Your journey?

• What made you decide you want to create games? Are you in school, maybe a summer class, and your teacher assigned you to do an online survey of game devs? Or have you already begun to work on designs or art or coding on your own?
• Are you planning to make games by yourself? Or are you desirous of a team environment?
• What is your worst fear about your future in game dev? What is your brightest dream about it?

Really wish people who come here asking these typical questions would start off by telling us about themselves. Really appreciate it if you'd answer those questions. :p

@Tom Sloper
Oh, of course (: I was trying to find a forum or topic for introductions - sorry if I missed it. Thanks for asking though! (:

- I’ve always loved playing games, and from a creative perspective I have a lot of passion for storytelling, writing and art in particular. I currently work as a Frontend Developer and UI/UX Designer for a company where I mainly design and do some code for web and native applications - nothing in the realm of gaming. As for personal projects I’ve so far limited myself to creating play-by-post forum based rpgs, but the latest world I created has stuck with me in a whole new way, encouraging me to see if I can explore some game dev to bring my rpg alive as a “real” game (:

- As mentioned my current main goal is to bring my world alive as a rpg, and I currently don’t know anyone in the world of game dev, so right now it’s just me. It’s a bit daunting, and although I’m curious to see where my strengths and current skill set can get me, I’m looking for places like this - a sense of community, to make the adventure less lonely. It would be fantastic to be a part of a team at some point for sure, or have someone to collaborate with or learn from (:

- I currently don’t have many fears about it, to be honest - maybe cause I don’t see it as a do or die thing, or that there’s any pressure or deadlines to adhere to. Don’t get me wrong - I’m passionate about what I want to accomplish, and I would suck if I didn’t get it to where I want it to go, but maybe it’s just so early for me in the process that I just see possibilities instead of obstacles, haha (: Right now my biggest dream for my game dev journey would be to adapt and develop my rpg world into a game I can be proud of - to have someone play it and get a meaningful experience from it would be awesome beyond words. A great + would be to hone my current and develop new skills for myself as well - maybe get to contribute to someone else’s dreams and projects as a bonus. Make a difference.

Hope that answers your questions (:

JulieWilhelmine said:
Hope that answers your questions

I would suggest to ask real questions or give real advice and get off the BS questions that you asked in the OP. Most people have no patience for that and I'm in the minority to actually tell you.

@fleabay

What an incredibly unnecessary reply to make - how do you come to the conclusion that my questions aren’t “real”?
I must have missed the rule of “you are only allowed to wonder about *these* particular things.”

I’m not forcing anyone to answer, maybe take your lack of patience elsewhere?

I have to agree with fleabay that the questions you asked in your first post are inconsistent with your later post, your stated desire to find community. Those initial questions are not useful in your quest.

To get back to your self intro: I've never heard of play-by-post forum based rpgs before. Are you planning to start something like that in our forums? Have you made some previous forum rpgs somewhere that we can check out?

@Tom Sloper

I can't say that I understand the statement that my questions and desire to find community is inconsistent as I find that a good way to get to know a people - or a community, to see if someone is of similar mind and interest, is to ask questions about something that we may or may not share or have in common. The things important to me at this point. Besides, I wasn’t aiming to make just one post and have that cover everything I look for or have to bring - I was simply curious about these things, and still am. Me saying that I’m looking for places like this, for community, was in answer to the specific questions you asked, not the specific goal for my OP. (:

I’m rather surprised as to why you both appear so non-welcoming and judgemental of my agenda, goals or the questions that I’m in all honesty interested in the answers to - if there were to be anyone around that would like to share. I’m trying to be respectful and struggle to understand why that’s not a goal for others in return - if you find my methods of communicating or questions uninteresting, why not just keep scrolling?

rpg-directory.com is a great resource for everything related to play-by-post, if you’re interested (: I don’t plan on doing any of that here, no - a PBP-rpg usually is its own dedicated site, with forums for character creation, world info and stuff, as well as subforums where the rp itself happens. There are a lot of great, long lived sites out there so I really recommend it for anyone who enjoys writing.

I have made a few myself, but as I feel I’ve gotten off to a bit of an unexpected rocky start here so far I’m not too comfortable sharing at the moment.

JulieWilhelmine said:
I have made a few myself, but as I feel I’ve gotten off to a bit of an unexpected rocky start here so far I’m not too comfortable sharing at the moment.

Yes, you started off sounding like a student doing a game school assignment with the questions you asked (and we're very tired of students' game school assignment questions). Why don't you read some posts to get a feel for the tenor of the community. Start at https://www.gamedev.net/forums/​ and click the Browse button, see what forums are of interest to you, maybe post some replies - but don't dig back too far in time, we don't like necroing. You can also check out the Projects and Blogs (left nav sidebar). But Projects especially is overrun by game ads, so…

@Tom Sloper

Hah, understood. Wish I was a game school student, but I'm turning 30 and my school days are way behind me. Just looking for a place with decent people to discuss and share on this new journey.

I'll do some browsing ?

We tend to get swamped by new people that have other agendas than making games. These people tend not to give information why they are here and what they aim for, and instead ask questions not directly connected to game development that they want to do.

So as such, your first post fits perfectly in the “swamp people” corner and our moderators switched to alert mode for some more scrutinizing intentions.

I am not sure I can answer many of your questions. I came here long before I wanted to make a game iirc. Games interest me as they create illusions, where my take is finding out how they do it technically. This community seemed like a feasible path to get all the secrets ?

My “games” career started (I think) 15 years ago when I joined an open source game project to learn about code refactoring. It was a lot of fun, learned a lot, and met people with lots of different backgrounds and abilities. Some had software challenges where I could give a hand, which is always nice to do as well as useful. I also started writing a game, it runs for the part that I created but I gave up after about 5 years, it was too far from the finish line. It's still at github though. Since then I another open source game project (much much smaller), where I tend to try solve the big problems that everybody avoids, but I don't make much progress, not in the last reason due to lack of sufficient time.

@Alberth

Thank you for explaining that - I had no idea and was just a bit surprised by the tone. As I only found this place when I actively searched with the purpose of starting game development myself I hadn’t considered that anyone would end up here for any other reason ?But it’s interesting to hear that you came here long before you wanted to make a game for a more “behind the scenes” look, as I understood it. I’m still feeling a little scared of asking questions on here, but if I dared I’d ask what, if anything, has surprised you since you came here and started looking into the making of things (careful question mark here).

It sounds like a fun journey - must be nice to be able to contribute like that and help the vision come to life. Time consuming is something I see pop up a lot to describe the efforts for sure, depending on scope and size of the team I guess. It must be nice though, knowing that you can have the projects going and make progress when you feel like it and have the time ?

JulieWilhelmine said:
I hadn’t considered that anyone would end up here for any other reason ?

I am probably one of the very few that doesn't primarily aim for making a game here ?

For me it's the journey of discovery that counts. I can make things of course (after 40 years of programming, I should know how to do some of that, right?? ? ) but finishing something is not that important to me otherwise. I know I can finish it if I want to or need to (ie work), but it's just investing time into it to make it go forward. I don't care much for the actual topic of the program either. In the end, you're always explaining to a computer what you want it to do in terms of variables, values, statements, functions, and objects,

The most surprising things I found here is that people do write elaborate and careful answers if you ask a good question. You can find every level of expertise here, from professional game developers to hobbyists and beginners. Lots of discussions about performance, and last but not least, there no hidden secrets in the art of illusion ?

Of course I also learned of the existence of relevant notions in game development. I never realized there is “game design” before (the art of deciding what the user should be doing and how, while playing the game), but it makes sense of course. I learned about game engines and how they compare against regular programming in a common programming language. Probably I forgot to mention lots of topics here!

So… maybe I'll answer the questions, and maybe 'm not as jaded as the others:

• What made you decide to create your game? Did you start out with the idea of what you wanted to make, or knew you wanted to make something and then found out what it would be? (the 2nd one)
• Did you start out alone? Joined or created a team? What's your take on working alone or with others? (joined a team, lead a team, then jump a decade. and started a company, I'd always recommend going the team route))
• What is your best experience with game dev so far? And what is your worst?(hmm well, having our project win a editors choice award was the best, as for the worst? having a decade long friend and prospective biz partner stab you in the back)

If you want a play by play of my specific decade long journey, go to our website in my signature, and go to “History”

fleabay said:

I would suggest to ask real questions or give real advice and get off the BS questions that you asked in the OP. Most people have no patience for that and I'm in the minority to actually tell you.

I used to worry about my tone being too harsh on occasion. But given this flies, I think I won't worry about it anymore.

fleabay said:

I would suggest to ask real questions or give real advice and get off the BS questions that you asked in the OP. Most people have no patience for that and I'm in the minority to actually tell you.

I'm a newcomer to this forum too and I'm shocked that this is how you treat newcomers. I also see that a mod has agreed with you.

If you (both you personally and the community in general) is this hostile to newcomers then I don't want to be here anymore. Goodbye.

TDGperson said:
I'm a newcomer to this forum too and I'm shocked that this is how you treat newcomers.

Many newcomers (mostly one and done posting for a school assignment or survey, spam etc) have their own agenda and come here for reasons other than to help or be helped. The OP follows that pattern.

Wow, I just took several minutes writing a well thought out polite explanation to my post and it got deleted.

I guess my time here is also coming to an end.

TDGperson said:
I'm a newcomer to this forum too and I'm shocked that this is how you treat newcomers. I also see that a mod has agreed with you. If you (both you personally and the community in general) is this hostile to newcomers then I don't want to be here anymore. Goodbye.

Don't let the bitter jaded vets get to you.

I guarantee if you stay around, it will be worth it.

@Alberth
It’s an interesting approach, the journey of discovery ?

I’m sure there are a lot of bright minds around here that are passionate about their topics of interest and share if they feel like it. I guess it remains to be seen, for my personal “quest” of finding community, motivation and inspiration, if there’s also some of that - in the form of which I can appreciate, and not just knowledge. That there is knowledge I have no doubt ?

Ah yes, there are more approaches and ways to contribute to the making of a game than I ever knew - there’s a need for so many different perspectives and skillsets, it’s really fascinating. Thank you for answering my questions, I really appreciate it!

@GeneralJist
I appreciate that! ? Thank you for answering the questions - I’ll check out your website for sure - I find so much inspiration by learning about other’s journeys

@TDGperson @GeneralJist
I’ll be the first one to admit that I’m not one of those who are particularly “thick-skinned” or come online with an expectation of people behaving in a way that would have people raise their eyebrows if the same was said out loud in a face to face setting - I’m genuinely surprised every time I’m met with unkindness in places where I’d assume one would be welcome. We’re all people behind these screens and I was really hoping this was a community that would be happy to have more people join their ranks.

My advice to those who feel like lashing out is to either try to uphold, or change, what’s written in the “Welcome to For Beginners! Please read this first” post, as the “Any questions from anyone who is just getting started in any aspect of game development are fair game” might get confusing for more people than me otherwise. I believe “being forgiving, nice and respect your fellow members” is mentioned as well ?

I’ve not given up this place yet though - and still appreciate any and all actual replies to my questions ?

JulieWilhelmine said:
I’ve not given up this place yet though

I think you deserve a better place.
Once upon a time, this was a peaceful and friendly place. People just helped each other learning how to make games. Moderation was never needed.
Sadly, not anymore. Idk why. But maybe this currently applies to the games industry as a whole, and what we see here is some reflection of that.

• What made you decide to create your game? Did you start out with the idea of what you wanted to make, or knew you wanted to make something and then found out what it would be?

When i saw Atari as a kid, i wanted to make my own games too. And after begging a long time, a home computer allowed me to do so.

• Did you start out alone? Joined or created a team? What's your take on working alone or with others?

Yes, alone. I was the only kid having figured out how to program. Shortly after, they tried to teach programming to every kid in any school, back then in the 80's. But it did not work.

• What is your best experience with game dev so far? And what is your worst?

I like the experience i have after figuring something out, making something work. You know, making games is difficult. If you want to make something like Doom, you hear about BSP trees, or perspective correct texture mapping, etc.
It was not easy to learn all this and doing it myself. But then, when i understood and could use it, i knew that's useful knowledge i can apply to all kinds of problems. It felt a bit less hard to make games with time, and i felt progress.
I did not stop at learning such existing methods. After some time i rather stopped making games (having released some mobile games), and shifted focus entirely on tech research. I looked for open problems and searched for solutions.
The goal was to enable new games from new technology. And i have succeeded on some things, but now i realize i'm probably already too old to make those new games.
So i'm currently completing my stuff, making it ready for production, and then i'll try to sell it to the industry.

In case i'll fail, i guess this will become the worst experience.

It will be worse then all the personal insults i've got here from some kind members, or being indirectly accused from socially incompetent mods about racism after making silly jokes about WW3 after China eventually bombing Taiwan. I do not really see what politics and economy have to do with races.
But well, that's another story. However, racism can actually end careers, because it's a really bad trait which i luckily do not have. So personally i'll better stay away from this website, after many years of contribution for free, while certain mod was away all the time.
I'm just here because some PM conversations still go on, but i already have given up this place. Too bad. It was a long time, and i like some people here.

Sorry about misusing your question to answer questions some other people should actually ask themselves.
But reading this thread, it becomes once more obvious i'm not alone, so i wanted to take the opportunity to say what i want to say (it's hard to do so where it belongs after being censored from a thread lock).
I'm aware that's not really motivating for you, on your beginning journey into games development. But i could not resist. Sorry.

Anyway, good luck and have fun with making games!