Way to Develop

Community Community & Industry Discussion
1

Ave, comrades!

I’ve tinkered with different engines for some years. There are lots of great (and not so) tutorials and documentation around. But it’s mostly about gameplay mechanics, so at the end of the day most of that knowledge is quite fragmented. Yes, you can make cool weapon system. Yes, you can make potentially interesting experience system. Yes, your movement mechanics now not so boring as default “run/jump/crouch”. But none of that matters.

Because you don’t know how to make them all work together.

So the question I’d like to ask is: How to make games? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not asking about some magical ready-to-go solutions or begging you to create everything for me. I just wonder, like, where to begin? Where to go? What questions should I ask myself when thinking about games I’m going to make? Which phase of moon is better for process? With which kind of games I’d better start off? What to consider for a solo dev and/or for a small company? What kind of tea to drink?

Right now, I’m all solo, just trying to understand how it all works. My plan is to cooperate with my friends with time, and take responsibility as “project leader” or whatever it’s called. But if I cannot just finish anything, it’s not worth it. I know there are some folks from big companies and lots of people working on their own or in small studios. I’d love to hear from everybody about your experience, and I’ll be grateful for your advises. From ideas, planning, documenting, first prototypes all the way to the release and beyond.

So! What is a way to develop? Or better, what are the ways to develop?

Best regards!

P.S. By the way, I was really inspired by Croteam with their story.

2

It interesting for me too

3

for this question there could be a million answers.

In short, I would advise to start with something you think you could finish on your own without the reliance on other people.

So start something small and manageable in accordance to your skill in art or development and create a game that most requires that skill. In other words, if you are good in programming and suck at art, make a game that would require the least amount of art and vice versa in order to minimise reliance on other people to finish the project.

Because the minute you start relying on other people in this field as a solo startup dev at this stage you will never get anything done unless a miracle occurs and everyone on your team is equally passionate and dedicated as you are and who would work for free for that golden dream you all share in common. Unless you are rich of course and can afford to hire a team.

Most important of all plan your game right and KNOW what you want from the very start. Ask the right questions at an early stage and make sure you get it all organised.

4

Start with a list of what you want to achieve in your game and then start building a basic prototype that incorporates these features and core concepts. After you finish that, then you can move into complete design and polish

5

This!

Thanks for your words. Feels like this is what I needed all the time. Because I realized that I’m not really sure what exactly I want from my games, yeah. Will work on that!

I’m sure that other people also will find it useful. So… keep it coming, maybe? :slight_smile: