For anyone working on their
FIRST game, I strongly recommend a devlog for these reasons:
1:
YOU'RE BIASED! It's virtually impossible to accurately rate your own game. Just about everyone making a game thinks their game is better than it actually is. It's like having a baby. It's super special to the parents but to everyone else it's probably just mediocre. If your devlog gets no feedback your game might be mediocre.
2:
YOU NEED INPUT. Every game has flaws. Your game will probably have imperfections you never even thought about. When I first posted my original devlog the first thing pointed out to me was the colors are very bland. I had seriously stressed about individual colors but never looked at the entire picture. This was great feedback I may have never thought of myself.
3:
GET CUSTOMERS! When I first started my devlog I had 15 followers on twitter. Now I have 3,400 and I am proud of that number. The sooner you start telling people about your game the more people will have heard of it when it gets released.
4:
MOTIVATION. Hearing "Wow! Your game looks like amazing! Can't wait for it!" Never gets old. It provides loads of motivation and feeds your ego.
If you want to get feedback and maintain an audience I find it's much better to show than to tell. IE:
- "Check out my devlog! It has colorful graphics and I just added birds and butterflies!!"
Vs an actual screenshot you very painstakingly took:
Obviously the picture will get people much more excited for your game. Feel free to check out my devlog if you would like ideas for how a picture oriented devlog looks:
https://forum.yoyogames.com/index.php?threads/sock-sock-goes-pop-pop-gifs.36711/
(Yes, I am advertising but I think it's appropriate since we are discussing the pros and cons of devlogs.) Hopefully my post has convinced you how awesome devlogs can be for the creator AND the audience!