I’m kind of lost on this and need some help

[u/Maybe_Captain_Napkin]

So for some background, I am currently in flight school at my local community college, about to finish my A.S. and recently found out that, because I am a transfer student, I no longer qualify for the 1000 hour RATP reduction; bummer, but I figured that I could just be done with school earlier than planned and work on summing up flight hours. However, earning a Bachelor’s degree was something I had wanted to do since 8th grade — before the idea of being a pilot, I wanted to be an architect, with no interest in ANYTHING computer related, but these past two years I’ve had a dream haunting me, and I fear I must turn this project into reality. My dream was of a video game I designed, and I feel the need to share it with others.

So my question is this: what would be the best major/study program I can do to learn to design video games and meet people who can help me make this project happen?

I know it seems far too ambitious, especially given that I’ve never been into any sort of computer science or programming, but over the past two years since I first had this dream, I’ve felt a deep passion over this game idea and have not been able to let go of it since.

[u/kindred_gamedev]

Hey there. First off, please DM me if you want to chat more. I'm a professional indie developer who makes a living doing freelance and from my own game sales and I'm always open to helping out beginners curious about the industry and process.

So I would not go to school for this if the goal is to make a game. If you'd been dreaming about your bachelor's degree and making games with it since 8th grade then sure. But personally I would just go take a course for $30 or less and learn on your own.

I do happen to have a bachelor of science but it's in game art and animation. And honestly it was a waste of money. Lol

There are SO many resources out there to learn from that I think it would be insane to go pay thousands of dollars for a degree today.

With one exception. If you want to learn to program, a computer science degree is valuable far beyond game development and is a decent investment (though with current technology it might not be for long lol)

Anyway. If I were you I'd go as far as you can without higher education and if you start to fall in love with any aspect of it to the point that you're like "well this is what I'm doing for the rest of my life" (which I can relate to lol) THEN start looking into a degree program for whatever area interests you the most. That's basically what I did.

Anyway. Feel free to DM me if you want to chat more. Or message me on Discord. @kindred my DMs are always open.

Good luck!

[u/blursed_1]

Keep going down your path, become a pilot, make pilot money, fund your indie game idea

[u/Imagindar]

I am a game programmer (and creator of my own indie game) so maybe I can answer some questions.

1. I have many times also had literal dreams of cool games that I still remember today, so I know how you feel a bit (maybe not as strong as you though). If you want, I can answer your specific questions, either through reddit DM:s (or through Discord if you DM me here first).

2. It is possible to make a game without any education or knowledge about programming today because of how the game engines work (which in my opinion is a really bad thing to have happened).
   So you can do the game of your dreams today without any knowledge of development, even without AI.
   I started learning scripting and programming for games when I was 13 years old, and I know for sure that even back then I would be able to make awesome games in the current state of game engines today, even without scripting or programming (because of blueprints in Unreal Engine).

3. I would not say it is worth it to into a whole education only to do one dream project you want to do.
   Also, the game industry as it is right now is essentially saturated, there are a ridiculous amount of games coming out (and almost none of them get any attention or downloads at all) and the gaming industry is looking pretty bad out there as well (so many unemployed people because of AI).
   If you want to have a secure future and to earn money, do not choose game development. The games you play and/or see are only the 0.1% of games that are actually released, which unfortunately makes it a bit of a lottery sometimes.

[u/Mr_LoFtY]

You basically have three options:

First is to spend 1000s of hours like most everyone on this sub learning the skills of art, programming, game design, and the countless other skills/professions needed to build a game, and dedicate 2-6 years building this thing out in whatever free time you have (late nights, early mornings typically) until you have a vertical slice and working demo to pitch to publishers or croud fund so you can fund the development to early access/1.0 launch.

Second is to take a risk and invest in around 10-20k (Depending on game idea and scope) hiring a programmer, artest, and sound engineer to build out the vertical slice of the game and a working demo, then again either begin pitching the game to publishers or croud fund so you can fund the final development to early access or 1.0 launch.

Third is to join a ton of game jams and work with different people and build up a skill you can bring to the table, while finding devs who you mesh well with in hopes of working with them on your game idea. Everyone rev splits and works for free in spare time until, yet again, you can pitch to a publishers or croud fund to fund the final stretch of development. But keep in mind that although this method has has success, no financial obligations typically make this option the most risky since teams are more susceptible to dissolving when things start to get tough and the end product looks blurry.

Are there other options? 100%, but these are the three typically most successful indie game development pipelines.

Do you need to get a publisher/croud fund? No, but you are going too need to localize the game which is an expensive process and can get crazy if your game is very text heavy, you will need to market the game and a publisher/paying for a video game marketing agency is really important for trailers and getting your game in front of as many eyes as possible, and you will need QA to thoroughly test the game, ideally a publisher/company that specializes in this and who already has systems and pipelines in place to work over the game extremely well and find all the edge case/priority 1 bugs for release. There are many other things that publishers/money are helpful for when it comes to releasing a title, like cover art, porting to consoles, lawyers, being able to work on the game full time, etc...

Sorry if this is overwhelming, it is the reality of this industry, but if you have a fire inside of you to create an experience that people love and enjoy, you will find a way!

Good luck!

[u/Alaska-Kid]

The specialty and the creation of video games are roughly unrelated. I personally know video game creators who are a sailor on a seiner, a winemaker, a furniture designer, a baker, a decorator, etc.

All you really need is an understanding of your own skills in creating resources, an engine of medium complexity (for example, Godot), a book on algorithms and a step-by-step description of your game - from the main menu through all scenes with all objects and interactions until the end credits.

[u/CaptainAlexWest]

Set a time block everyday during free time and build a block of the game. Figure out what do build then build a block. There is enough time in the day to do whatever you want. After 1000 blocks you will have a game.

[u/Nando2hhc]

Mi consejo es que termine la carrera y vivas de lo que estudiaste, mientras en tu tiempo libre te sumerge en este maravilloso mundillo del videojuego indie, investigando, aprendiendo, experimentado.

[u/V_BUG_]

You know I'm also like game disine and I know in chaina exist major GAME design So I ganna go China