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Show HN: I'm 48 and finally learning how to be a game developer

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Re: Show HN: I'm 48 and finally learning how to be a game developer

#201

Post by Teknoman117 »

bananabat wrote: post #197
robocat wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Arduino regulator can very likely take 10 Volts - although do check first. Advantages: fairly cheap, rechargeable, and you can give PowerBanks to kids or whatever when finished or if you upgrade to something better. Maybe get kids to help! > sorry if that's totally kiddie to you Things are only kiddie if you think they are (personally I enjoy learning from children). Worrying too much about what others think will…

Thank you. I guess a lot of people (including me) can be apprehensive about wading into technical domains. I've run into some hostile online environments, for sure. But a great majority of people are are always enthusiastic to help anyone who wants to learn.

> But a great majority of people are are always enthusiastic to help anyone who wants to learn.

That's one of the things I miss about "the old Internet". I remember when I first started using it around ~2000 to communicate with other electronics hobbyists, back when avrfreaks was big or just random people's widget shops has forums. There seemingly wasn't the level of toxicity that exists today. The first time I think I ever ran into someone being toxic (directly to me) was about 2009. IIRC they were saying that because I wasn't an EE I shouldn't be attempting to help people or something (I was halfway though high school at that point).

Re: Show HN: I'm 48 and finally learning how to be a game developer

#202

Post by bananabat »

cybernautique wrote: post #146
bananabat wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great and detailed feedback, thanks! - UI has always been my weakest point in the sense that what seems logical to me might be puzzling to others. I've been taking notes on what's confusing to players and will implement improvements on the next go-around - Floating aliens are just...that. I've thought about making it more obvious that they are part of the environment or just removing them altogether - The score HUD n…

For context, this isn't from a player; I steadfastly refuse to run google services on any of my devices, so I'm incapable of downloading your game from the Google Play store. I'll keep an eye out for it, should you ever decide to release the .apk or host it on F-Droid! Your personal story is nothing short of inspiring. A sincere kudos to you and your husband :) Your children are incredibly lucky to have two such prod…

I respect that. Thank you for your very kind words and well wishes. I think creativity is simply the synthesis of all that's past and what's present around you. What we celebrate as originality is mashup. And I think that's absolutely wonderful.

Re: Show HN: I'm 48 and finally learning how to be a game developer

#203

Post by bananabat »

arafalov wrote: post #190

Congrats. Visual esthetic is very clean. The music is really nice as well, could be a programming background sound-track even. I am, actually, in the same age category and have suddenly realized that I am super excited to understand, explore and (eventually) produce something that relies on 3D game engines. Not necessarily a game, but something leveraging the game/3D/ Meta/Multi/Omniverse tooling that is available fo…

The first game I made was a Breakout clone in Unity -- only rivalled in popularity among baby game devs by Pong clones.

I like Unity, it's free for a super small indie. I liked learning C#. However, when I reached the point where I was thinking of more sophisticated functionality, I started using a lot of 3rd-party development plugins (all so wonderful in the Unity store) and they were becoming a giant crutch.

Now don't get me wrong, I am a fan of NOT remaking the wheel and I'm a total code snippet learner. However, I don't have a foundation in math or science. In the beginning, something as simple as rotation_speed = PI was utterly confounding. So I switched to Godot, which uses a Python-like scripting language. Far easier to learn and awesome for 2D. Also, the lack of a "store" with readily-available packaged solutions forced me to understand what in the actual fuck I was trying to do. It's free as in speech and beer.

I actually learned Blender much earlier because it's closer to graphic design than game dev. It'll be useful if we ever do 3D or VR.

And yes, maple syrup is a superfood. I will not be taking questions on that topic.

Re: Show HN: I'm 48 and finally learning how to be a game developer

#204

Post by bananabat »

Teknoman117 wrote: post #201
bananabat wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you. I guess a lot of people (including me) can be apprehensive about wading into technical domains. I've run into some hostile online environments, for sure. But a great majority of people are are always enthusiastic to help anyone who wants to learn.

> But a great majority of people are are always enthusiastic to help anyone who wants to learn. That's one of the things I miss about "the old Internet". I remember when I first started using it around ~2000 to communicate with other electronics hobbyists, back when avrfreaks was big or just random people's widget shops has forums. There seemingly wasn't the level of toxicity that exists today. The first time I think…

It's why I'm always grateful to stumble upon any community where the members are constructive.

Re: Show HN: I'm 48 and finally learning how to be a game developer

#206

Post by bananabat »

VladimirGolovin wrote: post #178

Hey, looks like I'm not alone! I'm 49 and we (3 people, aged 30-49, with no prior gamedev experience) are working on an isometric sci-fi shooter-looter -- think Diablo meets Aliens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWN3l4LdTIA Also, 800 upvotes can't lie. I wonder, which part of the premise resonates with the HN crowd: "it's never too late" or "I always wanted to make games too"?

I would think that quite a good chunk of people who go into tech (as a general domain) did so because they loved games as a kid. This is true for us and anecdotally, everyone I know who is in IT has tried their hand at making a game at one time or another.

As for "never too late": maybe when we're older, we do become aware that we are closer to the end than the beginning. Part of it is also the last few years. You don't thing the blackest of black swan events will happen until it does. So are you gonna do your best to be happy right now? Or are you gonna keep punting until the meteor comes?

Umm, I would totally buy your game. I love isometric shooters, rpgs, etc. First-person shooters, sadly, make me nauseated and barf-y within minutes. How far along are you guys in development?

Re: Show HN: I'm 48 and finally learning how to be a game developer

#207

Post by bananabat »

animal531 wrote: post #184
VladimirGolovin wrote: post #178

Hey, looks like I'm not alone! I'm 49 and we (3 people, aged 30-49, with no prior gamedev experience) are working on an isometric sci-fi shooter-looter -- think Diablo meets Aliens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWN3l4LdTIA Also, 800 upvotes can't lie. I wonder, which part of the premise resonates with the HN crowd: "it's never too late" or "I always wanted to make games too"?

Same here, I'm 46 and now also working full time on my first real game. Going a bit slow so far, but I'm keeping at it!

Happy for you. Would love to see your work when you're ready!

Re: Show HN: I'm 48 and finally learning how to be a game developer

#208

Post by bananabat »

bluedino wrote: post #183
VladimirGolovin wrote: post #178

Hey, looks like I'm not alone! I'm 49 and we (3 people, aged 30-49, with no prior gamedev experience) are working on an isometric sci-fi shooter-looter -- think Diablo meets Aliens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWN3l4LdTIA Also, 800 upvotes can't lie. I wonder, which part of the premise resonates with the HN crowd: "it's never too late" or "I always wanted to make games too"?

That looks pretty cool

Thanks!

Re: Show HN: I'm 48 and finally learning how to be a game developer

#209

Post by bananabat »

andy800 wrote: post #165
bananabat wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How come you didn't continue making games?

Sorry if my post was confusing -- I created the game this year as a way of celebrating turning 50 and reconnecting with my college friends, we were all obsessed with Tecmo when it first came out in 1991.

Did you post your rom anywhere? I have a RG350M for all the old games I love.

Re: Show HN: I'm 48 and finally learning how to be a game developer

#210

Post by bananabat »

lloeki wrote: post #180
bananabat wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never been brave enough to do game jams. I dunno, I've always been afraid I'd break under the pressure. Was it fun for you?

Tons of fun. It's been frightening alright but I learned so much, and not just about game dev: lots of takeaways that apply to day-to-day development, like finding the balance between quality and getting things done, keeping things ultra-simple, understanding the value in inlining or even repeating code, finding the minimal abstraction sweet spot... It's OK to be afraid! Turns out it also teaches that you can just le…

Guess my insecurity comes from not having any kind of programming or even math background. Esp in group game jams, I have a feeling I'd be the weakest link and everyone would yell at me.
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