PLEASE START US OFF BY INTRODUCING YOURSELF:
Hello! I’m just some guy from Australia named Jon. I have no prior gamedev education or experience, but I do work in VFX for film & TV which is kinda similar.
TELL US ABOUT SUPER VHS.
Super VHS is a first person sandbox game set in the RedLetterMedia warehouse. I started making it by accident, just to practise 3D modelling, and now it is an obsessively accurate and weird recreation of a place I will never see in real life.
HOW HAS THE DEVELOPMENT JOURNEY BEEN
Development has been slow but steady, working only in my spare time for nearly 4 years now. Most of that has been spent making all of the 3D assets (I am making everything myself), and learning how to do the many individually small, simple things that make up the whole of a game - player control, UI, world interactions etc.
WHICH GAME ENGINE DID YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
I’m working in UE4 because I don’t know how to code and Blueprints let me make stuff anyway.
WHAT'S BEEN YOUR BIGGEST DEVELOPMENT HURDLE SO FAR?
Gameplay. I never intended to make a game. I had no plan, no prototype, no idea. So figuring out what I like in games, what makes sense for this game world, and how to combine the two into something for the player to actually “do” has been a challenge.
Also, scope creep. With no plan I am adding more and more things to the game with no end in sight. You should have more than zero plans if you want to ever release something and move on with your life.
ADVICE FOR FELLOW DEVS?
Follow the things that make you happy. Whatever that fascination or compulsion is - as long as it’s not harming you or someone else - follow that trail and turn over any rocks you find along the way. Other people can see your happiness and they will want to come along too. Then learn how to do the happy thing the best, smartest way you can.
ANY FINAL THOUGHTS?
Be kind. Don’t beat yourself up about being not good enough or with comparisons to other people. It’s okay to be super focused but keep room in your life for other things.
Thanks!
-Jon
❤️
