10 Pro Tips for Making Games from Home! [2020]

are you thinking about working from home have you just started to work from home the idea of working from home sounds amazing no morning commute no getting stuck in rush-hour traffic on the way home and the comforts of home at arm's reach but is it all sunshine and

rainbows well we're happy to say that it can be the dream that you imagined but only if you have the right structure in place as more and more game developers start home-based game studios or begin their transition from the downtown office to the home office we thought it

would be a great time to share some tips and tricks for working productively from home while avoiding common pitfalls in this video we'll provide you with tips to help you create a solid structure and foundation for your at home game dev journey we are a scam death and

these are 10 tips for making games while working from home welcome back we make videos on how to elevate your game development and inspire others if after watching this video you want to continue the game dev conversation check the video description for a link to our discord server

number 1 start each day with a routine what does the first 60 to 90 minutes of your morning look like ideally you use this time to do the same things each day to make sure your day starts off strong this is how you can start adding structure to

your work from home plan here are some things to consider doing for the 60 to 90 minute period wake up yep waking up counts you should aim to wake up at the same time each morning eat a healthy and filling breakfast as they say it's the most important

meal of the day exercise exercising increases your confidence and productivity go for a jog a walk with purpose or hit the treadmill for some cardio alternatively stay in and do some yoga or some calisthenics and finally set yourself up for the workday tidy up and clean your workspace

follow the ask rule always sanitize keyboard the keyboard is a great place for germs to build up and food to get stuck on so start off the day giving it and your workspace a nice clean then map out your day look at your days schedule and allocate time

for working on tasks meetings and breaks you're now ready for a productive day at work number two designate a workspace it's important to establish a dedicated workspace when working from home if at all possible try to use a separate room from others and ideally it's not where your

bedroom is having a dedicated space allows for more consistency and structure and can reduce the amount of distractions that come from working at home when choosing a space make sure that it has ample room to keep your work equipment organized as an added bonus designating a work space

in your home depending on your jurisdiction can provide a tax benefit we're not international tax experts though so please consult an expert in your area for further guidance somewhat related to the last point is number three set boundaries if you've got family or roommates living at home with

you it's important to set boundaries especially if you don't have a separate room let others in the household know your schedule and ask them to please respect the times that you're at work number four break projects into chunks game trailer expert Derek Liu recently wrote a blog post

about working from home and we loved his tip about breaking projects down into chunks in it he shows how he breaks down the making of a YouTube video you can use this process for virtually any type of task including your game dev efforts the key is to work

backwards from the end deliverable and define the preceding tasks that have to be achieved along the way as an illustrative example we thought it would be fun to use the same process for breaking down the creation of an ask game dev YouTube video so let's try that out

here's what we need to do when we make a new YouTube video we've broken it down into 15 chunks or tasks number one figure out what to make the video on for this we go through our list of ideas and community suggestions number two research research research number

three write a script number four go through the script revision process number five record voiceover number six create storyboards if needed number seven create animations in After Effects if needed number eight find b-roll number nine edit voiceover on top of animations and b-roll in premiere number ten find

and add background music number eleven create thumbnail number twelve write metadata 13 upload 14 share 15 respond to comments try something similar to map out your day at home this process will inform you about what specific items you need to accomplish and the order you'll need to execute

in terms of what to use for creating and keeping to-do lists it's all personal preference it can be pen and paper a notepad app or a dedicated to-do list app some apps that you might find useful for this our Trello err table Google keep notion which also does

a whole lot more and minimalist number five think about economics studies have shown that organ Amish solutions can improve productivity and reduce fatigue consider economics when purchasing your home office chair a standing desk may also be a suitable alternative sitting on your couch or your bed isn't a

good long-term plan for working from home number six maintain social contact working in a vacuum can get pretty isolating if you're working with a team try to maintain social contact by engaging in a group chat you can use tools like whatsapp discord and slack to organize a group

chat with your team members if you want to take it a step further there are even apps like house party where you can hang out and play games if you're working solo try joining a community with like-minded individuals one group you can definitely join is the ask game

dev community on discord check out the description for a link number seven the transparent if you're working on a team transparency and clear communication is key when you can't just swing by a colleague's desk and discuss work you really have to rely on one another more and reduce

as much ambiguity as possible off the bat one thing you can do is make your schedule and availability public if it's within reason you can even consider making your work calendar public within the organization don't be afraid to over communicate has someone asked you to check out their

work even if it's great and you have no feedback let them simply know that have you finished editing someone's work don't let them just discover the changes tell them what you've done need someone's help ask no response within a reasonable amount of time ask again are they still

ignoring you well that leads us to number eight stay positive give people the benefit of the doubt when you're working remotely maybe they're not ignoring you maybe they're on vacation and forgot to set they're out of office reply or maybe they're just swamped another thing to give people

the benefit of the doubt on especially when conversing via text is context if someone sounds like they're making a joke they probably are if someone sounds Stern in text maybe they are just having trouble articulating what they want to convey always assume the best and stay positive working

from home can be tough for some you might want to be empathetic to others and do frequent mental health checks with your colleagues number nine don't forget to take breaks it can be very easy to get lost in your work especially when you're working alone make sure to

take breaks the Pomodoro Technique suggests tackling a task twenty five minutes at a time then taking a short break after four cycles of this take an extended break the website tomato timers dot-com has a fun interface if you'd like to try this app and lastly number ten have

the right tools for the job by the right tools and software and/or don't be afraid to ask your work for them every job requires a different set of tools but some work from home items that we wouldn't be able to function without our great headphones get some comfy

light headphones with big soft cushiony ear cups some brands we like are v-moda Sennheiser and hi-fi man a nice notebook moleskin and lik term as mentioned in our holiday shopping guide video are great but any would really do a good camera and mic planning on doing a lot

of video meetings make sure you have a decent camera and mic set up a lighting solution and a fast internet connection may also be considered must-haves and a VPN if you're on a shared network at home use of VPN thanks for watching for more ass gamedev check out

this video on the best solo developed titles or this video on planning your game development project [Music]