Latest: /// Morning Discussion

Go Ahead and Make a Game

Nov 29, 2005 12:15pm CST tags: Nerdy News
Can't find any games you want to play right now? There's a lot of good stuff out at the moment, so you're probably looking in the wrong places, but that's another discussion. If you know the sort of thing you do want to be playing, you could always try making your own game. Download Squad has the first part of a two-article series, "How To: Create Your Own Game Company." The article, or at least this part of it, is actually more focused on tools for prototyping and creating a game than it is about forming the actual company itself, but there are also links to useful documents regarding design and business aspects.
While it's a little cost prohibitive to start developing Xbox 360 or PS3 games from your bedroom, let's not forget games like Roller Coaster Tycoon and Alien Hominid went from humble beginnings to financially successful franchises. Although you'd have to spend hundreds of hours developing AAA titles, there are some ways to get slick games up and running quickly. I'm going to show you a few ways to do just that.

It covers a variety of game engines, from those requiring little to no programming experience to those suited to seasoned coders. There are also various graphical tools suggested. The author promises to cover the logistical aspects in the next installment, including payment methods and paths to online and offline distribution. The internet has of course no shortage of people looking for teams to make mods, but with the tools given in this article you might be able to actually prototype a design on your own so you have something to show for yourself. If that's the sort of thing you might enjoy, give this a read.

        

Related Stories

  • Morning Discussion

    5250 Comments | Sep 18, 2007 12:54am CST

    Hello everyone, hope the day finds you all well. The TF2 beta unlocked last night after a few hiccups, so I haven't played it but we have this rather ...

  • Lord British Robbed by Idiots

    145 Comments | Mar 19, 2007 3:33pm CST

    Ultima creator Richard "Lord British" Garriott recently suffered the second break-in in two years to his Austin-area property maintained for special ...

  • Insecure HDDs Highlight Photocopier Risk

    25 Comments | Mar 14, 2007 3:00pm CST

    The Associated Press brings us an interesting report on a huge security risk most (myself included) take for granted: photocopiers. Turns out, many of...

  • Please Ditch DRM

    75 Comments | Feb 06, 2007 3:19pm CST

    So the big fuss lately in the music world is the slight hope that music companies may finally give up on the idea of DRM when it comes to music pur...

  • A Different Take on Brain Games

    8 Comments | Jul 13, 2006 1:00pm CST

    Scientific journal Nature released details this week of an experiment in which a video game was controlled by a paraplegic subject using nothing but t...

  • Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD Ramps Up

    96 Comments | Jan 04, 2006 6:55pm CST

    Well, it doesn't look like there's going to be tons of real gaming news at CES, but the heated battle between Sony-backed Blu-ray and Microsoft-backed...

  • Philips Showing High-Tech Game Board @ CES

    17 Comments | Jan 04, 2006 6:51pm CST

    Philips today announced that visitors of CES will be able to check out the "Entertaible", a tabletop gaming platform featuring a 30-inch touchscreen L...

  • Microsoft Teaches You to Make Games

    77 Comments | Dec 29, 2005 2:00pm CST

    In January and February, Microsoft will be hosting a series of free webcasts teaching the basics of 3D game development using C#. It's aimed at begin...

  • Go Ahead and Make a Game

    18 Comments | Nov 29, 2005 12:15pm CST

    Can't find any games you want to play right now? There's a lot of good stuff out at the moment, so you're probably looking in the wrong places, but t...

  • A JavaScript FPS, Seriously

    35 Comments | Nov 28, 2005 5:30pm CST

    Well, it doesn't have the "S" part of FPS quite yet, but Benjamin Joffe has developed a browser-based JavaScript "3D walker". It requires a browser t...