So I’ve been messing around with game dev now for a few months on and off. My experience with it all has been a couple tutorial bundles from Udemy. Mainly the one from Gamedev.tv. Good stuff from what I can tell. Anyways, so after finishing up a tutorial within that bundle I decided that I wanted to just open up a blank project and put to use some of the stuff I learned. And like most people here, basically nothing came out. I didn’t even know where to begin sometimes. I felt like an idiot. Like I hadn’t learned a thing. But so I pushed on and used ChatGPT to help give me direction with things I wanted to implement. But after doing this for a while I realized I was completely relying on it, not writing my own scripts at all and just copy pasting the code. I know this doesn’t lead to me learning shit. But the problem is, I don’t know how to really truly learn the programming aspect. Like what to type and when, where. How to know what it is I need to type and how to type it properly. Hopefully this makes sense what I’m describing but I just don’t know where to get that knowledge. And reading Unity docs doesn’t seem like the kind of way I would typically learn. But I also don’t want to just follow tutorials forever as I’ve already mentioned that I don’t really truly pick stuff up from that. At least not in the way code is created and what to know when certain things are needed.

The main things I’ve gained from watching the tutorials is Unity navigation and I can get a decent idea of what code is trying to do. I can kind of read it and understand how and what things are, but if it ever came to me having to write the code myself , no chance.

How do I break through this barrier? Again I don’t want to give up but I don’t know how people push through and learn what they need to actually create something.

Thanks.

My game is listed on Steam, and almost ready for release, but I now want to add a free playable demo to my steam listing, so people can play the game for free to see if they want to buy it, before they pay money for it.

I need to convert the game in an easy and quick way, but so that its still fun enough for the players so that they would like to continue playign the full game version.

So how do I make the demo limiting?

Limit to starting area, limit to a specific player level, or limit per amount of in game days played?

I dont want to explore and discover too much of the game, but also not make it too limiting. What is the magic answer here?

Because you have some minimal game dev experience does not mean you are in a position to offer valuable advice. Please stop providing feedback thinking because you've spent a few hours using some game engine you now have some amazing insight which actual developers have missed. The amount of amateur/hobbyist wannabe game devs on this sub offering bad advice to experienced game devs is ridiculous, please keep your noob opinions to yourself.

Hi everyone!

I'm an 18-year-old high school student about to graduate, and I’m planning to go into Education with a focus on Physics and English. I have a strong passion for both subjects, and my goal is to create free, fun, educational games for kids to help them with English and introduce them to physics concepts in a way that's easy to understand.

However, I’m feeling pretty overwhelmed with all the information out there on game development and coding. I really want to get started, but I’m not sure where to begin. There’s so much to learn, and I’m not sure which coding languages or game development tools I should focus on first.

Here’s where I could really use some guidance:

1. Which programming languages should I focus on first for game development, especially for educational games? (I already dabble in Python, but should I learn something like C# for Unity or Lua for Roblox Studio?)
2. What game development platforms or engines should I use? I’ve heard of Unity, Unreal Engine, and Roblox Studio, but I’m not sure which would be best for my goals (considering I want to keep things simple and beginner-friendly).
3. What should I prioritize in terms of learning? Should I focus more on programming fundamentals, game mechanics, or game design principles first?
4. Is 2D or 3D game development a better place to start? I know Blender for 3D design, but would it be better to start with 2D games to keep things manageable?
5. How can I make educational games fun and engaging? Any tips on balancing the learning and gameplay aspects?
6. What are some resources or learning paths that could help me get started? (books, courses, YouTube channels, etc.)
7. How do I deal with the overwhelm of all the available tools, languages, and tutorials? Any advice on narrowing it down and focusing on what matters most?

Game Mechanics I Want to Use:

1. Task-Based Progression
2. Reward and Leveling System
3. Multiplayer Mode
4. Problem-Solving Challenges
5. Timed Tasks
6. Character Customization
7. Skill Unlocks
8. Exploration and Discovery
9. Feedback Loop

I’m super excited about this project, but I just need a little help figuring out where to start. I am willing to put some years into this project, possibly my whole University journey and more. I just want to get a start now. If anyone has advice on any of the above (or anything else that might be helpful for a beginner like me), I would really appreciate it!

Thanks in advance! 😊

TL;DR: I'm an 18-year-old student wanting to make fun educational games for kids. I know Python and Blender, but need advice on which programming languages, game engines, and resources to start with. Any tips?

I stumbled upon some promo images for Into the Dead: Darkest Days (example 1 example 2) and the game's perspective and focal length in pretty spot on for what I want to achieve with my own project.

How could I recreate this? I'm using Blender and Godot program wise. Thank you in advance!!

Hello everyone! I’m working on a Web3 game portal where users can play games and earn rewards, and I’m reaching out to the community here to get some insight. One possible feature is to help tokenize some of the rewards/items in your game to achieve interoperability of assets between games on our platform.

In the long run, to support the reward system, there’s a small listing fee, mainly to offset a bit of the rewards we offer to users.

I’d love to know: In the platform's early stage, if there is no fee charged for early adopters at the beginning stage, what would you consider essential before agreeing to list your game on a site like this? Assuming the user traffic wouldn't be substantial in the early stages (hence the waiving of fees).

The most important assumption is that the games on the platform are fun and engaging even when played for free, not those that require you to pay hundreds of dollars for NFTs to achieve a higher power.

Any feedback would be hugely appreciated, as I’m looking to make this a win-win for both players and developers. Thanks in advance!

Hey guys!

I'm working on a Unity project, and I've set up a main scene with all my essential GameObjects and their respective scripts, such as GameManagers, the player, UI elements, and more. Everything is working perfectly in this main scene.

The problem comes when I try to create new scenes. Each new scene starts completely empty, and I’m left with the tedious task of manually recreating or copying these objects and reassigning all the variables, references, and settings for each new scene. This process is taking a lot of time, and it feels inefficient, especially if I need to make a change across scenes later on.

My question is: What’s the best (and hopefully easiest) way to access my essential GameObjects and scripts across multiple scenes in Unity? I’m looking for a method that allows me to keep everything organized without having to manually set up each scene from scratch. Any advice or strategies would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance for any tips or suggestions!

I am working on a game, in unity, that will need several different UI functionalities:

• Main menu / pause menu
• tactics style UI (selecting tiles and characters for movement, attacks, info, etc)
• action bar (think WoW)
• dialogue (mostly just click through or yes/no option at most)

I'm trying to decide if I should just develop from the ground up 4 separate systems to handle these different types of user interface, or lay out a generic system that I can build on to handle these 4 different cases.

I know at the core all of these things will be interactable by selecting things on the screen, so I wonder if I should start off with a single system that can be configured / extended to handle all these cases, or if they are so different (selecting tiles is very different than a yes/no dialogue option is very different than navigating a pause menu) that I shouldn't try to abstract them all to work with some base UI system and just design them all from scratch.

Hey everyone! I'm new to the game development world and currently studying Computer Science in Brazil. I have some questions I haven’t been able to find clear answers for on YouTube. I'm thinking a bit ahead, but when it comes to launching a new game, what’s the best approach? Should I release it on Itch.io first to gather feedback and reviews before moving to Steam? Or is it better to start with a demo on Steam? Or any other method ? Any advice on how this process usually works would be really appreciated!

Hi - I hope it's ok to ask this here and I'm sorry for coming in clueless. I'm an artist and a writer, but not a developer by any stretch. I'm no stranger to big long-term projects and I've produced a few crowdfunded card-based games, but the tech side is not really something I'm skilled in (or looking to take on myself.)

But - let's say I have an story/concept/art that I'd like to turn into a game. Where would I want to start? Should I be looking to hire someone? Bring on a collaborator? Pitch to a company? How does one enter the indie game industry as something other than a developer?

Thanks in advance for your patience and mercy 😂

So I am a solo developer, been making prototypes the past year nonstop tbh. I have a demo ready to publish, but due to my perception of it being amateur work after reviewing it, I put it on hold and am currently working on another demo with what I feel is better for gameplay.

So just now i was curious enough to look online for developer jobs and just kinda see what is out there (U.S.). I found a site called gamejobs.co and I wanted to confirm with others if it is all legit and I can safely contact these positions?

Hey everyone!

I’m excited to share a sneak peek of my upcoming game, Afterlife. It's still in the early stages of development, but I wanted to release an alpha teaser to give you all an idea of what the game is about and, most importantly, gather some feedback from the community.

Afterlife takes place in a mysterious universe beyond death, where the player must solve puzzles to activate ancient pyramids that transport light across the realm. The goal is to strategically place these pyramids to guide the light, uncovering secrets and discovering the deeper meaning of the afterlife. The game is meant to evoke feelings of nostalgia, adventure, and tranquility, all set against colossal, surreal landscapes.

Right now, the teaser shows a glimpse of the world and the mechanics we’re working on, but it’s just a taste of what’s to come. We’re also hard at work on a more playable version that we’ll be sharing soon, and your feedback would be invaluable in shaping the direction of the game.

So if you have a moment, check out the teaser and let me know your thoughts! What do you think about the concept, the visuals, or the mechanics so far? Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Looking forward to hearing from you all!

https://youtu.be/VVrjlzG88zs

Follow the progress: https://x.com/AfterLifevg

I've been working on my 3D car combat game for several months now, and am feeling pretty confident about the technical design and implementation so far. I'm feeling less confident about my art direction.

I set out without much modeling experience but I've picked it up pretty well and I think what I have is suitable, at least for development. I think a major thing missing is a deliberate aesthetic that can unify the look of the game. Are there any good Youtube videos about art direction? I know about mood boards and color palettes, but how can I apply them? Are there other concepts that might help?

I have a basic knowledge of both javascript and c#, as I make games for my hobby. I originally wanted to learn to make an html game for fun, and then I decided that I wanted to try unity so I started learning c#. I've done a fair bit of research, and I feel like I want to make the jump to unreal. I don't think that will be too much of a problem, as I've been coding for less than a year and it won't be a big deal to switch languages again now that I have a basic understanding of how code works. That being said, I want to learn the right practices and I feel like a course would be nice. My latest itch has been to try my hand at a soulsborne, so if that is a focus in the course that is a plus. I am also looking to make connections in the game development world, so if anyone wants to reach out with a discord and wants to talk I am open!

Im not a game dev, nor have I any experience in the field. I am looking for ideas and opinions on potentially "commissioning" an amateur remaster of a very old and relatively obscure game. I'm fortunate enough to have 3D files of all the level maps as well as every single texture file in the game, I don't know if this will help in any way but it's good to have nonetheless.

I'm not looking to change the core gameplay or controls, or anything for that matter. Ideally I'd like to make it HD, the game is quite old and very polygon looking, so I'm not sure if this would be possible without redoing the whole game?

I'm currently working on recreating the music so it sounds like an actual orchestra performing it as a passion project as I am an amateur music producer, so doing this sparked the thought to remaster the whole game. I just don't know if it's possible. For reference, someone recently remastered a game called Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II. I want to do the same thing with the game I'm talking about. Would a project like the DFII remaster be a difficult undertaking?

I'm currently working on my game design portfolio and networking with other game developers. I was just at MDEV in Madison, WI. I learned a lot about how to land a job in the AAA industry and network with other developers. I was told by several industry professionals that it would be a good idea to just focus on Unreal Engine 5 and make very small games with that since I already have a lot of experience with Unreal Engine 3, UDK, and Unreal Engine 4. I am also a 3D environment artist, but I want to pursue Game Design. I'm also open to QA Testing or Level Design to break into the industry.

For some reason, I always felt this need to finish my Unity game dev courses from GameDev.tv, Game Dev Rocket, and Full Time Game Dev Unity courses. I feel like just knowing Unity is a good skill and making 2D games first will only help your game design skills. A lot of developers told me while that may be true, Unity is more for Indie while Unreal is more for AAA and that I should focus on Unreal since I have strong skills in 3D and past experience with Unreal. Also, Blueprint is a big bonus for visual scripting (I know there's also PlayMaker for Unity).

What are your thoughts on this? Should I just stop my Unity classes and not make a few small 2D games? Should I just move on with Unreal Engine and focus on that? Or should I continue with Unity if I want to, make a few 2D games, and then move on to Unreal when I am ready? I know both engines are both different software for making games, and it doesn't really matter as long as I am making small games and getting them out there on itch.io or my portfolio. At least that's the most important part, you're getting better at your craft and actually finishing game projects.

There's a hero in Mobile Legends whose skill makes your hitbox bigger, making it easier to connect skills.

So I thought, what if a dodge stat affects your hitbox size? The more dodge you have, the smaller your hitbox becomes or vice versa.

Another game that I've played was Solo Leveling: Arise that makes use of dodge to charge up your ultimate. Dodging triggers a special animation or something like that. So another way of implementing the dodge stat is by increasing the dodge window, like say, you are about to be hit, the more dodge stat you have, the bigger the dodge window becomes. Say you and another player dodge at the same time but you have a higher dodge stat so you avoid getting hit while the other player gets hit, even though you both dodged at the same time.

I was just wondering if implementing one of these would be plausable in an RPG? Because the only time I see a dodge stat, it's on turn-based games but rarely on RPGs so seeing it on Solo Leveling was a nice surprise.

Hello! I’m looking to get into making open-world games using Unreal Engine 5 and want to focus on the practical skills needed to build a game from scratch.

I know C++ will be useful, but I’m wondering if it’s smart to start by watching a C++ tutorial first or if I should just dive into UE5 tutorials right away. Ideally, I’m looking for a YouTube series that covers the step-by-step process of creating an open-world game in UE5, from setting up large environments to using tools like World Partition, Nanite, and Lumen, and implementing mechanics with either Blueprint or C++ as needed. What are some C++ and/or Unreal Engine 5 tutorials that you all would recommend?

Any recommendations on YouTube tutorials would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

This Thursday, we’re hosting a panel discussion and AMA/Q&A on how to maximize game sales during the holiday season:

How to Market Your Game During the Holidays

Topics being covered are:

1. How do I launch a successful Kickstarter campaign?
2. How does the Steam algorithm work?
3. What are the best practices for Steam?
4. Does word-of-mouth work? If so, how?
5. How can I get into showcases?
6. What can I do with a zero budget?
7. How do I retain my users?
8. What is the impact of your team on your game?
9. How can I build a story around my game?
10. How often should I post each week, and what are the best posting practices?
11. What are the best social platforms for marketing (e.g., X, BlueSky)?

The highlight will be the Q&A session, where you can ask Destinee and Mackenzie anything you want about game marketing, including questions specific to your game. This event will be live, so please RSVP! It will take place over a Zoom call.

Every now and then I go to Steam and download 30-40 demos and play through them. I like to see what other devs are up to. In doing so I've noticed a few common mistakes that, IMO, make the demo do more harm than good as far as translating to sales is concerned.

1. Trying to reinvent the wheel with control schemes.

This is so weird to me, because it takes more effort to try to come up with a new control scheme rather than just copy what is standard and expected by players. If your game is going to do it differently than what is common for the genre, there better be a good reason. Sometimes there is, but a lot of times I get hung up just trying to figure out what buttons I have to press in order to do the same thing I've done in other games, and all it does is waste my time. I've played some where I couldn't even figure out how to exit the game, so I end up just forcing it via Windows. That's not going to get any wishlists.

2. Blocking the gameplay behind a massive amount of reading.

Hear me out. I'm not opposed to reading, nor am I opposed to story or lore. But some of the demos I've played don't seem to want me to actually experience the gameplay. Generally speaking, I only really care about reading a lot if I already know I'm going to like the gameplay and stick around, and that's the point of a demo. IMO, the best way to do it in a demo is to have one or two lines at the beginning that summarize the setting, if needed, and then let the player get to it. The obvious exception is for genres that are reading-oriented, but consider that a player's mindset while playing the demo is very different than when starting the full game. They're really just trying to figure out if the gameplay is good, so make the reading optional.

3. No tutorial at all.

Making a good tutorial is a whole topic all on its own, and I personally hate it when it's restrictive and hand-holdy. But not having any tutorial at all, especially for some genres that are more technical than just pointing and shooting, and especially if you changed the control scheme for no reason... oof. The fact that it's a demo is not an excuse, because the only reason it exists at all is to get players hooked, and they won't get hooked if they can't even figure out what they're supposed to do.

4. Releasing the demo waaaaaay too soon.

I think a lot of devs think of players as being sort of... dev-minded. They're not. That's just not how the vast majority of players are. If the demo is missing crucial UI and player feedback, or riddled with bugs, or doesn't have sound, or a save system, etc, the player might be forgiving, but are they going to wishlist the game? Lol no. Not a chance.

I've seen SO MANY demos that feel like the type of build you send to a coworker, with an attached explanation of how it works, and maybe stand behind them while they play it to make sure they're doing it right. Releasing that to the wild is straight up harmful because, again, players are not devs. They don't see potential. All the player sees is a shitty unfinished game.

The whole point of the demo is to impress the player, make them want to come back. After playing through probably at least 300 or so demos, I would say that maybe 20 of them would be something I buy if I'm into the genre, and 3 or 4 have become actual purchases for me because I couldn't stop thinking about the game.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I've been playing a ton of Balatro lately, and I find its scoring system really interesting. It's basically Big Number x (medium number x small number) = score.

For example, the first number (chips) ends up scaling really quick until you have a few hundred, while the 2nd number, the mult, scales much more slowly with only adding +1-3 each time. Then the final number, the xMult, is an even smaller number than rarely goes above 3 or 4 for the entire game depending on which Jokers you grab. There are all kinds of exceptions to this, but generally the numbers get bigger faster from left to right, with my XMult sometimes never changing at all after I get just one x3 or x4 Joker.

Example: A typical round mid game I'll have an equation like 350 x (50x3) = 52,000 points

Is there a mathematical or game-y reason to do it this way? Is it just easier to understand if the numbers in every spot of the equation are vastly different from each other (at least at first)?

Just curious what everyone's thoughts are on this.

I haven't coded in over 10 years so I'm really rusty. I need to start over with training wheels. But once I'm off to the races I'd of course like a way to go down to the metal. To summarize:

- Great for beginners
- Has option to use straight code (no preference as to language) once I get my bearings.

Thank you!

Made my game 100% off, I don't use the coupon code option but it says "this coupon has been claimed 211 times" so just wondering if this is accurate or a bug.

I'm wondering, if I wanted to use a 3D scanner on a steam engine locomotive and make a game where you've got to assemble the engine and then maintain it (like to correctly take it apart and put it back together correctly in the right order with the correct pieces going the correct direction etc), how would I go about doing that? I've been trying to find a tutorial that would be useful but I keep hitting dead ends.

Am I doing myself a disservice by only learning C++ through Unreal Engine? If I only plan to work on Unreal Engine projects in the future, would it still be worthwhile to take on a pure C++ project (maybe a roguelike with libtcod)?

If you were planning to get into a studio that uses Unreal Engine as a gameplay programmer, would you double down and focus on Unreal projects, or would you take the time to work on other C++ projects?

This is in Blitz3d. It uses some variation of BASIC for game development. Popular in the late 90's early 2000's it is almost never used now. Good for old machines though.

Hi ya'll, I've been stuck trying to get something down that rotates a cube and cone locked at the center of the screen to face the mouse at all times.

I'm not sure how to do this, and the Blitz3D forums are down/Broken after they moved to the BlitzBasic domain.

I've tried to follow the same rough steps you could use in another language, but the issue is that most of the solutions I've seen use preset commands in some other engines. (mostly unity using vector) Unfortunately All I have to work with is:

MouseX: Returns the mouse X position on the screen from the top left pixel
MouseY: Returns the mouse Y position on the screen from the top left pixel

(and some basic math functions. I had a half working one using an Atan2, but it would just rotate and not follow the mouse.)

I can't figure out what I should do conceptually to force a rotation. I was thinking about dividing the appwidth and height by 2 to make a sort of X and Y. Then finding the angle between that and forcing it to be 0 by rotating the entity with RotateEntity,0,0,angle.
(The game is a "2D" game, rendered in 3D and looking top down from the Z axis. This is done solely for a stylistic effect)

Any help is much appreciated. I know this is an incent language, but I do know other ones. So if you know of a solution in another language, I should be able to follow and translate. If more info is needed I will provide. (Including parts of the B3D docs) Thank you!

Maybe my game isn't good at all. Anyway, I'd love to have had even a negative response, but I think I've gone into a black hole.

Hello everyone,
I would like to know what are the most common/best games types you've played, Frame Rate Dependent or Time Scale Dependent?

I just want to know what is best in one or the latter.

In my opinion I think Frame Rate Dependent is better, no?
I'm not that sure.

If you can tell me what will be the main differences between them.

Thanks.

Buttons work perfectly fine in editor
and when i build it won't work
(i'm using the onclick() already in the button menu)

I’m currently enrolled in an IT related degree but after working through half of my first IT course, I am thinking that I don’t want to limit myself to IT roles. I am thinking of making the switch to a computer science degree but I am and always have been interested in game development. The college I’m attending also has a game dev degree path but I want my options to remain open after graduation so that I can get my foot in the door to get that real world experience under my belt, but maybe work my way towards game dev in the future.

My question is basically for that future aspect, would a game development company be more likely to hire someone with a CS degree over a game development degree? If my overall goal would be game development (not making any concrete choices as of now), would it be better to go for a game dev degree? Can you get entry level jobs in this field or do companies mainly hire those with experience?

Thanks for the help, just at a crossroads here and looking at all my options.