The spark to design games

If you have been playing Super Mario Maker 2 like I have then you know that joy of creating and designing new video game levels for you and your friends to play. I love the amount of tools at your disposal in Super Mario Maker 2 because it allows for you, the level designer, to make crazy unique levels that can amaze and entertain players. This is the feeling that every game designer lives for and it is how you know that you will be passionate and determined to make your very own video games. If you have not played Super Mario Maker 2 and you have a Nintendo Switch then give it a try and see if you like creating levels, playing through levels, or both!



Another great level creation game is Levelhead. Create and share your platforming level creations with endless options and elements to use, such as power-ups, hazards, enemies, and different platforms to jump on. Levelhead is another fun game to let out your creative side and the people who developed it are awesome people. The developers of Levelhead have their own podcast called Coffee with Butterscotch. It is the most entertaining game development podcast out there. They talk about developing their own games, what it is like in the game industry, and funny stories that happen to them each week. If you want to know more about the behind the scenes of game development or are just interested in an entertaining podcast, check out the Coffee with Butterscotch podcast.

These level editor games can be just the start of your creative release. With creating your own video games in game engines, such as Unity or Game Maker, the sky is the limit with how you want your game to look or play. You could build a hack and slash game about a hero character who is a vegetable that has to fight junk food to save the world. Or make a platformer with a bird that can sing songs to put other animals to sleep. Or create a brand new clone of a match 3 game like Bejeweled (half joking, but you can do it if you really want to). One of the best parts about developing video games for me is the brainstorming of ideas. I write down all my ideas for a new game in a journal and think about what it would be like to play that kind of video game. Of course coming up with ideas is the easy part. Actually executing on those ideas and having the tools and skills to create the game of your dreams is another thing.

What tools and programming skills you will need to make your own game


Learning to program or having some programming knowledge will be useful in building games but it is not necessary in getting started. I got started using GameMaker Studio.


GameMaker Studio is free to use to start building games

GameMaker Studio is a tool used to create video games. It has its own programming language called GML, but you can also start making games with their drag and drop feature. I started out not knowing how to program so I made small games using Game Maker’s drag and drop option. They make it super easy to get started and have many tutorial online that can help. After a little bit I had created a square sprite character and had the ability to move it across the computer screen with the arrow keys.

You can start with the drag and drop feature in Game Maker but after a while I would recommend learning the GML programming language to be able to have more options and flexibility in creating games. Learning GML can be tough but there are so many tutorials online that can help. I used Heartbeast tutorials and Shaun Spalding videos who are both awesome resources for information that will have you creating a game using Game Maker in no time.  

User interface of GameMaker Studios


What free game engine is the best? Unity vs Game Maker?

Unity has advantages over Game Maker in terms of being a more popular game engine. Because it is used by so many people it has a lot of support and resources online to find tutorials or information about how to code your game. Unity has a lot more options when programming and is especially good at making 3D games.

Game Maker has a lower ceiling to learn. So it is much easier to get started making a game if you have no previous knowledge if you use Game Maker. Game Maker is also great for prototyping game mechanics or ideas because you can get a working prototype up a lot faster than in Unity. If you are thinking of making a 2D game than Game Maker would be a great option to use. The sprite and object system in Game Maker is a lot simpler than Unity but with the increased complexity of Unity comes a more robust and creative coding system if you know how to utilize it.

Both are great free game engines to make games. Unity is more complex but less limits to what you can do. Unity has a lot of support and is a better engine for a larger scale game or 3D game. Game Maker has great 2D tools and is much easier and faster to get a game that you made up and running.  



What is game development like? Can you succeed in game development?


Game development can be rewarding. You work hard to create something that you dream up and you can see your unique creation and even play and interact with it. The hard part is getting other people to enjoy and play the game that you worked so hard to make. I think that if you want to start out and make your own video games that you should make it a hobby at first. Just in your free time. Let it be something fun that you do to release your creativity and also develop and learn important programming and marketing skills that you can use in the future. Having game development as your full-time job is very difficult to succeed in the saturated video game market. It is possible to succeed as a solo game developer, just look at games like Undertale and Stardew Valley. These games were made by only one person and they have received many awards and a crazy amount of sales for indie games. But the success of these games is very hard to duplicate, especially for the solo developer that is just starting out.

If you want to know the good and the bad of game development I would recommend reading Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made by JasonSchreier. This book gives a brutally honest look into what it is like being in the game development industry. Every chapter gives information on the development process of a different game, from huge triple-A games to smaller indie games. This book is both insightful and entertaining and would be the perfect gift for anyone looking to get into game development or anyone interested in the video game industry.





Is game development worth it? Can you make money from making games?

For me personally I think that game development is worth it if you have the right mindset. This mindset should be that you know that you are not going to make money any from your games because that is most likely what is going to happen. Let it be a hobby that you enjoy doing and if you make some money then that is just a bonus.

I finished my first game about a year ago. It is a roguelite, toy-themed game that was my dream game to play. I loved coming up with new ideas for it and seeing the progress of it to where it was a playable game. You can check out the game on Steam here: Toybit Quest

Toybit Quest is an indie game focused on fighting toy enemies and dodging bullets



Let me know what you think of my game and be sure to comment with any games that you developed or helped make so that I can check them out. See what other indie game developers are making and find tutorials for Game Maker at YoYo Games Blog.