Dear Game Devs,

I hope you're all doing great!

I have a great understanding of programming, I taught myself Java and went on to get Oracle Certified, I have a good knowledge of OOP, and when I tried learning Unity, I figured out that learning C# would be very easy.

That said, I am in no way a good artist, whether artistically or musically. I’m a very fast learner and can learn anything if taught to me in a way I would find suitable. I picked up Pixel Art as I thought it would be the easiest art to practice.

I now understand the foundation of Pixel Art such as: Color theory, Shading, Hue Shifting and much more. However, I was trying to come up with a character for a game I’m trying to make, but I can’t imagine it, and whenever I try to draw the character, I fail miserably. I tried 3D Art using Blender, I’m getting better at that and modeled some detailed houses, tables, kitchen appliances and other objects. However, I am not ready to start making a 3D game. I’ve never made a game before and I heard that 2D games are the easiest to make for a first game. I also looked into Inkscape for 2D Vector Art, it seems easy, but very overwhelming.

As for the music, I would like to learn, but don’t know where to start. I started fiddling about with FL Studio, it’s fun, but I don’t know how to create a music piece.

So, the question lies: what do you think are some good approaches to learning game dev, mainly Game Art, and Game Music, as I mainly struggle with those? I can handle learning Unity and C# on my own. Do you have any learning advice or tutorials that could help?

I would like to mention that I’m planning to create my first game using Java. I think this is the best way to really learn the technicality of game development on the coding aspect of things rather than use a Game Engine. I’m planning to make a Commercial Game in the future using Unity, of course.

I’m also a Student Pilot, not a CS major. I’m learning how to make a game because of passion and not for career purposes. I’d like game dev to be a hobby of mine, something I’d do on the side.

Sorry for the very long post and any advice or help from an expert or someone who has developed a game or made game Art and music would help.

Thank you :D

@Tom Sloper I've heard that doing everything by yourself is time consuming, frustrating, and difficult. Yes, I know that I can get assets from the asset store, however, I enjoy doing things on my own, I always have. I feel like I could broaden my skills and get rewarded that way.

Of course, if I'm going to develop a big game then I should hire someone do some of the work. I am a fast learner and whenever I start a project I am passionate about, I'm always determined to finish it, no matter the difficulty. I've been meaning to get some Pixel Art and Blender courses from Udemy, although I am still considering it.

I will take a look into “Hobby Project Classifieds,” thank you! :D

Hi,

I am also a programmer that can't make art or music (I never really tried yet, and probably never will). I ended up in games as a hobby, as I find them interesting in how they achieve seemingly impossible things by clever smoke and mirror tricks ?

The programmer solution to making 2D art is to use a 3D modeler, and then render the result onto a “flat” image (eg PNG) from a fixed viewpoint. Never tried that myself, but it's a possible alternative.

3D game engines like Unity use the same camera trick to support 2D games, they just set the camera to a fixed view direction (giving you “depth” for free). The other approach to 2D games is to have game engine or library that has a display surface and image files to paint using (x, y) coordinates. The latter kind of engine is often pointed at with the “2D games are simpler” notion. Search the web for Java game engines, I am sure you'll find some.

From what I read about making art is that it's at least as complicated as programming, you need to put in the same amount of hours, and you need to practice, practice, and practice more. Like you I am drawn to pixel art. I recently read an approach that makes sense to me (I haven't tried it yet though). The advice I read is to start simple. A palette of a few colors (less than around 256 in total), with a range of shades in the same color (eg 6-8 yellows from dark-yellow to light-yellow). This is how things worked in retro game art. Make small art like 16x16 pixels with simple things, eg a coin icon.

Finally, you say you can broaden your skills and get rewarded by doing things by yourself. I agree with that, but I also found that by finding a community that does the same kind of things as you want, you learn and grow much much faster. You come in contact with new ideas, other people with shared interests and stumble upon nice unexpected solutions.

I found a nice community around an open source game. I thought I could program well, but oh boy, I did learn a lot there. The committers of the project started reviewing my code and told me I should make changes or even trash the solution and use a different approach. I made the changes and in the end I found they were actually right in their suggestions. My code became much better. I also learned about tools and practices you don't quite consider if working on your own, like a VCS, an issue tracker, and properly documenting what you made. In that same project they also had artists making pixel art. I never went there, but I saw the same approach happening there. People make new art, they publish it at the forum of the project, and other artists give comments how to improve the art. If you want to get better at either art or programming, I would say that's a good way to do it. Have fun, work on a game together, and learn loads of things. Highly recommended as a hobby ?

@Alberth Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my question!

I’ve never heard about rendering the result of a 3D model as “flat.” I’ll have a look at that!

I’ve been looking at some Java Game Engine tutorials, and yes, I’ve been learning a whole lot! My first small game would be made in Java.

I’ll try that Pixel Art advice! Thank you.

I’ve also never thought about trying to join a community. I think that’s an amazing idea!

Once again, thank you for taking the time to answer my question and thank you for all the advice! :D

@GeneralJist

GeneralJist said:
Learning all the other disciplines may not be a good use of your time, and there is no need for you to become a “lonewolf dev”.

Now that you mention it, it does feel like it's not a good use of my time.

GeneralJist said:
Sounds like your looking for some experience

Yes, I am mainly looking to get experience from the games and projects that I make, or help make.

Thank you for the pm, I'm thankful for the opportunity!