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Aspiring game designer need advice or help (Forums : General Banter : Aspiring game designer need advice or help ) Locked
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Aug 11 2013 Anchor

i wanna make a game in the same format as cartoon wars but i have no idea where to ive looked up tower defense and ive looked real time strategy but no luck on what to do i have no experience in the field but my idea is really good and all the mechanics are worked out in my head i just need a push in the right direction i want this to be my breakout title into the world of game development

Aug 11 2013 Anchor

First piece of advice:

Learn2Grammar! Please, for the love of all that is good in this world. No one is going to take you seriously if you write with all the sophistication of a child. Use sentences. Punctuate. Capitalize. If you want people to put in the effort of reading what you have to say, put in the same effort to actually make it legible.

Now, first question:

What skills do you have? Can you write? Can you draw or model? Can you code? Can you make music? If the only thing you can contribute to a project is your ideas, stop now, do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars. Learn a skill, something like coding or 3D modeling or something like that. Become, if not great, proficient.

Then, you have two choices:

Join teams (you'll need to use your best grammar, most teams prefer or even require proficiency with the English language), work on other peoples' games, and get experience. Not only will you learn things, but you will build a portfolio of previous projects that you can point to and say "I know what I'm doing" when trying to convince people to join your team (if that's what you're trying to do).

or

Start smaller (way smaller [this assumes that you chose to learn how to code, by the way]) and prototype. Write a Game Design Document and make little, simple games that test a mechanic or explore a concept that you want to use in your game. Then make slightly bigger, more complex prototypes. Then bigger. Then even bigger. Then continue this process until you almost have your full game. Then you can turn around and make it for real.

Not only will this give you a way to learn and gain experience, but you have things you can show to people that are more substantial than a couple sketches, which might be enough to convince someone to help you help out, or at least convince people that you know what you're doing (which would be helped a lot by proper grammar, by the way).

Aug 11 2013 Anchor

It's actually a fairly old type of game (mid 90s) that has never been popular, apart from some flash games, but there are two very recent titles with relatively high-profile releases: Unholy Heights and Castle Storm.
IIRC the gameplay was sometimes described as a sideways strategy/strategy platformer, depending on the variation.

No other positive/constructive feedback to give you at this point.

Aug 11 2013 Anchor

As Terran said, most definitely join onto other teams. You don't have to entirely dedicate yourself to one team, three is a manageable amount if you are writing, drawing or doing something minor. Pick up tips from them and do not above all else be afraid to ask them questions, I can't stress how important it is. Not only can they help you, they can also lead you down a amazing path and open new possibilities for you to learn from. I would also reccomend if you are trying to be a solo dev, which is stupid but possible, to instead of making full on games, work on Flash games. This may seem weird but it will help you gain experience and learn to do alot of things, and be sure to post them on newgrounds, get constructive criticism and learn from your mistakes. Once you have gotten good with flash games, move on towards a real game. Instead of making your own game, what I suggest is to recreate a pre-existing game. That may sound weird, but take Mario and try to recreate it as perfectly as possible without looking up the code, that will be a amazing boost towards future development. Just make sure you don't release it (Copyright is a bitch).

Aug 15 2013 Anchor

unity and 2d toolkit would be an easy way to start

Aug 21 2013 Anchor

I know I'm a bit late to this party but I feel like this is relevant...

It's all about iteration. You may think that idea is amazing but until you iterate over the idea on paper and make simple prototypes you'll never know if the idea is truly great or not. I'm assuming that you don't really know how to code so the best thing that you can do is make a paper prototype to find the fun in your game. Make some rules and cut out pieces of paper so you can see the game in action. This would be really quick, cheap, and effective at really visualizing your idea.

However, if you are interested in coding and want to see something on screen I would recommend either FlashDevelop (free) or Unity (also free) for quick prototypes. When I first started scripting in Flash I found this site to be very, very helpful: Flashgametuts.com
With regards to Unity, you can just search Unity tutorials and you will find a multitude of information. Good luck starting out!

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