Ive always wanted to make a video game but i feel too dumb to make one. Is gamedev worth looking into still even if im not the sharpest tool in the shed?
Or are there better hobbies out there for newcomers to the hobby space? I know most of you will say do what you enjoy, the thing is im not sure what i enjoy.
Idk if this goes here but i like the linux community as they are usually kind on lemmy.
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Even if you dont like it, no harm in trying it. Worst case you find you dont wanna do it and move on to something else.
You can start with something like pico-8 or a free engine of which there are a ton: https://lexaloffle.itch.io/pico-8
Me personally, ive been trying Godot and its kinda hard to get into, but I may try something else like RPG maker or what not just to get my ideas on paper so to speak.
Do it! The barrier to entry for gamedev is ridiculously low with something like Unity or Godot, and nowadays you can make a complete game with 100% open-source tools.
It’s a hobby that allows for a LOT of different types of creative expression, does not require any monetary investment to get started in, or to pursue long term, and even has a small chance to MAKE you money, if it turns out you enjoy it enough to purse that end. It has the potential to make a GREAT hobby.
You’d be amazed at what you can make! :) I am not formally trained, and picked up a tonne from doing (and youtube) - smarts be darned, I have fun! :) If there’s a game you’d like to make or look into how it’s put together, I find it to be a fun hobby definitely.
it’s a very cheap hobby, as the big three (Godot, Unity, and Unreal) all are free to use (the latter two have commercial costs, but godot is open-source), so I love it for that too! :) There’s no equipment needed either, I even have godot installed on my phone because I can! :)
I’m a unity dev, so that’s my wheelhouse. Unity offer handy lessons to help you pick up how things work, but both godot and unity are okay once you overcome “whoah lots of things! send help!”. I’ve not used unreal, but I gather the building-block scripting “blueprints” is easy enough. :)
Whatever you choose to get up to, hope you have fun!
I found it fun to do amateur gamedev, for my own little enjoyment (e.g. making a super-basic FPS with a gun that shoots a thousand cubes like a shotgun, then making it shoot a thousands spheres that explode on impact like a grenade launcher). Lots of engines are accessible that you don’t need to learn much/any programming skill to make something fun. You can do plenty with free assets, I never paid for anything, but if you are willing and able to pay small amounts for premade assets, then it will be even faster and easier to make something more pretty.
I’ve also done level design (and LoC) for some open-source FOSS games. This is easier for some games than others, but it’s also rewarding. I was particularly known for making experimental or puzzle-like levels, so it was nice to get feedback from others and improve. I’ve mostly grown apart from games these days, but I don’t regret the time I enjoyed making them.
If you have $12 to spend then I can recommend a tutorial series for you which you can buy on itch io. It’s in ‘c’ but you can easily transfer the skills to Python and everything is much nicer. I only recommend c for foundation skills. I respect the old skool methods - it may open your mind.
If you’re still young then I want to convince you that it’s worth your time. You don’t need to be very smart to make simple programs but you can save yourself time and frustration by avoiding stupid mistakes. I know a guy in Australia who can motivate you on this, I sometimes voice call him on Signal.
I no longer prioritise software any more because I’m focused on simply surviving. I’m too old to care any more lol. That said, I do have plans to film interviews with people who work in this field. I’m thinking about doing code review videos and discussions about how to be a good programmer, but not from a heavily commercial pperspective (I hate those endlessly positive videos on youtube who want you to think that anyone can succeed in the industry and become wealthy). I don’t know how viable the industry is any more and I just want to make hobby videos and encourage people to find a path that works for them. I think gamedev is one of the best paths for learning software, unless you want to make web apps instead.
If game development interests you, it’s a great hobby. You don’t need to be knowledgable, but it helps if you like logic puzzles, because programming is basically solving one logic puzzle after the other.
Game dev is much more about creativity than technical excellence, for the average hobbyist. So I’d say it’s actually a good hobby to get into if you’re “not the sharpest tool in the shed”. You could even go down a no-code approach like with RPG Maker, if you’re averse to coding.
A hobby is “good” if you enjoy it. That’s all that matters with hobbies. Don’t look down on yourself for wanting to do something for fun. It doesn’t have to be “efficient” or turn into an income or anything else. Just try it and learn. Learn the skills, learn if you like it
How can we tell you what you will enjoy?
As for game developers I’m not too experienced with it but my understanding is there’s tools available that lower the barrier to entry. Even years ago I was able to publish a few mods for Morrowind as a teenager with no background in computers. I’d think the biggest barrier would be producing the graphics these days.
Yes but also no. For me it kind of killed other games because I suddenly started looking at stuff like assets and how much effort was put into them. Gamedevs can put so much detail into stuff the average user does not notice at all.
I used to work as an animator and now I have that lol. It’s hard to watch anything animated just for fun because my brain wants to take it apart and analyze it.
Try it and find out. Hobbies are about doing something you enjoy, not being good at something. No one can tell you if you like something (as much as that bothers marketers).
If you already have a computer there is literally $0 startup cost.
Grab godot, grab some tutorials, make something. It really is that simple. Just set your expectations. Your games will be closer to Pong for a while but there’s nothing wrong with that.
If you don’t know what you enjoy the only way to find out is to try things, and it’s never been easier to try making a game. If you have zero programming experience whatsoever I’d say start here: https://gdquest.github.io/learn-gdscript/
Hobby? Absolutely!
Just don’t expect any money out of it. At all. If you DO get money out of it, consider yourself very lucky. Do it for fun first and foremost.
But that is the best part of user software development.
Developing [a game] is pretty much free, so if you make any money out of it at all is just a bonus.
Most physical hobbies cost money where if you make some money from it it likely won’t even start breaking even, you are often 1-10k€ in the hole before you even start selling anything.
Oh I agree. It’s lovely that you can just get started, all you need is a computer and an Internet connection.
I just wanted to make sure OP’s expectations aren’t too high because some people get into it seeing the success of small team or even solo indie games like Minecraft (before Microsoft) or Stardew Valley and think that could be them. But those are results of a perfect storm of passionate people working on creative projects that people happen to like a lot, which also filled some sort of void in the game market. One in a million chance if you ask me.
Yep. Like many arts, gamedev is something people do for free, so it’s very difficult (or torturous) to do it for profit.
I used to love making text adventure with AGT the Adventure Game Toolkit. I’ve wanted for some time already to learn to make stuff with still images and click zones which is essentially the evolution of the text adventure. The audience for this stuff is tiny, but I’d still love to get back into making text adventure. If there’s an easy to learn equivalent of AGT that can be made either web-hosted or somehow platform-independent I’d love to do that. AGT was a real breeze to learn and it’s a terrific creative outlet.
Anything more sophisticated is out of my league as I’m not a pro coder; my development experience is limited to an array of projects in VB6, the biggest of which was a companion software for Team Fortress Classic to customize scripts and per-class macros. It was called TFCompanion. Got 1,000 downloads roughly. But I digress.
