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Sanchit Sharma

Engineer

Developer

Gamer

Coder

Monday, November 18, 2019

Getting started with Game Development
Hi! I’m Sanchit Sharma, a young game developer, currently a student at KIIT. How would you feel if 
you could change your reality and create a whole new one? A reality which is maybe based in space
with asteroids attacking a spaceship! Or maybe a reality-based in the ocean where you try to fight the
pirates.Well, creating a new reality is not possible in the real world but it is definitely possible in the 
world of Game Development.And the popularity of Game Development is only increasing. This can be
because video games are becoming more and more popular and people now want to not only 
participate in these worlds but also create them!!!

Is Being a Good Game Player necessary for Game Development?

There are many people who assume that if they are good Game Players then they will 
definitely be good in Game Development. Well, don’t make that mistake!!! If you are a good 
Game Player then you have some advantage because you already know something about 
game stories, players, levels, etc. But that’s it! Actually making games is boring many times 
as you have to code, design and work around on many things at which you don’t initially 
succeed but the end product is the reward.You will feel so much satisfying that you have 
created something of your own after a hard brainstorming journey of making it. The only thing 
that will keep you on track of making games even after all is the passion for games and 
nothing else, believe me.

Where to start?


  1. Choose a game engine: As you are a beginner in Game Development, it is best to 
    start with a known Game Engine. There are many available such as Godot which is free 
    and open-source, Unreal- which is used at the industry level to create stunning games 
    and Unity game engine which is used by almost everyone from indie developers to 
    industry level players in the market, from AR/VR to real-world mobile apps, all made 
    with Unity. My personal preference is Unity itself as it provides all tools to get you started 
    as an indie game developer and you can also make real world AR/VR mobile apps and if 
    you are too good at Unity then you can use it to make almost any kind of app that you can 
    imagine!
  2. Create a basic game: There are now several official Unity YouTube videos which can help
    you get started with creating your very first basic game, don’t try to create anything very big
    at first, in fact, create something very small, it sounds weird but you need to hold yourself 
    to give a good start and once you are a pro at Unity or Unreal you can open the fences and
    imagine anything and try to create that one.
My very first ‘playable’ game was Project Boost, a 2.5D rocket thrusting game with two levels.


                                                                 Project Boost

  1. Move on to 3D: When you have created your first basic game which should probably 
    be 2D or 2.5D for it to be called basic then move on to learning 3D concepts on game 
    engine. My second game was a basic 3D ship flying game which I learned through a 
    course on Udemy by Ben Tristem and Rick Davidson, believe me, they are the best 
    teachers.
     
You need to revise some maths and physics for yourself here which makes to our 
point 4.
  1. Learn 3D Graphics and Associated Maths: It is not possible to make a video game 
    without graphics and so you need to learn about them now. 
    The maths commonly required for 3D Graphics is Linear Algebra which mainly deals 
    with linear equations, matrices, vectors, etc. 
    If you understand these concepts, you can easily manipulate the 3D world of your game 
    to achieve miraculous effects!!!
  2. Publish a game: It might not seem how important this is but you need to publish your 
    game asap, anywhere publish it, it is not to be on PlayStore or Apple Store, publish it 
    because it gives you a push onto your learning and game-dev journey, don’t wait for your
    big awesome game debut, that’s not how it works, publish anything small but you should 
    have a good feeling about your game. My first game published on PlayStore was 
    Mad-Ball Breakout and that’s the only 2D game I have ever tried to build because 
    seriously I don’t like 2D as I haven’t been a 2D game lover myself.
     
  3. Learn random concepts: Once you have the idea of the game engine after at least 
    six months or so then you can just learn random engine specific concepts like 
    Dynamic Scrolling, Optimization, Post Processing Stack, etc.
Here is an image of before and after applying Unity’s Post Processing Stack features,
 
Before Post-Processing,(below)
  
how much detailed and good the scene is now, details such as Lens Blurr, detailed fog, detailed and 
darker shadows, HDR, etc.

What are some Online Resources to Learn Game Development?

There are several resources available such as books, courses, and official videos, the major problem
with almost all of the books and most of the videos is that they are outdated, the process of making 
and publishing a book takes as much time that the information in it gets outdated, if you are following
a video try to make sure that it has exactly the same version as yours otherwise you will have a hard 
time figuring things out and will eventually leave it.
Udemy Courses are really good but just see the ratings and reviews of students before actually 
opting for the course, but by far I think Udemy is the best bet for now and then comes YouTube, 
you can always go on and contact me.

Sanchit Sharma

Computer Enthusiast and Passionate Gamer

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KIIT University Bhubaneshwar INDIA