help request

[Dragon594]

I'm wanting to make a game but i have no idea how to start

[Dragon594]

I have an idea for the game and what engine i want to use it's just that this is my first time making a game and i have no clue what to do.

[Onimiv]

Hi there.

Alright, you want to make a game and picked an Engine (hopefully not related to Flash).
Did you check this tutorial? It has some good points.

What are your skills? For example: I'm a Programmer and don't have much experience as an Artist/Composer.
That lets you know what you're missing. It also helps you know where to start, (Programmer => Program with abstract shapes, etc). The idea is to have something to impress and invite future team-members.

Ideas are cheap but it takes a lot of work to realize them

[Dragon594]

I haven’t checked the link out yet, and I was thinking of using unity. I’m basically am starting from scratch in skills

[Onimiv]

I haven’t checked the link out yet, and I was thinking of using unity. I’m basically am starting from scratch in skills

Well, if you're starting out then, use free assets (like art and sound) and make simple games or join a team (there's plenty on Reddit) and learn first.

[Dragon594]

Ur right I probably should learn first but this game won’t leave me alone

[Onimiv]

Ur right I probably should learn first but this game won’t leave me alone

Happens to most just write it down! Sketches can also help make sure you don't forget the idea.

[Dragon594]

Thing is this idea has been bouncing in my head for the past 2-3 years

[Onimiv]

Thing is this idea has been bouncing in my head for the past 2-3 years

It happens to everyone, just look here. I write my ideas down so I can forget about them and focus on my current projects.

[Dragon594]

here's the thing the game i'm wanting to make is going to be huge. It's going to have a shit ton of races, a character creator, and multiple different starting areas. The different starting areas are because of the fact u can start as just about any of the races. also each race will have it's own racial bonuses.

[Onimiv]

... is going to be huge. It's going to have a shit ton of races, a character creator, and multiple different starting areas. The different starting areas are because of the fact u can start as just about any of the races. also each race will have it's own racial bonuses.

Sounds pretty AAA, as in years of work for a sizeable team. And I'm not talking about people who start out excited and leave as soon as their rush/enthusiasm is over. But hey, no one's stopping you.

[Dragon594]

thing is i was going to try to do it on my own once i had a general idea on how to get it started

[Onimiv]

... basically am starting from scratch in skills

thing is i was going to try to do it on my own once i had a general idea on how to get it started

Step one: Start by defining said Races. Write every detail down, what "racial bonuses" each has and all that (this would later be in a Game Design Document). If you can't write it down then the idea is too vague to use.

Step two: Figure out what to do next, I already made suggestions but expect it to take years.

I'll be going now, good luck.

[Waffle]

Like Onimiv said ..... this is too big to start ....

BUT.

Write it all out on paper .... everything .....
For every menu or dialog or setting .... Draw a screen shot (What does your character generator look like) and so on.
People here have released countless games... and every game started as a drawing on a napkin.
Currently I am looking for a project to do.... I have 2 that I am supposed to do, but I hate drawing.
I did not realize how much I hated it until I decided to draw and animate all my own creatures .... Made 15% of the creatures
before loosing motivation and moving on to experimenting with neural networks (some serious math there, which I love).

Unity ... My chief complaint with Unity is it is pretty heavy duty. Many games created with Unity and designed to play in a browser
become so huge they become laggy or have other issues. Some dev teams know this and can work around it using special techniques.
If starting out , brand new, look for a free javascript engine. There are many available.

here is one (I don't use this one, but it looks cool). http://www.tululoo.com/
That one does not require code experience, just some knowledge how javascript works.
Good luck on your project....

PS

Start small.
Break your game up into many many mini-games...
1 - simple duel game... pick 2 creatures and they fight. simple concept
but it lets you experiment with each character for you game
2 - map editor or selector (seems big) but can be pretty simple
You just need to make a few maps, even notepad works for this
This lets you experiment with loading and saving data .....
3 - different dialog boxes for all your settings ...
naturally, you will need to save and load these settings
4 - character generator or map generator ....
make these stand-alone until you have everything working alone...
5 - after you complete all this .....
now try putting it all-together.

[Dragon594]

Thing is I don’t want to try to port it over to a different player at the end of the year

[ladydev]

Start with a limited scope - think Pong, not Skyrim. Put a cap on the number of features, create a fairly easy win-condition, and then fill in the blanks from there. Project management and the importance of good version control from the very start of a project. It is very easy to get lost in feature creep and lose sight of your project's true end goal.
Know your engine. If you don't know how to code don't design a game in an engine that requires massive technical knowledge. If you do know to code, don't build your game in an engine that will under-perform when it comes to implementing your features. Twine is very modifiable and intuitive within its intended scope of text-based passage-based games, and is good for easy prototyping, but you can't transcend past that without a decent knowledge of javascript.

Are you an artist? If the answer is no: become an artist or get an artist. Having a visual reference is pretty much essential unless you're making a turn-based game or something like an interactive novel. You can get by without any off these things, and many do. Being handy with Photoshop and Google Image Search helps, but it's typically seen as low-quality placeholder stuff. If you want to learn art, look up tutorials on youtube or get into 3d models. If you want to get an artist, make a workable text or placeholder demo and advertise on the popular forums to see if you can collaborate.

Don't worry about music at first - there are free sound effects and music available for pretty much any type of project.

--LadyDev

[Waffle]

Are you still trying to work on this? I am between projects (not exactly offering to help) and was thinking of something to do .....
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKCKHxkH8zqV9ltWZw0JFig

has some cool tutorials (not exactly as I would do it), but a good method.
She has examples for :

character creator for in game ...
inventory control
level design and level transitions
text display (rpg talking npc)

I mention this because these examples can be used as a theoretical method of game design.
The language is not important, the theory is.

I was thinking of creating these elements and placing them into re-usable objects for
just in case I wish to create a game. I am thinking of doing an RPG - ish game, but
it has not been fully fleshed out yet. I do not plan on doing a NSFW game for some time ...
my Balls and Bats RTS game seems to have solved that for now.

I'm mostly just recommending watching the videos on Farming Simulator (24 vids) designed for GM2 (I have GM1 for HTML5)
Even if you do this in Flash, Unity, or whatever, the concepts are the same.....