Skip to main content

Indie game storeFree gamesFun gamesHorror games
Game developmentAssetsComics
SalesBundles
Jobs
TagsGame Engines
(+7)

If you're new to game development, don't try to win... focus instead on making sure you come up with an idea you believe you could conceivably do and focus on getting it done.

That's a pro-level tip. I've been teaching people to program games for decades, including teenagers, college kids, and younger kids (I taught myself to program when I was 7, and I've taught kids that young, and kids with learning disabilities... programming isn't as hard as everyone thinks, it just takes a love for doing it and having a hand in creating something ex nihilo).

But a lot of my students get discouraged and quit because no matter how much I try to warn them against it, they can't help themselves but to try to get an end result that takes teams of hundreds of people years to make. So, please take it to heart when I say don't strive to win, strive to get a good main game loop that you really have fun with yourself and want to expand on it, and use the rest of the time to make a short secondary loop (if it's just a very simple game, use that time to polish it). Just make sure you get it done. Let yourself learn what it takes to do things on a steep deadline that may mean days of sleeplessness. Those are traits highly sought in the industry.

But then forget the industry. It's stupid. Take what you made that you really learned to enjoy and continue to develop that on your own. Make something big out of it, spend time working on it, build up an audience, and then you have one of two paths available to you...

(there's obviously many more than two, but here are two examples)

...either use it as a portfolio game to get into the industry, which I don't recommend, but you could, because showing you have the ability to create a whole thing from scratch is infinitely more useful than a piece of paper saying you got good grades in a school... or put it up on a crowdfunding site like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Patreon, or whatever else, and be your own boss. You can't expect that after just one jam, but if you try, that's where it would ultimately lead if you decide to keep with it.

Just don't bite off more than you can chew and you'll do fine.

(+2)

wow your advice is priceless. Love it!

(+1)

This advice is really useful, thanks for taking the time to type it.

(+1)

Wow, you taught yourself to program in age of 7?! That's amazing!

(1 edit) (+1)

Here's how that worked... When I was a kid I had a Commodore 64, and it was way expensive to get any of the media devices like the 1541 disk drive and the cassette deck, so you had to type in your games every time you wanted to play them.  In the comic book section of my local corner convenience store they used to sell these books that were something like "Marvel Super Heroes Games You Can Program in BASIC!" I would get those, type in the program, play it, then alter things little by little until I figured out what they did until I could make my own games without looking at a book. From there, I've learned around a dozen programming languages (although I need refresher courses every time I switch).

I taught myself to read at five through almost the same method, by listening to Little Golden Books on Tape over and over again, rewinding them continually until I knew how letters worked. I did both of these entirely on my own without any kind of adult involvement. I say this not to brag, but for the exact opposite reason: I'm not some kind of super genius, I'm trying to make the point that everyone CAN be if they have the desire to be.