How to write a game

Such a title was chosen with intent, intentionally, so that when the person who first thought about what he would do his MMO in a couple of months with friends, drive these words into Google, get here, read and realize what the development of the game is.


I would like to say right away that I don’t want to give someone the urge to try myself, but I just want people to come closer to the question immediately, without stumbling on the first rake.
So, most likely you decided to write your game for one of two reasons:

1) you played some game, decided that it can be made even better and now you are implementing. Before you do something that already exists, ask yourself the question: “And what will my game be better?”. To be able to compete, you must either offer some new gameplay idea, or wrap the already familiar gameplay in such a new and clear wrapper so that it becomes attractive. The second method is used more often.
2) You have a great idea. Oh, yes, here it is:

It will be a labyrinth that is built on the basis of impossibilism. Of course, horror. Of course, there will be such things as midnight, during which all sorts of critters crawl to the surface and try to grab the main character. And of course there will be magic mirrors, passing through which the hero will hide from monsters. And the main thing is to get to the end. And of course ... I was carried away by something fantasy. Just like when you decided to embody your idea.
The difficulty of introducing a new idea, some new principle in the gameplay, is that it is a bet on a shot. If your project shoots, you are at the top. If not, you're in ...

The next question to ask yourself is: who will I make the game with? And there are three options:
1) Of course, one, I can do everything! And the result will be like this:

One you will not make a game that you can sell or which at least it would not be embarrassing to show friends. Because you do not know how to draw, animate. You do not have the skills of a designer who can explain the style of characters to artists, set a color palette that will characterize the game or understands that if the bun is painted in green, it is perceived as friendly / neutral, and if it is black in yellow torn stripes, then this is the enemy, which should not be approached. Because you are not a sound engineer and even on a synthesizer you will not be able to pick up the necessary tones of sounds and tie them with the game concept and compositions in such a way that it sounds harmonious, and your bun would not make wooden creaks when dropped. Because you are not a developer who is not capable of writing a game engine, and to understand the working principles of existing, free, and you don’t understand the difference between keyframe animation and skeleton, it’s also just a spell for you: mipmapping, anistropic filtering, parallax mapping, volume shadows, point light, GPU, CUDA, Inverse kinematics ... you you don’t realize that the number of polygons in the frame of the game is considered, and that based on this, models with a definition are built. number of triangles. What you need to arrange the portals and understand how one or the animation will look like an identifier. scene in different lighting conditions. You are most likely a screenwriter ... More precisely, the one in front of whom lies a leaflet with 10 to 20 abstracts about all the adventures of the kolobok through the maze of impossibilism. parallax mapping, volume shadows, point light, GPU, CUDA, Inverse kinematics ... You don’t realize that the number of polygons in the frame of the game is considered, and that based on this, models with a definition are built. number of triangles. What you need to arrange the portals and understand how one or the animation will look like an identifier. scene in different lighting conditions. You are most likely a screenwriter ... More precisely, the one in front of whom lies a leaflet with 10 to 20 abstracts about all the adventures of the kolobok through the maze of impossibilism. parallax mapping, volume shadows, point light, GPU, CUDA, Inverse kinematics ... You don’t realize that the number of polygons in the frame of the game is considered, and that based on this, models with a definition are built. number of triangles. What you need to arrange the portals and understand how one or the animation will look like an identifier. scene in different lighting conditions. You are most likely a screenwriter ... More precisely, the one in front of whom lies a leaflet with 10 to 20 abstracts about all the adventures of the kolobok through the maze of impossibilism.
2) I have a team of friends with whom we faithfully ganked on 15 level Allodov. Yeah, see.

See that one on the left? He is already in the drum, which he is looking at. Tomorrow he will say that he wants to go for a walk, and after tomorrow that mom will not let him in at the computer. The second, who with a confident look, will participate in the project for a month, and then will be engaged in another project, where a month will also participate. But the third one, self-confident, wearing bright socks with sandals, will last half of the development with you, and when there are two of you, he will leave to study in another city.
3) I have two friends who are interested. But this is the correct answer. For the entire process of developing a game without a dough can rest on two powerful pillars: a leader who inspires everyone to move forward, or enthusiasm aka the ability to bring things to the end. So far we have just started doing and there is a fuse, we must immediately try to bring the project to a state where it can be "felt": see, hear or even run. This will greatly motivate further, because the level of enthusiasm will fall every day, and the ability to see the current result, especially if it will constantly move forward - motivates the team to work further.
It is also worth remembering that AAA-class projects, i.e. top games of the best companies, not a dozen or even a hundred people are engaged. Developers, designers, artists, animators, modelers, screenwriters, mapmakers, executives, tech. support, accountants, secretaries, cooks (and who will feed everyone, right?)

Do not get really upset when you get “Crysis 3”.

You have a team, you have a project. Then you need to allocate some time when all the team members gather somewhere and work simultaneously in a team. It is inspiring and it gives teamwork. Forget about all sorts of forums, skype chats and other nonsense that supposedly should help you. Everyone will run away and forget. Find time and place. And the rest - let everyone work in their own rhythm.
It is worth remembering that when in six months you will almost finish your sapper and say that you will be released after tomorrow, you will suddenly come to the realization that you will have to work another half a year. Yes, yes, it will be so, you will see, I’m just warning you so that there are no heart attacks.

Then you should ask yourself: how do we sell the game at all? If you write for mobile platforms, then the official Apple / Google sites will give you an answer on how to withdraw money. And if you want to write games for PC / XBOX, etc. - then you need to contact publishers. Or who release games through all sorts of optical drives, ala DVD. Or who is involved in digital distribution. Ala Steam. Be prepared for the fact that the publisher will remove chips from your income and add to your meal. It's a shame, because this is your maze and your bun? No, dear friend, this is reality.


But if you still implement your project, then do not think that the whole world was waiting for him. The audience of the gaming industry is huge in its mass and some people like racing, some shooters, some kittens. Someone shit in the comments, someone will call the game of the year. None of these opinions should sway you.
Only bug reports and feature requests.

PS
Yes, I have completed projects.
Yes, I wrote engines from scratch.
Yes, I wrote on other people's engines.
Yes, I am involved in the development of the game now.
Yes, I work in a permanent place.
No, not in the gaming industry.
Yes, I myself collected all this rake.
Yes, there really is no game with such a maze.

UPD:I will quote again the phrase that is at the beginning of the article so that people who read the end of the middle and the end of the end can absorb the essence of it with the brain: I’d like to say that I don’t want to give someone the urge to try myself, but I just want to so that people immediately come closer to the question, without stumbling on the first rake.