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[nenjin]

That wasn't specifically directed at you, btw.

FWIW I did my C++ reading along with a hefty dose of UML Design philosophy. I never ended up coding anything meaningful.

[Parsely]

My philosophy in coding, drawing, and recently skating is just keep doing it and looking for the fun and you will progress. If you overload yourself with prerequisites and expectations you might become so intimidated or bored that you'll never do anything. I say just go in with what knowledge you have now and write some bad code and learn naturally, by making mistakes, instead of trying to prepare for everything first. Making a game sounds way more fun than studying design paradigms, and for your first game it's OK to skip the boring, important stuff in order to give yourself the confidence to try a harder project.

[eerr]

It might not seem like something interesting, but:

You should fuss around with making something in Gamemaker.

Not necessarily a long term thing, but to establish a benchmark.

AKA you will figure out if basic programming and drawing is your style.
and if you want to do more, that should thusly be obvious.

I'm not satisfied with game maker but it can make some decent games.

Game maker should have just enough to wet your whistle, or be something you want to stick with.

[Trekkin]

Game maker should have just enough to wet your whistle, or be something you want to stick with.

If by "wet your whistle" you mean it will literally drive him to drink, I'd agree, but at least you didn't plug RPG Maker.

As a general rule, if software is marketed as letting you do something "without coding", kill it with fire. At best, you'll immediately run afoul of the software's inherent restrictions and want to learn how to do something real. At worst, you'll never realize what it doesn't let you do.

[delphonso]

Game maker should have just enough to wet your whistle, or be something you want to stick with.

At best, you'll immediately run afoul of the software's inherent restrictions and want to learn how to do something real.

And thus, this thread.
I have cracked open both Unity and Gamemaker. Gamemaker was rewarding as I made a short 'game' that went through a few levels. Then I hit two problems: pathing required using Game Maker's proprietory language, and the free version was limited to about 4 'maps'.
I got more use out of Unity, which currently runs with C#. I think it will likely be a place I go in the future. But I'd rather make something from scratch first for the experience of it.

As far as design strategies, I'm more willing to make a massive mistake and learn from it rather than following the schemes and advice of other. I've never been good at following directions without deeply understanding /why/. This is also the wall I ran into early on when doing tutorials and searching for answers - hardly ever a why, just how to do it.

[Trekkin]

As far as design strategies, I'm more willing to make a massive mistake and learn from it rather than following the schemes and advice of other. I've never been good at following directions without deeply understanding /why/. This is also the wall I ran into early on when doing tutorials and searching for answers - hardly ever a why, just how to do it.

You should probably go make massive mistakes instead of asking us for advice then, no?

[delphonso]

That's probably good advice.

[askovdk]

When Media Molecule 'Dreams' comes out on PS4, then it looks like it will be a wonderful sandbox to prototype simple game ideas in.
(And yes, I finally dare to say 'when' and not 'if', as it's on closed beta now  )

The latest video uploads from them shows creations made by the beta players, and it's nice to see how different the creations are. (But centered around '3D world action adventure').
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFFgBaWTTwo

[Urist McScoopbeard]

Y'know listen, I am not an expert, definitely not a great programmer, and probably rough around all my edges, but I've wanted to make games for ever and I have gotten some insight over the years while I decide whether or not I should go full ham on the urge.

I think there's a big distinction between making games and designing them. If you want to design games, honestly don't even waste your time with any of the available game creation kits--to echo what others have said: they're really frustrating and not all that flexible. If you really want to design games, just make physical prototypes and digital mockups for what the actual video game might look like and describe the rules/gameplay.

If you want to make that game, you really do have to learn how to program, and over time I really have been disabused of any notion that using a pre-existing game engine will help you do that. Go learn Python, Java, or C++ and get the easiest, simplest game library you can find and just start with the basics.

[thompson]

Game maker should have just enough to wet your whistle, or be something you want to stick with.

If by "wet your whistle" you mean it will literally drive him to drink, I'd agree, but at least you didn't plug RPG Maker.

As a general rule, if software is marketed as letting you do something "without coding", kill it with fire. At best, you'll immediately run afoul of the software's inherent restrictions and want to learn how to do something real. At worst, you'll never realize what it doesn't let you do.

For anyone who finds this thread looking for some general guidance on game development, I'd just like to add a little nuance to the comment above. Using pre-packaged game making software (or mod making software for Syrim, etc) WILL significantly limit what you can do, and are therefore not appropriate if you actually want to learn programming, how to make a game, or to make a game good enough to actually sell. However, it's important to remember that the community to hobby game makers who cannot program is considerably larger than those who can. So, if you intend to make a larger more complex game and need help with graphics design you could develop a prototype game using one of these widely used tools and use that as a proof-of-concept to illustrate your game idea, the setting, basic mechanics, and how it all fits together. You'll have a much easier time recruiting artists into your projects if you actually have something to show them that they can work with. You'll also have a better idea of the game components you'll need down the track as well.

It may also be a good idea to join a more experienced game developer's team and learn from them rather than start out doing your own thing.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Incidentally, I'm currently developing a tabletop wargame campaign manager in Python 3. If anyone with artistic talent is interested in developing some copyright-free sample maps (fantasy, historical, sci-fi and any other genre all welcome), let me know. I have small children so the project is proceeding at a glacial pace, but the map editor is just about done. Should be 6 months to a year before first release. Expect delays.

[Doomblade187]

Per the Gamemaker thing, a quick thought: Undertale is a Gamemaker game. And gamemaker also does support coding, too.

Just remember: make the game the way you want, that works for you.

[Parsely]

I get what people are saying, for beginner programmers Gamemaker and similar packages are not ideal if you want to learn programming in a way that will make those programming skills as broadly applicable as possible, but I would go so far as to say that most gaming projects don't require a brand new engine or dev tools that are much more powerful than what these packages can offer, and I'd point out that this thread is called "I wanna make a game" and this stuff will definitely get you to that goal.

Gamemaker is restrictive but if you're rolling your own engine and/or dev tools I'm sure you'll run into the same problems as you will inevitably build restrictions into your own tools, surely it's not that different from being a scripter on a large game project with it's own API (i.e. you use the tools you're given or build your own ON TOP of what exists you don't get to drill down and go under the hood). Some people are okay with these restrictions though because in return they get to very quickly prototype projects and this means making a game gets fun WAY more quickly

Like Doomblade said, choose the tools that suit you, go have fun making stuff. You WILL get good at it

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Incidentally, I'm currently developing a tabletop wargame campaign manager in Python 3. If anyone with artistic talent is interested in developing some copyright-free sample maps (fantasy, historical, sci-fi and any other genre all welcome), let me know. I have small children so the project is proceeding at a glacial pace, but the map editor is just about done. Should be 6 months to a year before first release. Expect delays.

Is it paid work? If so PM me, if it's not work I can do I can try and recommend you to someone who can do it.

[Sebastian2203]

Tynan Sylvester (the creator of Rimworld) has a good book about designing games.
It´s called Designing Games 32

It is not intended for the absolute beginner, it is assumed you are already capable of creating something, the book just explains the various problems, nuances, psychology of game making.

(I would link it but I am on mobile internet so you will have to google it yourself to find it.)

[Parsely]

https://the-eye.eu/public/Books/IT%20Various/designing_games.pdf

Hilariously, on page 47 it says: "Game design cannot be learned from a book. It requires experience."

[Starver]

Hilariously, on page 47 it says: "Game design cannot be learned from a book. It requires experience. be learnt from a .PDF"

Fixed!