Guidelines for Game Development

[User_17502]

I realized there are a lot of budding developers that don't know exactly where to start but have caught the Development Bug. I thought it would be helpful to create a thread for them to find the most common advice as well as a place for people to discuss how to get the ball rolling on their own part.


I will start with my own advice. Feel free to disagree with me but make sure to substantiate your points so people can understand what you are thinking. We all want to enjoy some great games and the only way to do that is for people to learn how to make them.


Side Note: Any Admins reading this, I didn’t know where else this would fit but if there is somewhere else that this would be more useful please move it there.


These are my rules to Game Development.

1. Just start. It doesn't matter if you are just starting with no knowledge about anything. If you keep procrastinating then you will never find the strength to push the ball and get the whole process going.
   
   
2. Do what you want to do and enjoy it. If you don't enjoy what you are doing then don't do it. People can tell if the Dev hates their game or loves it more than life itself. Not all of Game development is fun. But if you hate doing it more than you like it then maybe you should stop torturing yourself.
   
   
3. Have some good art assets already in stock before you push out a demo of your game.
   
   
   1. The first thing that people see is the art. The game could have an amazing story and a fantastic code but if your first image looks like a half assed piece of shit. Then no one is going to give a damn to play the game. (some people might but most wont.)
      
      
   2. If you suck at art then find someone else to do the art for you. I am absolute shit at art but instead I am doing all the coding and dialogue for my game. I won't release anything till I finish that end and get an artist on board that will complement my strengths.
      
4. Know the nature/goal of your game. Do you want to make it hard or easy for the player to get what they want. The best example of this is Big Brother. The game teases you for so long with your MC not getting in on the action however it allows the player to see scenes without the MC. This causes the player to keep playing because they are getting a taste of what they want but at the same time not able to do anything because they haven't progressed enough. If you do something like Summertime Saga then you will be constantly teasing the player with the women around the MC but he never gets any sex for awhile. Maybe he can see scenes of sex or he can see the women naked but he doesn't get to do anything in the beginning.
   
   
5. You are telling a story through a game. If the story sucks then the game might suck too. People know that they are getting into when they download the game. They aren’t expecting the next bestseller but they are expecting not to get bored to death. Try and make the dialogue and plot interesting enough that people are willing to follow along till their next morsel of action. Nothing needs to be perfect but it should be coherent enough for people to enjoy without typos constantly making them second guess themselves.
   
   
6. Make sure that your game is your own. Do what you want and not what the patrons want. Everyone cries "do it this way, I don't want that, I'm not paying for this anymore" but in the end whatever your fetish is people will pay for it so long as you deliver on promises and work hard on your game.
   
   
7. Have a publically available schedule for everyone to see and you stick to it consistently people will keep coming back over and over because they trust that they are getting their money's worth.
   
   
8. The demo is just a demo. It should give the player a taste of the game and the desire to see the rest of what you can do. This is your first chance to make an impact so make the demo free and then you can decide the rest for yourself after you see the response.

DO NOT

1. Release a shitty demo of the game with bad art - release a super small day one with good art but not much to do and people will be hooked.
   
   
2. Don't become a person that misses deadlines. if you need to change a date then do it but don't make it a regular thing. Excuses can only get you so far before people start ignoring them.
   
   
3. Don't expect to be a success over night. It takes time for anything to become big so don't shill it everywhere just put your effort in and make sure that people know where to get it.

 

[greyelf]

The main piece of advice I would give any budding (game) developer is to "Start Small", and by this I mean don't try to make a complex multi-path multi-stat many-character game as your first project. The larger and more complex your first project is the more likely it will stumble and possible fail.

The next piece of advice I would give is that you will make mistakes and there will be things you don't know / understand, this is true even for experienced professionals, so don't be afraid to ask questions or even to ask for help.

 

[Philly_Games]

@greyelf says it right. Start small. If it's story based I would suggest mapping out an outline of the key points of the story so you can manage any alternate paths that you take.

 

[Cyan]

These are my rules to Game Development.

1. Just start. It doesn't matter if you are just starting with no knowledge about anything. If you keep procrastinating then you will never find the strength to push the ball and get the whole process going.

I'm more-or-less on board with everything else you said. Except this.

When I was in college one of my professors said there were two types of programmers. Those who make plan ahead and try to think out/make a goal of what they want to do - And programmers who just start coding without much of a goal in mind. If I can paraphrase that professor, the ladder should 'just die.' (Extreme, I know.)

That ideology has rubbed off on me a bit. I think you should have a pretty decent idea of what kind of direction you want to go in, else you end up creating all kinds of code/art that you won't end up using, because you didn't bother to plan ahead. Especially, if you're working with partners who will be greatly hindered or hurt because of your lack of planning.

It's extremely annoying in a team environment.

 

[9thCrux]

I'm working on a project right now and it has been a real learning experience.
Using Daz 3D, Unity, and Ren'Py so far.

I started with:
-Very little experience using 3DCG rendering programs.
-Very basic 3D model posing and animation experience.
-No experience using Ren'Py, Unity, or any other software to make visual novels.
-English is my second language and is a challenge to write in English, many concepts, impact, ideas are lost in translation.

I followed a curious flow to make what I have of my game so far.

1-Created the main concept or basic story.
2-Made the characters.
3-Made the locations.
4-Then wrote what is going on between the characters in those locations (events).
5-Even got some music for my game (got the music author consent to use it).

Made custom morphs or custom characters in Daz (spent a lot getting assets).
Had to customize the locations with custom lightning, shaders, and props (all this while still learning to use the program)
Then I moved to scene making; placing the characters, posing them, changing the lights, environment and more.
Now I'm busy making the renders to plug into the code so the game can start to get shape, not sure yet if I will use Ren'Py or Unity to code the game.

Not making the game for profit, is more to learn and to share my views. It will be my two cents to the world of entertainment, not thinking about opening a Patreon.
My story involves incest and some other thematic material and I will not censor it or change it.

I'm sure there are many other ways to go about game development but after some trial and error the process I'm following is working for me but I'm open to learn of better ways to do it so this thread is actually helpful.

 

[anne O'nymous]

I'm more-or-less on board with everything else you said. Except this.

It also apply to the story. If you don't already know where the game is going, you'll have a real hard time to write the dialog and make them coherent with what will happen next.
The first step must be to do nothing except thinking about the game. Let it grow in your mind, and when what's in your mind feel good enough, start making it.

 

[User_17502]

I'm more-or-less on board with everything else you said. Except this.

When I was in college one of my professors said there were two types of programmers. Those who make plan ahead and try to think out/make a goal of what they want to do - And programmers who just start coding without much of a goal in mind. If I can paraphrase that professor, the ladder should 'just die.' (Extreme, I know.)

That ideology has rubbed off on me a bit. I think you should have a pretty decent idea of what kind of direction you want to go in, else you end up creating all kinds of code/art that you won't end up using, because you didn't bother to plan ahead. Especially, if you're working with partners who will be greatly hindered or hurt because of your lack of planning.

It's extremely annoying in a team environment.

It also apply to the story. If you don't already know where the game is going, you'll have a real hard time to write the dialog and make them coherent with what will happen next.
The first step must be to do nothing except thinking about the game. Let it grow in your mind, and when what's in your mind feel good enough, start making it.

I agree with both of your viewpoints and I think I need to clarify what I mean by "just start".

A lot of people have ideas about doing something and many of them are good ideas. However they just cant find the motivation required to start the entire process of putting their ideas into words and onto a computer screen. Most of the time when people start by just writing down a simple outline of what they plan to do they find continuing much easier than if they never laid any groundwork. I am not advocating for starting your entire massive Summertime Saga Esque game without a simple understanding of how game development works. Instead I am just telling people that "The Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"- Lao Tzu.
So my first point is just to motivate people to take their ideas and try to turn them into a reality. Learning only comes after someone stops thinking about doing something and starts doing something.

 

[mor joc]

not sure yet if I will use Ren'Py or Unity to code the game.

If your game mainly focuses on story elements then go with Ren'Py. It's really easy to write code for Ren'Py and you don't need to worry about basic utility codes for saving/loading, main menu, settings, choice based system etc. But if you want to make a game with minigames, complex behaviours, modding support etc. better use Unity. There are lots of free assets for Unity which will make your life easier but you still need to write a lot of C# or Lua codes. There is a opensource asset for Unity called Fangus which makes writing VN on Unity much more tolerable.

 

[DSSAlex]

I think for baby's first game Ren'Py is still pretty ideal. You can definitely make minigames in it, though obviously Unity will give you more options. That can be a problem going the other way, though. The important thing when you're starting off is to have defined goals you can accomplish and stick to them.

 

[User_215882]

No you should totally use rpgm. Everyone on this site loves it and its super easy.

 

[DSSAlex]

I change my vote

 

[SpikeGames]

first image looks like a half assed piece of shit

Thats why I skip 90% of games:FeelsBadMan:

 

[GeneralZero]

I actually tried to start. I created a character using Blender. But, then I realized that Daz3D will be way easier. My only problem is: I don't have money to invest in Daz Assets. And I want to create a complete legal game (maybe with a Patreon page and all, not sure). So, how can I continue the development? I'm a very goog programmer, but I'm still getting the hang of 3d modelling.

Also, I want to create an anime trainer. So, if you know easy and free ways to model characters with anime look please do tell.

 

[mor joc]

I actually tried to start. I created a character using Blender. But, then I realized that Daz3D will be way easier. My only problem is: I don't have money to invest in Daz Assets. And I want to create a complete legal game (maybe with a Patreon page and all, not sure). So, how can I continue the development? I'm a very goog programmer, but I'm still getting the hang of 3d modelling.

Also, I want to create an anime trainer. So, if you know easy and free ways to model characters with anime look please do tell.

There are lots of free models out there for daz and poser. And yes you can use poser models in daz. Try sharecg(dot)com or renderosity(dot)com. you can import models for other programs in daz too but you have to make manual changes to shaders and scales to make them work.

 

[WBWB]

My advice is to utilize one or more finite state machines to represent the player's progress in the game. Draw a diagram of all the states and all the player inputs that will change the state so you can visualize the flow of the game and make sure that it all makes sense and players cannot get stuck in a state with no way out. Coding the game then becomes a matter of implementing your diagram.

 

[NaughtyScales]

It's more like motivation speech, good work.

 

[Thundorn]

I have a ten commandments thread similar to this which I use for development.

The thing i would add is to do your research. I spend a good deal of my free time playing games that other devs have posted on here and other places. This not only is a great way to find inspiration but is also a really good way of identifying what NOT to do.