Game Development

Learn the math behind game development

Posted on by Patrick Fluke

Independent game development is an extreme multidisciplinary challenge. As an indie developer, you and your team will be required to perform all the tasks normally done by a large group of developers. In situations where you’re working in a large team, the skills that everyone brings to the table often compensate for any weak areas you may have. In a small indie dev team, if you’re working alone you will have to know enough about these various fields on your own, and even if you have a small team all of these skills will need to exist among your crew.

It is for this reason that, as an Indie developer, it’s best to begin building your toolkit. The book by Eric Lengyel, Foundations of Game Development, is such a great addition to your resources. Even though for the most part in the developers are using engines such as Unity3D or Unreal Engine and understanding of the mathematics behind game development will help you build more complex and interesting games.

Foundations of Game Development, Volume 1, by Eric Lengyel Will provide you with the foundational knowledge you need to make your games. From fundamental geometry, to matrices, all the way to scalar multiplication, any math that you may need to make your game will be thoroughly explained within this book.

Making a game, even when you’re using a game engine such as unity 3-D or the unreal engine, is a monumental task. As a new game developer you will often run into situations where you may not understand exactly what you’re working with. Understanding the concepts that you can find in this book, You will be far more likely to be able to comprehend that what you were working with.

While the book Foundations of Game Development, Volume 1 will not make your game for you, It will provide you with the foundational knowledge that you need to be able to see yourself through the process. While there are plenty of other fields involved in game development, if mathematics is your weak spot this book will help you fill in the gaps, and ensure that you are able to finalize your vision.

Understanding Game Programming Patterns

Posted on by Patrick Fluke

A good game has a lot to do with different difficult situations in which you find yourself. Unfortunately from a game development perspective creating these different situations can be rather difficult. You need to understand the different complexities of the game engine that you’re working with, as well as the different ways you can modify it to create a challenge that will surprise and engage the player.

The book Game Programming Patterns Will introduce you to many concepts that you will rely on and then build upon them to create the challenges of your games. Making games is a really complicated process and any resources you can find that’ll make that process less difficult to master is an excellent way to spend your limited money.

There are certain portions of this book that you may not absolutely need. If you were using one of the common gaming engines of today, such as unity 3-D or unreal engine, you may find this book goes into too much detail. However, and understanding of the intricacies of game engines, will go along way into helping you build the best game that you can build.

The Game Programming Patterns book will teach you everything you need to know to create interesting and dynamic challenges within your game. You’ll learn plenty of fundamental game development concepts that will help you make the game that you’ve always wanted to make.

Making your game today doesn’t need to be a a goal that’s out of reach. The more you learn about game development the more game will come together. This book will be a an incredible useful and important piece of your game development tool kit.

Who knows, maybe your game will be the next big indie game. You’ll never know until you try. Do you have any suggestions for other books that may help game devs? Leave a comment below!

Is It Ever too late for Game Development?

Posted on by Patrick Fluke

 

The Benefits of Getting into Game Development at Any Age

Game Development is a career that has been around forever, but recently it has started to grow and become more popular. As a function, game development has been around since humanity had time to burn, so literally forever. Today, most of what we would call game development takes place in the realm of computer and console games. Still, you have to remember that chess, checkers, and go came from somewhere. We’re going to explore whether or not it can ever be too late for game development.

Game Development is not just for kids, or even young adults anymore, as people of all ages are getting into it. This industry has been around for a long time and there are many different types of jobs in game development for people of all ages to choose from. Further, you may not even be looking to change careers. Game development can be as cathartic as painting a picture, and even if you never share what you’re working on, it’s quite likely that you’ll find it extremely fulfilling to build your own little world.

Is There A Need? Isn’t the Market Already Saturated?

There are many factors that have led to the growth of video games and gaming culture. One of them is the development of new technologies and tools, such as Unity 3D and the Unreal Engine, which have made it possible for game developers to create immersive worlds in a shorter amount of time. Requiring less and less technical knowledge, these tools that are now in the hands of the hobbyist power the most technically impressive games on the planet. Sure it doesn’t mean that everyone can make a AAA quality game, but it does mean that everyone has the tools to create something impressive.

In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of people who play video games. This can be attributed to the rise in popularity of social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitch and Twitter. This popularity is also due to the fact that more people are able to play these games on their mobile devices due to improvements in technology.

The market for video games is not saturated because there are new innovations coming out all the time that make it possible for gamers to experience more immersive worlds than ever before. A game doesn’t need to be overly complex, and in fact the vast majority of people prefer very simple games. Think Wordle, Fruit Ninja, or Angry Birds. As games get more and more complicated there are seemingly fewer people interested, but as there are so many people playing games I doubt you will ever run out of an audience.

Where to Start When Learning How to Develop Games?

There are many options for beginners to learn how to develop games. One of the most popular ones is Unity 3D. It is an intuitive and user-friendly game engine that can be used to create 2D and 3D games.

Another option is Unreal Engine, which is a powerful game engine that has been used by AAA studios since 1998. It has been used in the development of popular games like Fortnite, Overwatch, and Gears of War 4.

A third option for beginners would be Godot Engine, which was created by a team of volunteers from all around the world and it’s free to use under a very generous open source licence and once you make your game you own it, forever. I should think if you end up making any money from your project it might be good to kick some back to the development team to cover costs, but it is absolutely not necessary.

The Godot Engine is a labour of love, and it’s beautiful for that. Considering it’s completely open source, and discussed alongside the licensed Unity and Unreal engines, you know it’s a force to be reckoned with.

How Much Does It Cost To Start Game Development And Which Tools Should You Use?

Game development is a complex and expensive process. It can require a lot of time and money to create one game. That’s why there are many tools available that can help you get started with game development.

Unity 3D, Unreal Engine and Godot are some of the most popular game development tools used by indie developers. They range in price from free – which is absolutely incredible – to hundreds if not thousands of dollars if you purchase all your assets. This price range makes them perfect for beginners who are just starting out in this field with any amount of resources to put in. Remember, even if you learn one skill a week, and put an hour in at a time, eventually, you’ll wake up and have your game today.

The Best Advice for Quitting Your Job and Starting Game Design At Any Age

Today we talked about how to start in game design at any age. We looked at how people of any age can get into game development, and quite honestly I don’t think there is anyone who really shouldn’t. It is never too late for game development, and people of all ages can pursue it.

The best advice is don’t start by quitting your job and sitting yourself in front of a computer to start banging out a game. Becoming successful in game development takes time and energy. You’ll have a huge list of skills to develop, and often it can take a few games to get noticed. You can’t let this discourage you though, and if your goal is to become a financially successful game developer, stick to it. If you have the time, spend it developing skills to build the pieces you need for your game. If you have weaknesses in any areas, check out the assets available for the engine you’ve chosen, for example see these great assets for Unity 3D! (Affiliate Link)

 

Your first game, or even your second and third games will likely not be absolute blockbusters. Eventually though, when you’ve honed your craft and learned the intricacies of your audience, your success may surprise you. For help getting started, check out my blog at Your Game Today.

Happy Game Dev!

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Get Your Kids Interested in Game Development

Posted on by Patrick Fluke

You love making games, the nuances, squashing bugs, the whole nine yards, and want to spend more time with your kiddos? Well lets talk about how to get yoru kids interested in game development!

Try this book (Affiliate link above, or you can search for it on Amazon.com), or one of the many you can find on amazon that are like it. They contain simple problems that you and your kids can solve together, and allow you to work together to learn a little bit more every day.  Now, I actually did this with my son and a similar book, it was really neat. He slowly progressed from using Scratch as basically an underpowered paint program, to using it to create and tell stories and games. He really did pick up on the basics really quickly, and using the neat block based programming language allowed him to quickly pick it up and move on to bigger and better things. 

It was awesome seeing him start to take off from me, and begin making his own games on his own time. For those of you who aren’t aware, Scratch can be used on the computer, but also there is a Scratch Jr. version for the iPad that he used when I wasn’t around. I’m no longer wondering how to get your kids interested in game development, because if yours are anything like mine, they’ll leave you in their dust. Game development can be a family endeavor, you’ve just got to take the time to introduce them to your hobby. Who knows, maybe your future biggest competetor is currently leaving legos all over your living room… right now.

Eventually though we all outgrow our playgrounds, and it wasn’t long before his attention turned to something bigger and better. I’m sure I’ll be buying him some Unity books soon enough, but if you’re in the search for a way to get your kid started with game development, so they can make their game today, check out this, and other Scratch coding books on Amazon.

If you’re looking for some more information on how to make your game today, or your kids game, check out more posts on Your Game Today!