How to come up with a game? Famous developers such as Bungie, Ubisoft and Treyarch have budgets reaching millions, as well as a staff of designers and programmers working around the clock to create another blockbuster. This is an incredibly voluminous market, which often brings more revenue than cinema, as it actively promotes video games to the masses. Of course, this is just one medal in the video game industry.
Latest trends
Most indie developers obviously have no problems with ideas on how to come up with a game (even with a small budget) and make it successful. In recent years, we have seen a huge stream of indie games for consoles and mobile platforms, as small studios - sometimes with one or two employees - create inventive, emotional projects that push the boundaries of what a game can be. Journey, an amazing adventure game for the PlayStation 3 from thatgamecompany, received six out of ten awards in 2013 at the Game Developers Choice Awards in San Francisco. Other hits, such as Bastion and Minecraft, continue to show how powerful indie games have become in recent years.
However, this article is not intended to advertise the success of others. It is published here to help you succeed, create and promote your game. Making an innovative and revolutionary game is as difficult as writing a hit song. This requires a combination of work and innovation, as well as a certain talent. We by no means assume that anyone can sit down and create a game like Super Meat Boy or Limbo. However, creating a game is not as impossible as you think. It will not take so long, but it will take patience. Here is our short guide on how to make a (very simple) video game. Experience for this is optional.
First tip
Make a plan before plunging into work with your head. This is not so necessary if you just have fun and are not focused on the result. But still, you should heed this advice if you want your game to turn out successful. It is easy to fall victim to the curse of constantly replacing what you have already done. You can get stuck in this template forever.
Just imagine what kind of game you want to create in your imagination, but make sure that you, as an amateur designer, do not go beyond your capabilities. The creation of an exciting three-dimensional world, standing next to such giants as Skyrim and Bioshock, is out of the question. But this does not mean that you should not waste time concretizing the concept of your game. Below are some tips on what to think about from the start. Remember that you can always expand your concept later, but defining the basics will help you at the beginning of development. It is also worth considering how to come up with a character for the game.
Practical aspects
Determine the type of game you want to make (e.g. platformer, shooter, RPG). Calculate the budget and duration of the game. There are both free and premium options available for purchase. How to come up with a plot for the game? To get started, come up with a plot concept. It does not have to be complicated right away. The fact is that you should have a general idea of the purpose of the game. Determine your skill level. Start with something simple.
Financial aspect
If you have a few hundred thousand dollars and experience in professional programming, you can always get a license for a real game engine, but for most citizens of our country it is simply unrealistic to do so. You probably don't want to start from scratch, so you need to choose the right software for creating games that matches your level. There are many free and premium options to choose from, and each of them has its own set of advantages and tools for creating a video game.
Below are some of the best options available whether you want to create a pong esque game or something much more ambitious. Each of the programs is provided along with study guides, fascinating manuals, and comprehensive instructions for creating games.
RPG Maker
As you may have understood from the name, RPG Maker VX is a program for creating 2D role-playing games based on sprites from Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest of the 90s.
Although you won’t be able to deviate too much from the resources included in the program (custom graphic resources allow you to import or create in the art editor of the program, but this can be unbearable for many beginners), RPG Maker VX can be a great way to get acquainted with the concepts of level and combat design .
Working in this genre, thoughts on how to come up with a successful and interesting game will soon fade into the background. Role-playing games are loved by fans, but the most difficult thing in creating them is programming game systems. RPG Maker VX does the hard work for you, letting you focus on the systems themselves, rather than creating and coding the engine for it to work.
RPG Maker VX Ace is available for download directly from the website, as well as on Steam, for $ 69.99. A trial version is also available. There is also a free version of RPG Maker VX Ace Lite, but its capabilities are very limited compared to the paid version. However, even if you purchase the free version, you will have a solid set of tools for creating complex video games. And you can update at any time if you decide that you want to go all-in and get access to all the functions of the paid version. This program will give you the answer to the question of how to come up with a game.
IG Maker
IG Maker is another program from Kadokawa and Dedica that uses the RPG Maker boilerplate format and simple user interface. And applies them to various genres, in particular, to the 2D platform and action RPG. IG Maker provides more flexibility than RPG Maker when it comes to visual effects and gameplay. In addition, restrictions imposed on the user prevent inexperience from “breaking” the game. This is another program that answers the question of how to come up with a game.
To get the most out of your brainchild, you will have to study simple coding, but IG Maker does the lion's share of the programming work. For the most part you will be dealing with menus and off-the-shelf tools.
Gamemaker
GameMaker is a comprehensive tool that allows users to create beautiful 2D games without any prior programming knowledge. Like everyone else, the program has some curvature of learning, but an active community and many online tutorials help users cope with tasks (from platformers to side-scrolling shooters) with relative ease.
A lightweight version of the software is freely available, but more robust features and export options require premium versions of the software that can cost more than $ 500. The program interface is also not the most attractive - remember Microsoft Word 2000. But this program remains an excellent tool, given the ease with which you can create games with it. You can make and transfer games to iOS, Android, the Internet (HTML 5), desktop operating systems, etc. And this is without prior knowledge of the programming language or scripts. With this program, you can only have a problem in how to come up with the name of the game.
It was Tom Francis who developed GameMaker. He was the creator of indie games, inspiring many of us. He is known for creating Gunpoint, which has been nominated for many BAFTA awards. This is just one example of popular games created with GameMaker, including Hotline Miami, Stealth Bastard, Risk of Rain, and Hyper Light Drifter. This program will perfectly help those who still do not know how to come up with a game for children or adults.
Scirra construct 2
Like GameMaker, Scirra Construct 2 is another premium program that comes bundled with an active informative forum for users and a wonderful trial version, which is more than enough for beginners in this field. An alternative to other web animation tools such as Java and Adobe Flash, the HMTL5-based game engine is specifically designed to create many 2D games. From platformers to the classic arcade game. It can be instantly viewed and transferred to PC, Mac, Linux, the Chrome Web Store, the Firefox market, as well as the app stores for iOS and Android to ensure maximum compatibility and ease of use on all devices.
The interface and ease of game development leave GameMaker in the dust. A built-in event system allows users to quickly program movements and other actions without coding, and a flexible structure opens the door for more control and vivid visual effects. The premium version will cost you only $ 120 and reveal the full potential of the software, but the commercial package will cost almost $ 400.
Stencyl
More than 120,000 registered Stencyl users who have created more than 10,000 games on various major platforms, including Windows, Mac, iOS and Android, cannot be wrong.
This program has a clean interface and powerful functionality that uses specially created templates, either your own or from Stencyl Forge, an integrated online marketplace that opens up a world of cooperation and collaboration with other users. Unlike other types of software, the program is offered as a subscription service with a fee of $ 200 per year for the most expensive package, but various discounts are provided for students and other users.
The software is commercially oriented, that is, the creators constantly advertise it as a profitable way to make money quickly, and not just have fun, but you are under no obligation to submit your game for sponsorship or as an example of a company's success story.
Play Dangerous Dungeons, a puzzle platformer and SkullFace inspired by Super Meat Boy, for a couple of vivid examples of what you can do with this great program.
Flixel
Flixel, an open-source game maker, completely free for both personal and commercial use, spawned Canabalt and other Flash-based hits, which often make it onto the list of top games. It is built from the ground up with ActionScript 3, the third version of an object-oriented programming language designed to control 2D vector animation. But compatible with a wide selection of free development tools that make this software one of the most customizable.
Flixel shines when creating animation in the style of film strip and 2D side scrollers. They have a relatively fixed perspective, but are unable to cope with the confusing world of three-dimensional modeling and level design. Nevertheless, the use of mosaic maps to create levels is intuitive and useful, as are the many camera features, path design, and the ability to save games.
Without software?
How to invent a game yourself without using programs? Alas, in our time this is impossible. Nevertheless, in our article there are enough programs to help you understand how to come up with a role-playing game. The open source aspect of the software really improves the learning process (knowledge of C-style programming helps). For some time, Flixel was not updated, but users did not lose hope for a potential release of version 3.0.
Try the aforementioned game generator Canabalt and Blasting Agent, Contra-like side shooter. All of these programs, however, are unlikely to answer the question of how to come up with a board game, unless it is based on your virtual template created before.