There's a lot of great advice in this thread. My take, after 30 years in the industry and stubbing my toe a lot:
1. Make as many small games as possible, but also mod as many games as possible and/or take existing games and tweak/twist them in a bunch of interesting ways. You'll explore some interesting design space without having to build everything from scratch.
2. Show your games off to friendly colleagues/other devs early and often. Earlier than you're ready for (because we're never quite ready!), and in person, if possible. Ask them what they'd do next, if they started with the game you just showed them. Most game devs at a physical community event want you to succeed, and are good at saying, "I'd do XYZ next." You don't have to listen to them, but if you do that enough, you'll get a good picture of how others see your work.
3. Whether you agree with them or not, be aware that GenAI is a sensitive topic for many game devs. Your Reddit post, if I'm seeing the right one, says "AI-powered browser game," which will be strongly divisive. I'd just focus on finding out what people like/dislike about gameplay, as that seems to be what you're looking for feedback on.
4. Design books are good, but I actually think they're an advanced maneuver. This is personal experience only, so take with a grain of salt, but I tend to kinda navel gaze and design-bible a project to death if I'm reading things too early in the process. So, if you've already digested Schell's book, I don't think you need to read a pile more yet.
5. Play as many games as possible, in the area of design you're interested in working. You'll see how people do stuff, you'll avoid making some obvious mistakes, and you'll get a bunch of ideas for stuff that devs aren't doing, that you could try.
Gamedev is tough but fun, and I wish you the best of luck!
I should definitely try building small things and experimenting a lot. Asking people early like I did this time with Hacker News was a great move. If I hadn’t, I might’ve gotten lost and wasted a lot of time. Also, if I just study too much, I feel like perfectionism kicks in and stops me from doing anything, so I’ll start making stuff here and there.
Lastly, I know GenAI is a sensitive topic, so I’ll need to think hard about how to explain it and approach people about it. Thanks so much for leaving a comment!
I'll second this. Start small. If you think it's small, start smaller. I think a lot of people fail in their quest to learn game development because the scope of their initial ideas are huge.
Edit, I also recommend Designing Games, by Tynan Sylvester (RimWorld creator)
When I try to build something too big, I often get overwhelmed and don’t know where to start. I’ll try starting small. Thanks for the resource recommendations too
Agree with 1 but take it further - common advice is just to clone many games. Try to build simple copies of simple games you know to understand how things are implemented and learn concepts with needed to reinvent the wheel.
1. Make as many small games as possible, but also mod as many games as possible and/or take existing games and tweak/twist them in a bunch of interesting ways. You'll explore some interesting design space without having to build everything from scratch.
2. Show your games off to friendly colleagues/other devs early and often. Earlier than you're ready for (because we're never quite ready!), and in person, if possible. Ask them what they'd do next, if they started with the game you just showed them. Most game devs at a physical community event want you to succeed, and are good at saying, "I'd do XYZ next." You don't have to listen to them, but if you do that enough, you'll get a good picture of how others see your work.
3. Whether you agree with them or not, be aware that GenAI is a sensitive topic for many game devs. Your Reddit post, if I'm seeing the right one, says "AI-powered browser game," which will be strongly divisive. I'd just focus on finding out what people like/dislike about gameplay, as that seems to be what you're looking for feedback on.
4. Design books are good, but I actually think they're an advanced maneuver. This is personal experience only, so take with a grain of salt, but I tend to kinda navel gaze and design-bible a project to death if I'm reading things too early in the process. So, if you've already digested Schell's book, I don't think you need to read a pile more yet.
5. Play as many games as possible, in the area of design you're interested in working. You'll see how people do stuff, you'll avoid making some obvious mistakes, and you'll get a bunch of ideas for stuff that devs aren't doing, that you could try.
Gamedev is tough but fun, and I wish you the best of luck!