GMAN-GAMES: Making a game by yourself

Making a game by yourself

December 3rd, 1997

Ryan Asks:

Hi, I'm wandering how to make a game by myself... I don't want to sell it I just want to test my skills or something... Have you played "Astroids"??? Well a kid made it by himself and I want to know how to put a game together and maybe give it to my friends. But I've asked lots of people but would not mail me.. maybe they think I won't be able to..

I need to know what books to buy and what to do... I can draw the best in my class (I'm 13)! I can draw pretty good in paint brush and I want to know how to put a game together. I've thought of lots of games to make, but don't know how to put them together. I would love you to tell me. I want to go to university or college for game making that's how interested I am.

Answer:

There are lots of ways to make games. It depends on the type of game you are trying to make.

If you want to make a game like Myst or Riven you can use a program called Macromedia Director. Myst was originally created in Macromedia director. http://www.macromedia.com The problem is it's about $700

If you want to make a game like Quake you can just buy Quake and then look on the net for a Quake editor. Quake is almost fully reprogramable so you can change all the graphics, all the sounds, all the levels and you can even program new monsters and weapons. http://www.idsoftware.com

You can make some games with a program called Klik & Play. I think it's by Maxis. The same people that made Sim City. It's supposed to be very easy for beginners to make simple games. http://www.maxis.com. I'm not sure they sell it anymore but I'm sure you can find it somewhere on the net. I just searched at http://www.hotbot.com for "KLIK" and "PLAY" and I got this URL http://www.cdromshop.com/cdshop/desc/p.046357101663.html

Other than that you are going to have to learn how to program. A good place to start is probably Visual Basic. Many slower styles of games have been written in Visual Basic. You can learn more at http://www.microsoft.com/vbasic.

I'm not sure what books to get but most books about making games require you to already know how to program in C or C++. You might be able to find a book that teaches you how to program by having you program a game. It's not hard. I started when I was in 8th grade.

As for books, if you go to http://www.amazon.com and search for "3D Game" in the title you'll find many books about 3D games. Amazon.com also has links to other books on the same topics and many books have reviews. This one, "Teach Yourself Game Programming in 21 Days/Book and Cd-Rom" sounded interesting.

-greggman

Pass it on

Comments:

It takes hard work to make a good game.

Hello, World!

My name is Dr. COM WIZ. I am a game programmer who just turned 15 (on Nov. 2) and happened to bump into this article.

In my personal opinion, Greggman is making this game stuff sound a little to easy. I started with QBasic and even that is difficult. C and C++ are much more difficult and anyone looking to make any good game in that language better be serious about it. Greggman mentions that he started when he was in eighth grade. Maybe maybe he forgot exactly what work it took to do it, so he said it's not hard. I don't blame him. There was a time period when I seldom programmed and I mentioned to someone that I make games. Direclty after, I said "It's easy." I'm currently working on a side-scroller and if someone asked me about making games now, the word "easy," or anything related to it, would not come out of my mouth.

My point is that I don't want anyone to get misled by seeing this article and thinking that you can just pick up a compiler and make a game. It takes much practice and experience to get good. It takes patience to learn the language. It takes hard work.

posted by anon_DrCOMWIZNovember 7, 2002 at 12:08 [ e ]

hi I'm matt and I'm 13 too and just made 204! games with this new program I got. It is called Adventure maker And it is really easy. and you get to draw the game yourself and you said you were pretty good at paint and so far I have made every game I thought up. You can get it at www.adventuremaker.com you and me sound alot alike and I really think you should try this programing because i have got to be the biggest rookie in the buissness

posted by anon_mattJuly 2, 2003 at 23:20 [ e ]

Greggman's smart

What Greggman's forgetting whenever he seems to downplay the difficulty in something is that he's a VERY SMART GUY.

posted by anonemouseSeptember 12, 2003 at 0:46 [ e ]

It's about Creativity!

All right, i'm no game programer, and i'm definately not in any position to be saying anything, but the truth is it's about creativity! If you are willing to put in the work that it takes to make a game by yourself, then I think it's possible. I am passionate about video game design, (not programing), if I could pay someone to program for me then I would probably have some very nice games but unfortanately im not rich. All i'm saying is anyone can create a game idea but it's about working with other passionate people as a group and as a team. If the creativity is there then so is the game. But I agree making a game is serious stuff, making a great game requires dedication and complete devotion.

posted by ArturoVillagomezFebruary 6, 2004 at 21:36 [ e ]

Definitely not impossible though. I taught at a summer camp for two summers teaching programming (mostly c++). There was also another class called "Game Programming." We used "Klik & Play" as well as some other programs to do this with. The two classes kind of went hand in hand. Klik & Play gives you a good idea of what you need to think about when planning to make a game as well as providing good practice for your your storyboarding skills. What you do/start with really depends on how in depth you get though. If you think you have good ideas but don't really want to go into the code, use software to start implementing your ideas right away. If you are more interesting in how all the pieces work together, maybe you should start by learning to program. Either way, I agree, it's not easy.

posted by lu2February 26, 2004 at 1:10 [ e ]

Oops, I forgot. www.cybercamps.com was the camp I taught at. The first year was great-- we had tons of great staff and everyone worked really hard. The second year was a lot harder though, the economy was bad so the staff:student ratio was a lot lower. Take it with a grain of salt but if you are in an area that offers it, it might be worth a try. Not cheap though and each workshop is only a week long. It does provide a good place to start programming/game designing though if you are at a loss at how to start.

posted by lu2February 26, 2004 at 1:14 [ e ]

please

HI im arthur im 10 I want to make a actoin video game and play it on my xbox. The only prolem is I dont no where to go if it will cost money and how to do it. I have awsome caracters and worlds and rules so please email me and tell me!!!!!!!!!!!!!

posted by arthurJanuary 28, 2005 at 19:15 [ e ]

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