I wrote an article for newcomers to the game industry

News & General Discussion
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Hello everyone!

I’ve been lurking on forums and been noticing that there are lots of newcomers asking how to get started making games.
So I decided to write an article to help these people. It took me several hours but here it is!

You can read it here: appgoodies.net

For more experienced programmers I am asking for a feedback on this writing. Should you find anything misleading or incorrect please let me know and I’ll fix it!

Thanks :smile:

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Always great with an article to help newcomers. A few notes.

You should but emphasis if this is for people who wants to make games in their spare time or actually get into the industry. There is a big difference in the ways to approach it then. If they really want to make it in the industry they should probably get them self a computer science degree from a decent school at some point, learn math and other important trades (for programmers that is. But as you mention programming i guess that is the aim).

For hobbiest it is a fine article, but you should not use wording as newcomers in the industry, thats off.
Oh yeah and everyone should learn some basic vector math!

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Thanks for the feedback! I did a few changes and added a bit of content to my article.:slight_smile:

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No problem!

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Ugh. You want me to learn C++ before I open the engine? That certainly is one way to become demotivated. :stuck_out_tongue:

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I actually started in C++ hehe, but i agree! No reason not to start in C# if you goal is to make games in Unity anyways. You can learn the basics of programming in C#.

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I started with QBasic. Explored Visual Basic, Java and JavaScript. Now I do C# for Unity and VBA for my day job.

All that said, if you want to make games, reach for the language the engine uses. And learn it in the context of the engine. Unity has a very good learn section on scripting in C#. Learning there will get you to making playable games faster then any other route.

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The bit about basic vector maths is pretty true. You probably won’t get good behaviour going in a 3D title without some understanding of vectors.

However, the article misses out things like blueprint and visual scripting. People are using blueprints and visual scripting to make more money than you’ve ever seen, ie the Forest and other titles. It’s not going away and is a viable way for people to create games.

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Let’s hope UT gets the hint and we see a feature like this soon :wink:

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I never mentioned making newbies learn everything about a programming language. Let alone C++. :stuck_out_tongue:

Never thought about writing about visual scripting. I will try to come up with something since I had no prior experience to visual scripting. Well, I made a flashlight using Blueprints in Unreal Engine 4, but that’s about it.

Since it’s in research state, I doubt it will be announced any time soon.

Thanks everyone for the feedback! :slight_smile:

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People always forget about the artists. You won’t be making games without us :stuck_out_tongue:

For beginning artists, to get into making games, shut down the computer, uninstall Unity, grab a pencil and a block of paper and spend the next few months or half year learning edges, lighting, and form. Draw lots, and lots, and lots of still life drawings. You’ll be halfway there to your art job. :smile:

I’m only half-joking. :slight_smile:

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I am not an artist so I am not sure how artists can make games :stuck_out_tongue:
Anyone is welcome writing articles on my blog. So if you have ideas you can share them there :slight_smile:

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As a programmer I feel it is my duty to inform you that unity cannot be uninstalled while the computer is shut down. :stuck_out_tongue:

Kidding aside, this is actually good advice. Designer should build board games. Artists should paint. And programmers should solve logic puzzles.

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The town I live in (Guildford, UK) has a fairly large game dev sector, and I met one of the leaders of a studio at a bar. Of course, I pumped him for information. When I became interested in games, I downloaded Unity and wanted to try out, but programming wasn’t for me. I kept being sidetracked by art stuff. I even went out and bought ZBrush - which my partner was not happy about.

But this guy I met basically gave me that advice. I wasn’t allowed to load up ZBrush until I knew art fundamentals. So, for the last six months or so, that’s what I’ve been doing. Not on the computer, but on paper. I think it was pretty wise advice, so I’m following it.

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