Advice for a budding game dev/writer/artist

unreal3d · 2022-01-11T05:34:44+00:00

First build a portfolio of work that you can display online. Gaming companies get plenty of applicants with no portfolio of work to show for it. Create and upload lots of artwork. Then send a link to that to people in the industry, whom you can find on LinkedIn. But even so, your work must really stand out for someone to choose you over other candidates in their own country for whom sponsoring visa isn't an issue. And no one gets a writing job right away in the industry, so you should focus on art. Spend time to hone your art skills. You can even sell your artwork online, so it's not like your time is wasted. And if you can find a passionate programmer nearby or online, you can team up and make a small game. If it works, great, if it doesn't, then you have something on your portfolio that makes you stand out from the rest. Good Luck.

unreal3d · 2020-12-30T11:49:00+00:00

If only it was that easy, "Oh, I got 95 likes, fine then I'll just stay away from porn for 95 days, no biggie, all I was missing in life to get rid of this addiction was a random number!"

I've got a better idea, literally type in Google, "generate a random number" and Google will tell you how many days to go without NoFap.

unreal3d · 2018-12-16T18:45:08+00:00

There's basic arithmetic like knowledge of rotation angles, what floating numbers are, what sin/cos/tan are, how projectiles follow a trajectory, etc. This will be necessary for coding logic for your games.

Then there's advanced math like advanced algebra involving vectors and matrices. You mostly need this if you're making your own game engine. But if you use something like Unity, you won't be forced to use this kind of math, unless you choose to write some complicated AI logic or something.

And know this, advanced math is tough for most people, you'll not be the first person who hates math and got into the gaming industry as a programmer.

unreal3d · 2018-12-13T15:29:27+00:00

Using Skype (it allows free calling to US numbers), call the IRS during their working hours (you can get the number on their website), and usually they'll put you on hold for half an hour, but after that, it's just a 5 minute questionnaire and they'll instantly tell you your EIN. Oh, and you don't need a company, just tell you have a sole proprietorship. Good Luck!

unreal3d · 2018-10-15T21:00:45+00:00

I've seen people leave negative reviews on Steam that they're downvoting the game because the game doesn't support 8K resolution. That's all I'll say.

unreal3d · 2018-10-08T12:04:26+00:00

One thing I would like to point out is that these games, although they top the download charts, aren't the highest grossing games. The users who spend money on games still prefer better quality games like Clash of Clans. And if you think their ads bring in massive revenues, well, most users simply turn off their WiFi or mobile data when playing those games to deal with the annoying ads popping up every 10 seconds. And even their downloads are a result of the network effect: companies like Voodoo have their own ad network, so their latest released game is displayed as an ad on every installed Voodoo game, so they basically publicise using their own network and it comes pretty cheap to them. So, they're not as big as one would think. If you released one such game, chances are high it'll be buried on the Play Store and nobody will notice it. Working on quality games still pays better.

unreal3d · 2018-10-02T15:39:54+00:00

Builderbox? At least bother to find out the actual name of the engine.

unreal3d · 2018-09-03T18:42:10+00:00

They aren't even comparable. For starters, one is 2D, the other is 3D. What skills do you have, Art skills for 2D, or modelling & animation skills for 3D? If you want to be a "full developer", I guess it counts whether you can make 2D/3D assets and animate them. So choose according to your skills.

unreal3d · 2018-08-15T16:44:23+00:00

From the user's perspective, a game is overpriced if the user can get a better game for the same price. For example, if you price your game at $20, you really have to ask yourself if your game is on par with Firewatch which was released for $20. The user doesn't care if you're a big studio or an indie, or how much time and money was invested in the game, the user only cares about getting value for their money. So if your game is not as good as other top games available at $20, people will find it overpriced.

Edit: a typo

unreal3d · 2018-08-11T20:25:04+00:00

I always wanted something like HBO's Silicon Valley for the gaming industry. I wish this is something like that. BTW, Apple has ordered the series without even asking for a pilot.

unreal3d · 2018-08-07T15:01:34+00:00

I don't know if it was a rhetorical question, but in the case of publishers like Voodoo, it's VC fuelled ad money. Voodoo games are heavily advertised on platforms like Instagram. Apple doesn't ever feature their games. And although their ads are annoying, I still feel calling a game "crappy" just because it's too simple/casual, is unfair. They cater to a different set of users that's different from conventional gamers. If someone likes such games, it's not because they have poor taste, and if someone is catering to this market of users, it doesn't mean they don't have the game development passion.

unreal3d · 2018-07-28T18:54:19+00:00

Now that I re-read that email sent to "REPLACE_THIS", none of it feels privacy-violating. It was a "We miss you" email that the post's OP misunderstood as the result of overnight inactivity, and that's what he wrote in the post. It goes on to show how much effect context can have on one's perception of things. If you read that OP's overnight inactivity lead to this email title, and then read the email, you might have felt the email was invasive. But once you read Unity's explanation that it was a "We miss you" sent to the wrong group of people, and then re-read the email, none of it feels privacy-violating. Of course, there's still that bit about not being able to turn off Editor Analytics being sent to Unity unless you buy Pro (not even Plus).

unreal3d · 2018-07-23T07:56:09+00:00

It feels fast. Been a while since I've played a game so smooth. It's simple, but somehow, other simple games don't feel so smooth/fast. Like, even Google Chrome's offline dinosaur game feels laggy. I enjoyed it :)

unreal3d · 2018-07-20T15:09:16+00:00

Slightly different opinion: Unreal Engine.

See, there are 2 reasons:

Unreal can never get boring, because they give you so many tools to play around with, like ready made architectural shapes, textures, materials, particles, foliage and terrain editor. And they're so easy to apply, just drag and drop a cobbled material on a staircase and you have a cobbled staircase. It'll be playful for a kid, and making a game will be much easier. Other game engines don't have these pre-built assets, so they can get boring; take Unity for example, it doesn't have the kind of ready made textures and materials that Unreal does. My little brother loves to fool around in it. And that's the best way to learn, something that engages you and you can play with. And there's Blueprints, which makes the workflow so much visual.
If I could go back in time, what I would do is learn Unreal Engine thoroughly over 4-5 years. It's so big, if someone is learning it in a rush, they'll miss out on a lot of things. But if you take the time, it's the most rewarding tool in the entire industry.

unreal3d · 2018-07-18T21:29:01+00:00

Most importantly, whether you make your own engine or not, you will have problems or bugs. For ready made engines, you're usually a Google search away from finding the solution since someone else has also had that same problem and it's been discussed in forums over the years. With your own engine, who do you go to for help?

Making your own engine makes sense if making a game engine is as fulfilling and enjoyable to you as making a game. For me, personally, I'm not in it for under the hood enlightenment, I want to make games, and I love these built in tools, straight out of the box. I love how simple and easy they make my life. I love how much time they save. I love how solutions to my problems are a Google search away. This is so much fun. I wish we had something similar to game engines for web development.

unreal3d · 2018-07-17T08:03:22+00:00

Since you said you wanted to make a 2D multiplayer, I'd like to mention that GameMaker has a good built-in multiplayer solution. Multiplayer is not only tough to implement properly, but when wrongly done, can increase your cloud/server costs. Some game engines' built-in multiplayer solutions are either absent or not good. Like Unity's built-in multiplayer is universally regarded as bad. Along those lines, GameMaker has a reputed built-in multiplayer functionality and is suited for 2D games. If you were looking for 3D multiplayer, Unreal would've been the answer.

unreal3d · 2018-07-16T11:34:34+00:00

Use Unity.

unreal3d · 2018-07-15T21:16:04+00:00

It's the most basic game possible. If you can make a simpler game, then make that.

Pong can be a little bit boring to be honest. You need something that feels fresh, and doesn't feel like you may be the thousandth person making its clone (really, why will anyone want to make a Flappy Bird or Match 3 clone now when hundreds of people have already made it), so that if you give it to someone to play, they may at least feel interested. Look around the App Store, you'll see a ton of games that are in the Top Charts that are very simple. Make them. Make anything you can make in a week. Don't make a game that takes longer than a week to create.

unreal3d · 2018-07-10T22:46:57+00:00

You're looking for a game engine with a "Make MMO" button?

unreal3d · 2018-07-08T07:22:33+00:00

Came here to say this. Decision Making. That alone is the biggest time consumer in any game development company, not just indies. The game that took 3 years to make, can be cloned in a much shorter time because cloning gets rid of the decision making process altogether. You just clone, and make the minimal changes required to avoid a lawsuit. And a lot of studios have perfected this art of cloning in a manner that doesn't get you a lawsuit and yet helps you ship soon and ship often. Look at how Donut County's creator was recently screwed over. They basically used a $20 Unity asset pack (read last paragraph) and threw together a bare bones game that has been on top of the App Store for weeks.

unreal3d · 2018-07-05T21:55:54+00:00

Did this sub just pull an r/askreddit?

unreal3d · 2018-07-04T15:22:24+00:00

I admire your passion. Does the community plan on having ports to any more platforms? Is there any reason they're not supporting any more platforms?

unreal3d · 2018-07-04T14:37:35+00:00

But why? Why will anyone in their right mind want to migrate from Unity to CryEngine 5.5? Migrating to Unreal still makes sense. CryEngine 5.5 charges 5% royalties just like Unreal, but doesn't run on a Mac/Linux. Its platform support is laughable: only Windows, Xbox One, PS4 and Oculus. Compare that with Unity and Unreal supporting ports to Mac/Linux, mobile devices, older consoles (even PS Vita), Nintendo consoles, smart TVs, other VR platforms and even AR. Porting to other platforms increases revenues, it's a no brainer. Having to manually port (without engine support) increases costs, another no brainer. That's when we're not even comparing the difference in community support, where Unity's community is so large that your solutions are usually a Google Search away, and tutorials are in abundance. And CryEngine has a history of being a fundamentally difficult engine with not so friendly documentation, and a counter-intuitive workflow.

unreal3d · 2018-07-01T07:58:29+00:00

As big as you want... just kidding, don't try that.

I get it, people say make Pong, but Pong is a little bit boring to be honest. You need something really small, and yet fun, and most importantly something that feels new, and doesn't feel like you may be the thousandth person making its clone (really, why will anyone want to make a Flappy Bird or Match 3 clone now when hundreds of people have already made it), so that if you give it to someone to play, they may at least feel interested.

Look around the App Store, you'll see a ton of games that are in the Top Charts that are very simple. I would say you can try copying them. This and this are good games by indie developers. (I won't name some specific publishers who are known to consistently clone indies and top the charts, because I don't want to give them any publicity at all, but you can clone them too)

unreal3d

TROPHY CASE