Making games was always a childhood dream of mine.
But growing up, I didn’t have any people to ask or resources to use other than the Internet.
So at the age of twelve years old, I made it my mission to teach myself game programming, and that’s when I made my first game.
Today, there are so many more tools and resources available online.
If a twelve-year-old could figure out how to do it 17 years ago, you can too.
Here are 5 things that helped me teach myself game development.
1 - Use a popular game engine
When you’re just starting out, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel.
Your goal is to take an idea that is in your head and put it on the screen.
Using a pre-made game engine is the fastest way to make that happen.
You should use a popular game engine that has a lot of community support, so that you have an array of video tutorials, documentation, and chat logs to help you when you get stuck.
At the time, Game Maker was popular, but these days you’ll probably want to choose from Unity, Unreal, or Godot.
Don’t worry too much about picking the “right” one. What matters is just starting.
2 - Use pre-made assets
2D sprites, 3D models, music, and sound effects are all important parts of a game, but they also take a considerable amount of time to create.
Starting out, you won’t be very good at making them, either.
But fortunately, today there are all kinds of pre-made assets available for free or cheap.
You’ll save a considerable amount of time and effort by using pre-made assets, and your game will also appeal to more players.
Sure, it’s better to have a game with original assets, but as a beginner you’re still learning the ropes.
Don’t take on too much at once, or you’ll burn out fast.
Work on your asset-creating skills after you’ve learned how to finish a few small games.
3 - Make a fan-game
The pre-made assets that I used were assets from existing games, so naturally I decided to make fan-games with those assets.
It’s convenient because the biggest problems have already been solved for you by the creators of the original game.
All that’s left is for you to be creative and implement your own version.
You might even consider creating a mod for your favorite game if the developer has allowed it.
But the biggest reason for making a fan-game is to find like-minded people who will want to play it — there’s nothing more sad than a game that goes unplayed!
Because the original game has an existing fanbase, you’ll be able to market the game toward those players who want more of the original experience.
Those same players will want to follow you for future games — your first fans!
(Just remember to abide by all intellectual property laws, and never monetize it!)
4 - Finish your projects (or scope them down)
Even the smallest of games are large and ambitious projects.
It’s easy to consider giving up, but you need to push through.
Perseverance is itself a skill.
You’ll only learn the full cycle of game development by seeing it through to the end.
So when making a game, keep the scope small and within your limits.
As you gain experience, you can gradually start to add more complexity, because you’ll have many solutions you can re-use from previous projects.
If you’ve realized your game is too big, then scale it down.
Cut out parts that aren’t necessary.
It’s better to have a small game of high quality than a large game that’s mediocre.
You want to leave the player with a good impression — you want them begging for more content.
Anything that didn’t end up in your current game can always be added in the next one (or as downloadable content for this one).
5 - Make (the right) friends
Making friends is just as important as making games.
Find like-minded people who can give you advice on your projects.
You don’t have to follow their advice, but at least listen to them.
Your friends should be a variety of gamers and game developers, to get a number of different perspectives.
Ideally, they should also be the target audience for your game.
Some of my earliest friendships — essentially just random people I met online — have turned into decades-long business partnerships.
But also don’t be afraid to let go of friends who aren’t helping you succeed.
Your time is valuable, and you shouldn’t waste it on people who don’t want to help you achieve your dreams.
Now go for it!
With these 5 tips in mind, you’ll be ahead of 90% of other game developers just starting out.
You’ll avoid many classic mistakes that can cost months if not years of time (and countless dollars too).
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