Thread by @valentinaChrys

Alright, let's try this.

1 like = 1 #gamedev tip

Add basic information to a bug report:

- Repro steps
- Screenshot/video
- Logs
- Desired outcome

Add buffer time to a task.

Team time off, unexpected delays, first time implementation, reviews, testing, etc

Can easily range from 30%-50% extra.

Learn when to bundle up tasks to one bigger submit and when to submit smaller changelists. Can be crucial for testing, debugging and build creation.

Keep performance optimization in mind with each task.

Do performance passes at the right times during production and not just at the end.

Play the game or your content often.

It's not as obvious, trust me.

Update your tasks, attach media, be succinct, provide information, know when to communicate. Manage your manager.

Hacky implementations are a gamedev reality.

Know the difference between a hacky implementation that will need redoing and one that is perfectly acceptable.

Organise your folders, follow naming conventions, name files appropriately. Do it with everything as much as possible to save future headaches.

Make sure you assign some focus time for yourself each day. Interruptions can easily cause a recovery lag of about 15 minutes.

Keep meetings to the point. If a meeting can be an email, a note, an automation, a report, do that instead.

It's ok to buy asset packs to use in your games. Use them fully or as a base to start from or for prototyping. Don't waste time.

Don't over iterate. Learn to recognise when something is good enough and when something needs more work.

Be a good colleague. Games are a team product.

Be grateful, thankful, helpful. Express that, your coworkers will appreciate it.

Remember to take lunch breaks, small breaks and finish on time. A lot of times we are in the zone but don't let it control you constantly.

Commit to what you are doing. Gamedev isn't easy, a lot of times frustrating and difficult. Be patient and persistent.

Concept art is there to provide answers not to make things look pretty.

Tools are important. Create systems and tools to help your workflow. A keyboard shortcut for debugging a system, telemetry data, log printing, editor utilities, bug reporting...

Juniors: keep your focus, listen to your mentors, learn from mistakes, do the grunt work. Gain that experience to level up, it won't be handed to you.

A game always has pillars. Document them early and follow them religiously.

Use a task management application even if you are a solo dev. Learn to prioritize, document, time track and project plan.

Your self worth isn't tied to your work productivity. Don't crunch to prove your abilities.

Add useful information to your submit changelist.

- Ticket number
- Description
- Reviewer

Be open to different opportunities. You might want to be a game designer but have a chance to start in level design. Don't dismiss it just because it's not your dream.

Scripted events are a lot of work of different departments. Be mindful how many you add in your game as production can balloon.

Don't submit unless you test. Broken builds or game breaking bugs due to lack of testing is unacceptable.

If you are just starting out I would recommend having 2-3 monitors. Game, editor, admin.

When unsure of how to tweak a value always start by doubling or halving. Then gradually adjust.

Button hold is for actions that require a decision, pose a risk, need confirmation, etc. Button press for quick, default actions.

E.g.

Button press = pick up ammo
Button hold = lockpick door

Schedule things, have a calendar, have reminders. There are so many granular things that they will pull your attention and easily tire you if you don't sort them.

Top 5 useful tools that have a free version and should get you started:

Perforce
Google Drive
Trello/JIRA/Clickup
Miro
Slack

Prestige studio does not equal prestige working conditions. For your sake you should care more about the latter.

The more work you do the more work you will get. Be eager and passionate but in a way that will be beneficial for you.

Use Snipping Tool for literally everything. Show don't tell.

Don't be afraid to jump in the engine. Sticking too much to paper layouts or design docs will only get you so far. Get your hands dirty. Sometimes it's best to jump straight in.

Find the core loop of your gameplay and then make sure everything else you add serves it.

E.g. if your game has fast paced combat be wary of adding slow paced manual healing. It might go against your core loop. If it does make sure it's implemented for a reason.

Implement debug skipping for your systems. This means you can playtest your game efficiently.

Make sure you can teleport around your levels, spawn different enemies, vehicles, objects, skip cutscenes, etc

We tend to play the start of the game a lot. Notice when that happens and try to move forward. Play the middle, the end and then replay the whole thing. What do you have unlocked at the end? How difficult was it getting there?

Have a small wiki of your progress. How did you implement X system? How did you optimize X aspect? What is the workflow for implementing X?

Notion or Confluence can be used for this.

Approach your content from all directions. Don't expect players to play it the same way you do. You will catch lots of bugs and cases to tackle early by doing this.

Get inspired by the world outside of gaming. Interesting ideas and content come from the most unexpected places.

All games have a frame budget which is distributed appropriately per department. Learn more about it so you know your technical limits.

When blocking out a combat area make sure your corners aren't dead ends. You want the player to move easily around the area without ever having to backtrack because they got stuck.

A lot of things that look 3D can be accomplished with a flat mesh and some material tricks. This can be easily seen in games with VFX and foliage. Grass or insects many times are just images put together smartly.

Advanced gamers tend to reload before the clip runs out. Many times even after firing a couple of shots. Beginners tend to use the whole clip and can even forget to reload. Something to keep in mind when working on combat and weapons.

Since #LDJam is happening this weekend here are some tips for jams:

- Keep your game super small but with a unique hook
- Team up if you can (audio, code, art if possible)
- Focus on quality not quantity
- Take breaks
- Make a plan first thing and move on to creating quickly

If you want to make it in games learn to love the process. Do not wait to get fulfilment only at the end of the project or only when someone praises you.

Lots of people dream of becoming directors or leads but it's ok if you don't want that. If you see yourself in the same position in the "next five years" maybe it's because you love it and you are good at it.

Bugs can take ages to fix. Many hours, many days. It's ok to get frustrated. Things that help me:

- Moving on to a different task
- Taking breaks
- Backing away and trying a different approach

Nobody likes to read documentation so when writing a GDD keep that in mind. I usually like to have 2 versions of it. The detailed one for the team to act as a resource and wiki and a compact one which acts like a sales pitch.

Gamedev is a marathon not a sprint. Meaning, you might end up working 4 years on a game looking and playing like a potato until it all comes together at the end.

Use Unity's or Unreal's excellent UI systems to learn more about UI and UX. You don't even need to make a game. I would recommend all designers know a bit more about UX to understand how their gameplay could potentially be visualized.

Coders, sometimes the game requires us to mush together content in a way that isn't systemic or "clean". I apologise from all us scripters in advance but also do keep in mind that exceptions to rules are OK sometimes.

E.g. polygon.com/22923705/biosh…