How to create a game on PC
Game development literally takes a long time and is difficult every time. You need to choose the optimal development environment, assemble a platform for the game, a team, and, for example, further we will tell you how to write a program for a game , how to program games and what tools are needed for this.
In the note, in essence, we are saying that this is a design document in which you need to make a selection, which engines to choose and what roles there are in the development team.
Contents of the article:
Where to start developing a game
Game development is not easy. Moreover, it is not easy to organize it autonomously. A very large amount of information that is impossible to master on your own. To develop a game you need:
- Come up with a game idea, genre and setting. You can follow in the footsteps of trends and create some buzz. It’s possible to create a clone of an existing game to attack skill. Or you can immediately organize something unique;
- Choose a platform. PCs and consoles and/or mobile phones. The choice of platform depends on the game genre, your probabilities and preferences;
- Write a design document. It outlines the entire game: gameplay mechanics and plot details, balance features, type of graphics, and, for example, further;
- Select an engine. It must meet the requirements for the implementation of the chosen genre and graphic style and support export to a suitable platform;
- Assemble a team. As another responsibility, dividing various aspects of game development among multiple specialists makes it more productive.
Development environment
There are a huge number of different engines and game designers. It’s not easy to choose, but we’ll look at the steam statistics and try to call:
From the statistics you can see the three most famous engines for games released on Steam, Unity, Unreal Engine and Game Maker: Studio.
The more popular the engine, the more training materials, YouTube videos and the size of the company with similar people. This means that it will become easier to learn on your own, work with this engine yourself, or find people with suitable working skills to join your team.
All of these engines can be used to create games for PC, consoles and mobile platforms.
Unity
The most famous engine for developing games in any genre and on any platform. De facto – a stereotype for developing mobile plans.
Both are professionals:
- A personal version of the engine is in vain with an annual income of less than 200, 000 US dollars;
- C# is not the most complex and well-known programming language;
- There is a system of visual scripts from Bolts, the support of which makes it possible for the artist to make changes to the game autonomously, without resorting to the help of a software developer;
- The game can be downloaded for the browser.
Cons:
- It takes a huge amount of effort to achieve the same photorealistic rendering as when using the unreal engine;
- A large number of tasks will appear when switching to a new version of the engine.
Unreal Engine
The main opponent of unity, 3D darts is popular due to its wonderful illustration and technology. Along with the fifth version of the Epic Games Engine, Nanite and Lumen technologies were provided – they have all the capabilities to scale and demonstrate models with millions of polygons. They also have a dynamic mass lighting system that prepares an illustration that is extremely close to reality.
Both are professionals:
- The DAROVA engine earned up to the first million dollars in dollars, then you will need to indicate the percentage of income;
- Modern technologies of photorealistic rendering – “matrices” on Unreal Engine are sometimes difficult to distinguish from cinema;
- Fortnite, which is being developed by the creators of the Unreal Engine, allows you to launch the latest features of the engine in advance;
- Visual programming with blueprint support – to draw code manually, you can place special blocks and knit with the mouse, forming the logic of the program.
Cons:
- If you do not use drawings, you will have to learn a rather complex C++ language;
- Not a good conclusion for mobile game development – you will have to put a lot of effort into improving the rendering and size of the game for mobile devices;
- There is no similarly mature list of features for creating 2D IGRs to compare to dedicated engines (Game Maker) or Unity;
- There is no way to render the game for the browser.
Game Maker: Studio
An engine for creating 2D games. As a rule, it is used by small indie teams.
Both are professionals:
- With this engine you can quickly prototype and develop 2D games;
- For beginners, there is a visual programming mode without writing code;
- The game can be downloaded for the browser.
Cons:
- Not suitable for full 3D, but has basic functionality for loading 3D objects;
- No multi-speed – if you’re going to create a complex 2D project. We need to work hard on optimization: distribute complex calculations across several frames, improve methods, translate complex processes into something like a path to external DLLs Written in C++ and apply other tricks;
- Only the basic version is free, from which you can export the game for internet only to gx. for game maintenance. Other versions of the engine with various restrictions are subscription-based.
What programming language is needed
After that, when choosing a programming language, the question was mechanically blocked: the engine only supports a certain language.
And if the engine has a visual programming system, like Unreal Engine or Unity, then you can do without writing code at all. At least for prototypes.
How to choose a platform
When choosing a platform, you should focus on the genre of the game: the days when you played “Match it up” on a PC are long gone, but now there are smartphones for this. And for a hardcore role-playing game, a console or computer is more suitable.
Platforms also impose other restrictions, for example, on controls: if the game can be minimized with one or two fingers, then it can be launched on a mobile device.
But if you need a lot of buttons (flight simulators), high control precision (platformers) or a large amount of information on the screen (strategies), then a smartphone will not be suitable as a platform.
PC and consoles are equivalent in terms of possible genres. With the exception of some hardcore games where the console gamepad is not suitable for control: flight and other simulators or real-time strategy games.
ПК
Both are professionals:
- No special equipment is required for development and testing—one computer is enough;
- Large audience of hardcore and midcore gamers. There are many indie platforms where you can post your game for free and get feedback.
Cons:
- Great competition – almost 12, 000 games were released on Steam in 2021, 27% of which sold less than a hundred copies;
- You should be prepared for the fact that your game will be available on torrents on the day of release;
- There is always a chance that there will be a player with a PC configuration on which your game will not run properly.
Consoles
Both are professionals:
- Developing a game for a console is much more difficult, so there is less competition;
- It’s easier to optimize and maintain your game on console. because there are few device configurations on which the game runs;
- Large audience of hardcore and midcore gamers;
- Low percentage of piracy.
Cons:
- It is difficult for an indie developer to independently negotiate and formalize an agreement with the owners of console platforms, so he needs a publisher with access to the console market;
- To test your game during development, you’ll need a devkit, a special version of the console for developers. Such devices cannot be found in the store; they can only be sent by the owners of the corresponding platforms after concluding an agreement;
- The controls in the game should be designed for a gamepad. When creating a game on PC and console, you need to support two different control methods – “keyboard” or gamepad;
- Not all genres have their roots in consoles – the misplaced joy of interacting with a gamepad in real-time strategy games.
Mobile phones
Both are professionals:
- An example of a game can be organized fairly quickly: mobile games tend to lack mechanics;
- Prototypes for hyper-casual games take several hours to several days to create;
- The circuit requirements are much lower than on PC or consoles.
Cons:
- Huge competitiveness – 187, 000 games were published on Google Play in 2021: that’s 520 games per day;
- It is necessary to invest a large amount of money in advertising – without it, your game will practically not exist. The universe is owned by specialists – CPI, dau, Mau, Rennion, ARPU and a large number of other strange texts that you will need to understand and which directly affect the triumph of the mobile game;
- Even if the game does not require subsequent updates in the future, the specified data must also be taken away: in Google Play or in the AppStore, in the criteria for protecting individual data, an outdated SDK will appear from time to time along with the data. with the help of which the advertisement is seen or seen by a specialist. If the SDK is not updated from time to time, the game is elementary.
Browsers
Both are professionals:
- It’s the easiest way to get started – you don’t need to host anything, you have a browser on both your phone and PC.
Cons:
- Not all engines allow you to bring the game into the browser – for example, Unreal Engine does not have such a skill;
- The controls should be adapted for touch controls if you want to run from your phone;
- The browser is not an exceptionally effective platform for complex 3D games. As a result, the game must be heavily refined graphically.
Main components of the game
Gameplay and game mechanics
Gameplay is the player’s interaction with game mechanics: shooting a gun, inventory, time deviation, blocking, regenerating wells, and so on.
There can be several game mechanics. For example, in hyper-casual games it can be 1 game mechanic: in Flappy Bird you need to control the bird using touches, ignoring obstacles. Crashed – lost. That’s the whole game.
Plot and characters
An interesting plot has no chance of frustrating the game. And a charismatic hero will add epicness to this ventilation even with a rather relative plot – it will not be enough for anyone who remembers the details of the situation from the first Doom (1993), but the idea will be remembered verbatim.
Graphic design
The stylization and game design of the game is determined by the graphic design. In Sagittarius this can be photorealistic graphics, and in a puzzle it can be ordinary and minimalistic forms. And vice versa. The design must correspond to the idea of the game.
Sound
Some record sounds from consumables, but there are sound designers who break a bow and record the sound of a bone being broken and a door lock sound of a gun being fired. But not as an example, basically where the sounds come from is the key so that you create the right atmosphere in that vent.
Balance
It doesn’t have to be a perfect balance, just that the player feels at ease and actually feels like they made it through this difficult set thanks to their honed skills. But in fact, the game lends itself to him at the right moment.
For example, the name of the move is indicated – the complexity must increase over time, but from time to time it is necessary to present the player with simpler enemies so that he personally feels the progress.
Stages of creation
Conceptualization
First you need to come up with an idea for a game, and then choose a genre and setting that can fully develop this idea.
Then you need to transfer the invented game from your head into a design document. It covers all the mechanics, gameplay, plot and other elements of the game. Essentially, this is a guide to game development for the creators themselves. After an artist has thought of a new feature, he first sketches it out in a design document. Subsequently, performers have every chance to contact this document and implement the functions.
In this line, you can juggle thoughts and change the concept at least every day: the short-term costs of this are small.
Prototyping
There is an idea for the game, the design document is ready for development. However, if you have come up with something experimental and, as a result, have no doubts about the compatibility of the selected mechanics, you can arrange a trial version of the game at the very beginning.
The prototype is a light version of the game. It doesn’t have detailed graphics, music or sounds – unless the game is music-based. All assets are taken whenever possible or from stubs. The main purpose of a mockup is to briefly test the game mechanics and actually trust that they will work as they should.
At this point, you can change the design document without any problems: the sample can be reworked.
Production
The preparatory milestones are behind us, now the most difficult thing is to organize the game. Development is nearing the end, which makes it harder to add configurations to the core concept – and they become more expensive. In this series, it is worth considering a lot between your people and friends: the view from the outside is extremely important, especially in connection with the gradual clouding of the gaze of the creators.
During the development process, it’s worth promoting the game: posting gifs with exciting gameplay moments on Reddit, participating in screenshot cleanups, demo festivals on Steam. Thus, already at the time of release you can create an association and receive a certain number of wishlists.
Testing
The first obstacle between the game and bugs is the software developer. He makes mistakes and corrects them. This way simple errors are caught. But as the complexity of a plan increases, the potential for failure increases, making it impossible to rely solely on software developers.
There are several paths you can take:
- Contact special companies that are trying outsourcing. Everything is serious there: video reports from a webcam aimed at the tester, careful reverse linking and a reminder about game errors. But it’s expensive;
- Find a team of amateur testers. Choose carefully so that your product is not completely overtested;
- Take advantage of the community: there are people who are interested in this game, from whom you can expect absolute dedication and interest in the components, but bug reports are unlikely to be professional. But it’s a gift.
Release
For example, you can’t just arrest and release a game without a marketing campaign – otherwise the result will be average. The announcement must be made at least six months or a year before the release: during this time it is necessary to build a community around the game and a sufficient number of wishlists on Steam.
On average, any 2 wishlists are converted into a game purchase. Therefore, when Steam sees the highest sales dynamics at release, it also begins to recommend the game and increase sales.
Technical support
No matter how many testers there are, players will encounter fresh mistakes at release. But the price for these mistakes is higher: bad reviews about the game’s bugs have every chance of seriously disrupting the start of sales. As a result of subsequent publication, each time the endless stage of searching and destroying mistakes and communicating with society begins.
Next, you should think about developing and releasing add-ons for this game – both commercial and free. Each such update makes headlines and increases the number of potential players.
Team
Often in indie development, one person is interested in several things at once, such as design, testing and marketing, and another is interested in programming and presentation. But the larger the team, the more specialized roles are assigned to its members.
Game designer
He comes up with game mechanics, establishes balance, and brings development to the final vision of the game. Communicates and maintains the relevance of draft documents used by all team members.
Programmer
Designs the game architecture and program mechanics. Makes mistakes in the code – as a result, testers have work every time.
Tester
It checks all possible and unrealistic scenarios in a given ventilation, tries to break against every wall in the level, recognizes a negative number of objects from the dealer and is happy if it managed to ruin the game.
Artist
Draws sprites, backgrounds, icons, creates 3D models, textures, sets animation. The art director oversees the overall character of the game and the combination of various components.
Marketer
If we are talking about mobile ventilation, then a person who knows how to buy monetization and buy traffic, will he become something more than a game designer.
