Hobbyist Game Dev Tip #0: An introduction

One thing I’ve always been pretty passionate about is teaching – both in my academic and professional careers. I find that sharing ideas and knowledge improves the quality of work of everyone involved (“a rising tide lifts all boats”) and it’s also an excellent way to master a topic (“the best way to learn is to teach.”) So, as part of a personal push for self-improvement, I’m going to use this space as an outlet for whatever small bits of knowledge I come across.

Sure, there are tons of resources out there from people who are likely far more qualified and write more eloquently. But ultimately, this is for me – to categorize what I’m learning, how I learned it, and why it’s important. And if I manage to help or entertain someone else along the way - fantastic.

So for Dev Tip #0:
Game development is… different

I grew up playing a ton of games and writing a ton of non-game software. So logically, the allure of combining the two efforts and start making my own games was incredibly appealing. For a while, I would just make up completely vague game concepts in my head - none of which ever amounted to anything.

Finally, I decided to dive in and take one of the vague concepts and hack together some kind of prototype. The end result: the realization that I had no idea what I was doing, what creating something “fun” really entailed, and how to properly manage the game scope and my own expectations.

The reason for this is because game development is different. It’s incredibly different than just playing games. It’s different than just writing enterprise software. It’s different than just coming up with game concepts.

It requires a different way of thinking about things - from resource management to user interface to user interaction to art assets to fluid difficulty and progress scaling. The gap between making something that logically works and something that is fun is massive.

"That’s great, but where’s the tip", you might be asking. The single bit of wisdom I’ve managed to squeeze out of this realization is pretty simple:

Design until you’re done, then keep designing. Get incredibly involved in every minutiae. There are things 99% of players won’t notice but will subconsciously appreciate. Obsess over the little things.

As a beginner, this might take a while and that gets pretty frustrating. But for every little detail you work out and perfect - that is a wrinkle in your brain for future reference.