I am about to start working on a project that will require a very small team of c# programmers and artists for a City Skylines esq game mixed with The Sims.
With that in mind, a while back I purchased a city building template/engine with most stuff already pre build in and was considering using this to kick start the project off then just have the programmers edit the code to suit the style of game I want to make.
My programming knowledge is extremely limited so wanted some advice from those who have more experience to see what is a preferred method. Either jumping in using a pre packaged code template which will save time MAYBE - or start from scratch and build stuff from the ground up?
You should get yourself a good programmer, let him/her look at the code the asset you bought, and then follow that programmer’s advice.
That’s because quality of purchased asset may be anywhere between “this is actually useful” and “Destroys mind and mortal soul of anyone who looks at it”.
Prebuilt frameworks can definitely speed things up. If you want to do the same thing the frame work was built for. If you want to strike out doing something different then frameworks often simply get in the way.
I feel like you can just look at the number of sold game templates on the Asset Store and compare that to the number of released games you’ve seen using such templates to answer that question. I think some templates have sold in the tens of thousands, and yet I haven’t seen a single released game made from them.
In my opinion most of these templates are bought by people who just want to “mod” something, ie. they just want something to fiddle around with. It’s just too much work trying to wrap your head around somebody else’s project like that if you goal is an actually finished game. But that of course depends on the level of quality/polish you expect from your game. I could never see myself basing a game on a template, but I guess I could cherry pick certain features from one if it was well made, but in my personal, probably controversial, opinion most of the templates being sold on the Asset Store are pretty rubbish. They try to do everything, but they do nothing particularly well, and I’m sure the code or general structure of the template reflect that.
Not to be rude, but what is the skill you’re bringing to your team if you have no programming ability? Somehow I have the feeling you should aim lower than you currently are.
Depends on a person and project. More complicated games, like RTS, RPG or survival often can be boosted in dev time by using a kit.
Personally, I mostly do it in empty project from scratch since I like to have control over every single detail, but as I said it depends on a developer and type of game. So your mileage may vary.
//edit: Another programming fact/joke that may help: There are really only two types of code: One you understand and one written by someone else.
Actually the full joke is this: There are only 10 kind of people: Those who understand binary, those who don’t and those who didn’t expect ternary joke.
Thanks for your replies. The reasons I ask are that some coders prefer to use their own code, so using a template isn’t their cup of tea but some don’t actually mind.
On the subject of myself, I am learning C# using the various tutorials out there but it struck me that everyone has a different way of doing it and it will probably take a long time for me to get my head around it to the level I need to be at for the game I want to develop now.
I wanted to find out peoples thoughts before I looked at hiring a developer(s) to help code my game to a prototype level at least then move it forward once funding was secured.
The other option was to use the template to save time and money and it all looks pretty good out of the box (reviews were good too on Unity Asset Store)
I use templates it saves you a lot of time in development Instead of taking months it can take weeks, the more experienced you are the better it’s going to be. Look at tony did, he re skinned the unit z game in 1 day http://gamejolt.com/games/2016-zombie-mmo-fps/117592
Ideally all asset store assets would provide free demo/trial versions so people could quickly try different assets. This would allow super fast prototyping and experimentation.
And also allow developers to look under the hood and see if they can be tweaked/hacked/extended to do what your game needs.
But there is the issue that if you combine existing none bespoke assets and art your game can be classed as shovel-ware.
Use whatever you can find as long as it is good. Game Dev is a lot of work. A huge timesink. Anything you can take advantage of to save time is a good thing I think.
Ideally you want everything you are doing to be minimum effort & time on the technical implementation side so your time can be spent on the design and building the game side.
Of course, as others have mentioned it is very important to build on a solid foundation and some of the assets are architected poorly. Still it is a starting point. With the source you can refactor and rebuild them ONCE and have it available from then on.
If i wanted to create it from scratch I’d have to:
use directx make my own editor, render engine, roll my own physics engine rather then using physx etc
I think you you misplaced passion here. One can be passionate about level design, without needing to be passionate about making all of the low level code.
It’s about choosing what you want to spend time working on. A developer has limited resources. And pouring those resources into a problem that is already solved is hardly the most effective way to work on your passion.
Yeah, but that’s what assets are for. Using ready made projects usually leads to clones. I don’t see much room for passion and creativity in that - seems more like trying to replicate cash cows.
That shows how misguided you can be :-p The project is based on something that isn’t on the market right now (in terms of this isn’t another farmville/hay day/insert name of popular game here) - just that its a time/resource management game but using a template would require modifying the code to accommodate the changes from whats already in the box but with the idea that the template cuts down the time of having to code path finding, animations, money systems, resource gathering( for example).
But the idea is to get to a basic working prototype before pitching for funding to create something unique.
I hear your point, and I will grant you that the game that @Kiwasi mentioned isn’t particularly innovative in design. But this is roughly how I spent my time on it:
8 AM - 10 AM: Take the car to the shop for maintenance; read UnitZ’s manual in the waiting room.
10 AM - 11 AM: Start a new project, import UnitZ, familiarize myself with the components.
11 AM - 12 PM: Run the dogs. (It’s hard to type with two dogs nudging my elbows. ;)) Gives me time to zone out and make a plan of action.
12 PM - 5 PM: Import art from the Asset Store and hook it up with UnitZ, defining entities, weapons, etc.
5 PM - 8 PM: Dinner with friends.
8 PM - 11 PM: Scene colliders, swap out UI graphics/fonts, write a custom “disco bomb” script.
So it wasn’t even a particularly frantic day, and I had a playable multiplayer game at the end. (I also spent under an hour a few days later recording a few lines of dialogue and figuring out how to post the game to Game Jolt.)
Without the template, I’d have spent half a week just getting the multiplayer code working. Add in the combat system, inventory and crafting system, menu system, etc, and it would have easily been two weeks, if not more, just for the basic framework.
Instead, if I were to continue this project, I could now spend those two weeks adding unique and creative elements to the game. Your mileage may vary, but I thought I’d just share the experience.
I think some templates have sold in the tens of thousands, and yet I haven’t seen a single released game made from them.