Building Your Own Game
by: Caspe, M., Rojo, A.C., & Almonares, J.A.
We are currently living in a technologically equipped environment where individuals across generation are considered to be tech savvy. As one of the results, games have evolved in a lot of new and exciting directions in the past years. Thus, there is an intricate manner that we should consider in coming up with a game.
It’s a step by step process, where you initially visualize a diagram in mind, on what idea you should tackle, methods, tools, and techniques that you wish to use. The effort that you will allocate highly depends on the complexity of the game that you wish to achieve. To give you a picture of the length of time it takes for a game to be made, for instance, a role playing game composed of different levels or a simple arcade game can take weeks or even years to accomplish.
It’s a good start when you already have an idea on what kind of game you’ll be working with, if not we do suggest you to explore different kinds of games and choose some according to your liking and make it as a basis when formulating your own ideas and concepts.
Important things that need to be consider:
Concept Design. You can’t just simply jump out and start developing your own game without a fine concept. If you do, you’ll even encounter more problems as you go through a certain process. This part is where your creativity takes place. In formulating a certain concept, you should start asking yourself the following questions.
· How do I wish my game to look like?
· What’s the game play?
· Who is the game for?
Visualizing the whole game before you start developing one will organize everything and make you decide on the concepts that you need to prioritize.
Game Mechanics. These are constructs of rules or methods designed for interaction with the game state, thus providing gameplay. This part simply deals with how your user would interact base on mechanics you have set on your own game. Some popular high end games focus on the complexity of their own mechanics to make it more interesting for users. If this would be your first time, it doesn’t matter how complex it will get as long you have decent one. In contrast, casual games have generally featured a return to simple, puzzle-like designs, though some are getting more complex.
Game Engines. These are mainly used by developers to create a certain game on different consoles. These are tools which you can set your own game logic, create your own mechanics, and apply all of your concept designs. All of those are rendered on a certain game engine. In the industry, there are a lot of different game engines offered by different companies and selecting one might be difficult from the start. All game engines have their own pros and cons, some do excel on a certain field, and some have their own unique capabilities.
As student, we only have a chance to try two different engines, those two engines are Unity 3D and Unreal engine 4. In my case, I prefer Unity3d engine for beginners because it’s easy to get started with. It is considered as one of the most widely used by game developers. More users of a certain engine means more supportive related communities can help you when you’re stuck in a certain problem, also, there is more collaborations and tutorials given.
The three ideas stated above are the widely used concept that needs to be considered when creating a game. Before you get too excited you need to understand that, contrary to other skill, learning how to design and develop a game takes time and practice. We will all experience that “feature creep” or issues with scope. It is when you have a gigantic idea in mind for your game, to many features, concepts, or mechanics. In the end it creates a mess because you do not know where to start. Put in mind that as a starter it is ideal for you to start SMALL. Create a simple feature of your game, from there you can develop it into an enormous one. As what I’ve said developing a game takes time. So don’t be in a hurry, take your time and Good Luck!
