Learning how to make your own game in 2024 can be fun, rewarding, and extremely difficult. However, if you are passionate about creating a video game, then this is the time. Apart from fulfilling your dreams, you can also grow more as an individual by embarking on the journey of an indie developer. You don’t need to have thousands of dollars to invest in creating your own video game, you just need time, patience and a lot of dedication. Today, many tools and resources, including game engines such as Unity, Godot and the Unreal Engine, are free and can help you build your dream project while also saving you a lot of time, costs, and effort.
Create Your Own Game – The Indie Dream
Many of us dream of one day creating our very own video game but most of the time we are simply overwhelmed and don’t know where to start. That’s why it’s important to break down the workload into digestible pieces to get some structure and confidence in what you’re doing. That’s why we created a guide on how you can tackle your very own game step by step.
1. Come Up With An Idea
Before you can jump into creating your first prototype, you need to come up with an idea for your game. If you are staring at a blank canvas and have no idea what kind of game you want to make, try to think of games you like. What do you like the most? What things would you change? Maybe you can even fuse two of them together?
It could also be a mechanic nobody has ever seen before, a heartbreaking story you want to tell or maybe you simply want to improve a game that already exists.
Either way, don’t forget to take notes of all the things you come up with. Formulating your idea into written sentences not only helps you to keep track of them but it also forces you to clarify what you want. This can separate good ideas from bad ones and gives you a great base to start.
2. Do Your Research
When you’ve settled on an idea, it’s time to do the proper research for it and answer the following questions:
- What kind of tools do I need?
- What kind of skills should I have?
- What makes this genre so special?
- Are you going to make the game in 2D or 3D?
- What art style are you going for? Is it stylized or photorealistic?
- What platforms do you want it to be on?
- …
Depending on the game, the research you have to do can vary a lot. If you’re planning to have your gameplay in London during the industrial time of the 18th century you’ll definitely need to read up on it to really immerse people into your game. The more you know, the better your game is going to be.
3. Write A Game Design Document
After you’re done with your research, you should write it down into what people commonly refer to as a Game Design Document. This document is the heart and soul of your game, especially if you’re working in a team to keep things consistent. It contains everything from the story & characters to the different levels & mechanics of your game. It helps you to see the scope of your game, what things are essential for your gameplay and what isn’t. Documenting the development of your game can also be very valuable for any future projects you want to create, so try and keep that in your mind as well.
4. Build A Prototype
Once you’ve established the basics for your game, it’s finally time to build your prototype. Choose a coding language and engine that fits your needs and start roughly blocking out your game. It’s especially important in this step that you don’t try to make your game look pretty. It’s about the function. Let your main character be a simple block for now and start implementing the important features to see if everything works as it’s supposed to be. Sometimes ideas look good on paper but if you try to implement them, they can cause problems or maybe they simply won’t work as intended. Creating a simple prototype saves you a lot of time and frustration while also enabling you to quickly test out your ideas before sending them through a lengthy design process.
5. Design Your Game
Once your prototype is fully functional, it’s finally time to design your game. Create proper assets and textures, implement extra features if you can and slowly build up on the solid solid foundation you’ve made until you’re satisfied. One thing you should keep in mind though is the fact that nobody… or in this case.. no game is perfect. At a certain point you need to come to terms with the fact that enough is enough. It’s better to wrap up a project with some imperfections than never releasing it out of fear it’s not good enough. Experience comes with time and if you’re not happy with certain parts of your game, why not use the opportunity to start over with a new project?
6. Test & Iterate
Before you can ship your game it of course has to be tested to see if there are any bugs or glitches left. This usually happens simultaneously during development. Let your friends and family play your game, find people online who are willing to test it for you or even go as far to release it into early access for a broader audience to see. If something doesn’t work, change it. If people like a certain part, improve it. Testing a game is one of the most important steps to ensure the quality of your product.
7. Market Your Product
Marketing your game can be especially tricky if you are a newcomer or hobbyist who doesn’t already have an audience at hand. It’s highly recommended to grow your audience while you’re working on your game, be it via a website, a blog, YouTube videos or any other social media platform like TikTok or Instagram. You can even reach out to several Streamers or other influencers to give them a chance to promote your game. The sooner you begin, the better it is. You never know what kind of connections you’ll make during that time. Creating a community before you even launch is going to give you a massive head start!
8. Publish Your Game
Once you’re happy with your game it’s finally time to publish it. I highly recommend starting on one platform at the beginning like PC or Mobile Phone. You can still expand to others later on as well so don’t stress yourself out about it. Once your game is published, don’t forget to support it and keep an eye on your player’s feedback. No amount of testing can prepare you for launch. Make sure to give it some extra attention during the first few days or weeks, especially if it’s a multiplayer game that runs on a server.
A lot of these steps can be done side by side or they can be revisited anytime you need to. Making a game is rarely straightforward but most of the time very iterative. So don’t be afraid to go back to add or change things. If you’re still unsure and need help, feel free to ask!
If you’re wondering how and why influencers can help you with your marketing strategy, check out this blog post here where we went into more detail on the topic:
Game Changers: The Impact of Influencers on the Gaming Industry
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