desi
Game dev FAQ
Every so often, people ask me about my path into indie game development, so I've put this page together to help answer the most common questions. Right now it is just an edited version of some answers I gave to one such person in early 2024, but I'll update it as I receive more questions.
As for my background, I've been a professional 2D animator since 2018, and have had roles on various small video game projects since around that time. I'm currently working as a game designer and art director on my first commercial title, Bits & Bops.
What made you get into game development?
I have enjoyed Nintendo, indie and old PC/console games and the hobbies, communities and culture around them my whole life. I am also competitive and love hard challenges (in gaming and in general). I have some friends who became successful game devs a few years ago and this is what motivated me and my partner Evan to try it out. We made some small projects and found we enjoyed game dev. We decided to commit serious time and resources to our first commercial title, Bits & Bops, when we noticed it had interest from a large enough audience.
Did you go to school for that or did you start off right off the bat?
No, I don't think game dev university/tertiary courses are good enough to be worth their cost, though this could change in future if these programs are improved enough. The majority (95%-ish) of successful indie devs I know never went to school for it. There's a good article on this by video game researcher Brendan Keogh.
If you're interested in game dev and can't decide which university degree to pick, just do computer science or whatever degree is most relevant for your fallback career.
How does one get better at game design if they’re not taking classes for it? YouTube videos? Online courses? Websites?
Whenever you play a game (video game, board game, sport, etc.) try to think about what the game does for players/people, what you like/dislike about it and how you would improve it.
As a creator, just make games. Make games you yourself would want to play and receive brutally honest feedback. Learn some programming and participate in game jams. Another option is romhacks or mods. If you're getting started and just want to dive in without learning anything technical, get really good at designing custom levels for games that have a level/chart editor, such as Mario Maker or StepMania. The best F1 drivers usually start out as go kart racers so think about it like that.
If you can stomach it, try to get feedback from more honest/critical players. Avoid relying only on feedback from your friends or other devs, who have an incentive not to risk damaging their relationship with you if they have something critical to say (it's fine to go to friends for encouragement though).
There are more skills/roles in game dev than just game design though, and these can be learned in the workforce or as serious hobbies. I studied painting and worked as a freelance artist and contract animator for about five years prior to working on any games. Evan was a professional programmer for ten years. A project like Bits & Bops wouldn't be possible without this prior experience.
As for YouTube and other online resources, I don't really use those to get better at game development. However, I do follow some game marketing newsletters and blogs, specifically Victoria Tran's newsletter and Chris Zukowski's blog. Those are mostly useful if you're trying to sell a game though, less so if you're in the early stages of building your skills.