Technologies have become a part of our lives; they literally surround us everywhere: television, the Internet, Internet banking, cellular communications, and so on. They help us save lives, do our homework, and even study. Today, we can forget about boring homework.
Now let’s take a look at one of the most important innovations of the 21st century – video games. You will not surprise anyone with good graphics in the game or an unusual plot. However, some developers manage to do this. How? First, you need to learn how to create video games. This topic will be discussed in the article. Game development requires a lot of knowledge.
This is one of the most creative areas in programming but also the most demanding. The main rule of creating a game is never to back down, even if something doesn’t work out. Otherwise, you will abandon the game and will not be able to create it. Let’s move on to creating.
Step 1. Learn The Programming Language
It’s no secret that to create a game, there must be some kind of knowledge base. In this case, it is one of the most popular video game programming languages. Anything from Python and C to Pascal and Java will do. The choice depends on how long the creation will take, and the platform you plan to release it on.
C / C ++ is the most popular as well as the industry standard. Any sources are suitable for studying – from courses and books to various programming forums. In fact, knowledge of one language may not be enough to write a complete game.
Development can require working with two languages at the same time because each is responsible for a specific set of tasks. Therefore, it is worth learning several programming languages at once.
Step 2. Think Over The Plot Of The Game
There can’t be a game without a story, right? Orcs, gnomes, witches, fairies, princesses – everything is up to your taste. Choosing the genre of the game. If it is not yet possible to choose a genre unambiguously, you can dwell on a few that are interesting.
Let’s figure out what is included in the script:
- characters
- timing
- missions
- background cues
- dialogues
- landscapes
- world map
- description of characters, their weapons, and skills
Step 3. Creation
Create textures, character models, game designs, and more. Or you can find it all in the public domain.
Here are some free resources where you can find the materials you need:
- Pixel Prospector
- Donjon
- Reiner’s Tilesets
- Three Hundred Mechanics
Step 4. Choose An Engine For Your Game
The game engine is a pretty tricky part of developing a game. As a starter engine with no experience in others, Unity is usually advised. Unity is available for free, which opens the door to the gaming industry for independent developers.
Of course, there are limitations: the free version of the engine displays the Unity logo before launching the game, and the project created with its help should not bring the developer more than $100 thousand per year.
Step 5. Create Game Scripts
The behavior of any game object is controlled by the components attached to them. While Unity’s built-in components can be very versatile, you will soon find that you need to push beyond their capabilities to implement your own personalities and desires. Unity allows you to create your own components using scripts.
Scripts are a kind of activator that allows you to write in a response to any command of the user, that is, the player. But if you created the engine yourself, then the scripts for the engine need to be written and created by you also.
Step 6. Test The Game
It is clear that any games or applications must pass the testing stage. Why test games?
To find out:
- How attractive the app is to users
- Are there any chips in the application
- How convenient is the application design for the user?
- Is the quality of the graphics adequate – video, pictures, and audio
- Is the game buggy, and are there any errors in the code?
All these questions can be answered at the development stage – with the help of tests and bug tracking tools. Unit testing is recommended. Unit testing is useful, but not all programmers use it. The main reason is the increase in project management and development time. After all, each module or newly written code must be tested.
Some application development environments generate the simplest tests, but a good test requires writing your own methods. Practice shows that the absence of unit tests significantly complicates the further maintenance of the project.
Step 7. Release The Game
It is recommended to release your game on Steam. Now the question is how to do this. Before you publish a game on Steam, you need to know the important nuances. Previously, in order to add your game to this site, you had to connect to third-party services, but now it’s easier. Each developer goes through 5 stages of publishing a game.
1. Publisher information. You need to fill in information about the game and about yourself, that is, about the publisher.
2. Contribution to the game fund. The price of the contribution is $ 100, and you can make it in any way convenient for you.
3. Providing additional information. You must provide banking information about yourself or your organization.
4. Preparing for publication. If all publisher information has been vetted and verified, Steamworks is unlocked. There you must indicate the cost of the game.
5. Checking the game. Steam will make sure the game works.
After completing all these stages, your game will be published successfully. As a matter of fact, university students experience trouble completing their video game programming homework assigned by professors regularly.
If you need urgent assistance from coding experts, you can easily pay someone to do your assignment of any complexity and within the deadline to be completed online.
Final Thoughts
Making games is the best way to learn code. If you are interested in computer games, then programming games can be a great way to learn. By developing games, you will solve creative problems and see the result of your work. Every day will bring new challenges and victories.
Creating and developing games is not an easy task, but having mastered this science, a sea of new opportunities will open up for you, and, perhaps, you will even get a job for life because the game can be easily monetized.