year and there
- 00:00:30was a point where I had to stop and I
- 00:00:31was like this is taking too much time
- 00:00:33what can I do to optimize right then I
- 00:00:36ended up doing a couple of things that
- 00:00:38drastically changed my productivity and
- 00:00:40this is how I was able to make dodge
- 00:00:42King within three months so I've
- 00:00:44organized a couple of things that we can
- 00:00:46talk about here but I've categorized it
- 00:00:47in three parts uh the personal part
- 00:00:50where it's applicable for pretty much
- 00:00:51anything development decisions are going
- 00:00:53to be more focused on what you as a game
- 00:00:55developer should do and then the mindset
- 00:00:57framework which is how we should be
- 00:00:58thinking about these problems
- 00:01:00so first of all you need to set an alarm
- 00:01:04to go to bed okay rest is critical it is
- 00:01:07super important you need to be really
- 00:01:09well rested to handle any type of
- 00:01:10challenge during the day right and I
- 00:01:12think one of the biggest issues that we
- 00:01:14have is we have alarm clocks that go out
- 00:01:16in the morning and the issue with that
- 00:01:18is that we end up interrupting our own
- 00:01:21sleep and the consequence for that is
- 00:01:23that we end up feeling more tired less
- 00:01:25rested and we're just not going to be as
- 00:01:28efficient as possible the crazy part is
- 00:01:30as humans we have an internal clock so
- 00:01:33that being said if we kind of went
- 00:01:35backwards and just set an alarm to go to
- 00:01:38bed consistently let's say something
- 00:01:39like 10 p.m. then you can go ahead and
- 00:01:42you know go to bed shut down everything
- 00:01:44get rest and then when you wake up
- 00:01:46naturally in the morning if you wake up
- 00:01:48really early you have extra time and if
- 00:01:49you don't guess what you're well rested
- 00:01:51and you will still be efficient during
- 00:01:53the day so it's really important to set
- 00:01:55an alarm to go to bed not one to get you
- 00:01:58out of bed all right that's number one
- 00:02:01the next one is meal prep if you are a
- 00:02:03person that cooks if you're a person
- 00:02:04that eats a lot inside it is super
- 00:02:06critical that you should consider meal
- 00:02:08prepping and the reason why I say this
- 00:02:09is because it probably takes 20 minutes
- 00:02:11to half an hour to make a meal and then
- 00:02:13you know you eat the meal take some time
- 00:02:15to digest whatever and you're like okay
- 00:02:17you move on the thing is every single
- 00:02:19time you're cooking a meal that's 30
- 00:02:20minutes of preparation time to get
- 00:02:22everything set right now it depends on
- 00:02:24the actual meal itself but if you can
- 00:02:26take an extra 10 minutes right let's say
- 00:02:28we take 40 minutes to cook some rice and
- 00:02:30chicken and beans and everything and you
- 00:02:32know suddenly we have more chicken more
- 00:02:34rice more everything and then we divide
- 00:02:36that for the week well guess what all
- 00:02:37you have to do is reheat your food
- 00:02:39whether it's on a stove or a microwave
- 00:02:41and suddenly you just saved 30 minutes
- 00:02:44of cooking for you know during the week
- 00:02:46so super super simple hack but you
- 00:02:49should genuinely consider doing meal
- 00:02:51preps since it actually saves you a lot
- 00:02:52of time and I would also suggest that
- 00:02:55you know we have chores to do and I
- 00:02:57would say if you can do all of your
- 00:02:59chores in one sitting then that would be
- 00:03:01really good because that way you're not
- 00:03:03spreading out those tasks during the day
- 00:03:05so if you overload that with you know
- 00:03:06cleaning up doing your laundry doing
- 00:03:08your groceries cooking that's something
- 00:03:10that can really give you more time to
- 00:03:12focus on larger chunks during your day
- 00:03:14right um now there are exceptions right
- 00:03:16let's say you have a pet or you have a
- 00:03:17family member that you have to take care
- 00:03:18of or maybe obligations right and it's
- 00:03:21pretty common that most of us work or
- 00:03:23we're at school or we're trying to you
- 00:03:25know make extra time for a reason right
- 00:03:27so you know just make sure that these
- 00:03:29are small things you can do to just keep
- 00:03:32gaining those increments of extra
- 00:03:33minutes extra hours that actually play a
- 00:03:36big role later right and then I'm going
- 00:03:38to talk about working out right exercise
- 00:03:41is critical and I don't want to hear an
- 00:03:43excuse of you saying oh I don't need to
- 00:03:45work out I don't need to do this no no
- 00:03:46no you need proper nutrition you need to
- 00:03:48exercise you really need to move your
- 00:03:50body now my controversial opinion or
- 00:03:52something that I think is important is
- 00:03:54if you are going to work out you know
- 00:03:55you shouldn't work like work out for
- 00:03:58like three plus hours right now you know
- 00:04:00if you're doing a cardio day that
- 00:04:01requires you to do half an hour or a
- 00:04:03whole hour go for it if you're going to
- 00:04:05do your arms your legs any part of your
- 00:04:07body do what you have to do but the key
- 00:04:10here is to be efficient at it right um
- 00:04:13sometimes there are people that you know
- 00:04:14they go to the gym and they're just kind
- 00:04:15of on the treadmill all day and that's
- 00:04:17great for them I don't have an issue
- 00:04:18with that but what I'm saying is if you
- 00:04:20want to create more time as a developer
- 00:04:22or just somebody doing their project you
- 00:04:24should really consider doing efficient
- 00:04:26workouts so that you can minimize the
- 00:04:28time in the gym or working out and then
- 00:04:31you know still hitting the areas that
- 00:04:32you want to hit all
- 00:04:34right and then another extremely
- 00:04:36powerful tool is saying no right and you
- 00:04:39might get called out for it but I'm
- 00:04:40gonna talk about this for a little bit
- 00:04:42because if you say no to the new ideas
- 00:04:45to going out to distractions to any
- 00:04:48opportunity that halts you you're
- 00:04:50indirectly creating more time to say yes
- 00:04:52to the thing that actually matters the
- 00:04:54most so you should really really pay
- 00:04:56attention to you know your environment
- 00:04:58like are you in a position where are
- 00:04:59required to go out often um are there
- 00:05:02people that are you know kind of like
- 00:05:04bugging you daily like hey like I I want
- 00:05:05to do this with you and you kind of have
- 00:05:07to like be defensive about it or simply
- 00:05:09you know maybe you have a lot of ideas
- 00:05:11that you want to commit to but I
- 00:05:13recommend you not doing that just say no
- 00:05:15to the things that don't matter and then
- 00:05:17say yes to what actually matters and
- 00:05:19then I have two little tips for you
- 00:05:20because I understand that saying no
- 00:05:23might be very difficult to you know a
- 00:05:24people pleaser right if you're a people
- 00:05:26pleaser then you know you might feel
- 00:05:28guilty you might feel a little awkward
- 00:05:29about you know like do I have to reject
- 00:05:31right so the two the two things to keep
- 00:05:33in mind one when you say no try not to
- 00:05:38add any more excuses and the reason why
- 00:05:40I say this is because if you're in a
- 00:05:41conversation with somebody who's very
- 00:05:43dominant in what they want they will try
- 00:05:46to take your excuses and then fold it
- 00:05:49against you to the point where you
- 00:05:50change your no to a yes right so it's
- 00:05:52just better to say no stand firm on it
- 00:05:54don't necessarily bring up excuses and
- 00:05:56just see what happens because from there
- 00:05:58you're not creating the the area of
- 00:06:00space for the other person to attack you
- 00:06:02and you know change your answer and
- 00:06:04number two by you saying no you're
- 00:06:06actually doing yourself and the person
- 00:06:08requesting you a favor one you're saving
- 00:06:11yourself time for yourself to do your
- 00:06:12project to do what you have to do but
- 00:06:14also um you know let's say you did say
- 00:06:17yes you know like you said no then you
- 00:06:19changed to yes the request that you will
- 00:06:22be performing you may do it
- 00:06:24half-heartedly right you might do it
- 00:06:25with a little bit of like grudged you
- 00:06:28you might be like ah you know maybe I
- 00:06:29shouldn't have done this and as a result
- 00:06:31you may not be fulfilling the person's
- 00:06:32request to their fullest so really just
- 00:06:35pay attention to what really matters and
- 00:06:38focus on that and that just means say no
- 00:06:40to a lot of
- 00:06:41things and then if possible um you
- 00:06:45should really go autopilot on your
- 00:06:47decisions now I'm not saying autopilot
- 00:06:49is the way you should live your life I
- 00:06:50genuinely think living in the present is
- 00:06:51amazing that there's a lot of things to
- 00:06:53observe and such however what I want to
- 00:06:55point out is routines are established
- 00:06:58for a reason right when you have a
- 00:07:00routine you're basically doing tasks
- 00:07:02automatically so if everything that I've
- 00:07:04described to you so far is not in your
- 00:07:06routine you know go ahead and try
- 00:07:08thinking about okay what can I do to get
- 00:07:09in the habit of doing that so that in my
- 00:07:11daily day-to-day tasks I have that ready
- 00:07:14and I kind of just automatically do it
- 00:07:16right and this will automatically help
- 00:07:18you optimize more free time for you to
- 00:07:20use what you need to
- 00:07:21do and then we have
- 00:07:24distractions and I'm especially poting
- 00:07:26out social media because as developers
- 00:07:28we actually should be marketing on
- 00:07:30social media pretty often but sometimes
- 00:07:32that bleeds into you know sending memes
- 00:07:34and staying staying on social media for
- 00:07:36a while so there's a bunch of things
- 00:07:38that we have to be a little bit careful
- 00:07:39about um but I would say you know be
- 00:07:42aware of social media if you are a
- 00:07:44person that takes a lot of phone calls
- 00:07:45either keep it short or simply delegate
- 00:07:47it or leave it for another time later
- 00:07:49when you're done with your um current
- 00:07:52work uh if you get invited to go out a
- 00:07:55lot that's absolutely cool good for you
- 00:07:57but you know try to keep that at a
- 00:07:58minimum because going out requires you
- 00:07:59to get ready then to drive then to go
- 00:08:02and those are hours that you could be
- 00:08:04using and then of course if you're
- 00:08:06somebody that watches like movies or
- 00:08:08anime or something on Netflix you know
- 00:08:09you there's a space and time for that
- 00:08:11but you know you don't want to overdo it
- 00:08:13either and so of course I'm not saying
- 00:08:15take this at an extreme level because of
- 00:08:17course there's going to be emergencies
- 00:08:18there's going to be situations in life
- 00:08:20that happens and it's super important to
- 00:08:22you know focus on that right but if you
- 00:08:24can mitigate all of these um
- 00:08:27distractions if you can really stop
- 00:08:28being distracted by the daily Norms that
- 00:08:32occur then you will suddenly realize
- 00:08:34wait if I don't go on social media for
- 00:08:37multiple hours maybe I can do this right
- 00:08:39so like avoid Doom scrolling and
- 00:08:42obviously there's other things you can
- 00:08:44do such as setting alarms setting timers
- 00:08:46setting limits so that you can continue
- 00:08:49avoiding these distractions but I simply
- 00:08:51recommend you getting in the habit of
- 00:08:53just mentally not distracting yourself
- 00:08:55because it is a skill to like be focused
- 00:08:58so the more you work on that the more
- 00:09:00likely you're going to keep getting
- 00:09:00focused and as a result you will still
- 00:09:02make more time for
- 00:09:04yourself um the next point that I want
- 00:09:06to bring is actually making shorter
- 00:09:08breaks right and like I said breaks are
- 00:09:11important you are human you're gonna
- 00:09:12need rest you're going to need your time
- 00:09:14to do your things that's absolutely fair
- 00:09:15and valid what I'm saying is don't say
- 00:09:18oh I'm gonna take a break and then you
- 00:09:19disappear forever right so um sometimes
- 00:09:22you might you know take a break super
- 00:09:23late at night and then it hits and then
- 00:09:26you get hit with that okay I'm really
- 00:09:27tired maybe let me stay on my phone for
- 00:09:29a little bit longer may maybe let me
- 00:09:31continue this conversation a little bit
- 00:09:32longer and suddenly you're just losing
- 00:09:35Time by doing that so try to keep in
- 00:09:38mind that you can take a break there's
- 00:09:40no issues with that but try to keep it
- 00:09:42short so that you can continue going
- 00:09:43back into the flow of things that you
- 00:09:44need to work on and yeah just really pay
- 00:09:47attention to that because sometimes we
- 00:09:49autopilot on the break so if we're on
- 00:09:52the break and then we're like really
- 00:09:53enjoying the break and then we're still
- 00:09:55on autopilot in the break you know we're
- 00:09:58probably going to waste more time than
- 00:09:59you I
- 00:10:00think and the hack of all time and this
- 00:10:03is such an underrated one that I
- 00:10:05genuinely believe in is you need to use
- 00:10:08Parkinson's law right so Parkin law uh
- 00:10:11Parkinson's law states that work
- 00:10:14expands so as to fill the time available
- 00:10:18for its completion what that means is if
- 00:10:21I say I need this game to be done in a
- 00:10:23month from now all the work I would need
- 00:10:25to do in that month suddenly gets
- 00:10:27compressed in that month so that by the
- 00:10:29end of the month my game is complete the
- 00:10:31same way if I said I need my game to be
- 00:10:33completed in six months well guess what
- 00:10:35the exact same of work that I would do
- 00:10:37in the month suddenly expands to six
- 00:10:40months so by the time the six months are
- 00:10:42over assuming that I'm following the
- 00:10:44deadline I'm going to finish the game in
- 00:10:45six months so it is important to have
- 00:10:49realistic goals of your deadlines and
- 00:10:51things happen like you know you might
- 00:10:52say hey I'm going to get this done in
- 00:10:53two months and then something pops up
- 00:10:55and then it happens that's fine but
- 00:10:58really practice and really get in the
- 00:10:59habit of using Parkinson's law try to
- 00:11:02make really tight deadlines and while
- 00:11:05you're practicing all of these extra
- 00:11:07habits to build your um you know free
- 00:11:11time suddenly you're going to see wait a
- 00:11:13minute maybe this is possible so really
- 00:11:17keep that in mind all right now we're
- 00:11:19going to get into the development
- 00:11:20decisions and what this basically means
- 00:11:22is I'm going to start talking more about
- 00:11:24what you can do as a game developer to
- 00:11:26optimize your productivity in gamees
- 00:11:29right number
- 00:11:31one you can only do one project at a
- 00:11:35time do not overcommit to multiple ideas
- 00:11:39don't say I'm going to do this prototype
- 00:11:40then I'm going to go back and forth no
- 00:11:43if you've ever wondered how to get
- 00:11:44multiple projects done it's simply by
- 00:11:47grabbing one completing it and then
- 00:11:49moving on to the next one so before I
- 00:11:51went into game development I was
- 00:11:52actually an author right so I wrote a
- 00:11:54book and then I wanted to do a revision
- 00:11:55of the book and then I did a small
- 00:11:57little web comic series and then I said
- 00:11:58okay I want want to get into Game Dev
- 00:12:00imagine what would happen if I was doing
- 00:12:02Game Dev and then I was also balancing
- 00:12:03the book at the same time suddenly I'd
- 00:12:05be going back and forth with the
- 00:12:06narrative I'd be switching my mindset my
- 00:12:09flows and I just wouldn't achieve the
- 00:12:11productivity that I could so you really
- 00:12:14need to focus on one at a time and I
- 00:12:16know it's so easy to say I have this new
- 00:12:18idea I want to try this out you have to
- 00:12:21hold it in until you finish and if you
- 00:12:23can't do that you're going to end up
- 00:12:25losing quality you're going to end up
- 00:12:26losing productivity you're going to end
- 00:12:28up losing a lot of value time so even if
- 00:12:31it gets boring or hard or difficult you
- 00:12:35really need to focus at one at a time
- 00:12:38once you establish this you'll slowly
- 00:12:40realize oh when I do finish this and I
- 00:12:42want to add all these extra features
- 00:12:43I'll just put that in my next game or
- 00:12:46I'll do an update when when the core
- 00:12:48game is done so really just drill on you
- 00:12:52know one game at a
- 00:12:53time I would heavily suggest and this
- 00:12:56depends on the game that you make but
- 00:12:58you should really invest in scalable
- 00:13:00systems and what this means is maybe so
- 00:13:04I made so for example I made a mistake
- 00:13:05where every enemy that I created in the
- 00:13:08first version of Dodge King had their
- 00:13:10own script their own class their own
- 00:13:12variables they were literally their own
- 00:13:14unique objects and that's an issue
- 00:13:17because at the end of the day they
- 00:13:19behaved identical to all the other
- 00:13:21enemies so what happened was if I had a
- 00:13:23bug in one enemy then I would have to
- 00:13:25specifically work really hard to fix
- 00:13:27that one bug when when in reality I
- 00:13:30could have made one game object that did
- 00:13:32every single enemy behavior and then all
- 00:13:35I would have to do was assign a specific
- 00:13:37variable to say oh today I want this
- 00:13:39flying enemy right so then I would spawn
- 00:13:41that game object induce the data that
- 00:13:44says you're a flying enemy and now all
- 00:13:46of the systems that I've created for
- 00:13:47this game object now have the exact same
- 00:13:50properties as all the other enemies so
- 00:13:53scalable systems is basically just
- 00:13:55saying make one unit one game object one
- 00:13:58one of one and then just use the
- 00:14:01variables to change how it behaves not
- 00:14:04oh let me make this enemy from scratch
- 00:14:06and then let me make this enemy from
- 00:14:07scratch and then suddenly they have
- 00:14:09different properties different rules
- 00:14:11different ways how they behave and it
- 00:14:13just makes development more hectic
- 00:14:15because now you have to account for test
- 00:14:16cases you have to account for debugging
- 00:14:18different items there's a bunch of
- 00:14:20issues that occur when you have that so
- 00:14:23if possible and if this is part of your
- 00:14:25scale of your game one game object one
- 00:14:27enemy and then just variables that
- 00:14:29changes everything if you can do that
- 00:14:32making more enemies become significantly
- 00:14:35easier faster and suddenly you're saving
- 00:14:37time on the debugging
- 00:14:40part uh this is an interesting point um
- 00:14:44this may completely depend on where
- 00:14:45you're at at your game development but I
- 00:14:47would heavily suggest recycling assets
- 00:14:50and there's two reasons why number one
- 00:14:52is sometimes when we create a new asset
- 00:14:55it takes a lot of time so for the
- 00:14:57example that you can see in the clip I
- 00:14:59actually was debating okay it would be
- 00:15:00really cool if I had a way to make
- 00:15:03Sprite art of this robot taking damage
- 00:15:05right so like if I hit it it does like a
- 00:15:07little I don't know like a like some
- 00:15:09type of Animation right the problem that
- 00:15:11I realized doing this is that it would
- 00:15:12take me probably like two hours to get
- 00:15:15it right and that's being generous
- 00:15:17because I take a lot of time when I make
- 00:15:18Sprite art in fact I'm trying not to
- 00:15:20make that much Sprite art anymore
- 00:15:21because I want to focus on the system on
- 00:15:23the gameplay but I digress the whole
- 00:15:25point that I'm trying to get to is when
- 00:15:28I made when I was attempting to make the
- 00:15:30Sprite Art For You Know The Enemy
- 00:15:32getting hit I realized whoa I'm spending
- 00:15:35a lot of time doing this and this is for
- 00:15:38one enemy I'm gonna have other enemies
- 00:15:41that I have to you know uh make original
- 00:15:44hit animations for when in reality I
- 00:15:46already have all the enemies established
- 00:15:48in the game so what I did is I actually
- 00:15:50recycled the same animation for when the
- 00:15:53enemy attacks so if you look at the
- 00:15:54screen for a second when the enem is
- 00:15:56about to attack he does his little shake
- 00:15:57and he turns red and then he attacks but
- 00:16:00now when you hit him he does the same
- 00:16:02thing he turns red he has a little Flash
- 00:16:04and what I'm doing is I'm using the
- 00:16:06other systems to indicate hitting so now
- 00:16:09he's shaking now he has these uh bursts
- 00:16:11of stars and and little paint coming out
- 00:16:13and you know the camera shakes just a
- 00:16:15little bit when that happens so there's
- 00:16:16other ways to delegate that and I think
- 00:16:18that's really important and the second
- 00:16:20reason why I mentioned this is because
- 00:16:21you have to think about it like this
- 00:16:23back in the SNES days the NES days when
- 00:16:26you know um game development as a whole
- 00:16:28was very very limited the developers had
- 00:16:31to use their creativity to you know
- 00:16:34indicate or visually show off something
- 00:16:36that they wanted to do when they may not
- 00:16:38have the resources to do it so you know
- 00:16:41there might have been recycled
- 00:16:42animations that you've seen everywhere I
- 00:16:44think my favorite example is Mega Man
- 00:16:46Battle Network where Mega Man Has a
- 00:16:48bunch of forms and literally all they
- 00:16:50did was they just overlaid his Sprite
- 00:16:52changed his color added a extra weapon
- 00:16:54on his hand and that's it and they
- 00:16:56didn't remake it from scratch they
- 00:16:58didn't get new artists to you know make
- 00:17:01new poses and then new programmers to
- 00:17:03change how everything behaves it's just
- 00:17:05an Sprite overlay Sprite color change
- 00:17:08extra weapon and guess what going back
- 00:17:10to the scalable system just variables
- 00:17:13that would change make man's behavior so
- 00:17:16really scalable systems recycled assets
- 00:17:19are you know together you can save so
- 00:17:21much time with making your
- 00:17:23game and then I would also suggest that
- 00:17:26if you have an artist um or somebody
- 00:17:29that can do other tasks for you delegate
- 00:17:32as much as possible and in in concept
- 00:17:35this is how a team works this is just
- 00:17:37how it is right but for example on the
- 00:17:38left you can see this is a draft I made
- 00:17:40in 20 minutes about how I wanted my logo
- 00:17:42and then I got my friend ponpon Arts to
- 00:17:45you know take the draft and then you
- 00:17:46know she did the professional artwork
- 00:17:48for it and this is the game capsule for
- 00:17:50it it took her eight business days can
- 00:17:52you imagine if I had to take eight
- 00:17:53business days on my own to attempt to do
- 00:17:56something that maybe I don't have the
- 00:17:57skill set to do but then suddenly that's
- 00:17:59eight days I'm not programming I'm not
- 00:18:02fixing my game so this might be obvious
- 00:18:05but it's really important to really make
- 00:18:08sure that you as an individual can
- 00:18:10delegate as much as
- 00:18:13possible if you are a game programmer
- 00:18:16which I'm assuming uh you know most game
- 00:18:18developers have to have some level of
- 00:18:19programming you should really invest in
- 00:18:22taking better programming notes what I
- 00:18:25mean by this is that most of the time
- 00:18:27that we have debugging or
- 00:18:28troubleshooting issues you know we're
- 00:18:30always going back and forth with is the
- 00:18:32syntax right did I get the right game
- 00:18:34object you know what am I doing to
- 00:18:37actually fix this bug and personally at
- 00:18:41least for me and this is why I'm
- 00:18:42mentioning this if I were to take notes
- 00:18:45on exactly what line did what it would
- 00:18:47be faster for me to detect what the
- 00:18:49issue was of course there's going to be
- 00:18:51the compiler error you're going to see
- 00:18:53for example on Unity if you get an error
- 00:18:55it tells you oh this line is incorrect
- 00:18:56go ahead and fix it but sometimes
- 00:18:58there's more context that is required to
- 00:19:00fix that issue so here on the screen and
- 00:19:04this is just a screenshot of a random
- 00:19:05system that I had that was in charge of
- 00:19:07making levels um I I don't know what
- 00:19:10fourth or fifth means and I can see that
- 00:19:13there's you know instantaneous which
- 00:19:14means we're spawning the fourth friend
- 00:19:17on this location like I can I can look
- 00:19:20at it and say okay maybe I understand
- 00:19:23but for example if we look at this slide
- 00:19:25if I had actually put the notes to
- 00:19:28genuine ly explain what is going on it
- 00:19:30would be faster for me to take care of
- 00:19:32the issue so let's say I had a bug here
- 00:19:34right well look on all the way on the
- 00:19:36top oh this is responsible for low HP
- 00:19:38effects okay so we have the object
- 00:19:39pulling so this is what calls the object
- 00:19:42okay what's next okay so we have a
- 00:19:43self-healing code so this is the line
- 00:19:45that takes care of that if I just got in
- 00:19:47the habit of doing this more often half
- 00:19:50of the bugs that I would have had would
- 00:19:52have been solved way more quickly so
- 00:19:54please take notes more carefully on what
- 00:19:56you're programming so that when you do
- 00:19:58inspect it again you're able to fix it
- 00:20:01more
- 00:20:03rapidly next we have active and passive
- 00:20:06feedback loops right and what active
- 00:20:09means is you are required to be there in
- 00:20:12order to see what's going on feedback
- 00:20:14wise and then passive is the input is
- 00:20:17what you'll be receiving so let me break
- 00:20:19that down a bit if so in this clip
- 00:20:21specifically this is my friend playing
- 00:20:23the very first prototype I ever made
- 00:20:25right and it's cool because you know I'm
- 00:20:26having fun I'm like yeah I'm watching my
- 00:20:28my own project uh getting played it's
- 00:20:30it's a great experience right the
- 00:20:32problem is I'm sitting down there and
- 00:20:34I'm basically observing his thoughts his
- 00:20:36comments uh what he's seeing what he's
- 00:20:39missing and this is great I'm not saying
- 00:20:41active feed uh doing an active play test
- 00:20:44is wrong what I realized though is if I
- 00:20:47made it passive if I sent him the demo
- 00:20:50and then I sent him a survey then
- 00:20:52suddenly he can do the demo and then
- 00:20:54when he's done he would go to the survey
- 00:20:57and answer the questions that I'm
- 00:20:58specifically asking for then use his
- 00:21:01results to fix what I'm actually looking
- 00:21:03for now I heavily recommend you doing an
- 00:21:06active play test on your first couple of
- 00:21:09times you know just to see what your
- 00:21:11prototype looks like but after a while
- 00:21:13after you have a bunch of um development
- 00:21:15done after you have a lot of um you know
- 00:21:18like the game is more polished there's
- 00:21:20more features you know there should be
- 00:21:22an automated process to do this so
- 00:21:25really consider making a passive play
- 00:21:27test mode where play players can get
- 00:21:29your game whether it's on itch whether
- 00:21:31it's through an email and then also link
- 00:21:33them a survey so that you can see
- 00:21:36exactly what they felt what they went
- 00:21:37through and also this gives them the
- 00:21:39time to really think about what they
- 00:21:41were going through when they were
- 00:21:42playing the game so again active is good
- 00:21:45I'm not saying avoid active but if there
- 00:21:47are more opportunities to do passive
- 00:21:51play tests then you should definitely
- 00:21:52invest in that as well because guess
- 00:21:54what your players will be taking their
- 00:21:56time to do their stuff while you
- 00:21:57continue to deel your
- 00:22:00game so I discussed this earlier and
- 00:22:03it's really important to have large
- 00:22:05chunks of periods right so like if you
- 00:22:08have the whole morning or the whole
- 00:22:10afternoon or the whole night off right
- 00:22:12we're talking about two three maybe four
- 00:22:14hours if you can find a way to do all
- 00:22:16the habits I've discussed to generate
- 00:22:19four hours in the night or and in the
- 00:22:21morning then you will have more time to
- 00:22:23do Focus to work this will allow you to
- 00:22:26work on your coding this will allow you
- 00:22:27to work on the core on the gameplay Loop
- 00:22:29these are the most important parts
- 00:22:31because remember most important parts of
- 00:22:33the game are going to be the actual game
- 00:22:35not the um you know little menus that
- 00:22:38show up not the little side effects it's
- 00:22:40what happens in the core of the gameplay
- 00:22:42Loop and you need to spend your most
- 00:22:46deep um time using uh yeah using your
- 00:22:50deep time to get this part done if you
- 00:22:54don't have um you know large chunks of
- 00:22:57work right then or rather if you have
- 00:23:00small periods of time that's what that's
- 00:23:02when you would use your time to do the
- 00:23:03quick tasks this would be okay what art
- 00:23:06can I fix um what can I delegate what
- 00:23:08should I plan out things that don't
- 00:23:10require so much deep focus or deep work
- 00:23:12but you do need to keep that in in mind
- 00:23:15when you account for that so remember
- 00:23:18the whole reason why we're trying to
- 00:23:19make as much time as possible is to do
- 00:23:21more deep work because that's the most
- 00:23:24important part of your game there are
- 00:23:25other parts of your game that are
- 00:23:26important which are the small little
- 00:23:28quick t but that should be delegated to
- 00:23:30the areas that you know require a little
- 00:23:34bit of time so when you have those you
- 00:23:35know if you have like a lunch break or
- 00:23:36something or you know maybe you're about
- 00:23:38to go out but you have half an hour
- 00:23:40before you do then yeah go ahead and
- 00:23:41work on those small little
- 00:23:44tasks and then a little this might also
- 00:23:47be controversial too but I think that we
- 00:23:49have a bunch of tools I think tools are
- 00:23:51amazing I think they're there for a
- 00:23:53reason but I also think that we're using
- 00:23:56uh tools the wrong way and what I mean
- 00:23:58by this is that sometimes we overspend a
- 00:24:02lot of time using for example uh a GDB
- 00:24:06or a task manager tool just planning
- 00:24:08just thinking what should I do next this
- 00:24:10and that and these are valid these are
- 00:24:11important these are things that you
- 00:24:12should definitely think about and invest
- 00:24:15but sometimes we get in this Loop where
- 00:24:18we say Okay I want my gdd to be this I
- 00:24:22want to have my game to have this detail
- 00:24:24and this and that and you're just you
- 00:24:25just have this whole list of things and
- 00:24:27you don't know when to stop making the
- 00:24:29list you don't know when to iterate you
- 00:24:30don't know when to optimize you just
- 00:24:31keep adding and adding and you go back
- 00:24:33and forth there's a point where you're
- 00:24:36wasting time when you're
- 00:24:38overinvestigation
- 00:24:58constantly thinking about new ideas or
- 00:25:00features or I need to plan this out
- 00:25:02before I actually do this like I said
- 00:25:05there is validity behind that there are
- 00:25:07things you do want to plan out there are
- 00:25:08things that you do want to pay attention
- 00:25:09to but you should not spend you know
- 00:25:13days planning every single little detail
- 00:25:16when you can spend that time actually
- 00:25:17iterating on the actual game this is why
- 00:25:20the Deep work part is super important
- 00:25:21because let's say you reached an
- 00:25:24obstacle where you really need to see
- 00:25:27how a specific level element works right
- 00:25:30and you're testing uh this level but
- 00:25:32then you're testing another version of
- 00:25:34it then you're testing another a third
- 00:25:36version of it that's the time that you
- 00:25:38spend to do that not when you plan
- 00:25:41because when you plan it out you might
- 00:25:42say oh this plan's going to be perfect
- 00:25:43this and that but then it doesn't reach
- 00:25:45the requirements that you're looking for
- 00:25:46before you know it you keep reiterating
- 00:25:48your plan and you don't reiterate with
- 00:25:51your action you should focus action
- 00:25:53first so what I'm saying is there's a
- 00:25:55bunch of tools they're great use them as
- 00:25:58you want
- 00:25:58but really only focus on the tools that
- 00:26:00you actually need that would be your
- 00:26:02programming that would be your artwork
- 00:26:04that would be this that would be that
- 00:26:05maybe if you need Task Manager Tools
- 00:26:07because you're managing a team sure but
- 00:26:09if you know that the scope of your game
- 00:26:11is kind of small you really don't need
- 00:26:13this huge robust uh way to calculate
- 00:26:15everything just work on the action
- 00:26:19that's the most important
- 00:26:21part finally I'm going to end this
- 00:26:23presentation with the mindset framework
- 00:26:26okay this is things you should consider
- 00:26:27when you're
- 00:26:28in the process of making more time
- 00:26:31gaining these habits learning how to
- 00:26:33develop more efficiently working on
- 00:26:35things more quickly so number one and
- 00:26:39this is the most important thing please
- 00:26:41please listen to this for a second
- 00:26:42because if there's anything in this
- 00:26:43entire video it's this you need to
- 00:26:47practice drilling okay and what drilling
- 00:26:50essentially is and you might you might
- 00:26:53have this example here but have you ever
- 00:26:56had a bug an issue a you know an
- 00:27:02obstacle and you're like okay I'm going
- 00:27:04to fix this I'm going to go ahead and
- 00:27:05look at the forms I'm gonna look at
- 00:27:06Reddit I'm GNA look at other tools I'm
- 00:27:08gonna see how I'm going to fix this
- 00:27:09right and you just can't find a solution
- 00:27:12you just end up kind of like you're
- 00:27:14stuck on it right maybe hours go by
- 00:27:16you're working on it and you're like
- 00:27:17there's nothing I can do to fix this
- 00:27:20right the issue is if you do not resolve
- 00:27:25the ISS the the the obstacle at hand if
- 00:27:28you do not resolve that problem right
- 00:27:30now your mind is going to create the
- 00:27:32least path of resistance so you're going
- 00:27:34to say okay I don't know how to do this
- 00:27:37but I'm going to go ahead and work on
- 00:27:38this other task and what's the issue
- 00:27:40with that you're losing your focus on
- 00:27:42the actual problem that you have to
- 00:27:44solve so what happens is you start
- 00:27:46delaying this problem over time and then
- 00:27:49it becomes a bigger issue to the point
- 00:27:51where you working on other things makes
- 00:27:54this problem what we call a Band-Aid
- 00:27:57solution you just kind of leave it in
- 00:27:58the background or maybe you kind of do
- 00:28:00something to kind of delegate the actual
- 00:28:02problem now this goes back to the breaks
- 00:28:05cuz it is important to take a break
- 00:28:07analyze like have you ever tooken a
- 00:28:09shower and then in the shower you're
- 00:28:10like oh wait maybe if I did this it
- 00:28:12would work yeah so it is important to
- 00:28:14take a break it is important to have
- 00:28:16those spaces to really think about the
- 00:28:18problem but the reason why I'm saying
- 00:28:21You must drill is because the more time
- 00:28:24you allow this problem to not be solved
- 00:28:28the farther away you're getting from
- 00:28:30resolving your core gameplay Loop and so
- 00:28:33if your if this problem is so
- 00:28:36fundamental and if it's affecting the
- 00:28:38gameplay as a whole like especially the
- 00:28:40gameplay Loop the core part of it you're
- 00:28:43basically delegating your game's
- 00:28:46production and it's so easy to say oh I
- 00:28:49have this problem I'll work on it later
- 00:28:51uh I'll I'll work on something else but
- 00:28:54you should really get in the habit of
- 00:28:56fixing that immediately
- 00:28:58and even if you can't fix it immediately
- 00:29:00just keep tackling it over and over
- 00:29:01again take your breaks think about it go
- 00:29:03back but do not engage on another task
- 00:29:07until that is done otherwise you're
- 00:29:09subconsciously making the habit of
- 00:29:11focusing on other problems instead of
- 00:29:13the actual most important problem and
- 00:29:16when you do this you're psychologically
- 00:29:17showing yourself hey this is important
- 00:29:20but I'm I'm showing I'm proving to
- 00:29:22myself that it's not that important I'll
- 00:29:25work on it I'll work on it later I'll
- 00:29:26show I'll focus on something else and
- 00:29:29before you know it you are in the habit
- 00:29:31of ignoring hard
- 00:29:33challenges if you can't take a hard
- 00:29:37challenge or if you avoid a hard
- 00:29:38challenge you're not going to grow
- 00:29:40you're G to have a bunch of um mindset
- 00:29:45switches that kind of like show you how
- 00:29:47to avoid these issues going forward and
- 00:29:49then the next time you find a really
- 00:29:51hard problem your brain is going to say
- 00:29:54well I can ignore this I'll try
- 00:29:56something else
- 00:29:59work on this and you will see how much
- 00:30:02more effective you'll be as a developer
- 00:30:05and then over time when you when you see
- 00:30:07a new problem when you see a new
- 00:30:08challenge something very difficult
- 00:30:10you're actually going to get excited and
- 00:30:11say wait I know how to deal with this
- 00:30:13now now I might not know the actual
- 00:30:14technical answer but I know I will have
- 00:30:16the capability the discipline the
- 00:30:19resistance the ability to sit down and
- 00:30:21work through this if you can do that
- 00:30:24then suddenly the time that you've been
- 00:30:25creating to actually deal with this
- 00:30:28problem is now worth it because you now
- 00:30:30know what it takes to actually overcome
- 00:30:32the obstacle at least in a mental way
- 00:30:36really important lesson all right if you
- 00:30:38can't drill if you keep delegating
- 00:30:40you're not going to be focused and
- 00:30:41you're not going to achieve getting the
- 00:30:43game that you want so really focus on
- 00:30:47drilling I think masah hero Sakurai uh
- 00:30:50did an amazing job talking about
- 00:30:51internal steam
- 00:30:54basically as a game marketer you want to
- 00:30:57talk about your game but as a game
- 00:30:58developer you really need to stay quiet
- 00:31:01and it's such a difficult skill to
- 00:31:03master because sometimes we get a new
- 00:31:05feature sometimes we see something that
- 00:31:07works sometimes we do something really
- 00:31:08cool and the first thing we want to do
- 00:31:10is tell our friends tell our family like
- 00:31:12oh I just made the system now we can do
- 00:31:13this cool the problem with that and as
- 00:31:17saakar right says if you share that
- 00:31:21information you're going to feel a level
- 00:31:23of completion you're going to feel like
- 00:31:25oh I I actually completed therefore I
- 00:31:27actually can tell somebody and suddenly
- 00:31:30you're not compelled to be hyperfocused
- 00:31:33hyperproductive you're now kind of like
- 00:31:35relaxing a bit so Sakurai basically says
- 00:31:39the more frustrated you are with like
- 00:31:41not telling people what you want to you
- 00:31:43know share with what you just did the
- 00:31:46more compelled you are or the more
- 00:31:48compelled you are going to be to
- 00:31:50continue um surprising them or to
- 00:31:52continue like working on things so that
- 00:31:53when you do reveal the the the whole
- 00:31:55package it's like way more fulfilling
- 00:31:57right
- 00:31:58so um it's such a minor detail but it's
- 00:32:00super important because I remember
- 00:32:02talking to my friends about like oh I
- 00:32:03just made the system it looks cool
- 00:32:04whatever and literally the next two days
- 00:32:07I'm just lazy I'm just not working I'm
- 00:32:09just not doing what I have to do I'm
- 00:32:10just like h i mean they like it so I can
- 00:32:13and I don't know what it is it's
- 00:32:14probably like a subconscious thing I I
- 00:32:16just don't know but I really like
- 00:32:17sakurai's intent here when he says Hey
- 00:32:19internal steem keeps you frustrated and
- 00:32:21that frustration compels you to keep
- 00:32:23working hard on what you have to work on
- 00:32:25so if you're marketing your game
- 00:32:28absolutely talk about your game what you
- 00:32:29got to do there's nothing wrong with
- 00:32:30that but on a personal level of you
- 00:32:33communicating to your friend try try to
- 00:32:36hold that as much as possible because
- 00:32:38you will slow down after you share the
- 00:32:40good
- 00:32:42news and lastly one more important piece
- 00:32:45that I just cannot
- 00:32:47skip if in this entire
- 00:32:51process if you are not incrementally
- 00:32:55improving you're wasting your time
- 00:32:58learn to work learn to learn learn to
- 00:33:02iterate do what you have to do but get
- 00:33:06better at it because the better you get
- 00:33:09now the faster your skills will get here
- 00:33:13and the better the skill that you have
- 00:33:15the more efficient you will become and
- 00:33:16the more efficient you become the more
- 00:33:19optimized you are over time and what I
- 00:33:23and the example that I want to showcase
- 00:33:24here is on the left you can see again my
- 00:33:26very first prototype right
- 00:33:28and the walking system like the whole
- 00:33:30grid of like me moving left and right
- 00:33:32and up and down and this that that took
- 00:33:34me three weeks to make now context I
- 00:33:37didn't know how to program this is my
- 00:33:38first time doing it of course like
- 00:33:39that's normal stuff right but the issue
- 00:33:41with that is you know is it going to
- 00:33:44take three weeks to do this again if I
- 00:33:46ever wanted to fix it but then you look
- 00:33:49at the right this is literally a year
- 00:33:51later and when I made this new uh grid
- 00:33:54system where like things move faster and
- 00:33:56you move up and down you have directions
- 00:33:57and this and that it literally took me
- 00:33:59one day to program all of that so how
- 00:34:02did I go from three weeks of programming
- 00:34:04grids to one week well I had to learn I
- 00:34:08had to question I had to observe I had
- 00:34:10to read the syntax I had to study I had
- 00:34:12to get better at my craft so that I
- 00:34:15could become a better developer and the
- 00:34:17payoff the consequence to this is the
- 00:34:20better I get with my skill the faster I
- 00:34:23can create my games so you know we can
- 00:34:26talk about saving time creating time
- 00:34:29your mindset your ability to um you know
- 00:34:33work deep there's a bunch of tips that
- 00:34:36I've given here that could probably help
- 00:34:37you out on making more time for your
- 00:34:40game to be more productive but it is
- 00:34:43critical that you build your craft if
- 00:34:47you can't do that then making games is
- 00:34:50going to be a very slow process for you
- 00:34:53so learn observe do what you have to do
- 00:34:56but again get get better if you can't
- 00:34:59get better if you can't improve you're
- 00:35:01going to be naturally
- 00:35:03slow so that's uh my tips for how to be
- 00:35:07more productive for how to create more
- 00:35:09time for how to actually just focus on
- 00:35:12the things that you have to focus on to
- 00:35:13make your game hopefully this video
- 00:35:15helped you out the way that I hope it
- 00:35:17did and as usual thank you for your time
- 00:35:19for allowing me to speak on to this and
- 00:35:21just remember that great things come
- 00:35:23from great decisions so I really hope
- 00:35:25that you're able to go ahead and do what
- 00:35:28you have to do all right now I promise
- 00:35:31this you know there might be extreme
- 00:35:33scenarios of like oh you should do this
- 00:35:34you should avoid that this and that but
- 00:35:36again be human take breaks do what you
- 00:35:38have to do maybe you are an extremist
- 00:35:41and maybe you want to like hyper
- 00:35:42optimize everything and that's great
- 00:35:44maybe you're a little bit more casual
- 00:35:45and you're like okay I don't want to get
- 00:35:46too into this but I do still want to
- 00:35:48make more time then take some of the
- 00:35:49tips and apply it to the way that you
- 00:35:50need to but as usual I hope this helped
- 00:35:54and you guys know what to do if you need
- 00:35:55anything more
- game development
- productivity
- time management
- lifestyle changes
- efficiency
- scalable systems
- Parkinson's Law
- mindset
- skill improvement
- delegation