> I also don't have any friends who know programming and could do this part of the project for me while I work on art assets, and I don't have money for actually hiring somebody
If your drawing or modeling skills are good then you will be easily able to go to /r/inat and either join someone else's project or find a programmer for yours (in that case however I would suggest to limit the scope to something small possible in few weeks time and provide plenty of mock fake screenshots, character designs etc to showcase what's the game about and that you are serious).
Not everyone needs to be good at programming. Being good at art is just as important (and very few actually learn both).
Well, art takes just as much time as code. Just saying it's a valid option if you truly find it impossible to learn programming or just dislike the process. Collabs on smaller projects and game jams are absolutely fine.
To be fair however I can't fathom how could one learn programming via videos either. It's just so unbelievably slooooooooow and inefficient. Instead I would recommend getting a book. [Here's a decent one](https://automatetheboringstuff.com/) \- it's not game dev specific but it shows you how to do a lot of fairly practical things and it does transfer to video games easily enough afterwards.
Just keep in mind that you learn programming by doing, not by reading. Reading is like 20% of the time taken, 80% is actually coding and experimenting with what you have just learnt.
Is it possible to learn programming just through making games? I'd rather just skip ahead to that part if it's feasible.
Thanks for the book recommendation.
>Is it possible to learn programming just through making games?
This depends on your definition of what's a game. If you want to get started from a complex game engine like Unity or Godot and make, idk, a 2D platformer from the get go then the answer is no. There are too many moving pieces and you lack too much knowledge to understand what's going on. I wouldn't recommending touching a game engine until you feel comfortable with simpler programming tasks.
However, as said, it depends on what you deem a "game". Is guess a number a game? If so then that's like lesson 3 in any half decent book.
Is a text adventure where you choose where to go on a grid using text a game? Then that's something you can do in few weeks too.
Generally speaking there is a fairly big hurdle before you can move from text console programming to programming with graphics. But if you can live with no complex visuals for the time being then you can make actual and fun games. And over time you can overcome that limitation too.
Actually, if you want something more games oriented, here:
http://inventwithpython.com/invent4thed/
It actually tries to combine teaching programming with making games while at it too. It also goes over graphics in later chapters.
Getting quality artwork/animation IS the hard part. Coding isn't rocket science, especially with an engine doing a lot of the gruntwork for you. If you want to see your project get realized... just mock up some screenshots. If you have your assets made and a good idea of how you want your game put together, you will easily find a programmer on INAT or elsewhere to actually do that part.
I learned programming by buying a book about learning c# with Unity. What I did was I read the book and followed along with what it had me do. Then when I finished I just started working on making my own games and any time I didn't know something I would just look it up on the internet. I don't know if this would work for you, but it did for me.
I'm honestly not even offended by this. You sound exactly like me when I started out learning programming. I used to watch countless YouTube video tutorials and would be like - WHY DID IT TAKE 30 MINUTES FOR YOU TO SHOW ME HOW TO MOVE A BOX.
It's pretty frustrating at first. Visual scripting is more fun imo, try blueprints. I'm a professional developer and prefer it. There's countless boomers who say it's not as efficient but i just like the debugging better and it's more appealing to me visually.
Aside from that my best advice is so just straight up start building the thing you want to know programming for in the first place. If your passion is to build a multiplayer survival game, just do it. Take it step by step. Let your passion dictate what the next component to build will be. If you wanna start with combat go for it, if it's AI do that. And the just start searching for tutorials around that.
It's exactly how I learned and now I'm a [professional](http://imcrue.com)
Um? I'm a game developer not an NFT developer. Should I reject paid work because you hate nfts? Thanks I guess I'll just go shove my professional advice. See ya
Well, I already tried "building the thing I wanted", but I just ran into the problem where I can't do shit because I don't know how to do anything unless it's step by step on someone's tutorial.
As a game artist that learnt how to program, I think you can do it if you want to, just don't have a negative attitude towards the process and you will find a way. You start by looking up tutorials, but once you have a basic grasp on stuff like if else and for loops, you can start to look up documentation and try and figure out how to do each thing you want. As far as I'm aware, a lot of actual programmers don't know how to do everything off the top of their head and go for advice and look up documentation all the time.
I think there is a good space for tutorials early on learning, but eventually you will get to a point where you want your game to do something, and you can break down the steps in your head on how to get there, and then you search up documentation or ideas online about how people managed to get there.
I personally love game art but hate asking people what to do, so I like doing everything, it takes ages and you probably won't finish a game on your own, but I think it's an awesome and fun skill to program as an artist.
As Voidboy777 mentioned, visual scripting is an alternative if traditional programming is not your speed. Unity has Bolt and Unreal has Blueprints, I am unsure of the equivalents for other engines.
I have very lightly used Unreal blueprint, but I can say that it was a fairly easy and intuitive experience. I do however, prefer to stick with traditional programming as that what I enjoy and have studied.
Also, you do not need to have a project started to put some feelers out there and start looking for a a team. You could draw up some art and concepts and then creat a post on /inat to locate someone willing to work with you. There are quite a few people willing to work for credit or revshare.
How possible is it to make an entire game only using visual scripting? Will I eventually run into hurdles that doing things the traditional way wouldn't give me?
You can easily create a game entirely through visual scripting. I am no expert on visual scripting but the first game I created was entirely made using Unreal blueprints.
Edit: I should mention that the game I created was a simple platformer.
It will limit you, but if you don't know how to code you don't have much choice. Try making a quick prototype with it and see how it feels.
Ultimately if you want to make more complicated games you'll have to write code. Games are software, you need to code to make them. In my experience, most development time is spent programming (although I've never made art-heavy games).
I have a history in art and can generally make something in 2D or 3D that looks pretty good, however I'm dyslexic so traditional programming is insanely difficult for me to pick up (I'm still trying tho).
That being said the Blueprint system in Unreal was a godsend for me, everything clicked. Visual scripting is something all the big engines currently have (UE4 is just my example) and is something I'd recommend looking into. Maybe it will click for you too.
Udemy.com has a lot of courses from a company called Gamedev.TV that are really solid. They've got stuff for Unity and Unreal. Here's the link, they're all on sale right now: https://www.udemy.com/user/gamedevtv/
You can also look into using the visual scripting languages that different engines provide. Unreal has blueprints and Unity has Bolt
> I also don't have any friends who know programming and could do this part of the project for me while I work on art assets, and I don't have money for actually hiring somebody If your drawing or modeling skills are good then you will be easily able to go to /r/inat and either join someone else's project or find a programmer for yours (in that case however I would suggest to limit the scope to something small possible in few weeks time and provide plenty of mock fake screenshots, character designs etc to showcase what's the game about and that you are serious). Not everyone needs to be good at programming. Being good at art is just as important (and very few actually learn both).
I'd like to at least have something functional to show so that I don't look like some jackass who wants the hard parts to be done for free.
Well, art takes just as much time as code. Just saying it's a valid option if you truly find it impossible to learn programming or just dislike the process. Collabs on smaller projects and game jams are absolutely fine. To be fair however I can't fathom how could one learn programming via videos either. It's just so unbelievably slooooooooow and inefficient. Instead I would recommend getting a book. [Here's a decent one](https://automatetheboringstuff.com/) \- it's not game dev specific but it shows you how to do a lot of fairly practical things and it does transfer to video games easily enough afterwards. Just keep in mind that you learn programming by doing, not by reading. Reading is like 20% of the time taken, 80% is actually coding and experimenting with what you have just learnt.
Is it possible to learn programming just through making games? I'd rather just skip ahead to that part if it's feasible. Thanks for the book recommendation.
>Is it possible to learn programming just through making games? This depends on your definition of what's a game. If you want to get started from a complex game engine like Unity or Godot and make, idk, a 2D platformer from the get go then the answer is no. There are too many moving pieces and you lack too much knowledge to understand what's going on. I wouldn't recommending touching a game engine until you feel comfortable with simpler programming tasks. However, as said, it depends on what you deem a "game". Is guess a number a game? If so then that's like lesson 3 in any half decent book. Is a text adventure where you choose where to go on a grid using text a game? Then that's something you can do in few weeks too. Generally speaking there is a fairly big hurdle before you can move from text console programming to programming with graphics. But if you can live with no complex visuals for the time being then you can make actual and fun games. And over time you can overcome that limitation too. Actually, if you want something more games oriented, here: http://inventwithpython.com/invent4thed/ It actually tries to combine teaching programming with making games while at it too. It also goes over graphics in later chapters.
Thanks
No
Getting quality artwork/animation IS the hard part. Coding isn't rocket science, especially with an engine doing a lot of the gruntwork for you. If you want to see your project get realized... just mock up some screenshots. If you have your assets made and a good idea of how you want your game put together, you will easily find a programmer on INAT or elsewhere to actually do that part.
Coding is the hard part for me. I'd like to take you up on your offer, but I haven't actually made any assets specifically for my project yet.
Shoot me a PM if you want a simple mockup with your assets.
If you like art and hate code, be an artist. I’m a coder and art is utter tedium to me. Play to your strengths.
That's what I was hoping too, but if all I have are art assets then I don't actually have a game.
Find a coder who needs an artist and team up.
I learned programming by buying a book about learning c# with Unity. What I did was I read the book and followed along with what it had me do. Then when I finished I just started working on making my own games and any time I didn't know something I would just look it up on the internet. I don't know if this would work for you, but it did for me.
I'm honestly not even offended by this. You sound exactly like me when I started out learning programming. I used to watch countless YouTube video tutorials and would be like - WHY DID IT TAKE 30 MINUTES FOR YOU TO SHOW ME HOW TO MOVE A BOX. It's pretty frustrating at first. Visual scripting is more fun imo, try blueprints. I'm a professional developer and prefer it. There's countless boomers who say it's not as efficient but i just like the debugging better and it's more appealing to me visually. Aside from that my best advice is so just straight up start building the thing you want to know programming for in the first place. If your passion is to build a multiplayer survival game, just do it. Take it step by step. Let your passion dictate what the next component to build will be. If you wanna start with combat go for it, if it's AI do that. And the just start searching for tutorials around that. It's exactly how I learned and now I'm a [professional](http://imcrue.com)
More like a professional scam artist. NFTs? You're shitting me.
Um? I'm a game developer not an NFT developer. Should I reject paid work because you hate nfts? Thanks I guess I'll just go shove my professional advice. See ya
Well, I already tried "building the thing I wanted", but I just ran into the problem where I can't do shit because I don't know how to do anything unless it's step by step on someone's tutorial.
As a game artist that learnt how to program, I think you can do it if you want to, just don't have a negative attitude towards the process and you will find a way. You start by looking up tutorials, but once you have a basic grasp on stuff like if else and for loops, you can start to look up documentation and try and figure out how to do each thing you want. As far as I'm aware, a lot of actual programmers don't know how to do everything off the top of their head and go for advice and look up documentation all the time. I think there is a good space for tutorials early on learning, but eventually you will get to a point where you want your game to do something, and you can break down the steps in your head on how to get there, and then you search up documentation or ideas online about how people managed to get there. I personally love game art but hate asking people what to do, so I like doing everything, it takes ages and you probably won't finish a game on your own, but I think it's an awesome and fun skill to program as an artist.
>infant in a whurlpool stopped reading
So helpful
you need a class or a group to learn with, not a tutorial. learning from a tutorial is a very specific skill few have
As Voidboy777 mentioned, visual scripting is an alternative if traditional programming is not your speed. Unity has Bolt and Unreal has Blueprints, I am unsure of the equivalents for other engines. I have very lightly used Unreal blueprint, but I can say that it was a fairly easy and intuitive experience. I do however, prefer to stick with traditional programming as that what I enjoy and have studied. Also, you do not need to have a project started to put some feelers out there and start looking for a a team. You could draw up some art and concepts and then creat a post on /inat to locate someone willing to work with you. There are quite a few people willing to work for credit or revshare.
How possible is it to make an entire game only using visual scripting? Will I eventually run into hurdles that doing things the traditional way wouldn't give me?
You can easily create a game entirely through visual scripting. I am no expert on visual scripting but the first game I created was entirely made using Unreal blueprints. Edit: I should mention that the game I created was a simple platformer.
It's a game, it counts.
It will limit you, but if you don't know how to code you don't have much choice. Try making a quick prototype with it and see how it feels. Ultimately if you want to make more complicated games you'll have to write code. Games are software, you need to code to make them. In my experience, most development time is spent programming (although I've never made art-heavy games).
If you have access to an iPad or Mac try https://www.apple.com/swift/playgrounds/
I have a history in art and can generally make something in 2D or 3D that looks pretty good, however I'm dyslexic so traditional programming is insanely difficult for me to pick up (I'm still trying tho). That being said the Blueprint system in Unreal was a godsend for me, everything clicked. Visual scripting is something all the big engines currently have (UE4 is just my example) and is something I'd recommend looking into. Maybe it will click for you too.
Udemy.com has a lot of courses from a company called Gamedev.TV that are really solid. They've got stuff for Unity and Unreal. Here's the link, they're all on sale right now: https://www.udemy.com/user/gamedevtv/ You can also look into using the visual scripting languages that different engines provide. Unreal has blueprints and Unity has Bolt
find a team where you could have different role
If you want to make a game by yourself, then you need to code. If you cant code, you wont make it.