How do I get started making games?

“How do I get started making games?”

AKA “I’m really new, (I Think) I know nothing, help!”

A guide by Louisville Makes Games! Community members

We have two recommended paths for beginners one is to attend a game jam, and the other is to start with a tutorial in an existing game engine.

Path 1: Game Jams

What is a game jam?

A game jam is a (usually) weekend long event where you get a theme, form a team, and create a game based on the theme. The great thing about game jams is you can be an absolute beginner, and whether you are interested in art, code, music, story, or game design you can up your skills and pick up a lot from your team members. Even if you think you have nothing to give to the team, you can usually work with people who have made games before and help with various tasks until you are up to speed and contributing. There are 3 game jams Louisville Makes Games! does in person each year, Global Game Jam, Ludum Dare, and Kentucky Fried Pixels, check our events on meetup(link) to find out when the next one is and join in. Here is a video that explains game jams a lot better, it’s a keynote for the 2017 Global Game Jam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xfxx27HbM4

Path 2: Start with an existing engine and tutorial

What should I make games with?

This may sound daunting, but it really doesn’t matter what engine you make games with. In reality, this makes it super simple to find something that works for you! A good starting point for making games in general is Construct, a 2D game creation program that works inside your web browser. It has a huge community built up around it and tons of great tutorials to help you get started on your game making quest! With Construct you don’t have to write any code to create a game and can use some drag and drop tools and simple logic to piece together something of your own. Construct 3’s web interface has links to tutorials built right into the browser window that you can follow along with while you work.

https://www.construct.net https://www.scirra.com/tutorials/37/beginners-guide-to-construct-2 With its simple tools to build games using only drag and drop, you can have small games up and running in no time! Unfortunately, for the free version of Construct, there are limitations, such as a hard limit of 100 events (while Construct 3 is in beta, the engine is completely free with no limitations).

Tutorials:

Construct3 comes with built-in tutorials (Visual Programming) https://www.construct.net Unity’s official site has some great tutorials (Some programming knowledge required) https://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials I’d recommend getting started with the “Roll-a-ball” tutorial!

Unreal Engine https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Videos/ Make a platformer in Phaser (JavaScript) https://mozdevs.github.io/html5-games-workshop/en/guides/platformer/start-here/

Game Engines

A game engine is usually a set of tools to create games, they come in all languages and many are free, this list is sorted from easiest to get started to most difficult.

Engine	Develop from	Language	2d/3d	Cost	Who its for
Twine	Web Browser, Mac, Windows, Linux	Writing and drag & drop	2d	free/open source	If you want to create interactive fiction, text adventures etc. Very low barrier to entry
Construct3	Web browser	Visual programming	2d	paid	If you want to go from 0 to making a game with no programming
RPG Maker MV	Windows, Mac	Writing and drag & drop	2d	paid	Great for RPGs or story-based games
Game Maker	Windows	GML/Visual programming	2d	Free or Paid – $99	If you want easy to use, yet powerful tools that require little to no programming knowledge
Godot	Windows/ Mac/ Linux	C++/C#/Visual programming	2d/3d	Free & Open Source	In active developement, promising new engine reaching it’s stride
Pico8	Windows/ Mac/ Linux	Lua	2d	14.99	Self-contained fantasy console with similar “hardware” limitations to the NES
Unreal Engine	Mac, WIndows, Linux	C++ , blueprints (visual scripting)	3d, 2d	Free until $3k then 5% per quarter/open source	If you want to make a 3D game with little programming knowledge
Unity	Mac, Windows, Linux	C#	3d, 2d	Free (if you aren’t making $100k a year on games)	If you want to make a multiplatform game in 2d or 3d
Phaser	Mac, WIndows, Linux	JavaScript	2d	free/open source	If you are familiar with web development and JavaScript
LibGDX	Mac, WIndows, Linux	Java	2d	free/open source	If you have a background and Java and love your beans.
SplatJS (local!)	Mac, WIndows, Linux	JavaScript	2d, 3d	free/open source	If you are interested in working on a local Open Source project

I want to create art and animation for a game

FREE

Aseprite – Animation sprite editor & pixel art tool.
Krita – Really nice digital painting
Inkscape – Vector art
Gimp – technically this exists

FREE/PAID

GraphicsGale – Animation graphic editor.

PAID

Spriter – highly recommended tool
Photoshop
Sprite Lamp – Sprite Lamp is a software tool to help game developers combine 2D art with dynamic lighting effects, through the creation of hand drawn normal maps.
AutoTileGen – AutoTileGen makes creating 2D terrain tilesets a breeze and works in Windows, Mac and Linux.
Pyxel Edit – pixel art drawing application especially designed for working with tiles.