How do I make a video game? CHAPTER 1: Start

My childhood was about gaming. Everyday after school I sat down to the computer and played video games. I was (and also I'm) interested in strategy games, shooters, survivals, horors etc. and I wanted to be first in the rankings. During the years I played many video games which were boring so I got an idea use my years of experience about playing video games and make my own video game which will entertain players. So one of many main points is my video game must be funny and players must enjoy it.

If you want to develops your own video game, you must have some inspiration or passion. If you don't have any experience with graphic or coding, you can start with making a Snake, Tanks, Mines, Tetris etc. only to improve your skills. It's very important to start with something simply. I'm CGI artist/ 3D modeler and I have experience with making 3D models for games and applications. On the other side I'm terrible programmer. You don't have to be professional in all spheres. You just need an idea and make something simply.

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WHAT KIND OF VIDEO GAME?

I want my video game balanced and diverse. What do I mean? We can take as an example Dota 2 which I play mostly. First part of the total playing time of one match you don’t have to even use your right hand (ehm ehm) and while during the second part you are about to destroy your computer mouse. Also it's about diverse in thinking. Approx 1/2 of match time we need to think about strategy and 1/2 is about concentrating to for example lasthitting. Dota 2 is also balanced in emotional side. Every kill and match win makes you happy and every death and match loss makes you sad.

Here is recapitulation of my main points. My video game:

1. must be funny and players must enjoy it
2. must be balanced in emotional side
3. must be diverse in thinking
4. must be balanced in mouse clicking (repeating of rest and tension)

But...100 people have 100 opinions. You can create some crazy shooter with drastic pressure to mouse clicking and player movement (like Geometry wars) or absolutely relax game where you making your own city, zoo, park, farm etc. It's only on you. Just make what you want.

Geometry war - really crazy shooter!

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WHAT'S NEXT?

When I knew what kind of game I wanted to do I created an Excel file and started thinking more deeper. I created a few sheets like:

1. Basics
2. Hero
3. Levels
.
.
.

and in these sheets there are more details like type of graphics (lowpoly, realistic, cartoon etc), mood (happy, sadly, darkly etc.), hero skills, experience, levels etc. In my case is for example in Basics:

1. Type of graphic - lowpoly, simple and low saturated colors
2. RPG/Survival/Shooter
3. Hero
4. Place is forest

I think this part of game development is very important. This gives to your game more details and soul. And of course you don't need Excel. Just take some paper and write it.

MANAGEMENT MY TIME

This part of game development is important too. I created my own account on Trello. Trello is a collaboration tool that organizes your projects into boards. In one glance, Trello tells you what's being worked on, who's working on what, and where something is in a process. I very recommend this website.

I work on my video game every day or once in two days. High frequency of work is also important (yeah...all is important LOL). If you don't adhere your frequency you can be confused after long pause. Your codes becomes unreadable. You can lost the thread. But be careful! Don't work too much. Think about rest too.

GAME ENGINE

I have some experience with Unity. A few months ago I worked in Czech Republic in Game develop. studio and we were using this game engine. It's pretty nice because it's user friendly, relative simply and also for free. A lot of indie developers use Unity for its excellent functionality, high-quality content, and ability to be used for pretty much any type of game.

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The biggest mistake is start coding your own game engine without any previous experience with game development. It takes so much time that maybe you wont be able to complete the game.

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NEXT CHAPTER: Making of first 3D models