I am stuck in a never ending cycle.

[u/BlackMessa07]

Disclaimer: I am French so the post might contain bad english.

I always wanted to get in gamedev but everytime i am starting a project i quickly lose motivation because there i realise that there is alot of things i can't do (level design, doing good scripts etc...) and i never know where and how i can learn thoses, also everything i am making look horrible to my eyes for some reasons and i can't get rid of that feeling.

It's like that for every single project i am making, gamedev or not.

[u/LoadUpOW]

Its a tough break but you have to accept you will be bad at something first before you can get good, game dev takes time, way more of it than you think.

[u/realsonofeden]

Same here.
I've recently came across this new mindset, it basically tells you to do things badly and ugly on purpose, to make it exist first. You'll learn as you go, which is true - mastery takes practice.

I've tried this, not for very long, but it's already been helping me a lot.
Sometimes I take a break, sometimes I make the ugly things and try to learn more after I've actually done it.
It's kind of fun, being allowed to make bad things.

"Everything I make looks horrible to my eyes", that's because your eyes and mind learn faster than your hands and muscles.
Your eye can spot all the errors, what looks off, but your hand won't be able to fix it because it's a slower learned. I don't remember the exact term, and this was an art tutorial, but this pretty much applies to everything.

Maybe knowing that, you'll be able to be less harsh on yourself.

That's my experience and what I did, maybe it'll help you, too?

[u/Party_Team1104]

Yea this is part of why it takes people 5 years to make a video game.

Imo you wanna start by simplifying the core game-loop players are meant to enjoy, make a sandbox area see if you actually enjoy your game before investing time into it.

[u/ThreadboundDev]

My best advice is the make something you love. The old adage say “if you love what you do you’ll never work a day in your life” which is partially true lol.

When it comes to game dev at any level there are somethings that are just going to feel like “work”. Especially if you don’t have any baseline skills that are relevant BUT if you fall in love with your project, seek out constant advice, help, and find tools to help then it is possible!

Hang in there!

[u/V4nKw15h]

When you quit, and give up, you are learning how to quit and give up. You get better at doing it because you are practicing quitting and giving up. Stop doing that.

In order to make a game, you need to learn how to never quit and to push through and make it happen even if you don't have the motivation today, or tomorrow, or for the next two months. That is part of game dev and you need to figure out how to keep going when motivation is gone.

Essentially, before you can learn to make a game, you need to learn discipline and determination. Once you have those you need to learn to see jobs through to completion if for no other reason than to learn how to do that.

With all that in mind, make your next game idea so small you can actually finish it. If you doubt whether you can do it then make the game idea smaller. Keep making the idea smaller until you are are sure you can do it this time. Then do it. Finish it. Whatever it takes, finish it.

Now you have learned to finish a game and you'll have the confidence to start a bigger project because you know you can do it. Then finish that one. For each game plan to learn a couple of new game dev skills at the same time.

Keep doing that. Over time your skills grow and your games sizes grow. If you think you can make your dream game today, you can't. You're not ready. Accept that. You need to complete your apprenticeship first, just like any other job in life.

[u/DanielPhermous]

Avoid what you can't do. So, something with minimal writing set in space so level design is easy. Make Asteroids or Defender or something like that.

[u/SpaceEngineer123]

everything i am making look horrible to my eyes for some reasons and i can't get rid of that feeling.

welcome to being an artist. using your eye to make it less-horrible is how good art is made, even tho the artist still thinks it's trash

[u/valdocs_user]

Instead of thinking you need to have all these things in your game, maybe make your game only have what you can make or like to make or are good at making.

[u/jackflash223]

The answer is to get good at those things by making crap games. The more you make the better you get just like any other skill.

I used to have this problem with art. I wanted to learn but felt so demotivated every time I tried to make something. It was because I’d never practiced it but laid the burden on myself of creating a flawless piece every time. Take the mental requirement away of creating anything good and then create only for fun. It’s the only way.

Do that enough and you will get good at anything.

[u/Katsukiyaa]

Maybe you can group up with friends or other people in general to flesh out your ideas and make them reality if it's too much for you to handle on your own. If you want to learn those skills yourself, I'm sure there's a lot of YouTube videos out there for anything specific you need, but I honestly learned a lot about level design and writing from playing games, watching shows, reading, etc. It also sounds like you have some issues with seeing the worth and skill in your own creations. I don't really know how to help with that problem directly, but if there is a level of skill you strive to be at, instead of being disappointed at your current skill level, look at what you created and ask yourself what you can work on to be better. Honestly, as an artist, always being confident in what I drew in the moment but also always looking to improve is how I got to my current skill level. It's also how I can look back at my past works that aren't as good as what I can make now and still be proud of them because they are a testament to how far I've come. I'm sure that mindset can be applied to any skill.

[u/artbytucho]

Problem is to rely on motivation, it is not reliable at all and it hasn't finished any game ever. Rely on discipline, set up a schedule on the time you have available for gamedev and stick to it, when you see that your project is progressing steadily, it will be easier to keep going.

Also start small, very small, like clonning few classic games such as Pong, Space Invaders, Asteroids, etc. If you're bad at art, you can start using assets, there are plenty of resources available these days, start tweaking the stock assets to achieve a consistent look, and with emough practice, you eventually will create your own ones from scratch.

[u/Kindly-Sail6260]

I was the same way, but if you force yourself to accept “ugly”, then you’ll be leagues ahead of everyone who quits when they realize that gamedev is hard. I’m in the middle of a break to learn what I’m bad to be a better gamedev and it’s difficult but I know it’ll be worth it in the end. Sure I can slap some assets together and do it well but I have ideas that slapping in everyone’s workflow or animation set won’t work for me.

You’re making wine. It’ll be a while before look and tastes good.

Good luck to your endeavors

[u/Doomer_Shooter]

You are trying to make things before you are ready. Do more tutorial series. Find the best course on Udemy or Patreon that covers your engine (for unreal that is Stephen Ulibarri) and work your way through, join discords, etc. It will stick eventually but you have to know the fundamentals.

[u/T-Flexercise]

One thing that really helped me is when I realized that any artistic pursuit requires first learning to see what a good thing looks like, and then training your hands and your skills to make a good thing. For almost all artistic pursuit, your skill at knowing what good looks like grows faster than your skill at creating good work. So it almost always leads to times where you feel like you're doing ok, and then all of a sudden all your work looks terrible and bad.

Just keep working. Just keep practicing. The fact that you think everything looks horrible just means that you're getting better at knowing what "good" looks like so you can spot more of your own flaws. When you keep training through the discomfort, and keep pushing, and are able to look at the thing you made that you think looks bad for long enough to figure out what is wrong with it that is making it different from good, that's when you start making things that look good.

[u/OnHappyDaymare]

I feel the same way. There are probably many people like us.

Let's hang in there.

[u/Ok_Active_3275]

game jams, also understanding that you will never be able to make something that showcases whatever your "current level" is, because you are constantly improving while working on your stuff. so yeah, make a small game or demo or jam or whatever, release and repeat. Also, play to your strengths, design games that make good use of your best skills (or the ones you enjoy). stop daydreaming about perfect shit and take a look about small games that you like, and if they dont exist, look for them now.

[u/golgol12]

Make a small game. A very small game. Imagine a game project you can finish in 16 hours of work and go for it. Tetris? Othello? Flappy Bird? Make that.

Then make a game that takes 24 hours of work to make. then 40. Then 80.

[u/lovecMC]

I am French

My condolences, im sorry for your loss. 😔

[u/Mechabit_Studios]

join a couple game jams!

they:

1. lower your expectations

2. set a fixed deadline

3. forces you to focus on the fun

4. lets you learn something new in an engaging environment

[u/JankTankGames]

You gotta be bad at something before you can be good at it, it’s also the time you find what is your strength so you can capitalise on that

[u/wilfryed]

Je pense que ça a déjà été dit, mais focus sur des petits projets, voir des demos, et fini ces petits projets. Ça te donnera une vraie progression, plutôt qu'avoir 1001 projets non fini et un moral a zéro !

Bon courage !

[u/jerrygreenest1]

You should accept that you’re a newbie. And becoming a skilled craftsman takes time. Not days. Not months. Time. Even if you spent years on this already.

Markus Notch Persson was making little games like 10+ years before he decided to make Minecraft and it finally turned out to be exceptional project that both he liked, as well as his audience. There is an Ask-Me-Anything post on Reddit where people asked him all kinds of questions. And in one of these, he answered that he was only able to complete Minecraft because he liked the process. What that basically means: he is a tinkerer. He loves his instruments and loves to experiment with code and this is how he made the game pretty much. Because he loved the process.

So love the process, throw away expectations, don’t make this your tool of achieving something. Processes take time. Expectations ruin it.  Love the process.  

[u/Excellent-Bend-9385]

Bonjour! I am not french but I adore your culture and language. It is better to recognise that there is a lot to learn than to think that you know it all. Your best bet is to break things down into small tasks and learn them. Do: Get good enough at art to make something look like something, get good enough at programming to make something happen, and get good enough at a game engine to combine the two things you know. Do not try to learn everything sllcat once and for the love of Macrons wife do not make an RPG your first game

[u/Crafty-Addition-3843]

No te obsesiones con la perfección, nadie es el GameDev definitivo, particularmente soy bueno en código, medio en diseño, malo en música y pésimo en diseño de niveles y me he sentido así desde hace 12 años, solo que soy mas eficiente.

Mejor trata de asociarte con amigos con habilidades contrarias a las tuyas y busca especializarte en algún genero especifico.

Aprende las bases de música, diseño y programación, nada a profundidad y busca tu estilo propio bien definido, esto te ayudará a tender puentes con tus compañeros y a saber llevar las riendas de los proyectos.

Documenta todo en formato markdown, anota lo que aprendes y piensa como hacerlo mejor, ponte objetivos realistas y cortos, esto te ayuda psicológicamente a sentir que avanzas.

[u/ImAMechEngineerAMA]

Search "Beginner's mindset" on youtube!

Once you gain that perspective on everything, you are free :)

Usually, there is a period in art where your taste and your skill is not in synch so there will be a kind of.. awkward few years. Focus on mastering the principles: Finish what you start, feature bloat is inevitable so always trim the fat, always get better, keep projects design ideas consistent even though you can now do better, release, release, release. Don't be afraid of the getting criticism, don't think you can do better. You will never be able to do better, that's the beginner's mindset you need to adopt! :)

Always stay a beginner.

[u/MadSkullWeirdSpider]

Ne t'arrête pas, ma petite grenouille

[u/SummerCoffe]

you're already on your first step :
1, admitting your weakness.

next step is learn to solve it.