Looking to make my own game, but unsure about my options

[KING OF THE DIRTY DANS]

Hello LTT Forum!

 

I have been programming my own little Command Line games in C++, but I have been learning C++ and Unreal Engine.

My goal career is to become a Game Developer for Unreal Engine after University. So I have studied Unreal Engine and C++, as well as my Internship using Godot, but I am wanting to make a game in Unreal on my own.

 

I have realized that my C++ skills are not the best, but I am really wanting to develop my own indie game in Unreal. The main concern I have, is the lack of skills I have in Art, 3D Modeling, and Level Design.

What could I do to make a FPS or Third Person Shooter, on my own in Unreal? I know there are things like Mixamo to help with animation, and forums and such. My main concern I finding help with Art and Modeling.

[trag1c]

Creating basic assets using free DCC applications such as gimp and blender is pretty easy to do. There also plenty of tutorials available.  So with that said I would focus on creating a fun game with simple assets made by your self and then move onto assets that created by someone who does it professionally. Make sure your game mechanics/simulation are fun and interesting above all else. You could make AAA visuals but if it plays like shit then ultimately it is a shit game. If you have a game that is exceptionally fun and plays well with mediocre graphics then you're still better off then a game that plays okay with slightly better graphics. And forget about creating a game that has close to AAA visuals as that's a hundreds of thousands ( or more) man hours which means 10's of millions of dollars or even hundreds of millions.

 

Personally I like to procedurally generate as much artwork as possible (terrain, buildings, characters, etc) as possible since I can make something once and then have it make numerous variations and permutations of it to cut down on work and creates a large variety of assets to use. 

 

As far as bringing someone on board to do the artwork just remember you get what you pay for. Also no one who is worth bringing on board will work for purely revenue share. It either has to be straight cash or cash + equity/shares, no one works for free or the promise of pay that is competent at what they do.

[KING OF THE DIRTY DANS]

4 minutes ago, trag1c said:

Creating basic assets using free DCC applications such as gimp and blender is pretty easy to do. There also plenty of tutorials available.  So with that said I would focus on creating a fun game with simple assets made by your self and then move onto assets that created by someone who does it professionally. Make sure your game mechanics/simulation are fun and interesting above all else. You could make AAA visuals but if it plays like shit then ultimately it is a shit game. If you have a game that is exceptionally fun and plays well with mediocre graphics then you're still better off then a game that plays okay with slightly better graphics. And forget about creating a game that has close to AAA visuals as that's a hundreds of thousands ( or more) man hours which means 10's of millions of dollars or even hundreds of millions.

 

Personally I like to procedurally generate as much artwork as possible (terrain, buildings, characters, etc) as possible since I can make something once and then have it make numerous variations and permutations of it to cut down on work and creates a large variety of assets to use. 

 

As far as bringing someone on board to do the artwork just remember you get what you pay for. Also no one who is worth bringing on board will work for purely revenue share. It either has to be straight cash or cash + equity/shares, no one works for free or the promise of pay that is competent at what they do.

Thank you for the Information. I will have to get better with Blender, down the line. I use Gimp on the regular, for other things such as my KOTOR Mods. 

 

You have a great point about the Visuals, that was what I was scared about.

[trag1c]

Just now, KING OF THE DIRTY DANS said:

Thank you for the Information. I will have to get better with Blender, down the line. I use Gimp on the regular, for other things such as my KOTOR Mods. 

 

You have a great point about the Visuals, that was what I was scared about.

I honestly wouldn't be worried some of the best indie games out there look about as good as a potato. AAA is a different game because everyone expects nothing but the best for visuals but indie games haven't dug them selves into that hole yet lol. I would just take the iterative approach and make super basic assets then move onto to making it look better. Especially when you're prototyping. I try to keep my modeling time for a prototype down to about 5-10 minutes ( sometimes way less) per model so that I am not wasting time for something that I will scrap later. And even the next model after that I will spend slightly more time but not a ton of time because it will most likely hit the archive soon or later.

[wasab]

Well, just go make an indie game. Unlike opening a bussiness, coding a game doesn't require multimillion dollar investments. The creator of flappy bird literally coded that game in three days and that thing was generating tens of thousands of dollars in ad revenue per day at its peak. 

 

My favorite game is Geneforge series which is developed by a team of husband and wife only. It beats every triple A titles I played so far. 

[Guest]

Game dev experience:

1. Take a look at what you can do. Set the scope for a timeframe (HAVE A DEADLINE) knowing what you CAN do.

2. Don’t do things you cannot do because you’ll miss your deadline & become overwhelmed with tasks. 

3. NEVER increase the scope of your project. Every project ALWays Has its scope reduced. 

 

You can try to find teammates online but it’s very difficult. Many people talk a big game & show promise & 3 days later they won’t respond to anything you ask them. They’ve gone to play video games. 

I’m lucky. I joined an overambitious project & basically jacked the best guys to form our own team. Management didn’t have any skill. 

 

Not or racial profiling but... racially profile people when considering them for your team. Trust me. Some cultures don’t mix. 

 

Working on your own is super hard for big projects. Set a work schedule because 3D games basically require you to be employed to make headway. 

 

KISS. Keep it stupid simple. Small scope, use simple API. Don’t go for “super fast technologies with advance control.” You don’t need it. They’ll be hell to figure out. Everyone has an idea for this super cool super advanced game but... only simple games exist. 

 

Watch 3klicksphilips videos on game dev journey. May be on his 2klicksphilip channel. He has a lot of insite & a lot of wise advice.