A Beginners Perspective on Being a Beginner

Andre Falls · 2011-12-04T15:39:05

Hi. I'm new. This is my post and I hope to learn. First off, I am a total beginner. I have no knowledge of programming and the stuff that make games work. It's okay, I know where to look so I don't need to be directed to "what language or how to". BUT REALLY. I'm INTO gaming. And as a kid, I was always hoping to build my whole future into the industry. As I grew up, (and I'm sure as everyone was growing up), we were told that life is hard and our goals are impossible to achieve. It's not people who tell us. WE tell ourselves that. I mean, who would've thought making games was THAT difficult as a kid? But I digress I've heard that it's really hard to put one up and it isn't done alone. So tell me GDnet. Where does Andrechan begin? Right. It's a matter of preference. Okay then. [color="#ff0000"] I dont know what I should specialize in. [color="#ff0000"]I don't know what's there to specialize in. [color="#ff0000"] Heck, a lot of question come into mind when I finally had the guts to pursue this gamedev career. I'd like to ask a [color="#008000"]few if you don't mind. 1)Do I really need to learn programming? I acknowledged earlier that I knew it was hard and I knew that it wasnt done alone. (I also acknowledge that it can be done alone, but i'm talking big leagues here) To be in full control of the game and results, do I need to learn programming and make my own engine? >>>>that question's been asked before(i think) -okay, here.What if I were to command a team to develop a game. Do programmers come at top tier? (I can only imagine so, because he knows what he wants it to look. But really I can only guess coz I have no knowledge what so ever) Coz I'm at a point where I should go and study programming. But if I don't need to, I can pass on it. 2)Engines I wont say much about engines. I have no idea how they work. Correct me if I'm wrong, but engines are like CPUs of the game? That's not really my question. Would it be degrading as a developer to use someone else's engine? I mean, I've seen game maker. It's cool. But don't you feel...I dunno what's the word for it. Has something to do with being Indie and just that. 3)Graphics I'm gonna let myself go here and be a total idiot. I know it's probably not easy...but how DO those big companies make those graphics? How come I've never seen anything like those replicated in the Indie game world? (for this question, can someone be more specific...like the hardware or software that's needed. I cant seem to fathom how they do that.Sure I've done projects using Maya, but how come their stuff looks so good?) 4)Future. What is there for me? Okay, it's a multi billion dollar industry. I get it. But isn't it too big of a world out there. We ourselves(let's just assume that I was already a gamedev), are all competitors in this world. We want to make it big, don't we? (Yeah, sure some do it for the art-but reaaaally?) So, are do we just stay here and make indie games? Or do we need each other so we can develop a skill set to get accepted in Nintendo or something? I was born in Arizona but I live in a third world country now where no one cares about games coz they'd rather care about poverty. What do I do with my skills? Where do I go? Do I just sit there waiting for my stuff to sell? Now what's the word for this term again? Cynical? Skeptic...I dunno. Keep in mind, I don't know how this whole industry works, so if I may have said something stupid, please excuse me. I'm trying to grasp what it IS I am going to be, and since I don't know where to turn...I decided to sign up and ask the folks all over the world who have more experience. ------------------------------------------------ One skill that I have though is that I am a leader. I dunno how that will help. I guess when forming a team, I guess. P.S. What kinds of people do I need to make a game making team? Thanks for reading. I hope to get good comments and I hope to learn from you guys soon. I'll try to make this thread noticeable with a good title.... Ho-hum I'm sure I still have other questions to ask, I just cant think of it yet...I'll post next time when I do. Thanks.

Games Career Development Business

Started by andrechan November 24, 2011 04:23 PM

20 comments, last by Tom Sloper 12 years, 4 months ago

spooderw

123

December 04, 2011 03:45 AM

[quote name='spooderw' timestamp='1322965238' post='4890289']
I can't speak for IOS.

That's exactly my point.

MineCraft is the top selling indie game on your list, with about 3.5 million units sold. By comparison, Angry Birds has over 500 million sales - and that is jut one of the many successful indie games on iOS.

(and yes, Rovio *is* an indie company, at least up until the financial success of Angry Birds - it was formed by 3 college students with no funding or prior business experience)
[/quote]

That is ONE game. The average indie game on IOS does not make enough money to buy a week of groceries.

I can think of maybe 10 successful indie games on IOS, and I can easily think of 100 games with as much or more success on PC and consoles.

Statistically speaking, I can almost guarantee that every single person who reads this post would do poorly if they made an IOS game.

swiftcoder

18,997

December 04, 2011 06:40 AM

That is ONE game. The average indie game on IOS does not make enough money to buy a week of groceries.

Nor does the average indie game on PC. Far from it - the handful you listed are the exception to the rule, elsewise everyone would be rolling in money. Developing a financially successful game (indie or not) on any platform is a long shot. You have to make it into that 1% that captures the popular imagination - otherwise you'll be lucky to nickel & dime back your development costs.

But this is all very tangential to the question of whether one should use an engine. You and I could probably spit out counter-examples all night, but it wouldn't be very productive. The bottom line is that there are successful games built on 3rd party engines, and successful games using in-house engines.

There's no hard-and-fast rule as to which you should go for: it's a tradeoff of time/effort required to roll your own tech, versus the time/effort to learn someone else's tech.

Tristam MacDonald. Ex-BigTech Software Engineer. Future farmer. [https://trist.am]

Tom Sloper

17,203

December 04, 2011 03:39 PM

This discussion is all over the place.
Career choice, how to prepare -- those are the purview of the Breaking In forum.
Doing business as an indie developer -- that's a Business topic.
This discussion doesn't happily belong in either forum now, and it also doesn't belong in For Beginners (a technical forum).
I think it's best to close this, therefore, and anyone wishing to continue discussing any aspect of this discussion can easily start a new thread in the appropriate forum.

-- Tom Sloper -- sloperama.com

A Beginners Perspective on Being a Beginner

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