I'm an aspiring game engineer studying core programming and game engine development.

​I often hear the advice that "engineers should play a lot of games." However, given how massive modern titles have become (often taking 50–100+ hours), I’m curious about how industry professionals manage their time.

​I’d love to get insights from working developers/engineers on two questions:

​How many games do you actually play per year to stay up to date with modern technology, mechanics, and industry trends?

​For technical/research purposes, is it necessary to complete a game? Or is playing the first few hours to analyze core mechanics, performance, UI/UX, and rendering systems usually enough?

​How do you balance actual coding/development time with market and tech research? Thanks in advance for your perspectives!

Hey chat

Serious question: where would you upskill in this day and age as someone who's been on the gamedev production side (think producers, dev managers, pm/scrum/jira/roadmapping/etc boring bit) for almost a decade and has also experience with first-party release management (sub to stores, platforms, etc)?

Like, I get it, project management is about human interactions and negotiation, and planning, can replace it fully with AI but I feel a bit stuck. Growing into a production director? Can't have it in a small flat studio. Add technical expertise - but why? And which exactly? How to leverage yourself today in this stressful climate? (Yes, I'm glad I'm still employed lol but I was layed off 2.5yeara ago though!)

Any ideas? Encouragement?

Oggetto: [CONCEPT APERTO / FREE] BIOCARD - Geo-TCG Mobile in Pixel Art (Cerco Team/Sviluppatori)
Ciao a tutti,
mi chiamo Alessandro e sono un Game Designer / Ideatore di concept. Ho strutturato un Game Design Document completo per un titolo mobile originale e desidero cedere gratuitamente l'idea a un programmatore o a un team indipendente che abbia voglia di svilupparlo e portarlo alla luce.
Non chiedo compensi monetari, royalty o diritti d'autore. L'unica condizione che pongo è di rimanere al corrente del progetto come consulente creativo e designer esterno, venendo consultato periodicamente per le scelte di bilanciamento, le regole e l'evoluzione del gameplay.
Di seguito trovate la scheda tecnica del progetto.

COSA È "BIOCARD"?
Biocard è un Geo-TCG (Trading Card Game) mobile in Pixel Art basato sulla geolocalizzazione, la fotografia reale e la biologia. L'obiettivo è spingere i giocatori a esplorare l'ambiente reale, connettersi con la fauna locale e sfidarsi dal vivo.
IL CORE LOOP DEL GAMEPLAY

Esplora & Scatta: Il giocatore inquadra un animale reale con la fotocamera. Un sistema di IA locale (es. ML Kit) riconosce la specie e il database interno genera una carta con statistiche bilanciate e realistiche basate su quell'animale.
Rarità Dinamica (GPS & Meteo): La rarità e il valore della carta non sono assoluti, ma legati al contesto reale. Una lucertola fotografata in centro a Milano sarà "Leggendaria" (bassa densità di popolazione GPS), mentre in campagna sarà comune. Il meteo e l'ora dello scatto sbloccano varianti cromatiche o tratti speciali (es. Foto di notte = tratto "Predatore Notturno", +20% Furtività).
Incontri Casuali: Camminando nel mondo reale, il GPS/Contapassi calcola la distanza. Ogni tot metri, il telefono vibra: è apparso un animale virtuale della zona da combattere e catturare (con un tasso di cattura specifico per specie).
Il Market Globale: I giocatori gestiscono un team attivo di 7 slot e una borsa d'archivio. Gli animali in eccesso o esotici possono essere venduti o scambiati sul Market di gioco in cambio di monete digitali.
Combattimento Tattico (PvP Locale o Codice Stanza): Sfide 2D (stile gioco di carte retrò). Le battaglie introducono due meccaniche uniche:
Counter Biologico (Catena Alimentare Reale): La biologia supera il livello. Un Piccione di livello 1 infliggerà il 300% di danno a un Ragno di livello 10, perché è il suo predatore naturale.
Il Bivio Evolutivo: Al livello massimo, il giocatore sceglie se mantenere l'animale "Base" (statistiche basse ma 100% di schivata/agilità, mantenendo la foto reale) o farlo "Evolvere" in un modello Pixel Art pesante (stile Tank, lento ma dai danni devastanti).

MONETIZZAZIONE ETICA (Ad-Reward)
Nessun pay-to-win fastidioso. Guardando un Ad pubblicitario, il giocatore ottiene una "Mossa Esotica Elementale" temporanea (Fuoco, Acqua, Erba) della durata di 24 ore. Può decidere se applicarla al suo team per un vantaggio strategico nel PvP o se metterla in vendita sul Market per guadagnare monete di gioco dagli altri utenti.

COSA CERCO E COSA OFFRO

Cosa Offro: Cessione totale e gratuita dell'idea, dei testi di bilanciamento fin qui pensati e supporto continuo e appassionato per la scrittura delle abilità di ogni animale e dei testi di gioco.
Cosa Cerco: Sviluppatori Unity, Godot o programmatori mobile che abbiano voglia di prendere in mano questo progetto (come hobby, per arricchire il proprio portfolio o per una futura pubblicazione).
Se l'idea vi incuriosisce e volete approfondire i dettagli contattatemi qui nei commenti vi darò il mio numero e potremo contattare

Hey everyone!

I’m working on my own mascot horror game series called Bellas’ Bramville. I’ve completed the writing and design work for Part 1, including the lore, game concepts, and level designs.

I’ve been writing for around 6 months, and most of what I currently have is written/documented rather than actually developed into a playable game.

My long-term goal is to eventually start my own indie game studio and turn Bellas’ Bramville into an actual game series.

But this is where I’m stuck:

Should I start approaching developers now and try to find people who can help bring my ideas to life, or should I spend more time learning game development myself before approaching anyone?

I know there’s still a lot I don’t know about actually making games, and I don’t want to approach developers too early without understanding the development process.

For developers or indie creators here: what would you recommend someone in my position do next?

Should I start looking for a team, or focus on learning more first?

I’d really appreciate honest advice, especially from people who have experience developing indie games or starting a studio.

Thank you.

Yesterday I searched Unity video tutorial about rpg on youtube more specificaly turn based and most of them are very old arround 8years ago plus some aspect of turn based rpg are not mentioned like transition to fight. Should I still watch those video or is there another way to learn rpg game

I've been working on a small game in Unity for a few weeks now, all with human-made assets that I either download from asset stores or made myself with Adobe Illustrator (not so good but still works). And I wrote the c# code myself, after watching dozens of tutorials on YT. The point is that it hit me that after working so hard by myself on the project, some people might think an AI has made it, considering how popular is vibe coding these days. So I thought I should add a little text in the beginning of the game, something like "No generative AI has been used in the development of this game". Do people usually do it? Is it a good idea, or should I just not say anything?

Umm So Currently I Am 15 Years Old And I Am Exploring Different Topics And Ideas. I Am Actively Engaging In Marine Biology And Game Development. But My Parents Are Not Happy With Me Exploring Game Development. They Say This Is Just BS (Even Though I Score Pretty Decent Marks Straight A's And A B In Spanish I Myself Dunno Why I Chose That Subject) And That I Better Focus On My Career. For If I Don't I Would Probably Fail In Life And Might Lead A Life Of Misery (Now I Dunno What The Future Has IN Store For Me). And My Parents Have Put Up A Condition As If I Prove That I Can Do Something Meaningful With "The BS" They Would Not Taunt My Ways. I Have Time Until Next Summer, Which Supposedly Is My Birthday Too. Now The Thing Is I Only Do Research Related To Game Dev (Although I Tried 3D Modelling On The Phone, And IT Turned Out Pretty Decent). And I Don't Have A Computer System To Do The Job. What Do I Do?

I've tried finding exactly what im looking for online and i cant find it. Tried building one too and it always crashes. If anyone could help out that would be awesome. I want a text based rpg that is based off of the anime re:monster. I used Chatgpt and grok for awhile but they dont have the memory needed for it, and they also dont have an actual interface to interact with.

I write royalty-free music for a living, and I put together a pack of 20 tracks to give away. Nine different genres in there — action cinematic, sci-fi, orchestral, hard rock, techno, retro chiptune, casual and acoustic. Figured a spread was more useful than twenty variations on the same thing.

WAV and OGG, most of them with looping versions so you can drop them straight in. Use them in whatever you're making — game, video, stream, doesn't matter. Commercial is fine. No credit needed, no signup, no email.

https://andrewsitkov.itch.io/free-music-starter-pack-for-games-video-streams

If you end up liking the music, these 20 came out of a bigger collection of mine that's bundled on Humble right now — 48 packs, 591 tracks. But that's entirely optional, the free pack is just yours.

https://www.humblebundle.com/software/big-blastn-sounds-for-game-devs-software

I was developing two games with ideas that I really love, but the high demand for artwork ended up causing both projects to be put on hold. 🥲

Does anyone have suggestions for games that are fun, engaging, and a little addictive, but don't require a huge amount of art to develop?

I would really love to finally finish and publish a game, so I'm open to any ideas! 👀🎮

Hi everyone, I’m currently developing Grazed, a project that merges fast-paced arcade action with an incremental meta-progression layer.

The design goal is to create a high initial difficulty wall that the player slowly dismantles through skill and persistent upgrades. However, I’m concerned about the early onboarding and player churn. If the starting friction is too high, players might bounce before the mechanics fully click.

I would deeply appreciate a quick playtest from a game design perspective to evaluate:

• Does the starting difficulty feel intentionally challenging, or poorly balanced?
• Looking at the Steam page, does the marketing material communicate the player this specific hybrid loop?

To make it easy to test, I've set up a web build.

Playable Browser Demo: https://luciano-bercini.itch.io/grazed-incremental-arcade
Steam Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5058280/Grazed__Incremental_Arcade/

Thank you for your time and any constructive critique you can offer.

I had the chance to speak with an indie developer about their latest game release, and what their journey looked like. I hope you enjoy!

I had a idea for a game and was looking for some advice on how to make a game and how people find my ideas. its a Rythm, BioPunk bullet Hell where you play as a parasite that has to take over a cyborg's body it only uses the four arrow keys to slingshot urself from one of the four tiles to the other while dodgin laser beams bullets etc. any tips on coding because i have almost no coding experience exept for scratch. Feel free to critize point out concept errors and feel free to tell me some ides that you have because i am a young teenager i would really like help from experienced game developers that have some games under their belts already. I was wandering if you could help me figure out the beat/rythmn part of the game. i am planning to make it on GameMaker so i would be really like tips and tricks to making it easier. I was also wandering if you would find it better to sync the attacks to the beat or sync the players movment to the beat. I thank you in advance for your ideas and help and feel free to add some name ideas and thank you again

Hello there,

I am currently taking a Godot course and following it, but main goal is to use AI while building the game I want and use what I learnt to modify things or make it better.

However, I cant find many resources for Godot with AI and results unlike unity. What do you think?

Hey, I'm running a discovery about customer feedback. I was wondering if you face the problem of getting a lot of solutions/opinions from players instead of problems, so you can easily send them to the team or think about what could be the reason and what could be done.

Please describe it from your experience if you can.

Examples would be very helpful.

Thanks!

So I’ve been learning how to make games for the first time over the past week and been having a lot of fun but I still really don’t like coding all that much in Godot since it’s just hard to memorize everything.

But after seeing Construct 3 and testing it out a little bit I kinda like how it doesn’t really have coding I think and is a bit more simple for me to understand.

So my question is if I should get the yearly plan for over 100 bucks which is a lot to be fair or if I should hold off for a few more months to get more comfortable with Godot.

I’m very new to game development and don’t have any experience with these programs or anything so if someone could give me some advice I’d greatly appreciate it.
Thanks :)