Ive always wanted to make a video game but i feel too dumb to make one. Is gamedev worth looking into still even if im not the sharpest tool in the shed?
Or are there better hobbies out there for newcomers to the hobby space? I know most of you will say do what you enjoy, the thing is im not sure what i enjoy.
Idk if this goes here but i like the linux community as they are usually kind on lemmy.
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Even if you dont like it, no harm in trying it. Worst case you find you dont wanna do it and move on to something else.
You can start with something like pico-8 or a free engine of which there are a ton: https://lexaloffle.itch.io/pico-8
Me personally, ive been trying Godot and its kinda hard to get into, but I may try something else like RPG maker or what not just to get my ideas on paper so to speak.
Why not?
You say you’re not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I think gamedev is a good way to learn a variety of skills. And doing it as a hobby takes a lot of pressure off and allows you to take things at your own pace.
It’s a hobby that allows for a LOT of different types of creative expression, does not require any monetary investment to get started in, or to pursue long term, and even has a small chance to MAKE you money, if it turns out you enjoy it enough to purse that end. It has the potential to make a GREAT hobby.
Do it! The barrier to entry for gamedev is ridiculously low with something like Unity or Godot, and nowadays you can make a complete game with 100% open-source tools.
It’s a hobby: it’s driven by your interests alone.
Yes but also no. For me it kind of killed other games because I suddenly started looking at stuff like assets and how much effort was put into them. Gamedevs can put so much detail into stuff the average user does not notice at all.
I used to work as an animator and now I have that lol. It’s hard to watch anything animated just for fun because my brain wants to take it apart and analyze it.
The beauty of game dev, is that you can make the most cursed codebase, and as long as it works, the only person itll impact is yourself.
Also, startup costs are basically zero, there is no need for a top end PC, whatever you have now is probably good enough to start.
startup costs are basically zero, there is no need for a top end PC, whatever you have now is probably good enough to start.
Unless your true heart’s desire is a faithful Crysis II sequel…
Faithful Crysis sequel, really. Crysis II was already better optimized than the original game IIRC (which made the assumption that clock frequencies would keep rising and they were trying to make the game only realize its’ full potential later after launch)
The cost of entry is zero. (Assuming you have a computer.)
And if it doesn’t work out but you enjoy the building/coding you can look into building desktop or mobile apps for problems you might want to solve or have on hand for yourself.
Hobby? Absolutely!
Just don’t expect any money out of it. At all. If you DO get money out of it, consider yourself very lucky. Do it for fun first and foremost.
But that is the best part of user software development.
Developing [a game] is pretty much free, so if you make any money out of it at all is just a bonus.
Most physical hobbies cost money where if you make some money from it it likely won’t even start breaking even, you are often 1-10k€ in the hole before you even start selling anything.
Yep. Like many arts, gamedev is something people will do for free, so it’s very difficult (or torturous) to do it for profit.
A hobby is “good” if you enjoy it. That’s all that matters with hobbies. Don’t look down on yourself for wanting to do something for fun. It doesn’t have to be “efficient” or turn into an income or anything else. Just try it and learn. Learn the skills, learn if you like it
I used to love making text adventure with AGT the Adventure Game Toolkit. I’ve wanted for some time already to learn to make stuff with still images and click zones which is essentially the evolution of the text adventure. The audience for this stuff is tiny, but I’d still love to get back into making text adventure. If there’s an easy to learn equivalent of AGT that can be made either web-hosted or somehow platform-independent I’d love to do that. AGT was a real breeze to learn and it’s a terrific creative outlet.
Anything more sophisticated is out of my league as I’m not a pro coder; my development experience is limited to an array of projects in VB6, the biggest of which was a companion software for Team Fortress Classic to customize scripts and per-class macros. It was called TFCompanion. Got 1,000 downloads roughly. But I digress.
Try it, if you are having fun that’s pretty much all that matters.
Also, don’t expect to have the production value of a AAAAA $800,000,000 development team, even if you do use AI. There’s only so much one developer can do, no matter how sharp they are. There were tons of awesome single developer and very small team games that came out of the 1980s - so, if you can get happy with 8 bit style you might just surprise yourself.
permission to be rude, your question is meaningless.
it is a hobby, the single most important factor is if you want to do it.
everything else if secondary. go, try, enjoy it, learn, improve…
it’s it the most “efficient” use of your time? that question is irrelevant, it’s a hobby not a job.
Go make a game, make a shitty game because you have no experience, but make that game.
I recommend pico8, I think it’s the simplest engine that isn’t a kids learning platform. has a low skill floor, but (given what some people make, someone ported Doom to that 2d engine) unlimited skill ceiling.
If you have $12 to spend then I can recommend a tutorial series for you which you can buy on itch io. It’s in ‘c’ but you can easily transfer the skills to Python and everything is much nicer. I only recommend c for foundation skills. I respect the old skool methods - it may open your mind.
If you’re still young then I want to convince you that it’s worth your time. You don’t need to be very smart to make simple programs but you can save yourself time and frustration by avoiding stupid mistakes. I know a guy in Australia who can motivate you on this, I sometimes voice call him on Signal.
I no longer prioritise software any more because I’m focused on simply surviving. I’m too old to care any more lol. That said, I do have plans to film interviews with people who work in this field. I’m thinking about doing code review videos and discussions about how to be a good programmer, but not from a heavily commercial pperspective (I hate those endlessly positive videos on youtube who want you to think that anyone can succeed in the industry and become wealthy). I don’t know how viable the industry is any more and I just want to make hobby videos and encourage people to find a path that works for them. I think gamedev is one of the best paths for learning software, unless you want to make web apps instead.
Creating something from nothing is always a good hobby. Whether it be a jigsaw puzzle or planning/designing a game that does not exist yet.
