Author Topic: Game Design Megathread  (Read 433174 times)

Bundle leftovers I have a full key of GameMaker Studio and the Android export. I already had both so I don't know what to do with the keys.


Bundle leftovers I have a full key of GameMaker Studio and the Android export. I already had both so I don't know what to do with the keys.
i want one

does anyone know where I can start to do Unity or other similar game engines? I know C#, JavaScript and some Python.

does anyone know where I can start to do Unity or other similar game engines? I know C#, JavaScript and some Python.
download unity
figure out something you want to make
read unity documentation + make the something

does anyone know where I can start to do Unity or other similar game engines? I know C#, JavaScript and some Python.
Rather than make one from scratch, focus on rebuilding currently existing games so you can come to grips with the execution, rather than the planning (at least for now). You'll find the ability to execute is critical even as a designer, as you'll need to demonstrate that your gameplay mechanics are fun, and the best way to do that is to make a Proof of Concept/Prototype.

Select something easy. Super Mario Bros, Tetris, Pong, Tic-Tac-Toe...that list is actually in reverse order of difficulty, but the point remains that these are simplistic games that can be made in any good open engine. Speaking of, pick an engine that's right for you. As mentioned above, the simple Gamemaker is having a big sale for all the special bells and whistles, but you may also feel more at tune with the indie-favourite Unity or the AAA-favourite Unreal. The difference is that Unreal is a lot more powerful, but requires about 10x the work (that said, it does have the simpler visual scripting system, which you could buy as a plugin for Unity, but is a bit annoying that it's not default).

Do your best to avoid tutorials (unless if you're unfamiliar with programming at all, which I'll cover in a second). Instead, play the game (YES, you get to play games to make game) and have a notepad handy; jot down notes and drawings about what you notice. You're ideally trying to plan out exactly how you think the game is "pieced together". List down an exact sequence of events for every moment of gameplay; think about what causes what to happen and what the consequences of that are. As an example, in Tic-Tac-Toe, putting down an 'X' in the middle square involves the 'X' player clicking the middle square, an 'X' graphic being put on the screen and then the game checking to see if they've scored a full row yet (or if the game is a tie).

If you're unfamiliar with programming, both Unity and Unreal have tutorial series; for Unity, check-out the Learn hub on their website, while for Unreal, you'll want to look at their YouTube channel's playlists. For Unity, it might be really good to go out and spend a little time learning raw C# beforehand, while for Unreal the YouTube tutorials should be adequate to get to grips with Blueprint (I personally don't recommend pursuing C++ as a beginner).

Work hard, but don't burn yourself out. Spend about an hour a day at first. You'll likely break the game a lot and get frustrated even more, but keep persisting. When you feel you've got the core of the game done, stop and think about your next game. Keep progressing through more difficult to make clones until you're ready to tackle some completely new, original challenges. It will take months, maybe years, of work, but you might just be a brilliant game developer in the making.

EDIT: I want to make this a point; when you  first start making games, the reason that it's crucial to make clones of existing games is because you can do them faster and get more done and get better. If you start with your own designs, you'll become obsessed with the design aspects, and you'll spend so much time fiddling about that you'll never get anywhere. It's a common problem I see with a lot of newbies who like to come in with their own ideas yet never get anywhere during the execution phase because their ideas are so experimental that they have to spend a lot of time messing with the ideas to make them fun, and that hurts time you have to execute and actually realise the ideas as fully fleshed out games.

When you first start out, aim for a game a week. If you can't get a game done in a week, don't even worry about it. Just move on to the next game and keep going. You don't want to get bogged down and become bored when you can't get one finished. Rapid pace will help keep your energy up, your mind abuzz with ideas, your excitement fluttering and hopefully will give you a better chance of finding something you can really polish up and make nice.


There is "a bit of life". And then there is "an infestation".

needs more flies and mosquitoes



There is "a bit of life". And then there is "an infestation".
it's cool, but I think a figure 8 is kind of an odd pattern for a butterfly to fly in
especially when every single one of them is doing the same thing
« Last Edit: September 29, 2016, 07:00:41 AM by Foxscotch »




I'm moving my level editor into it's own program, rather than having it be an object in the game that you can add to the UI to allow editing. So far, it's going well - the game engine initializes and runs in a wxWidgets viewport and is always paused.



There's a few things that are still silly, however:
- Startup scripts still run, so the music starts (but can't play because of pause)
- You can still open the inventory and it still makes sound effects but won't display any text.
- Zoom is unlimited, meaning you can zoom past zoomscale 0 and turn the map upside down like you could in the older editor.
- Can't actually edit anything yet (lol)
« Last Edit: September 30, 2016, 01:45:23 PM by chrisbot6 »