My Progress as a Future indie Game Dev (#1)

[Kanade]

Hi, so i thought i’ll do this thing where i write my progress every once in a while (probably a week or a most likely month because i don’t want to flood this forum with myself hehe).
so anyway, as you’ve probably have guessed already, i want to be an indie game dev, and i’m splitting that into 4 main things that the game is made of, drawing, coding, music and story.

drawing:
i started by learning the traditional drawing, i’m spending every day 2 hours learning the basics and practicing, the drawing i’m doing right now doesn’t look great at all, but i hope that’ll change in the future. i want to have a cute anime-like art style for the game.

music:
for now i’m focusing on music theory, because i believe that the most important thing in a good music is that it has to have a good structure, and music theory is what describes the structure of the song, i’ll learn mixing and all that sound design later, for now the structure of the music is more important for me. so i’m spending 2 hours a day learning music theory.

coding:
i’ve been coding for 4 years now, i don’t feel like that would be a problem for me to make a code for the game, but i’m still practicing coding interview questions and android development, just so i could get a stable job as a programmer, because it’s a bit risky to be a game dev because it could fail, which i’m really afraid of. i’m practicing coding 2 hours a day too.

story:
this part is actually really important, but i haven’t touched it at all, i’m not sure where to even start or how you write a good story, so far i have characters that could be in the story and that’s all about it.

all the other time of the day i’m doing university stuff, and resting a bit if all i’ve planned for the day is done. so that’s about my daily routine.

[Wings]

@Kanade

i’m not sure where to even start or how you write a good story

Do you remember your dreams? Sometimes that can be a good place to start.

[ernstfunny]

Hey there I support you on your journey and hope you become a successful game dev! Just something on the side here this game called spiral knights is hiring a game dev I’m sure it’ll help you develop new skills to aid you in your own game dev I’ll post the link and perhaps you can check it out of you’d like cheers! https://forums.spiralknights.com/fr/node/124472.

[ManekiNeko]

This is really impressive and you deserve a congratulations for having this goal so we’ll set out and thought about!
It’s okay to have the story sit back on the burner for a little bit while you develop your skills. Even if you had a story know, you may change it and change it again over the course of developing your skill.
Really great work!

[Aardvark]

Hi Kanade,
this looks super interesting.
I hope it works out for you, and thank you for sharing this. will be nice to see how you are doing.
Wish you all the best, great work so far, keep on going.
Greetings

[Kanade]

not really, but that’s probably because i’m not trying to remember them. i’ll try it and see how it goes. thank you

and thank you all for supporting me, i really appreciate it!

[DiscordReply]

From: eloquentpetrichor

Kanade, you are doing so amazing at working on your goal! Remember to give yourself rest days when you need them. You don’t want to burn yourself out. If it gets to be too much focus on one or two things each day and move between them on different days. Allow it to be whichever of the things you are really feeling that day so that you will be more inspired to work on whichever of the four you choose. That is a good way to keep yourself enjoying what you are doing rather than it simply being a chore. And don’t forget to have some fun as well. That’s important especially when in uni.

My best bit of advice I can give you for the story part is to just find a peaceful place near your home or on campus where you feel relaxed. Laying on the grass or a quiet corner of some building, anywhere really. Close your eyes and just let yourself imagine the characters interacting with each other. Have your phone or a voice recorder with you and start describing what you are imagining. The story can invent itself sometimes if you just start letting your imagination fly free.

Good luck with your goal of making the game you want. Just make sure at the end you have fun making it. And feel free to share steps with us as you go or ask for feedback! You are doing awesome!

[eagertuna0]

Hi there @Kanade,

That’s awesome! I’m glad that you’re exploring your passions and are able to work on indie development subsequently to your studies and preparing for your future.

With that said, indie game development can be a challenging area to work in, so please remember to take some time for yourself and continue to do what you enjoy (and for school), along with all these other tasks that you’re putting effort into.

Keep us updated on how the game (and anything else in your life) is going! I’m wishing you all the best of luck on your development journeys!

[DiscordReply]

From: twixremix

hey kanade,

don’t ever worry about flooding the forum with updates! that’s why this forum is here, for all of us to lean on one another through the highs and lows of life. absolutely love this breakdown of elements your game needs and how you’re embracing it all! this is awesome, kanade! best advice for drawing is to continuously practice so you’re already doing great! music theory has always interested me, what’s been your favorite part in learning it? something cool for you to blend the art and coding aspect is to download unreal engine. it’s something i’m learning too and it’s got so many features to be inspired by! wishing you the best of luck on your journey as a game dev. also, count me in as a pre-order when your game launches!

love,
twix

[DiscordReply]

From: listening2day

Wow. Impressive. My suggestion is to seek out a mentor, maybe at university, with some real experience in game production. Help you to sort through important areas to concentrate.

[Wings]

Have you thought about collaborating with someone else? If you can get help with some of the process, you’ll be able to devote more time to the creative process. Do you know someone who has talent with music?

[Kanade]

Thank you all so much for the advices and the kindness, it makes me really happy that people care about it, I’ll make sure to give myself rest days (like today) so I won’t burn out, and I’ll keep all the story writing advices in mind, they are really good and I like them.

@DiscordReply

music theory has always interested me, what’s been your favorite part in learning it?

Secondary dominant chords, after learning it I found an amazing chord progression that I really liked, it has a specific feeling to it that, I can relate to? I’m not sure how to describe it.

@Wings

Have you thought about collaborating with someone else?
Do you know someone who has talent with music?

I don’t have close people to me except my family, and I don’t feel like they are close too.
so I don’t know anyone I can collaborate with, nor people who are talented with music that I can talk to, well except some people online that I can ask them some questions about music theory/coding if I don’t understand something, but I don’t feel like collaborating with anyone.

I have a few questions, in case anyone knows:

1. can my brain learn all this? like is it possible to learn so much stuff and be good at it all?
2. does story writing have a theory or something that you can learn to write a good story, like with music and drawing and coding, or all you need is imagination?

[Wings]

Stories evolve. Start with an idea, then write an outline, fill in the details, then let it sit for a while before looking at it again. Compelling stories and concepts are the result of many reviews and fine tuning of the words used. With games, the words become animations.

@Kanade

can my brain learn all this? like is it possible to learn so much stuff and be good at it all?

Maybe, but the most successful and prolific individuals look for people with exceptional talent in specific areas, for example, music, art, animation, writing. If you don’t feel like collaborating, spend time closely observing the characteristics of successful games.

There are books and classes on how to write stories. There are a few basic patterns to follow in stories, for example, setting the scene by creating a vision in a person’s mind, or in the case of a game, creating an actual scene. Then there’s come kind of challenge to overcome. It usually involves increasingly difficult things to overcome, followed by some sense of accomplishment or success. With games, those elements tend to occur in “levels.”

Imagination is the seed. It needs to be cultivated and nurtured. The resulting plant/tree will have a great deal more size and many more attributes than the original seed. Still, the seed contains all that is needed to manifest something awesome. It’s also possible to envision the end product, then work backwards, visualizing the steps involved in bringing about the final outcome.

Keep us posted on your progress, but don’t be in a hurry. What you’re setting out to do requires a helluva lot of patience. Odds are that it’ll help you to become much more patient.