So we’ve all seen the “MMO” and “Open World” threads with guys who have little to no real experience or skill. The community here is kind of split on what kinds of responses are appropriate. Regardless, the reality is that a random guy without millions of dollars and no skills or experience has no real shot at success with these large scale projects.
Instead of recommending “do pong!” or “follow your dreams” - what about recommending modding instead?
Modding has a lot of advantages:
You’re working on an existing game and don’t need to reinvent all the systems.
You have access to all of the existing content in the game.
There are existing communities with people who will help each other succeed.
There are often powerful and user friendly tools to help people mod games.
Successful mods can be hugely successful. From DayZ, Team Fortress, Counter Strike, DotA/LoL - truth is many of the most beloved modern games started out as mods.
Is there any advantage to not recommending modding to newbies who don’t at least have a programming background? Isn’t this a better road for most of these guys, most of the time?
I don’t really have any interest in helping people get started because the entire internet is jam packed with information a child can understand. If this still has people confused then it’s my opinion they’re not suited for game dev. So basically, if you can’t read and make some effort of some kind (I’m pretty sure anyone can)… why is it even our responsibility at this point?
It’s not our responsibility, but the fact is a lot of those MMO threads you have to lock down because of the constant “do pong” vs “dream crushing” debate that almost inevitably follows. Suggesting modding might be a better solution to these endless black holes of internet debate.
Also, honestly, why don’t more people invest themselves in modding instead of game dev to start - if you don’t have commercial aspirations, a strong background in programming or lots of money to burn - why bother with game dev over modding in general?
Its not a silly idea. Its not as dramatic as saying go do Pong. But it might be useful. There are a ton of decent game devs that got their first experience in modding.
While I agree that it isn’t a bad idea, I think the reality is that it would just become “Mod” vs “Pong” vs “Dream” debate.
Frankly, I am with hippo on this. If you have to ask where/how to start, you probably aren’t the right type for this. Games are complex, and require tons of problem solving and research. If you are that lost from the start, you won’t get far.
There’s too much learning material suited to every type of learner there is… tutorials, examples, video tutorials… any person who wants to learn game development and has an IQ greater than or equal to 100 can learn this stuff.
Many times when people come here, they make one post and leave.
There should be a rule:
Don’t respond to a person in the General Discussion forum from unless it is not their first post. Put a sticky that says, “NOTICE: All first time posters must read this! (This means you!)”
The first line of the sticky can say in big, bold letters that say:
FIRST TIME POSTERS POSTING IN THE GENERAL DISCUSSION FORUM WILL NOT HAVE THEIR QUESTIONS ANSWERED IF THE ANSWER IS ALREADY CONTAINED WITHIN THIS FAQ:
And inside of there, it gives guidelines on asking about MMO’s and other stuff like that, with FAQ with questions answered by our best representatives (Like @Ony , @Gigiwoo , @zombiegorilla , @angrypenguin or @hippocoder ) that we can easily vote on.
Ice cream? I found a new ice cream called Halo Top. It has 1/4 the calories of B&J, and it’s actually really darn good. High protein + fiber, and no artificial sweeteners. YUM is all I can say.
It’s true that there’s loads of learning material. Unfortunately, a lot of it is terrible. That’s not a big deal for experienced people, as we can get a general idea of whether someone knows what they’re talking about or not really quickly and move on if it’s junk. But for a newbie that’s really difficult, and newbies are the people it matters to the most.
A solution very similar to that was in place for a while, actually. @Gigiwoo started a thread with advice about starting to make games, and a whole bunch of people chimed in. I think it was stickied for about a year, and questions were commonly answered by linking to it. About a year ago, though, it got un-stickied.
I once had a computer science major ask me how to log on but I didn’t start telling her how she shouldn’t be majoring in computer science or anything like that. She did graduate.
Well… let’s make a thread for it, and then link to the thread. Sure, it’ll be constantly necro’d but I think that will prove something to somebody someplace. That’ll show you dad…
How’s that? They’ll not waste time in a thread that insults them rather than helps them. Really, how often in these threads of wisdom from regulars do you see an OP return? And if they know what necro’d is, which is less likely than more as naivity is a wonderful thing, they’ll likely leave the forums wretching and wondering what is wrong with the poster.
I don’t know You still have to learn scripting languages. Jass for Warcraft three and Starcraft 1 had an even weirder one I don’t know how much easier it would be
Never. But at least all of this “MAKE PONG” business could be contained to one thread… come to think of it, though, that thread will be locked in no time. Nevermind.
Is modding genuinely easier these days than simply following the tutorials in the learning section followed by developing a simple mobile game using assets from the store?
