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What it takes to make a game by yourself

dillonshook.com

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Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#21

Post by yakubin »

danielvaughn wrote: post #2

The irony of video games is that they’re often associated (at least in America) with childishness. And yet, by any conceivable standard, they’re by far the most complex creative endeavor. Creating a video game requires knowledge of the following: programming, graphics, 3D or 2D art tools, artistic ability, UI and UX design, game design, music production, cinematography, storytelling, copywriting, etc etc. It’s just a…

That's a broader theme. Watching TV is considered more childish than reading a book, even though TV content requires a lot more kinds of creative work in order to exist. The reason is that usually when the medium is richer, it demands less of its audience. Instead of imagining a scene, you're given its picture ready-made. Instead of actively following the lines of a story, you passively assimilate what appears before your eyes. It's less effort, and it's less active. It's common for people to watch TV in order to "turn off their brains" when exhausted. "Turning one's brain off" when reading a book is usually an accident, not an intentional thing, and happens a lot less.

Games demand more from their audience than TV, but you're still given a lot to consume passively, compared to a book: instead of imagining scenes, you're again given them as pictures. Games do compensate though with demanding that you make choices as you play a game, which may impact a story. Well... that's as long as the game is not an FPS, or a racing game, where choices don't matter for a story, as the story is either non-existent, or barely important; and what matters a lot more is your dexterity and reflex.

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#22

Post by pengaru »

Perseverance and conditioning yourself to be comfortable with (or even excited/inspired by) long periods of unfinished-ness are core competencies in practically every demanding project I've embarked upon - not just software, literally anything that can't be started and finished over a weekend.

A WIP is often largely indistinguishable from a complete and utter broken disaster. When the project necessarily takes a long time, that work-in-progress state can start convincing you (and your peers/family/friends/onlookers) that it's not a work-in-progress but a total failure. The only difference between those two realities is abandoning it vs. finishing it.

Some (most?) people lack the grit to get through that trough of "unfinished-or-failed?" ambiguity.

That's a lot of text trying to describe what I've found is the real substance behind "real developers ship".

And somewhere in all this, you still have to have maintain enough perspective to know when to cut your losses.

As a developer, and builder of things in general, I have hella respect for anyone who does such projects.

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#23

Post by danielvaughn »

ransom1538 wrote: post #20
danielvaughn wrote: post #2

The irony of video games is that they’re often associated (at least in America) with childishness. And yet, by any conceivable standard, they’re by far the most complex creative endeavor. Creating a video game requires knowledge of the following: programming, graphics, 3D or 2D art tools, artistic ability, UI and UX design, game design, music production, cinematography, storytelling, copywriting, etc etc. It’s just a…

"programming, graphics, 3D or 2D art tools, artistic ability, UI and UX design, game design, music production, cinematography, storytelling, copywriting, etc etc." Also! Physics, vector math, AI, cameras, shaders, networking, etc

Yep, and all the sub-disciplines within sub-disciplines. It’s crazy.

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#25

Post by jonas21 »

qzw wrote: post #18
danielvaughn wrote: post #2

The irony of video games is that they’re often associated (at least in America) with childishness. And yet, by any conceivable standard, they’re by far the most complex creative endeavor. Creating a video game requires knowledge of the following: programming, graphics, 3D or 2D art tools, artistic ability, UI and UX design, game design, music production, cinematography, storytelling, copywriting, etc etc. It’s just a…

This is so true, except for that one glorious, fleeting period when iOS apps were new and you could be an overnight millionaire with something like Flappy Bird.

Flappy Bird didn't become popular until 2014, when the App Store was already 6 years old.

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#26

Post by Tostino »

yakubin wrote: post #21
danielvaughn wrote: post #2

The irony of video games is that they’re often associated (at least in America) with childishness. And yet, by any conceivable standard, they’re by far the most complex creative endeavor. Creating a video game requires knowledge of the following: programming, graphics, 3D or 2D art tools, artistic ability, UI and UX design, game design, music production, cinematography, storytelling, copywriting, etc etc. It’s just a…

That's a broader theme. Watching TV is considered more childish than reading a book, even though TV content requires a lot more kinds of creative work in order to exist. The reason is that usually when the medium is richer, it demands less of its audience. Instead of imagining a scene, you're given its picture ready-made. Instead of actively following the lines of a story, you passively assimilate what appears before…

I absolutely agree with your comment from the consumption perspective, but I believe GP was referring solely to the creation aspect.

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#27

Post by ketzo »

jonas21 wrote: post #25
qzw wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is so true, except for that one glorious, fleeting period when iOS apps were new and you could be an overnight millionaire with something like Flappy Bird.

Flappy Bird didn't become popular until 2014, when the App Store was already 6 years old.

Oh, hush. The broader point is just that the barrier for entry was very, very low for a brief period.

I definitely bought a $0.99 app that you could tip up to your face to make it look like you were drinking a beer.

Very, very low.

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#28

Post by ketzo »

danielvaughn wrote: post #23
ransom1538 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"programming, graphics, 3D or 2D art tools, artistic ability, UI and UX design, game design, music production, cinematography, storytelling, copywriting, etc etc." Also! Physics, vector math, AI, cameras, shaders, networking, etc

Yep, and all the sub-disciplines within sub-disciplines. It’s crazy.

I know, god damn -- including "networking" as just a single word feels... horrifying.
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