Panel: So You Want To Make A Video Game

Tags: posts, from tumblr, panels, software, links,

01 Apr 2016

Panel notes from a Swancon panel.

My copanelists were:

Lisa from Stirfire Studios
Anthony from Handwritten Games
Jon from Let’s Make Games (I know he has a company but I can’t remember the name. Sorry Jon!)

My Quick Guide to Getting Started:

Pick a simple idea and an easy game making program. Make something, no matter how small. Bam, you've started ;)
Get to know other developers, connect with people who share your vision, can offer feedback, and help with the skills you lack.
Learn new skills! Improve the ones you have!* KEEP MAKING GAMES FOREVER

Popular (Free) Game Making Software:

TWINE: Simple HTML text based games. Designed to be accessible to non programmers but can be used to make quite complex narratives. Can be ported into Unity. ChoiceScript and Inklewriter are similar.
Ren'Py: Visual Novels. Easy to use if you just want a straight forward story, but has a python undercarriage than can be used to create minigames etc.
RPG Maker: Old school RPGs. The commercial version costs $30-$70 but there are similar free programs.
Unity: Almost anything! 3D games, 2D platformers, etc. Used by big studios (it costs money once you earn enough) Huge asset store. A bit hard to get into without some previous game making experience.
Unreal Engine: Similar to Unity, didn’t quite grasp when it’s better but apparently it is for some people.
Playmaker: Simple 3D scripting, helps designers work with programmers and create playable prototypes.
Construct: Similar to Playmaker but in 2D

Creating Your Own Assets:

Blender 3D models. Free but hard to use.
Maya LT 3D models
3D Max 3D models
Emofury? I think I misheard or something :)
Inkscape: create vector graphics
Spriter: Create sprites
Photoshop: Very flexible and VERY expensive.
Artrage: make renders and photos look like paintings
Manga Studio/Clip Studio Paint: Good for drawing flat art, does animation
GIMP: free alternative to Photoshop

Free Assets:

There's a surprising amount of free or creative commons assets available online. Let's Make Games has a comprehensive list but here's some I find especially useful:

Textures.com for free photo textures, often tileable
Open Game Art has lots of resources, but the music is particularly useful
Free Sound is fantastic for sound effects
Kenney Assets (recced by somoene else I haven’t looked at it yet)

Education and Learning:

Local game development courses are offered by all the local universities (I think?), as well as TAFE. You can also just study computerscience/art/etc as appropriate.
Coursera free online courses. For example, An Introduction to Interactive Programming in Python is fun but pretty basic and helpful with Ren'py.
Digital Tutors/Pluralsight
Art of Game Design by Jessie Schell
Slay the Dragon
Compare Chris Crawford’s game design vs David Scottuffe?

Meeting other developers:

Games are a conversation between the creator and the player, other creators, the other members of the creative team, etc.

Perth:

Let's Make Games has lots of useful information and is very encouraging of local games makers. Follow them on twitter!
Level One Coworking Space: Free work environment full of friendly game devs every Thursday in Northbridge* Game Jams Intense 2 day get togethers, work in a team to make a new game!

Australian Games Conventions:

GaymerX Sydney
PAX Australia Melbourne
GCAP Game Connect: Asia Pacific Melbourne (site gives an error?)

Online:

Game Jams and other similar challenges eg the Visual Novel Jam
Communities for the relevant game genre or software. eg the Lemmasoft forums are very supportive towards other Ren'py developers.
Social media in general. Follow developers you think are cool. Talk about games you like and have made and people will find you!