December 28, 2016 at 14:33From gamer to game developer
Hello! My name is Denis, I live in the city of Arkhangelsk. I want to share an unusual story about how I became a game developer from an ordinary gamer.
At the moment, a simple level has been created and the basic elements of the game mechanics have been introduced. I offer an introductory 20-second video.
“Yes, my hero is like Ragnar, the full version will have a different appearance”
Yes, now there is a ready-made prototype of the game “Forging Destiny: HROFT” with the simplest graphics, which implements:
• 4 types of enemies, each of which has its own fighting style;
• a hero with a normal attack and superblows, block, bounces and somersaults;
• voice acting of all characters, surroundings and effects;
• battle system.
The fact is that I created this prototype, being neither a programmer, nor an animator, nor an artist. I am not from a wealthy family, my work is not related to games and the salary is 18 thousand rubles.
In my example, everyone can do it, but not everyone will do it. We all have our own way, the main thing is to strive for the goal, and not engage in the eternal thought process.
“This art, the artist painted 70 hours, for free, especially for the project”
3 years ago I got a desire to create a game. I was looking for enthusiasts to develop this project. But, as it turned out, it’s easier to find a needle in a haystack than such people.
He learned to program, draw and animate. This was especially difficult for me, since all these programs were completely unknown to me.
“I learned to program on GM”
After six months of daily work, I burned out because I did everything alone (I understand those people who create their projects alone, these are really iron people).
“He painted in Photoshop, animated in Anime Studio.“
After some time, the desire to create a game again prevailed. But I decided to go the other way - to hire freelancers. Since there was no money, he began searching for investors.
He wrote to successful entrepreneurs who have their own VK groups and YouTube channels. I wrote to more than 60 investors and on the 12th day of the search I found interested people. They discussed the project with them for about a month, and they rated only marketing at 5,000,000 rubles. They were not ready for such an amount, so they postponed the project “until better times”.
“This is a small part of the level plan”
I was saddened by their refusal, but I did not intend to give up, since over 3 pages of documentation have already been scheduled for the game in 3 years: all the enemies, their behavior, all levels have been drawn, a very powerful plot has been written. I want to give players a real drive from the battle itself and from the adventures encountered at the levels. Therefore, I began to look for another way to implement the project.
I took a loan of 120,000 rubles to create a prototype to show the players what I’m creating, and then start crowdfunding.
“This strike can be done in the game itself” I
planned the game for mobile platforms, but, not knowing how to distribute keys to pre-orders later, I switched to development for PC, because on Steam it is much easier to do.
“Battle of heroes against each other”
“Joint passage of heroes”
Conducted more than 40 interviews on Skype for the positions of programmer, artist and animator, and one interesting thing happened. According to the results of the test task, those people who requested a higher price sometimes performed the task worse than those whose price for the service was lower. Therefore, you need to conduct at least 5 interviews for one position.
At first they drew 2D characters, but then switched to 3D models, because animating them is much easier. Accordingly, I had to change the background.
“Transformation of the hero”
“I had to change the background”
Unfortunately, I learned too late what Asset Store is. This resource would seriously save my budget.
Game development is always a test, you always have to find a compromise. I do not advise anyone to pull all the work on themselves. Be sure to need a team of at least two people to have someone to discuss this or that idea with.
To support the project, I started a group in VK, in which, together with subscribers, we discussed the project. They helped well morally (which is important) and informationally.
Now the prototype is ready, a large number of players liked it and the next test is going on for me, this is crowdfunding. It's been 4 days, and I already have something to tell, but more on that in the next article.
At the moment, a simple level has been created and the basic elements of the game mechanics have been introduced. I offer an introductory 20-second video.
“Yes, my hero is like Ragnar, the full version will have a different appearance”
Yes, now there is a ready-made prototype of the game “Forging Destiny: HROFT” with the simplest graphics, which implements:
• 4 types of enemies, each of which has its own fighting style;
• a hero with a normal attack and superblows, block, bounces and somersaults;
• voice acting of all characters, surroundings and effects;
• battle system.
The fact is that I created this prototype, being neither a programmer, nor an animator, nor an artist. I am not from a wealthy family, my work is not related to games and the salary is 18 thousand rubles.
In my example, everyone can do it, but not everyone will do it. We all have our own way, the main thing is to strive for the goal, and not engage in the eternal thought process.
“This art, the artist painted 70 hours, for free, especially for the project”
At the beginning of the journey
3 years ago I got a desire to create a game. I was looking for enthusiasts to develop this project. But, as it turned out, it’s easier to find a needle in a haystack than such people.
He learned to program, draw and animate. This was especially difficult for me, since all these programs were completely unknown to me.
“I learned to program on GM”
After six months of daily work, I burned out because I did everything alone (I understand those people who create their projects alone, these are really iron people).
“He painted in Photoshop, animated in Anime Studio.“
After some time, the desire to create a game again prevailed. But I decided to go the other way - to hire freelancers. Since there was no money, he began searching for investors.
He wrote to successful entrepreneurs who have their own VK groups and YouTube channels. I wrote to more than 60 investors and on the 12th day of the search I found interested people. They discussed the project with them for about a month, and they rated only marketing at 5,000,000 rubles. They were not ready for such an amount, so they postponed the project “until better times”.
“This is a small part of the level plan”
I was saddened by their refusal, but I did not intend to give up, since over 3 pages of documentation have already been scheduled for the game in 3 years: all the enemies, their behavior, all levels have been drawn, a very powerful plot has been written. I want to give players a real drive from the battle itself and from the adventures encountered at the levels. Therefore, I began to look for another way to implement the project.
I took a loan of 120,000 rubles to create a prototype to show the players what I’m creating, and then start crowdfunding.
“This strike can be done in the game itself” I
planned the game for mobile platforms, but, not knowing how to distribute keys to pre-orders later, I switched to development for PC, because on Steam it is much easier to do.
“Battle of heroes against each other”
“Joint passage of heroes”
Conducted more than 40 interviews on Skype for the positions of programmer, artist and animator, and one interesting thing happened. According to the results of the test task, those people who requested a higher price sometimes performed the task worse than those whose price for the service was lower. Therefore, you need to conduct at least 5 interviews for one position.
At first they drew 2D characters, but then switched to 3D models, because animating them is much easier. Accordingly, I had to change the background.
“Transformation of the hero”
“I had to change the background”
Unfortunately, I learned too late what Asset Store is. This resource would seriously save my budget.
Game development is always a test, you always have to find a compromise. I do not advise anyone to pull all the work on themselves. Be sure to need a team of at least two people to have someone to discuss this or that idea with.
To support the project, I started a group in VK, in which, together with subscribers, we discussed the project. They helped well morally (which is important) and informationally.
Now the prototype is ready, a large number of players liked it and the next test is going on for me, this is crowdfunding. It's been 4 days, and I already have something to tell, but more on that in the next article.