Getting Started with Independent Game Development (1)

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Newton's third law tells us that if you want to launch something, you must leave something behind. Here I leave some of my personal experience and insights, hoping to help those who want to make the game they want but don't know how to start, and also hope to make a name for my own independent game.

First, let's talk about what an independent game is. According to the definition on Wikipedia, an independent game generally refers to an electronic game made by a small team or individual without the financial support of a game publisher. It has been popular since 2005-2010, and the more representative ones are "Minecraft", "Chrono Braid", "Stream" and so on. If you want to make a game of your own choice by yourself or with a few friends, then there is no doubt that your game belongs to the category of independent games, and you are very suitable to read this article. Next, let's talk about what it takes to make an independent game.

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First of all, you need passion for making games and perseverance.

Making games is not an easy job. Whether you plan to make games full-time, after work, or after studying, it will take you a lot of time. If you don't have a passion and a certain amount of patience, you can't do it well. Let me give you a few examples of games I am familiar with: Braid (one of the main games introduced in the Indie Game Movie) started development in December 2005 and was not released until August 2008, which took nearly 3 years; World of Goo (the author appeared in the Indie Game Movie) started development in August 2006 and was finally released in October 2008, which took 2 years and 2 months. Of course, there are some extreme cases. The once popular Flappy Bird is said to have been developed in only one week. However, this situation is rare after all, and Flappy Bird is actually a relatively simple game, so it is also relatively easy to develop. If you want to make a game, then please be prepared for a long-term battle.

Now let's talk about what it takes to make a game. In short, you need game development tools and skills.

Let's talk about the skills needed to develop games first. In the development process of a game, generally speaking, there must be three aspects of work: program, design, and art (of course there is also music, but in my experience, music is not the main part). The planner is mainly responsible for almost everything related to gameplay, including gameplay, level design, plot, character personality, balance, etc.; the art is mainly responsible for almost everything related to the image, such as scene design, character design, and the overall picture art; the program is mainly responsible for almost everything related to the functionality of the game, such as function implementation, optimization, and bug modification. If you have a small team, then you just need someone to be responsible for these three aspects. If you are a lone commander, don't worry, for example, the developer of "Chrono Braid" is only one person, and "Minecraft" can be said to be developed by only one person in the early days. For planning, you may need a broad knowledge, some spatial logic, and most importantly, you need to understand the game itself. For art, you may need some basic painting skills, some art techniques such as PS, and maybe some painting tools such as a drawing board, and most importantly, you need a good sense of art. For programming, some mathematical foundations, some basic programming knowledge, and most importantly, a good logic. However, the most important point is the ability to learn by yourself. For a good game developer, his/her skills are all self-taught. In this era of information flying all over the sky, various resources can be found on the Internet, and self-study is not a difficult thing.

Let's talk about game development tools. What are development tools? In simple terms, they are game engines. The more familiar ones are Unity, Unreal Engine, etc. Why do we need development tools? As the saying goes, a good cook cannot cook without rice. Game development tools are to games what pen and paper are to articles. However, I use the term "game development tools" here instead of directly using game engines because game engines are not actually necessary. Video games are essentially just an application, so any tool that can develop an application will do, but it may be more troublesome. Game engines are essentially application development tools, but they are deeply customized development tools; generally speaking, program development tools are provided and used exclusively for programmers, but game engines can also be used by artists and planners. In short, game engines can shorten the time of many game development. Here I recommend a few popular engines, one is Unity3D, and the other is UnrealEngine4. The reason for the recommendation is that these two game engines are very powerful, almost free for beginners in independent game development, and most importantly, there is a lot of information about these two engines on the Internet (UnrealEngine4 has a little less information, after all, it has just been released). If you want to learn how to use these two engines, you can go to their official website to watch tutorial videos and articles to learn how to use their engines, but please note that you may need some English proficiency. However, there are many domestic articles, and you can also read other people's articles, but I still strongly recommend watching the original videos of the engine developers.

***, some suggestions for developers who are new to independent games.

Don't set your goals too high at the beginning. No one can achieve success overnight. Don't think that you can make games like "World of Warcraft" or "Final Fantasy" or "League of Legends" at the beginning. First of all, the big games that you may like are basically made by experienced development teams of more than dozens of people. It is impossible for you or a few people to make them. What you need to do first is: step by step, and make some small games within your ability. If you make Tetris or Super Mario in a few months, then you can be very proud, because it is really not easy for beginners, so reward yourself. If others say something bad about your game when you play it, it doesn't matter, because you will definitely do better next time.

Well, that's all for this article. I wish you can make your first game.