Why not make games instead of playing them all the time

[Wazzaname]

We all Gamers right but what's missing in this beautiful land of ours is game developers. Somewhere somehow we all have thought of a cool game that we would like to make, so why not make games.

I recently have discovered that there are a bunch of Game Development Engines out there to make game development easy. Maybe it's just me but I think, given the chance - a bunch of gamers put together can make awesome games.

I'm currently busy making a 3d platformer game [Sidescroller] and even though I'm just starting out I'm discovering how easy it is to make games nowadays. All it takes is a killer idea.

 

[Zewp]

Easy to make games, hard to make makes that people actually want to buy or play. The indie industry has been following a race to the bottom model for quite some time now and it's reached the point where indie games simply don't sell unless they're on indie bundles where you might be lucky to get a few cents a game.

 

[rambo919]

Easier to know what is good than to make something that is good. And a lot of us need to actually eat... not everyone likes the idea of suffering for their art.

 

[Deadmanza]

We all Gamers right but what's missing in this beautiful land of ours is game developers. Somewhere somehow we all have thought of a cool game that we would like to make, so why not make games.

I recently have discovered that there are a bunch of Game Development Engines out there to make game development easy. Maybe it's just me but I think, given the chance - a bunch of gamers put together can make awesome games.

I'm currently busy making a 3d platformer game [Sidescroller] and even though I'm just starting out I'm discovering how easy it is to make games nowadays. All it takes is a killer idea.

Which engine are you using to do this?

 

[wizardofid]

I have be doing game development since 2001, if it was easy every one would do it.It's not easy at all you either have the knack for it or your don't.

People have the misconception that you plop down this, do a little of that and you have a working a game, okay some lower end engine allow that, but generally those games are rarely any good, the market is saturated to the point it isn't a worth the effort unless you have a really good game on your hands.

I have moved on attempting to make a successful game, not because it is impossible because I found that easier money is to be made as a freelance artist, and that take time and money to build a reputation among the development community your on.

The development engine costs some serious money, and unless you take the best license possible which can set you back as much as 10K the engine still excludes all the add on features, and you still have to buy every new version, they don't provide upgrades for free, then there is royalties to be paid, textures either bought or made your self sounds, and of course models, an untextured model on turbosquid will set you back about R800.00, and most often isn't even textured.

If you go the modeling it your self route, you have some free options like blender, however if you want a proper tool like 3dmax or maya it will set you back 30K.

You can go the free route and get as many free to use software and development engines as you like, but the paid for stuff 80% of the time just provide better and easier results.

I have build up a tool set both free and paid which took many years to make , and honestly, it's gone into the 100's of thousands of rands, that I will not even remotely get back.You do this as a hobby when you have some serious cash to burn

this has taken me over 3 months to build and tweak

[video=youtube;mUulG3hE3N0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mUulG3hE3N0[/video]


So no game dev isn't even remotely easy

 

[CR34M3]

"Why not make games instead of playing them all the time "? Because then there's not time to play games.

In addition to the good post by wizardofid, I would add that many people underestimate the huge time sink that is development. The ratio of hours spent developing to actual gameplay hours is quite nasty.

The other side to this is if you ask the question "why don't we develop games for fun?" (which might have been what the OP meant). In that case I would say that the joy/fun/fulfilment that you get from game development is very different to playing a game. Most notably, the instant gratification and immersion isn't really there. At least not in any conventional sense.

 

[wizardofid]

"Why not make games instead of playing them all the time "? Because then there's not time to play games.

In addition to the good post by wizardofid, I would add that many people underestimate the huge time sink that is development. The ratio of hours spent developing to actual gameplay hours is quite nasty.

The other side to this is if you ask the question "why don't we develop games for fun?" (which might have been what the OP meant). In that case I would say that the joy/fun/fulfilment that you get from game development is very different to playing a game. Most notably, the instant gratification and immersion isn't really there. At least not in any conventional sense.

Lol I work on game dev an average of 8 hours a day with two months on and one month off just to relax, I haven't had a break since last year Dec and still put in an average of 3 - 5 hours a day.

I have recently entered in to game dev competition, made it to the top 10 finalists, and due date is the 3rd August it has come down to crunch time on an average I play the demo level entered 15 to 20 times a day, to tweak and make sure every thing is working as should.

Meaning by the time I am done with finishing of the project I don't ever want to see it again.However it's my passion, and simply have to push on, and get it done the first prize is worth R8000.00 and will be released with the engine on steam.So lots to gain from steam release.

As you can see, it's not every one's cup of tea and takes a good amount of time, there comes a point where it simply isn't fun any more, and you simply just have to push feet dragging on floor some times to get the menial and repetitive jobs done.

 

[Compton_effect]

Somewhere somehow we all have thought of a cool novel that we would like to write, so why not write novels.

Same reason - its a lot harder than it looks. A lot harder.

 

[Agent_Smith]

"Why not make games instead of playing them all the time "? Because then there's not time to play games.

In addition to the good post by wizardofid, I would add that many people underestimate the huge time sink that is development. The ratio of hours spent developing to actual gameplay hours is quite nasty.

The other side to this is if you ask the question "why don't we develop games for fun?" (which might have been what the OP meant). In that case I would say that the joy/fun/fulfilment that you get from game development is very different to playing a game. Most notably, the instant gratification and immersion isn't really there. At least not in any conventional sense.

You're so right regarding the time sunk into game development (and everyone knows that time is money). Just look at GTA V as an example. The total cost to make that game was in the region of $280m (yes, MILLION). That is as much as some Hollywood blockbusters cost. :wtf:

 

[Rocket Raccoon]

3d platformer game [Sidescroller]

Does not compute.

 

[themba990]

You're so right regarding the time sunk into game development (and everyone knows that time is money). Just look at GTA V as an example. The total cost to make that game was in the region of $280m (yes, MILLION). That is as much as some Hollywood blockbusters cost. :wtf:

extreme example is extreme. but point taken

 

[crackersa]

extreme example is extreme. but point taken

what don't you consider extreme?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_expensive_video_games_to_develop

 

[bokdrol]

We have great material for themes too. Driveway Hijack XV, Killer Taxi, Gone in 5 Seconds, Fraud and Corruption VI, The Nkandla II and so on...

 

[Rudimental]

Does not compute.

It is a platform game with 3D graphics that advances along a fixed horizontal plane.

Think of Trine, LittleBigPlanet, NSMB, etc...

These games are often called 2.5D platformers.

 

[Beachless]

I wish I had the time or the money, it took me months to get one character designed in blender and a couple more to do one small game level. Maybe indie games are more suited to the hobbyist but like the others have said if you want something serious it gets very time consuming.

 

[CR34M3]

I wish I had the time or the money, it took me months to get one character designed in blender and a couple more to do one small game level. Maybe indie games are more suited to the hobbyist but like the others have said if you want something serious it gets very time consuming.

And in this lays the big problem with game development for “fun”. If you want to release anything that is bigger than an unpolished tech demo then you’re gonna have to put in actual work. Even if you don't have any commercial intentions.

[“work” (and hence time) obviously scales according to team size and project scope]

Having said this, there is a lot of fun to be had with starting projects and stopping as soon as it becomes work. However, this a sure-fire way of getting in the habit of not finishing things.

 

[Electric]

We all Gamers right but what's missing in this beautiful land of ours is game developers. Somewhere somehow we all have thought of a cool game that we would like to make, so why not make games.

I recently have discovered that there are a bunch of Game Development Engines out there to make game development easy. Maybe it's just me but I think, given the chance - a bunch of gamers put together can make awesome games.

I'm currently busy making a 3d platformer game [Sidescroller] and even though I'm just starting out I'm discovering how easy it is to make games nowadays. All it takes is a killer idea.

Check Steam for engines as well.
They made the Crysis engine and a couple others available.

 

[Electric]

http://store.steampowered.com/app/220980/

Cryengine

 

[AstroTurf]

Why not make a game named Union where you start of as an employee, work your way up to shop steward and finally union boss, along with peaceful strikes, violent strikes, avoiding the cops while killing the traitors and so on?

And I am being serious, it could be the next gta.

What you do for money during extended strikes etc could be added as well.

 

[animal531]

Yeah as Wiz said, its not that quite easy, and playing a game isn't quite the same as working on one. Its also easy to start, but once you're a few months in you're going to be pretty tired of it.

The difficulty of making the game depends a lot on your skills, tools and what your engine allows. (Writing the engine on your own, unless if its a very small game is also a nono).

3d Engines:
- CryEngine: Crappy for indies, its very closely tied in to the Autodesk products so you'll need a number of those. Also not as well documented and is a lot more difficult to use.
- UE4: They're releasing a lot of updates currently along with their very low entry price.
- Unity: Free version is great, although the Pro version is still $1500+extras for mobile etc. Lots of great assets in the shop, although often you'll feel that some of them should have been included in Unity itelf. Updates are happening quite slowly at the moment

Some random tools:
- Maya: Full version is R30k+, but you can get the limited version on a rental scheme on Steam etc. Has some limitations, but is usable. Good for rigging/animation
- Blender: It's free, but I'm not a fan. Using it is too much of a schlep for me
- ZBrush: Great for organic modeling, sculpting and painting. Can do hard surface modeling as well. UV mapping not so great. I bought mine when it had been priced a bit lower than it is now (they're quite nice on free upgrades)
- UVLayout: Can be had for cheap, arcane to use but with a few tutorials from youtube you can get some great axis aligned UV's. Can do with Maya etc. too
- MakeHuman: Free tool to make some humanoid-ish models you can then sculpt further
- Daz: Also 3d people, has their own store for models+clothing whereas the tool is free. Often has free stuff they give away. Need a $500 license to directly use their models in a commercial project though
- Marvelous Designer: Newer tool for making clothes, can be useful if your modeling skills are subpar
Atangeo Balancer: Good standalone results for quickly reducing poly count

After that you might still need a number of other tools, but it really depends on the look/complexity of what you're making.