I’d love to hear where you’re from, what your background is, and why you’re taking a course on version control?
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Hi Ben, my name is Jay and follow your course from germany.
I am excited about version control because it makes the review of changes a lot easier.
SVN is already familiar to me and the reason i follow the course is to expand my knowledge.
After the course i hope i can work as confident in GIT as i can in SVN.
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Thanks for sharing, and for getting the ball rolling… I’m sure a lot of other people will share their excitement soon.
Hello Ben, Im Lloyd Risper and i’m following the course from the Poconos, i have been programing in many different languages and i have been using VC a little bit without fully understanding it, Im taking this course on VC so i can fully understand what i’m doing and why i’m i doing it.
Lloyd Risper
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Hello all,
I’m actually excited to take the Git Smart course because after 3 rounds of seeing videos about VCS in other courses, I was no closer to understanding the subject matter than when I didn’t know such software existed. This course is allowing me to really get a good look at the process and how it works. Thus giving me a vastly improved understanding of how to use VCS and how it can help me with my projects.
I really wish I’d found out about this course a week ago! @ben I hope you will go into the old courses and add a pointer to this course for people who are struggling like I was.
Virgel (aka Caprica’s Kirito)
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That’s a very good idea, thanks
I am excited to be taking this course because it’s something I should have learned about years ago! I love the idea that it will allow me to be more creative and branch off to try different ideas without worrying about losing what I’ve done so far.
I am also very pleased to be taking the course with gamedev.tv because I know Ben will have broken it down into manageable chunks that I will be able to do in between the rest of my responsibilities.
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I am excited to be taking this course because I need to get another perspective of git workflow to consolidate my understanding. And because I didn’t know which parts from my unity projects are good practice to put under version control.
PS.
One of my hard drives died and all my unity projects with it 
Which as not be the case if I was using git and Github 
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Oh man… I’m restarting this course on my next weekend from work.
I have finished the first two 2D games and had also finished the first two 3D games. I was concurrently working on Argon and RPG Combat System classes like a fiend with a laser focus.
I was in the middle of Rick’s ‘Get a job in the games industry’ class and I was contacting a comedian/writer friend about helping me write something like a ‘Kyle is Famous’ with my CYOQ.
I was making cats with booster rockets and planning level design for my Project Boost polish.
Etc, etc, etc…
…and then…
…my computer decided it desperately needed an OS reload.
I backed everything to my Seagate 2TB external but it failed.
I had only gotten to the part of the Git Class to learn how to make a local repo. Hadn’t even learned how to retrieve yet.
I’m using Linux Pop!Os from System76 so I can’t follow the course exactly. I’m using Git Kraken (I call it GitSquid) and it’s taken me some frustrating attempts to understand if I’m doing it right and so on…
I’m back in the middle of Argon now and I’m on a schedule to finish my 3D class soon. If I had made online repositories, I wouldn’t have lost everything.
Ardour files. All of the music I made…since 2015 (my previous External HDD failure). I can try to spend hours playing CSI trying to crack my old hard drive, but I’d rather spend that time making games, learning how to specialize in player controllers, and writing new songs.
That’s why I’m going to blast this class out on my next weekend off work.
Thank you! I yield my time.
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My Name is Paul, And I am currently in the middle of taking the unity 3D course. Although you cover it at a very high level in the course, I have had more than one occasion where i have had to redo my entire project. (Great for learning! but not so much my patience). I saw this course and thought lets go get a better understanding.
Hi Ben,
I’ve use scm in the past while working for a large oil company to track changes with the macro’s that I was writing for their excel sheets. This was geesh 15 years ago now. Anyway I’ve got it in my mind to create a video game and wanted to eventually do a large project. I was thinking git would be a good option. I think the one I had used in the past was turtle svc. I had learned a little about git on a Udemy class I was taking and I came across this course as part of the humble bundle and well that just ended up being very convenient.
Look forward to learning more about git from you.
Have a wonderful day!
Okay, I’m not done yet. I’ve learned a lot this week. My Toshiba 2TB that I got to replace my Seagate 1TB (…correction, it is not a 2TB as mentioned in the previous post…) crashed on me a couple of nights ago. I had just finished Argon and was on about Lesson 6 of the old Realm Rush, plus I had about 11 new BGM tracks started. My Toshiba stopped being recognized by the computer.
To make things even more funny, I had already completed the PRI lessons of the PRIRP triangle, but I never got to the point of making a remote repository…I think mostly because the payment structure for private repositories was different back then…or maybe I just really wanted to focus on finishing my class after the loss of the Seagate 1TB.
So, I learned:
EXT4 is the chosen file format of Linux. I never reformatted either of my hard drives because I didn’t realize how unstable NTSF was on Linux systems.
I learned how to make a remote repository.
I ordered a 4TB external to use as a recovery drive. It should arrive tomorrow. I expect it will take about 20 hours to format to EXT4.
I tried using ddrescue on my Seagate and Toshiba, to no avail. I ran a disk repair on the Toshiba at the risk of losing everything and I got lucky. The repair worked.
Disk repair did not work on my Seagate so I lost all of that stuff.
I formatted the Seagate 1TB and it took about 6 hours. Then I moved my recent Argon and Ardour files over to the Seagate 1TB and started formatting the Toshoba 2TB to EXT4. This will take about 10 hours.
All of this because I didn’t watch that next video about making a remote repository. Seriously.
I’ll format my 4TB when it arrives tomorrow, but then I need to start over again on Realm Rush. Those files didn’t get recovered.
So…I don’t want to mess with my computer during the 20 hours I’ll expect it to be formatting that 4TB. I won’t be working on my games for a day or two.
Guess what I’m going to do AS SOON as I start my Realm Rush files AGAIN?!
I hope nobody in here has to go through this. I’ve lost so many days that I could have been doing course work instead of mucking about with this mess.
This course is a MUST for anyone who is serious!
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I’m a student and I recently got into game development this past year! I am learning by myself and I stumbled upon your awesome courses. I did not even know something like this existed: I had been saving multiple versions of the same project onto my computer, taking up a lot of storage :’) I was mindblown when I learned about this, and I’m excited to unlock the secrets to version control lol
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Oh jeez, that really sucks! Hope you’ll get back were you where soon.
Your story is an example of the reason for me to be exited about learning about source control.
Im Paula from the Netherlands, just starting out with game design, but before I start making something big, I want to be sure that my work will be safe. My computer isn’t the newest, so something might happen to it before long and I’m not great with making backups yet. The creative possibilities are also really nice:).
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Good morning Paula!
I’m from Kansas in the USA. Germany is the only European country that I’ve been to, but I hope that I will get to travel more one day! I would love to see more of Europe!
I’ve learned more since that last post. I hope this helps:
- You can never make too many back-ups.
- Git is not a replacement for multiple back-ups but it can help.
- Don’t rely on Git to cover for your lack of making back-ups.
- Making back-ups is your responsibility. Learn it now and it will be a habit before you know it.
- Try to keep at least 3 forms of reliable back-up file, so, like a USB stick is a little more durable than an SD card, and an external HDD is a little more durable than a USB stick…so maybe an Ext HDD and a couple of sticks? Or whatever is affordable and deemed reasonable. Personally, I’m using the 3 Ext HDDs mentioned above.
- Proper format for your system is a MUST! Format your storage properly. More details in previous post.
I hope this saves you a lot of time and headaches. It’s not important to spend several $ on several External HDDs right now if a few USB sticks will do, but everyone’s budget and needs are a little different and we can always buy more/bigger stuff later.
I hope this is helpful!
~Jago
Oh yeah, one more thing: Never get in a hurry when you’re doing your back-ups. Treat that jazz like a meditation exercise and be extremely patient and diligent! I goof up more stuff because I get in a hurry than from any other reason. Take it slow!
If I’m not calm enough to do my back-ups without rushing, I’ll just halt everything until I can calm down and do it properly…maybe I need a nap or something…but I lose a LOT less data by being mindful and by not trying to do this at a time when I know I cannot concentrate and give it my full attention. This is probably the biggest lesson I’ve personally learned.
Hey Jay,
Wow, I did not expect such an elaborate reaction, many thanks! I already have an external HDD, but not using it yet… so now is as good a time as any to start making a backup plan. Lets do this!
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Good morning Paula,
Oh yes, if you’re doing anything like this, back-ups are a must…but so it Git!
It’s good that you have an external HDD, just make sure it’s formatted properly! I use Linux so I ALWAYS have to format a new HDD, because they come from the factory ready for Windows. The Windows format can be used with Linux, but it’s unstable and prone to fail easily. Proper format is important!
I have windows and it seems to work well right now^^. I wondered, what backup program do you use? Im using the history files backup system from windows 10, but it seems a bit… janky. Is there a program you can recommend me? Many thanks:).
Good afternoon Paula,
Let me first start by saying that I hope I don’t come across as a ‘Linux snob’, because giving up on MS was my choice and I don’t recommend it to anyone who is not up for the challenge of learning a different OS. It’s really no different than switching from Windows to Mac or whatever, learning a new OS that is, but I’m not going to recommend things that would require you to do that.
That being said, I don’t know much about Windows these days because I only use it at work and our version is archaic. I’ve never used a newer iteration of the OS.
Most likely, your HDD will come formatted for Windows, unless you accidentally bought one for a Mac (which I’ve done by mistake).
A Google search will help you decide which format is best for you, as such:
You’ll decide if that storage device plugs into other things or only your working computer, etc…to determine which format is best for that device.
In this example, you can see that my Seagate HDD is Ext4 format, which is what I’ve found to be most stable for Linux. Windows formats are unstable for my purposes.
So, the worst thing about formatting a 2TB HDD is waiting about 10 hours for the computer to do the work, so I usually start stuff like that and then go to bed.
Your computer will have some sort of disk formatting utility, too.
Hope this helps.
~Jago
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Thank you so much! I hope I haven’t been a bother! You really helped my out though:). I hope you’ll never lose something that is important to you again:).
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