Are you an indie game developer working on your first game or perhaps you’re part of a games studio and you’ve created several games already!? Either way, a very warm welcome to my blog!
I’m Ninichi and I’m a freelance game music composer. I make music for indie games, films, TV shows and anything else that needs music really! I also have this blog on my website, which offers a place for people to learn, get inspired, share experiences, get tips and hopefully much much more.
Recently I’ve been sharing my interviews with various talented indie game developers who have been kind enough to share some of their top tips and experiences with us. This time we have the creator of Brass Bellow, an indie game currently in development right now by @128_mhz…
Please tell us a bit about who you are and what you’ve been up to with your game development!
‘I'm, @128_mhz on twitter. I've been doing game development for coming up on 5 years now. The game I'm working on currently is Brass Bellow.
Brass Bellow is an open world seafaring adventure exploration game. You will find yourself exploring lush abandoned environments, and talking to fantastically strange creatures along your journey. I'm trying to take a deep dive towards making a world that feels like it has a pulse of it's own.’
Wow Brass Bellow sounds amazing and like a game definitely worth keeping an eye out for! What top tips can you share with us around how to build a following for your games and be successful as a full time game developer?
1. Emotions: I focus on making things that provoke a emotional response in myself.
2. Being open to improvement: I'm always honest with myself about where I could improve my work in order to bring it closer towards the vision I have of the game. If it doesn't look like what is is my mind I keep reworking it until it does.
3. Not forcing yourself: When the creativity stops flowing I take a break, and do something else until I have some more energy to work again. It's not worth forcing yourself to work overtime, and compromise the quality of the game just to feel like you're not idle.
4. Staying positive: I try to get excited about what I'm making constantly. When I am in a more positive mindset, I find that I get a lot of useful ideas that wouldn't have otherwise popped into my mind.
5. Pacing yourself: Working on a large game is not a sprint it's a marathon. There is no glory in working yourself into the ground in 6 months, and never wanting to touch a line of code again. Pace yourself, setting healthy routines will take you a long way. Only you know what work schedule is best for you. It doesn't matter what everyone else is doing, you do what is best for you, and don't feel guilty if it's not the same as everyone else.
6. Questioning: I ask myself a lot of questions of about what I really want the game to be about. I find the final vision of the game in my mind, and work through it, fleshing it out, taking the time to visualize all the details. Going through this regularly gives me a accurate direction to work towards everyday, and solid goals to achieve.
Do you have any tips you can offer around using Unity that may help other fellow developers?
‘When I work with unity, I get in the habit of making small simple behavior scripts very reusable. I like stuff like being able to drop a script on a gameobject, and have it be a fully functioning container the player can loot.’
Do you have any final words of wisdom you’d like to share?
‘Game development is a winding road, and just because you're stuck in the woods today doesn't mean things won't be completely different in two weeks. Keep your head up, and work towards making something you love!’
Awesome! Thanks so much for sharing your tips with us. To see more top tips from talented game developers see:
About the interviewer: Ninichi is an indie game music composer who enjoys creating soundtracks for video games, film & media. She composes in a wide range of styles & loves supporting indie game developers and indie filmmakers with their projects. Find out more about her game music or royalty free music and contact her to discuss your project and music needs.
Follow her @ninichimusic
