How to Create a Game 101- No Matter What Platform You Use
Do you ever wonder how hard it is to make video games? Do you hear that voice in the back of your head saying, "No, you can't do that? You aren't good enough. A GAME? HAHA nope, not me." Listen, I hear those voices always. I can guarantee you; you are not crazy. I can also assure you, and they won't go away. Those voices will always be there, telling you that you aren't good enough and that you can not do it. I do NOT want to go as far as saying that making a game is "easy" or "super simple" because it isn't. There are tons of mistakes associated with creating video games. Even AAA studios kill games and destroy reputations. There are many reasons, but some are not enough resources and bad planning. Even people with more resources than you can make mistakes! If they can do it, you can do it! The only difference is they cover up their mistakes, you, you learn from yours.
Mistakes
I want to start this article off with the mistakes that you will make. Going to school for game design is not a mistake. Paying to go there is. Of course, you always have to pay for school, but most game design schools are costly. Some of them aren't accredited either. And in today's world, most people don't know what "accredited" truly means. I didn't know or care, but my father drilled that word into my head. Most game development companies say "Batchelor's or Associates" degree in their job posting. So as long as you have a vast portfolio, they most likely don't care where you went to school. Your work is your resume.
More mistakes you will make is how to make your games. After all, you don't know everything, and Youtube is going to become your best friend. Think about the number of human resources and different aspects that go into a great game. You aren't enough to make something amazing. It is, however, sufficient to make a simple game. If you do not have a sound expert, 3d artist, animation engineer, programmer, and project manager, then you might have an issue. Making a big AAA game might not be for you. (Obviously, there are tons of other people involved in this process. I am giving examples). You will be able to learn as you go and make simple mistakes, like making your model too large. Now your game isn't optimized and won't run on many PCs. Another one is not maximizing your game for other platforms. And one of the most common is not optimizing your game at all. So, your game runs slow during epic moments or in high CPU demand.
The one thing you can do is make mistakes and learn from them. That is all we have, so don't stop after your game runs slow. Don't end after you wasted 15 hours making a model that doesn't mean rig or animate right. You keep going, and you know what maybe you lost 15 hours, but now you know making the poly count lower is better. You know that animating a higher poly model isn't ideal for games. Look up videos on how to scale down your model. Take every chance you get to make a mistake and learn. We have been wired never to make mistakes. I am here to tell you that making mistakes is the only way to make videogames. AAA studios make mistakes, so now it is your time.
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Find Your Why
The most important thing before you create a game. Before you figure out who your main character is. Find why you are doing what you are doing? Are you making games for money? This article is not to judge anyone; if it is money you seek, go for it! If it is fame you seek, go for it! If you love being creative, go for it! Don't let what other people say stop you. But remember, money is only as valuable as you make it. Payment may be the only thing you care about. I would recommend not getting lost in the numbers. I speak from personal experience.
Keep a steady head when it comes to creating video games. People are going to give you s*it no matter what you do. No matter what sport you create, people will hate it. Pleasing everyone is a tough game to play. Especially when money is your primary focus, when money is your main focus, you get lost and try to reach everyone. You then end up reaching no one. So making money your main priority, you have to know when to spend it and when to hoard it. Also, demographics are going to be your best friend.
Find out why you want to do this then write it down. Refer back to it once you get your first bad review or bad comments on Youtube. If you don't know that it is okay, you might want to learn a bit more. Read a book I can recommend this.
Learn as much as you can, and as often as you can. After all, you want to start a company? Learn how to be a leader. They say, "Leaders are born." There is much truth to this, but not all leaders are great. I believe a healthy mindset can make anyone into a leader. With a clear head making smart decisions is more natural than with a poisonous outlook. Remember to keep a level head, and if you can't lead, there is no shame in that. Maybe you like being the guy in the webs and getting your hands dirty. There is no shame in being the hustler. Try to find someone who has excellent visions and who can move a crowd with a few words.
Before We Begin: You can get a free PDF copy of all this info and more via this link!
Concept
First and foremost, this can be applied to many things. You have to have an idea and create a plan for that idea. No one on this earth that has ever made anything successful just went with the flow. Someone may have had the idea in their head and not wrote it down, but they had a plan. You do not have to write it down. I am the person who has to write an idea out. Do what you have to, to get the goal achieved. Your concept can be a drawing with some circles, a few lines, and a title. Nothing wrong with simplicity. But be detail-oriented so you will remember or know what those lines and doodles mean.
Is your vision down on paper yet? If not, then keep going. Imagine your entire game from level 1 to level 50. Maybe your game doesn't have levels. Perhaps it is a survival game, and the player makes up the levels. Well, then how hard is the game going to be, or how hard is the game going to get as each minute progresses? Keep in mind you don't want the game to be super tricky, and you don't want the game to bore the player to death.
Think about an ending now. How will it look? "Game Over Loser!" Maybe it will encourage them, "Game Over! You'll get 'em next time!" Perhaps your player falls into a pit of nothingness until they hit the "P" key. The end screens are all up to you. It can be epic, or it can be mind cringing.
Research
The section is special and dear to my heart. Not everyone gets to got to college and spend their life savings. So, you have to turn to tutorials. Tutorials online can be paid or not paid. Youtube is a cheap man's best friend. Udemy, Unity, and Skillshare are man's best friend. Skillshare is more geared toward business, but you can learn a lot from it. Skillshare's software is very similar to Udemy, but it isn't all about the tools it is about how you use them. So choose programs wisely because I can tell you Udemy has a ton of sales which are going on all the time. Skillshare gives you two months for free, and Unity is free in general. But Unity is just geared toward Unity learning.
Make sure that your research abides by any copyright laws. You are putting your heart and soul into a product. Do not get sued or any bad names for you or your brand name. Some people say being sued is publicity for a company. I have heard this many times, but in reality, it makes your brand look bad. It may be great short term publicity, but people will always remember the bad publicity more than the good. More prominent brands such as Sony and Paypal don't have to worry about bad publicity because they have been around for so long. That also doesn't mean that people will forget the bad times. Hacked or sued is always in the back of a customer's mind when buying a product of yours. In conclusion, make the publicity the best it can be.
All of your tutorials should be coming together to get a great underlying game together. When you have your why, figured out your theme, and finally have the game all put together using the software of your choice, now it is time to test. :)
Testing
I can tell you first hand, testing sucks. Testing will probably take more time than making the game itself. I do want to give one warning, do not waste time trying to fix everything. Also, do not spend time trying to fix glitches within the editor. What I mean by that are glitches like hit detection. You may have to make hitboxes smaller, but if the engine itself has a glitch with the physics, that is something you can't fix. Just put in a note to their support team, and they can handle it or wait for the next update. Remember, you can always update your game, bring it into a new version. I know it sounds hard, but it isn't once you get into the groove of doing things.
Once you are finished testing, test it one more time. Then give the game to a fresh pair of eyes. Give the game to two to six new pairs of eyes. Trust me; you can't catch everything. Criticism is hard to take sometimes, but you can only get better if you listen and learn. Sometimes criticism makes absolutely zero sense, that is okay; move on and say, "Thank you." Go about your life, and they will go about theirs. Make sure you get real gamers to play. Mom and dad are great people, but unless they play videogames, they do not know what to look for, and that can put a crutch on your testing. After all, people spend forty plus hours a week testing games to get bugs out of them for AAA studios.
The most critical part for other people when they are testing your game is documentation. Make sure they aren't spewing off a list of issues. "Hey Jon, you should fix the character, he sucks. The Environment, yea too bright." That terrible list goes on and on. You can waste much time with people. Make sure if you have someone giving you useless test information, you fire them immediately. All you need is authentic, very detailed info. I am going to provide a specific issue below from what I have seen.
Player Character moves through the floor when jumping from white building to blue car in the eastside of "Map Name."
When I was using "Player character name," I was jumping from building to building. Initially, I was testing the jump physics. Moving from rooftop to rooftop was an easy way to check if double jump worked appropriately. I was testing at different altitudes. Once I tested my final leap over the blue car on the eastside, I free fell for about three "Units of measurement for the engine you are using." My character then stayed in free fall mode as I hovered over the car for approximately five seconds. Once those five seconds were up, I was teleported under the vehicle. I did, however, hit the "ground," and I was able to move around under the map. I can see both the map as I was under it. I could also see the blank space below me while running around. Only specific details were visible on the map above me, such as rocks, animals, vehicles, building rooftops, and other characters. After my diagnosis, I was able to restart from the last checkpoint, and I was fine. The glitch was successfully replicated as I did it again. The steps above to reproduce did not change.
From past experiences, I have diagnosed this as a collider issue with a specific car. I would also check any colliders in the area, which may be recalculating a collision improperly. There are not too many other possibilities. Please let me know if there are any other questions or if you need a live demo of this glitch.
The above glitch report is something I would hand over to someone who is looking for detailed info. Of course, add some images of your experience or record your gameplay and send over snippets. Detailed glitch reports are the best way to diagnose a problem. Afterall you diagnose a problem, and someone has to solve the problem. The best way to get a problem solved is to provide as much details as possible. If this is a friend, send them a tutorial if you can find it. This will give them either an answer or a starting point. Your friend is creating the game, and you are honored to test it out.
Advertising
I want to make something obvious here; advertising should be done before, during, and after game development. If you suck at marketing, now is your time to get good at it. Market the crap out of your game. You have to learn how to sell it and make it so that someone needs it. You can look up marketing tutorials and get an idea of what has to be done. I am not an expert marketer, so that I won't go into too much detail. Know one thing; marketing should be happening while you are making the game. I made this mistake before, a few times. Social media is your best friend. Youtube should be used to your advantage. Make sure you record your screen, get an app, or an HDPVR. By far, two of the best ways to record your screen.
Make sure you show funny glitches, problems, and progress. People love to see things first hand. People will subscribe and "Ring that bell" if they feel like being a part of something. People are marketing 101 advertise for your audience, not for yourself. Almost everyone in the world wants to feel like they are helping or doing something bigger than themselves. It is more of a selfless act.
Finally, make a post at least once a week on your social media platform of choice. It can be anything, little steps, little glitches, big or small. Don't let any negative comments deter you from your goal. Be the best you can be. Remember, mistakes are your best friend.
Selling
You have to choose a way to distribute your game. There are hundreds of ways to distribute your game. I took the route of my own Shopify store. This was a good move if you want to keep yourself separate from everyone else. But the only problem is brand loyalty. If you can market yourself properly before launch, it shouldn't be hard to get customers. Anyone can use the google play store, but building yourself an identity is tough. Are you up for the challenge?
After you made yourself some sales, now it is time to maintain. Depending on how much you sold, you may be able to hire someone. Hiring someone is really where you start to build a business. Please make sure you take the necessary steps to create a business. There are so many crucial steps for this. Please talk to whoever you have to and make sure you do as much research as possible. Take an hour or so a day for at least a couple of weeks. Take notes and make sure you do not mess this up. Remember before about being sued? Yea, the same rule applies here; don't get fined for not taking the necessary steps.
Final Words
In a perfect world, your game development will go on without a hitch. Unless you know everything, then an ideal world isn't possible. Make sure you understand why you are doing this. After you established your why, it is time to get a plan together. I urge you not to waste time. Most people either have an idea in their head or have played a game and want to improve upon it. Don't spend an abundance of time on making an idea. Please keep it simple; after all, this is your first game. Once you have your concept start finding the tutorials to put it together. Once the game is completed, start testing. After testing the game thoroughly, sell, and market it. No matter what step you are at, it would be best if you were visualizing an end goal. If it is creating a business, then your first step should be how to create a business? Get as many connections in the field as possible. Learn as much as possible. Sometimes it is better to learn from other people's mistakes. Sometimes they paid high fines for errors, and there is no reason why you have to as well. Please keep it simple and take all the necessary steps to make your dreams come true. Ten percent of people will read this article. Five percent will most likely download the user documentation. Two percent will go for their goals. One percent of that two percent will make it to the big time. The rest of the two percent will fall and never get back up.
What will you do?
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