I will learn to make games!

One fine autumn day, after my girlfriend and I finished our coffee/tea post-work ritual, I was thinking about spending my free time. And back then, there was a lot of it. Covid lockdowns were ruling the world. That's when I decided: "I'm going to learn to make games!" It was exactly on Monday, September 28, at 4:36 PM, around the year 2020.

"Madman," some might think, "it's not just like that, to make a game. You need an idea, a story, design, mechanics, code, graphics, sound, music, effects…" And they'd be right. But it's also true that nowadays it's not that hard to learn almost anything. There are almost infinite resources on the internet, you just have to connect and start soaking up knowledge like a sponge.

First attempt, FPS with kiddie tutorial

The first resource I tried learning from was a book titled Build Your Own First Person Shooter in Unity, published by the defunct Wireframe magazine.

The book is basically a cookbook for making a game, walking you through every single step. If you follow it faithfully, you'll end up with your very own zombie shooter, ready to show off to your friends or even play with them. Easy, right? Even kiddos can do it.

Yeah … except I couldn't. Or rather, I could have. If I had just done what the book told me. At the very beginning, it specifies which version of the Unity Engine to use. Naturally, I decided to use a different, newer version. "It'll be the same, only better," I thought. And also, "If there's any hiccup, I'll fix it. I'm not lame after all." For a while, everything went smoothly. I managed to adapt to version differences and kept progressing through the book. But then, one day, it all stopped working. At that point, I wasn't really enjoying fixing version differences more than the actual coding, so I decided to scrap the whole idea. Or at least, this particular approach.

One of the reasons I didn't enjoy it that much was because I was making a game I didn't relate to. Another issue was that I was essentially just copying code, like when I used to transcribe programs from magazines as a kid. It wasn't satisfying. So, I decided to try a different strategy to learn it. Firstly I'd come up with my own project which I could enjoy for a long time. Secondly I decided to seek out better learning resources. Ones that would teach not just the basics but also the principles and more advanced techniques of game development in Unity.

Sooo, where can I learn this stuff?

I work with a variety of educational tools. First and foremost, Unity itself has a fantastic learning platform. Unity Learn offers countless tutorials and courses of varying length. You can find everything from short, single-topic videos to comprehensive "Pathways" that delve into more complex subjects. A neat touch is the gamification of the learning process. You earn XP and badges for completing lessons, which adds a little motivational element. The best part? It's all free! You only pay for certifications, but those don't really interest me at the moment.

Another platform I use is Udemy. It offers courses on practically every topic imaginable, and game development is no exception. While the courses are paid, patience pays off. Personally, I only shop there once a year, always on Black Friday, when almost every course drops to €9.99. Whether it's a 4-hour or 70-hour course. And 10€ today means one lunch menu with a small beer. Somewhere even without the beer. It's a pretty small price for knowledge. Of course, course quality varies, but user reviews are usually a good indicator. Additionally, the courses are often continuously updated, so you can update your knowledge there.

Then there's YouTube, where you can find everything. From a professional tutorial for making an epic dining table from solid wood poured with epoxy, to instructions on how to (not) get your fingers torn off by putting a tire on a tractor wheel using an uncontrolled explosion of gas from a spray can.

A major disadvantage of YT is that they have a damn good algorithm for pushing that ballast you didn't actually intend to watch. One wants to watch the latest news from their favorite gamedev streamer. But after an hour, they find themselves staring, with the expression of a starving zombie, at a group of guys whipping themselves while playing blindfold with rubber ducks instead of shoes. Yeah, I've been there.

Still, here are a few YouTube channels worth checking out:

And then there are the higher price but higher value options. These are various live courses with an instructor, either online or in person. In the field of game development, I had the opportunity to try a course from Skvot focused on game UX/UI (February - April 2024). The course had 18 lessons over 9 weeks and the instructor was Lukáš Caska, lead UI/UX designer in Bohemia Interactive. Even these initial parameters already indicate that it could be slightly better than a YT tutorial for a little personal data to fine-tune the manipulation algorithm.

The presence of the instructor and his feedback is absolutely essential for this type of course. This is a huge added value compared to courses on Udemy and other similar online platforms. I have not tried other similar courses yet, but I must say that Skvot has its platform very well designed from the first filling out of the non-binding application to the course itself.

The dream project

The project I chose as my long-term learning goal was to adapt my all-time favorite board game into a digital format. This choice came with a few perks: I didn't have to invent a game theme or mechanics from scratch, and I already had a strong emotional connection not only to the board game itself but to its theme, so I won't let it go anytime soon.

However, it also had its challenges. The board game is a semi-cooperative experience with complex mechanics and a highly atmospheric gameplay vibe. Translating all that into a digital format? Not exactly a walk in the park. Especially since I decided to do everything by myself, all graphics included, as my first project, with no prior experience in a game engine ecosystem.

Now, one of the first things every game development course tells you is: "Start small. Don't tackle big, complicated projects right away." Ha! Nonsense. I'll do it my way. After all, if I'm working on a project I love, it doesn't matter if it takes forever. And it's definitely not possible for me to burn out.

Well… yeah, burnout happened. After about a year and a half, the project started feeling more like an obligation than a passion. I found myself overthinking distant challenges instead of focusing on immediate goals. For instance, instead of finishing the remaining 25% of the gameplay mechanics, I spent time improving placeholder 3D models for the prototype. Progress slowed and my motivation waned.

So, I decided to take a break for a while. To do something different. Something smaller that I could finish quickly from start to finish. A project where I could apply what I'd learned so far without getting bogged down in unnecessary complexity. Just like they say in every game development course as the first thing.

The dream project … the second one

It took me a while to come up with a new idea. I wanted something simple but meaningful, something that would teach me new skills. Eventually, I decided to make a small mobile game. The concept was straightforward: players would roll a marble along a track, trying not to fall off. The goal will be to get as far as possible. Nothing more, nothing less. And I'd finish it in two weeks. It'll be called Marbles and it'll be a blast. Yeah, that's it!

How it all went from there … well, I'll write about that next time. Because Marbles is exactly what I want to document here. How I tackled different problems and why. Not just for myself, but for anyone else who might find it interesting. And if all goes well, I'll also write about my first dream project. I'm not giving up on it. I'm already thinking about how to continue with it.