The Gamedev Mistake That Ruins Your Game

all right uh this question comes from computer science students riverbat uh thank you for your question and if you've got a question just you can drop it in the comments and we'll we'll talk about it right we'll make a video um I have a question about mistakes what sorts of mistakes do you think game developers make that don't get enough attention and or don't get talked about enough more so what do you think we should all probably be more aware of as game developers this is going to be more from my experience but I I get very caught up in the game mechanics the the making process I get I get very caught up in it and I think it's partly because that it's that process that I really enjoy right and you might be the same way that's figuring out how can I translate what's in my head and and get it out onto the screen and have it interact in a way that I'm thinking it should interact like that process is to me like extremely addicting and uh part of why I I love doing this thing um I think it's really easy to get caught up in that and you lose sight of maybe what the the overarching goal of your your project or your game or your your experience which I'll jump into that in a second how is the end user going to experience this how are they going to uh take this thing that you've made and what what's their reaction going to be so I I feel that um it's very easy to get caught up in the developer world and lose sight of the end user world and you know your your game your your project if it's meant for other people like the goal is to elicit some kind of emotional response in some way right that's it's art that's what Art's for um if you're making music if you're making a movie if you're making a TV show if you're a comedian if you're any of of those things any of these um artistic forms if you're you're painting whatever it is you're trying to elicit an emotional response in the viewer or in the case of games someone who's actively interacting with the Arts which is you know what what makes gaming so unique and really it's gaming is is becoming such a archaic term for for some of this stuff right I I spent a little bit of time in in the VR world and if you've been in the VR world or you've ever uh talked to anyone who's within that that development space the way they sort of approach this uh the same thing right making a game it's very different it's it's more making an experience and not not a game I think in part because VR has brought so many different people from different walks of life people that aren't traditional uh Gamers or people that have no programming background you know they're they're an artist in their own right in some other form and you know there's uh these these things that it's really interesting to me but you you see these VR you know made in unity made in unreal made in game engines but they're showing up at film festivals right because they're these interactive video uh uh intera I you know it's such a a unique thing it's it's hard to even describe it but it's it's like a play that you interact with virtually there are you know Vin diagram cross-section of what what that is and what a video game is but people within that world they refer to these things as experiences because they know that the most important part of this is how the viewer is going to react to what they're making and yeah I I feel that that game development gets so caught up in you know mechanics and and how the code supposed to look your your game your your project the thing you're making is supposed to elicit emotional response like that's the Baseline bottom line goal for the most part and whether that's making someone feel like they're a superhero or making them feel really really smart because they're figuring out all these puzzles making them feel freaking terrified because it's a horror game it's all about basic human emotion and so if you're sitting making your game and you get caught up in in the programming and I I feel that way I get caught up in it I get caught up in the mechanics you cannot forget what the end goal is and that is the person that is playing this needs to have some kind of emotional response I feel that's a huge mistake that that people make and it's not constantly caring about what the enduser is is going to do with this how they're going to react the answer to that is to to think about it right to to think about how is the player going to react to this level or this event or this uh game mechanic like what is this going to make them feel is it going to make them feel excited is it going to be cool that they're like wow this is really powerful I can be super creative with it you have those moments and you you can pinpoint the aspects of your your game or your project or whatever you're making that is going to elicit those responses and you lean into those you lean into things that are going to make someone uh feel a certain way and if you're really good at it if you're really really good at it then you can control how they feel right you can guide them along that path like why why is the uh you know why is Nintendo so good right it's they're not the most sophisticated visually they're not the the the they're not Reinventing the wheel every time that they they make something but you know that that moment in breath of the wild where you come out of the cave and you see this huge expanse right why why did they do that why did they have that cinematic uh uh experience there because it's like holy crap look at all this stuff that I can go right you're like whoa that's really cool that's the emotional response that they're looking for with the uh the the new um Super Mario Wonder right 2D platformer nothing new been done a 100 million times why is it so good right because every single level is completely different and and there's this new mechanic that pops up and you're like whoa that's cool you have to figure it out it's these surprise it's you know changing expectations it's all of these things because they're thinking about how is the player going to respond to this and I that's the most important thing that's the that's the answer right if you have something that people are going to go whoa about or be surprised about or it's going to scare the crap out of them you got something don't get caught up in developer World developer mind you got to think about other people how are other people going to respond to this and I mean play testing it's testing seeing what people think about it how they play it how they interact people could play your game completely differently than how you think they will because they didn't make the thing it reminds me of uh uh I I I keep going back to the VR thing uh Grill attack ugly it's an ugly game it looks terrible I I'll pop up a a screenshot of it if you're not familiar but it's basically you swing your arms around and you move around like a gorilla kind of I think at one point if it's not still like the most popular VR game because you're interacting with people and that interaction and those mechanics create a unique experience that people cannot get enough of and there you go that's it beat saber same thing I mean what a a brilliant idea right you take music which is already this own uh addictive thing in its own right you connect that to to Rhythm and music and you give the person lightsabers I mean it's brilliant genius idea because the experience is so unique and and people love it yeah focus on the end user the player the person who's going to experience what you're creating think about them throughout the entire process don't get stuck in your own head

Channel: StayAtHomeDev

Views: 5,355

Keywords: game development, game dev, game dev marketing, godot, stayathomedev, game dev mistakes, game development mistakes, beginner game development

Id: jQ7KlqpO4N0

Length: 9min 4sec (544 seconds)

Published: Thu May 09 2024