Game designing is a field where you don’t need a degree to get started. Anyone with the right skills and talent can make a game and deploy it on the internet. Some employers may want to hire candidates with a degree, but if you are passionate about games, go ahead and make one on your own. The freelancers can earn up to $140,000. An average freelancer can charge up to $50 an hour for a gig.
Let’s start with Design:
Start writing down your thoughts and ideas in a notebook. Make a structured plan. “How is your game great and unique?” Try to develop an idea that’s new in the market. It could be something with an unexpected plot twist or maybe even scandalous.
Then plan about what the player does and how it looks. It can be as simple as just four types of movements, or you can go crazy with it and add dance movements to the character.
Next comes the story of your game. It is the most crucial aspect of game design. It will determine whether your game is a hit or a miss. Develop a concept that hooks the players to your game. You can also leave a cliffhanger in the end so that people would come back for more. Setting the mood is also necessary. Pay attention to the sound effects and in-game effects. A few software to help you on your design journey are Trello and Google Docs (for note-taking), and GitHub and Unity. (for Collaboration).
ART:
Congratulation! You have planned the structure of the game. Now comes the part where you have to design the visuals. Here’s a tip, if you are new to coding, we suggest coding the game first. If you start off by designing the visuals and then fail to code according to them later, all the work will go to waste. If you choose to add 2D animations to your game, start by designing each frame for the animation. Anima2D, Photoshop, Gimp, Paint Tool SAI are some really good tools for adding animations and UI.
CODING YOUR GAME:
- C++ is a very famous language used by Unity.
- If you are new to coding, start learning in the following order:
- Variable and data types
- Statements – If, if-else.
- Loops – for, while
- Data structures
- Functions and exceptions
- Application Programming Interface (API)
AUDIO/EFFECTS:
Adding audio to your game can change the feel of it, but it takes up memory. You need to choose what kind of audio you want in your game. It can be music, sound effects, voiceovers, narration, etc. Make sure to keep the game theme in mind while finalizing your audio. It should complement the scenarios in the game. Here are a few paid audio tools you can use – Audacity, Logic Pro, FL Studio, Chiptone, Leshy SFMaker, etc., and a few tools you can use for free – Soundcloud, Bensound, Incompetech.
POLISHING YOUR GAME (TESTING FOR BUGS)
If you have come this far, there are 99.9% chances that you have bugs in the code. And to test that, you and other people need to play the game. Ask people to play your game on every platform that you’ve designed it for. When you come across a bug you have no idea about, search about it on Google and try to fix it.
The last step to launching your game is MARKETING:
After you have fixed those bugs and had a few people try the final version of the game, it’s ready to be launched. You need to be good at networking and pitching. Decide on a platform to use for advertising like Google ads, Facebook ads, etc., and learn about it. Showcase your game at conferences, festivals, events, and email game press to people.
You can also send your game to famous YouTubers and Streamers. This can be a great way to market it, as they have thousands of followers who get to discover your game. Along with all of the marketing methods mentioned above, use social media too. It is amazing for marketing and can give you a great reach.
