How to start developing games?

[Deleted member 440009]

Hello!
So, the question is really simple (tho the answer is not, I'm afraid). How can I start developing some games? Where should I start?
I do have some programming experience, mostly on C and VisualBasic.

Sorry if that's not the correct board!

Thanks!

 

[megaplayboy10k]

I wrote a long response then deleted it. Shorter:
1. Play a bunch of adult games, good and bad, and analyze what works and what doesn't in them
2. Familiarize yourself with the major game engines--Ren'py, RPGM, Unity and UE. Get free copies and noodle around with them
3. Ditto for the visual tools--DAZ3d, Honey Select Studio, Photoshop, (maybe) Poser
4. Read some quality erotic fiction for a sense of plot, characterization and dialogue
5. Start working on your first idea(s)

Bon chance!

 

[Saki_Sliz]

underground game dev is a good youtube channel

yoyo game's game maker use to be pretty good as a platform to learn, but they went from being free with a $29.70 pro version, to $995.99 for basic acess, to $199.99 base model with over $499 to get the same features that use to be the free version, and a total of $999 to get most of the features that use to be the pro version, so the diy community as shuned away from the platform as a result.

I'd say focus on 2D, and first play around with being able to just draw things on a screen. If you don't want to learn something super imposing like the Unity game engine, or UnrealEngine4, but don't want to be spoon-fed a constrictive api like ren'pi or rpgmaker, and you would acuatly like to focus on code, and not the tool and interface, I recommend 2 things. processing.org has a great platform, it is not meant to be a game engine, it is meant to be a java like coding enviorment for artists (not programmers) offering all the technical issues worked out so you can use commands as simple as image(imageObjectVariabl, x_location_on_screen, y_location); instead of having to worry about jframe setup, and if your are not familiar with object oriented programing they have a great tutorial series to walk through all teh subjects you need to learn coding and it is a good way to start to understand game engines as you basically have to make one, mostly just how to handle game loop logic. underground game dev tends to use unity last I check, which uses C#, which is my favorite language but I don't like the unity monobehavior api, so if you want to make a custom game engine, i find the other option that is still fairly simple as with processing.org, I recommend the monogame engine, or rather, framework, since all it does is provide a drawing api, and it is up to you to do everything else, but it's in C# which I find to not only be extremely flexible, platform independant, but if you use visual basic you'd probably adapt to visual studio.

 

[Deleted member 440009]

I wrote a long response then deleted it. Shorter:
1. Play a bunch of adult games, good and bad, and analyze what works and what doesn't in them
2. Familiarize yourself with the major game engines--Ren'py, RPGM, Unity and UE. Get free copies and noodle around with them
3. Ditto for the visual tools--DAZ3d, Honey Select Studio, Photoshop, (maybe) Poser
4. Read some quality erotic fiction for a sense of plot, characterization and dialogue
5. Start working on your first idea(s)

Bon chance!

Thanks for the answer! I guess I did step one for far too long lol...
Just downloaded Ren'py, let's see how it goes.
As for the visual tools, are they actually free? I've used photoshop and still may have a license around.
Thanks!

 

[Deleted member 440009]

underground game dev is a good youtube channel

yoyo game's game maker use to be pretty good as a platform to learn, but they went from being free with a $29.70 pro version, to $995.99 for basic acess, to $199.99 base model with over $499 to get the same features that use to be the free version, and a total of $999 to get most of the features that use to be the pro version, so the diy community as shuned away from the platform as a result.

I'd say focus on 2D, and first play around with being able to just draw things on a screen. If you don't want to learn something super imposing like the Unity game engine, or UnrealEngine4, but don't want to be spoon-fed a constrictive api like ren'pi or rpgmaker, and you would acuatly like to focus on code, and not the tool and interface, I recommend 2 things. processing.org has a great platform, it is not meant to be a game engine, it is meant to be a java like coding enviorment for artists (not programmers) offering all the technical issues worked out so you can use commands as simple as image(imageObjectVariabl, x_location_on_screen, y_location); instead of having to worry about jframe setup, and if your are not familiar with object oriented programing they have a great tutorial series to walk through all teh subjects you need to learn coding and it is a good way to start to understand game engines as you basically have to make one, mostly just how to handle game loop logic. underground game dev tends to use unity last I check, which uses C#, which is my favorite language but I don't like the unity monobehavior api, so if you want to make a custom game engine, i find the other option that is still fairly simple as with processing.org, I recommend the monogame engine, or rather, framework, since all it does is provide a drawing api, and it is up to you to do everything else, but it's in C# which I find to not only be extremely flexible, platform independant, but if you use visual basic you'd probably adapt to visual studio.

Thanks!
My main idea might need some more freedom than ren'py or rpgm can provide me, but I guess I'm like a year away from actually being able to start working on that.
Also yes, I'm not used at all with programming and GUIs... well, I knew I had to learn it one day

 

[pasunna]

megaplayboy10k
already said all of it

So I will talk about other side thing
Make a game is really hard
you need writing + art + programming skill
If you got some weak side of these skill
one way is find some easy tool to deal with that
other way is hire some one
last... looking for team up with some one


And you need to design how to play it
Game is beyond a Movie

It needs to interaction with player
it got some genre that say Kinetic novel
So game not Interact with player at all
just like read and see art slide

but mostly player expect to play something out with it
So game designing is something you need to learn about too

 

[Deleted member 440009]

megaplayboy10k
already said all of it

So I will talk about other side thing
Make a game is really hard
you need writing + art + programming skill
If you got some weak side of these skill
one way is find some easy tool to deal with that
other way is hire some one
last... looking for team up with some one


And you need to design how to play it
Game is beyond a Movie

It needs to interaction with player
it got some genre that say Kinetic novel
So game not Interact with player at all
just like read and see art slide

but mostly player expect to play something out with it
So game designing is something you need to learn about too

Thanks! I really think it's very difficult to make a good game.
I do have some experience in programming and writing erotica so it's the art part I actually dread. I plan on starting a project using rl porn just to practice while developing the art skills.
I just wonder if using rl pics is legal lol

Oh, those just clicking games are awful.. i do want interaction and meaningful choices.

 

[I'm Not Thea Lundgren!]

The most important thing to do is plan everything out first, know what you are going to create before you do any programming or artwork.

 

[DreamBig Games]

I plan on starting a project using rl porn just to practice while developing the art skills.
I just wonder if using rl pics is legal lol

Using RL pics is not legal unless you have the permission of the models or the agency that commissioned the pictures. So, grabbing some print screens from PornHub would definitely be illegal. As to can you do it? Sure.. there are games around wh have been doing it for years, and some are even on Patreon...
While Daz might not be the easiest to learn tool, you can get decent results in a few days of watching tutorials and reading around on forums, but it will require a good NVIDIA card, to be able to rend IRAY ( the best quality Daz can handle). I would recommend a beginner to get a 1070 as a start card, and then if it works out, move on to 2080TI or 1080TI. Also, DAZ3D assets can be quite expensive, especially when you use a lot of them.

 

[Synx]

DAZ3D assets can be quite expensive, especially when you use a lot of them.

Or just use the pirated assets posted in the asset release section, like 99% of the developers seems to use (when starting out atleast).

Anyway using irl pictures isn't legal. And while using the pirated 3d assets isn't legel either, there isn't really anything they can do about it. There are ton of tutorials out there teaching you everything required from importing assets, setting up a scene, lightning a scene, and rendering a scene.

But please take a couple days/a week extra time how to learn to combine assets, or use one of the morph packs available, so your characters doesn't look like every other game in here.

 

[HiEv]

I do have some experience in programming and writing erotica so it's the art part I actually dread. I plan on starting a project using rl porn just to practice while developing the art skills.

Well, if art is the hard part, you might want to consider working in

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using the

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story format. It's good if you want to make a mainly text-based game, especially if you know any HTML, CSS, and/or JavaScript already. You can add images, sound, and video too if you want, since it can do anything you've ever seen on a web page.

If you decide to try it out, you might want to use

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, instead of the most recent version. They recently switched the editor's engine from Node to Electron, so the Twine v2.3.x branch is still a bit buggy at this point. Twine v2.2.1 was the last stable build.

If you want to see what a game made in Twine can look like, The Company is probably the best example.

Have fun and good luck with your game!

 

[Saki_Sliz]

adding to Synx comment, check out https://f95zone.to/threads/blenders-assets-free-download-site.34452/#post-2226407
for cost-saving alternatives. I also believe there is a dedicated section on these forums for daz content.

talking about game engines, godot is one I had to walk away from. It is trying to be a free open-source competitor to unity, I tried using it just when version 3.0 came out, and it was terrible. The program itself was fine, and I've heard good things about 3.1, but the issue is documentation. 3.0 changed the api so the documentation was all wrong. With a decade of experience with code, It took me 2 days to do what should have taken 20 minutes because I had to rediscover the api and parameter setting through trial and error, and basically start writing new documentation from scratch. I'm there to make games, not develop their engine/documentation, so i can't understand why so many are sticking to it as first-time programmers (uses its own godot script, a python like language), but I should at least do the justice of pointing it out.

 

[lancelotdulak]

Youre a c programmer. Just download DAZ and take the deep dive into cgi.. believe it or not its far deeper than programming is.
Id suggest choosing either renpy (For visual novels), Unity (far more advanced , easy to use) for vn's or actual games or if you want to be able to do ANYTHING and uber quality.. ue4.
Thats and writing and cgi talent is all you need. Also please dont make yet another clone trope game

 

[CarbonBlue]

Make a game is really hard
you need writing + art + programming skill

I'd disagree with this. If an idiot like me can make a game, anyone can make a game. Learning how to render in DAZ effectively takes some time. Programming a basic game in Renpy takes not long at all.

My recommendation to anyone wanting to learn to develop a VN is to develop a VN. Now. There is no better way of learning how to make a VN than making a VN. Don't wait a year to improve upon your idea and go through the planning stages. This ain't rocket science here. These are porn games. And the only difference between the developers and the non-developers here is that the developers started putting in the work to make their creations.

 

[Winterfire]

you need writing + art + programming skill

Hold my MS Paint and lack of skills

Also disregard what CarbonBlue said, his game is successful, it doesn't count!


Jokes aside, the only thing you need to make a game is the will to make a game, that is it.
If you lack the will to make it, you will not make it by finding any excuse you can possibly tell yourself.
However, if you really want to, you can do it. Just take a look at my game, I have been updating that thing for 7 months now, with weekly updates without ever missing any, if I can do it, anyone else can with a much better result than mine (as it takes very little to make something better looking).


That being said, the rest of your questions were more or less answered (Some of those answers were partially incorrect imho).
My two cents is to have a simple plan (Game Design Doc), something you can make in a reasonable amount of time as the best way to learn is to make something small, then choose the engine to make that work even more easier (Example: If it is a VN, use Ren'Py instead of remaking everything from scratch in Unity).

 

[Saki_Sliz]

you need writing + art + programming skill

I'll guess I'll jump onto this wagon as well.
this is a yes and no from me.
It's not so different from a job or opportunities.
what people would like is to be qualified for the job, to already have the skills, but people don't realize that you don't just become qualified, it takes work and experience. A lot of engineering jobs want 5 years work experience because school isn't enough, you need actual experiences. And when it comes to more social jobs or any opportunity in general, typically to progress, you learn along the way. For example, thanks to some opportunities, I am starting a business. But I'm an engineer, so I am having to learn all this business stuff along the way, thankfully I have great contacts.

when it comes to anything, I find the best way to learn is to beat your head against a wall, and then reflect.
That means, don't know how to make a game, start looking into the first steps, it may not be what you want, since you will not have the skill sets, maybe you make a simple 2D block platformer when really you want to make an RPG adventure game. But the key thing is that by throwing yourself into the fire, you are forced to ask some really basic questions, questions you'll have to google to find out, and as you do project after project eventually things stick. and after a while it starts to be experimental as you try new things, you have enough knowledge to go a bit rouge, and then you can start looking at how other people try to do their projects and rip out what you like and build up your mental toolbox. I for example eventually decided to look deep into C#'s features to discover any neat tricks, I tried to make notes but after a while of note optimization I eventually made my own programming language concept, that takes a game description and translates it to C and C# code. Though I stick to normal code since I haven't had time to develop my idea into its own project.

Don't stop yourself from doing what you what because you're afraid you are not ready yet, everyone learns along the way anyways, an education never properly prepare you, but projects and work experience does.

the key is just figuring out what to google

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