So, you're a noob. People (not here of course) make fun of you for not knowing a thing about how to make a game. You think you're never going to learn to program and it seems like the task is impossible. This article is here to help you out.
Some Things Every Noob Should Know
I have recently seen one of our members go from starting out being an almost complete noob to talking about programming like a semi-pro way and writing his own tutorials. He has made this progress at an incredibly fast rate. In fact, he's made so much progress so quickly that I have to stop myself occasionally from referring to him by his traditional nickname — the "hardworking noob." I can't call him that anymore as he is no longer a noob. The moment he surprised us with his own tutorial he became one of the core regulars — those people who explain things to noobs. Only for the purposes of this article will I call him the HN.
On the other hand, we have a few other noobs. They occasionally come to the forum, check the member list for new members, and PM them asking them to join their "team." There is no real team. What they really want is for someone to make their game for them.
And so I was thinking, what's the difference between "the hardworking noob" and the forum monkeys? It's all in how they go about learning to make games. This article is here to tell you exactly how the HN made such rapid progress and how you can learn from him.
I'd like to say that his progress was due to what he's learned here at Game Design Novice. This is not the case. What you are about to read is what I have learned from him.
Requirements
To learn to make a game, you first have to have some basic requirements. If you don't meet these requirements, then its useless to try. This is where we separate the people who can learn to make a game and those who never will.
1. You have to want to make a game.
And by "want to make a game", I mean that you're going to have to want to make it yourself. People will very often help you with the details of your game, but they won't make it for you. You're going to have to accept now that in order to make a game, you are going to have to learn to program.
2. You have to be willing to start small.
The HN came to GDN working on simple text-based games. He hadn't learned how to properly manipulate images yet and seemed far away from making any kind of 2D game. Before we knew it, HN had a platform example and soon afterwards was working on a top-down game.
Always remember this. Start with smaller simple projects. When you do this, you are learning what you need to move on to more complex projects. Eventually, you'll be able to program exactly the game you want to make.
3. You have to be willing to not talk L33t.
Game designers and game programmers are generally people who have at least above average intelligence. People who have above average intelligence see using leetspeek and any other unnecessary abbreviation ( "U", "4", etc ) as a sign of stupidity and laziness. If you talk like this when you need help, you will most likely be ignored. Therefore you should avoid using them. (see list of annoying words and phrases that annoy the people who can help you)
Not once has HN attempted to be cool by marring the English language and often I forget that he's a part of the younger generation of game developers. Because he doesn't try too hard to impress people, he fits in with everyone else and is able to talk on the same level as the oldest member of GDN.
How to Learn to Make a Game
If you have the right stuff, congratulations. You've at least shown that you are capable of making a good game one day. Now you have to actually learn how to do it. In order to learn, you have to be able to do the following things constantly.
1. Read the manual
When you have a problem, read the manual, documentation, or other helpful material that your game creation tool came with. You may not understand it at first, but you should always make an attempt as the first thing you do when you have a problem. Each time you make this attempt, you will find that you understand more of what you read than you did before.
2. Ask questions
If you don't understand something and if the manual doesn't have the answer, or you can't understand it, ask someone about it. You'll find that if you ask specific questions about programming (Example : What's a variable?) they will gladly help you. Just so long as its a specific question and you are not expecting someone to make your game for you.
3. Experiment
When making a game, you will often find that the code you write doesn't do exactly what you expect it to do. When this happens, experiment with your code just like a scientist would. Form a theory about what is going wrong and test it out. If you think your platform character is falling through platforms because the gravity is too high then change the gravity and see what happens.
Conclusion
And that's all you need to do. Honest. We're proud to have the "hardworking noob" as a regular member of Game Design Novice. If you take this article to heart and learn from his example, there's an almost certain chance that we willl be proud to have you as a member as well.
Are you ready to get started making your own games? Then check out our Getting Started in Game Design page.
Comment on this Article
Comment on this article or ask a question.
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thanks for the tut. I was wondering how I would make a target shooting game, using the mouse as your cross hair.
the targets should move across the screen and eventually hit your little castle thing. I want to know how I would make the targets move across the screen and how they would be destroyed on the left click of the mouse. any help would be much apreciated :D also anything about different weapons and how I make them react differently (like grenades bouncing and exploding) would be awsome.
Thanks. If you could get back to me asap that would be great :D
josh.
Please ask this on the forum in an appropriate category, and at the same time let us know what programming language you are using (or want to use), and i am sure you will receive lots of help :)
Nice job :)
Im sure this will help many new people to the forum like me
Im going to become the next HN :)
great article!
That's a great attitude to have. :)
— hartnell
Great article.
I'm from Mexico and I am glad to hear about this, in many forums I'd always posted the "wanna" word.
Thank you have a great day.
-—Leor8apuma
I dunno…I've gotten away with using words like 'wanna' and 'gotta' and such in forums quite a bit (and hey, I just used 'dunno' without meaning to. ^^) I guess it'd be annoying, but it's more of how I speak.
The list of annoying words is entertaining to read through, though, and very true. ^^ I still think that, in my experience, you can get away with a few words on that list as long as you are still polite and using proper english.
I'm not a n00b (I hope…), but I still think this article is well-written and to the point. ^^ It'd be helpful for newbies, definitely.
It is the overall impression that you leave that matters. You are not going to get lynched for using dunno every now and then. But the more annoying your writing gets the fewer people will give you the time of day (did i say that right?) :)
You made me go back to my introductory post and make sure I hadn't used any of the "annoying words". I can understand how some people would find most of those annoying, but slang like "dunno", or "wanna" have an organic feel to them. Not that I'm making an argument for their use, but I can see why some people would prefer those to the clinical feel of "don't know" or "want to".
Regardless, it's an excellent post, and one that I've added to my bookmarks for quick reference.
-V
I disagree with you on one point: leetspeak isn't always a sign of laziness or stupidity. Yes, things like, "wut r u doin?" are wildly annoying, but leet is not what they're speaking. When an individual is incapable of correct spelling and grammar, it is far beyond obnoxious, and I agree that asking for help or trying to have a serious conversation in "leet" or simple bad grammar will get you ignored/blocked/assassinated, but you were making it seem like the 1337speakers out there are village idiots and looked down upon by all, when that is not the case. Leet is definitely not meant for those types of people. You're stereotyping a lot of above average intelligence with a lot of illiterate, mentally challenged idiots. I didn't even read the rest of the article, but I'm sure it was very nice.
When you can learn to read entire articles, then I might bother reading whatever you write.
— hartnell
Welcome back to the wiki, Shawn! We knew you'd do it. ;-)
It was inevitable Mr. Hartnell.
Fine. What is a sign of, then? Because, to be honest, I can't possibly imagine a reason why an "above average intelligence" person would like to sound like a broken record (or make the same impression a monkey punching on a keyboard would do)…
I think mostly it's a sign of immaturity, which isn't the same thing as laziness or stupidity - it just comes off that way.
I don't know anybody over the mental age of 13 (note: mental age 13 lingers well into the 20s with a lot of guys - me included!) who wants what they *type* to be cool, and only readable by the 'elite.' At some point, you grow into wanting what you *think* to be cool, and you want to type it in a way that makes it available to everybody.
Unless you are using leetspeak for the purpose of well placed humor…
uhhh, why did it said in stupid talk, L337/1337
You are not an elite, we know.