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invertigo hayfever @the-doomed-posts-of-muteKi3/25/2024, 4:15 PM

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Bruno Dias @bruno3/25/2024, 4:02 PM

I don't really think any of the problems people cite about game dev YouTube are endemic to YouTube or the YouTube format. Most game dev advice is awful, and most discussions about 'game dev' online are from a profoundly uninformed perspective. Poke your head in /r/gamedev for a sec if you really want to stare into the abyss; it's a truly Boschian hell of the ignorant giving advice to the disinformed.

And the industry doesn't really help this situation. If anything, it makes it worse in several ways.

First, knowledge is actually gatekept. I don't know how we can argue that it isn't when most GDC talks are behind an absurdly expensive paywall – nevermind the expensive ordeal that is attending GDC.

Second, I do think a lot of industry people have forgotten what it's like to be a beginner and are very eager to push people towards solutions that are practical for a real professional team but are not really relevant to someone trying to just make a crappy first game, join a game jam, or develop very basic and early skills.

Third, the industry has done very little to discourage the grifter industrial complex built up around game dev. The industry keeps supporting GDC, an event that is extremely friendly to grifting. It hasn't really done anything to distance itself from the various for-profit schools selling kids on 'game dev degrees' that the industry often doesn't take seriously when hiring.

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in reply to @bruno's post:

Christian Simmers @Xuelder3/25/2024, 4:09 PM

It hasn't really done anything to distance itself from the various for-profit schools selling kids on 'game dev degrees' that the industry often doesn't take seriously when hiring.

Probably the best way they can get around this is stop requiring a "game development degree" in job listings. I see these all the time from small indies to AAA publishers. Its just a pipeline to resentment, depression, and debt.

nevermind the expensive ordeal that is attending GDC.

I had to get family support to afford to attend GDC last year while qualifying for the free ticket they gave poor folks. Its such a hard obstacle to overcome, especially when you don't live in the "right" city.

@strangeglyph3/25/2024, 4:25 PM

As a dabbler, the lack of publicly available help and advice beyond the most common issues has been maddening.

Phaine of Catz @Phaine-of-Catz3/25/2024, 4:30 PM

There is also a lot of NDA nonsense involved and not everyone is good at picking out what information is viable to share and what isn't on their own.

@SpacePrincessV3/25/2024, 4:37 PM

this seems to be particularly bad for certain genres too. if you want to know about the handling models, physics, and things like track registration for older racing games (particularly arcadey ones) there’s basically nothing out there. that knowledge seems siloed within the industry. some racing game developers have given GDC talks but there are very few and as you point out, those are behind a super expensive paywall.

@garak3/25/2024, 5:49 PM

To the extent YouTube is culpable, it's not the format, but how the platform conflates popularity with authority and takes a content-blind approach to what's promoted as good advice. Hucksters and shillers thrive where there's a rankings game they can play that's disconnected from ground truth. Same applies to Reddit.

JP @vectorpoem3/25/2024, 5:54 PM

GDC really is a giant gross monolith at the center of all this, and every time i hear some struggling dev talking about having to scrape the money together to attend my blood pressure spikes.

i do think Youtube has specific format and platform dynamics around "audience building" that make its particular grifters so successful and visible and sticky, but pretty much every platform has its own unique dysfunctions.

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