Intro Feel free to skip, if you wish.
Alright so I'm 15, I'm a freshman in High School, I'm thinking of making an indie game or one with a really small team.

I've had a tad bit of experience in making games, I make game level's on Unity 3d all the time, I've once had to make game like Amnesia: The Dark Descent for a science project in Unity, but I finished it within a couple of hours. I've made plenty of games on RPG Maker VX, 001 Game Maker, and Game Maker Studio.

The only thing I honestly believe helps me with the game i have in mind is the Unity game I had to make for a Science project.

The Game Itself

The Idea came to me when I was playing board games with my family the other night, we were playing a game called Munchkin, It was like D&D without the crazy Roleplay stuff and on a game board with cards. In the game, there was always at the beginning of a turn 'Kick Down The Door' phase, which was basically 'Random Encounters' but included Curses, Traps, Class or Race Cards and sometimes Treasure. I loved that Idea, after you kick down the door, you can either 'Loot the Room' or 'Look for Trouble', where you can pick up any 'Kick Down the Door' card and put it in your hand, while the latter you can choose a monster from your hand to fight.

I loved all of those Ideas, I want to incorporate these ideas but I have no Idea how i Will do it without using 'Cards'. I would prefer to not deal with cards, but if there really isn't a way to use those ideas without the cards, then i'll use cards.

The other inspiration i got was from playing a F2P Indie Game named 'Realm of the Mad God' It had 6 or 7 maps per server, and for every map it was expansive, Almost endless. the monsters were the same, and the terrain was easy to recognize no matter how random the maps were. it had a small class system where you had to level other classes to get to the one you enjoy. It played like Diablo, 1 and 2. It was pixelated. It reminded me a little of Minecraft in a way. I could bring friends a long to help me on my aimless journey. the best part of it, Random Dungeons would appear, I loved it.

I want to use the cards Idea, but I love the Realm of the Mad God. I want to somehow combine both.

This is the world map; The Light green is Villages, Light Blue is Major towns, and Dark Blue is The Capital.

[attachment=12837:303772_484743271564678_2074689641_n.jpg]
(Picture has bad quality. I apologize)

Where to start?

Where do I start with a project like this? I want the game to have its own engine. Where do I find great tutorials for this sort of thing? are there tutorials for making very simple yet effective Pixelated Spirtes? and any suggestions would be great. Thanks GameDev.net Community. I apologize for any errors, my laptop is fucked up.

Clinton, Hello,

I personally don't like using Blender, and I haven't really tinkered with it, a friend of my family said he could get me a deal on 3ds Max. so I haven't messed with it.
I've tried Youtube but ( I hate to sound spoiled) I don't like most of them, Bad Quality or too rushed, I've tried BurgZergArcade's tutorials. I don't intend on fully starting till Mid-February, when my schedule gets more open. This just seemed Viable to get help from actual Game-freaks like I am so I know where to kick off.


minibutmany, Hello,

I've done 5 or 6 Scripts with my experience on the games, half of them being Java, half of them being C#. and I honestly have no idea what any acronyms mean or the difference in each.

As for the Adobe stuff you mentioned, for the Map I used Paint.net,I intend to use something different, I have asked for a Photoshop license but that is one of those things I have to get myself.

I've signed up for 4 or 5 Game-related classes for my next semester (Web-page, Technical Design, Architectural Design, and a Photoshop Class) It's not the best hand but it's a good enough one.

My friend and I have spent 3 or 4 nights awake over the summer looking at engines and other freeware that help with game creation. Unity was the best out of all.

kburkhart84,


I want it to mix between 2d and 3d. Interface, Character NPCs, etc. for 2d and terrain being 3d.

as for the engine part.. I know it's not ideal, it was just a thought.

MrJosh, Thanks. And I actually have no intention of selling this. It's just for me and my friends to play on our spare time, a project of leisure.

I myself am not a very good with mathematics, but I do know a good bit of design, art and other things, I took a 'Game Camp' during the spring when I was 13 that introduced me to coding. the program was called Bootstrap and I was fairly good at it. I wrote my own Engine and did some generation procedures, the problem is, Bootstrap was it's own language of code designed for 8-13 year old kids. and I haven't messed around with it for 2 years now, and I have a terrible memory.

The problem with me and Math is that i'm in Average 9th grade High School math and my other core classes are apart of the Honor's program. Engineering and stuff along the lines i don't understand all too well. I know it's going to be a bit rough to start an engine or use another pre-built one and work with it. It was just a thought so once I finish the Engine I would have a better understanding of whatever Coding language I would be using.

and Thanks again. I appreciate it, I've asked questions on other sites such as Youtube and other Forums and I get backlash whenever I reveal i'm a kid. Glad this isn't the case.

I used to be into D&D but none of my buddies are into it and my family never had the time so it kind of just died away.
but I used to play Roblox (Digital Legos basically) and I would make up RPG's with my buddies and we'd play almost every night.

I have been wanting to make a full on video game since i was a young lad. to actually finish one and play it, and enjoy it would probably relieve the 'I Can't make a game, i'm too young' hurdle I've been having since that Game-coding camp awhile ago.

I've always wanted it as a career because i would always be fascinated with worlds of my imagination. some of those worlds are in that scratchy map I made above.

I'm ready to commit. I just need the tools and focus to do it.

I also write a ton, my English teachers and Creative Writing teachers tell me I could be a great Author or Poet when i'm older. so the story isn't going to be an issue