#pokopresentsshitposts

[aplethoraofart]

Unnamed Character commission for @pokopresentsshitposts, 7 Dec 2023

[amethystblack]

Ay, I know it's a bit of a long shot, but I'm an aspiring game dev, and I'm looking for tips. I looked up the tag Game Dev Blog, saw one of your posts, and decided to ask. I'm the main artist, and general designer, but my friend, who I'm working with, is doin' the programming and music. Any chance you can tell me anything about pixel art, and maybe also stuff like class balancing? Maybe even a couple music tips, so I can make a piece or two my self.

there is probably a lot to say about any one of those subjects, let alone all three of them together, so let me hit some general points for aspiring creators that can apply to all of them

Observation is a critical skill

For all of art, music, and games, it is important to look at (or listen to) something, figure out what you like about it, and then break down the individual components of that thing and analyze how they work together to create an impression. Notice how the shading was done on art you liked-- cell-shaded? dithered? smooth blending? Notice how much contrast in values there is-- shifting to greyscale can help see values. What about that soundfont do you like? What does the bridge do differently in comparison to the chorus that makes it stand out? If you can identify these techniques, you can recreate them.

There is no substitute for doing

Everyone already knows practice makes perfect, but a lot of online advice is geared around generating clicks and views under the notion that you can watch this 20 minute video to fasttrack your way to being an expert. Videos and advice can help as a sprinkle of perspective on top of your experience and show you new ways to grow, but the unhappy truth is that you have to be putting in the hours to grow in the first place, and anyone that tells you otherwise is probably selling something. Not to publicly roast you (because I don't mind you asking this here-- and in fact I'm very grateful that you thought my perspective was worth writing in to hear, thank you for that), but even looking for game dev tips on tumblr is not building the skill of [making games]; it is building the skill of [finding advice on tumblr]. After watching many videos on the subjects of the above bullet point, I also realized that the skill I was building was [analyzing games], not [making them]. You gotta pull a Shia and eventually Just Do It ™

Enjoyment is a high priority

In order to git gud, you have to do something a lot. If doing something a lot were easy or more fun when you're first learning, probably a lot of things in the world would be much better. Alas. In order to get through the requisite 10,000 hours of practice, it's much better to find ways to enjoy the time and experience of making something rather than just holding your nose to the grindstone and bearing with it. If you're enjoying making something, you'll want to do it more, and then you'll just feedback loop yourself into getting all the practice and experience you need to do it better. Therefore, anything you can do to enjoy the process more is 100% a valid and good thing to do and you should absolutely go for it.

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final specific tidbits: - for pixel art programs i recommend aseprite, but graphicsgale is a good free alternative. - make balance decisions according to player feedback, not guesses. just have fun until you get that feedback. - i'm convinced video game soundtracks have everything to learn from musical theatre.

i hope this helps you or someone else a bit! best of luck on your projects~