You play a lot of games, and you have a lot of great idea’s on how to make even better games. The simple truth is, all the developers these days are boneheads, so you figure if you want a job done right you’ll just have to do it yourself.
So you get started with whatever free programs you get your hands on, you watch a few “Make games fast” tutorials and because you’re a quick learner (you beat Dark Souls at soul level one on your second go), you figure you might as well dive in and start making your game.
You hit a road block. You cuss and yell and eventually after some searching and complaining on online forums you find a solution – but FFS just as soon as you implement it you have a host of new problems. And what’s more, you know that you’re no artist, and half an hour combing through the asset store has revealed that there simply isn’t a beautiful and cheap host of assets practically tailor-made to your needs.
What gives! Video games are just a silly pastime, they shouldn’t be this hard to make. I mean, it’s not even that hard, you’ve got it all figured out in your head. If only people would get of their asses and give you the few teensy little things you needed, you could definitely make the next blockbuster game – you just know it!
In case you haven’t figured it out, that’s sarcasm. The point is, playing video games is an instant gratification, zero patience, pat yourself on the back kind of a thing. Yes, even if you’re a “hardcore” gamer. But making them is a different story. There are shortcuts, but these are shortcuts that will shave weeks off of a year(s) long commitment.
Game making is a slow, laborious, tedious, and often frustrating experience. The systems used to build games are complicated and take months and years to learn how to use well. Whether you are a programmer or an artist, you’ll have to do math. You’ll have to do things you don’t want to do. You have to be meticulous and have the patience of a saint. You have to hunt down problems like a dog chasing a squirrel. You have to have an end goal in mind for specific projects, but you’ll need to adopt a long term mindset about your skill development in general.
Having that long term mindset is difficult, probably because of biological reasons, if you’re less than the age of around 30. Some people mature faster than others. My advice if you are a teenager or thereabout and want to make games – forget making a game right now. Keep playing games, but don’t spend too much time doing that. Instead, start learning how games are made. Try out coding, try out some 3d design, see what part interest you. Focus on developing mastery in what you enjoy. Don’t say, “Well I just want to be the developer”. Nobody is going to pay you for your idea’s until you’ve produced a masterpiece. Then you have to learn to be a manager – a whole other ball game. So ,before you can be king, you have to be a soldier. You have to do the work.
Now, unless you were born into great wealth and can just pay other people to do what you want, all of this means you are going to have to adopt a new mantra. Tell yourself this – repeat it whenever you seem hopelessly stuck : “No matter what, I’m going to finish what I’ve started. It doesn’t matter how long or how difficult, I’m going find solutions to every problem.”