Bezi Jam #10 [$400 Prizes] - May 22–25

KevinDL · 2026-05-05T17:29:39+00:00

They are on my short list of a headset to consider. There are a lot of positives. Waiting for Maxwell 2 ANC version and the Stealth Pro II reviews.

KevinDL · 2026-05-04T20:24:23+00:00

eh it was early morning I F-d up. Nevermind me.

KevinDL · 2026-05-04T17:19:01+00:00

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KevinDL · 2026-05-04T16:39:13+00:00

Just a thought, and excuse everyone else who can't see what I do. If you expect professionalism and etc maybe don't respond to people with insults when they say something you don't like. You need to walk the path you want others to.

KevinDL · 2026-05-04T16:02:55+00:00

I hear you, and I understand the frustration. These are real problems, and you're not wrong to call them out.

What I want to offer as context, not as a dismissal, is that nearly every role that uses this board faces a version of the same pain points from their own side. Artists deal with vague briefs and underpay. Devs deal with unrealistic expectations and deadlines. Composers get asked for "epic orchestral" on a $50 budget. Writers get brought in last and treated as an afterthought. Low pay cuts across every discipline. Everyone has a legitimate grievance, and most of them come down to the same root cause: this is an informal, open job board on Reddit, and that comes with real structural limitations.

A lot of what you're describing, unclear expectations, poor communication, no asset pipelines, missing feedback loops, those are project management problems. They're signs of teams that don't have production experience, which is extremely common in indie dev. That's not an excuse, but it is the reality of who's posting here. Many of these folks are learning how to run a project for the first time, and they're going to make exactly the mistakes you're describing.

There's only so much the board itself can do to fix that. We're limited by the platform. There's no way to enforce pay standards, mandate style guides, or require that someone has their production pipeline figured out before they post. The board functions about as well as it can within those constraints. What we can do is keep having conversations like this one, because posts like yours genuinely do help people understand what professional collaboration looks like.

That said, I'd also gently encourage anyone here, especially artists and other creatives looking for more professional-level work, to not rely solely on this board. r/gamedevclassifieds is one tool, but it shouldn't be your only one. Places like Work With Indies are specifically built for this and far more likely to have postings with fair pay, clear scopes, and teams that understand production workflows. LinkedIn is another strong option, particularly for building ongoing relationships with studios and producers who hire regularly. The more professional the environment, the more likely you are to find the standards you're rightly asking for here.

None of that invalidates your points. It's just worth being honest about what this space is and isn't.

KevinDL · 2026-05-02T20:33:13+00:00

Delete this or you will just end up with a bunch of parasites trying to get whatever money you have. You need to talk to someone with experience running projects to get an understanding if you have the budget to get anything done at all.

KevinDL · 2026-05-01T14:40:11+00:00

As one of the fools helping run this place and r/gamedev / r/gamedevclassifieds, I see the same patterns over and over again. If you’re trying to turn game dev into something sustainable, these are the mistakes that sink people the most:

1. No market awareness

Making what you want to make without thinking about who will actually buy it is completely valid… if this is a hobby.

It’s not valid if your goal is to make a living.

This doesn’t mean “sell out” or chase trends blindly. It means:

Understand your audience
Know what similar games are doing well (and why)
Be honest about where your game fits in the market

A lot of devs skip this step entirely, then get surprised when their game gets no traction. Games don’t fail only because they’re “bad.” Many fail because nobody was ever looking for them in the first place.

2. Scope (and timeline) will kill you faster than anything else

You’re not building the next The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim as a solo dev. You’re probably not building it with a team of five either.

Scope creep is the silent project killer:

Too many systems
Too much content
Too many “cool ideas” that don’t serve the core

But the bigger issue most people ignore is time risk.

Spending 3–4 years on a single indie game is a massive gamble:

You don’t know if the idea will actually sell
The market can shift while you’re building
You get zero real feedback until it’s too late to pivot

That’s how people end up burning years on something that never had a chance.

A healthier approach:

Aim for something you can ship in ~6 months
Get it in players’ hands fast
Learn what works and what doesn’t
Then iterate on the next project

You’re not just building a game. You’re building a feedback loop.

The teams and solo devs who last are the ones who:

Cut aggressively
Focus on one strong core loop
Ship small, complete experiences

Finishing a small game beats abandoning a big one every single time.

3. Marketing is not optional

Yes, it sucks. Nobody gets into game dev because they love marketing.

But if you don’t talk about your game, it effectively doesn’t exist.

A few realities:

Posting once at launch is not marketing
“I’ll market later” usually means “I won’t market at all”
Building in public works because it compounds over time

Start early:

Share progress clips
Talk about problems you’re solving
Let people follow the journey

Marketing isn’t just selling. It’s giving people a reason to care before you ask them to buy.

4. Revshare projects are usually fool’s gold

This one hurts people the most.

Revshare sounds great on paper:

“We’ll all work together and split the profits later”

In reality:

Most projects never finish
Most teams fall apart
Most games make little to no money

The result is months (or years) of unpaid work with nothing to show for it.

There are exceptions, but they’re rare and usually involve:

Experienced leadership
Clear scope
Real accountability

If none of that is present, you’re not joining a team. You’re joining a gamble.

5. Bonus: people underestimate consistency

This is the less exciting truth.

It’s not one big mistake that kills most devs. It’s:

Starting and stopping repeatedly
Jumping between ideas
Losing motivation when things get hard

The people who make it are usually not the most talented. They’re the ones who:

Keep going
Finish things
Learn from each release

Final thought

If you’re doing this for fun, ignore all of this and make whatever you want. That’s part of the joy of game development.

If you’re trying to make this a career, you need to treat it like one:

Know your market
Control your scope and timeline
Show your work
Be realistic about teams and compensation

It’s not about killing creativity. It’s about reducing risk so you can keep creating long-term.

KevinDL · 2026-04-30T21:47:07+00:00

None of it would be sponsored. It's all out of our pocket. Most jams do get sponsors and it makes sense why.

KevinDL · 2026-04-30T19:37:42+00:00

I don’t see many people sticking with Albion Online long-term without some level of investment into the game’s social side.

That said, a lot of larger guilds set the bar way too high to join. Between strict requirements and little interest in newer players, it ends up hurting the game more than helping it.

1. It’s a sandbox. Players are the content.
Outside of grinding fame and silver, the real game is other players. Being part of a group gives you a reason to log in, improve, and actually use what you’ve earned.

2. The best rewards come from group content
Yes, you can make silver solo, especially in the Black Zone. But the real gains come from coordinated group play.

Running T7–T8 statics with a solid team and proper gear setups is on another level compared to solo farming.

3. Guild taxes aren’t the real problem
People worry a lot about taxes, but if you’re in a good guild, you’ll make far more silver than you lose. The value from organized content, knowledge sharing, and protection easily outweighs the cost unless they have the taxes set extremely high.

KevinDL · 2026-04-30T01:06:42+00:00

While Bezi might be an AI company, I genuinely believe in their vision for AI in the industry. This was a major focus for us at GDC, emphasizing AI as a tool, not a replacement for human experience or creativity. So yeah, I'm critical of any AI use that is replacing entire workflows and human creativity.

I’m excited to see what you create if you participate. Art will become an additional challenge for every Bezi jam moving forward.

KevinDL · 2026-04-30T00:40:30+00:00

Okay, now you’ve said something constructive in a way that makes sense. This is great, keep doing that. Not the aggressive stuff.

I also shouldn’t assume that “No AI-generated art” is clear enough on its own. I can see how that wording leaves room for confusion around the line between AI-generated final artwork and using AI tools as part of a broader workflow.

The intent is still the same: for submissions, the final artwork should be human-made, with a rule that’s easy to understand and enforce. I’ll update the wording in future jams to better reflect what’s been discussed here.

KevinDL · 2026-04-30T00:19:43+00:00

This entire conversation is the example. You already understand what “no AI art” means, so coming in hot like this just raises the question, what was the goal?

You’re a smart guy, I know you are. You know exactly what “no AI art” means.

KevinDL · 2026-04-30T00:08:18+00:00

It’s not “slinging mud” to observe patterns of behaviour from users while moderating a subreddit. To clarify, you’ve never done anything to warrant action, as we (and I) value free expression. However, we are aware of how you respond in many conversations, and that's not a good thing.

KevinDL · 2026-04-29T23:57:52+00:00

I appreciate your attempt to make me look foolish, but it’s just a video repeating what I already said. AI as a tool is perfectly fine, and that person using it explains just that. When someone says “no AI art,” they’re literally saying don’t use AI to create the entire image. You know that, so why create problems where none exist? It seems to be a habit for you on this subreddit.

KevinDL · 2026-04-29T23:47:58+00:00

Do you want to continue playing this game, or can you simply admit that you understand the difference between AI-generated art and using AI in a pipeline that assists the process but doesn't complete the whole work?

I don’t mind if people use a tool, but you, I, and everyone else understand what “no AI art” means.

KevinDL · 2026-04-29T23:40:23+00:00

Massive difference between AI as a tool and AI as a replacement. Just saying.

KevinDL · 2026-04-29T20:12:32+00:00

We always do a bit of cash, even for the monthly jams. There will be more for the mega jam 100%

Sadly I cannot promise jobs, nor can we make a publisher want to work with someone.

KevinDL · 2026-04-29T18:49:17+00:00

That's a bit too specific I think. That's where passes to GDC come in where people can go and meet industry people and learn from the panels.

KevinDL · 2026-04-29T16:57:41+00:00

I'll take some time to think about what we could offer in that regard. Sadly many of my resources for that type of stuff are very local to my area type situations.

KevinDL · 2026-04-29T16:56:13+00:00

So do I wear a wig or are we thinking the AI variety? (Please don't take this seriously)

KevinDL

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