Every gamer at some point has wondered how their favorite games are created. If you’ve wondered the same thing, then you are at the right place. In this article i am going to tell you how you can start making your own video games from scratch.
I am going to teach you all the basic information to get started with game development and i will also share my personal experience as a game developer along the way and how my games on Play Store got over 50,000+ Downloads!
First you should know the difference between Game Development and Game Design.
Game Design refers to the creative and visual artwork a video game. The job of a game designer to visualize and create all artwork and design all the levels of the game and make sure that the game looks as good and player friendly as possible.
whereas, the job of a game developer is to design and create all the structural and behind the scene components of a game, like a Game Programmer. They make sure the game works the way it is suppose to work.
It is entirely possible for you to do the job of both the game designer and game developer on your own! Unless you are trying to make a really complex triple A type of game on your own, You can’t! you’ll need a much much bigger team of talented people to create something like Assassin’s Creed, GTA V or Call of Duty.
So instead, we are going to focus on creating a simple game first. Let’s get started!
Step 1. Choose the Right Tools
Video games are created in an environment called Game Engine. You can create video games for various platforms like Android, iOS, Windows, Xbox, Playstation, Web, and many more just using these engines.
There are many game engines such as Unity Engine, Unreal Engine, CryEngine, etc.
Unreal Engine and Unity Engine are very efficient and powerful game engines. But I would strongly recommend you to Download Unity Engine as it is more beginner-friendly.
You will also need other Softwares like Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator for graphics and artwork designing, Microsoft Visual Studio for Programming and if your game is 3D, you may also need Blender (it’s a software, not the blender you have in your kitchen) for 3D modeling.
Step 2. Learn the Right Skills
Making a game is not an easy process, you have to be really dedicated throughout the process because you will face many difficulties like, a bug in your game that seems impossible to get rid of. that’s why it is really important to be fully prepared to deal with these problems.
you will have to acquire new skills because tools are useless if you don’t know how to use them. these are few skills necessary to start making games…
• Learn Programming Language(s)
Learning to code is really a must if you are serious about game dev. There are many programming languages that you can learn and make games. Since we are going to use the Unity Engine, we only need to learn C# for now. And if you already have some knowledge about C++ or Java, Learning C# shouldn’t be that difficult.
• Learn to use Unity Game Engine
Now that you are pretty familiar with C#, Start learning about the features and UI of Unity Engine, Game engines are some of the most complicated pieces of software, so it will take a lot of time and practice. But you can also learn along the way like I did!
There are many Paid and Free courses available to learn from. One of the reasons for choosing unity was the number of tutorials available on the internet for free and one of the best communities.
I would recommend watching Brackeys Unity Tutorials on youtube, As this is where I learned a lot of stuff for free.
You could also learn from professional courses available on various sites like Udemy and Coursera.
• Learn Photoshop/Illustrator
These are really powerful tools for graphic designing and will help you to create 2D sprites and UI elements. You can also find courses for these Softwares on the internet.
Step 3. Start Making Games
Now that you have acquired all the essential basic skills you can start turning your dream game into a reality.
• Plan the Game and Design a basic prototype
Plan all the features, style, structure, and gameplay for your game and create a basic prototype to playtest your concepts and do improvements. Get more ideas like, what the levels and the characters should be like? how difficult it should be? What art style should I use? or what the story should be like? let your imagination flow!
• Decide a budget and put together a team
If you have the budget you could put together a team of really talented people. But if you’re like me and don’t have to much to spend on your first game, don’t worry! you can do it your own too, although it may take a lot more time. you could also try to work with your friends with similar interests.
• Start Coding and Designing
Put all your ideas and skills together and start programming your first game! Create 3D or 2D assets for your game, create animations, sprites, menus, characters, and all the fun stuff in your head.
Step 4. Testing and Final Touches
When you finish developing the main gameplay. make sure to playtest it, remove any boring parts, bad mechanics, glitches and fix all the bugs.
Watch your test audience play your game and collect their valuable feedback ask them what parts are too difficult or too easy or what are the boring parts or if they encountered any bugs during the gameplay. work on the provided feedback and update the game.
Step 5. Release the Game
Finally, your game is now ready to be released. Decide what platforms are you gonna release on. If it’s a mobile game, make sure to publish it on Google Play Store and App Store.
You can also self publish it on your own website but that has additional hosting costs. There are many other platforms to release on like Playstion, Xbox, and Steam for PC games. although they have high standards and requirements to publish.
Step 5. Promote your Game
After all the hard work you’ve finally finished your game! what now? Chances are your game won’t get any downloads unless you promote them. Marketing is one of the most important and difficult steps in game development if you intend to make any profit from your game.
Make a landing page for your game, share it on social media, make a trailer, and take screenshots. Share your game with the community!
If you have a decent budget, you could set up a paid ad campaigns for your game with Google AdWords or Facebook Ads. You can also find relevant YouTubers who are willing to play and review your game in front of their audience!
Some Final Words…
Game Development is a dream job for many gaming enthusiasts and you can also have a great career as a game developer or game entrepreneur. But Game Dev is not at all easy, but if you’re passionate about it, you’ll have lots of fun making games for people to enjoy.
Game dev is very fun but it is not something you can learn this weekend and start making money, it’s a long journey, but it will pay off in the future just stay motivated and don’t give up!
If you have any doubts or questions regarding Game Dev you can leave them in the comments below and I’ll be glad to help ASAP!
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