Ask me anything about game development

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earok
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Ask me anything about game development

Post by earok »

Hi all,

Next month I'm going to be on a panel of game developers at a comic convention. To prepare, I am asking anyone to ask me anything about game development. More details on my blog, and please feel free to share this with anyone that might have a question.

Thanks!
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eMTe
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Re: Ask me anything about game development

Post by eMTe »

I think, as an "inexperienced" developer, you can create a bridge between those staying long in business and making profit from games and those totally unaware of "indie industry" (there might be such people in the audience). Just be yourself, that's the only serious advice I can give.
"As you have noticed over the years, we are not angry people." (itebygur)
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Chroelle
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Re: Ask me anything about game development

Post by Chroelle »

Ok, so what is the hardest part about making games?

What is the hardest thing to learn, or the hardest thing to find qualified help for?

What kind of tools will I need to start making games?

What will it cost me, and what kind of educational training/learning curve might I be looking at?
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earok
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Re: Ask me anything about game development

Post by earok »

Thanks Chroelle, great questions! Hope these answers are ok.

>Ok, so what is the hardest part about making games?

For me, the most difficult part of game development is actually staying motivated long enough to get the game finished, especially when there are no hard deadlines involved. Talking about the game constantly and getting feedback seems to be the best way to stay on track. Making regular blog posts helps. Having a game that's fun from as early as possible is also very important. (Note, this question had been asked on my blog, so I copied and pasted)


>What is the hardest thing to learn, or the hardest thing to find qualified help for?

That really comes down to what you're most experienced at, and what you're most interested in learning. For me, I'm pretty good at programming because I have spent a long time doing it, but I am far less capable at producing Art and Music. Conversely I know people that excel at Art and Music, but have no programming experience. I think the key is to know and develop your strengths, and find collaborators to complement your weaknesses. If you can't afford to pay them and they'd prefer to work on their own projects than yours, try to strike up a deal where you swap time working on each other's projects.


>What kind of tools will I need to start making games?

Assuming you are interested in the programming part of game development, there are a lot of tools you can use to get started, many of them free. GameMaker is an excellent place to start for 2D development, and Unity is a great 3D engine that supports a lot of platforms, including iPhone. If you want to develop for consoles, the free XNA framework will let you develop XBox 360 games.


>What will it cost me, and what kind of educational training/learning curve might I be looking at?

It's entirely possible to be an indie game developer and have no expenses. Apart from some music and a couple of tools I've purchased, I spend very little developing games. Unfortunately game development is not easy to learn. Although there are a lot of free tutorials for different toolkits, practice is what counts, and to get good at game development you need to spend as just as much effort getting good at it as you would anything else.

Also, if you want a game programming job in the industry, you need to be really skilled at C++. Doing a full time course on programming or game development is probably the best way to get the skills required.
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