I’m a beginner in Unity, and I’m planning to create a small 2D RPG game for a game programming class. Time is a constraint; I have a bit less than two more months to create a game. Right now I’m doing a very large tutorial series that looks like it will cover all of what I desire in my game, minus creating a splash screen and menu (which I will have to look up a different tutorial for).
Do you think that it’s a reasonable task to give myself a month to finish the main tutorial in about a month, giving myself just the other month to complete an RPG game with very similar elements? I have no experience with Unity projects, so I’d love to hear your opinions and experiences on this matter. Any advice is greatly appreciated as well.
Sorry to say - this does not sound doable for the lack of experience you have. Id say this would be a tough task for an experienced Unity developer with 10+ hours per day to work on the project without aid from a rpg package and ready made content - and a lot of aid and luck.
Your in luck though - you posted here asking for advice which was smart.
There is one way which would greatly improve your chances to get close to your goal. Downloading a RPG kit from the asset store, although with your lack of experience Im skeptical you would be able to get everything setup and organized in the timeframe. My time estimates are probably skewed since I work full time and only game dev for 2-4 hours per night - so IDK what can be completed in a full game dev work week, working full time in a game project.
One other suggestion I can give - there was a gent who was attempting 1 game a week for a year, who lasted roughly 3-4 weeks until he disappeared from the forum, goal unfulfilled. You can search for this thread through the search feature. He was attempting to mimic another non-Unity experienced developer who created 52 games in one year. You can find the 1 game a week website from google.
These examples can give you some insite on what is doable from more and less experienced developers when they have 1 week to complete a game.
Though being in a game programming class he’ll want to ask his instructor if this is allowed before actually doing it. I’d hope he would have asked for permission to use a tutorial too since the majority of the game sounds like it would have come from the tutorial and not his own efforts. Because while some instructors may allow it others may not.
Hi. What programming have you done? Learning C# is one thing and it takes time, if you know that but are learning game design it’s one thing. Learning both? Depends on your motivation and how quickly you learn. Then planning on working software by some deadline? But you said a class? If it’s reasonable they think you can then sure.
I started in the 1970s and am always learning, it’s part of the process
I would change your scope a bit. Just as a suggestion:
Maybe aim more for having your combat system built (without a gear system) and get your player and enemies balanced. Once you have that all down, build a combat tutorial and call it finished.
Things to consider:
You’ll probably end up spending a week or two designing your combat system
Once you can play your combat, you’ll spend maybe another week or two changing/ tweaking the design
Balance requires playtest time, and ideally testers who aren’t you.
Designing tutorials can take a ton of time too (Don’t forget play testing your learning curve! Devs assume a lot of knowledge that goes over noobs heads)
Your menus and any talk/ text features are small compared to the main game, but they add up and require more time than you may think
Other Stuff:
Double all of your time estimates
You’ll need time for art/ animation
You’ll probably want audio
Basically, it all adds up quickly. I’m not trying to discourage you though! Hope you go for it - just go for it in an informed way, and with a reasonable scope.