In this article, we will try to figure out how computer games are generally created, what stages of creation the games go through, what difficulties arise and in general, is it possible to create a game alone, read about this and much more in this article or watch the video below after the article.

1. INITIAL STAGE

Let's start from the very beginning, friends, creating a game is generally a huge story, because just creating a cool and interesting game is not so easy. There is a huge amount of developer work behind all this. And of course, let's start with how the game is made in general? The game itself is born in our thoughts, after which we draw our thoughts on paper, so we draw some models, be it roads, buildings, characters.

2. CREATING 3D MODELS

Then, we are trying to implement all this stuff in 3D models, for this, the developers use well-known modeling programs, such as 3D MAX, it is the basis of the basics, since most of the models are mainly developed in it, for example, these are all kinds of roads, weapons, vehicles, buildings, interiors, well, various small parts, all sorts of air conditioners, garbage cans, sticks, barrels and much more ...

Alternative 3D MAX(y) is the Blender program, which is also a kind of great modeling program. Characters and some living creatures, as well as various models that need more detailed drawing, the developers prefer to use a program called Zbrush... An important rule when creating models for the game is the number of polygons, so remember that to create models for the game you need to use as few polygons as possible, that is, the so-called lowpoly models. That is, first it is created high poly model, that is, a model with a large number of polygons, that is, every bolt, a dent, a bulge is visible, and only then it is created lowpoly models, this process, to be honest, still that parsley.

3. SWEEP UVs AND TEXTURE OVERLAY

And so, after the model has been created, the stage comes to make the unfolding of the model, that is, the model is decomposed into several parts, sides, all this is done in the same 3D MAX, so that later, at the stage of imposing textures on the model, all textures are not laid down correctly, without any errors, that is, so that there are no stretches.

But sometimes it takes a lot longer to unroll the model than to create the model itself. As strange as it may sound, and I almost forgot, textures are also not so simple, just applying a brick texture to the wall model is not enough for the texture to please our eyes, you need to apply various maps to it, this is a normal map, Normals, Displacement, Occlusion, Specularity. Well, I will not talk about each separately now, because it will take a lot of time. Various programs are used for these cards, well, one of them is a program CrazyBump... In short, these cards add the necessary shadows, highlights in the right places on the texture, later when we look at a wall with a brick texture, we will see various bulges, but in fact there are none at all, this is just an optical illusion that helps to save money. a bunch of your pc resources.

For if you make every ledge, every stone, then believe me, you will earn a place in the Guinness World Records project with the title of the highest demands of the game.

4. DETERMINE WITH THE GAME "ENGINE"

After the model is ready, it has the correct texture with all the maps, the model is sent to the engine, well, or to dviglo, who's like. What is this engine and what is it with? Any game has its own engine, because if there was no engine, there would be no game, respectively. So every game studio uses a different engine to create a game. In this video, we will look at only three game engines that are more successful in my opinion, and which are available for download completely free of charge.

The first engine is Unreal engine 4 in my opinion, it is one of the best engines in creating a game, I think you will agree with me, after I give you examples of games made on this engine:

• Tom clancy "s Splinter Cell
• Postal 2
• Lineage ii
• Shrek 2
• Spider-Man 2: The Game
• Tom clancy "s Ghost Recon 2
• Star Wars: Republic Commando
• SWAT 4
• World War II Combat: Road to Berlin
• Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45
• Tom clancy "s Ghost Recon 2
• Killing floor
• Bioshock
• Medal of Honor: Airborne
• Mass effect
• Turok
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2
• Mirror "s Edge
• Borderlands
• Mass effect 2
• BioShock 2
• Medal of honor
• Homefront
• Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad
• Batman: arkham city
• Mass effect 3
• Spec Ops: The Line
• Borderlands 2
• Painkiller: Hell & Damnation
• Deadpool
• Outlast
• Mortal kombat x
• XCOM 2

And much, much more, over 100 games have been developed on this engine, I have listed only the most famous games. And now, you probably imagine what this engine can do. Then we have the engine Unity5, dviglo, in my opinion, is clearly more intended for mobile platforms, well, let's not go into details now.

The following games were made on this engine:

• 7 days to die
• Fallout shelter
• he long dark
• Need for Speed World
• Slender: The Arrival
• The forest
• Rust (game)

Well, somehow with famous games look like that's it. Well, again, I think a lot is clear here, even by the number of games developed. But I in no way condemn this engine in any way, but only state a fact. And you make a conclusion for yourself.

Well, her one of the engines, which is also free not so long ago, is a well-known sandbox CryEngine 5, the engine is just excellent, it has established itself from the side of the best gaming nature, but in general now I don't even know, probably it should compete well with the Unreal engine.

• Crysis
• The day
• Far cry
• WARFACE

Well, enough, in general, this engine is mainly used by the guys from Ubisoft and Crytek... Well, of course they have their own rules for sharing your profits with them, but all these engines do not take much interest from your sales.

Unreal Engine 4- if your sales exceed 1 million, then for each sale you will deduct 5%

Unity5- as soon as your income exceeds $ 100 thousand per year, you will have to deduct 5%

CryEngine 5- Crytek announced that the latest version of the CryEngine graphics engine will henceforth be distributed on a pay-what-you-want basis. According to the description of this business model in the press release, developers will have access to the engine tools and source code, and they will pay exactly as much as they want. Crytek does not require an obligation to pay royalties, nor does it require paying a subscription for the use of additional services.

5. WORK WITH "ENGINE"

So, having decided on the engine, the developers begin the main process of creating the entire game. First, the game world is created, then the landscape of this world, it can be various mountains, rivers, roads, plants, fauna, and so on.

The developers then place their earlier models all over the map. After that, they start creating the logic of the game, that is, these are all kinds of scenes, elaboration of animation, and, by the way, I did not say about animations, they are also first prepared, animations are done either in a special suit, you probably all saw. Or the animation is written using coordinates, the first method with a suit looks simpler and more realistic later on, but it is expensive, and the second method is more difficult, more time is spent, then the result is also not a bad result.

Well, and accordingly, think over the minds of bots, adjust the intelligence AI and actually a huge job, very important and very difficult. Also, the developers add various sounds, it can be sounds of nature, shots, surroundings, as well as voice acting for characters, for this the development team travels to various places, for example, to military ranges to record weapon shots. Also, the developers order various effects, be it explosions, fires and much more. Different engines support several types of logic creation, this is either programming C ++ or the construction of sequence diagrams, the so-called (Blueprint)... As a rule, it is very difficult to find such a person who would know from and to all these subtleties of logic, I say this not only about Russia, but about many other countries, this is probably the most important problem in game development.

This is probably why there are no particularly cool game projects in our country, which one could not hesitate to put as an example of some Battlefield or something like GTA 5.

Probably the only game that is still being developed today can compete with someone this game Escape from Tarkov from our developers BATTLESTATE GAMES from St. Petersburg.

5. PREPARATION FOR FIRST SALES

And so when you finally figured out the logic, put everything in its place on the map, "tested", conducted the so-called alpha test and you are ready to finally sell your product to people eager to play your game, the communities will help you with this STEAM... But before adding your game to STEAM, many developers first post a "teaser" of their game on kickstarter, where they collect more money to sell and for before developing any elements of the game.

Well, after which, at the finish line, they lay out the game in Steam Greenlight, it does not cost much, and at the moment it is 3500 rubles. Then the game is moderated. It is worth remembering, however, to lay out your game in STEAM the game must have an interface in addition to Russian, it must be English because you definitely will not pass moderation. Accordingly, if you have voice acting, it must also be in English, these are the community rules STEAM.

Well, it seems like everything .. the developers are resting, the money is coming, everything is fine. But do not forget how much was spent on the game. And the goal of the developers, of course, is to double their costs.

Well, now, probably, the last question on creating a game remains, is it possible to create a game alone?

Friends, I will answer that yes! This is possible and there are many examples of such, remember the various simulators at least, goats, well, stuff. But all this is certainly not the most best result, because to make a truly interesting and high-quality game, you need to attract a lot of employees.

For example, to create a game, you need specialists such as modelers, animators, IT specialists, testers, programmers, levl designers, artists, sound engineers, and that's enough. At least if, for example, you are developing some kind of game (war game), then of course you need a person who knows what military operations and weapons are, he will definitely tell you where the scuffs can be on the weapon, what recoil, strength, what ballistics of the weapon and much more.

But sometimes one person replaces several specialists at once, and this also happens.

So my advice to you, choose an industry for yourself in the creation of a game and improve, then look for a team for yourself, it may even be your friend, who may also want to study with you in game development. And you will succeed.

This concludes our story. Dmitry was with you, good luck with the development and good games to you.

The first thing we need is to define our goal. What do we want to get in the end? If you want your game to “shoot”, you first need to aim more accurately, and not hit at random.

The stage of concept and definition of the goal is dealt with Project Manager.

genre

You can imagine your finished game from the very beginning in the smallest detail, or you can think out the plot, style, and features of the game during development. In this case, excessive accuracy is not required, but, at least, it is necessary to set the direction for the development of our game project. The genre of the game must be selected at the very beginning without fail. The genre will be the main direction of the development of the game.

We look at the round table of genres as a target, and choose the gameplay elements we need (for more details on the table of genres, see the article “ Computer games genres"). Some elements will give us high popularity among the players (destruction, competition, hero, care), some - loyal, but picky fans (tactics, control, evasion), and some - the absence of serious competitors (training, logic, travel, economy).

The chosen genre can be slightly adjusted along the way, but its essence should remain the same. The genre is a kind of foundation for the whole game. If you want to change the genre of your game, then it will be easier to start developing a new game over again than to redo what has already been developed.

Setting

The division of computer games into genres is very specific and does not resemble the system of genres of films and books. Game genres determine only the basic actions that players will perform during the game, thus they only answer the question "WHAT?" To the questions "WHERE?" and when?" another main characteristic of the game - the setting - answers.

The setting is the belonging of the game to a certain plot theme or to a certain virtual world. In the environment of computer games, several of the most popular settings have formed: fantasy, science fiction (sci-fi), World War II, the Middle Ages, steampunk, post-nuclear world, anime, comics.

Creating a game in a popular setting ensures its own popularity, and the players feel comfortable and cozy in the already familiar world. Some games are created with their own unique settings or in unusual combinations of standard themes. Such games are less popular, but, nevertheless, they have their own audience of special players who hate routine and monotony.

2. Means

The goal of the game project is set, now we need to choose the means (materials and tools) to achieve it. And here we are faced with an unusual phenomenon of the computer world - both the material and the tool of the game project is the same entity - the program code. Code as a building material is digital images, three-dimensional models, sounds and texts in the form of sequences of ones and zeros. Code as a tool are commands in lines of program code that control game objects of all the listed types.

The creation of game material (filling, content) is a purely creative part of the process, we will consider it a little later, but for now we will analyze the program code only as a tool. In this case, the program code is a framework (skeleton) on which the results of all subsequent development stages will be strung.

This stage is carried out by programmers.

First of all, we must choose the programming language that suits us best. After that, hard and painstaking work lies ahead of writing a program code capable of operating with two-dimensional or three-dimensional objects in space, linking images and sounds. To create a virtual three-dimensional space, you will have to use complex geometric formulas to construct a projection of 3D objects on a plane (in the mind of a computer, objects exist in real three-dimensional space, but to display their image on a flat two-dimensional screen, you have to do recalculations). In the course of development, you will have to study all image and audio file formats, all kinds of codecs and encodings.

The use of game engines does not completely free us from using the services of programmers, but it minimizes them. You still have to customize the standard software module for yourself, add something of your own to it to make the game project more unique.

3. Game mechanics

The most important creative part of any game is the game mechanics. This thing is not on the surface, so it often escapes the sight of inattentive connoisseurs of games.

Young teenagers (the main part of the gaming audience) for the most part rate games on the quality of graphics, and do not notice that beautiful games, although popular, but their popularity lasts only a few months after release. And in the hearts of players and in the golden lists of the eternal gaming classics, completely different games remain forever, maybe a little unsightly in appearance, but with amazingly addictive gameplay. The more varied and interesting the gaming possibilities, the longer the player stays in the game. For example, why did MineCraft get everyone's love? Certainly not for the primitive cubic graphics, but for the fact that this game gives truly endless gaming possibilities.

If we imagine the game as a living organism, then the game mechanics will be its nervous system and brain. And if you imagine the game in the form of a house under construction, then the game mechanics will appear as electrical wiring, piping and other household utilities. Imagine what happens to beautiful and fashionable, but not thoughtful games from this point of view: you can live in a beautiful house, but if it does not have lighting, running water and sewerage, then at the first opportunity you will leave it in search of more comfortable housing.

Game mechanics are essentially a set of rules by which the game will function. What happens if the player takes this bonus? If the player comes in contact with the enemy, then what happens? Will he lose health from this contact, or will it happen only after the enemy hit? If a player walks up to a car, will he be able to get in and ride? Will the player be able to build something or at least move objects? Several hundred or even thousands of such questions may arise. The answers to all these questions will represent the game mechanics.

Objects

All mechanics are based on game objects. The main character of the game, computer rivals, secondary characters (NPC), bonuses, movable objects, decorations - all these are game objects with their own properties and possible actions.

Control

Game mechanics determines which keys will be controlled by the main character or the main game object, what action will take place after pressing this or that button. This also includes the laws of behavior of game objects (physics engine) and the behavior of enemies (artificial intelligence).

Physics engine

If "control" is responsible for the movement of the character under our control, then the physics engine is responsible for those movements that occur without the direct intervention of the player. These actions imitate the physical laws of the real world (sometimes slightly distorted towards fantasy). A thrown ball bounces off the floor, an overturned barrel rolls off an inclined surface, a shot with a powerful weapon throws the shooter back, a fragile object thrown from a height breaks - all these are examples of the action of the physics engine.

In ready-made game engines, physics engines are most often implemented. You just have to assign ready-made physical characteristics to your unique objects: weight, density, elasticity, degradability. If you are thinking of creating your own physics engine, then for this you need a talented programmer who understands the principles of object-oriented programming (OOP) well and knows a little about classical physics.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI is responsible for the behavior of computer enemies or allies.

The role of AI varies greatly depending on the genre of the game. In action games, the actions of enemies are extremely primitive; in RTS strategies, a couple of dozen scripts are enough to give the opponent a seeming rationality; in stealth action games, slashers and fighting games, it is necessary to create a unique system of behavior for each type of enemy, otherwise stupid enemies will make the game uninteresting. A serious strategy game requires tremendous work on AI, and in simple casual games and in online projects focused on battles only between real players, artificial intelligence is not needed at all.

4. Levels

The rules of the game in the form of game mechanics are ready, now we need to create areas where these rules will begin to work. The created game objects are placed in separate virtual spaces - levels (locations). Games most often contain many separate levels, the transition between which occurs during the course of the plot. But recently, thanks to the increased performance of computers, games have been released with one large integral world, only conditionally divided into different locations (GTA, Skyrim).

Game objects, walls, platforms, decorations, backgrounds are placed on each separate level. Levels are created in games of all genres. Even in a simple casual game of rearranging colored stones there are levels - playing fields and placing stones play their role. In browser games, separate html pages act as locations.

If, again, imagine the game in the form of a house, then the construction of the game levels is the layout of the floors, and the number of levels is the number of storeys of the building.

Level building is engaged level designers.

Ideally, level designers come from avid gamers. This happens because any other person from the outside, even creative, but very far from the topic of games, will not be able to cope well with this task. The level designer should have a good idea of ​​the gameplay, and feel how the game situation will change from moving objects on the level.

Quite often, a level editor is supplied with the game, with which ordinary players can independently create new maps and levels for themselves. Game developers support the distribution of self-made maps among players and often publish the best works on their official servers. Level editors are created not only to entertain players and increase the lifespan of a single game, but also to find the most talented people among the gaming audience. Thus, game studios solve their staffing problem. As stated above, the best level designer is an avid gamer.

The most important component of the game - the gameplay - depends on the design (not the design, but the layout) of the levels. (This rule does not apply only for most casual games, fighting games and sports games, where the levels are extremely primitive). The uninteresting and monotonous layout of the levels has ruined many games with gorgeous design, supported by the latest technology. If you want to create a full-fledged exciting game, and not a dummy in a beautiful wrapper, then you need to spend maximum creative effort on level design.

5. Design

Graphics are created painters, game designers.

Of course, if you are developing a simple 2D game, then you yourself can depict something from pixels, but in more serious and large projects it is better to hire professional artists and designers.

Art

First you need to create images of heroes, enemies, game items, backgrounds. Initially, they are drawn either on paper or on a computer using a graphics tablet. For small game studios, this stage is not necessary, but it is simply necessary in large companies, so that not on fingers, but on visual images, to explain to all designers what they should eventually get.

2D, 3D models

Based on art, designers create either two-dimensional sprites from pixels, or three-dimensional models from polygons.

Animations

Animations are created for game objects that will move during the game. It will be especially difficult with heroes and enemies, the number of animations of which sometimes exceeds a hundred different movements.

Currently, for the creation of humanoid 3D characters, there is a special technology "Motion Capture", which allows you to create animations based on the movements of real people. This technology is available only to large and very wealthy companies. To use Motion Capture, you need not only to purchase expensive equipment, but also to hire a group of actors from whom the movements will be recorded.

Backgrounds

With the background, everything is much simpler - I drew it once, put it in the right place on the level without any changes, and forgot.

Special effects

Visual special effects are essentially the same animations, but instead of moving objects, they use the movement of particles and filters. Beams of light in different directions when taking bonuses, fire on a burning building, smoke screen after a grenade explosion, laser beams from rifle muzzles, applying blur filters while underwater and blackout filters in poorly lit places - all these are special effects. Without these effects, the game will seem insipid and too mundane. The use of special effects adds brightness, juiciness and expressiveness to the game.

Screen and Menu Decoration

You need to issue not only game levels, but also a system that unites them into a single whole - the game menu (lines, buttons, settings pages). The start menu is the game's calling card, and it should look perfect. The game screen also has many elements to which you can apply the design - the number of lives, lifebar, minimap, quick action menu, hero inventory, task lists, dialog screens. In English, this is all referred to as one acronym - GUI (Graphical User Interface).

The interface and menu are designed by painters, programmers and html page coders... (Site site)

6. Plot

It is very difficult to attract the player to your project, but it is even more difficult to make the player complete the game. Any disappointment, boring or difficult place can instantly alienate the player from further play. In most cases, the player will leave and forget the game without any regret. And only a well-presented, high-quality plot can force the player to gather strength, go through the entire game, and therefore listen to your interactive story to the end.

At the dawn of its existence, computer games dispensed with a plot, dragging players in only with their gameplay. But at present, even the most unpretentious casual game is screwed with a plot, not to mention large game projects of the AAA class.

Although the existence of a plot in the game just for show does not give any positive effect, the developers continue to come up with more and more new stories, one more stupid than the other. The plot is useful only if it can hook the feelings of the player. This requires the uniqueness, interestingness and believability of the plot; each character must have his own unique personality, and act according to it; there should be no more characters and events than the human brain can perceive, otherwise the plot will turn into an incomprehensible vinaigrette; events must occur logically (mystery and nebula are welcome to maintain the plot intrigue, but there must also be consistency hidden from the player).

Scripts, events

The best option is when the plot exists right inside the game. This is achieved through the use of scripted scenes.

The script is the following: the player enters a certain place, or performs the desired action, or some other necessary conditions are met, and after that the actions that you programmed for this case begin to be performed. For example, in a 3D military shooter, we climb a hill, approach the installed machine gun (the condition is met), 10-15 seconds after that, a massive enemy attack suddenly begins below, and we have someone to use the machine gun on (events have occurred).

With scripted events, you can add variety to the gameplay or even turn the game into an attraction of endless scripts (this is what the Call of Duty series is built on). The only disadvantage of this method is that the player has less freedom of action. Everything happens at the behest of scripts, and depends little on the actions of the player.

Thinking over scripts screenwriters, and their implementation - programmers.

Dialogue, storytelling

In old classic games the plot exists separately from the gameplay. For example, when loading or completing levels, we are introduced to the storyline, they talk about the relationship between heroes and enemies, explain what and for what needs to be done on the level. During the game itself, none of the above has any meaning, and the player can safely skip all these texts. Most often, this happens - the texts remain unread. This is because there is no good reason to read them.

Another thing is in-game texts or dialogues. They happen during the game, but in safe places, or with a stop of playing time so that the player can focus only on the text. The player has to listen to the narratives, since the game freezes at this time, but does not stop at all. And in dialogues, you also need to choose an answer option. The choice of the option gives interactivity to listening to the text and at least some practical meaning - a correctly chosen answer can bring an additional bonus, facilitate further play or preserve the chosen character of the hero in role-playing games.

When creating a game, it is better to store the texts of narratives and dialogues in separate files that are loaded during the game. Separating artistic text from technical codes will help in the future if you decide to create a localized version of the game in other languages ​​of the world.

Writing texts and dialogues are engaged screenwriters and writers.

Video inserts

Between the levels of the game or at certain control points of the levels, you can show cutscenes to the players instead of dry text and voice acting. Such screensavers can be created using either separate video files or using a game engine.

Video files allow you to transfer a picture of any quality and complexity to the player, but when creating a distribution of the game, they take up a lot of disk space. The screensavers created on the game engine are almost as good as the pre-rendered video recordings, but for their good viewing the player must have a powerful enough computer, which is not always the case in reality.

Video inserts are created by painters, animators, 3D Modelers, screenwriters, directors.

7. Sound

A beautifully drawn and effectively designed project silently looks at us, and waits for us to add sound to it. This is another important part of the game.

Sound effects

For any small game movement, you need to add the appropriate sound. It can be sword strikes, melee strikes, sounds of car movement, receiving a bonus, detection of the hero by the enemy. Don't think this is overkill and you can get by with just a few basic sounds. For example, most 3D action games neglect the addition of footstep sounds for the protagonist and enemies. As a result, in the first-person view, you can see that the hero is moving in space, but it seems that he is not walking, but gliding smoothly forward. And enemies without voice acting of steps in general can completely silently run up to the hero from behind and greatly spoil the nerves of the players.

Good sound effects not only fill the silence, but are also a continuation of the graphical style of the game. A fun arcade game filled with no less funny melodic sounds, a sports car simulator filled with the roaring rumble of engines and clanking brakes, a three-dimensional action movie deafens with machine-gun bursts, falling shell casings and clinking rifle locks.

Most often, real sounds recorded in digital form are used as sound effects. There are many free collections of sound effects on the Internet, you just need to find them and choose the most suitable ones.

Music

In addition to sounds for a full-fledged game, you also need music (soundtrack). She will be the sound background for what is happening on the screen. Music is also one of the stylistic elements of the game, and most of all affects the mood of the player. You need to choose the finished music for a long time according to the appropriate tempo and mood. There are many, both paid and free, collections of game background songs that you can use in your game (article “ Music for making games"). Or you can order composers to write new music specifically for the game.

Voice acting

The third sound leaving the game is the voice acting of game dialogues and monologues. This component is very expensive, but it is not necessary to have it in the game. In some games, there is almost no dialogue or text, and where there is, they can be left unvoiced in the form of text subtitles. Small games do without voice acting, and in large projects they even invite world-class professional actors for voice acting.

The presence of music and full-fledged voice acting in the game significantly increases the volume of the finished game occupied on the hard disk, but if possible it is better to add voice acting to the game. This will increase the player's involvement in the plot and the story you are telling, since most players ignore and generally do not read ordinary unvoiced texts.

8. Grinding

Development process great games is built in such a way that different specialists are engaged in its various elements. At the initial stage, the game is a scattered set of creative developments in various fields of art: images, sounds, 3D models, architecture, texts, scenes, video inserts, design. And now, finally, the moment comes when the scattered stones need to be collected. With the help of software tools, disparate objects are connected into a single complex system.

Mixing of material (a-version)

When building a game on a game engine, the merging of objects occurs gradually from the very beginning of the process. Until the end of the game, it is called an alpha version. At this point, you can already test individual levels, scripts and other mechanisms.

At this stage, it is already technically possible to release a demo version or at least a video with the gameplay in order to attract players to your project in advance.

Troubleshooting (b-version)

When the game is fully assembled, all that remains is to eliminate the resulting bugs. They appear anyway, since the game is a system with a complex structure. The elements of the game themselves are clear and simple, but the connections between them are so complex and sophisticated that the process of debugging and eliminating errors can take up to 40% of the entire project development time. A fully assembled game that has not yet been tested for errors is called a beta version.

They are looking for errors in the game testers... Very often, groups of ordinary players are involved as testers, and this serves as the beginning of their career in the gaming industry. The easiest way to solve this problem is in online games - the developers organize open beta tests, in which all interested players participate.

9. Sale

The development studio deals with the creation of the game and all creative issues, and all other issues (loans, finances, contracts, rights protection, promotions, localizations, sales) are usually shifted to the shoulders of another organization - the game publisher.

The relationship between developers and publishers can be very different: an agreement on cooperation on equal terms; all rights, financial risks and potential profits belong to the publisher, and the developers only receive their own small percentage of the profits; all rights belong to the developers, the publishing house is a separate company temporarily hired by the developers; developers and publishers are separate divisions of the same large corporation.

Before selling a game to an end user, publishers first need to communicate the game's existence. Of course, a game can be bought without knowing anything at all, simply by choosing in the store at random, but the chance that your game will be chosen in this way is extremely low. It is much more profitable to disseminate information about the game through all possible channels. For this, either advertising in a computer disk store or advertising on Internet resources is used.

The gaming industry is not like the market for ordinary goods, it has its own characteristics. Information spreads among the active gaming audience at lightning speed and covers everyone around. With this feature, the most effective advertising for a game is its high quality. If your game is interesting and exciting, then game magazines and informational Internet portals will write about it completely free of charge, players will begin to discuss the game and spread information further and further, and after completing the first game they will look forward to the additions and sequels of this project. Thus, without spending a penny on advertising, but earning the respect of the players, you will ensure the success of the current game, and all subsequent additions.

Localization

Have you released a game in your native Russian? Get ready for the fact that the audience of potential players will consist of only a few countries, and the profit will be meager. It is much more profitable to release a game in English - its text will be understood by most of the players around the world, these players will be much more solvent, which means that the profit will be much higher.

Ideally, you need to release the game in several of the most popular languages ​​in the world at once (English, German, French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese), but for this you need to have a whole staff translators and localizers... Moreover, it is desirable that the translators are native speakers. They will be able to transfer the maximum meaning of the original text to their native language. But simple lonely developers are not threatened with such a luxury, and most of the large companies are in no hurry to spend money on this business.

Separating the literary text from the technical part of the game will greatly simplify the localization process. To do this, you need to place texts, subtitles and audio files of the voice acting in separate easily accessible files of standard types. And in the program code of the game, you only need to leave links so that the text is loaded into the game from these files. The most popular games are translated by enthusiastic players on their own, without any developer involvement. The separation of literary text even at the stage of game development will greatly help such enthusiasts to do their good deed.

Selling system

The game is ready, the players are waiting for its release, it remains only to decide how to deliver the game to end users, and take money from them.

The classic method (releasing a large circulation of computer disks and selling them through retail stores) is still relevant, but suitable only for large companies, and for games that have at least some initial popularity.

For small development teams, distributing the game through digital distribution systems (large online stores) is ideal. This option provides the newly minted little-known game with a ready-made audience of buyers, which has formed around the service. The most famous example is the Steam service. Thanks to the huge audience of players using Steam, almost every game released on this online store immediately becomes world famous.

Alternatively, you can easily create your own online store with one single product - the created game. But in this case, you will have to advertise not only the game, but also the online address of the store, and win the audience on your own.

10. Support

Creating a game and selling it is not the end of the life cycle of a game project. When the game is already in the hands of end users, players may still need your help. Large companies even have whole technical support departments dealing with such issues.

Release of patches

The previous beta test removed the most obvious bugs from the game, but this does not mean that they are not left in the game at all. It often happens that the massive use of the game reveals smaller and more subtle bugs that small groups of beta testers could not find. These can be problems due to incompatibility with unpopular brands of equipment, or errors due to unnatural use of gaming capabilities. The imagination of some players exceeds the imagination of the developers, they can take actions in the game that the developers could not even think of.

All this contributes to the fact that you often have to make bug fixes to an already finished game. Such fixes are called patches, and the term is very common in the gaming industry. Few people manage to immediately release perfect games, most often games are brought to the ideal after their official release.

If for the game you received money from the players for each copy sold, then you get absolutely nothing for the release of patches. From a market point of view, releasing patches is a wasteful and useless action that does not have to be performed. But in the realities of the gaming industry, if you don't support your product to the end, then you get a bad reputation with the players, and you lose possible future profits. Despite being free, releasing patches is a very useful and necessary endeavor.

Release of add-ons

Interesting and addicting game without serious flaws and mistakes gives you the green light for further creative activity. Have the players accepted your game product with a bang? This means that you can prepare an add-on or a full-fledged second part for an already finished game, and the plot you have begun can be developed further, turn it into a whole epic or even into a full-fledged game universe.

We take a game development plan and begin to create a new work of art according to the same ten stages, but now fully armed with the accumulated experience and acquired skills.

	Achievement "Honorary reader of the site" Did you like the article? In gratitude, you can like it through any social network. For you, this is one click, for us - another step up in the ranking of gaming sites.
	Achievement "Honorary Sponsor Site" For those who are especially generous, there is an opportunity to transfer money to the account of the site. In this case, you can influence the choice new topic for an article or passage.

This article is the first in a whole series of materials for those who want to become a game creator. If you are young, ambitious and full of ideas, and your hands are itching to make a "GTA killer" or "MMORPG like WoW, but cooler", then you have found what you were looking for- a beginner's guide to making games... My goal is to give the reader a general idea of ​​what the process of creating games looks like and to dispel those illusions that could have formed on this score, so that later you could avoid mistakes made by many. As in any business, half of success is the right preparation, so the more fully you imagine the whole picture from the very beginning, the more success you can achieve.

At the moment, the series of articles includes the following materials, which will be supplemented over time:

1. Making games for beginners

Novice Game Developer - Common People "Teapot"

So, after another evening for you thought, why am I worse? .. Thought and decided that here it is, a chance for universal recognition, it's time to create the games of your dreams! It seems that there is nothing difficult about this, but you are mistaken ... seriously mistaken. With this, perhaps, we will start.

In fact, even if we do not touch upon the issue of the complexity of the development of any game (and we will certainly touch on it below), then all the pros and cons of "game making" are more than balanced by the negative sides that all developers, especially beginners, face in one way or another.

It so happened that the very first stage is also the most attractive - this is the moment of the birth of an idea, its superficial elaboration, moments of creativity. At such moments, you can spend hours cutting circles around the room, imagining how cool everything should turn out and what recognition you can achieve if you bring a new idea to life. Admiration for your creative genius can overflow the vessel, and in this case it will require an exit - most often an immature idea is splashed out on one of the thematic forums, in a topic with a title like "Gathering a team to develop a game, we need everything." Where it is successfully ridiculed by more experienced comrades in the shop, and, admittedly, sometimes quite rightly.

Making Games - Fun?

Unfortunately, this is far from the case. Even if you do not touch on professional work in the game production industry, then an amateur project is not entertainment in the literal sense of the word. Of course, the process of working on the embodiment of your ideas brings some satisfaction and is convenient as a means of self-realization, but ... As already mentioned, the most pleasant is the moment of the birth of an idea and its elaboration, but then "working days" inevitably come with their repetitive actions, tedious painstaking work and what you don't want to do at all (and since creating games is a rather diverse work, then such things will surely happen, especially if you work alone). As a result, motivation drowns in such a swamp, and with it, the desire to engage in your project.

Be prepared for the fact that even a relatively small game project can take more than one month of your time to complete it. Think - do you have enough motivation to continue working on the implementation of your idea even after the initial excitement fades away? to 99% ... You don't want to add your idea to that number, do you?

Typical Portrait of a Beginner Developer

May those who recognize themselves in this description forgive me - I urge you not to be offended, but to continue reading. Now we will try to draw a typical portrait of a novice game developer in order to better understand what we have to deal with. So, a beginner "game developer" is most often a school student at the age of 12-18, who suddenly caught fire with the idea of ​​creating games. The idea comes spontaneously or after some kind of push for inspiration, like a new movie or a popular game. As a rule, he himself does not know how to do anything due to his age, lack of experience and other reasons, therefore he wants to act as " the head"and / or" screenwriter", "author of ideas". Accordingly, since it is impossible to do anything even remotely reminiscent of a game on your own with such skills, you need a" team "that this generator of brilliant ideas is trying to collect on one of the thematic forums.

On closer inspection, the idea turns out to be a clone of something popular and well-known, "but better." Since there are no ideas about what, in fact, you want, and how to organize productive work, then everyone or almost everyone is invited to the team. As a result, such a "team" consists of random people who, for a week or two, create the appearance of a heated discussion of the "project", sometimes they even try to do something (like a 3D model from a set of primitives), but after about the same time the former enthusiasm comes to "no", the team members have urgent matters / session / lessons / grandmother fell ill and the whole idea safely crumbles like a house of cards. Does this sound familiar? ..

Game Development - Profession or Hobby?

For many, game development is just a hobby (i.e., a hobby), but some people associate their careers with the game development industry and become professional developers. Naturally, the question of whether there is a difference between an amateur and a professional is not worth it - it is and is very significant. At the same time, some amateurs have a much higher level than individual "professionals", so the very fact of belonging to one of these two groups is not decisive. Nevertheless, he still leaves some imprint.

Lover, as a rule, has a different source of income (in case he is already a fairly old person), therefore, the question of the commercial success of his project does not hang over him. Likewise, for those who study at school / vocational school / university, they can work on the game for their own pleasure, quit at any time, implement any ideas and generally experience much more freedom in their actions. On the other hand, they cannot devote enough time to learning tools and gaining new skills, therefore, in the ever-changing world of games, they always seriously lag behind technologically and qualitatively.

Professional- he is also a professional in Africa. He does his job and gets paid for it. As a rule, you have to work on other people's ideas, and it's good if they seem interesting, but sometimes you still have to work on what you don't like. Since the level of skill is decisive in professional activity, such a person has to keep up with the times - to master new technologies, programs, techniques, techniques, etc. He can afford to attend seminars, refresher courses, spend enough time on books and video lessons, in a word, be in a constant race for the right to be considered a specialist in his field.

There is also a third option - this is independent developers (indie)... In my opinion, this is the most attractive path for those who have enough talent and ability to engage in game development "from and to" on their own or in a small team. The advantages of this approach are obvious - you can work on the embodiment of your ideas and at the same time make money on it.

Having absorbed the advantages of a professional and hobby approach, indie development is not spared from fly in the ointment.

• First, to be a successful indie developer, you still need to regularly engage in improving your abilities and improving your skills, devoting enough time to self-education - two days off a week to devote yourself to the business, most likely, will not be enough.

• Secondly, you will have to independently deal with many specific things that individual specialists would perform in a large company, but in an amateur project you could do without them. Thirdly, since there are probably only a handful of masters-of-all-trades who can equally well cope with all aspects of game development (graphics-design-music-software part) around the world, then part of the work will need to be transferred to execution for freelancers or look for like-minded people who are ready to work with you.

• And thirdly, by betting on your project, you are investing time and money in it (although initially you can do without significant investments) and expect to get some kind of return. And here it all depends on you - what you work on is what you earn. The project can be both successful and unsuccessful.

Price Ideas for Games

Often you have to deal with a situation when a topic appears on the game development forum in which the author presents his project, but avoids any details, limiting himself only to the most general information. In response to requests for details, the author claims that he will not do so. ideas are unique and can be stolen. Undoubtedly, some ideas can be very successful, and it is quite reasonable to keep them secret, but ...

Don't faint, but the idea itself is worthless. Zero. Even the most ingenious idea is worthless. There are a lot of ideas, and some of them are very, very successful. However, an idea has no practical meaning until it is implemented as something less abstract.

Think about it: when was the last time you saw a truly original idea? "Avatar"? No, if we expand the idea to the level of a concept, then everything is simple: earthlings from the future extract resources on an alien planet, ignoring the interests of the local population. One of the earthlings is imbued with sympathy for the natives, becomes part of their people and leads the struggle against the invaders. Simple, isn't it? Crysis? A classic shooter about an elite special forces soldier with super-abilities that a suit gives him, and aliens from outer space. World of Warcraft? The game, which takes place in a universe rich in events and prehistory, with a high role of the plot component, versatile complex interactions of players and a powerful economic system.

In all these ideas, the most valuable thing is HOW they were implemented. Even the simplest idea, being implemented at a high quality level, with a deep study, can "shoot" and become a hit game / film.

Thus, we come to the conclusion that for a novice developer, the question of "how" is much more important than the question of "what". Obviously, the idea of ​​creating a new generation MMORPG (the so-called next-gen) is absolutely useless for most developers, since for objective reasons they simply cannot implement it in any form.

English for Game Developer

The issue of learning English deserves a separate mention. It is obvious that the gaming industry overwhelmingly uses English as the language of international communication. Of course, there are national markets and their developers who speak their own language (for example, Russia and Japan), some of them can be very large and even huge (China) - but this does not negate the fact that development tools, training materials and the documentation is almost always in English.

I am convinced that knowledge of English is a critical factor, which has a huge impact on the journey to become a game developer. Even from a purely practical point of view, the ability to read and understand English texts is a huge trump card in the struggle for a place in the sun. If you open vacancies for Russian development companies, then in 90% of them you will find such an item as "technical English at the level of reading and understanding."

Let's take a concrete example - 3D graphics. Most of the text and video tutorials on 3D graphics in Russian are made by amateurs for amateurs, only a few of them teach something that can be called an intermediate level, and an extremely small part is really professional and relevant things. In other words, all this is a drop in the sea of ​​knowledge.

The question is, why be content with a drop, if you can drink the sea? Knowledge and understanding of English is your key to a huge array of useful and relevant information, the very fact of access to which will give you ten handicap points. Digital Tutors and Gnomon Workshop have thousands of hours of video tutorials covering all uses of popular 3D packages such as Maya or 3DS Max. English-language sites are teeming with articles about game development, and on the forums they can suggest solutions to difficult problems, simply because the number of people THERE is incomparably higher than the number of people HERE. Take the best of both worlds!

What to do? Learning languages ​​is worth it, even if you give up gamedev in a year. How? Not sleeping in class at school, enrolling in courses, using self-study guides - there are many ways, there would be a desire. Particular attention should be paid to vocabulary - you do not need to be able to speak this language, the main thing is to be able to read and understand what you have read. After that, it will be possible to begin to develop the skill of listening to English speech - and this can be helped by video tutorials on 3D graphics, if you are an artist, or audio lessons in English. Once again, on the other side of the language barrier, there is a huge world full of information. Not having keys to it is like learning from a draft when there is a library nearby.

Do you want to learn how to create games
but don't know where to start?
Read the text below and today you will be making your first game!

Greetings to aspiring game developer! If you have looked at this site, then you want to create games. And not in many years, but right now. Also, you are not going to spend a lot of money (from 5 to 85 thousand) on classes in training centers, on special courses, etc. Even if you understand absolutely nothing in the process of creating games and think that it is incredibly difficult, I guarantee that today you will start creating your first game! Who am i? My name is Artyom Kashevarov. I am a professional programmer, designer, and author of dozens of projects dedicated to creating games. In addition, I teach everyone the basics of creating games. Best regards, Artyom Kashevarov.

So, you've made the decision to take seriously your long-held Dream of making video games.

I will share with you my experience: a couple of years ago I could not have imagined that creating games would be SO easy. As a programmer with 6 years of experience, I can tell you that creating even the simplest 2D games was not very easy. Only I had to spend an incredible amount of mental effort and time (about a week) just to make the main character move across the screen.

Can you imagine how much effort went into the whole game?

Today you can easily learn how to make first simple 2D games and then more complex 3D games in just a few months! At the same time, you will not need any specific knowledge at all - your desire and a little perseverance are enough.

How to create games without unnecessary tricks?

What allows you to make games much easier and faster?

This is Game Maker program. The principle of its operation is simple - in any game there are repetitive program elements. For example - colliding objects, displaying animations, playing music and audio effects, Variable game rounds, and more. So this program allows you not to waste time on the implementation of all these processes. All that is required of us is to link all these processes as we like. For example, when objects collide, we can make sure that a sound is played or, for example, a new object is created, and if desired, we can do both.

Creating games in this way is an exciting, incomparable pleasure!

Take a look at what level of game you can do with Game Maker:

Dustforce
It is an arcade game with great graphics and gameplay. This game is a commercial project created by a professional game development studio.	Title: Dustforce Genre: Arcade Developers: Art / game design / sound: Woodley nye Program / design: Lexie dostal Music: robotscience.bandcamp.com Multiplayer: no Similarity: Mirror "s Edge 2D

Now I think you are convinced that the possibilities of Game Maker are more than enough for you. At the moment, this is the best game development environment for novice game makers. And soon you will be convinced of this from personal experience.

You want to learn how to create games quickly and cheaply.
Is it possible?

Yes. And I know how.

Alas, the creation of games is not taught in any university in our country. And what is even more terrible is the fact that there is really no printed literature on this.

So what happens? That there is no way to learn how to create games?

Just a couple of years ago, learning how to make games was really a big problem.

But now the situation has changed! After the release of the video tutorial on creating games:

This learning method will be fun, inexpensive, and you can do it any time you want.

It all looks very simple. You insert the Game Maker Video Tutorial Disc into your computer. Start the Game Maker program and just repeat everything that happens on the screen. Thereby adopting my experience and knowledge.

Who is this course for?

This course is designed for beginners who want to learn the secrets of creating video games for a computer from scratch. Lacking programming skills and not even having an idea of ​​how video games are created.

What is the error 92% percent of beginners?

Currently, there are almost no normal lessons on making games. It is THIS that confuses novice game makers. Many people come to the conclusion that in order to make games, one must first master programming, learn to draw, master the profession of a designer and manager. And only then make games.

Your first game may not be too cool, but it will be YOUR!

This will undoubtedly push you to new achievements! And then you will only work better! Small wins are VERY important to you or your team if you work together. They allow you to quickly see errors and other problems.

Is it possible to create games alone?- It is this question that now revolves in your head.

Of course it is possible! But, most likely, you will have a job that you, for some reason, cannot do. In such cases, I hired for 500 rubles. a person who coped with this work, and then helped the project for a long time on pure enthusiasm!

For example, I have never been able to draw living characters and I constantly invited someone from the outside to do the work, either for pennies or even for free. After all, creating games is an interesting thing, many can work on pure enthusiasm and completely free of charge.

How to hire people and where to find them? - I will definitely tell you about this in the video course.

What does the simplest computer game consist of?

Do not aim at something huge - as I said, your first game should be simple. So, to create a game we need:

Graphic design (sprites, etc.)

Game engine (software that will interact with the player)

The most elementary game design (this is the idea of ​​how everything will be arranged in the game)

As you can see, not much. In practice, this requires 1-2 people. And, despite the fact that we removed the scripting and sound component of the game from this, we can still simplify a few things.

The fact is that the graphic design can be borrowed from other games (if you do not sell such a game, then you are not breaking the law). Game design - can also be taken from some old games from the days of Dendy or Sega. And start with just one round. The hardest part is the software part, which I will teach you to do once or twice in the Video course "Creation of Computer Games in Video Format".

Moreover, you will master the software part without programming!

That's the beauty of Game Maker!

As a result, you just have to concentrate on the details of the game, game mechanics, verified balance and other interesting things. In a way, creating a game in Game Maker is like a gameplay in itself. This is incredibly interesting!

What does the course contain?

The course consists of 3 DVDs:

The first two discs contain video tutorials.

The third disc contains all the necessary programs for creating games and resources.

Also, the course is accompanied by detailed instructions for productive work with it.

First and second DVD discs- video materials - directly video tutorials in which I clearly show you how to create your first games. Planning, working with people and programs, creating projects, and thinking through everything to the smallest detail and other unique material is on these two disks.

File DVD- File materials - a set of programs, templates, projects, examples, sprites, and other useful files you will find on this disk.

Course instructions- the instructions describe in detail how to apply the course so that the effect of the video lessons is maximum and is not forgotten at the first opportunity.

What is the course plan?

The video course itself is divided into chapters, in each of which we solve the most pressing problems that may come your way. Some chapters are divided into subchapters.

Now think about how much money you can save by studying at home on your own at a time convenient for you with this course.

Igor Stlikov St. Petersburg

"We have already launched our first project! Now we are planning the second one." Zdarova, Artyom! Thanks for the course. Honestly, I read a lot about creating games even before taking the course. Only all the time I was frightened off by the thought that without the knowledge of the programmer, the creation of games cannot be done. I have had a hard time programming since high school. Yes, only SUCH sometimes ideas for creating games appeared that I could not deny myself to purchase your course, and did not regret it. Now my friend and I have successfully completed our first project. Now we outline the second. I'm a game designer, and he writes scripts. It's a pity only the time is not enough - work, family. But for now, I find time for a hobby, who knows, maybe it will grow into something more. In general, I am more than satisfied with the results, it was a very powerful leap. Your lessons work wonders. To everyone who reads my review, I will say - don't hesitate, if you are interested in the topic of creating video games, order safely - you will learn a lot of new things and certainly will not part with the disks! I sincerely wish you good luck, Artyom! P.S. Sorry to write so late, I was busy studying the course and the project.

Here's what you get when you place your order:

Firstly, you get over 9 hours of videos on two DVDs with examples and guidelines. Examples of creating video games, demonstrations of effects. You will receive this information in real time from me on video.

Secondly, you will not need to wander around the Internet in search of the desired program and all sorts of graphic templates.

Especially for you, I created all the necessary graphic templates, collected all the necessary programs, and even put together a sound library for you so that you can also sound your game.

What result will you get after completing the course?

1 ... The main thing you will learn is you will learn how to make games. After a month, you will be able to create your own games with a team or alone. And for this it is not at all necessary to go somewhere - you will learn everything yourself, from the video!

2 ... If you already have experience in creating games, then you will significantly improve your skills using the Game Maker program and all its capabilities, which it has in abundance. Your game making skills will become even more professional and unique. There will be room for improvisation, which is especially valuable for casual games. You will be more confident in doing what you love, and your friends will celebrate your skills.

3 ... You will no longer be just a person who wastes a lot of your time on games, but a person - a creator. Fascinating worlds and many unique characters - you can control it all.

4 ... You will be able to impress all your friends with the results you have achieved.

If you order the tutorial right now, you will receive these two gifts from me:

Gift # 1: Video course "Secrets of the success of modern game designers"

Attention!!! If you place an order later than an hour later,

then you will NOT receive these bonuses.

Valentin Laponin Novosibirsk city

Hello! My name is Valentine. I would like to say thank you so much for your video course. To be honest, I did not even expect that it would contain such a large amount of useful information. I liked that the course is structured specifically, purposefully, without unnecessary digressions and, above all, is aimed at practice. For a long time I was looking for something similar, but the search was unsuccessful. I spent a lot of time looking for answers to numerous questions about the game dev. Yes ... you can find a lot of information on the Internet, but mostly it is not constructive, not consistent ... sometimes it is not even reliable. Much has become clear from your video course. In addition to everything written in the advertisement, there were about a dozen useful video materials on the disk, which are not in the table of contents, I did not expect this at all. It can be seen that the author was trying to do something necessary and useful. And it seems to have added these lessons at the very last moment. Recommend! Thanks again! Good luck in your business!

If you think that all this sounds too good, then I want to sober you up ...

While studying the course, and most importantly after studying, you will have to work hard. Of course, after completing the course, a number of skills, techniques and knowledge will appear in your arsenal that will help you stay dozens of steps ahead. But at the same time, no one canceled the need for work and action.

But if you agree to work and apply the described techniques and practice the exercises, to act, and not sit back, you will see dramatic changes.

Is this a lot?

In fact, this is not even the price of the course and not the amount that you will pay by mail after receiving the course.

This is the price of achieving your dream - making games! After a week of training, you will start creating your first serious project. And in a month you will have a finished game that you can be proud of!

The price of the course is now equal to two sticks of sausage or one trip to a restaurant. I think for the sake of making your dream come true, you may not go to a restaurant once, or not finish the sausage.

Despite this, the choice is yours.- you can go to a cafe once or instead give yourself a wonderful gift that will definitely not remain on the shelf!

100% no risk trade!

If you are still in doubt, then I give you a 100% guarantee:

If during your training, for any reason, you feel that creating games is "not for you" and my course does not help you - pack the discs and send them to the return address with a delivery receipt, along the way by writing to my support service. As soon as the package is in my hands, I will transfer the money back to you in any way convenient for you without any questions. Deal? :-)

support service and we will solve the situation with you on an individual basis, offering alternative options.

Very soon you will be showing your own games to your friends and acquaintances with an undisguised feeling of joy. From now on, you will be an aspiring game creator.

I wish you success! Best regards, Artyom Kashevarov.

P.S. Don't miss your chance, because this material is nowhere else to be found. It also cannot be downloaded from the Internet. The disk protection system has online activation, which completely excludes the possibility of launching pirated versions of the course.

Leonid Bubnov Irkutsk

"I never thought that making games is that easy!" Hello Artyom! This is Leonid Bubnov. I received a video course today. I am delighted! I watched a couple of videos, what you need !! You explain everything in detail, well done. Before your course appeared, I thought that creating games is a very complicated process and beyond the power of one person. Now I see that it is not so. Thank you for opening your eyes! I never thought that making games is that easy! I will be happy to do it. If you have any questions, I will definitely write. Until next time. Leonid.

P.P.S. For those who are afraid of being thrown, and this, unfortunately, is a very common procedure for settlements on the Runet, I hasten to inform you that all sales from my sites are completely legal. I am officially registered as an individual entrepreneur (IE Kashevarov A.D., OGRN 305026522400038), therefore I am obliged to pay taxes regularly and observe all consumer rights. You can also learn more about the certificate of state registration and other documents in the section. You can ask any questions in the section. Now you have an idea of ​​the direction in which we have to work, moreover, it is 100% protected by the law on the protection of consumer rights of the Russian Federation. Good luck in your endeavor!

There is hardly a person who has never played at least one computer game at least once in his life, no matter if it is on a laptop or a mobile device. Well, who of you, dear reader of our blog, has not dreamed of creating your own game and, if you do not become a millionaire thanks to your project, then become famous at least among your friends?

But how to create a game on Android from scratch without having special knowledge and not even knowing the basics of programming? It turns out that trying yourself as a game developer is not such a difficult task. This will be the topic of our today's material.

1. Idea or scenario.
2. Desire and patience.
3. Game constructor.

And if everything is more or less clear with the first two components of success, then we need to dwell on the third component in more detail.

What is Game Constructor

We are talking about a program that greatly simplifies the development of games, making it accessible to people who do not have programming skills. The game designer combines an integrated development environment, a game engine and a level editor that works as a visual editor ( WYSIWYG- English. abbreviation "what you see is what you get").

Some constructors may be limited to the genre (for example, RPG, arcade games, quests). Others, while providing the ability to design games of different genres, at the same time limit the imagination of a novice developer to 2D games.

Even after reading only what has already been written, it becomes clear that for a novice developer who decides to write a game for any operating system, including the Android OS, the choice of a suitable constructor is the main task, because the fate of the future project depends on the functionality and capabilities of this tool.

How to choose the right constructor

You need to start by assessing your own level of knowledge in the field of programming. If it tends to zero or is absent altogether, then it is better to try the simplest options. And even if you do not have the necessary knowledge of the English language, then in this case you can find a program that suits you.

And the second important point when choosing a constructor is functionality. Here you need to very accurately analyze the scenario of your project, because the more complex the game is, the more various tools you will need to create it, respectively, and the constructor will need a more powerful one.

To help with the choice, below we will present to your attention the best design programs, which, in general, does not exclude the possibility that you, having thoroughly rummaged through the forums or specialized sites, will choose something else for yourself, since the range of this range of programs quite wide.

Top 5 best game builders

Construct 2

This app has consistently been ranked # 1 in game builder ratings. With Construct 2, you can create 2D games of almost any genre for various platforms, including Android, as well as animation games aimed at browsers that support HTML5.

Taking into account the huge number of auxiliary tools, even novice users will be able to master the program.

To master the work with Construct 2, there is no need to buy a license; the free Free version offers ample tools and the ability to export the finished project to some platforms. However, coding the finished product for mobile platforms and access to the full range of functionality will give you a Personal license for $ 129. If your skill in creating games has reached its climax, and you have already begun to receive more than $ 5,000 in income from your project, you will have to fork out for the Business option, which will cost $ 429.

Now, check out some hands-on video tutorials on building gaming applications with Construct 2:

Clickteam fusion

Clickteam Fusion is another example of an excellent full-fledged game constructor that helps even a beginner to create a full-fledged game. The program provides the ability to export created applications completely free of charge in HTML5 format, which means that it will be possible to publish browser games and, in addition, convert them for publication in various mobile markets, for example, Google play.

The main characteristics include the simplicity of the interface, support for shader effects and hardware acceleration, the presence of a full-fledged event editor, saving projects in formats compatible with various platforms, including Android.

The paid Developer version of the program is not available for residents of the Russian Federation, but its licensed disc can be ordered from the same Amazon, lightening the personal budget by an average of $ 100. It is possible to Russify the menu through a third-party crack.

How to work with the application, watch a special video course:

Stencyl

Stencyl is another great tool that allows you to develop simple 2D computer games without special knowledge of codes, as well as programming languages ​​for all popular platforms. Here you have to work with scenarios and diagrams, which are presented in the form of blocks, and you can drag objects or characteristics with the mouse, which is very convenient.

The program developer also offers the opportunity to write his own code in blocks, but this, of course, will require knowledge in the field of programming.

The presence of an excellent graphic editor Scene Designer allows the user to apply their imagination to drawing game worlds.

The optimal set of functions will help to create high-quality games of different genres, but the most tiled (tiled) Stencyl graphics will be relevant for "shooters" or "adventure games".

The program is distributed free of charge, but export to desktop formats requires a subscription, which will cost $ 99 per year, and a license for mobile games - $ 199 per year.

Watching a crash course on working with Stencyl:

Game maker

The program exists in paid and free versions. The budget option allows you to create solid two-dimensional games for the desktop. While the paid version makes it possible to write rather "fancy" 3D toys for Windows, iOS and Android. For now, we are interested in a free opportunity to learn how to realize ourselves in the gaming industry, and Game Maker is the very option that will allow you to create games with your own script without restrictions on the choice of genre.

The program offers a selection of ready-made templates for locations, objects, as well as characters, sounds and backgrounds. So, all creative work comes down to dragging and dropping selected elements into the work area and choosing conditions - location and interaction with other objects. Although knowledge of the programming language is not required, but users who are "in the subject" will be able to use GML, something similar to JS and C ++.

Game Maker is distributed in English, so those who do not know it sufficiently will need to download the localization file.

Who is interested in this program, we suggest watching the training video:

Unity 3D

Unity 3D is perhaps the best there is for creating a quality 3D project. Completely ready-made models, as well as textures and scripts are integrated into the program. In addition, it is possible to add your own content - sound, images and videos.

Games created with Unity are compatible with all popular platforms from iOS or Android mobile devices to SMART TVs.

The program is distinguished by high compilation speed, easy-to-use interface, flexible and multifunctional editor.

All game actions and behavior of characters are based on a solid physics core PhysX. Each object created in this game constructor is a certain combination of events and scripts, controlled by the developer himself.

It is important to understand that although the program is positioned as a game constructor designed for beginners, a certain level of knowledge is still needed to work with this application. Well, working with 3D graphics requires a fairly modern computer equipped with a hardware video card.

Unity 3D Game Creation Series:

So, you decided to realize your dream of creating your own unique game. We have tried to provide information that can help with this. Please note that if you carefully read the presented material, and at least skimmed through the video tutorials for each program, you probably noticed that working with each game constructor is based on the same principle. Therefore, it is quite possible that you can choose something more suitable for your needs. We at least hope that at this stage the question of how to make a game on Android yourself is closed. Good luck!