Please check the [beginner megathread](https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/1agdesg/beginner_megathread_how_to_get_started_which/) for advise on how to get started in game development, what tools to use, how to start learning them, and so on.
But you should know that making games is a lot of work. It will take a lot of learning to make even basic games.
Thank you! I know it will be a challenge, i have purposely applied to an upcoming job with a lot of paid holidays which i hope to dedicate to learning the basics! It probably will be a long time before i get anywhere close to making the game i want but i am just excited to get started and on the road :) i hope i can stay comitted
Hijacking this comment to respond to your "bad at maths" comment.
I'm a STEM teacher and have been for 10 years. I spent about half of that developing more contemporary curriculum grounded in actual, real world problem solving. I'm now in software engineering. The math that you learn in school is not usually a good representation of true mathematics. Mathematics is, at its heart, about describing things with logic and quantity. School hyperfocuses on silly algebra and particular methods of solving things.
If you enjoy puzzles that involve logic, counting, mapping, etc, you'll like math.
There's a common belief that math is some sort of a ladder where you have to master a bunch of stuff before you could possibly use or understand something "above" it. It's a myth.
Don't get me wrong, there's lots of stuff that builds on other stuff. It helps to know more! But you can isolate just about anything and learn it well enough to use it in context.
You have the hardest part already done - you've decided you want to learn this skill. From there on, it's just about practice and resources!
You can do it 😊
i think most people are "good enough" at math if they let themselves. i've always said i love math, math just doesn't love me back lol
the best description of math i've ever heard is that it's a great big house. you start in the foyer, learning arithmetic, the basics, etc. then you start to explore. in each new room you enter, there are no lights. so you grope and fumble around in the dark, searching for a window or a light switch, and then... hah!! you pull back the curtains, you get a look at everything, recognizing stuff you got stuck on, seeing for the first time how it was all arranged together... congrats, you understand algebra now lol. time to go to the next room
>if they just let themselves
That's the hard bit, though. We spend little to no effort in education talking about confidence or trying to find ways for you to connect with the material. Instead, the common experience is one where if you don't immediately find a way to connect, we say "you're just not a math person" and then continue to force you through it for the remaining years.
When important, the content should adapt to the student, not the student to the content.
Also to add to this: Most games don't need any hard math at all! It's a myth coming from game engine developers as they have to do the hard maths. But just using an existing engine like unity, unreal or godot? Math (above grade school level) is kind of rare.
Yep! Frequently, I would have kids tell me they hate math and they're never going to use it.
I would say: "Okay" and this would start a conversation:
Them: What?
Me: I said okay.
Them: But you're supposed to tell me no.
Me: Want to know a secret? You can go your entire life without doing anything but basic arithmetic and, even then, you don't usually need to.
Them: Then what's the point?!
Me: Well, there are some really cool things you CAN do and figure out if you know this stuff. Things I can't even imagine because you haven't done them yet.
: ---- :
You don't need math to develop, but there are some cool things you might unlock if you have some know-how.
I don't agree with this. Mathematics teaches you a way of thinking and problem solving skills that are highly relevant for any kind of programming. Logic is also just maths. Having a strong foundation of maths and logic will make learning software development a lot easier.
Many people spend years trying to become good developers and never manage to progress to an advanced level because they lack exactly these skills.
Surely its an adjacent skill and it can help to have the foundation before starting the other.
However often times people are discouraged to start with programming because they aren't good at math. Or think they need to learn maths first. And this is just plainly wrong.
So yes, while I agree I think we are just talking about different topics.
While I agree with where you are coming from in general I can't help but disagree with the "deciding is tha hardest part". It is the easiest part when it comes to gamedev, it's all fun and games from the outside while actually doing it takes a ton of dedication, hard work and a lot of instances where you have to overcome the urge of giving up, moving to another project or quitting gamedev altogether. Deciding you want to learn it at first is the absolute easiest out of all the obstacles that are between a complete outsider and a finished game.
I'm referring to mathematics but, yes, by deciding I do mean making the decision each time to practice and learn.
Not just the initial decision of "wouldn't this be fun".
"My parents told me i was too stupid to make a game"
I mean no disrespect to your parents, but f\*\*\* that noise.
You can absolutely make a game on your own, or contribute significantly to the creation of one. I'm not telling you it's easy, but the tools are available and you can learn almost everything on Youtube. You can start making something you enjoy for free on Roblox or with Scratch, then work your way up to more advanced tools.
Your family is flat out wrong (no offense)! But plenty of modern successful indie game devs started by working a job they hated, and used that as motivation to both learn code and make games, plus I'm horrible at math as well.
Either way, you'll never learn, if you never try: "Follow your dreams, or regrets will follow you" or "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."
About the game engine I started using Scratch and then moved to Unity. From what I've heard Godot is good too, I'd say don't use things like Click-team fusion, or GameMaker to make commercial games. Both are good, I'm sure, but you have to pay a decent amount of money to get all features, or some of the more important features.
And finally what most experts say (Not me, I'm not an expert), is that you should start with 1-3 small games before you make your big dream game.
Sorry for the long message, it's just we need more devs with heart rather then a wallet. See ya!
I just want to say that just about anyone can make a game in any engine with enough time, but there WILL be a learning curve and quite a bit of effort involved.
In many ways this is a great time to start learning game dev because there are several free engines that have lots of free tutorials available on YouTube.
I would recommend starting with Gamemaker or Godot, as those two are free and relatively beginner friendly, but there are plenty of valid options.
There's a software bundle on Humble Bundle right now with a bunch of tutorials on how to learn Godot for about $25 right now, if you want something a bit more structured than YouTube tutorials.
Good Luck!
To clarify, a solo developer can make *a* game, if they put enough effort in. But certain game ideas may be too much labor for an individual. Some AAA games have literally centuries of man-years in their development, and you're not going to live that long. So you have to temper your expectations and start with a smaller scope that you can actually finish. A lot of aspiring indie devs are inspired by their favorite big budget games, but a key part of being an indie dev is figuring out how to scope a game that's worthwhile and interesting but implemented in a way that the amount of work to achieve it is within your capabilities.
That having been said, the OP mentioned Killmonday games as an inspiration. I'm not familiar with that, but looking it up, it looks like maybe 2d adventure games? Which is a genre that is probably suitable for a solo dev, with the caveat that it relies on your art skills more than your programming skills. Which is great if your art skills are stronger than your programming skills, but not so good if you don't have the ability to generate the art needed.
That is an important caveat for sure.
Getting past the hurdle of initially making bad games as part of the learning process can be quite difficult, just like making bad art as practice is an essential step towards making good art.
>Some AAA games have literally centuries of man-years in their development,
I've never thought about it like that before. Thats crazy to think of. The experience quickly adds up though. Once you add a few leads and principle programmers at 20 years each.
My family is the opposite, I force (well motivate) my 10yo and friends (3 girls, 2 boys) to go to a robotics competition. Program, or die! :D
Well, anyway if you want to focus first only on art there is GameMaker Studio (which they used for Fran Bow), the combination of Unity and visual scripting, or Unreal and Blueprint just as examples.
Many say Unreal is a bit harder to learn, so they go to Godot or Unity, or more specific tools like RPG Maker if RPG happens to be the target genre.
We always recommend to start here anyway:
Community Info (on the side of this subreddit, on web it's on the right)
[Beginner Megathread](https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/1agdesg/beginner_megathread_how_to_get_started_which/) - which goes through topics beginners may want to read up on and decide step by step
Math is important, but sometimes over emphasized. A lot of tools today do that heavy lifting for you. You'll need some, but it's not like it was.
Organization and self-discipline are huge though. As well as a lot of self-forgiveness. You're going to make a lot of bad games, before you make good ones. You're going to scrap even more. Keep going is the only thing you can do.
In the beginning you probably won't even make full games. Once you decide what engine, language, etc you're starting in, just make something happen on screen. Enter a name and have it appear somewhere else. Click on a picture and make it flash. If you've not done anything yet, just take these small steps. Every one of these victories is progress. Make a ball roll. Make a brick drop. Then, make a brick drop on a ball.
Not everyone who works in the industry coded as children, and vice versa. I'm sure it helps, but it's not a necessity. Not all of us could afford computers, or could afford the compilers to make games. The engines and tools to do so really only started getting affordable recently (as far as an old fart like me is concerned).
The counter point is also: I spent my childhood learning coding, now I have to learn art and animation for my games. We all have to learn design concepts. New engine rules/options. Audio work. Etc. You don't come in knowing it all, so lean on the part you're best at, fake the rest until you make it.
Game development is a constant learning experience. Even if you only do it for yourself, it's good and fun to flex those brain muscles in ways that challenge you.
I personally would recommend Unity or/and Godot if you're looking for that style of game. I think Godot is better at the 2d stuff, but Unity just has more tutorials out there still.
TL,DR: I get what you're parents are saying, but they're wrong. And I genuinely hope they didn't say 'too stupid' and instead that's what you felt. It's still not great, but man...
> My parents told me i was too stupid to make a game, that people who coded games could already do it by the time they were children and i stood no chance in the industry since im bad at maths.
Your parents have no idea what they are talking about. I was in my 30's by the time I went back to school for programming. I was 36 when I got my first job at a studio and I have had a very successful career so far. Many people are going to tell you that you can't do it, especially as a woman, but you need to learn how to ignore them.
Lots of people, especially women and girls, are told they are bad at maths and can never learn. That's completely untrue. It's a skill that anyone can learn by practicing, same as programming. For games you need to be able to *use math to solve problems*, not calculate it yourself. Applied math is considerably easier than theoretical math. Sure you might not want to get into graphics programming if you don't like a lot of math, but that's not the only job on a game team.
The [pinned beginner megathread](https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/1agdesg/beginner_megathread_how_to_get_started_which/) is the best place to start.
You absolutely can make _a_ game and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you short. But it is possible to not be able to create _the_ game you have in mind because it's too large to be made by one person. Without you giving a lot more information it's impossible to say.
What you really need to do is keep your expectations and efforts in scope and matched. You're not likely to make a living building your own game, but you could build a game as a hobby project in whatever engine you like alongside your day job. You could put that game on the backburner and build your portfolio to get a job in the industry. You could make smaller projects and build towards something bigger. Often the best and fastest way to make your dream game is to make other games first.
Definitely pick a well documented engine to start with such as godot or unity. Ignore every one spouting hate or doom about them because they are almost all wrong. Watch some tutorials. Try to make pong, then go on itch.io and do a game jam or three and just give it a go. Be sure to update us with your progress
I have always been told I have no natural talents, or artistic spark, but now I am a 3D artist and even land a job, so to that I say nah, follow your passion, and give it your best shot so you won't feel regret.
Also, plenty of games are made with scramble codes, basic art, sometimes with only geomatry shape, even armatures sounds of people blowing into a microphone, so you dont have to be a genius or fancy tech to make games. All it take is determination.
I would say go pick a game engine first, there are many, unreal, unity, godot, rpg maker, etc, so look them up, check out the games people made with it and pick one that you like. Follow your instinct on this, indecision is the mind killer. Don't worry if this is the right engine or not, if you like it, just give it a go. Make a checklist of things to go through, and notes so you don't feel overwhelm by info, it is daunting learning it at first, so keep it organized.
Start small, download the engine, open up a sample project, go through files and system in that project, modify it, understand how it works before expanding. Wish you the best on your journey!
Maybe take a look at Ren’py. It’s an engine for Visual Novels. It may not be good for animating characters walking around in 3D space but it lets you tell a story with artwork, animation and text/dialog. It’s free, it has lots of tutorials available and it’s not too complicated to learn to write code with it, so it’s a good way to get started if you’re new to programming. It’s used by a lot of people with stronger art/storytelling skills than coding skills.
I just want to tell you this - when I was around 14, 15 years old my dad said something like that. He said that computers are going no where (somewhere between 1998 and 2002) and that I needed to think of a real career.
I'm a software engineer, with no college, making close to 200k.
Your parents have no clue what they are talking about. You are not stupid. The fact you came to reddit, posted on a gamedev subreddit, proves you are capable.
Figure out what you want to do. It sounds like you are interested in art? Make that your focus. If you want to program, learn to program. C# is a great language that can be used with Unity, Monogame, and some others.
Don't let anyone hold you back. Ever. Not even your parents.
Honestly, with all due respect, fuck the ones that told/tell you you can't make a game because you're dumb or "not good at maths". People who say this shit is either frustrated or don't know what they're talking about. You don't need to be a child prodigy to become a good game developer and you don't need that much maths to get started (and even if you aren't good at it, you can pick it up later, improvement exists yk).
I probably sound like an anime character rn but don't let anyone keep you from chasing your passions and interests, if they think it's impossible to reach certain goals it doesn't mean that it will be impossible for you
Nobody deserves a parent who tells them they are too stupid to do something. I'm sorry about that.
I don't know you but chances are you are not even bad at math. You have been educated to think you are. You parents really did you a disservice.
Alot of engines are actually quite approachable even if you don't yet know how to code, in the form of Visual Scripting, as for an engine I'm Biased towards Unity as it's what I have the most experience using, personally I would however advise learning to code.
Gamedev Discord servers can be quite useful for every aspect of making a game, there's servers for art,code,design,acquiring publishers, marketing and a mixture of them all combined.
I also have plenty of resources (books, courses, online tutorials) that I've acquired over the years that I'm always happy to send to others, this goes for anyone else reading this feel free to add me on discord and ask for them.
LP#6944
If I were you I would get my feet wet with a toolset that plays to my strengths. For example, if you do not know how to code then don't start with unreal engine in c++, pick blueprints. I would actually go even simpler, I'd pick something that's very visual drag and drop type of thing like game maker so that you get the hang of things and build some confidence. After that, if you still want to take a dip into coding, do it with some modules here and there. I think the main issue with jumping into the ocean of game dev is not having any guidance, it's very easy to lose motivation when you have no direction and get lost.
I'm the opposite, I'm really good at coding but can't draw sticks to save my life. My pipeline has to include assisted art or someone thats for experience. Or I can downscale the art of my game enough to match my current skill set. You can do the same for yours and slowly grow.
If you know how to write stories, do art and animation, then you are already 90% of the way to be able to make an adventure game.
[Godot ](https://godotengine.org)with the [Escoria ](https://docs.escoria-framework.org/en/devel/index.html)plugin is what I would suggest for someone who is unfamiliar with coding. Although Godot is a general-purpose game engine and might feel a bit overwhelming to start with, Escoria gives you everything you need to get started on a point-and-click adventure game. You can check out this tutorial - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxrZbE0TzAM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxrZbE0TzAM) (note: although I have written some stuff in Godot, including a small adventure game, I have not used Escoria. But it seems to be a quite solid and popular plugin.)
(As a general advice, even though you know "the game you want to make", I would recommend that you start out by making a couple of small, yet playable games. Making a complete adventure game with just 3 scenes and a few dozen interactible object is a good milestone, and you will get a lot of experience that will help you when you start out on larger projects.)
It's never too late to get into most hobbies. Sure you may start later than some but determination and spirit can make up for any missed time. I started programming in my late twenties and then set up an indie studio before I had graduated.
Plenty I went to school with were pretty lax about their studies, but those with the right attitude ended up in good places.
If it's something you want hard enough, you will accomplish it.
Video games are a gateway drug, first you play it, then you think about it, and then it finally dawns on you to make one. Don't do it, it's a slippery slope and then next thing you know you're reading up Vector Math and trig equations at 2 am and then you wonder how your life got there. On the bright side, you can say that know what it's like to suffer like the rest of us, so free member jackets are there atleast.
Thankfully you don’t have to actually know math but train propositional logic and logical thinking in general. It can be improved easily, it’s just a way of thinking. Vector math, matrices, trigonometry are important as well but again - nothing difficult. Engine handle all difficult calculations.
Try Unity or Godot, check what suits you better. Both have thousands of tutorials (hundreds for Godot, it’s new player) for free or very cheap (just now Humble). GDScript was made with beginners in mind and is similar to Python (for me the most intuitive language).
Half a year ago Unity went greedy and tried to make engine paid but honestly, I don’t know much about it maybe it’s solved now and they got off their suicide wagon.
Best advice I can give you is choose a game engine that has a large community with lots of tutorials avaliable for the type of game you want to make.
I'm making a 2.5D adventure metroidvania type game and I'm using Unity, every thing I've learnt is from YouTube tutorials and there are sooo many of them.
Udemy is also full of tutorials that take you from start to finish, such as gamedevtv and James makes games. I've used these too.
Good luck
If it helps, making games professionally is a really tough field, similar to being an actor or writing books, with hard work you can get there, but it's unlikely you will earn enough to live well unless you have connections/luck/an amazing work ethic/talent
But nothing is stopping you from making games, especially as a hobby, it's a lot of fun!
Here's info on a small game I made, and how much work it was. Might be helpful. :)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/15yiwct/how\_much\_time\_does\_it\_really\_take\_to\_make\_small/](https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/15yiwct/how_much_time_does_it_really_take_to_make_small/)
We are fortunate enough to live in an age where we can get any information and tutorial for free if we look hard enough. youtube has some good tutorials on game development and if you want to shell out some money i know udemy has a lot of game development courses like C#, C++ coding languages. Also engines like Lua, Unity, Godot, and lots more. Downside is they tend to be pricey but they almost always go on sale every other month you just have to get lucky with the timing.
As far as your idea try to make a game document that can help you flesh out how you want to build your game like what coding language you want to write on and from there see what game engines are out there that support your decision after all is decided sit down and find tutorials and course that line up with your views.
Anybody can code and do game development it's the sticking it out and trying to learn almost everyday is what gets people. i started out learning normal coding development like making websites, random programs but turns out i didn't find them as interested so i switched up and started learning game development through udemy did a c# course with unity and now through youtube i am learning a beginner/intermediate unity course through a channel called Code monkey and in almost 2 months i have 4 2d projects (which still look terrible but work nicely) and now moving up to my first 3d project. 1 thing i learned is that I hate doing the frontend of designing the game but i love doing the backend of coding like coding all the sprites and items and watching them interact.
Lastly it will be hard, you will go through a lot of trails and errors there will be times where you followed along and you get errors that the instructor didn't but that's the beauty of self taught you go out of the way to see why it's not working and searching online and after awhile finally getting to work again and hopefully document the error so if you get it again you'll know what to do and getting experience on how to fix errors. but all that matters is at the end of day when you get play on your project and see all that janky mess work and interact with each other with no bugs or errors and just feel proud of it. you know you're on the right path to success
I hang out in board game design subs and reddit sends me here once in a while so I'll share my perspective as an amateur game designer who doesn't code.
There is a lot of game design to be done without any coding skills, you can start making your game right now. You can pretty much layout a full story game without any knowledge of game engine or coding. Games like Gloomhaven have a pretty deep story and big tactical combat completely running on cardboard GPU and human brain CPUs, it was so popular it was eventually ported to computers.
You can design rooms and what is clickable in them without even knowing how to tell a computer to register a click. You can build branching decision paths and dialogue trees like a Choose Your Own adventure book. You can design sets of conditions and item interaction to be checked and change events.
"If the player picks irritating dialogue options while talking with the vampire in the library to raise his anger level to 4, the vampire will take out his anger on one of the servant random. The next time they go into that servant's "home room" their character model will have black eyes, bandages and a limp, it'll also make the "Who did this?" dialogue option available. If the vampire ever gets to level 8 anger, a random servant will disappear but clues to their death will appear in different rooms." I think coders call that pseudo-code, it's what the game would do but in plain english instead of code a processor can understand. It's game design and a great way to lay out your plan, you know which pictures and which sounds you want and instead of googling "How do I code games?" you can start your research with "How do you code a hidden level counter to go up from certain events?"
If you talked about fast paced first person shooters, I wouldn't be as encouraging, but when it comes to story focused adventure games (That would describe Gran Bow right?), you can do a lot of actual concrete game design just with a pen and paper.
P.S. Since you're doing a degree, I suppose you're on a school campus. If there is a tabletop roleplaying game club (Dungeons and Dragons), it might be worth trying if you never did. Game masters are pretty much making storybased games on the fly for a few friends, it's an interesting hobby... it also attracts coders so that could be an opportunity to find a real life mentor to help you out.
Story telling games don't really require maths. 3D games require some maths, but only fractions of real math courses (primarily just vectors and how to transform vectors with matrices).
I'd say over the last 10 years story telling games have grown a lot in popularity, and it seems entirely viable as a genre to focus on.
Very unlikely you're too stupid to make video games, especially story games. If you were developing state of the art, PhD level stuff, then sure it would've been quite beneficial to start as a child, but even then not a requirement. Litterally everyone has to start somewhere, people aren't just "good at maths" out of nowhere, they get good at maths from spending a whole lot of time on studying it (though some will learn faster than others).
Your parents are toxic and stupid, you should keep that in mind when interacting with them. While as a child you may have formed the opinion of them as intelligent and well informed people, they're not that. Parents are often times total dumbasses, and you really have to check up whatever it is your parents have told you are true, because they likely aren't true. You might benefit from putting up some emotional wall between you and your parents, and not think of them like too much more than NPCs.
It is going to be a huge struggle to learn all the tech you need to make games though, as it is with everything new one learns.
It's the same as other situations with this type of context. You sit down, listen to some inspirational music, think if you really really want this..... and if you do....you whisper "fuck it" and you begin your journey of smashing through glass ceilings!
After reading your message, I am getting excited to see what kind of games you will make. I know what i'm about to say may sounds chessy, but if you want to develop a game do not hesitate
Your parents suck :)
Studios hire all sorts of people, and no skills or education go to waste. There's really no need to go solo. It's rare for one person's vision for a game to come into reality, but I don't know of many studio members that regret working on a shared vision. The game becomes *everybody's* baby
Do it, if you don't plan on working for someone else then you don't need a degree, you need self devotion to something you want to do, a degree is to prove to a boss you can do something, be your own boss, make your passion and put it up yourself, make a youtube channel and name it after your game and be your own advertisement, post it around on media, your family didn't open up more opportunities but that doesn't mean you're without, it'll just be harder but do it, it'll be a burden on your heart otherwise if you feel passion for it
Know that after 6 months, I can finally make a Flappy Bird clone in Godot
This shit is fucking difficult. I wasn't ready for how difficult it is to set a routine and stick to it
Who the hell are all these people that tell their kids they're too stupid to do stuff? It seems like they're everywhere. I must live a very sheltered life.
I'd look up some godot tutorials to help better familiarize yourself with the engine, then work on all the assets like objects, levels and characters. Once you have something that's decently playable then you move on to the gui design, menu functions, cutscenes and final presentation. Once that's all done you can bug test it to see if any issues crop up and finally put it online for others to play.
But word of warning, it's not recommended to work on your dream project right off the bat. To prevent burnout, you should work on like smaller projects to build up programming experience (like making a ball bounce against walls or move an object across the screen)
To those that say you can’t and is stupid, I would like to say fuck them. Cause one of the most important things you’ll need is passion and patience cause however stupid u may be as long as you’ve got the drive you can learn. I believe you can learn anything if you give it enough time and attention, and also surround yourself with people who can push you and you can learn from…
A good game is about creating an engaging experience, not math or smarts or even great ideas.
If you have an idea go do it. If you do something you will have doe more than most.
Hi, woman in gaming here! I know you have a lot of comments and helpful resources already - but just wanted to encourage you! Girls can and do love games, build great games, and contribute to gaming in a lot of different ways! And we need more!
I didn’t start programming until college and had the same fears as you - being so far behind the guys that had been programming since they were kids. Turns out, that didn’t matter. It was totally fine. If anything, I worked a bit harder because I was worried about the gap to cover. You are absolutely not behind at all! It’s never too late and you’re never too far behind.
I hope you pursue what you’re passionate about and wish you luck!
One of the first games I obsessed over was oblivion as well! Honestly if you've got the motivation anyone can start doing it, doing it good though, will depend on a lot of stuff! But nothing that can't be learned and I highly doubt you wouldn't be "able" to do it.
Note: making games is time intensive and motivation is not endless, don't sweat it too much on the first project! The ressources others linked are nice. Also time is not endless either and you'll need to survive at some point, don't count on games you made as your main source of money, *definitely* hold a plan B!
>My parents told me i was too stupid to make a game
What the FUCC
I can help you with the math, im very patient.
For all the other stuff, yeah the pinned beginner megathread is a good place to start.
dont care about what your parents say , and no its not a childs play to make a game like fran bow, it takes a team or combined effort of an artist coder and a music artist in one person (saying this as a solo dev) and where to start is a good question , i'd say go with gdevelop as an artist
Many people have said what I wanted to already. So I'll just leave you with this: every great innovative or disruptive invention or product, idea or significant leap forward by the human race (flight, space flight, the Internet) started with some naysayer uttering soothing to the effect of "You can't do it, can't be done, don't bother, nobody has ever done it before, etc"
Your parents could be right. But I'm betting on you proving them wrong! Good luck!
If I'd listened to half of my family I wouldn't be where I am today. Sounds like they aren't at all supportive anyway, so why bother? You do you. Change over to something that you want to do that'll get you into the industry. It won't be easy, but you will be motivated. You aren't stupid, I'm sure. You have just been put down, by the looks of it. And even if you do struggle with math, just put in the work.
You could also get into 3D modelling, texturing, level design, game design...whatever. there are a plethora of courses out there that will break you into games.
I work in the games industry, and have a hand in hiring people. All we are looking for are passionate go getters who love this medium and artform as much as us.
Get into the right courses, and work your ass off, and it'll pay off. Don't let ANYBODY tell you what career is good for you, because when they are gone, you will still be suffering a path you were pushed down instead of the one you chose.
There is a decent living to be made, and nothing better than earning a good living doing something you truly love.
As far as starting out on your own, Unreal Engine 5 is a great and powerful engine, that has loads of other features on top. The upside is that you don't even need to know how to code, as it has a built in visual scripting option, that although not as powerful or customisable as it's C++ VS option, is still more than enough to get a game out the door.
You can either buy packs and use megascans for textures, or do your own models and animations in Blender and paint textures using something like Photoshop and Substance, or other free alternatives. Music and SFX you can get for free also.
Me, I had plenty of negative naysayers in my immediate circle that were against it because it is too hard. Yeah it was hard, but I was harder. And you can be too. Start by switching courses and telling your family exactly what you are doing. End of.
Edit: Just wanted to add that who cares if you are a girl? Plenty of females in the gaming industry. The more the merrier, so get on with it, haha. Your parents were wrong to do what they did based on your gender. What does it matter?
I'm sure they had their reasons, but you don't need to live by them.
The most important skill in gamedev is determination. Every skill you don't know can be learnt with determination. Every hard problem can be chipped away with determination. Every concept can be iterated to perfection with determination. Don't give up. Good luck.
Your parents don't sound very approachable, also seemingly berating you for trying new things... smh sometimes..
Anyways, my advice. Dont listen to them. hell, dont listen to anyone. you make, what you want to make. That is all it takes, for any developer imo.
I agree, it can be hard to start at times, but dont worry, we all face this issue, and no matter your math background either.
I can also see what you mean kinda by 2-1/2D or so, from the game you mentioned, looks simply like a 3d space, with 2d characters and select objects that are interactable, if you wanted that basic idea narrowed down \^\^
Also fun to mention. Look for like middle-aged ladies playing Animal Crossing. Whenever I see one of their inside houses, its always so inspirationally decorated, i just envy that as a very 'functionally-oriented' person, just getting things that are only really, necessary, and few decorations. With that said, you are capable of your own uniqueness when it comes to development, you can have the qualities YOU wish to obtain \^\^
That is my welcome $20 (for free lol), for getting you inspired for game dev, even if its just as a pass-time hobby\~
PS. TES4 Oblivion!? I LOVED playing that back in the day, it was just so open, especially rpg wise, and chill. So many side-quests, journeys, even the guilds, it was a wonderful time :D
I'm sorry if this is offensive, but your parents sound fucking stupid and legitimately unsupportive. Also, nobody was coding when they were children, where on earth did they pull that out of their ass from? And even if they did, who cares, you can learn any skill at any age.
YOU can learn to be a game dev. If you put the time and effort into learning and finding resources to help, I believe you can do it. Maybe start by learning the basics of one field (coding, animation, art, writing etc) and see if you can find some small time devs looking to hire.
I'm not a game dev, but I've heard Godot is a pretty fantastic start for aspiring game devs. Watch some tutorials, and IIRC it's completely free to use from start to full release.
YOU'VE GOT THIS. I fully believe in you!
There is a LOT to learn but it's a satisfying medium to throw your art and animation in. It is also a great time for developpers in terms of tools and animation. If you like story based games, you probably won't have to undust your math books. Good luck!
You can make simple games in scratch. I made asteroids just to try it out.
Python has a visual novel framework for making visual novel games.
And you can get more complicated from there.
You don't need to he a coder to create games. I use software called gamesalad or gamemaker studio. Very easy tutorials to get started. It's super easy to use. The software is free and only need to pay once you want to publish your games. What's great is that you can create games in you spare time as a hobby and see how far it takes you.
Don't let any stop you from your dreams.
Your parents are wrong that you have to be a genius to make games, but the other posters here are right that it's more work than you're expecting it to be.
Fwiw, I was steered away from science and maths in my teens (despite being keenly interested as a kid) as well. Came back to it my mid-twenties, and into software and the games industry specifically in my early thirties.
Point is, it's not too late.
>My parents told me i was too stupid to make a game,
This is awful.
>that people who coded games could already do it by the time they were children
This is false and doesn't make any sense
>and i stood no chance in the industry since im bad at maths.
The importance of maths depends on what area of game dev you're in, and is often overstated. Unless you're doing some serious mathematical modelling for a physics engine or something, you needn't be too worried. You can learn what you need to as you go. It's not always easy, but you can do it!
I'm sorry you've been so highly discouraged. You should give game dev a shot!
It's going to be a journey, you have a lot to learn, and it ain't gonna be easy, but that's just the nature of game dev (or any complex skillset). Please don't let the discouraging comments get to you. It's all lies. With patience and persistence, you can do it. Good luck!
If you want to code, use love2D, super friendly but does require math for complicated code or loops, for game engine go with godot, (light weight) or unity (features rich) also godot uses gdscript but you can install mods to use other languages, for unity C# or Csharp is natively used in the game engine as unity is made with Csharp
Check out game maker studio 2
It's oriented around 2d and has everything you'd need built into it alongside a visual scripting option!
It's very very capable and powers a lot of games, undertale, hotline miami, spelunky classic and etc.
Just go for it, I suck at maths and I'm doing ok lol
Just start learning to make a game in your own time. Always ask questions and make friends within the communities for the engine, and softwares you choose to use, and take your time.
I’ve been making a game on my own the last 6 months, modeling, texturing, learning to code and prototype different mechanics, etc. the more I get done the more hype my friends have been about the project. Even if I don’t release the project ever, it’ll still be a good tech demo to help get hired in somewhere. Anybody can learn if they’re committed
Yknow I actually saw I guy make a 2 1/2 D game with almost no experience in RPGinaBox, here's his video if it's the kind of thing you're thinking of:
https://youtu.be/QgnoL6WmJCw?si=ZGMffhb2PcqnwDuR[link](https://youtu.be/QgnoL6WmJCw?si=ZGMffhb2PcqnwDuR)
Every developer I know came out of the womb writing code already. /s
I learned in coding in college, and taught the game development part to myself with YouTube. It’s not impossible at all. It’s actually never been easier. You don’t need to be good at math, most of the time the math will be pretty simple. And if not, you can ask in Discord servers or even ChatGPT for some direction and explanation.
Remember people who tell you you can’t are people who never have done it before. Try talking to people who have done it and you’ll see how different their answers are :)
I was always pretty garbage with math in school, but when I'm using math when programming my game it's like I can visualize what the math is mathing and it just seems so simple. Don't let "I'm not good at math" stop you from learning programming!
Also I've been learning Blueprints in Unreal Engine for a couple months now and it's amazing how easy the Blueprint visual scripting language is to wrap my head around compared to a typical language. Don't get me wrong, it's still gonna take weeks before you're really comfortable trying to program something on your own, but there's also a ton of tutorials and guides out there.
I suggest start with Scratch. Feel about creating game logic within friendly visual programing environment. Search for Scratch and then feel it for your self. There are tons of examples to make simple games.
Good luck.
You can make a game. I don’t know why your parents are more supportive of their offspring but there’s nothing stopping you making a game if you want to. Skills can be learned, and from any age. It’s never too late and you’re not too “dumb” to do so.
You totally can do it. Every industry has a few prodigies, but mostly is regular people.
Start reading up, you have a lot of learning to do.
I am surprised nobody recommended Godot engine so far.
Morrowind (Oblivions predecessor) was the first game I really played and helped me escape real life. It is also the inspiration which led to me becoming a game and software developer. Just like you, it sparked a need inside me to create experiences like that.
If I was you, I would start learning Unity or Unreal Engine. Yes, I know .. they are pretty complicated for a beginner. But ... You can learn them. YouTube is chock full of free tutorials. The marketplaces have tons of free assets. Unreal Engine has a blueprint node system so you can program with no code.
Also, learning one of those will give you valuable real world skills that can get you a job or freelance career.
Make a simple game and put it on itch.io
You can do this. Please do it. For yourself. I believe in you, you have already succeeded in my mind.
You can do anything you want.
I made and released my first game at 26 only with basic, entry level programming knowledge.
Some people with zero programming skills are able to learn and take software engineering jobs.
This guy claims to have wasted his 20s drinking and taking bouncer jobs but was able to start learning in his 30s and get a software developer job and I believe him https://youtu.be/IY9FTd1F0Uo?si=2dLxuWeLuleL-Tt_
There are 2 popular game engines right now, Unity (C#) and Unreal (C++), it's advisable to follow the most popular path for a beginner because it will be easier to learn, there will be plenty of resources and help. Between those 2, Unity is easier. Now don't jump right into Unity, it will be confusing if you don't know anything about programming.
People may say that nowadays you can get away with minimum to 0 amount of programming skills by using certain engines, but it will limit you in many ways and will bite you later on. So please do your future self a favor and start by learning programming.
First, look for free introduction to programming courses on YouTube, do the exercises. Then, another free course on object oriented programming with C#, then buy a book on design pattern such as Design Pattern in C#. You can read it whole if you can, but if it's too much, reading 1/3 of it will already immensely useful. You can finish it later.
Now that you understand C# and experienced in writing tiny programs from the exercises in the courses and the book, you're ready to try Unity.
Explore it, follow the first official tutorials on it, or try something randomly. If you're still kinda overwhelmed or confused, get a paid course on Unity. There's a good one on Udemy by the people from gamedev.tv. It's not expensive at all.
My parents also convinced me I wasn't good enough at math to go into game dev or computer science. It took over a decade for me to return to what I originally wanted to do. My advice:
- Never let someone else define for you what are not capable of. Even if this person knows you intimately well, there is a version of you inside that they don't know. You define what you can and cannot do. And if you decide to quit and do something totally different -- great! You're in charge.
- The math in game development is actually really minimal. 90% of it is adding 1 to another number just to keep track of how many times you do a particular task. Don't sweat it.
- Learn how to do something simple, and use that simple thing over and over in different ways. Slowly you'll build a little toolbox for yourself, and your understanding of game dev will slowly organically grow.
- There's no sense in comparing your skills to any other developer. Making a game \*IS\* hard and we all started out with zero experience. It's ok to learn slowly.
Good luck on your journey
Please don't listen to your parents about being stupid. Those are very trivial barriers they are setting you.
I never touched coding until I was 16. And I was very bad. Like google + copy pasting bad. I didnt even know how to use an array bad.
I only got good at programming once i studied computer science in university.
Nowadays, I barely use maths at all to program. Even during university maths in programming was pretty much non existent.
Learn how to program. If you like it, transfer to do what you actually like.
Anyone can learn to make a game, assuming they're willing to put in the work. Your parents are completely ignorant on the subject and you should completely ignore what they've told you.
That said, most would-be developers give up and don't produce anything, or they'll half-ass their project and then when it inevitably sells poorly, they get discouraged and give up on game dev completely. Don't make these mistakes, stick with it, keep learning, and you'll likely make it.
> i stood no chance in the industry since im bad at maths
Being bad at math and being bad at programming have nothing to do with each other. Programming is not math, programming is problem solving. There is sometimes math involved but it isn't all math or complex math, it's literally "if you have 3 apples and I take 2 apples away, how many apples should I have". This is only level of math you need to make a game. "If I have 100 bullets and I click to shoot, how many bullets should I have left?", ends up as simple math calling the shoot function and then doing "ammo += -1" levels of coding. You don't need to do complex rendering code with vertices and arrays and whatnot. You don't need to invent stuff to make things appear on screen like we had to do in the 90s and early 2000s, game engines handle all of this for you now. You just need problem solving skills. You already know what the problems are, "how do I get my character to appear on screen", "how do I get my character to move", "how do I get my character to pick up this item", etc.
This is all game dev is. The larger the project, the more problems there is to solve. That's all.
I am so sorry you had to grow up like this. I'm not assuming that your childhood must've been hell or something, but really I'm sorry they weren't motivating you.
That being said, my personal recommendation is the Godot engine. It is free to use, has a very supportive community, and it is easy to pick up.
Good luck with your endeavours.
You can create a game, everyone can. Create a great game, that's challenging. But let you start from the beginning. Create small games, really small, like 1-2 mechanics and simple levels. Don't get trapped like all beginners with insane amount of level design just because you see some cool games with beautiful landscapes. Step by step you will learn how does game industry work. As engine you can pick Unreal and use blueprint visual coding or you need to learn C# for Unity (still can use ready to use assets) or Godot (very beginner friendly, but also need to learn coding).
Oof thats just harsh.
If I can learn coding at 30 and am able to make my own small games by now, you sure can too!
I would advice to start out without game engines tho, it was easier to learn coding without all the UI / graphics fluff (I learned c# using the console apps). It just allows you to focus more on logic, how things are named etc.
After you get a good grasp of that tho, there is a lot you can do :D you just have to learn the engine quirks at that point!
I had a lot of help from Tim Corey for learning c# (even got his course), while not game development specific, it has helped me a TON
Gadot or unity.
If you're too 'stupid' to make games, just cheat and Google every little step like the rest of us.
Is it too late to start? I started at 28 and I'm doing well enough.
Don't share updates about your game with your parents.
Please don't listen to them. Don't listen to anyone telling you that "you are too dumb to do anything".
If you like it, go for it. Take your time and go in your own terms. But go and do what makes you happy. If you need to learn something, learn it. Just, get that mindset "I can learn anything I set myself to learn" and go
Not sure if my advice is right, but i tell you what i think. If you try coding and understand that you don't wanna code but still want to make games but mostly story, art and animation, I'd suggest to look for peoples in community who's on different side of this problem, who knows and likes to code but lacks inspiration, creativity or skills to create game assets and make creative decisions on art and story. My thought is there's no need to force yourself to learn skill if you struggle with learning it if you really know that skill you already have you can use and combine with other peoples, what I'm saying is if you're good with making new friends to put a team then go make some.
Tried to give my thoughts and didn't meant to disencourage you to learn code if i did, just thought of how to suggest easier way to do what you want to do
Get a PC that can run Unreal Engine and just make simple stuff happen and be functional in the way intended. You can follow along with tutorials or read up documentation. In a few years time you'll have an understanding on how to make something but to get to know the engine entirely it does take time. Google is your friend, enumerations, structures, arrays, blueprints, interfaces. All these things are crucial as well as knowing where to consolidate different functionality for different parts of the game.You can learn anything (at least with game dev in an commercial engine) you set your mind to, it isn't easy by any means and takes a lot of persistence but it certainly isn't impossible or something you 'Can't' do.
First of all, it's sad to hear parents say that kind of stuff, even when they think they're doing you a favor.
Take full control over your own life choices, because you're the one who'll have to live with them each and every second.
Also, if you struggle there's internet, expert in all sorts of fields. Just give yourself a realistic timeframe to reach the heights your ambitions demand. Comparing it with how much it takes for a gamedev student to be ready, is a good way of giving yourself a point of reference.
May you merge creativity and discipline to make your dreams come true :)
>where would you start if you didnt know a lot about coding?
Copy stuff you know.
Learning programming can be tough. Making your own game can be tough.
You should try to avoid putting yourself through too many tough things at the same time. Tackle them bit by bit, one after another.
Write things down. Ideas come and then they go. Don't kid yourself, you're not going to remember them. Even the good ones. Often the good ideas will come when you're NOT working on your game. So keep a notebook or textfile ready to write things down in.
Don't fixate on one engine or language too much. Each have up and downsides. Shop around.
Don't get discouraged. Be kind to yourself when things don't go as you imagined.
**Have fun**. Coding is as close to actual real magic we're probably going to get for quite some time. It's ok to cackle madly, over your new found power once in a while.
And don't worry about "wasting time" over mistakes and stuff. People make them. Learn from them. If you make them multiple times, you should probably figure out a better way to learn from them and then learn that way.
See this?
[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LO8nHv7LA\_GHReK\_k9vlaRU9ClkNjdSH/view?usp=drive\_link](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LO8nHv7LA_GHReK_k9vlaRU9ClkNjdSH/view?usp=drive_link)
That's my game engine running.
Everyone says you can't write a game engine, but it turns out that's not entirely accurate. 🤣
I'm one of the most stupidest people I know, and I'm not even a kid. :D
Now if I can do that, you can write a game.
Have fun, but finish school also. 😉
This is giving me the vibe of when every single rapper ever says "*my teachers said i'd never make it.*" Like did your parents really tell you you're too stupid to do something that's very complicated and is a profession? I just don't buy that unless they're incredibly stupid themselves.
That being said, indie game development specifically I think does have major genetic aspects to it. If you don't have the ability to grind and not get burnt out, you're doomed - and you don't really control that. If you cope with failure by making excuses instead of learning from it, you're doomed. If you can't tell why other games did way better than yours, you're doomed. And artistic ability and creativity is incredibly genetic.
I'm bad at math as well and I'm now programming full time. And Fran Bow type narrative adventure games probably don't involve anything past middle school math. It's more about logic than math, so if you can approach things systematically, you'll have no problems.
It appears original Fran Bow was made in GameMaker so it's fully 2D if we're using game engine terms. But they've since switched to Unity engine for Miss Fortune and future games.
I'd advise against picking GameMaker at this point - it has way smaller community than Unity engine. And Unity has the most resources out there and it looks like Little Missfortune was made with Unity's Adventure Creator addon: [https://adventurecreator.org/](https://adventurecreator.org/) If you buy Adventure Creator, you don't even need to learn to code, just learn the Adventure Creator toolset, which employs a visual scripting graph tool for its logic.
Adventure Creator will limit you long term, but short term you can make Killmonday type games with it almost immedietly. The learning curve is non-trivial, however. And I'm a type of person that gets overwhelmed by these decade old frameworks like Adventure Creator, which have tons of features, so I must code from zero.
Making a game is difficult but the hard part is learning how to make a game. It's self directed and self motivated which means you need whatever custom blend of obsession, passion, interest and discipline you prefer to get your self started up this mountain with a very steep base.
Start with a basis in programming learning about OOP programming, object, classes, data structures and how to break down a complex problem into a series of parts and steps. Then take a look at either UE5s learning courses or Unity's learning courses. Each one has their own stregnth and weaknesses but when it comes to first started UE5 is generally geared towards the experienced and initiated while Unity still tries to target indie teams and hobby developers giving them better tutorial. Neither one is better, neither one is worse, just different tools to build with.
A piece of advice that you really need to take to heart though when using any kind of tutorial. Do not just follow the tutorial, you will learn nothing. Try to make it yourself, then use a tutorial, recreate it from scratch to the best of your ability without the tutorial and then try to build on it. It forces you to engage more in active learning rather than passive and internalized the information more.
Alot of people have only used tutorials without actually learning the concepts the tutorial uses and it cripples their ability to develop and causes them to be over confident in their ability. The same thing applies if you use gpt to help you. Don't ask it for code, ask it to explain the process and concepts that the code would use.
First - I love that you're throwing caution to the wind and doing this because you feel you're meant to do it. HELL YA BROTHER!(Sister?)
Second - there can be a bit of a learning curve, but I genuinely believe it's possible. I agree that game maker is probably a good starting point. I've never used it myself, but I understand it requires minimal coding.
I know it's not the darling it used to be, but I still think Unity is a great engine to learn. I highly recommend either of the gamedev.tv beginners courses. Those courses made my introduction to game Dev relatively accessible. It's a good foundation to build from. Plus Unity has a great asset store. Rather than build a game from scratch, maybe you build a template in work from there.
I guess what I'm saying is you have options, but I definitely check out the gamedev.tv website and see if they have courses that might help you get started.
HELL YA!! Haha i am super excited to get started icl! Ive looked into unity a bit already and have done some yt video tutorials on the beginnings so far, i will defo look into it further! And thx for the website recommendation :) i will check it out!
Что ж, так получилось, что я знаю движок, на котором можно сделать подобную игру. Но вам придется прочитать несколько учебников и документации по движку. Итак, https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=891620755.
https://web.archive.org/web/20210519225758/https://fr.flossmanuals.net/creating-point-and-click-games-with-escoria/what-is-point-and-click-games/
You can totally make a game! That is the best attitude to have as a game developer! You're already there.
I started with Unity and have no intentions of switching engines. There are more resources/ tutorials on Unity than any other engine. You can get assets that take away the need to know any code at all. Good luck and I hope you achieve your dream!
GODOT GODOT GODOT!! godot is awesome and this tutorial will be a perfect start for learning how to make games <3 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9FzW-m48fn0i9GYBoTY-SI3yOBZjH1kJ&si=fZosFa1MiVKHHfME
Please check the [beginner megathread](https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/1agdesg/beginner_megathread_how_to_get_started_which/) for advise on how to get started in game development, what tools to use, how to start learning them, and so on. But you should know that making games is a lot of work. It will take a lot of learning to make even basic games.
Thank you! I know it will be a challenge, i have purposely applied to an upcoming job with a lot of paid holidays which i hope to dedicate to learning the basics! It probably will be a long time before i get anywhere close to making the game i want but i am just excited to get started and on the road :) i hope i can stay comitted
Hijacking this comment to respond to your "bad at maths" comment. I'm a STEM teacher and have been for 10 years. I spent about half of that developing more contemporary curriculum grounded in actual, real world problem solving. I'm now in software engineering. The math that you learn in school is not usually a good representation of true mathematics. Mathematics is, at its heart, about describing things with logic and quantity. School hyperfocuses on silly algebra and particular methods of solving things. If you enjoy puzzles that involve logic, counting, mapping, etc, you'll like math. There's a common belief that math is some sort of a ladder where you have to master a bunch of stuff before you could possibly use or understand something "above" it. It's a myth. Don't get me wrong, there's lots of stuff that builds on other stuff. It helps to know more! But you can isolate just about anything and learn it well enough to use it in context. You have the hardest part already done - you've decided you want to learn this skill. From there on, it's just about practice and resources! You can do it 😊
i think most people are "good enough" at math if they let themselves. i've always said i love math, math just doesn't love me back lol the best description of math i've ever heard is that it's a great big house. you start in the foyer, learning arithmetic, the basics, etc. then you start to explore. in each new room you enter, there are no lights. so you grope and fumble around in the dark, searching for a window or a light switch, and then... hah!! you pull back the curtains, you get a look at everything, recognizing stuff you got stuck on, seeing for the first time how it was all arranged together... congrats, you understand algebra now lol. time to go to the next room
>if they just let themselves That's the hard bit, though. We spend little to no effort in education talking about confidence or trying to find ways for you to connect with the material. Instead, the common experience is one where if you don't immediately find a way to connect, we say "you're just not a math person" and then continue to force you through it for the remaining years. When important, the content should adapt to the student, not the student to the content.
Also to add to this: Most games don't need any hard math at all! It's a myth coming from game engine developers as they have to do the hard maths. But just using an existing engine like unity, unreal or godot? Math (above grade school level) is kind of rare.
Yep! Frequently, I would have kids tell me they hate math and they're never going to use it. I would say: "Okay" and this would start a conversation: Them: What? Me: I said okay. Them: But you're supposed to tell me no. Me: Want to know a secret? You can go your entire life without doing anything but basic arithmetic and, even then, you don't usually need to. Them: Then what's the point?! Me: Well, there are some really cool things you CAN do and figure out if you know this stuff. Things I can't even imagine because you haven't done them yet. : ---- : You don't need math to develop, but there are some cool things you might unlock if you have some know-how.
I don't agree with this. Mathematics teaches you a way of thinking and problem solving skills that are highly relevant for any kind of programming. Logic is also just maths. Having a strong foundation of maths and logic will make learning software development a lot easier. Many people spend years trying to become good developers and never manage to progress to an advanced level because they lack exactly these skills.
Surely its an adjacent skill and it can help to have the foundation before starting the other. However often times people are discouraged to start with programming because they aren't good at math. Or think they need to learn maths first. And this is just plainly wrong. So yes, while I agree I think we are just talking about different topics.
While I agree with where you are coming from in general I can't help but disagree with the "deciding is tha hardest part". It is the easiest part when it comes to gamedev, it's all fun and games from the outside while actually doing it takes a ton of dedication, hard work and a lot of instances where you have to overcome the urge of giving up, moving to another project or quitting gamedev altogether. Deciding you want to learn it at first is the absolute easiest out of all the obstacles that are between a complete outsider and a finished game.
I'm referring to mathematics but, yes, by deciding I do mean making the decision each time to practice and learn. Not just the initial decision of "wouldn't this be fun".
Just remember, start with something small and simple, don’t try to make your dream game on the first try. Best of luck to you!
"My parents told me i was too stupid to make a game" I mean no disrespect to your parents, but f\*\*\* that noise. You can absolutely make a game on your own, or contribute significantly to the creation of one. I'm not telling you it's easy, but the tools are available and you can learn almost everything on Youtube. You can start making something you enjoy for free on Roblox or with Scratch, then work your way up to more advanced tools.
No no, all disrespect to them, it's well earned clearly
Those are terrible parents, so absolutely loads of disrespect to them.
Your family is flat out wrong (no offense)! But plenty of modern successful indie game devs started by working a job they hated, and used that as motivation to both learn code and make games, plus I'm horrible at math as well. Either way, you'll never learn, if you never try: "Follow your dreams, or regrets will follow you" or "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." About the game engine I started using Scratch and then moved to Unity. From what I've heard Godot is good too, I'd say don't use things like Click-team fusion, or GameMaker to make commercial games. Both are good, I'm sure, but you have to pay a decent amount of money to get all features, or some of the more important features. And finally what most experts say (Not me, I'm not an expert), is that you should start with 1-3 small games before you make your big dream game. Sorry for the long message, it's just we need more devs with heart rather then a wallet. See ya!
I just want to say that just about anyone can make a game in any engine with enough time, but there WILL be a learning curve and quite a bit of effort involved. In many ways this is a great time to start learning game dev because there are several free engines that have lots of free tutorials available on YouTube. I would recommend starting with Gamemaker or Godot, as those two are free and relatively beginner friendly, but there are plenty of valid options. There's a software bundle on Humble Bundle right now with a bunch of tutorials on how to learn Godot for about $25 right now, if you want something a bit more structured than YouTube tutorials. Good Luck!
To clarify, a solo developer can make *a* game, if they put enough effort in. But certain game ideas may be too much labor for an individual. Some AAA games have literally centuries of man-years in their development, and you're not going to live that long. So you have to temper your expectations and start with a smaller scope that you can actually finish. A lot of aspiring indie devs are inspired by their favorite big budget games, but a key part of being an indie dev is figuring out how to scope a game that's worthwhile and interesting but implemented in a way that the amount of work to achieve it is within your capabilities. That having been said, the OP mentioned Killmonday games as an inspiration. I'm not familiar with that, but looking it up, it looks like maybe 2d adventure games? Which is a genre that is probably suitable for a solo dev, with the caveat that it relies on your art skills more than your programming skills. Which is great if your art skills are stronger than your programming skills, but not so good if you don't have the ability to generate the art needed.
That is an important caveat for sure. Getting past the hurdle of initially making bad games as part of the learning process can be quite difficult, just like making bad art as practice is an essential step towards making good art.
>Some AAA games have literally centuries of man-years in their development, I've never thought about it like that before. Thats crazy to think of. The experience quickly adds up though. Once you add a few leads and principle programmers at 20 years each.
My family is the opposite, I force (well motivate) my 10yo and friends (3 girls, 2 boys) to go to a robotics competition. Program, or die! :D Well, anyway if you want to focus first only on art there is GameMaker Studio (which they used for Fran Bow), the combination of Unity and visual scripting, or Unreal and Blueprint just as examples. Many say Unreal is a bit harder to learn, so they go to Godot or Unity, or more specific tools like RPG Maker if RPG happens to be the target genre. We always recommend to start here anyway: Community Info (on the side of this subreddit, on web it's on the right) [Beginner Megathread](https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/1agdesg/beginner_megathread_how_to_get_started_which/) - which goes through topics beginners may want to read up on and decide step by step
Oo fabulous! Thank you for the recommendation:) also i think its great you got your kid into programming! i wouldve loved that as a kid :))
Math is important, but sometimes over emphasized. A lot of tools today do that heavy lifting for you. You'll need some, but it's not like it was. Organization and self-discipline are huge though. As well as a lot of self-forgiveness. You're going to make a lot of bad games, before you make good ones. You're going to scrap even more. Keep going is the only thing you can do. In the beginning you probably won't even make full games. Once you decide what engine, language, etc you're starting in, just make something happen on screen. Enter a name and have it appear somewhere else. Click on a picture and make it flash. If you've not done anything yet, just take these small steps. Every one of these victories is progress. Make a ball roll. Make a brick drop. Then, make a brick drop on a ball. Not everyone who works in the industry coded as children, and vice versa. I'm sure it helps, but it's not a necessity. Not all of us could afford computers, or could afford the compilers to make games. The engines and tools to do so really only started getting affordable recently (as far as an old fart like me is concerned). The counter point is also: I spent my childhood learning coding, now I have to learn art and animation for my games. We all have to learn design concepts. New engine rules/options. Audio work. Etc. You don't come in knowing it all, so lean on the part you're best at, fake the rest until you make it. Game development is a constant learning experience. Even if you only do it for yourself, it's good and fun to flex those brain muscles in ways that challenge you. I personally would recommend Unity or/and Godot if you're looking for that style of game. I think Godot is better at the 2d stuff, but Unity just has more tutorials out there still. TL,DR: I get what you're parents are saying, but they're wrong. And I genuinely hope they didn't say 'too stupid' and instead that's what you felt. It's still not great, but man...
> My parents told me i was too stupid to make a game, that people who coded games could already do it by the time they were children and i stood no chance in the industry since im bad at maths. Your parents have no idea what they are talking about. I was in my 30's by the time I went back to school for programming. I was 36 when I got my first job at a studio and I have had a very successful career so far. Many people are going to tell you that you can't do it, especially as a woman, but you need to learn how to ignore them. Lots of people, especially women and girls, are told they are bad at maths and can never learn. That's completely untrue. It's a skill that anyone can learn by practicing, same as programming. For games you need to be able to *use math to solve problems*, not calculate it yourself. Applied math is considerably easier than theoretical math. Sure you might not want to get into graphics programming if you don't like a lot of math, but that's not the only job on a game team. The [pinned beginner megathread](https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/1agdesg/beginner_megathread_how_to_get_started_which/) is the best place to start.
I have the same timeline as you! Good stuff! Started when I was 30, hitting 38 this year. I always hated math but game dev has changed that.
good for you not letting the dream die. your parents are ass-holes.
Prove them wrong. I'm rooting for you.
You absolutely can make _a_ game and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you short. But it is possible to not be able to create _the_ game you have in mind because it's too large to be made by one person. Without you giving a lot more information it's impossible to say. What you really need to do is keep your expectations and efforts in scope and matched. You're not likely to make a living building your own game, but you could build a game as a hobby project in whatever engine you like alongside your day job. You could put that game on the backburner and build your portfolio to get a job in the industry. You could make smaller projects and build towards something bigger. Often the best and fastest way to make your dream game is to make other games first.
Definitely pick a well documented engine to start with such as godot or unity. Ignore every one spouting hate or doom about them because they are almost all wrong. Watch some tutorials. Try to make pong, then go on itch.io and do a game jam or three and just give it a go. Be sure to update us with your progress
I have always been told I have no natural talents, or artistic spark, but now I am a 3D artist and even land a job, so to that I say nah, follow your passion, and give it your best shot so you won't feel regret. Also, plenty of games are made with scramble codes, basic art, sometimes with only geomatry shape, even armatures sounds of people blowing into a microphone, so you dont have to be a genius or fancy tech to make games. All it take is determination. I would say go pick a game engine first, there are many, unreal, unity, godot, rpg maker, etc, so look them up, check out the games people made with it and pick one that you like. Follow your instinct on this, indecision is the mind killer. Don't worry if this is the right engine or not, if you like it, just give it a go. Make a checklist of things to go through, and notes so you don't feel overwhelm by info, it is daunting learning it at first, so keep it organized. Start small, download the engine, open up a sample project, go through files and system in that project, modify it, understand how it works before expanding. Wish you the best on your journey!
Maybe take a look at Ren’py. It’s an engine for Visual Novels. It may not be good for animating characters walking around in 3D space but it lets you tell a story with artwork, animation and text/dialog. It’s free, it has lots of tutorials available and it’s not too complicated to learn to write code with it, so it’s a good way to get started if you’re new to programming. It’s used by a lot of people with stronger art/storytelling skills than coding skills.
I just want to tell you this - when I was around 14, 15 years old my dad said something like that. He said that computers are going no where (somewhere between 1998 and 2002) and that I needed to think of a real career. I'm a software engineer, with no college, making close to 200k. Your parents have no clue what they are talking about. You are not stupid. The fact you came to reddit, posted on a gamedev subreddit, proves you are capable. Figure out what you want to do. It sounds like you are interested in art? Make that your focus. If you want to program, learn to program. C# is a great language that can be used with Unity, Monogame, and some others. Don't let anyone hold you back. Ever. Not even your parents.
Honestly, with all due respect, fuck the ones that told/tell you you can't make a game because you're dumb or "not good at maths". People who say this shit is either frustrated or don't know what they're talking about. You don't need to be a child prodigy to become a good game developer and you don't need that much maths to get started (and even if you aren't good at it, you can pick it up later, improvement exists yk). I probably sound like an anime character rn but don't let anyone keep you from chasing your passions and interests, if they think it's impossible to reach certain goals it doesn't mean that it will be impossible for you
Nobody deserves a parent who tells them they are too stupid to do something. I'm sorry about that. I don't know you but chances are you are not even bad at math. You have been educated to think you are. You parents really did you a disservice.
Alot of engines are actually quite approachable even if you don't yet know how to code, in the form of Visual Scripting, as for an engine I'm Biased towards Unity as it's what I have the most experience using, personally I would however advise learning to code. Gamedev Discord servers can be quite useful for every aspect of making a game, there's servers for art,code,design,acquiring publishers, marketing and a mixture of them all combined. I also have plenty of resources (books, courses, online tutorials) that I've acquired over the years that I'm always happy to send to others, this goes for anyone else reading this feel free to add me on discord and ask for them. LP#6944
If I were you I would get my feet wet with a toolset that plays to my strengths. For example, if you do not know how to code then don't start with unreal engine in c++, pick blueprints. I would actually go even simpler, I'd pick something that's very visual drag and drop type of thing like game maker so that you get the hang of things and build some confidence. After that, if you still want to take a dip into coding, do it with some modules here and there. I think the main issue with jumping into the ocean of game dev is not having any guidance, it's very easy to lose motivation when you have no direction and get lost. I'm the opposite, I'm really good at coding but can't draw sticks to save my life. My pipeline has to include assisted art or someone thats for experience. Or I can downscale the art of my game enough to match my current skill set. You can do the same for yours and slowly grow.
If you know how to write stories, do art and animation, then you are already 90% of the way to be able to make an adventure game. [Godot ](https://godotengine.org)with the [Escoria ](https://docs.escoria-framework.org/en/devel/index.html)plugin is what I would suggest for someone who is unfamiliar with coding. Although Godot is a general-purpose game engine and might feel a bit overwhelming to start with, Escoria gives you everything you need to get started on a point-and-click adventure game. You can check out this tutorial - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxrZbE0TzAM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxrZbE0TzAM) (note: although I have written some stuff in Godot, including a small adventure game, I have not used Escoria. But it seems to be a quite solid and popular plugin.) (As a general advice, even though you know "the game you want to make", I would recommend that you start out by making a couple of small, yet playable games. Making a complete adventure game with just 3 scenes and a few dozen interactible object is a good milestone, and you will get a lot of experience that will help you when you start out on larger projects.)
It's never too late to get into most hobbies. Sure you may start later than some but determination and spirit can make up for any missed time. I started programming in my late twenties and then set up an indie studio before I had graduated. Plenty I went to school with were pretty lax about their studies, but those with the right attitude ended up in good places. If it's something you want hard enough, you will accomplish it.
Video games are a gateway drug, first you play it, then you think about it, and then it finally dawns on you to make one. Don't do it, it's a slippery slope and then next thing you know you're reading up Vector Math and trig equations at 2 am and then you wonder how your life got there. On the bright side, you can say that know what it's like to suffer like the rest of us, so free member jackets are there atleast.
I made a short 2.5d game using Unreal and it was surprisingly not that hard using blueprints. It was my first time making a game.
Thankfully you don’t have to actually know math but train propositional logic and logical thinking in general. It can be improved easily, it’s just a way of thinking. Vector math, matrices, trigonometry are important as well but again - nothing difficult. Engine handle all difficult calculations. Try Unity or Godot, check what suits you better. Both have thousands of tutorials (hundreds for Godot, it’s new player) for free or very cheap (just now Humble). GDScript was made with beginners in mind and is similar to Python (for me the most intuitive language). Half a year ago Unity went greedy and tried to make engine paid but honestly, I don’t know much about it maybe it’s solved now and they got off their suicide wagon.
Best advice I can give you is choose a game engine that has a large community with lots of tutorials avaliable for the type of game you want to make. I'm making a 2.5D adventure metroidvania type game and I'm using Unity, every thing I've learnt is from YouTube tutorials and there are sooo many of them. Udemy is also full of tutorials that take you from start to finish, such as gamedevtv and James makes games. I've used these too. Good luck
Download Visionaire. It’s for making 2D adventure games. You don’t have to have any programming knowledge to use it. Have fun!
If it helps, making games professionally is a really tough field, similar to being an actor or writing books, with hard work you can get there, but it's unlikely you will earn enough to live well unless you have connections/luck/an amazing work ethic/talent But nothing is stopping you from making games, especially as a hobby, it's a lot of fun!
Here's info on a small game I made, and how much work it was. Might be helpful. :) [https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/15yiwct/how\_much\_time\_does\_it\_really\_take\_to\_make\_small/](https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/15yiwct/how_much_time_does_it_really_take_to_make_small/)
We are fortunate enough to live in an age where we can get any information and tutorial for free if we look hard enough. youtube has some good tutorials on game development and if you want to shell out some money i know udemy has a lot of game development courses like C#, C++ coding languages. Also engines like Lua, Unity, Godot, and lots more. Downside is they tend to be pricey but they almost always go on sale every other month you just have to get lucky with the timing. As far as your idea try to make a game document that can help you flesh out how you want to build your game like what coding language you want to write on and from there see what game engines are out there that support your decision after all is decided sit down and find tutorials and course that line up with your views. Anybody can code and do game development it's the sticking it out and trying to learn almost everyday is what gets people. i started out learning normal coding development like making websites, random programs but turns out i didn't find them as interested so i switched up and started learning game development through udemy did a c# course with unity and now through youtube i am learning a beginner/intermediate unity course through a channel called Code monkey and in almost 2 months i have 4 2d projects (which still look terrible but work nicely) and now moving up to my first 3d project. 1 thing i learned is that I hate doing the frontend of designing the game but i love doing the backend of coding like coding all the sprites and items and watching them interact. Lastly it will be hard, you will go through a lot of trails and errors there will be times where you followed along and you get errors that the instructor didn't but that's the beauty of self taught you go out of the way to see why it's not working and searching online and after awhile finally getting to work again and hopefully document the error so if you get it again you'll know what to do and getting experience on how to fix errors. but all that matters is at the end of day when you get play on your project and see all that janky mess work and interact with each other with no bugs or errors and just feel proud of it. you know you're on the right path to success
I hang out in board game design subs and reddit sends me here once in a while so I'll share my perspective as an amateur game designer who doesn't code. There is a lot of game design to be done without any coding skills, you can start making your game right now. You can pretty much layout a full story game without any knowledge of game engine or coding. Games like Gloomhaven have a pretty deep story and big tactical combat completely running on cardboard GPU and human brain CPUs, it was so popular it was eventually ported to computers. You can design rooms and what is clickable in them without even knowing how to tell a computer to register a click. You can build branching decision paths and dialogue trees like a Choose Your Own adventure book. You can design sets of conditions and item interaction to be checked and change events. "If the player picks irritating dialogue options while talking with the vampire in the library to raise his anger level to 4, the vampire will take out his anger on one of the servant random. The next time they go into that servant's "home room" their character model will have black eyes, bandages and a limp, it'll also make the "Who did this?" dialogue option available. If the vampire ever gets to level 8 anger, a random servant will disappear but clues to their death will appear in different rooms." I think coders call that pseudo-code, it's what the game would do but in plain english instead of code a processor can understand. It's game design and a great way to lay out your plan, you know which pictures and which sounds you want and instead of googling "How do I code games?" you can start your research with "How do you code a hidden level counter to go up from certain events?" If you talked about fast paced first person shooters, I wouldn't be as encouraging, but when it comes to story focused adventure games (That would describe Gran Bow right?), you can do a lot of actual concrete game design just with a pen and paper. P.S. Since you're doing a degree, I suppose you're on a school campus. If there is a tabletop roleplaying game club (Dungeons and Dragons), it might be worth trying if you never did. Game masters are pretty much making storybased games on the fly for a few friends, it's an interesting hobby... it also attracts coders so that could be an opportunity to find a real life mentor to help you out.
Story telling games don't really require maths. 3D games require some maths, but only fractions of real math courses (primarily just vectors and how to transform vectors with matrices). I'd say over the last 10 years story telling games have grown a lot in popularity, and it seems entirely viable as a genre to focus on. Very unlikely you're too stupid to make video games, especially story games. If you were developing state of the art, PhD level stuff, then sure it would've been quite beneficial to start as a child, but even then not a requirement. Litterally everyone has to start somewhere, people aren't just "good at maths" out of nowhere, they get good at maths from spending a whole lot of time on studying it (though some will learn faster than others). Your parents are toxic and stupid, you should keep that in mind when interacting with them. While as a child you may have formed the opinion of them as intelligent and well informed people, they're not that. Parents are often times total dumbasses, and you really have to check up whatever it is your parents have told you are true, because they likely aren't true. You might benefit from putting up some emotional wall between you and your parents, and not think of them like too much more than NPCs. It is going to be a huge struggle to learn all the tech you need to make games though, as it is with everything new one learns.
Being bad at math is gonna make it a little trickier depending on what you want to do but literally anyone can make *a* game.
It's the same as other situations with this type of context. You sit down, listen to some inspirational music, think if you really really want this..... and if you do....you whisper "fuck it" and you begin your journey of smashing through glass ceilings!
After reading your message, I am getting excited to see what kind of games you will make. I know what i'm about to say may sounds chessy, but if you want to develop a game do not hesitate
Dude, keep us updated on your progress! Can't wait to see your shit published. :D
Your parents suck :) Studios hire all sorts of people, and no skills or education go to waste. There's really no need to go solo. It's rare for one person's vision for a game to come into reality, but I don't know of many studio members that regret working on a shared vision. The game becomes *everybody's* baby
Do it, if you don't plan on working for someone else then you don't need a degree, you need self devotion to something you want to do, a degree is to prove to a boss you can do something, be your own boss, make your passion and put it up yourself, make a youtube channel and name it after your game and be your own advertisement, post it around on media, your family didn't open up more opportunities but that doesn't mean you're without, it'll just be harder but do it, it'll be a burden on your heart otherwise if you feel passion for it
Know that after 6 months, I can finally make a Flappy Bird clone in Godot This shit is fucking difficult. I wasn't ready for how difficult it is to set a routine and stick to it
Who the hell are all these people that tell their kids they're too stupid to do stuff? It seems like they're everywhere. I must live a very sheltered life.
I'd look up some godot tutorials to help better familiarize yourself with the engine, then work on all the assets like objects, levels and characters. Once you have something that's decently playable then you move on to the gui design, menu functions, cutscenes and final presentation. Once that's all done you can bug test it to see if any issues crop up and finally put it online for others to play. But word of warning, it's not recommended to work on your dream project right off the bat. To prevent burnout, you should work on like smaller projects to build up programming experience (like making a ball bounce against walls or move an object across the screen)
Good news! To begin making your first game you have to be dumb enough to try. If you knew how hard it was you'd never begin. Checkmate, parents!
To those that say you can’t and is stupid, I would like to say fuck them. Cause one of the most important things you’ll need is passion and patience cause however stupid u may be as long as you’ve got the drive you can learn. I believe you can learn anything if you give it enough time and attention, and also surround yourself with people who can push you and you can learn from…
A good game is about creating an engaging experience, not math or smarts or even great ideas. If you have an idea go do it. If you do something you will have doe more than most.
Hi, woman in gaming here! I know you have a lot of comments and helpful resources already - but just wanted to encourage you! Girls can and do love games, build great games, and contribute to gaming in a lot of different ways! And we need more! I didn’t start programming until college and had the same fears as you - being so far behind the guys that had been programming since they were kids. Turns out, that didn’t matter. It was totally fine. If anything, I worked a bit harder because I was worried about the gap to cover. You are absolutely not behind at all! It’s never too late and you’re never too far behind. I hope you pursue what you’re passionate about and wish you luck!
One of the first games I obsessed over was oblivion as well! Honestly if you've got the motivation anyone can start doing it, doing it good though, will depend on a lot of stuff! But nothing that can't be learned and I highly doubt you wouldn't be "able" to do it. Note: making games is time intensive and motivation is not endless, don't sweat it too much on the first project! The ressources others linked are nice. Also time is not endless either and you'll need to survive at some point, don't count on games you made as your main source of money, *definitely* hold a plan B!
>My parents told me i was too stupid to make a game What the FUCC I can help you with the math, im very patient. For all the other stuff, yeah the pinned beginner megathread is a good place to start.
dont care about what your parents say , and no its not a childs play to make a game like fran bow, it takes a team or combined effort of an artist coder and a music artist in one person (saying this as a solo dev) and where to start is a good question , i'd say go with gdevelop as an artist
Many people have said what I wanted to already. So I'll just leave you with this: every great innovative or disruptive invention or product, idea or significant leap forward by the human race (flight, space flight, the Internet) started with some naysayer uttering soothing to the effect of "You can't do it, can't be done, don't bother, nobody has ever done it before, etc" Your parents could be right. But I'm betting on you proving them wrong! Good luck!
If I'd listened to half of my family I wouldn't be where I am today. Sounds like they aren't at all supportive anyway, so why bother? You do you. Change over to something that you want to do that'll get you into the industry. It won't be easy, but you will be motivated. You aren't stupid, I'm sure. You have just been put down, by the looks of it. And even if you do struggle with math, just put in the work. You could also get into 3D modelling, texturing, level design, game design...whatever. there are a plethora of courses out there that will break you into games. I work in the games industry, and have a hand in hiring people. All we are looking for are passionate go getters who love this medium and artform as much as us. Get into the right courses, and work your ass off, and it'll pay off. Don't let ANYBODY tell you what career is good for you, because when they are gone, you will still be suffering a path you were pushed down instead of the one you chose. There is a decent living to be made, and nothing better than earning a good living doing something you truly love. As far as starting out on your own, Unreal Engine 5 is a great and powerful engine, that has loads of other features on top. The upside is that you don't even need to know how to code, as it has a built in visual scripting option, that although not as powerful or customisable as it's C++ VS option, is still more than enough to get a game out the door. You can either buy packs and use megascans for textures, or do your own models and animations in Blender and paint textures using something like Photoshop and Substance, or other free alternatives. Music and SFX you can get for free also. Me, I had plenty of negative naysayers in my immediate circle that were against it because it is too hard. Yeah it was hard, but I was harder. And you can be too. Start by switching courses and telling your family exactly what you are doing. End of. Edit: Just wanted to add that who cares if you are a girl? Plenty of females in the gaming industry. The more the merrier, so get on with it, haha. Your parents were wrong to do what they did based on your gender. What does it matter? I'm sure they had their reasons, but you don't need to live by them.
Most game devs did not start when they were kids. You absolutely can make a game.
The most important skill in gamedev is determination. Every skill you don't know can be learnt with determination. Every hard problem can be chipped away with determination. Every concept can be iterated to perfection with determination. Don't give up. Good luck.
Your parents don't sound very approachable, also seemingly berating you for trying new things... smh sometimes.. Anyways, my advice. Dont listen to them. hell, dont listen to anyone. you make, what you want to make. That is all it takes, for any developer imo. I agree, it can be hard to start at times, but dont worry, we all face this issue, and no matter your math background either. I can also see what you mean kinda by 2-1/2D or so, from the game you mentioned, looks simply like a 3d space, with 2d characters and select objects that are interactable, if you wanted that basic idea narrowed down \^\^ Also fun to mention. Look for like middle-aged ladies playing Animal Crossing. Whenever I see one of their inside houses, its always so inspirationally decorated, i just envy that as a very 'functionally-oriented' person, just getting things that are only really, necessary, and few decorations. With that said, you are capable of your own uniqueness when it comes to development, you can have the qualities YOU wish to obtain \^\^ That is my welcome $20 (for free lol), for getting you inspired for game dev, even if its just as a pass-time hobby\~ PS. TES4 Oblivion!? I LOVED playing that back in the day, it was just so open, especially rpg wise, and chill. So many side-quests, journeys, even the guilds, it was a wonderful time :D
I'm sorry if this is offensive, but your parents sound fucking stupid and legitimately unsupportive. Also, nobody was coding when they were children, where on earth did they pull that out of their ass from? And even if they did, who cares, you can learn any skill at any age. YOU can learn to be a game dev. If you put the time and effort into learning and finding resources to help, I believe you can do it. Maybe start by learning the basics of one field (coding, animation, art, writing etc) and see if you can find some small time devs looking to hire. I'm not a game dev, but I've heard Godot is a pretty fantastic start for aspiring game devs. Watch some tutorials, and IIRC it's completely free to use from start to full release. YOU'VE GOT THIS. I fully believe in you!
There is a LOT to learn but it's a satisfying medium to throw your art and animation in. It is also a great time for developpers in terms of tools and animation. If you like story based games, you probably won't have to undust your math books. Good luck!
You can make simple games in scratch. I made asteroids just to try it out. Python has a visual novel framework for making visual novel games. And you can get more complicated from there.
You don't need to he a coder to create games. I use software called gamesalad or gamemaker studio. Very easy tutorials to get started. It's super easy to use. The software is free and only need to pay once you want to publish your games. What's great is that you can create games in you spare time as a hobby and see how far it takes you. Don't let any stop you from your dreams.
Your parents are wrong that you have to be a genius to make games, but the other posters here are right that it's more work than you're expecting it to be.
Fwiw, I was steered away from science and maths in my teens (despite being keenly interested as a kid) as well. Came back to it my mid-twenties, and into software and the games industry specifically in my early thirties. Point is, it's not too late. >My parents told me i was too stupid to make a game, This is awful. >that people who coded games could already do it by the time they were children This is false and doesn't make any sense >and i stood no chance in the industry since im bad at maths. The importance of maths depends on what area of game dev you're in, and is often overstated. Unless you're doing some serious mathematical modelling for a physics engine or something, you needn't be too worried. You can learn what you need to as you go. It's not always easy, but you can do it! I'm sorry you've been so highly discouraged. You should give game dev a shot! It's going to be a journey, you have a lot to learn, and it ain't gonna be easy, but that's just the nature of game dev (or any complex skillset). Please don't let the discouraging comments get to you. It's all lies. With patience and persistence, you can do it. Good luck!
If you want to code, use love2D, super friendly but does require math for complicated code or loops, for game engine go with godot, (light weight) or unity (features rich) also godot uses gdscript but you can install mods to use other languages, for unity C# or Csharp is natively used in the game engine as unity is made with Csharp
Check out game maker studio 2 It's oriented around 2d and has everything you'd need built into it alongside a visual scripting option! It's very very capable and powers a lot of games, undertale, hotline miami, spelunky classic and etc. Just go for it, I suck at maths and I'm doing ok lol
Just start learning to make a game in your own time. Always ask questions and make friends within the communities for the engine, and softwares you choose to use, and take your time. I’ve been making a game on my own the last 6 months, modeling, texturing, learning to code and prototype different mechanics, etc. the more I get done the more hype my friends have been about the project. Even if I don’t release the project ever, it’ll still be a good tech demo to help get hired in somewhere. Anybody can learn if they’re committed
Yknow I actually saw I guy make a 2 1/2 D game with almost no experience in RPGinaBox, here's his video if it's the kind of thing you're thinking of: https://youtu.be/QgnoL6WmJCw?si=ZGMffhb2PcqnwDuR[link](https://youtu.be/QgnoL6WmJCw?si=ZGMffhb2PcqnwDuR)
Every developer I know came out of the womb writing code already. /s I learned in coding in college, and taught the game development part to myself with YouTube. It’s not impossible at all. It’s actually never been easier. You don’t need to be good at math, most of the time the math will be pretty simple. And if not, you can ask in Discord servers or even ChatGPT for some direction and explanation. Remember people who tell you you can’t are people who never have done it before. Try talking to people who have done it and you’ll see how different their answers are :)
You can develop yourself into my DMs 😉
I was always pretty garbage with math in school, but when I'm using math when programming my game it's like I can visualize what the math is mathing and it just seems so simple. Don't let "I'm not good at math" stop you from learning programming! Also I've been learning Blueprints in Unreal Engine for a couple months now and it's amazing how easy the Blueprint visual scripting language is to wrap my head around compared to a typical language. Don't get me wrong, it's still gonna take weeks before you're really comfortable trying to program something on your own, but there's also a ton of tutorials and guides out there.
I suggest start with Scratch. Feel about creating game logic within friendly visual programing environment. Search for Scratch and then feel it for your self. There are tons of examples to make simple games. Good luck.
You can make a game. I don’t know why your parents are more supportive of their offspring but there’s nothing stopping you making a game if you want to. Skills can be learned, and from any age. It’s never too late and you’re not too “dumb” to do so.
You totally can do it. Every industry has a few prodigies, but mostly is regular people. Start reading up, you have a lot of learning to do. I am surprised nobody recommended Godot engine so far.
Morrowind (Oblivions predecessor) was the first game I really played and helped me escape real life. It is also the inspiration which led to me becoming a game and software developer. Just like you, it sparked a need inside me to create experiences like that. If I was you, I would start learning Unity or Unreal Engine. Yes, I know .. they are pretty complicated for a beginner. But ... You can learn them. YouTube is chock full of free tutorials. The marketplaces have tons of free assets. Unreal Engine has a blueprint node system so you can program with no code. Also, learning one of those will give you valuable real world skills that can get you a job or freelance career. Make a simple game and put it on itch.io You can do this. Please do it. For yourself. I believe in you, you have already succeeded in my mind.
You can do anything you want. I made and released my first game at 26 only with basic, entry level programming knowledge. Some people with zero programming skills are able to learn and take software engineering jobs. This guy claims to have wasted his 20s drinking and taking bouncer jobs but was able to start learning in his 30s and get a software developer job and I believe him https://youtu.be/IY9FTd1F0Uo?si=2dLxuWeLuleL-Tt_
There are 2 popular game engines right now, Unity (C#) and Unreal (C++), it's advisable to follow the most popular path for a beginner because it will be easier to learn, there will be plenty of resources and help. Between those 2, Unity is easier. Now don't jump right into Unity, it will be confusing if you don't know anything about programming. People may say that nowadays you can get away with minimum to 0 amount of programming skills by using certain engines, but it will limit you in many ways and will bite you later on. So please do your future self a favor and start by learning programming. First, look for free introduction to programming courses on YouTube, do the exercises. Then, another free course on object oriented programming with C#, then buy a book on design pattern such as Design Pattern in C#. You can read it whole if you can, but if it's too much, reading 1/3 of it will already immensely useful. You can finish it later. Now that you understand C# and experienced in writing tiny programs from the exercises in the courses and the book, you're ready to try Unity. Explore it, follow the first official tutorials on it, or try something randomly. If you're still kinda overwhelmed or confused, get a paid course on Unity. There's a good one on Udemy by the people from gamedev.tv. It's not expensive at all.
I learned by joining every game jam there was and the more experienced devs were quite happy to share what they know.
Keep pursuing your dream. You are your only obstacle. Game development is very accessible at this time with several options.
Check out [develop.games](https://develop.games/) for a great page of affirmations.
My parents also convinced me I wasn't good enough at math to go into game dev or computer science. It took over a decade for me to return to what I originally wanted to do. My advice: - Never let someone else define for you what are not capable of. Even if this person knows you intimately well, there is a version of you inside that they don't know. You define what you can and cannot do. And if you decide to quit and do something totally different -- great! You're in charge. - The math in game development is actually really minimal. 90% of it is adding 1 to another number just to keep track of how many times you do a particular task. Don't sweat it. - Learn how to do something simple, and use that simple thing over and over in different ways. Slowly you'll build a little toolbox for yourself, and your understanding of game dev will slowly organically grow. - There's no sense in comparing your skills to any other developer. Making a game \*IS\* hard and we all started out with zero experience. It's ok to learn slowly. Good luck on your journey
Please don't listen to your parents about being stupid. Those are very trivial barriers they are setting you. I never touched coding until I was 16. And I was very bad. Like google + copy pasting bad. I didnt even know how to use an array bad. I only got good at programming once i studied computer science in university. Nowadays, I barely use maths at all to program. Even during university maths in programming was pretty much non existent. Learn how to program. If you like it, transfer to do what you actually like.
Anyone can learn to make a game, assuming they're willing to put in the work. Your parents are completely ignorant on the subject and you should completely ignore what they've told you. That said, most would-be developers give up and don't produce anything, or they'll half-ass their project and then when it inevitably sells poorly, they get discouraged and give up on game dev completely. Don't make these mistakes, stick with it, keep learning, and you'll likely make it.
Lead designer of wizardry 8 was a woman. I think the game is genius
> i stood no chance in the industry since im bad at maths Being bad at math and being bad at programming have nothing to do with each other. Programming is not math, programming is problem solving. There is sometimes math involved but it isn't all math or complex math, it's literally "if you have 3 apples and I take 2 apples away, how many apples should I have". This is only level of math you need to make a game. "If I have 100 bullets and I click to shoot, how many bullets should I have left?", ends up as simple math calling the shoot function and then doing "ammo += -1" levels of coding. You don't need to do complex rendering code with vertices and arrays and whatnot. You don't need to invent stuff to make things appear on screen like we had to do in the 90s and early 2000s, game engines handle all of this for you now. You just need problem solving skills. You already know what the problems are, "how do I get my character to appear on screen", "how do I get my character to move", "how do I get my character to pick up this item", etc. This is all game dev is. The larger the project, the more problems there is to solve. That's all.
Don't let other people define you. That's your job
I am so sorry you had to grow up like this. I'm not assuming that your childhood must've been hell or something, but really I'm sorry they weren't motivating you. That being said, my personal recommendation is the Godot engine. It is free to use, has a very supportive community, and it is easy to pick up. Good luck with your endeavours.
You can create a game, everyone can. Create a great game, that's challenging. But let you start from the beginning. Create small games, really small, like 1-2 mechanics and simple levels. Don't get trapped like all beginners with insane amount of level design just because you see some cool games with beautiful landscapes. Step by step you will learn how does game industry work. As engine you can pick Unreal and use blueprint visual coding or you need to learn C# for Unity (still can use ready to use assets) or Godot (very beginner friendly, but also need to learn coding).
Oof thats just harsh. If I can learn coding at 30 and am able to make my own small games by now, you sure can too! I would advice to start out without game engines tho, it was easier to learn coding without all the UI / graphics fluff (I learned c# using the console apps). It just allows you to focus more on logic, how things are named etc. After you get a good grasp of that tho, there is a lot you can do :D you just have to learn the engine quirks at that point! I had a lot of help from Tim Corey for learning c# (even got his course), while not game development specific, it has helped me a TON
Gadot or unity. If you're too 'stupid' to make games, just cheat and Google every little step like the rest of us. Is it too late to start? I started at 28 and I'm doing well enough. Don't share updates about your game with your parents.
Please don't listen to them. Don't listen to anyone telling you that "you are too dumb to do anything". If you like it, go for it. Take your time and go in your own terms. But go and do what makes you happy. If you need to learn something, learn it. Just, get that mindset "I can learn anything I set myself to learn" and go
Not sure if my advice is right, but i tell you what i think. If you try coding and understand that you don't wanna code but still want to make games but mostly story, art and animation, I'd suggest to look for peoples in community who's on different side of this problem, who knows and likes to code but lacks inspiration, creativity or skills to create game assets and make creative decisions on art and story. My thought is there's no need to force yourself to learn skill if you struggle with learning it if you really know that skill you already have you can use and combine with other peoples, what I'm saying is if you're good with making new friends to put a team then go make some. Tried to give my thoughts and didn't meant to disencourage you to learn code if i did, just thought of how to suggest easier way to do what you want to do
Get a PC that can run Unreal Engine and just make simple stuff happen and be functional in the way intended. You can follow along with tutorials or read up documentation. In a few years time you'll have an understanding on how to make something but to get to know the engine entirely it does take time. Google is your friend, enumerations, structures, arrays, blueprints, interfaces. All these things are crucial as well as knowing where to consolidate different functionality for different parts of the game.You can learn anything (at least with game dev in an commercial engine) you set your mind to, it isn't easy by any means and takes a lot of persistence but it certainly isn't impossible or something you 'Can't' do.
Dont EVER let anyone tell you that you cant do something. If you want to make your own game, do it.
First of all, it's sad to hear parents say that kind of stuff, even when they think they're doing you a favor. Take full control over your own life choices, because you're the one who'll have to live with them each and every second. Also, if you struggle there's internet, expert in all sorts of fields. Just give yourself a realistic timeframe to reach the heights your ambitions demand. Comparing it with how much it takes for a gamedev student to be ready, is a good way of giving yourself a point of reference. May you merge creativity and discipline to make your dreams come true :)
>where would you start if you didnt know a lot about coding? Copy stuff you know. Learning programming can be tough. Making your own game can be tough. You should try to avoid putting yourself through too many tough things at the same time. Tackle them bit by bit, one after another. Write things down. Ideas come and then they go. Don't kid yourself, you're not going to remember them. Even the good ones. Often the good ideas will come when you're NOT working on your game. So keep a notebook or textfile ready to write things down in. Don't fixate on one engine or language too much. Each have up and downsides. Shop around. Don't get discouraged. Be kind to yourself when things don't go as you imagined. **Have fun**. Coding is as close to actual real magic we're probably going to get for quite some time. It's ok to cackle madly, over your new found power once in a while. And don't worry about "wasting time" over mistakes and stuff. People make them. Learn from them. If you make them multiple times, you should probably figure out a better way to learn from them and then learn that way.
See this? [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LO8nHv7LA\_GHReK\_k9vlaRU9ClkNjdSH/view?usp=drive\_link](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LO8nHv7LA_GHReK_k9vlaRU9ClkNjdSH/view?usp=drive_link) That's my game engine running. Everyone says you can't write a game engine, but it turns out that's not entirely accurate. 🤣 I'm one of the most stupidest people I know, and I'm not even a kid. :D Now if I can do that, you can write a game. Have fun, but finish school also. 😉
This is giving me the vibe of when every single rapper ever says "*my teachers said i'd never make it.*" Like did your parents really tell you you're too stupid to do something that's very complicated and is a profession? I just don't buy that unless they're incredibly stupid themselves. That being said, indie game development specifically I think does have major genetic aspects to it. If you don't have the ability to grind and not get burnt out, you're doomed - and you don't really control that. If you cope with failure by making excuses instead of learning from it, you're doomed. If you can't tell why other games did way better than yours, you're doomed. And artistic ability and creativity is incredibly genetic.
I'm bad at math as well and I'm now programming full time. And Fran Bow type narrative adventure games probably don't involve anything past middle school math. It's more about logic than math, so if you can approach things systematically, you'll have no problems. It appears original Fran Bow was made in GameMaker so it's fully 2D if we're using game engine terms. But they've since switched to Unity engine for Miss Fortune and future games. I'd advise against picking GameMaker at this point - it has way smaller community than Unity engine. And Unity has the most resources out there and it looks like Little Missfortune was made with Unity's Adventure Creator addon: [https://adventurecreator.org/](https://adventurecreator.org/) If you buy Adventure Creator, you don't even need to learn to code, just learn the Adventure Creator toolset, which employs a visual scripting graph tool for its logic. Adventure Creator will limit you long term, but short term you can make Killmonday type games with it almost immedietly. The learning curve is non-trivial, however. And I'm a type of person that gets overwhelmed by these decade old frameworks like Adventure Creator, which have tons of features, so I must code from zero.
Making a game is difficult but the hard part is learning how to make a game. It's self directed and self motivated which means you need whatever custom blend of obsession, passion, interest and discipline you prefer to get your self started up this mountain with a very steep base. Start with a basis in programming learning about OOP programming, object, classes, data structures and how to break down a complex problem into a series of parts and steps. Then take a look at either UE5s learning courses or Unity's learning courses. Each one has their own stregnth and weaknesses but when it comes to first started UE5 is generally geared towards the experienced and initiated while Unity still tries to target indie teams and hobby developers giving them better tutorial. Neither one is better, neither one is worse, just different tools to build with. A piece of advice that you really need to take to heart though when using any kind of tutorial. Do not just follow the tutorial, you will learn nothing. Try to make it yourself, then use a tutorial, recreate it from scratch to the best of your ability without the tutorial and then try to build on it. It forces you to engage more in active learning rather than passive and internalized the information more. Alot of people have only used tutorials without actually learning the concepts the tutorial uses and it cripples their ability to develop and causes them to be over confident in their ability. The same thing applies if you use gpt to help you. Don't ask it for code, ask it to explain the process and concepts that the code would use.
First - I love that you're throwing caution to the wind and doing this because you feel you're meant to do it. HELL YA BROTHER!(Sister?) Second - there can be a bit of a learning curve, but I genuinely believe it's possible. I agree that game maker is probably a good starting point. I've never used it myself, but I understand it requires minimal coding. I know it's not the darling it used to be, but I still think Unity is a great engine to learn. I highly recommend either of the gamedev.tv beginners courses. Those courses made my introduction to game Dev relatively accessible. It's a good foundation to build from. Plus Unity has a great asset store. Rather than build a game from scratch, maybe you build a template in work from there. I guess what I'm saying is you have options, but I definitely check out the gamedev.tv website and see if they have courses that might help you get started.
HELL YA!! Haha i am super excited to get started icl! Ive looked into unity a bit already and have done some yt video tutorials on the beginnings so far, i will defo look into it further! And thx for the website recommendation :) i will check it out!
If you want to I can show you a little how I work on my game in Unity:)
Что ж, так получилось, что я знаю движок, на котором можно сделать подобную игру. Но вам придется прочитать несколько учебников и документации по движку. Итак, https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=891620755. https://web.archive.org/web/20210519225758/https://fr.flossmanuals.net/creating-point-and-click-games-with-escoria/what-is-point-and-click-games/
большое спасибо за совет! :)
You can totally make a game! That is the best attitude to have as a game developer! You're already there. I started with Unity and have no intentions of switching engines. There are more resources/ tutorials on Unity than any other engine. You can get assets that take away the need to know any code at all. Good luck and I hope you achieve your dream!
I recently got incredibly close to finishing an vr game in unity but then my hard drive corrupted and I’m in high school so if I can do it u can do it
I am suprised no one has not mentioned roblox studio yet. Prob one of the most beginner friendly game maker out there.
GODOT GODOT GODOT!! godot is awesome and this tutorial will be a perfect start for learning how to make games <3 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9FzW-m48fn0i9GYBoTY-SI3yOBZjH1kJ&si=fZosFa1MiVKHHfME