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NEXT STEP TO BECOME A GREAT GAME DEVELOPER?
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1
KhaliCanvas Studios
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CloseHello RMN.
Its been a while, although I am not active on the site I am always working really hard on games.
I pretty much have 4 months of idle time. So I wanted your personal opinions on what skills should I practice next. Edit: Aiming to be a professional developer someday.
Thus far;
RPG Maker: Know all the basics. Experimented with a LOT of the eventing. Even made a few games.
Programming: Currently learning C programming from a book. No prior knowledge of programming. More then half of it is done. On chapter 'A Close Look at Functions'.
Game Maker: Did a few of the tutuorials on the official site.
Spriting: (Original)
. Learned from 'Uncle Despain's spriting tutorial'. Still can't do human or over worlds.
Education: My Computer Science classes starts on Jan'15. Had physics, general maths, furhter maths and ICT during higher studies.
Game Development: Haven't worked on a full game in a long while. But I sometimes design games on pen and paper, on rare occasion I prototype ideas. I just don't think I am skilled enough yet to make something truly GREAT, and so I don't work on full games. I have no idea when I will be satisfied with my skills, maybe once I know enough programming to make RPG Maker my b*tch, she gonna do everything I say ;). I like working alone right now as I have found that it forces me to learn a lot more in a lot less time.
Game Player: Played lots awesome games eg Bioshock, Bastion, Mark of the Ninja . Tryied a whole lot more, just enough to learn the mechanics and stuff. I have gotten into the habit of watching reviews before playing, and watching interview of the creators after playing if I really loved it.
So, what should I consider next? I could for example learn to make some music with software, more spriting, Game Maker, another language or just make a bloody game already.
Any and all opinions are welcome and thank you for reading this huge wall of text.
Edit: Read a book on game design too. Level Up Guide.
Edit: My post may be misleading, I have completed 3 games.
Its been a while, although I am not active on the site I am always working really hard on games.
I pretty much have 4 months of idle time. So I wanted your personal opinions on what skills should I practice next. Edit: Aiming to be a professional developer someday.
Thus far;
RPG Maker: Know all the basics. Experimented with a LOT of the eventing. Even made a few games.
Programming: Currently learning C programming from a book. No prior knowledge of programming. More then half of it is done. On chapter 'A Close Look at Functions'.
Game Maker: Did a few of the tutuorials on the official site.
Spriting: (Original)
Education: My Computer Science classes starts on Jan'15. Had physics, general maths, furhter maths and ICT during higher studies.
Game Development: Haven't worked on a full game in a long while. But I sometimes design games on pen and paper, on rare occasion I prototype ideas. I just don't think I am skilled enough yet to make something truly GREAT, and so I don't work on full games. I have no idea when I will be satisfied with my skills, maybe once I know enough programming to make RPG Maker my b*tch, she gonna do everything I say ;). I like working alone right now as I have found that it forces me to learn a lot more in a lot less time.
Game Player: Played lots awesome games eg Bioshock, Bastion, Mark of the Ninja . Tryied a whole lot more, just enough to learn the mechanics and stuff. I have gotten into the habit of watching reviews before playing, and watching interview of the creators after playing if I really loved it.
So, what should I consider next? I could for example learn to make some music with software, more spriting, Game Maker, another language or just make a bloody game already.
Any and all opinions are welcome and thank you for reading this huge wall of text.
Edit: Read a book on game design too. Level Up Guide.
Edit: My post may be misleading, I have completed 3 games.
SnowOwl
5188
I suggest you develop your skill in actually finishing a game. You are only as good as your games, and currently you're not too impressive since you got no games.
author=SnowOwlAcutally I have got 3 in the bag. First one was horrible, the file got corrupt and now its lost for ever(yea!). Third one wasn't really fun. And some like the second one more then I do.
I suggest you develop your skill in actually finishing a game. You are only as good as your games, and currently you're not too impressive since you got no games.
Well, improving anywhere means detecting your weak points first - and then tackling them.
In terms of art for example, you may be better at drawing environments than people.
Are you comfortable in the engine? In terms of mapping, eventing, coding, and so on.
Are you confident in your characters? Your dialogue? Your plots? Are you bringing it together well?
Making full games is a fairly easy approach to get better, as you not only need basic skills and knowledge of your engine, but also gain simple practice to know when to use what. And get something down. It's a bad idea to aim for greatness, when it prohibts you from starting at all.
In terms of art for example, you may be better at drawing environments than people.
Are you comfortable in the engine? In terms of mapping, eventing, coding, and so on.
Are you confident in your characters? Your dialogue? Your plots? Are you bringing it together well?
Making full games is a fairly easy approach to get better, as you not only need basic skills and knowledge of your engine, but also gain simple practice to know when to use what. And get something down. It's a bad idea to aim for greatness, when it prohibts you from starting at all.
SnowOwl
5188
Well, judging by your initial post, you seem like the type of person that puts too many balls in too many pockets. Focus on what you are good at, like kylaila said, and make a game that takes your strengths into account, with a engine you are comfortable with. You can make the next genre-creator when you feel comfortable with your game-making (which obviously you don't since you made this topic).
Alot of people seem to think you need to know 10 different engines and 3+ programming languages. Those are the people that never get anything done.
Alot of people seem to think you need to know 10 different engines and 3+ programming languages. Those are the people that never get anything done.
author=SnowOwl
Alot of people seem to think you need to know 10 different engines and 3+ programming languages. Those are the people that never get anything done.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh burn
author=SnowOwlDon't you tho when you want to be a professional game developer, especially working on triple AAA titles. You will never know what you may have to work with, and knowing different engines will help in making your own engines for your own game someday as there will be a lot of small decisions that need to be made. And even as a hobbyist it should make one more versatile, as each user friendly engine is really specific in the type of game they were made for. I can for example can dream up an RPG tomorrow, but wont have the guts to dream up a fighter because PRG Maker in its default state is not built for that.
Alot of people seem to think you need to know 10 different engines and 3+ programming languages. Those are the people that never get anything done.
Atleast thats what I think. Its not about making games for the sake of it tho, I want to make a career out of it when the time comes, if that changes anything.
author=SaitenHazard
I have no idea when I will be satisfied with my skills,
You will, hopefully, never be satisfied with your skills. Contentment shouldn't be your measure of when to attempt a project.
Being versatile is good and all, but most people will not be able to make good games in all genres. Or rather, they'll have a much harder time on some rather than other genres.
Dent out your weaknesses and build on your strengths. Get good at something, at one genre, one engine and then try different approaches. If it turns out to not be your cup of tea, you can do that earlier, of course.
And you will never be satisfied with your skills, really. If you ever did, you'd put yourself on a halt. So don't go waiting around to be top-notch until you tackle certain projects. Being forced to do something often gives unexpectedly good results.
Because we will never feel fully prepared - we never are.
Going a professional route requires more knowledge, I'd second that. It at least helps to get jobs. But it'd be wiser to focus on a versatile engine, then, not 10+ different ones.
At the end of the day, the goal is to make a great product - on whatever engine that may be. If you can't do that, the ability to use 20 engines comes to naught.
Dent out your weaknesses and build on your strengths. Get good at something, at one genre, one engine and then try different approaches. If it turns out to not be your cup of tea, you can do that earlier, of course.
And you will never be satisfied with your skills, really. If you ever did, you'd put yourself on a halt. So don't go waiting around to be top-notch until you tackle certain projects. Being forced to do something often gives unexpectedly good results.
Because we will never feel fully prepared - we never are.
Going a professional route requires more knowledge, I'd second that. It at least helps to get jobs. But it'd be wiser to focus on a versatile engine, then, not 10+ different ones.
At the end of the day, the goal is to make a great product - on whatever engine that may be. If you can't do that, the ability to use 20 engines comes to naught.
author=KylailaThat many engines is ridiculous. But I would like to be good at using engines that are different from each other and hence helps me be more versatile. May be 3 different 2d engines, RPG Maker, Game Maker and another one that is good at something these two are not good at. And I think Unity will cut it as the only 3d engine for now, haven't used it but heard a lot of praise.
At the end of the day, the goal is to make a great product - on whatever engine that may be. If you can't do that, the ability to use 20 engines comes to naught.
That sound smart?
SnowOwl
5188
According to yourself you're not even that good at any of them. If you're aiming to go professional you probably won't use any of those engines either way, unless by professional you mean kickstarter funded stuff (lol). Focus on one and learn the ins and outs and pick a genre that you like and know. Not sure why you are so focused on being versatile when you don't seem to know anything well yet.
Being versatile is good and all but the risk of trying to learn everything is that you won't know anything good enough to make something good.
Being versatile is good and all but the risk of trying to learn everything is that you won't know anything good enough to make something good.
author=SnowOwlA bit confused. What I want is the holy grail of all development jobs, game designer. And professional and psudo professional people like Scott Rogers and Extra Credits says I need to know the ins and outs of most things.
According to yourself you're not even that good at any of them. If you're aiming to go professional you probably won't use any of those engines either way, unless by professional you mean kickstarter funded stuff (lol). Focus on one and learn the ins and outs and pick a genre that you like and know. Not sure why you are so focused on being versatile when you don't seem to know anything well yet.
Being versatile is good and all but the risk of trying to learn everything is that you won't know anything good enough to make something good.
If you are saying I need to master one skill before jumping to the next that does make sense. But the question would then be: what should I try to master next?
Sorry to break it to you, but you're doing the exact opposite of what this video is telling you.
Designing games requires a broad range of knowledge and analysis - coding is one of those, yes, but it never said anywhere you'll need to have mastered all kinds of engines to do the job. You're dismissing the analysis and design part completely while you concentrate on the math and coding. Don't get me wrong - you working on that is awesome, but you are already doing it and you're already planning on taking classes. That is why it should now not be the focus of your game design.
Designing a game is, essentially, putting it together (whereever the core themes and idea may come from). That means understanding what is driving the kind of game you're making, and choosing from the broad range of available aesthetics, music, plot, characters and level design whatever helps the core of your game.
A truly great game has not the best components available, but has the components that blend together best.
Working on one area at a time will only improve one area of the game, and a game not putting things together well will suck. However awesome the parts may be. There are games so beautifully drawn and stunning, you'd think it must be awesome - then you play it and it sucks.
As you don't have all the idea-givers, you gotta use your own for test purposes, of course. Working on games as a whole means you need to consider many things at once - many things coming together. You will need to practice the parts themselves, yes, but putting them together even more so.
Now the easiest way to help you improve would be taking an idea of yours and build a game around the vision and genre you're trying to create.
It'd help to take a genre you enjoy playing/making, so you have an idea of what makes them work and what not (and to have a backlog of similiar games you know).
Which comes down to what SnowOwl and others said - pick a genre you take interest in, take an idea and try to build it to the best of your capabilities. Ask for detailed feedback, understand why some things work and some didn't, analyse them, and think of ways to improve.
Designing games means understanding them.
Math and coding come along the way easier, as they require work and practice. Design choices do, too, of course, but you can't practice them "dry" and feedback will make it easier as well.
Designing games requires a broad range of knowledge and analysis - coding is one of those, yes, but it never said anywhere you'll need to have mastered all kinds of engines to do the job. You're dismissing the analysis and design part completely while you concentrate on the math and coding. Don't get me wrong - you working on that is awesome, but you are already doing it and you're already planning on taking classes. That is why it should now not be the focus of your game design.
Designing a game is, essentially, putting it together (whereever the core themes and idea may come from). That means understanding what is driving the kind of game you're making, and choosing from the broad range of available aesthetics, music, plot, characters and level design whatever helps the core of your game.
A truly great game has not the best components available, but has the components that blend together best.
Working on one area at a time will only improve one area of the game, and a game not putting things together well will suck. However awesome the parts may be. There are games so beautifully drawn and stunning, you'd think it must be awesome - then you play it and it sucks.
As you don't have all the idea-givers, you gotta use your own for test purposes, of course. Working on games as a whole means you need to consider many things at once - many things coming together. You will need to practice the parts themselves, yes, but putting them together even more so.
Now the easiest way to help you improve would be taking an idea of yours and build a game around the vision and genre you're trying to create.
It'd help to take a genre you enjoy playing/making, so you have an idea of what makes them work and what not (and to have a backlog of similiar games you know).
Which comes down to what SnowOwl and others said - pick a genre you take interest in, take an idea and try to build it to the best of your capabilities. Ask for detailed feedback, understand why some things work and some didn't, analyse them, and think of ways to improve.
Designing games means understanding them.
Math and coding come along the way easier, as they require work and practice. Design choices do, too, of course, but you can't practice them "dry" and feedback will make it easier as well.
author=KylailaFinally got it. No matter what I am doing I should always be making a game atleast on the side line. All the skills in the world are useless if I can't make them work together to make an awesome experience. Alright, thank you everyone. I will find something do-able to work on, and as I improve in the individual areas so will my ambition with each new game.
Sorry to break it to you, but you're doing the exact opposite of what this video is telling you.
Designing games requires a broad range of knowledge and analysis - coding is one of those, yes, but it never said anywhere you'll need to have mastered all kinds of engines to do the job. You're dismissing the analysis and design part completely while you concentrate on the math and coding. Don't get me wrong - you working on that is awesome, but you are already doing it and you're already planning on taking classes. That is why it should now not be the focus of your game design.
Designing a game is, essentially, putting it together (whereever the core themes and idea may come from). That means understanding what is driving the kind of game you're making, and choosing from the broad range of available aesthetics, music, plot, characters and level design whatever helps the core of your game.
A truly great game has not the best components available, but has the components that blend together best.
Working on one area at a time will only improve one area of the game, and a game not putting things together well will suck. However awesome the parts may be. There are games so beautifully drawn and stunning, you'd think it must be awesome - then you play it and it sucks.
As you don't have all the idea-givers, you gotta use your own for test purposes, of course. Working on games as a whole means you need to consider many things at once - many things coming together. You will need to practice the parts themselves, yes, but putting them together even more so.
Now the easiest way to help you improve would be taking an idea of yours and build a game around the vision and genre you're trying to create.
It'd help to take a genre you enjoy playing/making, so you have an idea of what makes them work and what not (and to have a backlog of similiar games you know).
Which comes down to what SnowOwl and others said - pick a genre you take interest in, take an idea and try to build it to the best of your capabilities. Ask for detailed feedback, understand why some things work and some didn't, analyse them, and think of ways to improve.
Designing games means understanding them.
Math and coding come along the way easier, as they require work and practice. Design choices do, too, of course, but you can't practice them "dry" and feedback will make it easier as well.
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