That's just straight up false. "Nothing in a small game will prepare you for making a dream game", your "dream game" will have inputs, it will have physics, it will have characters, NPCs, worlds. It will need a Loading system, probably a crafting system, maybe a combat system and level system. You can absolutely learn all of that making all kinds of small games. There are definitely elements that you only learn when making a massive game, but you can absolutely learn the other 90% making smaller games. Not to mention how building all those elements is a skill that you improve with experience. Your first crafting system will likely suck, but your 10th will likely be solid. If you only make a single "dream" game then you're making your "dream" game with the worst crafting system you will ever build. So yes making small games absolutely prepares you for making your massive dream game. And another thing: "The world doesn't need nor want your many small games.", that's also just straight up false. There's hundreds or thousands of games on Steam with only 2-3 hours of gameplay that players absolutely love. In fact some people with limited time, like myself, actually PREFER smaller experiences as opposed to 50 hour epics.

Can't agree more. In fact, I think that you will also be able to reuse a lot of the work you put into the small games when starting to work on your dream game. I'm not sure about the public demand for smaller games, though, mostly because I remember statistics that showed longer games tend to be more commercially successful (it might have already changed, or I might remember wrong...) But in terms of ROI, it's for sure easier to profit from a 3 month game than from a 1.5 year one.

@UnityCodeMonkey I don't know. As someone who jumped into their dream project and spent over 17 years on it, I would not have the patience or passion to build anything else. I'm not really a game dev, I just wanted to build _my_ game.

All due respect, its a problem when developers without a successful game hand out this advice. There is a difference between being a good developer and selling games. If one's goal is the latter, "start small" is not necessarily the best advice. The world is full of small games and sometimes people have potentially impactful designs that are not necessarily the smallest scope. Every person should approach to the scope question from their specific situation."Start small" is as much a multi-year commitment as a large project if those small games will not sell. Sometimes its better to straight go for the MMO.

@UnityCodeMonkey It’s always someone who has never shipped that tells folks to make big games.

@UnityCodeMonkey Small games teach you scope and force you to focus on making them fun. But even a small game can take a lot of time if you can't figure out whats fun about it. Making games is hard...

@UnityCodeMonkey He's rage baiting. Here are examples for "small games" which ended up more successful than what the developers actually wanted to focus on: - one shot - superhot - a short hike - baba is you (also won the game jam)

@UnityCodeMonkey The key feature of the "small game" is that it improves your "finish projects" muscle. The point of working on a game is to be finished working on a game at some point.

@UnityCodeMonkey one of the best lessons to learn on a small game is how to manage scope creep and actually ship it.

@UnityCodeMonkey I won't say it's required, but even if you never publish them, it's just like practicing anything. No artist had their first painting be their magnum opus. They painted over and over without anyone buying a single painting.

@UnityCodeMonkey Made many games in the last 18 months, learnt heaps from all of them! Agree with you 100%, you learn skills every time you make a game, and then you learn from playing other games...it all compounds!

@UnityCodeMonkey Code Monkey's advice is straightforward, self-explanatory and i fully agree. You of course don't need to follow his (excellent) advice, if you like to make your life unnecessarily hard. 🙃

@UnityCodeMonkey You can literally break down your dream game into a bunch of small sized projects / games and create important building blocks for your eventual dream game in the future. If you really wanted to be prepared for a big game

@UnityCodeMonkey In college I knew a guy who wanted to make movies. Instead of starting with a short film, his first project was a 90 min movie. He maxed out several credit cards to make it. After a year or two he released it. It was terrible. Start small. Please.

@UnityCodeMonkey Thats encouraging advice for someone who just got accepted into Steam Workshop as a developer. One thing. Their tax questionnaire system was a bit weird for a company that is literally the planets top game distribution platform 🤷‍♂️

@UnityCodeMonkey Im pretty sure this dude was just ragebaiting, like, even in todays society this take is so facelevel stupid that it cant be real. This is like saying that training to rock climb is pointless. Just start climbing up the ass of everest. Genuine insanity.

@UnityCodeMonkey How does making a small game prepare you for making a server authoritative game? Nothing translates, except ui and maybe some tiny other things, but overall a complete waste of time.

@UnityCodeMonkey All those things are trivial and can be easily learned making your dream game.

@UnityCodeMonkey The more I game dev, the more apparent this seems. I’m still working on my first game ever and I’m a year and three months in. I deliberately bit off more than I could chew, but am starting to regret it. I might break it up in to a few smaller games just for this reason.

@UnityCodeMonkey I think the argument is on the many interpretations of what a "small game" is. To you, it is applying/learning the necessary tools and methods, and push your limits, to create a short but well done game. To most people, making a small game means "copy/paste" brackey tutorials

@UnityCodeMonkey This guy is nuts, small games are insanely popular! In this current economic climate it's become harder and harder to afford triple A games. So something that provides a good 2-6 hour experience for 5 bucks is the exact niche people are favouring right now.

@UnityCodeMonkey "nothing building a small house will prepare you for building your dream skyscraper, so just start building one" said no one ever.

@UnityCodeMonkey That last part especially If I hear the words "over 100 hours" in the advertising, I know it's not getting a play

@UnityCodeMonkey yes prepare for every mechanic one knows about, can do, or know who might help you for it. then also getting everything to fit and play smooth while also run smooth.

@UnityCodeMonkey Nothing in a small game will teach you anything about your dream game *if* you don't set goals. A small game is an encapsulation of a minor idea and an execution of an element to see if you really want to deal with that mess or not. If you don't set goals, that's on you.