Questions about making a game

[Maishul]

Now this is nowhere near an absolute thing, seeing as how I need to learn to code first, which I am working on. But I've been considering since High School on making a game, and I'm not really sure where to start, I already have plenty of ideas but wouldn't know where to get a sprite artist, or a normal artist-- composer things like that, would anyone possibly have any advice?

 

[Avering]

Write up your ideas, decide on what kind of games you want to make, come up with the mechanics. Coupled with a few placeholder sprites, you can make a prototype to see what's working.

But that said, there is no actual best way. You should make some plan, if for nothing else to see what needs to be done still.

Though this applies to all kinds of bigger projects, not just games.

Anyways, you can look around in this forum if you'd like for artists and composers. I know Vaampp and Cin does music, we have a boatload of artsy guys, same with wordy ones.

Though first have a fixed idea before recruiting a bunch of amateurs

 

[Maishul]

Alright, thank you, I've had the idea for a 2D character action game for years now [Think Bayonetta or DMC] and I recently decided how I wanted to do it, now I just-- Have to do it lol.

 

[Avering]

Alright, thank you, I've had the idea for a 2D character action game for years now [Think Bayonetta or DMC] and I recently decided how I wanted to do it, now I just-- Have to do it lol.

There are a lot of programs that could help you get started (Gamemaker for example) without any major programming know-how.

 

[Rocketknightgeek]

The very first thing one should do is to see it they can make a MVP (minimum viable product) which basically means creating the absolute minimum one would need to test the basic game functions. In the case of a normal 2d platformer, that means a screen with flat ground you can run around, a platform to jump to and maybe a pit to jump over. If you can get that much to feel good to play, you extrapolate from there. Skipping this step is where a lot of games go wrong and have really wrong feeling jumps in particular.

 

[Klint]

Alright, thank you, I've had the idea for a 2D character action game for years now [Think Bayonetta or DMC] and I recently decided how I wanted to do it, now I just-- Have to do it lol.

There are a lot of programs that could help you get started (Gamemaker for example) without any major programming know-how.

I've heard that Audacity is a good tool for making audio. Can't confirm, but it's worth looking into either for yourself or for whomever ends up doing audio stuffs.

 

[Anukan]

Now this is nowhere near an absolute thing, seeing as how I need to learn to code first, which I am working on. But I've been considering since High School on making a game, and I'm not really sure where to start, I already have plenty of ideas but wouldn't know where to get a sprite artist, or a normal artist-- composer things like that, would anyone possibly have any advice?

I'd recommend you go HTML5-based for a start. Widely documented language, good potential on what you can make with it, and in 99% of the cases, you won't need to ask your testers to install (or even download) anything to try things out.

I've personally been looking into the Superpowers IDE. I can't say I recommend it, since I've not at all had the chance of throwing myself properly at it, but it's free, open source, decently documented and supported, and it offers free asset packs that you can practice stuff with, so there's not many reasons -not- to at least try it.

The very first thing one should do is to see it they can make a MVP (minimum viable product) which basically means creating the absolute minimum one would need to test the basic game functions. In the case of a normal 2d platformer, that means a screen with flat ground you can run around, a platform to jump to and maybe a pit to jump over. If you can get that much to feel good to play, you extrapolate from there. Skipping this step is where a lot of games go wrong and have really wrong feeling jumps in particular.

This is good advice. The keyword here is iteration. Slowly scaling your product from an initial testing ground to a finished product. You don't even need art or sound assets to do your first iteration, as you can start introducing them as you begin needing them. Even colored boxes on colored backgrounds capable of moving, jumping, and doing actions is enough to test your systems.

Thomas was Alone is a finished, retail product (and a very good game) that shows you don't need super intricate detailed graphics to make your gameplay feel good. And when you're making a videogame, good gameplay is your number 1, irreplaceable priority. The best graphics won't save your game if the mechanics are clunky.

Though first have a fixed idea before recruiting a bunch of amateurs

This is also a good advice. Projects can grow as they go through development, but if you don't have a clear goal, you'll just wander around aimlessly. Keep your focus on delivering the base product, and expand ONLY if you have the base set in stone.

 

[Avering]

I found the GDC channel on youtube, it contains a lot of stuff, which while might be useless for starting out, they could help with specific things. And they are all around interesting. And for Anu: Darren Korb also has a video.

 

[Salty Beef]

Alright, thank you, I've had the idea for a 2D character action game for years now [Think Bayonetta or DMC] and I recently decided how I wanted to do it, now I just-- Have to do it lol.

So I was just wondering how goes the game developing? I don't need anything super specific I'm only curious. Mostly because me and my bro are wanting to make our own games. So this thread peeked my interest.

 

[ty4brawl]

So I was just wondering how goes the game developing? I don't need anything super specific I'm only curious. Mostly because me and my bro are wanting to make our own games. So this thread peeked my interest.

Me and my bro have also thought about trying to make a fighting game, but I have no idea where we would start. It'd be slow going, even if we knew what to do, I'm sure, cause it's a pretty ambitious idea.

 

[Salty Beef]

Me and my bro have also thought about trying to make a fighting game, but I have no idea where we would start. It'd be slow going, even if we knew what to do, I'm sure, cause it's a pretty ambitious idea.

Well sure it might be ambitious, and yes it definitely will be slow (me and my bro are really startin' to realize that) but that's okay.
So, where to start. Well... again Minimum Viable Product is where to start. you should definitely look up Fighting game Engines or even look into Unity or others. and in terms of art (after you've finished the MVP stage) if you can't make ur own try networking with people... like the people on this forum cuz everyone here seems pretty cool.

also I forgot to mention programming.. again if you need people to help don't feel shy on asking people. But if your wanting to do that yourself I guess it would be good if you got to know the Language's and stuff. here - C# Tutorial
That's a.. C# tutorial thingy. C# seems to be quite a common language. but it certainly isn't the only one.

here's a playlist on Youtube I made with a few cool game dev stuff. also have you watched the work streams by MANE6? they are VERY chill and fun to watch. So you think you can make games? - YouTube

I should have probably asked what you CAN do and what you know. like. how much of this stuff do you know already?

 

[ty4brawl]

Well sure it might be ambitious, and yes it definitely will be slow (me and my bro are really startin' to realize that) but that's okay.
So, where to start. Well... again Minimum Viable Product is where to start. you should definitely look up Fighting game Engines or even look into Unity or others. and in terms of art (after you've finished the MVP stage) if you can't make ur own try networking with people... like the people on this forum cuz everyone here seems pretty cool.

also I forgot to mention programming.. again if you need people to help don't feel shy on asking people. But if your wanting to do that yourself I guess it would be good if you got to know the Language's and stuff. here - C# Tutorial
That's a.. C# tutorial thingy. C# seems to be quite a common language. but it certainly isn't the only one.

here's a playlist on Youtube I made with a few cool game dev stuff. also have you watched the work streams by MANE6? they are VERY chill and fun to watch. So you think you can make games? - YouTube

I should have probably asked what you CAN do and what you know. like. how much of this stuff do you know already?

We both know a bit about coding, him more than me, and we have the characters in mind. I especially love the idea of one of the characters I made, so even if the game doesn't become a reality, I'll try and make OC art of her and maybe rp as her somewhere. We both are decently skilled at editing stuff, including having dabled in sprite work, though I think it work better if the character models were more than basic sprites. I won't get into the unique aspects and ideas for it out of pm though.

 

[Salty Beef]

We both know a bit about coding, him more than me, and we have the characters in mind. I especially love the idea of one of the characters I made, so even if the game doesn't become a reality, I'll try and make OC art of her and maybe rp as her somewhere. We both are decently skilled at editing stuff, including having dabled in sprite work, though I think it work better if the character models were more than basic sprites. I won't get into the unique aspects and ideas for it out of pm though.

it sounds like to me you have what you need. you know a little more about coding than us, you have your ideas, and you've dabbled with sprites. the most me and my bro have done is dabble with Unity.. like once. we started a tutorial but didn't finish it. but now I know about scripts, so thats cool i guess. I still don't know the scripts.. uhh how should I put it.. little slang terms? that's why I looked up that C# tutorial. was hoping to find out... still need to read it..

seriously, you might could start your MVP if you find a simple to use program. like what Anukan was mentioning, the HTML5 and Superpowers — Free 2D+3D game maker, open source thingy. I never heard of that before now but I'll probably look into it myself. My bro bought a game making kit on steam called game guru. //www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXm0e4uRP10 Which it sounds like he wants to start by making small things on it, which of course is a-okay but I'm worried we won't actually learn programming.. guess its a start though.

 

[Alevgor]

I'm currently working on a "small" puzzle game. Doing all art (Flash) and coding (GMS) by myself. Now that core mechanics is "almost" done, I'm starting to wonder, how should I handle stuff like music, sound effects, promoting etc.

 

[Salty Beef]

I'm currently working on a "small" puzzle game. Doing all art (Flash) and coding (GMS) by myself. Now that core mechanics is "almost" done, I'm starting to wonder, how should I handle stuff like music, sound effects, promoting etc.

Well I don't know much about anything for promotion (other than a youtube trailer) but I might have some suggestions on music. We got MixCraft7 and it seems purdy darn cool. we've messed around with it a bit. and I made a... score? something like that anyway's. we're still not sure if its the ONLY thing we're gonna use for music but its cool. also my bro got FL Studio on his Tablet and I think he likes it. (he doesn't know what the desktop one is like) but there's a free trial for Mixcraft7 (I think 7, could be 6) so you could check it out sometime if you want to.

 

[ty4brawl]

I'm currently working on a "small" puzzle game. Doing all art (Flash) and coding (GMS) by myself. Now that core mechanics is "almost" done, I'm starting to wonder, how should I handle stuff like music, sound effects, promoting etc.

As for music and sound effects, you could always look into public domain stuff.

 

[Alevgor]

Thanks for advice (though I really doubt that I can produce anything resembling good music track by myself)

 

[Pom d'or]

I'm currently working on a "small" puzzle game. Doing all art (Flash) and coding (GMS) by myself. Now that core mechanics is "almost" done, I'm starting to wonder, how should I handle stuff like music, sound effects, promoting etc.

My two cents: I teach music classes at a university, and I gotta say, every year more and more of my students say the reason they're getting into composition is because they want to write for video games. It seems there's no shortage of young people out there who would love to get involved in a game project.

Sometimes these students ask me for advice on getting into the games industry - and of course I tell them I'm not in that industry so I'm not really the person to ask - but what seems like the best route is to get their music out there someplace people can find it. So I tell them to make a few demo tracks and put them on YouTube, SoundCloud, etc.

As a hopeful game dev, then, you can search these places and probably find someone who appears to be interested in the style of music you want. If you're an amateur game developer, and you have a small game that just needs a few tracks, then you can probably find an amateur composer who'd be willing to do some pieces for your project; it'll add to their resume even if the game never makes money. I would recommend this over trying to write your own. (Of course, if you want to learn to make music, I don't mean to discourage you.)

we've messed around with it a bit. and I made a... score? something like that anyway's.

"Score" usually refers to sheet music; the kind live musicians would read. What you made would probably be called a "track", a "piece", a "tune," etc. etc. Although to be honest these terms are all kinda vague anyway, so don't worry about it too much.

 

[Spirittis]

Now this is nowhere near an absolute thing, seeing as how I need to learn to code first, which I am working on. But I've been considering since High School on making a game, and I'm not really sure where to start, I already have plenty of ideas but wouldn't know where to get a sprite artist, or a normal artist-- composer things like that, would anyone possibly have any advice?

Pretty old thread, but since I randomly found out, I thought I might as well chip in if the questions are still relevant...

Start. Make anything. Otherwise you might as well get stuck and beig stuck for too long hurts the ideas and passion for making it in the first place. Don't worry about anything else - exactly as Rocketknightgeek said, make bare minimum, a working prototype and continue from there. There's a time and place for everything and the place for music and visuals is further down the track. Focus on the gameplay and pinpoint exactly how you want it to be.

As for learning, the internet is a wonderful place. You can find tutorials for anything, especially programming. If you really wanted to got for programming languages, I'd recommend you to start at Tutorialspoint with your language of choice, if you want more theory and longer texts. Otherwise there's a ton of tutorials on YouTube. And again - start. Make any short program, don't gobble up too many informations at once. If you run into trouble, then look it up. Stackoverflow is a place you can find answer to almost anything regarding programming.

For any large project, coding is a must. But you can save yourself a lot of time (and debugging headaches) if you use a development environment designed for your task. GameMaker, as mentioned by Avering way above, is a prime example of an IDE that allows you to make a game with no more effort than going through several tutorials. For things expanding from second dimension, you might want to take a look at Unity, but then again, that requires knowledge of C#.

For choosing a language, I'd really recommend you simplicity over efficiency at first. C# wasn't a bad example, because it takes care of many things you'd need to properly understand before you could use them, such as automated memory management, and many other quality of life features. You don't have to worry about it in web aplications either.

I'd recommend you go HTML5-based for a start. Widely documented language, good potential on what you can make with it, and in 99% of the cases, you won't need to ask your testers to install (or even download) anything to try things out.

I've personally been looking into the Superpowers IDE. I can't say I recommend it, since I've not at all had the chance of throwing myself properly at it, but it's free, open source, decently documented and supported, and it offers free asset packs that you can practice stuff with, so there's not many reasons -not- to at least try it.

And this. I've heard good things about Superpowers from a friend of mine who had worked with it in a past.

Me and my bro have also thought about trying to make a fighting game, but I have no idea where we would start. It'd be slow going, even if we knew what to do, I'm sure, cause it's a pretty ambitious idea.

Yep, get ready for things to take time, there's never way around effort, even with things making it as easy as possible - but remember it's worth it

Good luck y'all with your games, I can't wait to play them one day!

 

[Spirittis]

And to anyone still interested, a neat article rounding up features and tips for development of 2D games in Unity just came out today!