so, ive recently decided to take up a project/hobby just for the fun of it and the experience. of making a game of course.
but im not sure where to start and was hoping you guys would help me figure out where to go and lead me down the path. right now i have unity, visual studio, zbrush, and blender. not sure what these programs do. and if theres anymore i need, probably one for sound i assume. probably need to learn coding too huh. but all in time
i would like to stick to free programs as in the end its still just a hobby.
I think this forum does not really belong to Game Design section.
I think you probably know what does this software do by now.
-Unity is a game engine to put everything together in the end to create a game.
-Visual Studio is a source code editor to program, but you can use the default Unity monodevelop source code editor instead.
-zbrush is good for adding textures to a object or making a more detail sculpting to a character modelling. But, zBrush is not for free after your free trials. So, you should use the free GIMP instead to add textures to your object for free.
-Blender is for making game art models and adding animation movement to your character or adding movement to your object.
I think you should not start with using too much blender and zbrush yet, because you should make a smaller and simpler game first by using mostly Unity only by playing with objects only. Blender and zbrush is only focus on more into a detail game art and animation which does not really needed for a beginner simple game yet. https://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/projects/roll-ball-tutorial/introduction-roll-ball?playlist=17141
If you’re at the point where you don’t know what those programs do then what you need to make is a very basic 2D game. Trust me. The complexities of a 3D game on a budding enthusiast are astronomically higher than a 2D game.
Use GIMP, Unity, and Visual Studio Community 2015. That’s it.
Unity Asset Store… that should be at the top but I’m too lazy to move it.
And many others. (I’m getting lazier by the moment)
START SMALL.
What’s that? You have an awesome game idea though?
Save it.
START SMALL.
Your game idea is really simple though?
I doubt it. Never underestimate the amount of time it will take to pump out a game. Here’s a great rule of thumb. If you come up with a project idea assess your skills and the amount of time you’ll likely need to learn the technologies, design, and build the game. Write out a design doc to help flesh that out. Then add 15% to the total time it will take.
Then double it.
That’s the LEAST amount of time it’s going to take. You’ll hear a lot of people recommend that your first game be something you could build in a week or two. Like, pong… super simple. Ball bounces back and forth. Uses a pinch of math and/or physics, some UI, a couple game objects, incrementing score maybe. Done. I could make pong in like an hour. Perfect first game for someone with no experience.
Obviously you don’t need to make pong exactly but that’s the level of detail you should be considering for your first project.
Oh, and welcome to the community! Keep asking questions as you progress. We’re all happy to help!
ty for the help, so basically blender makes models and animates them and zbrush adds textures to those models and you put those models into unity which creates the game, and coding tells those models what to do right? ty. sorry i wasnt completely sure where it went and this seemed closest.
It really feels like you’ve actually never played videogames when you talk, lol…
I suggest you to go on Youtube and fill your brain with Blender / Unity / C# coding tutorials.
When it comes to designing the game : Take notes in your text editor and make some drawings on a book. That should keep yourself motivated while you listen / look some tutorials.
You don’t really need more than this. Except creativity and goals. And your gamer’s experience, of course.
Keep asking questions as you progress. We’re all happy to help!