How to Create a Video Game from Scratch (with Pictures)

2024 Author: Jason Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-02 02:28

These days, more and more people are addicted to video games. That means there are plenty of opportunities for new people to enter the game world and make great games. Creating a game is a complicated process, but you can do it yourself with a little outside help or money. We'll show you the basics that you can take into consideration when building your own game and making it a great one. Just start with Step 1 below.

Step

Part 1 of 4: Preparing for Success

Step 1. Understand your game

You'll have to do some kind of planning and thinking that involves big issues if you want to keep your game creation process running smoothly. What genre would you choose for your game (RPG [role-playing game], shooter, platformer, etc.)? What platform do you need to play your game? What are the unique or standout features of your game? Each answer to each question will require different resources, skills and planning, as each will have a different impact on the development of the game.

Step 2. Design a good game

How the game is designed is going to be very important, so it's a good idea to think about it before you start building a game. How will players gain progress in the game? How do players interact with the world? How do you teach players how to play your game? What kind of audio and music cues will you use? All of this is very important.

Step 3. Be realistic

If making a game like Mass Effect was easy to do, everyone would do it. You have to understand what you can and can't do without the support of a great studio and a mountain of experience behind you. You also have to be realistic about what you can achieve in a reasonable timeframe. If you're not realistic about your abilities, you're more likely to quickly feel disappointed and give up. We don't want you to give up!

Step 4. Look for good hardware and software

Creating games above the level of mobile games (games that can be played on devices such as phones, tablets, PDAs, or calculators) requires a computer that is arguably "completely modified". If you're using an older system, you'll find that your game won't run on that computer. You'll also need fairly powerful and very specific software to build games. Some programs can be obtained for free or at a low price, but others can be a drain on the wallet. Good software will be discussed in the next section, but be aware that the software you will need includes a 3D modeller, image editor, text editor, compiler, etc.

At a minimum, you'll need a powerful processor (at least quad core, and even better if you have the latest i5s or i7s processor), lots of RAM, and a high-end video card

Part 2 of 4: Building Your Team

Step 1. Make small games yourself, big games with other people

If you just want to make mobile games quickly without complicated visuals and programming, that's fine. It's a great project to work on yourself, because you can use it to show potential employers and investors what you're capable of. But if you want to make a more serious game, you're going to need some help. Indie games usually have teams of 5-10 people (depending on the level of complexity) and big name games can involve up to several hundred people in the process!

Step 2. Build your team

You're going to need lots of people with different skills if you want to make the most powerful types of games. You will need programmers, modelers, visual designers, gameplay or level designers, audio experts, as well as producers or marketing/financiers.

Step 3. Create a Game Design Document or GDD (game design document)

Think of this as something between a summary and a war plan for your game. GDD tells you everything about your game design: gameplay, game mechanics, characters, plot, etc. Along with that, GDD also shows what needs to be done, who's in charge of doing it, what to expect, and a general schedule for getting all the work done. GDD is very important, not only as a reference for your team to work according to the goals you want to achieve, but also to show potential investors.

Your GDD should be divided into sections and include a detailed Table of Contents.
General sections that should be included include the game's storyline, main and minor characters, level design, gameplay, art and visual design, game sound and music, as well as details on control and user interface design.
GDD should not be limited to just text. You'll usually find design sketches, concept art, and even something like video previews or sound samples.
Don't feel too restricted or worry too much about your GDD and its format. There are no standard formats or things that are required to be included. Just create a suitable GDD for your game.

Step 4. Think about money

You need money to make games. Not only that, the tools needed are also expensive and make the game time consuming (taking up time that you could use to do other things that really bring in income). The more people you work with, the more expensive it will be and the more complex the skills will need to be to make progressively more sophisticated games. You should think about where you are getting your money from and you should discuss with your contributors how, when and how much they will be paid before the actual work begins.

The cheapest way to make a game is to do everything yourself, completely yourself. However, this is difficult to do if you don't have the skills, and the types of skills required to create games vary widely. For people who are completely inexperienced and working alone, at least they can still try a simple clone application. Even if you make your own games, you still have to pay licensing fees for the best engines (software for creating games) and various app stores and other points of sale. Don't forget about taxes for the money you make later.
To make an average quality indie game, you'd need around a few hundred million. Big and famous games often cost billions to develop.

Part 3 of 4: Going Through The Process

Step 1. Do the programming

You need to choose an engine for your game. A game engine is a piece of software that controls all the little details of how a game works (like algorithms, physics, etc). Engines need tools, which are sometimes included with the engine, but sometimes have to be built from scratch, that allow you to interact with and create games within the engine. Once this is done, you'll need to find someone who knows how to script in the engine. In the scripting process you tell the game engine what to do. These jobs usually require some level of programming skills.

Step 2. Create content

You also need to start creating the actual game content. This means modeling characters, creating sprites (visual representations of all the objects in the game), creating environments, creating all the objects that the player will interact with, etc. Excellent skills in 3D software and visual arts are usually required to complete this task. It's also good to plan carefully ahead.

Step 3. Make a beta

You need to test your game by asking someone else to play it. Don't worry about finding bugs just yet: you need to get people to play it even if it's just to see how other people see and feel your gaming experience. What you find intuitive can be very confusing to someone else. A tutorial or story element may be missed. You will never know. That's why it's important to get an outsider's view.

Step 4. Test, test, test

Once you finish your game, your job isn't really done. You have to test everything. Everything. You should check every possible scenario in your game to make sure there are no programming errors. This takes time and effort. Allocate plenty of time for testing!

Step 5. Show off your game

Let others see your game once it's done. Show it to companies that might be interested in investing in your game and to the people you think are willing to play it! Create websites and blogs with game development, show screenshots, how-to videos, trailers, and content to show people what your game really is. Generating interest is critical to the success of your game.

Step 6. Release your game

Step 1. Try a game maker program for beginners

There are some good programs that beginners can use to create basic games. The most popular are probably Game Maker and RPG Maker, but Atmosphere and Games Factory are also good. You can also use children's programming training tools, such as MIT's Scratch. This program is great at teaching the basic skills you need.

Step 2. Learn about different graphics software

If you are not hiring a professional to do your graphic work then be prepared because you have a lot to learn. You will have to learn to operate a number of complex graphics programs…but you can do it! Photoshop, Blender, GIMP, and Paint.net are great places to start if you want to create visual elements for your game.

Step 3. Consider going professional the traditional way

It will be easier for you to create a successful game and get investors if you have experience, education and a well-known game that has something to do with your name. For these reasons, it might not hurt to work with a traditional game developer who already has a name before deciding to start making your own games. You may have to go to school or acquire some skills, but they are steps towards your goal and you will eventually taste the rewards.

Step 4. Find your way into the indie community

The indie game developer community is very strong, supportive and friendly. If you're good at supporting, marketing, discussing, and assisting them with their projects, they will return your favor in the same way. Talk to them, get to know them better, and let them get to know you too. You will be surprised at what you can achieve with the support of the community behind you.

Step 5. Consider crowdfunding if you're serious

If you want to make a professional game that can compete with other serious games, you're going to need money. Thankfully, things have changed in recent years and crowdfunding has allowed unnamed people to create great games. Try getting acquainted with Kickstarter or other similar websites. But you have to realize that you have to really work hard to do a great campaign. That means realistic goals, great rewards, and constant communication.

Tips

Don't expect your first game to be a revolutionary benchmark. If you're really persistent, well, it might happen, but the chances are slim. Don't give up just yet, listen to what people have to say about what went wrong and what they like. Implement the aspects you like in your second game and make improvements to or remove what you didn't like or things that were bad in your first game.
Keep learning. If you need help, ask. There are millions of people willing to lend a helping hand in creating games, so never be afraid to seek help. And remember, there's always room for improvement so keep learning about making games.
Don't forget to back up files frequently. You never know when your computer will crash.
Practice as much as you can, so you'll get better at making games. As the saying goes "Early Practice of Perfection!"
Test. Test. Test.

One of the most annoying and embarrassing things is finding critical errors, glitches and programming errors in your game after it's released to the public. Organize your game into stages such as development (still under construction), alpha (first or early testing), closed beta (pre-release testing for invited or selected people) and open beta (pre-release testing for the general public). Choose the right people for the closed beta and alpha stages and gather as much feedback and constructive criticism as possible. Use that information to improve your game and fix as many programming errors as possible before release. Add pre- or xx.xx versions for your stages so you can polish your game even better. Make sure to clearly mark it as a development release if it's one of those.
Make a sensational promotion and advertise. Let's just say it, you are not the only amateur game maker. You could just release a game and be immediately overshadowed by a newer and/or better game that is also being released. To combat this, spread the word about your game that will be launching in the near future by any means required. "Leak" some details here and there. Announce the release date so that people will be eagerly waiting for it. If it's worth it, you might even want to consider spending money on advertising.
Remember, having a team is always better than working alone. You can significantly reduce the workload and time you spend creating games by dividing your team into graphics and coding and then adding other divisions like writing and drafting, etc. This is an important area depending on what software you choose, as graphic game makers like BGE, Unity and UDK have insufficient support for team workflows, and editing code directly and proceeding to a version control system like git might be a better idea. good.
Finally, never give up. Creating a game can be a tedious, tiring and frustrating process. At times you will feel the urge to just give up and do something else. Do not do it. Take some time to rest, go have fun for a while and put off work for a few days. You will come back feeling confident again.
Establish a work plan. If it's your first time and you don't want to rush and want to experiment, a work plan may not be necessary. However, a work plan will guide you towards your goals and can be especially important if you have promised a release date. Make a rough plan first when you want to finish it, then refine it into subsections of coding/graphical stages, etc.