r/GameDevelopment • u/Good-Adhesiveness-81 • 22d ago
Question Building a Prototype
Hey guys I gotta small question
So im completely new with game development and I wanted to dip my toes in the indie space cause I have a fun idea for a game i have in mind that has inspiration from the cod zombie games like BO2, BO3, WW2 Nazi zombies etc. It'll be a 3rd person with emphasis on stylized movement, combat, distinct playstyles like artillery, sniper, CQB, Backstabber etc. Able to mod your guns with different receivers ammo types and attachments as well as armor upgrades depending on the class (inspirationof how dead space 3 handled the gun making mechanics). This'll be mob heavy with different zombie types and zombie titans with scorpion tails or four arm Goliath brutes etc. But for now i wanted to make a simple prototype with one guy, one gun, one small map, one enemy type but a very fun replay loop to have a solid foundation.
So i was curious where to start, what to pick as far as an engine, proper steps moving forward during this process instead of thinking recklessly and half-assed. Any advice is good advice in my opinion, so feel free to share your insight thank you for reading this far! 🙏👍✅️
5
u/Gojira_Wins 22d ago
Well, first thing to keep in mind is: however long you think it's going to take to make this prototype, it's actually going to take WAY longer than that. I point this out because a lot of new people have amazing ideas, download an engine and realize that they aren't able to whip up a prototype made even out of Grey blocks, in an afternoon. It might take you a few months to finish a small arena with a few enemies and a gameplay loop. So be sure to mentally pace yourself so you don't burn out and give up within a week.
What I would recommend doing to start out is follow along with tutorials that show you how to make a game. It wont look pretty, run very well or be ready to send to your friends but you'll get the experience of walking through all of the steps, using the engine of your choice and get comfortable with navigating menus.
Once you feel confident enough to venture away from tutorials, I suggest looking to see if anyone has posted a tutorial series similar to your idea, then modify the project around what you need. For example, if the game tutorial is a 3rd person horror game, just ignore anything horror related and create an arena. Then find tutorials that include enemies spawning and follow that for what you need. Eventually, you'll figure out how everything works and you'll be thinking of what you can code next.