How to start developing games: tips from Eldar Azamatov

Eldar Azamatov, city — Bishkek, CEO Supernatural Gamedev, @hell_dar_

How to start game development and what opportunities are there? In this article, I will try to describe the path of an indie developer or someone striving to enter the gaming industry.

In game development, I distinguish three main areas:
— game design
— programming
— graphics.

Undoubtedly, there are other important aspects, such as marketing and management, but in this article, I will focus on the three main ones. First, you need to identify your strengths and weaknesses, as well as your interests, to understand exactly what you want to do. How to figure this out? Try different areas!

Once you have chosen your direction, you need to start building your portfolio and participating in projects. Where to find them? The site itch.io is an excellent source of information about game jams. A game jam is a meeting of developers whose goal is to create one or more games within a limited time frame, usually from one day to several weeks. You can join Discord channels for game jams to find a team where you can participate as an artist, programmer, or game designer. The main thing is not to be shy! This is a great way to acquire communication and teamwork skills, gain game development experience, and enrich your portfolio.

Another path is developing and publishing your own games on platforms such as Steam, itch.io, Play Market, and App Store. First, you need to choose an engine. A game engine, in simple terms, is a set of software necessary for computer games to work and is not tied to a specific game. Everyone who wants to develop games must be able to work with one or more engines. For example, a 3D modeler must be able to create models and correctly import them into the engine, and a game designer must be able to quickly design ideas and game mechanics in the chosen engine.

There are many game engines, but the most popular are Unity, Unreal Engine, and Godot. Which one to choose at the beginning? It depends on the game you want to create. There is no right answer; each engine has its pros and cons, and the choice depends on your goals.

Unity is a popular engine for 2D and 3D games, with support for C#.

Pros:
— cross-platform
— large community and accessible documentation
— a large number of ready-made resources.

Cons:
— limitations of the free version
— performance may suffer in large projects

Unreal Engine is suitable for AAA and VR games, uses C++ and visual programming with Blueprint.

Pros:
— high-quality graphics
— suitable for large projects
— visual programming for beginners.

Cons:
— difficult to learn
— resource-intensive.

Godot is an open, free engine for 2D and 3D games with the GDScript language.

Pros:
— free and open-source
— easy to use
— excellent 2D support.

Cons:
— fewer resources
— limited in 3D.