With the start of the new year, I though I would take some time to spell out some of my goals for 2022. For the most part, I’ll be following the advice of CodeMonkey (see the original video: 7 Steps to Become a Game Developer). I found that to be a helpful video for someone like me just starting their game development journey. But I’m also setting some of my own more specific goals. So let’s get started.
Document Work Time
Probably the most important of my goals for 2022 is documenting all my working time. I think this could be hugely beneficial to both myself and other young game developers.
I have no idea how much time I spend doing different tasks. There could be something in my workflow that could greatly use improving (or entirely outsourcing). Without documenting my time, I won’t really know that.
It could also be helpful to other young (or aspiring) game developers to have see my timeline. There’s way more that goes into making games than I ever thought. And if I can share that insight with others, that would be a pretty cool thing.
Log 1000 Hours of Game Development Time
I know there is debate the validity of Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers and the 10,000 hours rule. Quality of practice being the main factor. But regardless of your stance, there is a definitely correlation between the amount of time you spend doing something and how good you are.
I’m using that basis as well as this blog post by Tom Graves breaking down skill levels by hours spent. One of my goals for 2022 is to reach the “journeyman” skill level (1000+ hours) by the end of 2022. This means I should be able to continue my journey without the aid of tutorials and should be able to do most tasks on my own.
And as I mentioned, I’ll be documenting the all of my work time. Things that will contribute to this total:
- Actively learning new skills (tutorials, videos, or blog articles).
- Development of my own games
- Blogging about game development
- Marketing and social media
I know those last two aren’t directly tied to game development. But without building a following, no one would know about or play your game. I think it’s important (and a skill I’m lacking), so I’m including it. Although I will be monitoring it somewhat separately from the more active parts of game development.
Learn Unity
I’ve been developing games for about a month now. For that time, I’ve intentionally been doing the entire thing in code. Lua and the Love2D framework, specifically. This was to make sure I understand what was happening behind the scenes. And I feel like I have a great start for only a month.
Now I feel its time to start learning the more commonly used tools of the industry. I’ve done research into the major platforms. Most seem to be fairly similar. So rather than just constantly do more research, I just made the decision to use Unity. Mainly because I found the Brackeys YouTube channel with tons of Unity tutorials.
Throughout the month of January, I’ll be focusing on going through as many of those tutorials as possible. My goal here is not to build my own game. Rather, I want to get as comfortable as possible with learning the tool itself. That way when I begin creating my own games, I won’t have to waste development time learning how to do something.
All together, I’m shooting for about 100 hours worth of learning throughout January.
Build and Launch 2 Games
This is where most of my time will be spent. According to the CodeMonkey video I referenced earlier, the rough timeline is:
- 2 months of tutorials
- 1 month building first game
- focus is on scope and finishing a project
- 3 months building second game
- focus is on making it available for players and marketing
- 6 months building third game
I’ve gone a little out of order. I’ve spent about a month going through the CS50 Intro to Game Development course, and about half a month building my first game (almost available for any interested in it). As mentioned, January will be focused on learning Unity. That will leave just the last two items: 3 months for my second game and 6 months for my third game. While I may not stick to this rigid timeline (depends on the game requirements), it definitely gives a solid starting timeline.
Write 80 Blog Posts
Again, I acknowledge that this isn’t directly tied to game development. But I think this blog could be important in getting the word out about my own games. Thus, I consider it important. (Plus, I’ve just always wanted to blog.)
That comes out to a new blog post roughly every 4 days (with wiggle room, because I know of several periods I won’t be able to due to work).
You’re already here, so be sure to check back for more game development content!
Build a Following of 500 People
Same as blog posting. Not directly tied to game development. But we need people to play the games we make. So I think its important for game developers to have a following.
I’m not sure what a realistic number of followers is for a new developer, so I’m shooting for 500. I’m just under 100 now. This is pretty substantial increase, but I think it should be doable. Especially after actually releasing a game.
Final Thoughts for my 2022 Goals
Overall, these are some pretty lofty goals. But I feel all of them are definitely within my ability to hit. It’ll just take learning some new skills and putting in a ton of work.
I’d be curious to get feedback from game developers that have been doing this a long time. Do you feel like this is a good set of goals for 2022? Things you might suggest or improve on would be appreciated!
If you have any unique goals or games you plan on releasing in 2022, be sure to share them in the comments below. I know I’m definitely interested in seeing what is coming from my fellow game developers.
