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What it takes to make a game by yourself

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Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#81

Post by StillLrning123 »

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…

"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." While TV shows are more involved and complex to make, that does not automatically give the TV show depth, reflection, nuance etc. A TV show is often quite the opposite; a banal story full of platitudes.

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#82

Post by gnrlst »

njsubedi wrote: post #54

I started making games right after I joined my university. Those were simple flash-like games with simple gameplay and basic UI/UX. Fast forward 10 years; I started a game studio and we’re a team of 50+ but still making really simple games for mobile. Not that we didn’t try making “huge” games but constantly creating new games and publishing them and seeing them succeed is what it takes to keep making games. As an in…

You're optimizing for revenue/chance of success, not for the creation itself, which most world-class indie games are optimizing for (e.g. stardew valley, dwarf fortress, celeste, hollow knight, etc).

Also, building a million simple mobile games will not magically compound into making you a great complex/deep game builder.

Not trying to say your strategy is wrong, I just don't agree with your strategy if someone's goal is to build the game they have in mind, exactly like they have it in their mind (assuming it's more than a simple mobile game). It will help in terms of general "steps" to have built a couple simple games before sure, but that's about it.

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#83

Post by archagon »

gmueckl wrote: post #41
aschearer wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. For a long time I felt games weren't art in the same vein as e.g. painting. More recently I've come to feel that's not true. As you say, making compelling games requires compelling art across multiple mediums. Add on top of that interactivity and agency! That's part of what's so satisfying about making them. It's an incredible challenge and measure of your ability.

But is the actual game, as in, taking actions obeying a premade set of rules, art? That is the essence of every game. We use various representations, physical or virtual, for representing the game. Yet, the representation is not the game.

Can taking actions that obey a premade set of rules communicate something to the player? I think it can. For example, Jonathan Blow has played around with this notion in Braid and The Witness.

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#84

Post by redanddead »

njsubedi wrote: post #54

I started making games right after I joined my university. Those were simple flash-like games with simple gameplay and basic UI/UX. Fast forward 10 years; I started a game studio and we’re a team of 50+ but still making really simple games for mobile. Not that we didn’t try making “huge” games but constantly creating new games and publishing them and seeing them succeed is what it takes to keep making games. As an in…

Which one of your games did you like the most?

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#85

Post by notduncansmith »

darkteflon wrote: post #48

This is timely. Since I’m on sabbatical, I decided to spend 6 months cramming Unreal Engine 5 and Blender to see if I could cobble together enough expertise and the bones of a project to work on together with my now five-year old son over the coming years. I always loved gaming growing up and I figured it would be a great way to get him interested in, and learning, a broad range of skills that might help him along th…

I’m working on a 2D game conceived by my 9-year-old who had played enough games that he was inspired to make one. He was thrilled as soon as the first animated graphics came onscreen. More valuable than my programming skills have been my project management skills: keeping the scope achievable and focusing on realistic milestones is a little harder when working with a 4th grader. It’s been a great learning and bonding experience for us both. Best of luck to you!

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#86

Post by barrysteve »

ivars wrote: post #65
TylerGlaiel wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been making video games for a long time and while it's true they can feel unfinished for a long time, they shouldn't ever feel completely broken/disasterous/failed. One of the key things when making a video game is to make sure that it is fun and playable as early as possible into development, and when someone is grinding away working on something that isn't fun that's a pretty huge red flag to me.

"No prototypes. Just make the game. Polish as you go. Don't depend on polish happening later. Always maintain constantly shippable code." - John Romero

For one project, John Carmack hacked out a beta in two weeks in a cabin retreat and then spent ages polishing it up.

The first 90% of the effort is getting it working and then the next 90% is the polishing the result.

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#87

Post by barrysteve »

TEP_Kim_Il_Sung wrote: post #71
PradeetPatel wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't he get deplatformed for spreading hate speech?

Also, what's that?

Hate speech in modern use is attested by 1990. The term is found in a translation, published in 1898, of the Anglo-Saxon poem called "The Fall of the Angels," telling of Satan's revolt, where it renders Anglo-Saxon hetespraece:

    Dear was he to our Lord; but it could not be hidden
    That his angel began to be proud,
    Lifted himself against his Leader, sought hate-speech,
    Words of boasting against him, and would not serve God.
    ["Education," vol. xviii, No. 6, Feb. 1898]
Faith based term, people are using politically recently.

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#88

Post by silok »

djitz wrote: post #58
pengaru wrote: post #22

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…

Real developers ship = real writers write = real painters paint, etc. If you want to create things — anything, you put your ass in that chair every day regardless of whether you feel you are accomplishing anything. Eventually, you will start to make progress towards your goal. It gets better as you become better at staying the course. Highly recommend The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, which is a short, but importa…

On the same topic, I would recommend Seth Godin - The Practice: Shipping Creative Work

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#89

Post by hutzlibu »

Hah, related question I had yesterday, is it procrastination, if you play your own game, instead of focusing on finally releasing it?

(my conclusion was, a bit, playing it is helpful to think about balancing and final polishing, but only playing it and not improving it probably does not help much. In either case, it is probably a good sign, to have fun with your own game ..)

Re: What it takes to make a game by yourself

#90

Post by Heyso »

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…

Yes it is an art that can contains multiples others arts.

On a small project you also usually have to do the game design, it is art too.

And art is harder than technique in my opinion.

I got a lot of respect for artists.

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