So you’re playing your favourite game, happily shooting/slashing/shredding/scheming your way to victory, when you’re suddenly struck with a moment of genius – “This shooting/slashing/shredding/scheming would be a lot better if…”
Everybody has these moments of game design inspiration, whether this masterstroke of genius is a realisation that the spiky-looking gun really needs to shoot lightning and shurikens, that those panthers would be much cooler if they fired lasers out of their eyes, that it would totally rock if players could play drums and guitar, or that the world really needs a third-person strategy game where your primary resource is the souls with which you summon your units.
And, because everyone has these moments of game design inspiration, ideas are cheap, and the gaming industry is full of proof that good ideas don’t necessarily make good games; what really matters, in fact, are the implementations of those ideas. But the good news is that the tools and knowledge required to make ideas into something you can play are cheap too. In fact, most of them are free!
What’s your point?
That means that any layman armed with time and an idea can make that shooter/slasher/shredder/schemer he envisioned. You don’t need to be a programmer or that nerdy guy with glasses who aced every Computer Studies exam in high-school – all you need is a bit of dedication and a willingness to learn. And a place to go for help when you get stuck.
But we live at the end of nowhere, what can we possibly do from here?
Despite being at the end of nowhere, South Africa actually plays host to two sizeable and established game development communities: Game.Dev, sharing experiences from their NAG Online sub forum and through Dev.Mag; and SA Game Development, with their more technically-oriented focus.
That’s all well and good, but it’s not really helpful. How do I actually make games?
There are tons of ways to get into game development, but the best one is to actually make games. Which is easier than it sounds:
1. Download Game Maker from YoYo Games.
2. Follow the beginner-level tutorials to learn your way around the program and its fundamentals.
3. Turn your idea into a real game.
And while you’re doing that, take some time to set up an account on the Game.Dev forums, introduce yourself and share your game idea. Game.Dev’s focus on using simple, rapid development tools makes it an ideal starting point for beginners; these guys will offer help specific to the problems you will encounter and advice well beyond the generic guidelines offered here.
This sounds all rose-tinted. What’s the catch?
There’s just one, and it’s about realism. Triple-A game studios consist of hundreds of professionals. You are one person; one person could make Doom 4, but you’re not going to do it before id Software have started on their seventh incarnation. Which doesn’t really do you much good at all.
Of course, this doesn’t dissuade indie developers from their craft, nor does it prevent them from realising the flexibility that is their advantage. Lone developers have created games like Spelunky, The Cleaner and Iji (each one crafted with Game Maker) achieving critical success with all of them; and it’s all down to effort and dedication.
So the next time you’re shooting/slashing/shredding/scheming your way into new game ideas, stop and think about it seriously for a moment. And then make it real, because anybody can do it.
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