Hello,
This will be a bit of a general question, but I have something to ask.
First of all, hello! I started working on game development with Unity, and then I continued by switching to Unreal Engine. Honestly, I don’t have much knowledge about game development.
Here is my question: I have a good horror game idea in Unreal Engine, and I want to bring this idea to life. But I am alone in this project.
The question I want to ask you is: What should my steps be when making a game?
I am asking this in terms of mechanics and technical development.
I have already finished the theme and story parts, but what should my next step be to start creating and bringing the game to life?
Honestly, this question has been on my mind for a long time, and I guess the problem is me
But if you help me, I would be really, really happy!
My biggest advice to you is, start small. The best part of advice I heard was, make your first small game, put it on itch, leave it alone, then start on a slightly bigger game.
This is my advice, take it or leave it. Cheers, and good luck!!
So, the answer I’m looking for is this:
It would actually be great to try small projects and progress slowly, but unfortunately, I don’t have that kind of time.
Actually, the idea in my mind is this:
I want to combine simple versions of the mechanics I want for my game in a prototype, and then create a more developed version of these mechanics in a new demo.
But I’m wondering if this is a logical approach or not.
These mechanics include everything — for example, (save system, interaction system, puzzles, etc.).
As mentioned in the other comment and yours, start small:
-Get 1 basic feature working
-Get another basic feature working
-Continue till you have a playable prototype
-Polish features
-Add additional functionality
-Expand on exisiting
That said, don’t worry too much about specific systems. Ex. Your save system can probably wait until later. You may want to LEARN how to create one, but until you actually need to save things (typically demo time) that can be later
Do the things that NEED to be done “first” or before other things
Ex. Don’t make a robust puzzle system designed around character movement BEFORE getting your character movement in a good space. Why? Because if you hate your character movement your puzzles will need to change.
That said, plan out which design will impact other aspects of your game. If puzzles are more secondary to movement, focus first on movement. If your movement is stemming from what puzzles you’ll make do puzzles first and design around that.
So first steps really might be pen and paper and writing all these things out at a very high level and then breaking it down from there
Also being blunt, if time isn’t on your side you’re going to need to cut things and not “include everything”. Which again comes into the planning:
-What is the focus of your game? Puzzles, interactions, combat, etc.
-What is the main gameplay focus/pillar of your game? Exploration, combat, unlocking stuff, etc.
-What’s required? Ex. are puzzles just a cherry on top or is it pivotal for the game?
-What’s in scope? I.e. if you have limited time plan for that. If you suspect puzzles will take you a month, add a week. If you have 5 systems and each will be a month long it should take you about 6 months. You can do more systems, but now you’re adding more time
-What’s out of scope, but your V2/extended goals (maybe above is prototype/early demo). V2 could be filled with some of those “nice to haves”. If you get them in earlier because you have time, great BUT YOU MUST think of them as NEVER going into your project. If you NEED them, they should be above (adding to your dev time overall)
Out of scope and additional goals are great to have, they give you something to think about long term, but you also can’t let your game depend on these think of it as DLC. It’s great to have if it just expands on your game, but horrible if it’s required
Thank you so much! Actually, a list like that wouldn’t be bad at all.
I mean, a step-by-step list explaining how I should start would definitely help me make a better plan. If you don’t mind, could you make one for me?
No sorry. We’d need to sit down and figure out everything you’d want and plan from there. If we did, I would have to charge per hour. You may find someone to help out for free, but there may be some free examples online to get the ball rolling at least!
-Get all the functionality in first. Such as; movement, jumpscares, doors, interaction, etc…
-Make particle effects.
-Design your first level. Just blockout the level, don’t put a single material or assets in it. Use simple things like cubes, spheres, etc… Once you have all the level blocked out, and you can play it 100% of the way through with all puzzles and enemies, then you can either start making your own assets, or just use online asset packs, and make your level look nice.
-after this, do sound design. This includes music, and all the juicy feedback for the player.
-And after this, it’s pretty much just polishing and whatever else you wanted to put in the level. You of course can make as many levels as you want (Literally do whatever you want to do).
I hope this helps! And if you have any other questions, feel free to ask!
First of all, thank you for all the information you provided.
Right now, I’m working on a plan, and after I finish writing it, I may have some questions for you.
Until then, see you soon!
