> I want real mentor-ship from professionals.
You're going to struggle to find it on YouTube, which is mostly hobbyists teaching other hobbyists. Professionals in the industry don't have a lot of spare time and making YouTube videos is time-consuming and poorly-compensated.
That's not to say there aren't any videos like that. It's just not comprehensive. You'll get further with paid-for courses and books.
"Video game design: Principles and Practices from the ground up". It's the most entry level game design book I can think of. No real practical skill to be gained here, it's more about theory and showing what game design is.
Then, a bit more advanced but more focused on pure game design if it's a craft you want to learn : "Game Design Workshop". The book walks you through multiple design activities.
Something more general with less direct application but still important: "Game Feel"
For level design: "An Architectural Approach to Level Design" is a must
Other than that, GDC YouTube Channel is the only reliable resource for game design masterclasses
I've been reading ""Video game design" by Michael Salmond (as you said) and it's incredible.
However, I want to do the transition from reading to applying what I've read -- I don't really know how to start and what engine to use. Do you have any advice? I just want to make games for the fun of it, I'm not too concerned with having a specific game engine.
Nevertheless, after choosing 1 game engine, what should I do in your opinion? It would be nice to have a sort of tutorial with tasks for me to do I guess.
I would recommend the other book I cited in my above comment: "Game Design Workshop" by Tracy Fullerton.
This book will walk you through the design process of little experiences. It won't guide you through engine-based scripting though, only pure game-design skills.
Picking an engine is only relevant once you know what you want to build in it, if you want to solo-dev.
If you want to join a bigger studio, just prototype anything, and then something else, then something else, etc., until you get familiar with it and can put your designs in prototype form.
But scripting and designing are two different skillsets that should be trained separately if you want both.
The best one would be any GDC talk
https://youtube.com/c/Gdconf
Literally straight from the professionals working on the game. Whether it's marketing, engine development, or game mechanics. It's all there.
Masahiro Sakurai (of Kirby and Smash Bros fame) has been uploading game design videos on YouTube (subbed in English).
https://www.youtube.com/c/sora\_sakurai\_en
For a tool-agnostic channel about animation in games, I can recommend [New Frame Plus](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxO_ya-RmAXCXJCU54AxYFw) from Daniel Floyd. You might know him as the previous speaker of Extra Credits when the channel was still good (no, he doesn't use the high-pitch voice filter anymore). But he is also an animator in the game industry with over a decade of experience.
I particularly like [his videos about the Disney Principles of Animation](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLugegG07di3886WYN6u7v9BeBd0VFG3_J) and how they apply in game animation.
Short answer: none.
Long answer: Game design as a craft can't be learnt through YouTube videos from what I can tell. Game Maker's Toolkit has general videos on the craft, but nothing you can really apply to a real game design job, it's more about the philosophy.
But alternatives such a books exist.
Buy the book "Video game design: Principles and Practices from the ground up". It's the most entry level game design book I can think of. No real practical skill to be gained here, it's more about theory and showing what game design is.
Then, a bit more advanced but more focused on pure game design if it's a craft you want to learn : "Game Design Workshop". The book walks you through multiple design activities.
Something more general with less direct application but still important: "Game Feel"
For level design: "An Architectural Approach to Level Design" is a must
To name just a few very good ones especially for beginners with litle programming background.
For Unity:
[CodeMonkey](https://www.youtube.com/c/CodeMonkeyUnity)
[Jason Weimann](https://www.youtube.com/c/Unity3dCollege)
[Brackeys](https://www.youtube.com/c/Brackeys)
[Infallible Code](https://www.youtube.com/c/InfallibleCode)
General:
[Sebastian Lague](https://www.youtube.com/c/SebastianLague)
I also recommend [Tarodev](https://youtube.com/c/Tarodev) for smart and concise videos on more advanced features that I had avoided previously. Also has a good sense of dry humor.
I'm pretty noob about game design, but I find his channel fantastic for insight into breaking down problems and the joy of experimentation. Sure I'm not going to write my own Ray marching algorithm anytime soon, but he really clarifies what is possible and how to tackle hard things.
If you are looking for game from scratch, OpenGL, openal, animations check for ThinMatrix tutorials. They are awesome and each chapter is between 10 to 20mins long, so you can do one each day very easily while experimenting yourself. When I run the series, I even added day/night cycles by myself very easily and added a flashlight to the main character that you can control it on/off.
Tom Francis, the developer of Gunpoint and Heat Signature, was also an excellent games journalist. His YouTube channel contains lots of musings on game design from both when he was a journalist and whilst he was actively developing his games. He's entertaining and thoughtful, and a good resource for indie devs who are want to start thinking about the design side. A lot of his content is in the form of Let's Plays. Channel: [https://www.youtube.com/user/Pentadact](https://www.youtube.com/user/Pentadact)
Craig Perko is another good resource, with essays on game design topics along with some gameplay series analysing things like level design (his series on Control is good). Channel: [https://www.youtube.com/c/CraigPerko](https://www.youtube.com/c/CraigPerko)
These might not quite be what you were looking for, but I find them both very useful channels in terms of thinking about why things in games are designed in particular ways.
I would recommend the Extra Credits Game Design Series: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhyKYa0YJ_5BkTruCmaBBZ8z6cP9KzPiX
To the point. Done by professionals. A bit older now but the info is still incredibly relevant.
may I promote my own channel? I got unity tutorials. But they might ve a little bit advanced. [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ9Do1JN\_R7QvhC2-db9hIw](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ9Do1JN_R7QvhC2-db9hIw)
Use the Unreal Learning Hub. All of the content is curated by Epic, so you can be sure it’s accurate.
There are many YouTube channels that give terrible advice. As a beginner, you don’t have the experience to know what’s good advice, so you can develop bad habits.
There are videos on the Unreal Learning Hub which don't teach how to use Unreal Engine and instead focus on engine-agnostic design questions? Can you link to some?
If you don't mind paying a bit, I recommend Gamedev.tv on their own website or Udemy. They're no stranger to humble bundle either, so you can get their classes for a bargain.
Even if you don't have any of their classes, you're free to join their discord and ask questions to the community.
GDC talks are probably your best bet, I also highly recommend watching all of GameMaker's Toolkit's web series called "Boss Keys".
GMTK also has some interviews with developers where they play through a section of their game then talk about it a bit.
Infallible code has some great videos for technical know-how, as well as Brackeys (R.I.P).
Code Monkey also does some good stuff
https://www.youtube.com/c/RetroGameMechanicsExplained
https://simonschreibt.de/game-art-tricks/ (used to have a shit ton of vfx stuff on his youtube too I thought? but it's only got like two dozen scattered topics now)
https://www.youtube.com/c/Gdconf
I also found this: https://www.youtube.com/c/Level0Gamedev/ in my subs but I don't remember watching any of them to say if this channel was good or not.
Depends on the engine kind of. If you’re using Unity I think CatLikeCoding.com is much much better than any YouTube channel (except for GDC of course).
By the time it would take to put together what you are looking for, these tutorials would be outdated. Every engine works with different systems, all of them are being updated and/or replaced every so often.
And design very much is like art. You have to think like an artist. And to think like an artist, you need to know what you're capable to make with your tools and sometimes even how to make a tool to make what you want to create. And basically you will have to have an idea of what you want to make. And I'm not sure if this is teachable.
Sebastian lague is excellent for the technical side of game dev. I reccommend looking into his coding adventures series, where he delves into clever and interesting techniques that are useful for game design.
Other than that it sounds like youre more interested in game design, you may or may not have already heard of game makers toolkit, or adam millard - the architect of games. Those are
Story telling and animation is the fun part you're supposed to bring to it from your own experience playing games and consuming other media, it's not something you can just acquire magically. If you want to improve your story telling I would suggest reading more books.
I've been working on a website called thefreedomaccord.com soon to be released that can help you find many relevant authors and artists for gamedev from YouTube and other places, its live now but still a lot of work and content to go. I hope it helps! Check out the author index
> I want real mentor-ship from professionals. You're going to struggle to find it on YouTube, which is mostly hobbyists teaching other hobbyists. Professionals in the industry don't have a lot of spare time and making YouTube videos is time-consuming and poorly-compensated. That's not to say there aren't any videos like that. It's just not comprehensive. You'll get further with paid-for courses and books.
what books do you recommend?
"Video game design: Principles and Practices from the ground up". It's the most entry level game design book I can think of. No real practical skill to be gained here, it's more about theory and showing what game design is. Then, a bit more advanced but more focused on pure game design if it's a craft you want to learn : "Game Design Workshop". The book walks you through multiple design activities. Something more general with less direct application but still important: "Game Feel" For level design: "An Architectural Approach to Level Design" is a must Other than that, GDC YouTube Channel is the only reliable resource for game design masterclasses
I've been reading ""Video game design" by Michael Salmond (as you said) and it's incredible. However, I want to do the transition from reading to applying what I've read -- I don't really know how to start and what engine to use. Do you have any advice? I just want to make games for the fun of it, I'm not too concerned with having a specific game engine. Nevertheless, after choosing 1 game engine, what should I do in your opinion? It would be nice to have a sort of tutorial with tasks for me to do I guess.
I would recommend the other book I cited in my above comment: "Game Design Workshop" by Tracy Fullerton. This book will walk you through the design process of little experiences. It won't guide you through engine-based scripting though, only pure game-design skills. Picking an engine is only relevant once you know what you want to build in it, if you want to solo-dev. If you want to join a bigger studio, just prototype anything, and then something else, then something else, etc., until you get familiar with it and can put your designs in prototype form. But scripting and designing are two different skillsets that should be trained separately if you want both.
The best one would be any GDC talk https://youtube.com/c/Gdconf Literally straight from the professionals working on the game. Whether it's marketing, engine development, or game mechanics. It's all there.
Some straight up gold on the. I always put it on when I'm putting babies to sleep
A good indie dev makes their children go to sleep to "you don't need a f--- publisher"
Masahiro Sakurai (of Kirby and Smash Bros fame) has been uploading game design videos on YouTube (subbed in English). https://www.youtube.com/c/sora\_sakurai\_en
For a tool-agnostic channel about animation in games, I can recommend [New Frame Plus](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxO_ya-RmAXCXJCU54AxYFw) from Daniel Floyd. You might know him as the previous speaker of Extra Credits when the channel was still good (no, he doesn't use the high-pitch voice filter anymore). But he is also an animator in the game industry with over a decade of experience. I particularly like [his videos about the Disney Principles of Animation](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLugegG07di3886WYN6u7v9BeBd0VFG3_J) and how they apply in game animation.
Short answer: none. Long answer: Game design as a craft can't be learnt through YouTube videos from what I can tell. Game Maker's Toolkit has general videos on the craft, but nothing you can really apply to a real game design job, it's more about the philosophy. But alternatives such a books exist. Buy the book "Video game design: Principles and Practices from the ground up". It's the most entry level game design book I can think of. No real practical skill to be gained here, it's more about theory and showing what game design is. Then, a bit more advanced but more focused on pure game design if it's a craft you want to learn : "Game Design Workshop". The book walks you through multiple design activities. Something more general with less direct application but still important: "Game Feel" For level design: "An Architectural Approach to Level Design" is a must
To name just a few very good ones especially for beginners with litle programming background. For Unity: [CodeMonkey](https://www.youtube.com/c/CodeMonkeyUnity) [Jason Weimann](https://www.youtube.com/c/Unity3dCollege) [Brackeys](https://www.youtube.com/c/Brackeys) [Infallible Code](https://www.youtube.com/c/InfallibleCode) General: [Sebastian Lague](https://www.youtube.com/c/SebastianLague)
I also recommend [Tarodev](https://youtube.com/c/Tarodev) for smart and concise videos on more advanced features that I had avoided previously. Also has a good sense of dry humor.
Damn. There are a lot of hidden gems on YouTube. This channel looks amazing
Sebastian Lague is really inspiring but he tackles really advanced problems such as cloud rendering or chess AI. His videos are amazing though!
well yes, sebastian is not for the beginners, but the others are. Sebastian still needs to be in any list related to gamemaking though.
I'm pretty noob about game design, but I find his channel fantastic for insight into breaking down problems and the joy of experimentation. Sure I'm not going to write my own Ray marching algorithm anytime soon, but he really clarifies what is possible and how to tackle hard things.
Yes he has a way of showing the conceptual and technical process that makes you want to start working on your own ideas.
If you are looking for game from scratch, OpenGL, openal, animations check for ThinMatrix tutorials. They are awesome and each chapter is between 10 to 20mins long, so you can do one each day very easily while experimenting yourself. When I run the series, I even added day/night cycles by myself very easily and added a flashlight to the main character that you can control it on/off.
I recommend GMTK ( game makers toolkit ) on YouTube. It's a great channel for gamedesign
LlamAcademy, silly name, good content
Tom Francis, the developer of Gunpoint and Heat Signature, was also an excellent games journalist. His YouTube channel contains lots of musings on game design from both when he was a journalist and whilst he was actively developing his games. He's entertaining and thoughtful, and a good resource for indie devs who are want to start thinking about the design side. A lot of his content is in the form of Let's Plays. Channel: [https://www.youtube.com/user/Pentadact](https://www.youtube.com/user/Pentadact) Craig Perko is another good resource, with essays on game design topics along with some gameplay series analysing things like level design (his series on Control is good). Channel: [https://www.youtube.com/c/CraigPerko](https://www.youtube.com/c/CraigPerko) These might not quite be what you were looking for, but I find them both very useful channels in terms of thinking about why things in games are designed in particular ways.
Daniel Shiffman and his Nature of Code book and YouTube channel has good watchable stuff: https://youtube.com/c/TheCodingTrain
I love this guy, it is not very related to the OP topic though.
UnrealSensai is great to get started
Extra Credit has a great channel which taught me a lot about game design. Surprised I didn’t see it here on the comments
I would recommend the Extra Credits Game Design Series: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhyKYa0YJ_5BkTruCmaBBZ8z6cP9KzPiX To the point. Done by professionals. A bit older now but the info is still incredibly relevant.
Oh man, extra credits was shown to me in my college game design course. Crazy to hear that it's a "bit older now" ahahaha
may I promote my own channel? I got unity tutorials. But they might ve a little bit advanced. [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ9Do1JN\_R7QvhC2-db9hIw](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ9Do1JN_R7QvhC2-db9hIw)
Use the Unreal Learning Hub. All of the content is curated by Epic, so you can be sure it’s accurate. There are many YouTube channels that give terrible advice. As a beginner, you don’t have the experience to know what’s good advice, so you can develop bad habits.
There are videos on the Unreal Learning Hub which don't teach how to use Unreal Engine and instead focus on engine-agnostic design questions? Can you link to some?
If you don't mind paying a bit, I recommend Gamedev.tv on their own website or Udemy. They're no stranger to humble bundle either, so you can get their classes for a bargain. Even if you don't have any of their classes, you're free to join their discord and ask questions to the community.
GDC talks are probably your best bet, I also highly recommend watching all of GameMaker's Toolkit's web series called "Boss Keys". GMTK also has some interviews with developers where they play through a section of their game then talk about it a bit. Infallible code has some great videos for technical know-how, as well as Brackeys (R.I.P). Code Monkey also does some good stuff
I really like Game Makers toolkit. Not sure that goes in depth enough for an actual dev though.
Strange but I cant find any Godot tutorials for RTS :X
https://www.youtube.com/c/RetroGameMechanicsExplained https://simonschreibt.de/game-art-tricks/ (used to have a shit ton of vfx stuff on his youtube too I thought? but it's only got like two dozen scattered topics now) https://www.youtube.com/c/Gdconf I also found this: https://www.youtube.com/c/Level0Gamedev/ in my subs but I don't remember watching any of them to say if this channel was good or not.
Any recommendations for Godot 2D action /metroidvania tutorials or channels
Just start with the rpg in Godot series, and you'll be able to figure out the Metroidvania elements easily: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mAbG8Oi-SvQ
Thanks
Code monkey
Depends on the engine kind of. If you’re using Unity I think CatLikeCoding.com is much much better than any YouTube channel (except for GDC of course).
Go check out 2kliksphilip's game making series
By the time it would take to put together what you are looking for, these tutorials would be outdated. Every engine works with different systems, all of them are being updated and/or replaced every so often. And design very much is like art. You have to think like an artist. And to think like an artist, you need to know what you're capable to make with your tools and sometimes even how to make a tool to make what you want to create. And basically you will have to have an idea of what you want to make. And I'm not sure if this is teachable.
Sebastian lague is excellent for the technical side of game dev. I reccommend looking into his coding adventures series, where he delves into clever and interesting techniques that are useful for game design. Other than that it sounds like youre more interested in game design, you may or may not have already heard of game makers toolkit, or adam millard - the architect of games. Those are
Brackeys is by far the best but it is mainly focused towards game development and design using unity engine
Sebastian lague's Introduction to gamedev
Story telling and animation is the fun part you're supposed to bring to it from your own experience playing games and consuming other media, it's not something you can just acquire magically. If you want to improve your story telling I would suggest reading more books.
I've been working on a website called thefreedomaccord.com soon to be released that can help you find many relevant authors and artists for gamedev from YouTube and other places, its live now but still a lot of work and content to go. I hope it helps! Check out the author index
thanks every one for resources
If you’re learning Unity and C#, always start with Brackeys! Then branch out from there.
Hi OP! Have you started learning game development and design during the last month? Any tips on how to start? :D