How Not To Make A Game

Ou SaMa
3 min readMar 14, 2022

Hi, Fellow Game Developers,

Weird title, isn’t it, “HOW NOT TO MAKE A GAME ?”,
U’ll be thinking, this is about mistakes we make in game development,
but it’s not exactly that,

it’s more about the RoadMap GameDevs might take, when making an actual commercial game.

So, what do i mean by that?

Well, I don’t want to be judgemental about people, but i’ve been seeing an enormous amount of laziness and stupidity
in some of the questions asked by beginners, specially in Facebook ‘Dev’ groups .

Some people don’t get it, the first thing you will have to do when you start any project or any dream is to make a research.
a simple research on ‘Google’ will answer that small question you have ‘How To Make A Game ?’..
you don’t have to ask a hundred another ‘Dev’, just make that research.

And you know what will keep you on track and help you finish that game if you started ?
Keeping on asking questions, and making researches..
and when you don’t find an answer, that’s when you go and ask people directly.

The Second Point i want to talk about that might hinder progress is obsessing over :

What game engine you gonna use ?
What’s the best software to use ?

Guys!! just start with what you have, start with the most familiar software to you,
and if you’ve never used any, look for the easiest/most simplistic software..
You’ll upgrade eventually.

Another specific point for people who have programming skills, don’t try to make a game engine yourself if your goal is to make a game.
if it’s to make an engine, make it, if it’s not, don’t, that’s it..

Third Point,

“The perfect game idea”

Some think games are about ideas, but from my experience playing games, new ideas were not always what caught my attention
it was the execution of the games, ‘Game Feel’ they call it..
The experience that players have playing a game is definitely what keeps players playing.

So don’t try to create a whole genre of games always, just use an already tried and tested formula for any genre you like, and spice it up!
Maybe “Mix & Match” different genres, make great art or music.. there’s different aspect in games that may make it great,
try to make those aspects really good.
That’s how your game might succeed.

Another thing, make sure you make a playable prototype specially when your game design is “Mixed & Matched”.
then make sure that prototype is fun.

Finally, this last point is not specific for ‘GameDev’, but for almost every dream someone might have,
you gotta have an ‘Action Mindset’, don’t wait until you’re ready, no one is ever ready, just start working on it,
it will be a ‘Hot Mess’ in the beginning, but you’ll figure it out later.

Also don’t look for a team yet, because a team will want their leader to know the ins and outs of the field, and most of us are still beginners,
unless you already have some experience managing teams, but that’s a different story.

There’s definitely more to “GameDev Roadmaps” than what i’ve said in here, because i don’t know everything, neither do you.

But what i really want from ‘New GameDevs’ is to just start working on their dream, right now..

If you wanna read more about ‘Game Development’ make sure you follow me on ‘Medium’ or Connect with me on ‘Linkedin’ :

Medium : https://medium.com/@oussikhazmenski
Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/oussama-khazri-38133592

And don’t forget to share it with other beginner game developers,
Thank You For Reading..

-” Oussama Khazri”-

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Ou SaMa

Hi, I am ‘Oussama’, a Game Developer & Guitarist from Tunisia .