How To PROPERLY Start Making A Game

About this video

• Video Title: How To PROPERLY Start Making A Game
• Channel: Brainless.
• Speakers: The speaker's name is not explicitly mentioned in the transcript.
• Duration: 00:15:20

Overview

This video provides a comprehensive guide for aspiring game developers on how to effectively start the game-making process. It covers essential steps from ideation and planning to prototyping, version control, coding tips, and community engagement, emphasizing the importance of preparation and organization to avoid common pitfalls.

Key takeaways

• Idea Generation and Scoping: Begin with a clear game idea and ensure its scope is manageable, ideally fitting on a sticky note for initial development.
• Game Design Document (GDD): Utilize tools like Milanote to create a visual and engaging GDD that breaks down concept, level design, character design, and to-do lists, making the planning process more accessible.
• Prototyping: Create low-fidelity prototypes (sketches or short animations) to test core mechanics and gather feedback early, which is more efficient than building a fully functional game before validation.
• Version Control: Implement version control using GitHub to save coding progress, track changes, revert to previous states, and facilitate collaboration, preventing data loss and simplifying bug fixing.
• Coding Practices: Use placeholders for art and features during initial development to speed up the process and focus on core gameplay. Maintain organized code using principles like state machines for better long-term manageability.
• Community Engagement: Join or build a community (e.g., on Discord) to get feedback, learn from others, and overcome development challenges by connecting with fellow developers.