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u/Xxnius

Some dev lessons from our UE project (we wasted months on climbing…)
▲ 42 r/unrealengine

Some dev lessons from our UE project (we wasted months on climbing…)

Hey,

We’ve been working on a narrative game called Vestige for a while now (UE5), and I just wanted to share a couple of technical things we learned the hard way.

Teaser if you’re curious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkbVPSVt698
Kickstarter (currently running): https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pyramide-games/vestige-a-narrative-adventure-about-memory-and-grief

First thing: using a template/framework
It does help. You get a lot of features faster, especially for movement, camera, basic systems etc. But we kind of underestimated what it means to work on top of something you didn’t build.
You spend a lot of time reading someone else’s logic, understanding how everything is connected, and sometimes fighting it because it wasn’t designed for your exact needs. It’s not “plug and play”. It’s more like “plug, then spend days figuring out why it behaves like that”.

Second thing (this one hurts a bit): climbing / ledge system
We spent months trying to build our own system. Iterating, breaking things, reworking animations, fixing edge cases… the usual. And then… we discovered GASP.
We just didn’t spend enough time researching what already existed. We were so focused on solving it ourselves that we didn’t step back and ask “does something already do this better?”. Turns out: yes.
Not saying GASP solves everything instantly, but we could have saved a lot of time by looking earlier.

I guess the takeaway is pretty simple, but easy to forget when you’re deep in production: don’t assume you have to build everything yourself, and take actual time to explore existing tools before committing to months of work.

Anyway, still learning as we go, curious if others had similar moments where you realized way too late that a tool already existed.

good luck to everyone deep in UE chaos right now

u/Xxnius — 15 hours ago
▲ 9 r/kickstarter

What I learned launching my Kickstarter (mid-campaign thoughts, a bit messy)

I’m currently in the middle of my Kickstarter campaign and I just needed to dump some thoughts somewhere. Maybe it helps someone, maybe not.

Also quick note: yeah… there are a LOT of scammers / “marketing experts” / fake backers services that will message you as soon as your campaign is live. Like within hours. Just ignore them. If it sounds shady, it is.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve learned so far:

  • Having a community BEFORE launching is huge. Like… really huge. We kind of knew it, but didn’t fully realize how important it is. Kickstarter is not a discovery platform. If you don’t bring people on day 1, it’s very hard to get momentum.
  • Everything takes more time than you think. We did some stuff a bit last minute and honestly… bad idea. Assets, page, trailer, rewards, balancing everything… it adds up fast. Planning early = less stress.
  • The mental load is real. Didn’t expect that part. Once it’s live, it’s always in your head. Stats, backers, comments, updates… it never really stops. Be ready for that.
  • Don’t aim too high with your goal. It’s tempting to set a big goal, but honestly it can kill your campaign. A lower goal that you can surpass feels way better and gives you more chances to actually succeed.

I’m still learning as we go, so I’ll probably have more to say after it ends.

If you’re about to launch: prepare more than you think you need, and don’t trust random people offering “promotion services”.

Good luck to anyone launching soon 😄

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u/Xxnius — 15 hours ago
▲ 2 r/CasualConversation

I've only worked on a video game for two years and I have a feeling it will never be released

I've always been passionate about video games, especially narrative games, games that tell a deep story with engaging characters you don't want to let go of after finishing the game

A few months ago, I finished Clair Obscur, and it had been a long time since I'd felt that way while holding a controller

It was precisely with this in mind that I wanted to get into game development, but without really suspecting the colossal amount of work involved, even for a relatively small game

Like, I'm making a narrative game, very story-driven, with a very limited gameplay loop. But I feel like I'll never get it done... there are way too many things to think about, like marketing, assets to produce, whether the game is even fun to play, whether my prototype is actually useful, whether my production pipelines are complete enough...

In short, it's so mentally draining that sometimes I just feel like I've embarked on something impossible, and that without a million euros it's just unfeasible...

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u/Xxnius — 3 days ago