Most of the people probably do not know it, but I have been involved in game development community before last decade. So I have seen all kinds of things during these decades, not only on video games, but other games too, like tabletop RPGs, live-action roleplaying, boardgames, strategy games etc. I have also seen how this scene has changed. In certain aspect the change has been dramatic, sometimes to good, sometimes to bad.
Based on my observations and analysis I have developed several theorems or theses, actually, which occasionally contradict "official" views shown in game media or endorsed by game development community organisations. These are purely my views only, but they have been tested in so called real life, and in the future I try to stick to them. I could give this some grandiose name, like Manifesto of Outsider Developer, which would be appropriate, because I consider myself an outsider developer, but in the grand scheme of things it really does not matter.
This is a lengthy subject, and there are several thesis, so this time I will introduce the first, and continue next time with others.
Thesis 1. Avoid game developer community as much as possible since they do not bring any value to your life
One thing that I heard often was the claim how well-coming and friendly this game developer community is, how everyone is so helpful, and how everyone encourages others. According to my experiences none of this seems to be true in general. There are clearly certain insider cliques, that endorse each other and their projects, give awards to each other. They build a kind of gamedev celebrity status for themselves, thus ensuring that anything they say on these matters is taken as authoritative.
This kind of gamedev community is very active in social media - Facebook groups, Twitter, YouTube and Twitch. This elite group has number of disciples, worshippers and other hangarounds who repeat and spread their masters word. For these acts of servitude, the master occasionally give their blessing and may endorse loyal disciple's project in social media.
But if you are not part of that "elite" group or their hangaround friends - especially if you are different and not showing proper respect for community gospel -, then you are just nobody, and your proper place is shown either with total ignore or by trolling, dislike, disqualification and other kinds of negativity. You will get lots of sneer comments, underlining their message that no one should take you seriously.
Usually this gamedev community gospel has focus on start-up studios, game monetization, business aspects and getting rich. Your importance in community is measured by your business attitude, how much money your studio got (either as sales or investments). Latest trend seems to be to endorse studio employee quotas for special groups like gender or ethnic background.
I support equality, but it is these kind of things that separate me from the rest. I try to think with my own brains, and my logic says that only criteria for hiring an employee are his or her skills, not his gender, race, or anything else. For me the whole concept of gender and race is totally irrelevant. I do not even care if someone has different opinions than me. Actually I find it to be a bonus. Diversity in opinions gives better results, so I do not want a group of yes-persons who agree with everything I say. I am not that foolish that I assume me to be always right. Development should be something where you go through several possible solutions, instead of sticking to the first solution that pops into your mind (and others just blindly agreeing with it). If team members have different views and are not afraid to show them, it gives wider perspective for everyone involved. This is why I hire people only according to their skill and mindset, nothing else matters.
Anyway, as a side note, I think that this sudden enthusiasm to promote all kinds of Social Justice Warrior issues, in the manner that the whole concept of equality is perverted with quotas for underrepresented groups, is just a shield polishing gimmick for social media, which organisations, companies and individuals use to show "how I am now so good human being". It is quite similar to indulgences which you could "buy" to delete your sins (I know that Church outlawed outright sale of indulgences in 1567, don't bother pointing that out). Mechanism is similar, with a certain action you gain a kind of social media sainthood. Also, as a person belonging to underrepresented groups I find it intellectually insulting because it turns the whole problem upside down, it does not solve it. Instead of giving everyone equal chances based on their skills and experience, suddenly those two things don't seem to mean anything anymore, and I want to be judged and chosen solely by my skills, experience and intellect. If they are not enough, I do not want to be chosen based on some special quota.
What I said above makes me different, a person who just does not fit in with that gamedev community. But it is not just that, in reality the differences stem from early on. After I got more involved in modern video game development this decade, I noticed how my opinions about game development were very different compared to official gospel. First of all I am not interested in business side of game development, or at least I am not interested in this modern "lets found a start-up and make millions" attitude. I see game development as a normal business that may provide you a living, in a way that you make a good product, sell it to customers, and you get money in return for your own living and keep the development going for future years, too. But current gospel says differently, with a message that either you should make billions or you are nothing.
My focus in game development is to produce quality content, worlds deep in stories, history and atmosphere (this stems from my years in tabletop RPGs), games that should give a feeling of "being there" and experiencing something that seems to even continue beyond the mountains you see in the horizon. I am very imaginative person, and that seems to be the another problem here. I have an enormous respect for developers like Tarn Adams (Dwarf Fortress), Richard Garriot (Ultima series) and Miller brothers (Myst series) and several others who have persistently created whole worlds and universes. However, I do not respect current gamedev culture which idolizes shoddy ultra-monetized simplistic mobile games which all look the same, or 120th remake of retro pixel art games, or games that are clearly just quick asset flip to make lots of money fast with some latest hype trend.
Another problem that I just cannot digest, is how much of incompetent wannabes there are who call themselves game developers but who lack in skills and experience so much that I do not even know where to begin. Compared to previous decades, especially pre-2000 era, jumping into game development has never been easier. Before year 2000 it was really difficult to start game development, unless you already were a quite competent programmer or modeler, because usually you had to develop your own engines and tools, and most of all you needed lots of dedication to learn.
Now… you just pick one of several available and free engines or tools. Sadly, most of these wannabes then lack the dedication, and they assume that their "idea" should be enough. Don't take me wrong, I have nothing against amateurs or hobbyists, because all of us has started from zero. But the major difference is whether you have enough dedication, persistence, determination to learn, make mistakes and learn from those mistakes, and continue that for years and years, or do you instead assume that everything should just come for you with no work, no sweat, gaining AAA level skills from that magic 10 trick tutorial that so many wannabes seem to be searching. I just cannot tolerate that kind of stupidity, and since that type of persons seem to crowd every forum and social media group, I decided it to be best that I am not there.
In the beginning I tried to blend in, I helped other developers, gave advice to solve their problems. I made and published some tutorials. In the beginning, when I published pictures or videos from my own projects, the response was first positive, but then, gradually it started to change from general ignore to more and more negative or targeted trolling. That was really no loss as such, since I am not interested in empty endorsement, but I am interested in intelligent discussion and exchange of ideas. However, there was practically none. Gamedev communities seem to be mostly boozing societies meeting in bars, where they endorse each other in half-drunk stupor. Unfortunately, I drink only water and natural juices.
At some point I was hit with the revelation - other gamedevs are not your potential customers. Basically, other gamedevs do not put bread on your table now or in the future. You are not making your game for other developers - you are making it for gamers. This is a big difference. So do not assume, that you get any kind of benefit from gamedev community, because you won't, ever. Of course there are exceptions to the rule, I have some game developer friends, but they are individual cases. By all means try to find friends, but generally I advise people to stay away from that big game dev community for several reasons like
Other developers want you to help them
Other developers try to get your hard earned techniques and tricks for free
Other developers try to lure you to make tutorials for them, that will benefit them only
Likes and other popularity in social media may feel nice, but does not fill your empty stomach
Usually other devs like and endorse you when they try get some favours from you.
When you need some help, no one has time for your problems.
They may give you advise and insights which are totally useless because usually they judge your game based on first impressions they get from one picture (drive-by-advise)
First three cases will waste your precious time, but you gain nothing. Other cases just show that you will gain nothing else, either. Drive-by-advise from other developers does not give you anything useful to make your game better. It may just lead you astray, and in the worst case brainwash you (through social media) to try to please other developers to gain popularity. So, it is advisable to disregard all comments from other developers. Don't go down that vicious loop.
Instead of wasting time with other developers and social media, I urge people to stick to their own plan and development. Concentrate on self-improvement and selfcritisism. In the end only you know yourself what your game is about. Mingling with other developers just confuse your thoughts. Make your game in a way you think is best, even if it contradicts what those so-called gamedev gurus say.
In the next newsletter I will introduce my second thesis, which presents different game developer groups and their evolutionary scales.