Want to make a simple game, have no clue what to make.

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For some ungodly reason, I absolutely LOVE making games, and I know that with enough learning I will be either employed by a big company, or become a developer than can come up with original genres some day. But the thing is, EVERY single game I think of, regardless of how much work I put into the plan, and into thinking what it’s going to be, what platform it’s going to be on, what the objective is, what the style will be, etc. (aka all part of the plan), I just end up either giving up on the game straight after starting it. Mainly because I just can’t deal with the fact that it’s the base first, and then you polish it. And instead I just keep trying to make the game beautiful from the very start. Or I work on a game for some months, and then realize it’s not that interesting and original, so I give up on those too.

I know a lot of people are think I’m stupid for saying this, and are gonna try to convince me to do otherwise. But coding is just NOT my thing, my calling is 3D models, but because of luck in learning, and general program familiarity and skill I just can’t make high detail models, maybe I can make simplistic but at the same time beautiful models at the moment, but then again that’s going to involve polishing work to make the lighting and textures work well, and as I said before. I have a huge mental problem where I try to polish everything from the start. Mostly because what inspired me to make games is those huge and astonishing games made by huge companies like the AC series, and Just Cause 2.

And what I really want right now, is to be able to make a simple game, both in coding and in objective, that is still really fun to play, and hopefully memorable. I really want it to be 3D as I said that my calling is 3D modeling, but I don’t want a story based game as that would require me to make a lot of environments, or one huge environment. And from here I’m really struggling for ideas. I sometimes spent hours sitting and scratching at my brain, before finally thinking of something that I would then just give up on anyway. Sometimes it comes straight way while thinking of random stuff, but I either figured out that my brain just took a memory from an original game, or the idea was just stupid and no one would play it due to it being boring and unoriginal.

Here are some ideas that I gave up on, as well as the reason I gave up on them:
• “Synchronized Flight Simulator” where you have to stay as perfect within the formation as possible, both position and speed that corresponds to the part of the formation you’re assigned to. (This would require too much/too complicated coding)
• “Digital Coin Farm” where you have lots of ways of collecting the coins, which you can use to buy temporary and permanent upgrades for a specific type of getting the coins. (This would get very boring depending on how many different ways of collecting money there would be)
• “Mortaline” where you have levels which fall apart, and you have to either keep from crashing to the ground for as long as possible, or reach the top. And there would be different parts of the environment that act differently like breakable parts, slippy parts, bouncy parts, and normal parts. (Too much coding would be required)
• “Timelapse Quest” where you have to change between night and day, and it would either be one world or several levels. And where you can go depends on what time it is, like at night the water would be too cold, and during the day, there would be animals guarding climbable ledges and objects, and caves. (Would require too much coding, and perhaps get boring really quickly, depending on whether it’s story based or not)

Feel free to use these ideas for whatever, but I highly doubt that anyone will find them at all interesting.

Sooooo… THIS is the end of my life story then. xD

So I want to make a game that doesn’t require me to use too complicated code, but that’s at the same time very fun to play and has a lot of replay value, as well as memorable and unique features. Something like taking a classical genre and making it way more detailed and interesting would be fine with me, as long as I wouldn’t be forced to make a lot of complicated coding related stuff to make it iconic… Pretty sure I’ve said this at the beginning but I’m just repeating and adding some extra details to make sure everyone who reads this understands exactly what I mean.

P.S. You may think I’m a complete beginner, but I’ve made A LOT of failed game attempts, and some of them actually went quite far before I couldn’t get any help from the community and it was coding related, as well as encountering some errors and issues. My only weak points are coding and coming up with something original while not under the effects of LSD.

Thanks in advance for any advice, comments, and suggestions you provide. :slight_smile:

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You could make something like killing floor. A lot of the classics are arena based shooters. They’re not hard to make so there’s plenty of room for you to make your own features and the setup will be recognizable and familiar to people.

You just need to work out movement, enemy movement, spawning, enemy spawning, and you & the enemy killing on another.

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Have you ever finished even one game?

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It sounds to me you have the ideas and the motivation but need to boost your skills?

Can I suggest working through some game tutorials, put your ideas on the back burner and just complete a few games via tutorials.

Once you have done a few complete games then why not try a game jam, they tend to be short in duration but great fun and they help you focus on the important aspects of your game the fun.

Also, if you have an idea for a game you can find a tutorial that is close to your game work through it and adapt it towards your game.

Or more than likely as you work on through the tutorial you will have ideas on how to turn it into your own game.

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Play to your strengths. That means no code. There are several options.

There are games you can build entirely with existing code. Download a complete template like UnitZ and replace every model with on of your own. The code base is sound enough if you don’t touch it.

You can get other people to code. There are plenty if freelancers you can pay. You can also find plenty of coders who are just as clueless when it comes to art as you are with code. Find a local collaborator and work from there.

Build a game without code. It’s called an animated movie. But if 3D art really is your calling, why bother with the game side at all?

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The thing I usually do is play many flash games and if I find a really fun game that isn’t that famous… I try to find as simple games as possible (though I can make more complex ones) because of one reason… They can be completed quickly so I don’t get frustrated… My first android published game was made within a week during my examinations (who was studying?)
Edit- OK just worked 2 hours everyday I was forced to study…

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Sounds to me like you need to find someone to collaborate (as another user pointed out), seeing as you only want to do 3D art. Alternatively, copy some other game, just for practice, you’ll know how the mechanics should work already, so you’d simply need to work on getting it to play similarly. Even if that seems stupid, you’ll actually learn techniques and figure out how to solve certain problems by doing what seems to be a simple chore. Another option for getting some practice is to build very simple mechanics, don’t worry about making a game, just get some practice.

I know practice isn’t the most romantic idea, but it’s easy, and as you practice you might find some mechanics that you like, and that you can turn into a full game.

As for advice on making a full game, just make sure you want to make the game. Think it through, personally, games that I want to finish are games that I might’ve thought up years ago, and just had little ideas come up through the years. If it’s something that really stuck, and that you thought up yourself, you’ll more likely want to stick through it. Even if you start to lose motivation, you’ll have had that idea stuck in your mind so long that you know there’s something good there, you just have to see it through.

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Have you considered trying Unreal? Coding may not be your thing, but Blueprint may work just fine for you.

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Or playmaker in Unity. Visual scripting tools are getting more powerful as time goes on.

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Come on you make it sound like coding in Unity is hard, it’s probably the most fun tool to learn how to code with.

And if you already have art skills then you can probably make some cool things with Unity.

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I was about to say that :frowning:

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Not really, but I came very close on a few attempts. Then at the very end realized that no one would actually want to play it.

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I think when people have a preconception of something (like ‘coding is hard’) that will drastically impact their ability to learn effectively.

You are right, it isn’t difficult to learn. Granted, it isn’t easy, but if someone goes through a couple of the tutorials, it can be very encouraging to see how even simple little bits of code make things happen.

And learning how things work under the hood makes you a better developer. The knowledge you gain impacts the choices you make and the content you create. Even if someone leverages a visual scripting thingy, they are going to better at it if they at least understand conceptually what is happening.

To the OP, if you want to be a game developer you need to finish a game. You aren’t one until you have. Focus and build one, even if simple. If you want to be a modeler, the same advice. Forget makeing games out of your reach. Find a partner and build models for them. Focus on building complete game ready polished models. No one is interested in hiring someone who can almost do something. :wink:

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It’s likely that if you thought you were 90% done, you were maybe 50% done. It’s not exact, but it should give you a rough idea. All the little details take forever. Making all the final decisions is hard. As artists, we need to gently come to accept that everything we do is not going to be good. It’s hard, but it’s necessary. Choosing to avoid finishing things because they’re not good enough is denial. Finish them, because they are an accurate representation of your skills and talents. It is only when you come to terms with this that you will understand what you really want.

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Well it seems like you need to just think of something that fits your parameters - something that doesnt require alot of art, that doesnt require alot of code.

Do something like the last stand, its popular easy and just make it 3d.

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Wow, that really motivated me. Thank you. :slight_smile:

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I might actually do that, I just spent about 2 hours playing the game and it looks pretty promising if made in 3D. It’ll also be interesting to upgrade the features. Like making limited ammo, searching for ammo, and some survivors may well want to kill you. So you’ll need to be well equipped before spamming “look for survivors”. :slight_smile:

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