How to make a game.. my two cents worth!

News & General Discussion
1

Lately, I’ve been reading on posts that are “comparing” Unity and UDK. Everyone that participated in those exchange have made valid arguments on too which one is best. But I think that all of them, or at least the majority, are on the wrong track when it comes too game development.

This is an overview of what I think needs to be done in being productive and coming out with the best game possible. Also it doesn’t take into account the hobbyist, this is for game developers in mind.

1- Before even considering one engine or the other, you need an overview of what your next game will be. I say overview, because if you go in to deep with the details of your game at this point, you are losing precious time! The details of the game come in to play a little later in the process.

2- Once you have an idea of the type of game you want to do, you need to figure out your target audience. Who will playing this game? On what platform do they play these games? How much are they willing to pay for this game? and so on… If you don’t know this then how are you going to choose the right technology? How will you be able to establish the difficulty level and the amount of gameplay that you will need? etc. Also PLAY alot of similar games in order to see what’s out there and how you can bring something fresh and new to the gendra.

3- After that, you start looking for a publisher or “areas” were you might be able to sell your game. Do I go mobile? Do I go for a web player? Do I sell it off Steam or Big Fish? Or do I go for DLC on Xbox Live or PSN? Of course, for some of you, it might only be one option available and that is why,in point 2, you need to know if your idea is great for the only option that you have or if you will need to find another idea or just take a chance and roll the dices. Also to take in consideration is the size of the game, how many MB am I allowed to go to in order to publish on a specif platform? Do I go casual game or hardcore? (I would like to take time here to demystify the terminology of Hardcore gamer vs. Casual Gamers. Some say that casual gamers only play once in a while on silly little games and Hardcore gamers play all of the time on top notch state of the art games. Not true for both. You can have a casual gamer playing all of the time and the contrary is true for the Hardcore gamer as well. Also, there are game with a high level of difficulty in both categories as well. The difference between both, in my opinion, is the platform that they use and only that. There are other points to take into consideration but that goes into level design.)

4- At this point, you will establish a list of the strengths and weaknesses of your team. In case you are alone, like myself, then…You are the team! Why? Because, you need to know what you are capable of doing. And it’s not because you’ve never done it before that you won’t be able to do now. But you still need to now your limits.

5- Know that you’ve answered the 4 points above, you will be in a better position to determine what type of technology you need to use. It’s now time to choose your game engine. Are you building one from scratch or are you choosing an existing one? (Now I will spend a bit more time in this section. Because this is where i think allot of people are off track and just shutting there eyes on the big picture!) The famous question, should I choose to go with Unity 3D , UDK or something else? Well in this forum, you have people you say UDK because of the raw power, the beautiful graphics and the tools and others will say Unity because of the multiple option of platforms it has, easy to use and so on. No offense but both of you are wrong if you choose you’re game engine based on those arguments and some say that UDK is only good for FPS and that Unity is good for all of them. There again, you are wrong! The last statement only means that you have no imagination what so ever and that you’re shutting opportunities down because of your “fan-boyish” attitude.You need to choose you game engine based on multiple arguments and if you answered the first 4 points that I’ve mentioned, then you will be in a better position to decide which one is the best suited for the game you are planning on doing.

Example: You are doing a casual game publishing on Big Fish. Well no matter how you like UDK, you will probably have to go with Unity because you want to reach the most PCs possible and in some case, place like this, will restrict the size of your game. You will then either either have to cut into your gameplay or scrap everything all together.

Other Example: I need cinematics in between my levels in order for the story to hold and size is no problem. Well UDK right off the bat is the better option just because of this.

So choose wisely and consider EVERYTHING before choosing one or the other. Finally, it’s time to choose all of the other software that you will need. What texturing software are we going to be using? What 3D modeling software, Audio software? etc. If you plan on using something else than Max or Maya, make sure that it’s compatible with the game engine first.

6- Create a sandbox level where you will be able to test all of the mechanics that you would like to have and see if it works out or not. Because the last thing that you want is to set up your levels and notice that your metrics are off or that a specific animation does work at all and thus changes your entire gameplay.

7- Go create your game (Level Design, Localization, etc, etc.) and remember to create it for the player and NOT for you.

Lastly, some say that you need great graphics… Not true, look at games like farmville, cooking mama, Mario and other successful games. The number one thing must be GAMEPLAY. How are the controls disposed on the keybord or any other input device? Is the game FUN to PLAY? that is the most important thing. See my list below of important things and the priority that I give them.

**This is not the order in which to do them. It’s an order of how good them have to be. So number 1 has to be the best of them all.
1- Gameplay (Controls, gameplay, re-playability, Realism of the world that was created, etc.)
2a- Story (For story driven or mission type games.) if applicable…
2b- If you don’t need a story, Sounds and emotions. (I put them both here because the sounds that you will be using will kind of dictate the emotions that you want the player to have.)
3- Graphics. (You want nice graphics? Yes! But without gameplay, sound and story, they are nothing to a gamer. This doesn’t mean you can get away with shtty graphics. Your gameplay and story line will dictate a bit of the quality of the graphics that are needed.
4- Platform availability. (I put this last but it’s still important because to often, companies will port there game from one platform to another. It’s just wrong and there are just in it for the cash(Yes, we all need the money. But do we have to do at the expense of the consumer by pushing shtty games? and not creating great games. It’s not because your game is good on PC that it will automatically be good for the mobile devices. Your controls might have to be reconsidered and the types of controls that you use on your game might not be fun on a mobile device. etc.)
5- Being popular (Follow trends yes but don’t go at it just to make money because you will fail. Stay on what you know and love.)

If you have insight, constructive criticism, please feel free to add to this.

Thanks you and have a nice day to all.

2

That is much like the process I use, and (not surprisingly) the approach I used in creating the templates in my Toolbox product. :slight_smile:

I might add other options to some of your points, like step 3, instead of modifying your game idea to match a platform, you might want to figure out what platform matches the game and gameplay (from an audience point of view). But all in all, I agree with your approach. Heck I like any structured approach to making big, hard to change, decisions (don’t get me wrong, I’m sure we all love to break out our divining rods and give the internet a sweep from time to time, but i’ve just had that d*mned Ouija board lie to me too many times to ever really trust the thing again :wink: )

Cheers,

Galen

3

Galent,

From one Canadian to another… I agree with you and the Ouija board… so true… loll :stuck_out_tongue:

4

And who says you don’t get much for under a buck these days !

5

I’ve been making a game for the past year, and it’s just awesome-- the first challenging thing I have ever felt in my life.
Nothing has ever challenged me. School is so easy, I sleep through it even today (in a professional fast track program for undergraduates and graduates). College is a joke to me, and high school i LITERALLY slept through, lol…
I’ve found nothing to be difficult in my life, and people telling me “That’s impossible!” or “That must have been hard!” confuses me because I find it easy.
But designing a video game? Oh my goodness, the joy! The ectasy! The…the…CHALLENGE!!!

Besides my marriage, it is BY FAR the hardest thing I’ve ever attempted! And definitely the most complex. More complex than even the human mind (because it deals with AI mind, MANY different types of human’s minds, all interacting and colliding together in a multiplayer game!)
I would give advice on what I am best at: Designing, but I really wouldn’t know where to begin. The concept of designing any game is difficult enough, let alone the actual design! Now I understand why there are so many bad or fail video games created by even professional developers! Designing is definitely one of the most complex things in the world if you want to consider every variable (which you can’t…LOL!)
I’ve found few things in life complex, and few things difficult. But Game Design…
The only thing more difficult is interpersonal relationships, and the only thing more complex is God Himself.
Game Design takes the cake for both of those. Lucky for me I’ve been able to focus mostly on Graphics Art development, so I can rest my brain (which never happens…since I just solved what I felt was an impossible problem in my design…ugh!)

The #1 thing I would suggest though: COMMUNITY.
You cannot design a game alone. You cannot. Not a good one anyway. Not one that has enough foresight to foresee problems which will arise. You need people, even if strangers on a forum, to constantly critique, criticism, praise, and encourage you. Other people are the spark in genius which is required because one man’s mind, no matter how intelligent, just cannot find out the answer to every problem which occurs.

It is in the moments of COMMUNITY where you have CLARITY of how to solve your problem. It doesn’t even need to be about the subject-- ANY discussion can spark the fires of your imagination to explode just enough to break through any barrier.

6

@emergence

I love to see that I’m not alone that is in ecstasy, as the passion and up for the challenge of building a video game.

I also agree with you that one man can’t do everything by himself even if some of the best game we’re created by a one man team but that was before the 3D era which kind of complicated things.

But that is why, I use focus groups to conduct RIPs (I don’t remember what the acronym stands for but basically, it means that you have players of different levels play your game without telling them how to and them you ask them questions on controls, gameplay, environment, what they like and dislike, what they would like to see, etc, etc.) in order to see what works and what fails. Also, a good friend of mine is a level designer and he will go over every nuk and cranny of the game and see if everything fits in together.

Happy game designing… :smiley:

7

Whew! I haven’t even thought of that yet!
I’m still in the design and graphics stage, implementing the website and community.

It’s coming pretty close though! :slight_smile:

I can’t imagine the difficult I am going to have balancing the gameplay and different characters. That, in my foresight, has got to be the most time-consuming and difficult of all things in gaming. Especially in a game which eventually will turn from a 4 player multiiplayer game to a 25, then 100, then 1000 multiplayer game.

8

all you overly enthusiastic people make me want to throw up! :wink:
you’ll learn… muahahahah!

9

Interesting thoughts but game making is a dynamic medium where you can take alot of different approaches. There is no such thing a a standardized formula. Games are very different and what works for one type of genre doesn’t necessarily work on another. What I reacted to the most was prioritizing different aspect on gamemaking. Making a game is like baking a cake. You can’t say that flour is more important than sugar its all about how the different ingredience work together. The gameplay vs graphics debate is also a very strange one to me. To me gameplay is how the player experiences the interactive parts in a game and in that game mechanics, graphics, animation, sounds all play a great role.

If we gonna talk about graphics I think it is very important to distinguish the techniqual side and the aesthetic side. I agree that you don’t need the fancies tech all of the time. But design is always VERY important regardless of your game. Games is a visual media and so visuals count for alot. Super Mario isn’t a good example to show graphics isn’t important. The mariouniverse is extremly strong in its visual impact (and animation, sound, game mechanics). The mushrooms, spiked turtles, flesheating plants a.s.o are iconic now adays and a great example of brilliant design and overall a very tasty cake

So yes you can be very successful without flashy graphic technology but the visuals and design has to be great. If you want to go for the realistic 3D look be sure that you have the technology and skill to pull that off otherwise I strongly suggest a more stylised approach. Poor models with lowres phototextures and a colorscheme that is all over the place is a sure way to make the players turn around at the doorstep regardless of how brilliant the other parts of your game is.

10

@Filto - yes, gameplay, story, player experience, art, etc… are all subjective parts of game development that can’t be standardized across the industry (although within genres many sweeping player expectations do exist in place of formal standards). That said, many of the things that make games work, and make game titles profitable are very consistent. There are a finite number of “art” file formats and rendering possibilities, and unless you are one of those folks who specialize in making file formats and rendering techniques, then you are going to be restricted by the existing standards.

While there may be a broad range of standards, game designers must choose standards, within the realm of possibilities, based on players, not artistic vision. If you want to target only PC players, then what is your minimum standard settings? Players without the equipment, will not be able to enjoy your vision. Your iPhone game is limited by Apple… they tell you what minimums you have to support, what maximums you can support, and approve your work based on their criteria of what is acceptable.

I would say gameplay and it’s twin sister, story are the most open elements of any game. I don’t think anyone is saying you can’t take the approach that works for your game, but to say you can’t take a structured approach to design… well, I would argue many many projects fail if they don’t. both on the business front and development, Cheyenne Mountain had all the advantages every indie dreams of… and failed miserably last year.

Just my thoughts,

Galen

11

@galent. Well I agree with everything you say so either I misunderstand your post or you misunderstand mine :).

12

@Filto - hmm, interesting. On third reading, perhaps your right… Well… two people this out of sync should collaborate on something! :slight_smile:

Cheers,

Galen

13

@Galent Hehe yeah maybe we should. Best of two worlds

14

Hi Filto,

Well, concerning your first post, if you read what I’ve wrote on priority number 3:

[…] 3- Graphics. (You want nice graphics? Yes! But without gameplay, sound and story, they are nothing to a gamer. This doesn’t mean you can get away with sh*tty graphics. Your gameplay and story line will dictate a bit of the quality of the graphics that are needed […] This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have good to great graphics otherwise.

So we kind of agree on the issue of having a world, graphically speaking, that ties in to the gameplay and story(if you have one). Also when you say that games are dynamic and you can’t put a structure on it, I have to disagree and don’t forget that this is only an overview so I didn’t go in such details because otherwise my post would have been longer…Maybe too long! :stuck_out_tongue:

15

@Maparizeau I didn’t say you can’t put a structure on your work, of course you have to. I just meant that there is not a one fits all situation. Your have many valid points although I disagree with alot aswell. Maybe I read to much “this how you SHOULD do it” instead of “this is how I do it”.

Statements like these just gets to me. You can exchange every word and you will still have a correct argument so you can’t base a prioritylist on that.

“You want nice sounds? Yes! But without gameplay, graphics and story, they are nothing to a gamer”.
“You want a nice story? Yes! But without gameplay, graphics and sound, they are nothing to a gamer”.
“You want nice gameplay? Yes! But without sounds, graphics and story, they are nothing to a gamer”.

Interesting thoughts as I said Maparizeau and I’d like to discuss them more. I’ll check back later. First food and beer :wink:

16

Hmm, so here’s a question… at what point does a forum post become a blog :slight_smile:

Don’t ge me wrong, I’ve been endanger of posting an anthology at times :wink:

Cheers,

Galen

17

@Galant

We are limited by the standards that we set to ourselves. Our thinking is that a forum post is suppose quick, straight to the point and out we go. So with that thinking in mind, I wanted to give my own vision of game creation with an overview of things without going in too deep. Of course, for me at least, there are other factors to consider depending on the scenario that you are working on. But considering that this is a forum within the gossip section, I didn’t wanted to go into too many details otherwise, we would have lost ourself on…little details.

@Filto
Have one for me! :stuck_out_tongue: and I will gladly exchange with you on the issue. That is the main reason why I’ve posted this in order that have different points of view and if you can make me change my mind then cuddos (Is this how you write it?)!

18

Kudos :wink:

Interesting topic guys, an enjoyable read so far.

19

Thanks for correcting me :smiley:

20

thank you :wink: