Your First Game

Ou SaMa
3 min readJun 19, 2022

Hi, Fellow Game Developers,

So you’re interested in making games ?
but you don’t know where to start, or what game to make ..

in this little article i won’t be focusing on the technical side of making games, it’s gonna a bit abstract
and this is for solo first timers only, if you’ve made a game already, you don’t need to read this,

So, let’s start :

I can give you the easiest most common answer to this question,
which is make a “2D PLATFORMER” or an “INFINITE RUNNER’..Done!

But, we’re here to go a bit deep on this subject, so first thing,

what are your specific goals behind trying to make this game?
you need to know what you want from it, if you don’t, you’ll probably not finish it.

Second, start small, even smaller than what’s on your mind right now,
you see, you might be a very intelligent person but still, you don’t have experience with making games yet,
so don’t gamble now, hoping that you will get it right,
experienced developers can make a calculated risk and make it through ( and sometimes not ), but you’re not there yet.

So what do I mean by that,
I mean don’t go for the best graphics, you won’t know how to handle the size when your game is in it’s final state,
also it will take you much longer to make the assets even if you were really good at art,
that will mean more time developing and it may take you several years to finish it, and life can get in the way.

Same idea applies for other assets too, like SFX & Music, but not code, you’ll need to optimize it as much as you can,
because that will help you when the game grows.

Third point,

your first game should never be your dream game, you’ll mess it up probably like we all do,
so i recommend taking your first game more of a learning experience.

Fourth point,

It’s very easy for us to over estimate our potential, but there’s a limit to what a human can do,
so don’t try to make the next “GTA” or “SKYRIM”.

Fifth point,

don’t make everything scratch, there’s a lot of available free and paid assets, don’t try to make everything yourself,
delegation also is a very important part of making games, it will save you time, and eventually money, because time is money.

Last point,

make sure you like your game enough, but don’t get too attached, because if you get very emotional with it,
you’ll risk not knowing what’s good and bad about it, and misunderstanding feedback from your testers.

So, this is my opinion, some people may find it useful, others might disagree with it,
but this is ‘Gamedev’, it’s too vast to contain in specific rules.

So, in the end you’ll do what you want, you’ll fail, and you’ll succeed, it’s all part of our lives.

Hope I’ve Helped, Thank You..

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”

--

--

Ou SaMa

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