Dec AMA: Answers (Patreon)

 Thank you to all of the $5+ Patrons that submitted questions! Please take all of this advice with a grain of salt as always.

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youngizzik asks:  any games you're excited for to come out soon?

ANIMAL CROSSING APPROACHETH!!!

Sanjana asked a flurry of questions, each of which I will do my best to briefly answer!

Advice for freshman in college? What should our goal be for our first year in college? How to network?  

My biggest recommendation is to be generous, kind, and involved with your fellow students. A lot of folks have the mentality that they won't ever see their peers after they graduate...but that's not true! A lot of those folks will be your coworkers one day, so treat them as such!

I actually recommend starting the first draft of your portfolio as early as possible... and here's a post that I made a while back specifically listing out advice for freshmen college students and other folks that are early on in their game dev career/experience! 

You can check out the "Game College??!" Twitter threads, which are listed towards the bottom of my content index.

How  to deal with depression/anxiety/imposter syndrome? It's something I genuinely need help in(due to my own inferiority complex), and how sometimes it affects me to "give up"

Impostor syndrome is a tough one, but we all struggle with it! I've talked about it a bit before, but it's essential to understand that it doesn't magically go away when you get your dream job or are making art that you like or reach another goal. If anything, that can make it worse, so you have to tackle on impostor syndrome at some point or another!

When I'm struggling, I find community to be incredibly helpful. Going through this industry alone can be really fatiguing, especially when you're struggling with confidence or feeling isolated. Finding other constructive, kind artists and developers that can relate to your experience goes a long way! That way, you can talk about what you're working through and those folks can remind you of your strengths- and the same goes vice versa. Be a positive, supportive force in the world, and others will be the same for you.

Getting start on social media platforms would also be useful!

Here are a few relevant posts that I've made in the past!

•  https://curiouscat.me/BeccatheRose/post/767668847 
•  https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/BeccaHallstedt/20160912/281110/Tips_for_Online_Presence__Sharing_Your_Work.php 

What are some helpful constructive habits? 

1. Learn how to identify burnout BEFORE it's taking over your life

2. Build up a natural, healthy routine that helps you stay focused on your work while still taking rests and taking care of your mind and body

3. Learn to love what makes your art different instead of resenting it

4. Dive into art resources that FOCUS ON FUNDAMENTALS like CtrlPaint, which is one of my #1 recommendations to artists of all skill levels. DON'T SKIP THE FUNDAMENTALS!

I'm a little new so please forgive me for asking a question you may have already done, but do you have any tips on weapon and/or creature design?

For sure!

It depends on what you want to achieve/learn/create, but the most important things (in my mind) are to really focus on creating unique, strong silhouettes and shapes while staying grounded in reality.

I definitely recommend doing material studies or practicing rendering textures to build up some painting skills. Anatomy is, of course, essential to understand when designing creatures, so do drawing/painting/sketching studies of real animals and anatomical illustrations/sculptures! Remember that everything we imagine comes from our understanding of real life, so brushing up on those relevant fundamental skills is key.

At the end of the day with either props or creatures or anything else- remember to have fun, get feedback, and keep challenging yourself!

Thanks all!