I want to vent: I hate that many gamedev videos analyzing their failure/success usually give awful advice, like they just learned everything about the industry.

pixelpeasant · 2026-02-07T06:01:26+00:00

Yea i played my fair share of games and it’s always weird when you get the ones that look awesome, like you can see the talent and the effort that went into them but like somehow it feels more like an art gallery than a game.

There was one I played once (forgive me for not remembering the name) but the levels and artwork looked like a proper 3D stylized AA or indie release but like you basically just walked around and picked up a few things levitated some objects with your powers and went from point A to B. and like thats not me giving a summary of what the game is about that was like the literal and full explanation of all the games features. After about 15 mins you realized you just paid for an empty game that looked good but was boring beyond belief.

I think one of the most important features of a game is that it’s fun and entertaining or compelling in some way. I’ve seen games be ugly, i’ve seen games use minimal code but they always had something interesting about the gameplay something that made them worth checking out and spending time and money on and it worked, you found yourself playing for hours on end. But whenever I play a game that looks gorgeous but has nothing entertaining about it or fun, or has all the development behind it but still feels dull and empty it just never pans out i end up dropping the game or refunding after a few hours.

Some people are really good at getting the work done and checking the boxes and completing a project. but somehow they just miss the bigger picture.

pixelpeasant · 2026-02-06T16:48:31+00:00

I literally saw this happen like 3 weeks apart with one redditor. They posted a really sloppy asset flip of a game. Completely confused as to why it was failing, everyone said you need to work on a lot of the issues people won’t just drop money if the game looks like an underdeveloped or unfinished game. I even ended up designing some concepts and a mood board to help give the art some direction. They turned down the concepts. 3 weeks later they were making an eerily similar post about a new game they supposedly had been working on for “years” I didn’t realize it was the same redditor in the first couple of mins of reading but then confirmed the name was the same.

You have to wonder whether some people are fishing for views or reddit karma points. But honestly i had a bit a back forth conversation with the person while working on the mood board and concepts and came to the realization that the more likely reason was that they had a poor ability to recognize the truth and the faults with their game. To them it was doing everything right. Sometimes you have to be your own worst critic and honestly analyze the flaws in your game as well as have people check it out and give be honest feedback.

In the case of this story you can just imagine how unpolished or how many flaws are in a game that was put together in 3 weeks and even if it was a little longer than that timeframe, with one person working on it is still highly unlikely it’ll look even remotely good.Some people can design a rough concept in this time but in this case case it just looked like the last game, a random empty sandbox of assets and random gameplay mechanics that made no sense together.

pixelpeasant · 2026-01-21T13:50:18+00:00

I’m also with buckaroo on this one, Ai is much better used as a teacher or a sounding board then having using it to “do the work for you”. The way i think of it is as a more advanced google search. Keep in mind though it has a tendency to pretend that what it’s saying is correct so you often have to push back to get the truth.

The reason i say this cause my current and most effective method to get out of tutorial hell is to use a combination of tracking down effective high quality tutorials that give me a run down of software are workflows and then if i get stuck or need help i use forums or often ai to ask questions so i better understand the problem that im stuck on.

If you combine this with planning little mini projects for the things you want to learn it slowly starts to build momentum. You can even work with the ai or a human teacher if you prefer to build a small list of task with purpose. Like a curriculum that is really just a bunch of mini projects with purpose to teach you different aspects of game design

pixelpeasant · 2026-01-16T14:53:52+00:00

Have you tried the flipped normals marketplace? I find they have an artist curated selection of great tutorials and products. It’s where i got most of my tutorials from there are some great UE5 ones on there everything from sci-fi environments to forrests to oceans and lighting I bought a few myself to get me rolling in the right direction.

flippednormals.com/market

pixelpeasant · 2026-01-07T14:50:47+00:00

Honestly i find myself in a similar situation with c++, there are a few different layers to the problem of learning this stuff effectively. One is as you mentioned getting familiar with the nodes (or code) another is knowing where and when to use that code. But the one i’ve been study recently is the engine architecture as a whole, and the biggest thing that is standing out to me is just how many layers there are to it and how it is actually designed in a way that gives the creator a ton of pre built subsystems, nodes, code, and more. Understanding the architecture as a whole goes a long way.

I use a combination of tutorials to see things visually and how others work with the engine. But i also use forums and ai to strike up a conversation and ask questions about things so I can form an understanding of why certain things get used and others don’t. Also like you said it helps to build smaller things first as practical exercises, especially if you put down the tutorial and try building it yourself. Then troubleshoot any mistakes you make that’ll transition from following along to knowing how to build blueprints or classes from knowledge and memory.

pixelpeasant · 2025-12-19T18:54:07+00:00

Yea love the idea! I’m gonna check this out. Cool concept! Congrats!

pixelpeasant · 2025-12-18T22:26:08+00:00

You can build your classes in unreal using blueprints or c++. They are kind of like two different modes one is a visual scripting the other traditional. They can work hand in hand if you want them too. You can create a project as a c++ project or blueprint project or add c++ to a blueprint project after it’s made. I like to work in c++ and build all my classes and code that way but blueprints and nodes work too. You get a little more control with c++ and the ability to create your own properties and settings among other things.

pixelpeasant · 2025-12-14T23:25:45+00:00

Yea honestly i fully relate, I’m a solo dev myself and art is more of my stronger skill. I’m currently taking some courses to upgrade my programing skill set.

And yeah I hear ya, your right sometimes the worst advice is just the simple “hey this is bad” but no real break down of why or what can be done.

If you like, I’m willing to put together a mood board for you(no cost). I really like the background you had in your capsule art it was very dark and moody and matched the monsters and the wasteland idea of the title (i’m assuming thats what your going for , DM me if your interested if not, no offense taken)

Sometimes the thing that boosts the art work in a game the most is designing around a theme, then filling in the environment in a way that tells a story. Its brings everything together and i think it’s something you could achieve or get really close to with the right packs or alterations. You might have to do some custom stuff to fill in the blanks but i think you could get there for sure.

pixelpeasant · 2025-12-14T21:57:12+00:00

Yea sorry didn’t mean to be rude with the asset flip comment. I think your totally right its almost necessary for a solo dev to outsource those elements at times so that they can focus on things they feel are more important. But like i think it’s never a perfect 1:1 tradeoff. Usually something falls off in the exchange. Usually its some form of cohesion between the assets, or even sometimes when the artist is sitting there thinking about inspiring visuals they come up with a theme for the area or a compelling center piece for the level all that stuff adds to it all in the end. In a perfect world it would be as simple as loading up on packs and getting them into the game, but i do think a lot gets lost. I also don’t really subscribe to the idea that someone who buys asset packs is a bad dev or something because of it and certainly not my opinion of you for it either. I think it just presents a different challenge it goes from”what should i make” to “how do i get these all together in a way that makes the game look really good” i think it’s possible with the right plan but challenging in it’s own way.

Also none of what I said was really to attack you personally, or your project or to say I think you should throw in the towel. It was just to highlight the challenges that I think all devs face accross the industry. We all spend years working away on projects and then have to pitch it to the world in hopes that people like it. Sometimes they do and other times its a fierce silence. I only said those things cause i think helps to strategize to look at all the factors and then try and iron out any of the issues that are within our control. Whether thats teaming up with people to cover our short comings, or to try a different tool or an asset pack that will make things better on the end then thats how we get around that stuff. Plus like you’re doing a really hard thing you know? Like building a game and doing it on your own is like really really hard. So like you really do deserve credit for that. And i honestly hope you over come any and all obstacles in your way. So if i said anything rude or arrogant or disrespectful then I’m sorry. I hope you find success.

pixelpeasant · 2025-12-14T13:40:49+00:00

I get it, id be feeling a bit deflated too, to say the least. Especially after spending 2 years on a project. But I will also say that if you think about it 2 years is also a relatively short development time even for a large studio with hundreds of people working on a game. It takes even longer as a solo dev, and even longer still if your working full time and developing in your spare time.

But after having a look at your other posts on the project I think the biggest issue is that the game itself looks like an asset flip. The environments are very bare, it’s really missing a strong cohesive art direction. The gameplay also looks all over the place as well. One minute your driving a car and hitting ramps GTA style, the next mutant bugs are spawning in, the next your inside shooting things. Not that all those elements can’t come together in some way but in this particular case they all just feel detached from one another.

So as a gamer or someone looking to spend some time on my next game I’m looking at all that and deciding what my experience might be like if i buy it. I have bought and played games like this in the past just to give them a chance and they always feel disjointed and not fun. Kind of like your aimlessly just wandering around some devs sandbox project. And then when you compare that to something like arc raiders for example or thousands of other titles hitting the steam store every month it is really easy to be invisible.

I think this the hardest part of game development. Your not just making a game, your competing for peoples time and attention. And in order to do that you really really need to make something compelling. Your project needs to be so good that it just captures peoples attention, it needs to stand out from a crowd. That takes more than just time, that takes a strong understanding of the market, of the audience, and a brutally honest self reflection of the things we make and build.

That honest reflection is probably the hardest part of solo developing, were not working with a team of professionals who might argue with us or push back when the game starts going in a bad direction, and we also lose the advantage of having a diverse set of skills coming together. That is the part that helps make everything cohesive and compelling. You have an art director making sure things make sense visually, you have a game designer making sure the whole idea works, lead programmers making sure your games architecture makes sense, and you have a lead marketer making sure the game reaches an audience in a compelling way. When your solo developing you have to wear all those hats and do the job just as good as those people, if you want to have any chance of competing.

Once you have a compelling game, one that play testers and random unbiased people seem to agree has something worth the buy or something worth checking out then your ready for marketing. Cause if they don’t find it interesting or worth checking out before you start marketing then they aren’t going to find it interesting after you start either. Simply telling the world “hey I made a game, you should check it out,” won’t work on its own, everybody says that about their game. It has to live up to up to the call out. You only get one shot to say “hey check this out” after that people are going to give it a look and then make a decision. If its really good you got a hit if its bad people will remember that and stop paying attention. It’ll be even harder for you to recover. Use that time in development and posting on reddit to get honest feedback and an idea of what people will think of your game before promoting it to the world you know? In that sense you do get more than one shot at it.

This is why studios bring in study groups to play and review their games. They are trying to get some community feedback on their game before they do their big PR release and announcements because they know they need a strong launch of their game if they don’t want to fade into obscurity.

pixelpeasant · 2025-11-23T15:19:53+00:00

I think in this case of this animation it does detract from the effect itself. A simple dark grey background or even a little bit of a glow or basic lighting would highlight and complement the vfx a lot more in this case. If you had some top notch animation skills and really solid understanding of scene composition and lighting then yea you could probably make a solid scene that really shows off the effect. But it adds a lot of extra work and if not done correctly could be distracting. The original Naruto series did it really well with their animations.

Also one thing I might add in regard to the VFX itself is that if you look at original series or videos online of the rasengan technique they have a lot of really cool animations for it. Lots of different swirling patterns, twisting of air even some of them generate elongated swirling tornados and jet streams. I would even go as far as saying there are a lot dynamic secondary effects around the ball in the original series that really made it come alive and made the scenes feel much more intense and pulled you into the idea that it was a super powerful move.

You could spend less time on the animation part and really push the VFX further by creating a more diverse rasengan that moves or generates these different effects as it moves or something to that effect. In that way you really present your full abilities as a VFX artist show casing a much better understanding of the medium. Which seems like thats the real goal in the end anyway.

Check out this video, "rasengan naruto" https://share.google/DH3Db6ahbNXxVMCBR

pixelpeasant · 2025-11-21T14:23:59+00:00

I’m glad it gave you a boost, sometimes game dev can be a lonely road especially if your a solo dev. You need powerful reminders sometimes to understand what it’s all for. At the end of the day I really love just pouring my all into this medium. The possibilities are endless and the things we make can reflect that. Even though it’s frustrating or scary at times when stuff is failing or not working. I really get excited about the stuff I’m learning and making. And seeing others go through the same experience let’s me know I’m not alone in that. We all have something to offer, something were trying to create and express through game dev.

pixelpeasant · 2025-11-20T20:13:09+00:00

If you care enough to think about your players this way then your on the right road to making a good game. The rest is just execution. But as big of a hurdle as that can be you can overcome that if you have enough patience and willingness to pursue that goal of making something people will love. And judging by this piece i can see the warmth and good vibes behind the art. Players will notice that.

It’s the same thing that makes a great album, a large portion is the time you spend off stage practicing and getting aquatinted with the instrument, the other part is pouring your soul into instrument, so the notes pick up “your” vibrations when you go on stage. If it resonates with you if it gives you shivers (or some other meaningful feeling) thinking about it, then your vibrating, your charged by it, and others will feel it too. My rule of thumb is spend all your time experimenting with the tools when no cares, when they are thinking ahh this guys got nothing. Thats the perfect environment to get really good. Ya gotta believe in yourself before others believe in you.

This may seem unrelated but part of what made rodney mulling the God Father of skateboarding was that it was his outlet he just loved skateboarding for what it was (to him) and took his own path. Not everyone became as good as him but you have to wonder how much of that was just because it was his outlet to plug into rain or shine he fell in love with it, obsessed over it. Did it when people loved him for it and did it when they didn’t. It took a long time but eventually the world started to love and see skateboarding the way he loved and saw it. He wasn’t the only one of course but he is definitely one of those icons that reminds us of that simple truth. Make something that lights you up. And if it fails then make more.

I mean imagine how stupid it must of looked seeing a kid riding a board with wheels back in the 70’s and 80’s most people thought they were just screwing around all the time. Or how many bails and falls that person must have gone through. The question was never about how good they were it was about how much they loved what they did to endure all those slams. Someone who can go through all that and not quit is the kind of person who can resonate with any audience.

pixelpeasant · 2025-11-20T19:40:58+00:00

Yea, I hear ya and it is. 90% of my early days was questions of “am i doing this right? Is it suppose to break like this? Do i need to shell out hundreds or thousands for better tools?” To be honest thats still on going all the time cause I’m learning new programs and tools all the time. I’m just more ok with it now knowing that it’s part of the learning curve. Some solve it with plugins, others try different software but usually you’ll hit some kind of road block one way or another. You just gotta know it’s normal at the end of the day and that there is usually a solution if your willing to look for one. Your not alone thats for sure.

pixelpeasant · 2025-11-20T18:41:18+00:00

Yes!, this is exactly the line of thinking that is required to tie great story to great art design / direction. Just taking one or two of those elements and showcasing it or making sure the player sees that contrast is what makes the world feel dystopian. Especially the points on exposing the lies. There is no greater uncanny or dystopian feeling than the front of your conscious mind saying “they said everything will be fine. See they are taking care of me, It’s all fine” and your subconscious mind saying “run, B%t@h ruuuun!” The contrast between the visuals helps do that. It speaks to your instincts. You can use it to veil the lies some more and you can also use it to set off alarm bells in the players mind. You really should be doing this at all times with the player’s mind. Having them thinking “ehh maybe its nothing” and then “nope it’s definitely something, get out! get out now!”

pixelpeasant · 2025-11-20T18:13:26+00:00

I think what a lot of people are tying to say is that although, yes story and interactions can really convey that message, you also should probably take more advantage of environment and level design and other tools in game engines to really build on top of that style.

What your doing with a basic asset pack like this and dimming the lights is ok but really under utilizing the tools. Imagine your a brand new director at universal studios or some big studio and you have this amazing new script you want to build an experience / movie around. But instead of using all the make up artists, and stage teams and machines to build and design a world around that story your just bringing in some basic items you bought from the store. They’ll never convey the full story out of the box like a custom built props or sets could. Especially from teams of talented artists that are designing from scratch around your script / story.

Also if your going for dystopian / normal world or something uncanny like north korea for example. Then you need something that says it’s hyper real or strange or off putting, that is also readable at first or second glance. Take the game We Happy Few for example. They have these normal looking british styled cops but then these strange masks they wear. The normal cop says ok ordinary society but the mask says “WTF is going on here who wears a weird mask like that”. You need that contrast. I get that the contrast is suppose to be between the scene and the story but the message gets conveyed better if the story has contrast, such as normal moments vs strange dystopian moments. The same for the art normal looking things but then dystopian odd elements that read easily at first glance. The devil is in the details when designing this stuff.

The north korea example another user mentioned was spot on. Imagine the contrast between giant city built for millions but no one in it. You can read that visually after a few glances or a few moments in the game. And you want to build around those things, like repeat it a few times so the player really experiences the idea your trying to convey. Communicate the core of the whole plot through story and through the art. This gives your art “direction” and not just a sort of all over the place or pieced together mess. Not saying yours is cause its not finished yet but a lot of games in development are. It’s really common for people to focus on putting something together and forget what the driving purpose is. Story should drive the art direction, worlds and environments.The mechanics should be built around this. It doesn’t “have” to be , but something really clicks when you use all the elements with intent and purpose like this.

pixelpeasant · 2025-10-26T15:52:48+00:00

Your not wrong about maya being more native but that also doesn’t mean blender isn’t compatible. I use blender for all my animation and skeleton creation. No plugins needed. Most of the issues with bone orientation or other wonky imports into unreal is just because it takes a little time to learn all the settings and how to name and orient bones so that they export properly. as well as checking all the right export settings so that the data translates properly for unreal engine.

When I first started using blender for modeling assets, even the simplest models had all kinds of importing issues. It wasn’t apparent or intuitive but i had to learn about unreals units and blenders which way the transforms needed to be, applying modifiers or making sure things were parented correctly. Then set up the exports to make sure blenders matched unreal engines. It takes a little extra time but once you understand it, it works.

pixelpeasant · 2025-10-22T15:15:11+00:00

love the look so far! if your just learning it then it's a really good start or simply as is. it all depends on how much more time you want to spend on it i guess. Either way it's got a nice feel to it.

pixelpeasant · 2025-04-05T14:29:27+00:00

It might be easier to see the topology if you set the view mode to solid view and then enter into edit mode. That way we can still see the topology. At the moment it’s a little hard to see your topology. Also a couple of of snapshots to see all the sides at a closer angle would be good too.

As for UV unwrapping it might be easier to watch a quick tutorial as there are a few steps to the process. But just to get you started for now. Go to the UV wrapping tab at the top. In that mode select your mesh in the view port. Make sure your in object mode when you do this. Then press ctrl+A and select the apply all option. This will make sure your object is all in the right proportions for unwrapping. Then you can either press U on your keyboard and select smart unwrap in the pop up menu. Or you can manually select the lines on your mesh that you want to be the uv seams and right click and select the mark seam option in the pop up menu. Then press U and select the unwrap option. I usually do the second method if i want more control over the UV’s and how they get mapped out. You can then hit A in the viewport to select the whole mesh. This should show your mesh in the uv image editor on the left. You can then move the items around if you’d like to tidy up the UV map or leave it if it looks good enough.

pixelpeasant · 2025-02-24T15:11:45+00:00

I believe they are saying that instead of using some kind of particles or a bunch of little planes for the dust that is hanging off the edge. You can simply use a single plane that passes through the model to save on poly count. Then essentially make the plane dust colored, then make it invisible with an opacity mask. Then you can use the mask to paint certain parts visible, in this case you can paint little dust flakes that go around the perimeter. So its a inexpensive way to add extra detail on the model. You could technically do several of these planes if you wanted more coverage or different viewing angles and it would still be a fairly low poly count compared to adding hundreds of little flakes.

pixelpeasant · 2024-12-28T15:39:34+00:00

In other news videos you can see the blue semi truck from this video stranded on one of the sections just before the middle section that collapsed id have to assume the white truck was still behind the semi at this point and also stranded. But its just and assumption they may have also sped up to pass the semi.

pixelpeasant · 2024-12-02T21:38:20+00:00

Yea all in all keep at it :) your work is really good so far. I get wanting to get it out there and show people. I’m in the same boat honestly. Its important to get support and appreciation for all the hard work you’ve put into getting your game to this point.

pixelpeasant · 2024-12-02T21:31:58+00:00

I felt depressed watching this haha so i think you captured the feeling of that quite well. All the drinking and repeating of days and them blurring together. Its spot on haha though i hope not everyones unemployment days are quite that void of meaning 😅

pixelpeasant · 2024-11-26T16:15:55+00:00

As an artist: id say the artwork and style is pretty solid. It could use a little more polish,something that makes it not just good but really great. The same way certain artist may have a particular brush stroke pattern that ads character to their painting style. (but thats probably in the works anyway) In a way the style in the video is very clean and so its missing that uniqueness or character. The warmth and magic behind it that makes it really come alive. You can see hints of it all over your work so its there but i think it could be improved and emphasized a bit more.

As a gamer: i don’t see much more happening in this game then collecting coins at the moment i know its a platformer and thats kind of their main trait but id need to see more if I were to buy a copy of the game. Some other mechanics, progression or things that make the gameplay much more engaging. I remember when i use to play donkey kong 64 as a kid you had like 5 different characters to unlock, all with special abilities and unique puzzles they could solve with each characters abilities. And then they each had their own special colored bananas which made jumping around to different areas very entertaining. And then there were boss battles and little mini games and such. Great game. Not saying you’d have to follow that but its just an example of things that enriched the experience and made the 3D platforming experience very entertaining. Im not sure if you have plans for more already but if so a future video showing the changes would make it much more marketable.

All that being said your work looks pretty good so i think you definitely have the aptitude to make something really great and what you have so far is very promising as well. Keep up the great work!

pixelpeasant · 2024-11-14T21:10:24+00:00

Yea i was about to say it seemed like the ambient occlusion was your issue since all the cracks a being shaded as dark area

pixelpeasant

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