So you want to make a game... PT. 2

I shouldn't need to say this, but if you are thinking about making your own game, don't do what I did. Instead, here are some things that you NEED to keep in mind before trying to delve into starting up your own game project:

1. Keep your expectations realistic
-Only YOU know your own capabilities, so YOU know the extent of what YOU can create. If this is your time ever trying to make a game to any extent, stop now, go back, and build up some practice first.

2. Screw the first rule

-If you stick to nothing but your safe zone, you will never learn anything new, and will never get better. The most frequent comment I get on my YouTube channel is "How do I get better?" which is always answered with "Push the envelope of what you can do." When I learned 3D modelling, I spent the first 3 or 4 years stuck in my comfort zone of modelling simple hard-surface objects, untill one day I went "I am going to model a dinosaur." Within the next week I completed the dinosaur, and in the process learned 100x more in that short time frame than in the entire time I have been modelling.

3. Your first games are going to look like crap
-Let's face it. The first time you try to make a game, it will look like crap. It will be a pile of crap so steaming and covered in maggots that it will make all the other piles of crap around it feel jealous. You aren't going to make something jaw dropping the first time you make a game, and you shouldn't expect to. instead it should be about learning, and making something that is simple, playable, and at least somewhat fun. It's also important to show it to people, and have friends and family play it. It will give you some necessary feedback, and they can watch you go from crap to gold. I would however wait until you are out of middle school to start showing people, because middle-schoolers tend not to give constructive feedback (learned the hard way).

4. Don't be afraid to ask for help
-So you've graduated from the raw experimentation phase of learning the basics, and want to actually start up a project to upload to the internet, or [ghasp] actually sell. Odds are, you are not going to be good at everything. By this point you should have at least sampled the different parts of development like a little kid who keeps sticking his hands in all the toppings at an ice cream bar, so you know what you are good at, and what you suck at. Forums are a great place to find people looking for work. This is where other people come in. Before bringing other people onto the project, make sure you have:

• A clear Idea:
  Nobody want's to work for a guy who doesn't know what they want.
• Some work already done:
  There are a lot of people that start projects and don't know what they are doing, so people who are likely to work for you are going to be doubtful before joining your project. Make sure you have SOMETHING to show them, whether it is detailed concept art, a simple demo that shows of mechanics but uses stand-ins for the art, a detailed development timeline, or preferably a combination of a few.
• Be ready to talk... a lot:
  It's important to be open with anybody who joins, show your face to them and have a chat. Almost every time one of the projects I have been hired on to failed, it's been because the leader was shady AF. People want to know who's paying them (or at least telling them what to do) and will be likely to become suspicious and leave if you give them any sort of reason too.
• Be honest:
  People can tell when you are lying about your skills/experience, so be 100% honest with your history in game development, and what you hope to achieve out of the project.

I know it's not the most comprehensive guide, but it should get you off to a good start and learning yourself, and to avoid some of the major and most common pitfalls I have seen working in game development.