How do you started developing your project, im talking about a stage, when you actually make it happen and not just a time to spend after work, with some ideas, tasks and team to work. How do you found a teammates for it, especially if you are not an artist and everything, even basic animation and effects, mostly because i new to the 3d software and art is not my thing. Where can i found some people so we can “grow” together, ue “got talents” forum seems way too “heavy” for me.
I guess I need to ask, are you familiar with Unreal Engine? If not, then you should start here (Get Started with UE4) or here (Getting Started With Unreal Engine 4).
Once you are familiar or if you are already familiar with Unreal Engine, the next step would be to go to the “Got Skills? Looking for Talent?” forum section and start posting there stating you are looking to form a team or want to join a team.
Pitch your idea or ideas, see if you can find like-minded individuals and start making your game.
I’m asking more general things, not a guide. Want to hear some stories from you guys.
I personally would always start with joining a team instead of creating a own one. After you gained experience from it + you have something to show, you can try to get people together. So post a thread into the “got skills section” or directly write to some people. Another way is to invite your friends or game devs. that you already know. 
Ah … okay.
Well what I did was start migrating my existing project from Torque 3D to Re-Spawn. It was during this time that I realised there were quite a few things regarding the engine that I needed to learn and understand first.
So armed with this, I started adding multi-player features to the FPS Template, the Third Person Template, and the Top Down Template. Basically all the games I want to make are networked enabled and I decided I wanted to learn this and get this sorted first.
Once I was happy with my networking and replication knowledge, my team and I decided to tackle a smaller project and this is when Kaboom Arena was born. The project is designed to teach us Unreal Engine with a practical project, have a fully released game at the end of it, and learn from project via a post-mortem.
Whether the game makes money is a bonus … but I have found that during the play testing, the game is awesome for blowing off some steam and as one of the Unreal Developers said … you always need explosions. 8-}
So that is how we got to where we are with the current project. After this project we have two more smaller games that we want to tackle and then we will go back to Re-Spawn and migrate that to Unreal Engine. Exciting times for us.
I hope this is what you were looking for.
I sat down, and worked out what kind of game I wanted to make. (In the end, there were three 
).
I made a design document. It’s a notebook I always keep by my side. Every time I get an idea, I write it down. It’s now about 20 sides of A4, including level maps (so it is not all text). I also have a pocket in the notebook, to keep pictures in, torn out from magazines/newspapers/etc.
Also, if you are looking for inspiration, try Pinterest. I can lose hours going through images of architecture/office-space/landscapes, that I “pin” onto various game-related boards I have.
Of course, it all depends on what you want to do. Are you a level designer? A concept artist? An asset modeller? Interested in AI? Animation? The list goes on. And ON.
Play around with the engine first. Get used to using it. Then you will have more confidence when you go out into the world to join a team. (Having a portfolio of Unreal Engine stuff also helps when people are deciding whether they want to be in a team with you). Why should they want to work on a game with you, if you have no track-record of actually using the engine, or related software? (Of course, you could just be that darn charming ).
Ultimately, it is all about jumping in, and getting involved. There is no particular shortcut. Everyone has game ideas, you need to show that you can make them into reality. That is what will get other people’s attention.
Good luck.
Ideas are great but getting them in UE is even harder. In the end, it has to be fun. If you make it like a job then I can tell you right now…quit… Make it fun…make it like a game…Level 1 > textures. Level 2 > Animation… you know…
As for a team. Well don’t beg people to join. If your project is good enough people will want o join it. I speak from experience as I once had 25 people on my team and another reason I am doing this alone now. And don’t go pitching your game idea to the big guys yet. This never works. The big guys have tones of ideas of their own.
I’d personally start with the prototype. Documentation can only get you so far. Having something people can play conveys your ideas way better than a design document ever could. You say you aren’t an artist, so do what you can. Make an ugly prototype, but try to make it as fun as you can. Once you have a working prototype then go after people to join your team.
totally agree with you man.design docs are good for large corps. not people like us (indies). Ya don’t waste your time on that just develop something…
I used to do design docs … I now use Trello as this is more organic and we can change things as we need in a visual way as well as see who is doing what.
What I do however is add implemented features to a Game Design Document and keep the High Level Overview updated … this allows the members of the team who are not involved with development to be kept in the loop and not feel overwhelmed by the Trello boards.
It also gives me a nice reference document when we are ready for release that I can give to the marketing dude and he can start working his voodoo.
I’m going to go against the grain here apparently and say I start with design docs. Copious amounts of them.
My work comes in two forms: First, clients hiring me to design things, which means I need the design doc to ensure that we are building their vision clearly and accurately. This document becomes the most important tool early on to ensure transparency and to ask the right questions!. While the main General Design Doc will continue to be updated and kept as a reference, often from there we break down individual design sprints into smaller and more specific docs covering various key features. Most recently I wrote a document about how placement of objects by the end user will operate while building a playground. In an indie environment this would not be needed, but since I am building for someone else we need to be really certain to adhere to the client’s plan and rules, so while you could say that time is wasted, it is super important to ensuring accuracy and clarity when dealing with what amounts to TWO designers in a project. Often times what I believe is the best design is not what the client either wants or believes is best. In these situations these smaller design docs help identify and rectify these conflicts.
The second version is internal design. These the design doc is STILL super important to me because it tends to identify problems with my own design that I wouldn’t have realized until the project was mid-production. Early identification of issues saves a lot of time at the end and hopefully produces a better game in the end, since these issues will be planned for from the start.
That’s just me though, there’s no wrong answer to how you start a project so long as it produces a quality product in the end!
@DanglinBob: In your instance design documents are very important and I couldn’t agree more with you. In my normal day job “Software and Solutions Architect”, we require the business (our customer) to provide us with a Business Requirements Document (BRD) before we commence development … this is our business version of a Game Design Document.
I work for a sports betting company … hence the analogy … although thin. 8-}