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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

#91

Post by bananabat »

Anther wrote: post #88

Congratulations! Something I noticed - one of the screenshots on the store app page has a spelling mistake - the word distractions. Good luck!

Yes, someone else pointed it out and that amateur-hour moment is gonna drive me crazy until we can push another update. Thank you for paying attention and caring enough to let me know.

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

#93

Post by bananabat »

lmilcin wrote: post #70
bananabat wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GMS2 is a good engine. I also built a Minecraft server for my son. Started with an RP4 but he complained about lag so I finally just let him a Linux laptop.

I went with PaperMC after I found vanilla server lags. PaperMC is "built for speed" and it seems to work fine even with couple people playing. Additionally, I can write plugins for PaperMC which is the whole point of having the server in the first place (at least in our case).

We use PaperMC too. We've tried to implement GeyserMC so that his non-bedrock friends can join but so far, no love. I haven't had time to dig into why.

Very cool that you can write plugins for your kid's server!

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

#94

Post by mysterydip »

JeremyReimer wrote: post #78
bananabat wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you! How's your experience with GMS2?

I'm really enjoying it so far. It seems to fit with my mental model of making video games, which basically ended when I was 15 and writing games in MBASIC on my Heathkit (and later QuickBasic on MS-DOS, but I sort of stopped making games at that point) Obviously the language is very different and it's object-oriented, which MBASIC definitely was not, but it sort of feels... similar somehow? I can't really explain it.…

If you're looking for something a bit more BASIC-like, I recommend checking out AppGameKit, made by the people who did Dark Basic back in the day.

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

#95

Post by taratatira »

Great read. I always want to start in my project (game) but something comes up and I push it. I quit my job so I can focus a bit more on things I love. I have installed all the dev tools and started working on the story line. Work always got in the way. Finally I get to fuckin do it. My kid is working on the characters and they look dumb as shit but it brings such interesting side to the story.

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

#97

Post by lowbloodsugar »

Osiris wrote: post #7

My son wants to learn how to make games but I have no game development experience. What path did you take to start learning game development?

Start with something that works, that has code, and that can be hacked on. When my kid was 9 we did the whole "decompile Minecraft" thing, and he made some pretty cool changes with no help from me. But I'm sure there are game tools with published repos that you can download and hack on. That's how I learned, except it was "typing in games from magazines" and modifying them. Starting from scratch (with "Hello World") just sucks.

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

#99

Post by bananabat »

lloeki wrote: post #75
bananabat wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm entirely self-taught. My personal experience is this: - Try a bunch of free engines and platforms. Depending on your son's age, this might mean starting with something like Scratch. I've played around with it myself and it's fun. It at least gives you a feel for game logic and how a game loop should feel. - GDevelop has come a long way. My son prefers it when he's just doodling around. - My husband prefers GameMa…

> Make as simple a game as possible when you're starting Back when I had enough spare time to do game jams, one critical thing I learned was, once you have some idea, make it simpler. Now make it even simpler. And then, make it simpler again. Repeat that about 20 times, possibly more. Now you have something that you can possibly build and actually release, and guess what, counterintuitively, it'll be fun as hell. Coz…

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?

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

#100

Post by bananabat »

mysterydip wrote: post #87
bananabat wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is something that's a dilemma for us. Thanks for your input!

I started out same as you, charge a dollar or two for a quality game seems like a fair trade. But I can't count how many conversations I had with people who would balk at 99 cents while either holding their $5 daily latte or paying another $10 for gems/energy for the "free" game they were playing. It's frustrating but the mentality of the mobile market. There are good/ethical and bad ways to approach it, though. I wo…

I was reading about how the mobile game space has taken a totally different path from PC/Console games. Players are largely onboard with the "value" of even the most casual games on the latter platforms. But there is now a lot of resistance to mobile games that aren't free...even though a player's regular spend on an IAP-monetized game might actually exceed the cost of even a subscription-type model.
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