A few short weeks ago I launched my first game, Drone Trainer. Technically reaching the end of my journey to become an indie game developer. Well not quite, but actually releasing your first game, albeit as small one, puts things in full motion. GameDev.tv Helped Get Me Motivated! Things may have gone south if not
Over the past few weeks I’ve been doing some soul searching. I’ve also been dealing with a cold. My original goal of posting each Thursday has now gone out the window. My guess is however that it may have been a good thing. One thing I did not plan to assume with this journey was
Game ideas, where do they come from, how do you get one, and will mine be good enough? These are just some of the questions you’ll ask yourself as you begin your journey. How will you face the impossible task of coming up with your first game idea? Spoiler alert, it’s not that hard.
I’m taking drawing courses from 21 Draw and Udemy to be able to create characters and environments for my games. With such amazing art design in many games my goal is to find my own style as well.
Drag n’ Drop coding isn’t what I planned to learn, however after taking GameMaker Studio2 for a spin I realized there was more to it than I thought. Drag n’ Drop coding, and the GameMaker Language it’s tied to is quite powerful and may give you a head start to making that first game a bit easier.
If you’re interested in the CORE game engine and/or games, the CORE Certification may be for you. The Core Certification is a four part course offered by Manticore Games. Throughout the course you’ll learn the many facets of putting creating your first game and launching it on the platform.
Let’s face it game development is hard. There are going to be plenty of times throughout the process you’ll doubt yourself, especially in the beginning. Take it slow and have fun and with a little determination you’ll make that first game!
Compared to drawing and animation the code you’re learning may be a breeze. You really can’t fake good artwork and it’s the part of my journey that terrifies me. Luckily there are resources to help set you on the right path.
As if the challenge of learning to code isn’t hard enough. Many programmers will at some point need design tools for animation, artwork, and video editing. Adobe’s Creative Cloud offers a nice toolset however there are plenty of free programs available as well.
Beginning my journey to become an indie game developer seemed like the perfect excuse to build a new PC. I wanted to make sure that I had the tools that I needed and be prepared for what may lie ahead.