What are the best ways to transition to Game Development without going back to school?

Being an example of a guy that didn’t study literally nothing related to game development and having to implement AI for a board game right off the bat thought me that dealing with real challenges is the way to go, gotta be creating, not just reading and searching. But some of the tips could be: Learn a programming language used for gaming (for programmers). Understand what are the differences between game development and app’s development. Understand what sources of information suites you better. Develop hyper casual games and give people to review it so you can have a grasp how to make it better or “more game”, and for that study about Gamification also. Good Luck

Before you dive into making games, you should have a passion for games and a strong desire to create. These fundamental and basic things helped me when I started. And curiosity! There are so many details from which games are created! Obviously, you don't need to know them all at the beginning of the journey. Choose your field, and start. Are you a tech person? Programming or QA. Love art and know the basics? Go and study how to improve and implement it. Do you have a great imagination, enjoy writing, and understand why balance is important? Game design is yours! And this is not the end of the list. You should know things, you should educate yourself, the process never ends. But to begin you should just begin!

The evolution of powerful yet open source game engines is a tantamount to the fact that aspiring game developers don't need to go back school for the said purpose. There are lot of blogs, YT courses, documents and other online material freely available which can assist anyone to master the art of game development. However, there are certain ingredients which definitely speed up the process * Background of programing/scripting * History of playing quality games * Ability to web surf correctly and learn from online resources * Enough Patience and temperament to invest proper time in new niche & GOOD LUCK to all those who are initiating the venture of game development.

First start with basic things. Study some simple games. Choose a game engine. You can find many free game engines, assests and tutorials from online. Try to recreate some popular games. Try to participate for game jams.

Through self-directed learning and hands-on experience. Start by mastering tools like Unity or Unreal Engine, and follow online courses to build your skills. Engage in game jams and develop small games to build a portfolio. Networking with developers, contributing to open-source projects, and studying game mechanics will enhance your expertise. Stay proactive by learning programming, creating a portfolio, and applying for entry-level roles or projects. Passion, persistence, and creativity are key to success!

There are plenty of game engines available for free and tutorials. Choose one and gain some hands-on experience. Experiment and try to build something. Start small and worry about complexity later. Participate in game jams.

My advice would be to not just pick an engine, but to pick it and stick with it for at least one project. Doesn't have to be big, just complete. Make a small game, go through the full development process and see how you feel about it. Don't like it? Write down what you don't like and look for something else. And remember, there are no universally perfect engines. But with almost any big modern game engine, you can tweak it to make it work for you, not against you.

As a beginner game developer with no college guidance or curriculum, you will surely find yourself in the unending war of Unity vs Unreal, especially if you have a laptop that can handle the two perfectly. I believe the two is as useful and good for you. The most common argument is that Unreal engine is not friendly for beginners: well, this may be true especially if you are starting your game development journey with a low computer. In choosing your game engine, consider your computer spec, find an engine that can function effectively for your computer and set out to learn it well. You might not be able to survive the problem of hanging computer while just starting out.

Working with unity has really opened my eyes to how much effort and skill goes into making a game! there are a lot of things to consider, creating sprites, choosing the assets, this is just the programming and coding side. There's still building the world, not to mention the lore and story you want to tell and the characters/ enemies, so many things go into game development that you really need a team do build an amazing game, unless you want it to take years by yourself.

On platforms like ROBLOX, you only need a game with around 500 players (if monetized correctly) to make a liveable income. Find a niche, understand what players want, and make fun games. You don't need to start with a 10,000 USD project to succeed but you may need to invest some time into thinking of a smart idea that doesn't require a ton of work. Always work smarter than harder at first, then build income to work on a game with more long-term goals.

The best way to get into game development is to start developing games. I know that seems kind of oversimplified but basically don't wait for AAA permission to start developing games, just do it for fun and experience and let your skills grow. If you develop and market your own products, you may wind up selling a few and getting some traction or you may attract the attention of a studio you love. Either way, it is impossible to make progress while standing still so get out there and make some things.

Small projects can make sense to build your confidence and gain experience. You should consider the benefits, though, of working on several projects at the same time. Challenge yourself to work on five different games, each with their own unique mechanics. Make one of them a solo game and others with varying numbers of players. Pick unusual themes/subjects that you've never seen before. The idea here is to get out of your comfort zone. Expand your creativity skills. Surprise yourself. Hit roadblocks, then come up with ways to address them. While making small projects is certainly quick, for most people the best way to learn game development is by doing and by creating fully developed games.

Definitely practice is the most important process to getting into not just the game industry but everything in life, that you progress. By practicing you will learn and understand how the tools and engines work.

Small projects help to focus on one thing at a time. You won't have complicated systems that intertwine eachothers and you'll be able to separate essence of what you want to do, without being overwhelmed by the whole project. It is best to practice creating separate systems one at a time and then combining them into something bigger. Your first project should be something simple, something you understand very well. Even something you'll find boring - just to learn the flow of work, programming language, interface, engine and your tempo of work.

You should always “illustrate” what you do and you are best at for others to see it. Look at everyone else’s work and see what they are doing and study the ones that you consider the bests. I would suggest that you focus on one skill at a time (to start with) and that you castigate the subject until you see your work evolving and getting better while accumulating a body of work that “illustrates” you skills and how valuable you can be for a project. Be selective and hard on yourself and only show your best work. Quality over quantity. Developers are result-oriented and look for things “they need”. They/we are always looking at talent. Become good (the best through practice & dedication) at what you choose to and they will find you.

When building a portfolio, start with the end in mind. That's to say, what is you want this portfolio to accomplish for you? If you are seeking to get hired, then what in your portfolio will make you stand out versus the many other portfolios that your target audience will review? If you have no idea on how to answer that question, then you need to do informational interviews with people in that industry to give you insights on what it takes to succeed and achieve what you desire.

If you want to build your portfolio focus on finishing your products. For the potential partner it is essential to look at finished projects. They don't have to be super polished or mindblowing, but one completed project is ten times better than ten unfinished ones. It will show that you have passion and patience to finish what you started. What more - it will show that you, in fact, CAN finish something and no one have to hold your hand to do so.

Beginning shouldn't frighten you. The world changes every day, doesn't it? It's scary thinking about a marathon without doing 5k). Play games, take them apart, understand the meaning of each particle, and reassemble them. It's excellent practice to study from the best, not just in games but also in other fields like movies, music, applications, books, and management. Knowledge transcends boundaries. Keep your mind cold, calm, and sharp for clear judgment. Seek feedback from the best, comprehend it, and share your knowledge. And when you are tired, just remember your basics. Why are you here?

The journey surely gets more easier as you keep it up. Working on several projects means encountering several bugs, having to ask several questions from google and watch several youtube videos. One thing is, game development sometimes do not have a straight template, so you shouldn't think that by finishing an Udemy course, you should be able to make any games. Those courses might give you a general knowledge of you might encounter while making any game, but each game has their own special task that requires you to learn more and get better. It's the beauty of the journey

This field is constantly growing and evolving so there is always opportunities to learn and grow your abilities as a software engineer. take advantage of books, websites, anything that will help you continue to grow and develop your skills as a software engineer! remember there are always many ways to solve a problem in the tech world!!

When you read the stories of the most successful entrepreneurs, artists, philosphers, etc., what many of them have in common was a belief in themselves. While they may have questioned and listened to others, they still came back to their gut and fed their passion through their single-minded devotion to creating. Such people are in love with the process of creating. While getting to a finish line for a single project is rewarding, these people are always looking further into the future. They may not know what that future will be, but they love and get interior joy from pursuing the unknowable and pushing themselves further than they can imagine. When you read the biographies of such people, so many of them were jerks. Don't be a jerk.

The most important thing is to decide what you want to do in the game development industry. There are a lot of different positions here, find out your points of interest and based on this, start building your training plan and achieve success!

School is just a structured way of learning, having recently completed a game programming school, I can say I learnt a lot, but it was more like being guided on what to learn, the learning as always a lot of self discipline to research, try, fail, learn, try again. My suggestion is not to be afraid to show your code, not just builds of the product, but the actual code. Allowing others to review your code is how you will learn not just to cough up some code on paper, but learn to write clean, optimized code that will set you apart from the rest.

One of the most important thing to do is to find a mentor. The journey gets a lot more easier when there is someone you can always run to, look up to, talk to about your journey in game development. It reduces the level of burnout, and help give your journey direction. Someone who has worked the way before you knows what you need to avoid, and what you need to jump at. This doesn't mean you should rely on your mentors fully, while taking their mentorship, you must allow yourself to make your own mistakes so you can have your own personal experiences.