Is it possible for a small team of high schoolers to create a game like Dark Souls/Bloodborne?

[AbelM03]

Hello! I’m currently about to start high school, a couple of friends and I decided on a project that we want to work on for the next 4 years; A 3D action RPG in the same vein as FromSoftware’s Dark Souls and Bloodborne. We’re most likely going to be using Unity, as all of us have hardware capable of running it, it can accomplish what we need, and one of us already has a few years experience with the engine and the C# language. In the 4 year timeframe, we aim to learn Unity, get a good grasp on it, and at least make a working prototype version of the game to use as a proof-of-concept to get funding by making a Kickstarter, or by showing it to a publisher.

We plan on working our asses off to the maximum in order to get to this goal, and I’m just asking here to make sure it’s even something worth trying.

Another thing I’d like to note is that the game would probably be shorter than the Soulsborne games, and it would probably have a simpler, cell-shaded graphical style (think Breath of the Wild) instead of the realistic style of Soulsborne.

[yoonitee]

Probably not. Do a search for “indie games” to see what sort of stuff is more realistic.

[BIGTIMEMASTER]

If you guys are really motivated, consider trying to make a single level with a boss, rather than a full game. Something that may take an hour to play through, assuming its pretty challenging. Look at other student projects to get an idea of how much typically gets done. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you and your friends will be any better – only think that after you have proven so.

check this student project out (final video is at the end. looks like most of the people involved got jobs because of this work): https://polycount.com/discussion/192103/the-resistance/p1

[Antypodish]

What I would like also to highlight, along what been said, be careful, when planning do something with other person. No matter how long you know each other. Specially during highs cool, when lot of things my change. Including relation ships. Young people tends to try and explore things. Then drop quickly what is not interested to them.

You may end up completely fine. But chances that you, or your friend decide that don’t want to do it at some point? Or get bored, or overwhelmed. Then one of party is let alone. Onside note, there is relatively few happy “friend” stories in development. However, you can hear someway stories, where one turns back on other. This is not to discourage, but to make awareness.

Hypothetically, lets say you both working intensively on a project. Then on second-third year, one of you drops from project, for any reason. Lets say you continue and make successful product in the end on 3-4 yer. Unless is set from the begging, that project is more like partnership, rather friendship, you may run into many unpleasant conversation, if one of you don’t accept how it turned out. Well it is life.

But as well, you may end up working over 10 years together

Point is, be prepared for any results. From expected success to unexpected hard failure.

[PVisser]

So first of I’d say try to build the game in layers. So as was said before above me try to have layer 1 be your character, the combat mechanics, heal/stamina/damage mechanics, and a level (small arena) with an enemy/boss.

Then on to layer 2 by slowly building upon that and add an inventory, an additional armor/weapon set, heal/damage items, ring that boosts a stat and so on. Whatever you feel like adds value to your game and the gameplay.

Then add layer 3 by creating a small enemy or a second boss that you can fight in the finished arena or in an (new) additional level. Maybe connect the levels and allow the player to travel between them.

You get where this is going. Try to take small steps and see how long it takes and what you had to do. There’s more to it than you’d think beforehand. A group of students in 4 years could make a great game, but you’d have to learn programming, animation, artwork, textures/shaders, sound effects /sound track, UI design, game design and there’s even more on the marketing and business side of things.

There are AAA studios who try to replicate the Dark Souls and Bloodborne games and who ‘fail’ so make sure you’re not just trying to recreate a game you love to play that took a professional studio years to make. Think hard about what you want your game to be and how that’s going to compare to other games.

Just to give you an impression of those games, there’s Lords of the Fallen, The Surge, Necropolis, Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption, Vampyr, and these are just the ones on my radar. You’re also competing with other ‘hack and slash’ games or even RPG’s such as The Witcher, so your game better have one hell of a unique selling point to stand out.

Well, this turned out more ‘scary’ than I intended, but my advice is to try to get that ‘layer 1’ finished, see how much time and effort that took all of you, if you’re all still on board after that and go on to layer 2, and so on. Don’t fall into the trap of ‘sunk costs’ where you feel stuck to the project because you already invested so much. You’re students from what I understand so take risks, learn, and don’t be scared to ‘fail’ because that’s also a learning experience.

[Kiwasi]

Possible, yes. Likely, no.

High school game studios are like high school garage bands. Most fail pretty quickly. A few make it to the local pub circuit. And about one in a million make it big.

Your odds are better if you come from a game dev background. Indie teams that have all worked for other game studios for ten years tend to be more successful.

[angrypenguin]

@AbelM03

We plan on working our asses off to the maximum in order to get to this goal,

The people who made the games you’re naming as examples also “worked their asses off to the maximum”, and they had a whole bunch of experience that you don’t before they began.

Definitely have a go at this stuff, but do it with realistic expectations so you don’t end up disappointed with the results.

[AbelM03]

@BIGTIMEMASTER

If you guys are really motivated, consider trying to make a single level with a boss, rather than a full game. Something that may take an hour to play through, assuming its pretty challenging. Look at other student projects to get an idea of how much typically gets done. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you and your friends will be any better – only think that after you have proven so.

check this student project out (final video is at the end. looks like most of the people involved got jobs because of this work): https://polycount.com/discussion/192103/the-resistance/p1

Yeah, as I said in the post, I want to have a prototype proof-of-concept done in 4 years, not the full game. Probably 1 or 2 areas and a boss or two. I mostly just want something to show off, and then hopefully get some recognition, funding, and maybe a larger dev team.

[AbelM03]

@Antypodish

What I would like also to highlight, along what been said, be careful, when planning do something with other person. No matter how long you know each other. Specially during highs cool, when lot of things my change. Including relation ships. Young people tends to try and explore things. Then drop quickly what is not interested to them.

You may end up completely fine. But chances that you, or your friend decide that don’t want to do it at some point? Or get bored, or overwhelmed. Then one of party is let alone. Onside note, there is relatively few happy “friend” stories in development. However, you can hear someway stories, where one turns back on other. This is not to discourage, but to make awareness.

Hypothetically, lets say you both working intensively on a project. Then on second-third year, one of you drops from project, for any reason. Lets say you continue and make successful product in the end on 3-4 yer. Unless is set from the begging, that project is more like partnership, rather friendship, you may run into many unpleasant conversation, if one of you don’t accept how it turned out. Well it is life.

But as well, you may end up working over 10 years together

Point is, be prepared for any results. From expected success to unexpected hard failure.

Yeah, my relationships with other people working on the project is actually the main thing I worry about. I’m trying to keep the scope small for what we need to complete in 4 years (a prototype demo to show in a kickstarter or to a publisher) so that nobody gets overwhelmed.

[angrypenguin]

Considering the timeframe (which I missed before), your scope worries me less than the timeframe itself.

4 years is a heck of a long time ahead to be planning for someone just starting high school. Things will change in that time, a lot. On the flip side, if you start making smaller projects now then, if you’re still at it 3 years from now, I’d be somewhat confident that you could make a two area combat game prototype in a year.

[AbelM03]

@Kiwasi

Possible, yes. Likely, no.

High school game studios are like high school garage bands. Most fail pretty quickly. A few make it to the local pub circuit. And about one in a million make it big.

Your odds are better if you come from a game dev background. Indie teams that have all worked for other game studios for ten years tend to be more successful.

Yeah, I’m quite aware of this. I’ve just wanted to work on a game since I was about 8 or 9, and I’ve had an idea for this specific RPG since I was about 12. Now I have a couple people on board with the idea, and it doesn’t seem nearly as hard to pull off now that I’m not alone. If I don’t make a ton of money off of it, it’s fine, it’s a learning experience for me, and I’ll finally be able to work on my dream game after all these years.

[AbelM03]

@angrypenguin

Considering the timeframe (which I missed before), your scope worries me less than the timeframe itself.

4 years is a heck of a long time ahead to be planning for someone just starting high school. Things will change in that time, a lot. On the flip side, if you start making smaller projects now then, if you’re still at it 3 years from now, I’d be somewhat confident that you could make a two area combat game prototype in a year.

My plan was to spend the first 2 years making small projects, and have a prototype like that to show off by the end of the 4th year.

[AbelM03]

@PVisser

So first of I’d say try to build the game in layers. So as was said before above me try to have layer 1 be your character, the combat mechanics, heal/stamina/damage mechanics, and a level (small arena) with an enemy/boss.

Then on to layer 2 by slowly building upon that and add an inventory, an additional armor/weapon set, heal/damage items, ring that boosts a stat and so on. Whatever you feel like adds value to your game and the gameplay.

Then add layer 3 by creating a small enemy or a second boss that you can fight in the finished arena or in an (new) additional level. Maybe connect the levels and allow the player to travel between them.

You get where this is going. Try to take small steps and see how long it takes and what you had to do. There’s more to it than you’d think beforehand. A group of students in 4 years could make a great game, but you’d have to learn programming, animation, artwork, textures/shaders, sound effects /sound track, UI design, game design and there’s even more on the marketing and business side of things.

There are AAA studios who try to replicate the Dark Souls and Bloodborne games and who ‘fail’ so make sure you’re not just trying to recreate a game you love to play that took a professional studio years to make. Think hard about what you want your game to be and how that’s going to compare to other games.

Just to give you an impression of those games, there’s Lords of the Fallen, The Surge, Necropolis, Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption, Vampyr, and these are just the ones on my radar. You’re also competing with other ‘hack and slash’ games or even RPG’s such as The Witcher, so your game better have one hell of a unique selling point to stand out.

Well, this turned out more ‘scary’ than I intended, but my advice is to try to get that ‘layer 1’ finished, see how much time and effort that took all of you, if you’re all still on board after that and go on to layer 2, and so on. Don’t fall into the trap of ‘sunk costs’ where you feel stuck to the project because you already invested so much. You’re students from what I understand so take risks, learn, and don’t be scared to ‘fail’ because that’s also a learning experience.

Wow, thanks for taking the time to type all this out! I’ll definitely take this advice to heart. As for making it stand out, me and one of the other people have managed to come up with a weird, but unique and interesting setting. The full game (if it’s made) will also be a bit shorter than a typical game in it’s style, and it will probably be quite a bit cheaper as well.

[angrypenguin]

@AbelM03

My plan was to spend the first 2 years making small projects, and have a prototype like that to show off by the end of the 4th year.

That sounds fundamentally reasonable.

My advice would be to spend some dedicated time in the first couple of years learning your respective areas of expertise. As in, spend time learning programming and art on their own along the way, as opposed to just Googling tutorials to make things piecemeal as you go. Also make games, because that will build other skills you’ll also need.

[AbelM03]

@angrypenguin

That sounds fundamentally reasonable.

My advice would be to spend some dedicated time in the first couple of years learning your respective areas of expertise. As in, spend time learning programming and art on their own along the way, as opposed to just Googling tutorials to make things piecemeal as you go. Also make games, because that will build other skills you’ll also need.

Definitely. As of right now, I mostly plan on being the game director, and also a programmer and level designer. I’ll probably try to learn Blender or something as well, but I’ve never been the artsy type. Who knows, though. I could end up being a modeler by the end of this.

[angrypenguin]

Design and programming and art? That’s a lot to pick up! Each of those are fields of study unto their own.

As a designer you do not need to know modelling. For levels just learn a tool like ProBuilder well enough to build levels to a grid. Get the shapes and areas and maybe colour themes down, and let artists take it from there.

For programming, get the C# Yellow Book by Rob Miles (which is free) and start chipping away at that, and also start working your way through the Unity Learn section.

If you’re not “the artsy type” then I would strongly suggest leaving that to someone else. But that could be personal bias as that’s exactly what I’ve done for 10+ years.

[AbelM03]

@angrypenguin

Design and programming and art? That’s a lot to pick up! Each of those are fields of study unto their own.

As a designer you do not need to know modelling. For levels just learn a tool like ProBuilder well enough to build levels to a grid. Get the shapes and areas and maybe colour themes down, and let artists take it from there.

For programming, get the C# Yellow Book by Rob Miles (which is free) and start chipping away at that, and also start working your way through the Unity Learn section.

If you’re not “the artsy type” then I would strongly suggest leaving that to someone else. But that could be personal bias as that’s exactly what I’ve done for 10+ years.

I actually have the yellow book! I’ll probably be studying that pretty extensively.

Also, thanks for replying so much! Getting advice from experienced users is really helpful.

[Ryiah]

@angrypenguin

Design and programming and art? That’s a lot to pick up! Each of those are fields of study unto their own.

This. Once I was done with school for the day, the studying, and the homework I had at most maybe an hour or two to spend learning programming. I don’t believe I would have been able to fit anything else in with it and that’s with trying to squeeze some gaming in for my brain to have some downtime (some recreation is important after all).

[Antypodish]

@angrypenguin

Design and programming and art? That’s a lot to pick up! Each of those are fields of study unto their own.

As a designer you do not need to know modelling.

I can agree with first paragraph.

But with second not necessary. Is nothing wrong to try many things early and get feeling about them. In case of modelling, it can helps understand, what are possibilities and limitations of technical implementation. And don’t need it to master. But enough to get basic grasp, and be able do simple things. It would helps with design specifications and problem understanding. Of course, you can have people and asset, to do the job for you. But this is a bit like dumping all into bucket, without understanding what is in it. And then you start getting weird results.

But don’t rush things.

[zombiegorilla]

Whether or not it is possible is both relative and unimportant. You should absolutely give it a shot. It’s a good time to find your passion and start working towards it. If you pull it off, it’s great head start. If you don’t, it’s still a great learning experience. Anything could happen over that time, you find a different direction to with your game, or may find out you don’t like game development. It’s a wonderful time to give it a shot. Go for it, and good luck!