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Muhimen
Muhimen

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So, you want to be a "Game Dev"?

Who hates playing games? At least I don't. And if you are like me who loves to play games then you will also love making some. Sounds interesting? Because it is interesting. Why wait then? Let's hop in!!!

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Game development is never a small thing. But don't get overwhelmed. You don't need to learn them all. Just choose a sector and get better at it. When you are fully confident about something then start learning something else. This is what game development(applies to all other stuff) is all about. Down below are a few of the sectors you will find in game development.

1> Programmer
2> 3D or 2D model designer
3> Animator
4> Level designer
5> Artist

In a big game studio, there are specialized members for each job. But you aren't a member of a game studio, are you? For entering the realm of game development, I suggest you learn a little about all the stuff mentioned above. Don't worry, I am not telling you to master all of them, I am telling you to get the fundamental idea. This will also help master a single topic later on because all of them are interconnected in game development.

So, you have taken the decision of being a solo developer and start making super simple startup games. Now the big question is where do you start? The answer is starting with a game engine. A game engine is a place where you write the script for your game, make the design, test the game, optimize the game and most importantly build the game. There are a ton of game engines available in the market and most of them are free. All of them have their very own advantages and disadvantages. Below are some game engines you can choose to get started.

1> Unity
2> Unreal Engine
3> Godot
4> Cocos
5> BuildBox

All of them are free to use. Top 2 has a paid version with some extra pros. But for you, the free version will get the job done quite smoothly. Among the five I would prefer Unity for its ease of use and for being beginner-friendly. And unity uses the language C# which is fairly easy for a beginner to get started with.
Check out few games which were made with unity
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Now that you have downloaded unity you will need a good resource to get started. Luckily for you, unity has three microgames that will help get started with unity. It will introduce you to how to make small games, do some simple tweaking, build the game and then publish the game(To your very own website provided by unity).

But what about scripting? Unity also has some scripting tutorials to help you get started with C#(You will find them when you will complete downloading unity). But there are also other resources available on Youtube. Here are a few of them.

1> Brackey: How to make a video game in Unity
2> Jason Weimann
3> Sebastian Lague

You can choose any of them but I'll suggest getting started with the first one(It is short!!).

So, yeah!!! This all you need to get started. After following a tutorial you figure out what to do next or google it yourself!!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Happy game developing for you.

Top comments (9)

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tails128 profile image
Tails128

I am not 100% sure about unity.
Working with it I have so many concerns about the way tests(unit, integration, etc...)
are handled.

While it sure gets the work done and while you can do great things with it, it really makes me uncomfortable the number of things you have to play around in order to just be able to use unit tests!

It's all fine and dandy at the beginning, but let's say that you have ~5 external dependencies and that you have ~ 50 features in your game, then every time your external dependencies change you have to remap everything! (Sure: you can do scripts etc, but it just makes me feel weirdly about Unity... maybe I am lacking some infos tho)

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muhimen123 profile image
Muhimen

I don't think a beginner will go that far in the first stage. Again, after spending some time with game development s/he will understand what s/he will need.

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tails128 profile image
Tails128 • Edited

I agree with that but on the other hand it can be really frustrating if you are very deep into a project which you started as a beginner and you realize some options are cut off (or hard to implement) due to an initial decision you didn't consider.

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x777 profile image
YD

No, thanks)

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muhimen123 profile image
Muhimen

Okay, I'll take that.

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x777 profile image
YD

I mean road map is crazy for 1 person in gamedev)

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muhimen123 profile image
Muhimen

I am certain no one knows all of them. Probably 20% is enough.

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christopherkade profile image
Christopher Kade

I've been meaning to start using Unity, anyone has a good (and recent) book to recommend for that tech specifically or game development in general?

Great read Muhimen123, thanks for sharing !

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muhimen123 profile image
Muhimen

Well, I can suggest you this: wireframe.raspberrypi.org/books/un...