Jumpstarting Your Creativity: From Hobbyist to Professional

There's a saying in the writing field: "Don't get it good, get it written." It means, stop worrying about things not being the way you want it to be when first starting to make it. Just get it made in some form, that way, you make progress instead of just paralyzing yourself. Plus, it's a lot easier to figure out HOW to make something better once you have an imperfect product in front of you, rather than just ideas in your head. You can always change it later! Just make something! This was a really great talk and I'm glad things turned out well for you, sir. Thank you so much for sharing your story!

“I had started out making small projects but I never finished anything” Very rarely has a phrase penetrated me to my core like that one did.

This is one of the most important GDC talks I think I have ever seen. Thanks for this. Definitely heard this at the right time.

Haha great intro. I think all devs, even the ones that complete projects can relate to that first minute

You kinda described my history with game dev, but I'm still on that part where a bug or the difficulty to implement something the way I want keep me frustrating and depleting my motivation

Lol, this literally feels like a sign from God to finish my damn projects.

This was an amazing talk and exactly what I needed to hear. I've had so many ideas stuck in my head and this has given me courage to make them real. Stop thinking about them and just make them. It doesn't have to be perfect and not everyone has to love it just make it so I know what that feels like. Thank you so much.

Really inspiring because it's a story about a guy that started from scratch like many of us are doing right now. And the talk isn't being given by a "i have 20yrs experience in the game industries" or "i work in a AAA studio" person, it's given by "a person", someone you can relate to.

Great talk!! I've made 12 small jam games (I think doing so many jams helped me get in the habit of finishing) In April I started this YouTube channel doing Devlogs and now I'm 60% done with my first Steam game :D I'm a gamedev hobbyist for life, Teaching English is my day job XD I think the best takeaways is, you don't have to make the "best" game. Making simple smaller games is great. Just finish!

This is kind of scaring me... you described my process of my current project exactly 😅. I hope another idea doesn't distract me this time 😅.

Great advice! Big projects are intimidating because our brains are bad at dealing with big complex things. Once you divide the project into its smallest, actionable parts, it suddenly becomes doable. By finishing one small part at a time, you suddenly realize you've come a long way from where you started. Thank you for sharing your inspirational story! :)

After almost a full year of game development experience, I finished my first game about a month ago. Thanks to entering a game jam, I finally got something released. The gameplay was a bit lacking, but only 3 days before the deadline I learned it was a 2 week jam with 2 weeks of judging instead of a 4 week jam. I’m proud of it. It almost feels like a full game. Very happy that I entered the game jam!

Charles, that was very wonderful and it hit all the right notes for someone such as myself; someone passionate about video games and the industry, who hopes to find a way in through game development but finds the process of designing, creating and implementing a video game start to finish daunting. You’ve shown through your story and perspective that it is possible through the right mind set and aligning your goals appropriately for yourself and not setting standards too high, and comparing yourself to them. I greatly appreciate and enjoyed your talk and found it deeply touching. If you’re ever one to read the YouTube comments, I hope you know you reached me through this, and it was the right time. Thank you, Charles for your time and dedication for the industry and passion for those who make it their goal to achieve what you have done.

Okay, I'll make a smaller MMO RPG :) Great talk btw, your Parents sound cool

This hits home. I have been trying to do too-big projects for years. I’ve dropped all of them. Polishing takes ages and finishing will always take longer than one expects it to. Super relatable—I hope that hearing this pushes me to realize how to get to the end. Thanks for this. :)

Thank you for the great insight, really motivates me to continue my own aspirations to start an indie studio!

Thank you for this a lot. As someone trying to make this exact jump at this exact time, your words really sunk in. It certainly feels like this was what I needed to hear. So thank you again. I'm currently trying to work on a small project before I hit a larger one, but this talk has given me a lot more confidence - and guidance - in how to approach that.

My past sounds a lot like what you describe. And I've started making an uncomfortable small game, and your vid makes me feel better about my own project. So thank you. It's hard to stay hyped for a tiny project, but you make it feel more than worth while.

Hey Charles, great talk and very motivating. I find myself in a similar place; I've finished and released lots of small games and game jam games, but have yet to release my first commercial project, which is what I know will move me from hobbyist to professional. I'm in that process now to actually do that and your talk has been the extra punt I need to get moving. Thanks again!

Holy shit, man, that intro hit me HORD. While I have heard this advice and reacted with "but I wanna make THIS game", I actually love the idea of implementing elements like art style and mechanics in small, fast games to get your skill up. Gonna give it a shot!