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This article is divided into two parts. The first part focuses mainly on the approach to game development and the design process itself. The second part will discuss specific tools, engines, and sources for game assets.

What Kind of Game Do I Want to Develop?

Before you sit down at a computer or start crafting game pieces for a board game (yes, people have done that), you should ask yourself what type of game you want to make to get a rough idea of what you aim to achieve. Ask yourself questions about your game and try to answer them. This will shape your game idea. Questions could include: “A digital or analog game? A board game? A card game? A shooter? An RPG, or perhaps a building game? What will it be about? What kind of mood should it convey?” You don’t need to know every detail about your game yet; you’ll discover many things in the process. But having a starting point and a rough goal will help you get started.

In this article, we will primarily refer to digital game development. The technical hurdles in this realm tend to be significantly larger. However, the design processes outlined in this guide can certainly be applied to the development of analog games as well.

Don’t Think Too Big!

Many who want to develop their own game tend to think too big. “I love open-world RPGs with crafting elements and beautiful graphics, so I’ll make my own open-world RPG with crafting elements and beautiful graphics!” I’ve heard this many times. The point is: that won’t work! I don’t want to demotivate you, but you definitely won’t be able to pull that off alone, especially if you’re just starting your game design career.

Such games are typically created by teams of 40 to 200 people, all of whom are absolute specialists in their fields. You think the nature in Witcher 3 looks fantastic? It does! But those people worked on almost NOTHING else. For the beginning of your game design career, it’s better to choose something small that you can realistically implement in a short time. A project that you can complete in a maximum of three months, or even smaller: a week or a day. This way, you can achieve quick successes, ensure that you keep enjoying the process, and learn new things within a manageable scope. You can always make your second and third game bigger, building on what you learned in your first projects.

I usually only create small games. For me, it’s a hobby, and it should be fun. I enjoy the time constraints and focusing on a few essential concepts. Moreover, by working on many small projects, I can gain experience that I bring to the next project. In our podcast Tech und Trara, we spoke with indie developer Philipp Stollenmayer, who also focuses on simple games based on strong ideas—he even won the Apple Design Award.

Developing Your Own Game: The Design Process

In this section, we will discuss the actual design and development process. We’ll address questions about how to begin the development of your own game, the steps in between, and the necessary mindset.

Where Do I Start?

Now that you’ve decided on a rough direction, you can get started! You can begin to elaborate on and specify your ideas. How quickly you can dive into actual implementation depends somewhat on the mental groundwork you’ve already laid. For example, if you’ve only determined that your game should have a “dark mood,” it will be challenging to come up with something concrete. If you’ve already settled on a genre, you can start implementing the genre-specific mechanics and elements. Let’s take an example:

If you want to make a dark 2D platformer, start by integrating the fundamental mechanics. Your character—best represented in a stylized way at this point—should be able to run and jump. If you haven’t decided on a genre yet, start from the beginning. Take any typical genre and experiment to see if you like it. If not, scrap it and choose another genre, implementing different mechanics.

Build your game in this early phase using simple graphics that you either create prototypically yourself or find online (you’ll find hints about “game assets” further down in the article), and create a level. Now you have a first small prototype. Play it and see how it feels.

Prototyping: Think in Iterations

Very important: When developing your own game, don’t just think about the final product. Instead, think in small iterations and develop playable prototypes repeatedly. Play them, improve them, and expand them. Of course, it’s wise to keep your ultimate goal in sight, but always be ready to change that goal if you discover even better ideas while testing your game. Let’s stick with our earlier example:

Your game is still in its infancy. Your player can run and jump. Now play this initial prototype and ask yourself whether these basic mechanics—“running” and “jumping”—are fun. The actions that the player performs most often should be enjoyable and feel good. A shooter where shooting isn’t fun would be a pretty bad game, wouldn’t it? If mechanics aren’t enjoyable, change them and try to optimize them. This way, you’ll iteratively tackle your game and continue to build it out. It might not be very exciting to hop around in a level without a task or goal. Should your game have enemies? Yes? Then add some! Should the player only avoid these enemies, or can they fight them?

If you’re unsure about these questions, try out the different variants. See what feels better and what fits your game better. What feels more like the game you want to create?

Let Others Play Your Game

Through various iterations, your game will gradually take shape, and eventually, you’ll reach a point where it feels somewhat complete. You know the essential mechanics of your game, the player has some kind of task or goal (there are also games that consciously avoid this and prompt the player to set their own goals, like Minecraft), and the game is playable.

At this point, you’ll probably be completely blind to your own game. After all, you know exactly how it works. You know what will happen, when, and why. With this knowledge, you can no longer make the best judgment about whether your game is actually fun. So: Let others play the game. Observe them. Do they understand how your game works? Do they react in ways you hoped for at certain points? Ask them for feedback. What can be improved? What’s fun? What’s not fun?

This feedback is worth its weight in gold for a game designer. You now have opinions about your game that you can incorporate into your game design.

Keep Shaping the Game

If you’re working on a game alone, the development process basically consists of three pillars. First, there’s game design, which encompasses the rules that determine your game. Then there’s the technical pillar, where you need to implement the rules you’ve devised. Whether you need code for that or you’re working in a program that doesn’t require coding is irrelevant. Lastly, there’s the design pillar, which involves graphics, sounds, and the overall aesthetics of your game.

All three pillars are important, and all need to be considered. However, it’s unrealistic to expect that you can give equal attention to all pillars from the very beginning. All these areas of game development simply involve too much work. In large studios, there are separate teams dedicated to the different areas, focusing solely on specific tasks. Because all of this takes a significant amount of time and effort, I advised you to start with simple prototypes. Build your levels out of simple blocks and keep your player and other characters as simple as possible. Focus first on game design and its implementation. Because the implementation can often require a lot of work, you may need to understand many things and experiment a lot. When you feel that your game is technically implemented well and you think it works and is fun, you can gradually enhance it. You can integrate better 3D models and depict your characters in more detail. You can implement a better UI and ensure that colors and lighting are coordinated.

Get to the Point

In reality, there’s never a single moment when you can say, “Alright, my game is finished!” There’s always something to improve or tweak. However, you will sooner or later reach a point where you have to come to terms with it. Eventually, you simply can’t see the forest for the trees anymore, and at some point, improvements may not even make the game better. Therefore, definitely set a deadline by which you want to be finished. Even if you don’t stick to this deadline and take an extra week, you’ll have established a time frame that helps you reach a conclusion and finish your game!

How to Develop Your Own Game: The Programming Aspect

Do I need to know how to program to develop a game? If you’re developing an analog or board game, the answer is: No! If you want to create a computer game, the answer is: It depends! Let’s take a closer look.

The Different Ways to Create a Game

As already mentioned, you have different paths depending on whether you want to create a computer game or an analog game. If you want to develop an analog game, you mainly need creativity, a sense of design, and the ability to structure your rules. This also includes playtesting to ensure that your game is fun.

When it comes to digital game development, programming often plays a role. However, it’s not always mandatory! Many modern game engines allow you to create games even without coding. This often simplifies the process for you as a designer significantly and also leads to faster results. In addition to Unity and Unreal Engine, which are both among the largest engines in the world, you can also create 2D games with software like GameMaker Studio, Construct, and Godot without the need for coding.

However, if you want to develop your own game and dive into programming, you can choose from many programming languages. JavaScript, Python, C#, and C++ are the most popular ones. Depending on your project, you can look into which programming languages are the most suitable for your project. If you want to develop games with 3D graphics and complex mechanics, C# or C++ will be appropriate.

If you want to develop games more quickly and work in a more visual way, you might want to choose one of the aforementioned engines that don’t require coding knowledge.

A Simple Engine: GameMaker Studio

GameMaker Studio is an intuitive engine where you can create games using drag-and-drop mechanics or scripting in the programming language GML. This means you can make great games without needing to know how to code. However, it’s also worth learning GML if you want to push your game design further and explore more complex ideas.

Finding the Right Tools for Your Project

Regardless of whether you want to develop a board game or a digital game, there are certain tools and resources you’ll need. Here’s a list of some tools to consider for your game:

Game Engines and Tools

• Unity: A versatile engine suitable for both 2D and 3D games. Unity is popular for its extensive community support and wealth of resources. While it uses C# as its programming language, you can also create games without coding.
• Unreal Engine: Mainly for 3D games, Unreal Engine offers fantastic graphics. It also allows developers to work with visual programming through Blueprints.
• GameMaker Studio: Great for 2D games and offers an intuitive interface, enabling users to create games with minimal coding knowledge.
• Construct: Another option for 2D games that focuses heavily on visual programming.
• Godot: An open-source engine that supports both 2D and 3D game development and allows you to work with GDScript, a Python-like language.

Graphics and Asset Resources

• OpenGameArt: A free resource where you can find graphics, sounds, and music for your game.
• itch.io: A platform for indie developers where you can find game assets and even sell your games.
• Unity Asset Store: If you’re using Unity, the Asset Store has a wide range of assets, from models to scripts.

Conclusion: Game Development Is an Ongoing Process

In this article, you’ve gained an overview of how to develop your own game. Remember, game development is a continuous learning process. Don’t be afraid to experiment, make mistakes, and iterate. Every project teaches you something valuable. Whether it’s a small prototype or a larger game, the most important thing is to enjoy the process of creating something unique.

Now that you have a better understanding of how to get started, it’s time to take action and create your own game!

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For busy players or those looking to experience endgame raids, dungeons, and PvP sooner, buying an Amirdrassil boost is an appealing option. If you want tips to maximize your boost, check out this guide on WoW Amirdrassil Boosting: Strategies for Gaming Success. 

Here are some of the major benefits of getting a boost for your character.

Save Significant Time

The biggest reason players opt to get an Amirdrassil boost is the huge amount of time it saves. Currently, the leveling process to reach the maximum level of 60 in Shadowlands takes approximately 22-25 hours if you know what you’re doing. For brand-new players, it can take days or even weeks of playtime. An Amirdrassil boost skips you right to level 60 and gets you raid and Mythic+ ready within hours instead of days played.

Boosting services employ skilled gamers who will pilot your character through the leveling process far more quickly than you could on your own. They have intricate knowledge of the most efficient leveling routes, quests, and dungeon runs to blast through levels at warp speed. For people with busy schedules, boosting alleviates the grind.

Access Endgame Content Quicker

Amirdrassil and the Shadowlands are where the current endgame content is for WoW. Once you reach 60, that’s when you can dive into the “real game” like Mythic+ dungeons, Castle Nathria raiding, and ranked PvP. But getting there can take so long that you might burn out leveling alts before ever getting to play endgame. Boosting lets you experience the endgame right away.

Catch Up With Friends  

If your friends are already 60 and doing endgame activities, a boost gets your character to their level faster so you can join in the fun. No one wants to be left behind or miss out on playing with their guild. An Amirdrassil boost bridges the gap.

Experience New Classes at Max Level

Leveling traditionally means you’re stuck playing a character from level 1, sometimes up to 120, before they realize their full potential. With boosting, you can trial max-level classes, specs, and roles right away. See if you enjoy how a class plays an endgame before committing the time to level it fully.

Access Exclusive Rewards and Content

Certain rewards like mounts, titles, transmogs, pets, and achievements are gated behind endgame content completions. To collect everything in the game, you need characters capable of running Mythic+ and raids. Boosting opens up these exclusive options you can’t get otherwise from leveling alone.

Make Lots of Gold

At max level, you can take advantage of lucrative endgame gold farming methods to build wealth. Whether you play the auction house, craft lucrative gear, or farm materials and world drops, you’ll accumulate gold faster at 60. Boosting accelerates this process.

Master Your Class and Role

Playing a class while leveling doesn’t necessarily make you an expert. At max level, the real skill testing begins in challenging Mythic+ and raid content that requires mastery of your class, spec, and role. Getting boosted gets you into learning endgame systems faster.

Efficient Professions and Reputations  

Part of endgame progress includes maxing out professions like alchemy, engineering, and crafting legendary armor at 60. Boosting means you can immediately farm materials and recipes only accessible at max level. It also allows faster reputation grinds for rewards like mounts.

Prepare for PvP

In ranked PvP, you want to be max level with the best gear to be competitive. Boosting allows quick access to PvP gear acquisition, conquest grind, and training for ranked arenas and battlegrounds against other max-level players.

Improved Magic Find

The chance for better loot drops improves at the maximum level. Boosting allows you to run content with optimal magic find quickly. Take advantage of WoW’s loot systems sooner.

Play The Game You Want

Boosting allows you to skip the parts of the game you don’t enjoy like leveling and jump straight into the content you actually want to do. Get right into Mythic+ with friends, raid progression, or rank PvP without the long grind. Play the game on your terms.

While boosting isn’t for everyone, the time-saving benefits are hard to ignore. For many players, the pros outweigh any potential cons. Getting an Amirdrassil boost enables you to experience the best WoW has to offer at endgame faster on whatever character you want. It allows you to play the game how you want to play it. If your goal is immediately enjoying endgame content, gearing up quickly, and playing with friends, then a boost is the fastest way to fulfill those objectives.

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Understanding Amirdrassil Boosting 

Escalating refers to accelerated progression, usually via high-level players carrying lower levels through dungeons or quests. Ethical services sell WoW Amirdrassil boosting allowing buyers to rapidly gain experience, gear, and other advantages. 

Amirdrassil’s boosting services hold particular significance due to the zone’s emphasis on uplifting themes of dreams and hope. More than just power leveling, Amirdrassil upgrading focuses on propelling your character towards their aspirational destiny.

Choose Services Aligned With Your Dreams

With myriad options, it’s essential to choose services that align with your character’s long-term dreams. Consider their end-game goals. Does their purpose resonate most with PvE raids, competitive PvP, and rare collections? 

Select boosters who understand your character’s motivations and can mentor them in the right direction. Maximizing should provide meaningful progress toward their dreams.

Strategize for Sustainable Success

Effective energizing requires strategic planning. Consider your character’s strengths and weaknesses. Will they benefit most from dungeon clears? Gear upgrades? Reputation gains? 

Schedule boosting in balance with independent play. Scaling up should complement and enhance your normal advancement. And remember, take time to appreciate Amirdrassil’s splendor along the way.

Harnessing Amirdrassil’s Gameplay Secrets

Beyond its beauty and boosting services, Amirdrassil holds many hidden gameplay advantages for those willing to explore its secrets:

• Hidden Quests – Keep an eye out for shimmering scrolls tucked away in hollow logs or under mushrooms. These cue mysterious questlines with special rewards.
• Ancient Elven Relics – Search off the main paths to uncover relics that begin epic quests to restore power to ancient Night Elf ruins.
• Twilight Acolytes – Seek out these hooded figures in remote areas for access to exclusive gear and abilities. But their favors come at a price…
• Radiant Pools – Take a dip in Amirdrassil’s glowing moon wells for temporary stat boosts, faster energy regeneration, and healing.
• Owlbeast Taming – Befriend these mystical creatures to gain them as permanent pets or temporary mounts. But earning their trust takes time and care.
• Maximizing Rest XP – Logging out safely tucked within Amirdrassil’s boughs confers a 2x rest XP bonus. Find a comfy niche and let the zone’s tranquility enhance your replenishment.

Keep your eyes open when exploring Amirdrassil. You never know what hidden treasures or adventures lurk just off the main path. Immersing yourself in all the zone’s secrets offers rewards beyond just boosting power.

Foster Connections and Community

Boosters are partners on your character’s journey. Communicate your goals and find boosters who invest in their vision. Positive relationships with more experienced players provide encouragement and guidance.

Also, connect with fellow dreamers in Amirdrassil. Band together with those working towards similar aspirations. Collaboration and community deepen the journey.

Maintain Hope Through Challenges

Even with boosting, setbacks happen. Server crashes, toxic players, woes with loot distribution – obstacles arise. In these moments, stubborn hope is crucial. 

Recall your character’s purpose. The next attempt could bring a breakthrough. With Amirdrassil’s restorative ambiance energizing you, stay resilient. Achievement often comes to those who persist.

Boosting with Integrity

While efficient, maximizing should not replace legitimate gameplay. Take time to savor Amirdrassil’s splendor and your character’s personal journey. Their backstory deserves appreciation.

Uphold integrity by avoiding exploitation. Play fairly and contribute to the community. Spread hope by guiding lower-level characters with patience and wisdom.

Harnessing Amirdrassil’s Unique Magic

Beyond boosting services, Amirdrassil itself empowers players through its tranquil ambiance. The zone’s vibrant moonlight, hypnotic melodies, and enveloping mists have restorative properties. Spending time simply existing in Amirdrassil can rejuvenate your character after arduous quests.

This magic also manifests through subtle gameplay advantages. For example, abilities requiring meditation or focus recharge faster in Amirdrassil. Pets gain loyalty quicker under their boughs. Slowly absorbing the zone’s essence can confer performance gains organically over time.

Weaving in Your Character’s Backstory

Boosting also presents opportunities to enrich your character’s fictional backstory. Work with your booster to imagine how your character might form mentorships with high-level allies. These bonds can add depth to relationships and new plotlines to explore.

Your character can uncover hidden lore about their ancestry, overcome haunting phobias, or realize important quests related to their origins through well-crafted fueling adventures. Keep an open mind, and upgrading may unravel new dimensions of your character unexplored.

Realizing Dreams Through Passion

In the end, realize that no amount of boosting can substitute for passion and purpose. Cherish your character’s dreams, remain devoted to their goals, and success is assured.

Amirdrassil’s magic resides within your attitude, not mechanics. Play with positivity, purpose and community at your core, and watch your character’s wildest dreams manifest. The journey awaits.

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The first but not the only task of a game developer is to write code. It is with its help that the game mechanics and any related services required for its operation are created.

Quite often, the responsibilities also include the creation of tools that are used to create the game itself. This is necessary to automate the development process, speed it up, and simplify the life of the developer and the team in general.

As in any profession, game devs need to check the result of their work before passing it on to the next level. For example, to make sure that a new feature (in programmers’ jargon, a well-thought-out capability, a trick) works as intended and does not break other systems within the program. Therefore, it is very important to devote time to testing so as not to slow down (or even worse, block) the work of other project participants.

Pros and cons of the game development profession

Let’s start with what is both a plus and a minus. Often, a game developer is faced with the need to create a technology that has never existed before (for example, so that the player can do something completely unique). On the one hand, it is almost impossible to say exactly how long it will take and whether it will work at all, but on the other hand, it is a cutting-edge experience for the player. It turns out that the developer becomes a pioneer, creating something that no one has ever done before.

Among the disadvantages of the profession, overtime is the first thing to note. They can arise for various reasons, and then the developer has to find and maintain a life-work balance in order not to burn out and remain productive. Of course, any overwork has a negative impact on the project and its participants, but sometimes it is simply a vital necessity, especially during the game release period.

The game development industry is growing very rapidly – faster than other related industries. New technologies appear at lightning speed, and you have to work hard to keep your technical knowledge up to date. And to improve your skills, you have to spend even more time on self-education.

Compared to the salaries in the enterprise projects segment (creation of business/production management information systems), the salary of a game developer is on average lower.

But this profession certainly has a lot of advantages, which is why we love it!

First of all, besides creating games, you can also play them, testing what you have made at the same time.

You can also literally show others your work. Not every developer can boast of this. Even apps are often released for a specific audience (let’s say, for doctors), and in this case, it’s hard to explain the coolness of your work to other people.

Until recently, almost no one taught the craft of game development on a global scale. Now, there are plenty of courses and resources with video tutorials that can answer many questions of a novice developer in great detail and give them the opportunity to try their hand at it.

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The modern industry is on the rise, the demand for video games is growing, so digital artists have a secure job in this labor market. If you want to get acquainted with design and programming, then FP video games and 3D animation is the perfect option for you to learn about digital art.

Approach

At this stage, the origin of the idea is mentioned, basic questions are answered, such as the type of video game, characters, whether it will be in 2D or 3D, and what audience it will be aimed at. This is a phase that should not be underestimated, as everything else will be born from here.

All this information is used to assess the possibilities of the video game in the long run, and from there make a decision to move forward.

Preparation or design

This is the second phase of video game development, where writers, designers, engineers, and leaders begin to define the aspects of the project. Writers will work out the story into the right narrative, while engineers and designers will think about what can be achieved with the available technology, following the recommendations of artists who will make sure that the color palette and other visual elements complement each other.

Production

This is the most complete phase of video game development and is crucial for its success. All the necessary resources and work are involved so that the video game stops being something preconceived and becomes a real, executable model.

At this stage, the characters are designed, modified and recreated to make them look the best in accordance with the previous ideas; At the sound level, all the sound effects of the video game world are generated; it is checked that the visual section is attractive to the players and that there are no errors in its presentation. Finally, the dubs are recorded, and programmers determine the final codes that will allow all game elements to work as mechanisms.

Trial period

When production is finished and everything seems to be ready, the video game moves into the testing phase or trial period, where it is subjected to rigorous quality control to ensure that the final product that falls into the hands of the user is the best possible version; during this phase, testers are responsible for who will perform the following tasks:

• Identify areas or levels with errors
• Check if the rendering is free of faults
• Do not allow characters to stand still or fall
• Make sure dialog, dubbing, and voices are realistic

Before launching

At this stage, everything is ready and technically approved, but that doesn’t mean the job is done. At this point, the marketing strategy is important because you should use the most attractive promotional images and video game trailers. Gaming and influencer broadcasts will help to promote sales, i.e. get famous gamers to try it out before it goes on sale.

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In gamedev companies game developers usually have different professional roles:

• Gameplay Developer – Develops the mechanics. Gameplay Developers work in tandem with Game Designers who supply the mechanics.
• Engine Developer – programs the engine: writes utilities, tools for other developers, is responsible for SDK integration.
• Graphics Programmer – provides game graphics quality, works with low-level OpenGL, DirectX. 3D Game Graphics Programmer – writes shaders, optimizes graphics for different devices such as tablets, smartphones, PCs.
• Animation Developer – develops animation systems, does Skeletal animation, writes utilities for animators and developers. Usually needed in gamedev-studios, working with custom engines (Deep Silver, Ubisoft, Gameloft, etc.).
• Tools Developer – develops tools (small auxiliary programs and utilities) for game designers either using the Qt framework or inside the engine.
• UI Developer – improves the interface, for example, creates menus, think through the transitions between them. A more complicated task – development of a customization (individual customization according to the user’s taste) of the game character’s appearance.
• Audio Developer – deals with sound, creates all sorts of sound effects (water noise, thunder, echo, etc.) This specialization is gaining popularity with the development of VR (virtual reality), which requires three-dimensional sound.
• Client Developer – programs the upper interface, writes client code that handles events in the game. The Game Client is used mainly in multiplayer games, it connects each user to the main game server. This network client collects data on account, player status, etc. and sends it to the main game server to show each gamer in the game. The Client Developer’s job is to make it all work properly on different platforms.
• Back-end Developer – develops the server part of the game, creates and maintains scalable server architectures: player profiles, leaderboards, clans, etc. Engaged in parsers, data collection, but not directly related to the game.
• DevOps Developer – one of the new gamedev specializations. DevOps task is microservices. He works with online gaming services (for example, Battle.net from Blizzard Entertainment or Ubisoft Connect (former Uplay), through which users can update and buy games, play together over the Internet).

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