How do you really begin making games?
First of all you have to ask yourself some questions
like:
1. Why
do I want to make games?
2. How much time and money do
I want to put into this?
3. What kind of Games do I
want to make?
4. How do I get started?
To really find the answers you have to spend hours suffering
through obsolete blogs and information written for the sole purpose of
selling you something rather than helping you. The purpose of this
lesson is to help you save the time and frustration I went through
when I decided to get involved with making computer games.
1. Why do I want to make games?
This is the
first question you should ask yourself because your answer will tell
you which way to turn on the crossroads you are coming to. If you are
making games for you own entertainment and will only use them on your
own computer, you will choose one road to reach your goal. If you
choose to sell your games, the road to choose is in a completely
different direction.
What do I mean?
Well, if you are going to make games to sell, software companies
offering free or commercial software conveniently "forget" to tell you
that; yes, you can make games with their software but that doesn't
mean you can transfer them to another computer; nor does it mean you
can make an executable or install file to make it work outside their
program; and it often definitely does not mean you can sell your game
without paying them again for your work! You already paid them for
your copy of the software, but they still want some of the profit for
your sweat and tears because you made the mistake of choosing their
software! Duh, of course if I want to make a game I would expect it to
run on another computer outside the program that made it, and maybe
even sell it! But, if you are a "beginner" to this field you are
probably thinking with too much common sense and not thinking about
checking for these things. Yes, it's an insane world…as Einstein
put it; "Common sense is not common."
If you are going
to make software for fun or for your own computer only, you have many
software choices and needn't worry about these problems. You better
check these details carefully for any software you are
considering.
2. How much time and money do I want to put into
this?
This one is
important. Do you really want to study programming or do you want a
drag and drop game making program? If you want drag and drop, you will
save time in making the game; but if you are going to sell it, you may
take just as much time as a programmer to find out if you are going to
be paying for every asset like wall tiles, trees or rocks,
character, music file, picture, graphic, every sound, etc. Have a
headache yet? Most programs will supply a minimum amount of these
things, (usually less than you need for more then one good game), but
will charge you money for more assets. Some sites offer "free" assets,
but make sure they are really totally free. Don't skip reading the
license agreements. They may be "free" for home use, but not in
commercial products. Another disadvantage of using a drag and drop is
that your games are going to look like everyone else's games. Face it,
there are more lazy people in the work than hard workers. This also
means it will be more difficult for you to sell your games. There are
"high end" drag and drop games we will not discuss in this lesson
because you will pay hundreds or even thousands of US dollars for
these.
If time is not a
concern, you want to make real games and be in control of your own
game making life; then the best answer is to learn programming. If you
make the game from the ground up, you can control every aspect of it
and make a new game that the world has never seen!!! Maybe even sell
it. Be aware though; most modern games are the result of months or
years of programming and/or teamwork with groups of other programmers.
That does not mean you can't make good games yourself, it has been
done. But, you should prepare yourself to spend some time on it.
3. What kind of Games do I want to make?
If you are just
going to repeat what is already out there for your own amusement, or
because you just like the kind of games you already see in the gaming
world; then you can take the easy road. For beginners the most
affordable path I found would be to make some platform style games on
the free version of Platform Studio. Keep in mind, people have to make
money for a living, so the version you can download for free will make
games only for your own use. You can pay a small fee to unlock the
professional version and make games you can actually sell. With the
professional version your games will work on other computers and can
be played outside the program. They also give you some simple assets
and a character for your own games. You will need to get a program to
create an installer if you want to package the files created. Platform
maker produces an exe that must be in the same folder as the other
files it produces to work. You may also want to get a icon maker to
create a new icon for your game; and maybe a graphics program to
create your own assets and characters. It is beyond the scope of this
article to help you choose these programs, but you should know there
are freeware and open source choices available. We will cover those in
future lessons. You can get a simple example of a platform game we put
together with Platform Studio's assets. We revised their character
into one of our own, but the other assets came with the program.
Download our free platform game, "Planet Alpha" on our download page. A screenshot of Planet Alpha is at the top of this article. We made this game only to
evaluate their software, so you are free to copy and share it with
your friends. It has only been thoroughly tested on Vista.
If you want to
make modern style games, you will need to consider programming or very
expensive drag and drop programs. We will give you more information on
these in future lesson.
4. How do I get started?
Good question!
I'm glad you asked! Remember, it depends on how you answered the
previous questions. You could take a course in college, but that can
also be confusing. You could end up spending a lot of money and time
studying things you don't really need or care about. So, carefully
research degree programs before taking that road.
To get started
as a beginner, you may give the free version of Platform Studio a try.
If you like it, get the full professional version and make some games
to distribute. You can begin with drag and drop programs. After you
gain confidence, you can learn some programming and get more creative
with the program. You can find it at: Firstproductions.com
To see if you
really want to be a programmer, you must get a taste of it. Most books
can be really confusing for a beginner. It's also a nightmare to try
to choose a programming language to begin with. Everyone will point in
a different direction. It's kind of like asking for directions in
California. We will discuss programming languages in later lessons.
For now, you can try an open source language, (that means you can get
it for free), called "Python." There are also many free resources to
begin learning it. You can download my free book on Python
Programming for beginners on our download
page. Once you have finished it, there are many great sites and
resources online to teach you more. You can begin the next level of
your life as a programmer by visiting the resource links in the index
of "Start Here: Python Programming Made Simple for the Beginner."
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