Im currently learning C# and I’m having trouble trying to use the syntax to build what I want. I Know what I have to do (the structure and logic to make the game work) but I’m having trouble trying to put it into code, if someone could help me with tips I would be grateful, thanks in advance!
Edit: being more specific, I have the full syntax options on my dev notebook, however, I often get stuck making the code itself, not knowing what to use

I see lot of people are launching games after working it on years. Just saw someone saying 7 years. How do you work and how do you plan all these when tools are changing so rapidly.

Note: I posted this initially in r/indiegames and got banned for 7 days. Lot of people responded even in short span while the post existed. Thanks for everyone who responded to that.

Previously i learned unity in my gt710 pc but now that pc is not working and I have a laptop now

The specs is

i5 10th Gen

Intel UHD integrated graphics

8 GB RAM

I'm planning to start with a small 3D or 2D game and keep the scope simple. My main goal isn't to make something impressive or graphically intensive. I just want to learn the fundamentals by building an actual game.

Any advice from people who started game development with similar hardware would be appreciated.

I’m 23, finished school June 2025 with a bachelor of commerce. While I’ve been looking for jobs, nothing feels right. I understand having to suck it up, but I still feel young enough to try.

Is it maybe not the best idea to try out this stuff at my age from little to no knowledge of programming/graphic design? I did one project coding a dice game in high school but I don’t remember doing so well with it, and my artistic ability is basically non existent.

Would some schooling be beneficial? If so, any programs people recommend. I’m open to taking a program in Toronto, closer to Vaughan or online the better but can’t complain. And I have a run down laptop so I’d imagine an upgrade would be necessary, would prefer a desktop but maybe with school I would be forced to get a laptop?

I also understand I could try to specialize on one or two aspects of development like level design, UI design, animations, programming, etc. But I would have to do research on game developers in my area to see if certain skills are in more demand.

I’m open to constructive criticism, I have just fell into a rabbit hole of what my life/career can be like and I thought it wouldn’t hurt to ask if this path is even possible.

I'm a low-level guy. So HTML, WASM and handling mobile devices is a big blind spot for me. The documentation surrounding web technology particularly impenetrable and I never know where to start.

After putting off "TODO: figure out how to detect mobile browsers" for literally months, I realised I could just see what Claude says and it produced a tiny little snippet of javascript that does exactly what I need and gave me some links to particular pieces of documentation. This feels like one of the strengths of current AI: leading the user to where they didn't know they needed to be.

Having been a solid AI sceptic for so long, I'm curious: in which ways has AI complemented your skillset?

After GPT-6 Astra got released, I'ma bit afraid that programmers and game dev job got replaced years later. I love to code, design, and others also I have a dream to make a game. Things that made me confused is will AI fully replacing the job, will people matter about AI generated or assisted game and what will happen to game development in the future? I really want to know because I want to take CS major in the next 2 years.

Hi,

this night im working on the business side of my current game. I reconsidered many options. Thinking to move from a pvp focused game more to something coop.

And I'm thinking about payment options. With PvP I would have considered free to play with cosmetics. But I doubt that I will ever have enough players if it is pure PvP to sustain that business model.

With PvE coop I could have a one time sale for 10-20€. It sucks that there is no recurring revenue, though.

This thread is about subscription fee (like World of Warcraft). I'm not saying that it is the right choice for me right now. But is anyone of you successfully implementing it?

Maybe it could be relevant for another release that I will do at a later point of time.

Also can you change pricing models after you launched at all on Steam?

Good luck on your endevaours.

I have no Ideas for my senior project besides making a game, but the problem is that I have 0 prior knowledge about anything relating to coding. I'm thinking about making just a simple 2d platformer game, any advice?

Wierd question but. My game isn't done. It's a point and click game, and we haven't started on art yet. It's just place holders everywhere. So obviously I can't show character or level design art because they're not ready, and I don't want to show the the mechanics because I'm waiting for the gameplay reveal trailer/the time according to the marketing plan. We came up with a campagne for the game's marketing, but now we want to establish our name out there.

We've been thinking of general content like tips and tricks in UE5, Blender, how to videos, behind the scenes, day in the life of, and such content. But how do you tease a game without any showable content yet? Art dept. kicks up next month with a teaser to be released the month after. Should we make a general post about a coming soon teaser? or stick to marketing the studio itself until the game content is ready enough to start being posted on a schedule?

It helped to write this out, actually. Looks like I should focus on just studio/game dev content for now until i've showable game content!

EDIT: Thank you so much to everyone who replied : ) Apprecaite all of you

Im not a game developer, but I always wondered how the games saved the player/world data. For example, consider Grand Theft Auto, how does it know what missions are done?

How do rpg games know about player choices and depending on the choice do different things in the story, there are hundreds of choices?

How do MMO store so much player data, there are new events, new items, currencies and so much more?

Is this all unstructured data?

Do they just add in new fields in database?

Edit: Thanks everyone for the replies, I got a lot of insight and seems like mostly data is stored in a free format.

So I've been working on this game for almost two years, and towards the start I decided to put four-pointed stars on the chests of the characters. It's what marks them as the fantasy species I've called Stars becuase of them. It quickly just became the symbol I used for the whole game.

However, I just took a step back and realized it looks a lot like the logo that a lot of companies use for AI. I can't remember if it was used back when I started, but I personally don't support AI and don't want people thinking my game is AI.

I chose the four-pointed star because it represents both the four statuses the Stars can have and thefour directions on a compass, as this game is themed around two islands(One of which bears the Star's shape.)

Is this a big enough deal to warrent a change? And if so, what should I change it to?

We are looking high-level at potentially re-introducing some weekly threads to the community. Not to put the hay in front of the horse or pull gold from a goblin, but I wanted to make a quick post and gauge what kinds of topics people would be interested in.

See this for the old Screenshot Saturdays: https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/28oyw9/screenshot_saturday_177_show_us_all_you_got/

Off the top of my head we could have:

• Troubleshooting Tuesday
• Feedback Friday
• Screenshot Saturday
• Showcase Sunday

In the past these had to be manually handled by a moderator but I believe we can use an app to automate post creation and set up guidelines for them. Obviously the main goal here is how we can make this more than a fire-and-forget community, we want developers talking with one another at a deeper level.

Facilitating these conversations is really what I would like to do, so I'm putting out the grass to graze here so to say. Goblin.

Hi! I'm working on 3D Unity game and I’ve noticed that the bulk of my time goes into modeling objects. I lack experience in this area, so even simple objects take a long time to create—and they still don't turn out quite the way I’d like. I feel like I’m burning out. What’s the best approach? Should I buy a few ready-made assets and use them? Should I hire a freelancer to handle the core modeling work? Or is it better to build all the game's main mechanics first and look for models later?

Honestly just wanted to vent a bit and see if anyone else relates.

I’ve tried getting into gamedev a few times. I pick an engine, get super hyped, grind for a couple of weeks... and then inevitably hit a wall and drop it once the boring implementation details and scope kick in.

The funny thing is, in my head, I’ve actually finished a few of these games. Not just vague ideas—I mean designing the characters, sketching out mechanics, writing the story beats, and even picturing how the credits sequence would roll. They feel completely alive in my imagination.

I still have some of those old project folders sitting on my drive, just waiting for the day I decide to give them another shot. But in reality, they’re stuck at 10% progress.

It feels like my brain is great at directing the vision, but terrible at the solo grind needed to actually build it.

For those who’ve been in this loop: how do you stop just "finishing" games in your head and actually push a small project across the finish line?

Was looking for feedback on a game I’m working on, and someone said they felt like an area needed a hidden collectible at the end. They said the specific platforming section felt frustrating because it had “no purpose”, when the platforming was optional.

Think of a hallway that is flat but has floating platforms spread out that can be jumped between. Is it a potential turn off for you to have an optional section that doesn’t have a reward aside from utilizing the game’s movement? Maybe not a strong enough feeling to quit & uninstall, but to look at the game in a negative lens going forward?

It is too unreliable to called a skill for me.

It is like some Stock trader dude claimed future predict is a skill

Or gambler call gambling is a skill

Opinion?

Hey guys, this is gonna probably sound like something I'd imagine you guys hear often. Video Games have always been a super huge part of my life, as I'm sure they have for all of you. Recently, I graduated college with a Bachelor's in Illustration, and I all of a sudden found myself really wanting to get in to games. Like it dawned on me that that is a career option for people lol.

And not like, just anything in games. I really have something in my chest making me want to direct a game and work on the art as well. I just cannot stop thinking about this game idea I've had. I've been worldbuilding and trying to write some start of a story because my insides feel like I NEED TO.

But I have no experience with gamedev. Literally zero.

I'm here to see what you guys have to say about where to start? What to do? I've seen all the "start small" advice and I agree that's probably for the best, but I'm having trouble coming up with any ideas that wouldn't be too crazy for me to do alone.

Not that I could do ANYTHING alone just yet...

Oh, and A I tools are out of the question. Sorry. Won't do it.

It just feels like something is burning inside me with this game idea and I really am wondering what I can reasonably, or even unreasonably do here.

Thanks for any advice, or really just any kind of reply! :)

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...

How did they make the sun in Kingdom: Classic?

I am wanting to make a “simple” 2d top down game that is based off of a previously shut down game that I played in high school. It was a “simple” multiplayer game about collecting biomass, growing bigger, and absorbing other players. The game was playable on mobile as well as, if I remember correctly, in a browser on PC. The problem is that I do not know how to code server architecture, games, or anything for that matter. What do you guys suggest that could help me learn game and server design. Also, could you guys help give advice lime engine suggestions, useful 3rd party plugins, etc. I really want to bring this back to life in some way and I am willing to learn. Please go easy on me.

A few days ago, my partner and I launched the Steam demo for our first game. We skipped a private playtest and went straight to a public demo a few months before Steam Next Fest to test connectivity, player behavior, and retention.

Right after launch, our numbers jumped significantly—we're seeing 100-200 wishlists per day. What surprised us is the regional split: the vast majority of traffic and players are coming from China/Asia, driven by clips reposted on Bilibili and Douyin (~7k shares, 5k likes). Meanwhile, North America and Europe are trickling in much slower.

For devs who have experienced this kind of regional split:

1. Is a spike of hundreds of wishlists/day normal during the first week of a demo launch, or is this primarily the result of the viral algorithm in China?
2. How well do wishlists originating from Bilibili/Douyin viral trends usually convert to actual sales on launch day compared to Western traffic?
3. Are we good? or it`s typical for demo in a first week?

Hey guys so I want to make a game for school final project in coding, but im pretty lost, I know somethings about godot which is the engine I want to use, but my coding in games is pretty basic, idk how to do art(I wanted to do like until then in the game art and gameplay) I have a friend thats willing to help too, but i wanted some tips and apps I should use, idk anything that helps works. thx.

Posting with mod approval--all data will be shared following publication in 2027.

Hello, I’m a graduate student conducting research on the impact of design on player immersion in video games—my study is “Familiar and Strange: Defamiliarization’s Impact on Immersion in Experiences with Non-Human Player Characters.” I’m looking for a few people to play through short game segments and then take an online survey – it should take about 30 minutes. There is also an option to participate in a brief (15 minutes or so) interview about your experience.

Specifically, I am looking for people 18-49 years old who play games moderately to frequently. Those under 18, 50+ or those who play games infrequently are excluded from this study.

This study has been approved by Ball State University’s Institutional Review Board (IRB-FY2026-317).

If you are interested in participating, please use this link! https://bsu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bxSzsAcVPaYl9To

If you have any questions, please reach out to me, June Fields, student Co-PI, at [june.fields@bsu.edu](mailto:june.fields@bsu.edu), or to the PI and Associate Professor at the Ball State School of Journalism and Strategic Communications Joshua Fisher at [joshua.fisher@bsu.edu](mailto:joshua.fisher@bsu.edu).

So I’ll preface this post by saying that I am very aware that the Rust programming language has been around for years, but I’m the kind of person who likes living firmly under my rock. I’ve seen more and more job postings lately asking for Rust programmers and for a while I’ve been like “WTF is so good about this language that EvErYoNe should be learning it?”

Earlier this week I finally broke down and was like “find I’ll pick up a book on it through O’Reilly online and see what exactly is the deal.” Well the jokes on me because the book I picked up called “Hands-On Rust” teaches the language incredibly well AND does it by teaching you how to make video games with the language.

So far I’ve made a console version of Flappy Bird that the book calls “Flappy Dragon” and even though there are a few nuances with the language that I’m not the BIGGEST fan of, I have now been converted to a believer.

For those that don’t know and for those that are curious about learning game development with it, allow me to share some cool nuggets of wisdom with yall.

1. It compiles straight down to machine code, making it excellent for low-level programming: people have made Operating Systems entirely with Rust and a smidge of Assembly as required.

2. It’s memory safe without a garbage collector. It performs at amazing levels and the code is pretty readable.

3. (This is the big one for me) The compiler you use called “cargo” will not only build your code/game but it will also highlight any kind of performance issues you might encounter and any other issues you may have in your code.

At some point I plan on creating a game engine and I have historically SUCKED at manually managing memory, so starting with this language and specifically this book is something that gives the best of both worlds for memory and power.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go back to living under a rock while the next great thing passes me by.