How Hard Is It To Produce Your Own Game?
This question was brought up recently between a conversation between myself and a friend. How hard is it to produce a computer game? I sat there and wondered for a second and ended up coming back with this rather useless, yet nonetheless deep response. “It can be as hard or as easy as you want it to be.” Looking back at the time, that answer was completly useless and so here I am to return with a more detailed answer.
Producing a computer game can range from the incredibly challenging to the surprisingly easy. It is really down to what software you use, what type of game you want to make, what scale of game you want to make and how you want the game to look.
Game Maker
The easiest way to produce a game would be to use something simple, like Game Maker, an easy to use sprite based game making program. Flowcharts are used in place of actual programming and everything is neatly organised by the program itself. The beauty of Game Maker is how you do no need to learn programming, you don’t need to be able to produce brilliant pieces of art and you don’t need to have any experience at making games. Just jump in and go. (I have been using Game Maker recently to try and produce a small game, but is currently on hiatus.)
Flash
Flash based games are something I have never had the time to use, but from what I understand using Flash is actually quite simple and can produce some truly addictive games. The best part of Flash is that people can play the games in their web browser, no need to download anything extra, just go to the website and play. I would like to get around to learning how to make games in Flash, but thanks to prior commitments and projects, that will have to wait.
Mod Production (Source)
Moving up a level from Game Maker would be to make a mod or map for an already existing game, now depending on what game it is (3D or 2D) will dictate how difficult it is to produce a game for it. By building off an already existent game engine, such as Source, you already have all the tools and resources (such as textures and models) at your disposal. The Source SDK will also create the mod for you, so all you need to do is to add things like maps and some limited amount of programming (just editing some lines really).
Source is a nice example of how you can have different mod scales. If you can make maps, then you can make a semi-original mod. However, if you can pull a team together, each with different skills (such as texture art, modelling, sound) then you can simply add these in to the framework already made by the utility program in the Source SDK. You can have completely original content, or use that which Valve used in the game HL2 seeing as they are kind enough to let you use their assets.
Sum Up
Game Maker, a 2D sprite based game design program, allows you to produce a variety of game styles and will produce the independent .exe file needed so that other people can play the game straight away. Compared to using the Source engine, which would need the player to already have HL2 installed on their computer seeing as a mod is all you could produce. (you could buy a license for the Source engine, but I doubt you have a million or so to burn).
So to answer my original question, making a game is relatively easy, but if you want to produce a bigger game, make a game 3D, make the game have online capabilities, have high quality surround sound etc. Then you need to be willing to invest more time. The more you want your game to do, the more time you will need to invest to build up skills and to pull together a team to actually make the idea a reality. It all boils down to this.
The more complex your ideas are for the game, the longer and more challenging it will be to produce.
Hammer World Editor – To Those Who Carve…
Carving, simply put is something that can be done in Hammer, which involved literally carving one block (or brush) through another block (or brush). So you start off with a solid brush, then you end up with a brush with another shape carved out of it. This can cause a serious untold level of damage to a map, especially when compiling and on performance of the map.
If you are thinking of using the carve tool for any reason, let me put it this way. Don’t. Use the slice tool and vertex edit tool instead, these two will be able to create any shape in a much better way than carving could ever do.
In short, if you are thinking about mapping and think you may use this carve tool, understand this. I and every other mapper worth his Hammer will come over to your home and torture you to death. You may be thinking this is a joke, but it’s happened before and I assure you, it will probably happen again. (Why, why did Valve put the carve tool in Hammer!!! WHY!!!)
Subject Omega – Inventing Gameplay
Something that I always knew to be a challenge from the outset of Subject Omega, would be introducing new gameplay ideas. I didn’t want to simply recycle what had already been done in Portal, since all the major ways to use portals has been pretty much already covered. I needed some new techniques that the player would need to use in order to solve the puzzles, there would be no point in making a mod where I simply repeat the existing gameplay of Portal.
I always loved the early stages of Portal, where you only had control of one portal and the other one was in a fixed position. I realised that these puzzles could be made very challenging if the concept of a single fixed portal was used more extensively. That’s why the entire first part and some of the second part revolves entirely around puzzles with a single fixed portal. It also became apparent to me that depending on the orientation of the fixed portal dictated what that portal could be used for. For example, a fling can’t be used with a portal on a wall as momentum can’t be conserved. Combining these two concept together led to the following idea:
Have a way that the player can control whether the fixed portal was on the floor or on a wall. Then have the need to change the orientation of this to complete the puzzle. I won’t go into to much detail or it will spoil the puzzle too much.
Other ideas for gameplay is the idea of the portal ledge. Have you ever stepped through a portal, just by a little bit so you are on the exit portal, but are hovering in mid-air? This invisible ledge, means you can actually grab items and even fire portals, this concept is introduced in the very first map, just to try and accustom the player to having to use this technique as it has been used in less obvious context later in the game.
Also, just to wrap this article up, Subject Omega may be accessed as a regular game or mod. Meaning I have a lot more options open to me as I can now edit code previously unavailable to me. This allows me to pretty much do anything I want, only restricted by the engine and my lack of programming knowledge.
Subject Omega – Workflow
Well, seeing as nothing more interesting happened today, I thought I’d show off my work flow when I have spare moments to map for ‘Subject Omega.’ I am more than confident that this is probably the best method for making maps in the Source engine, especially when it comes down to Portal maps. I suggest that only if you are truly interested in making maps for Portal, do you bother to read on.
