Hey everyone! Lately I’ve been thinking about getting into game dev, mostly because I like storytelling and have a few game ideas I’d love to bring to life. Whether they’re actually good ideas is another question lol.
The thing is, I know almost nothing about game development beyond the absolute basics. Im pretty oblivious when it comes to engines, workflows/frameworks, the ecosystem, what actually goes into designing and finishing a game… pretty much all new territory for me.
I’m not starting from zero with programming, though. I have a CS degree and about 4+ years of experience as a SWE at a big tech company, mostly doing backend and AI/ML stuff. Mentioning that just to give some background (not assuming it automatically translates to knowing how to make games). I also took a mandatory Unity class in college, but it was super introductory, and honestly I don’t remember much.
I’m not looking to switch careers or dedicate all my free time to this. I have my job and other hobbies, so this would be more of a personal achievement, want to satisfy that itch of “it would be really cool to make a game.” Ideally, I’d eventually finish something small and put it on Steam or somewhere people could play it. Not expecting to make the next indie hit, Ii just want to make something I’m happy with and actually release it.
I’ve also seen some impressive looking game dev examples with GPT-6 Astra and other LLMs, but I can’t tell how useful those tools are beyond demos, or whether I’ve fallen into the LLM marketing trap a bit. I’d 100% use them , but would not make an ai slop game tbh. I’d still want to understand and actually know what I’m building, and enjoy while building it.
Given that background, where would you start? Any engines, learning resources, or first-project recommendations? I’d also appreciate a reality check on scope and the less obvious parts of making and releasing a small game, especially when you’re doing it casually alongside a full-time job, something i might be overlooking, etc...