How to write a game

This title was chosen with intent, intentionally, so that when a person who first thought about what he was about to do his MMO in a couple of months with friends, typing these words into Google, got here, read and realized what a game development is.


Immediately I would like to say that I do not want this topic to cheat off someone’s desire to try myself, but I just want people to come closer to the question right away, without stumbling on the first rake.
So, most likely you decided to write your game for one of two reasons:

1) You played some kind of game, decided that it could be done even better, and you are implementing it right today . Before you do something that already exists, ask yourself the question: “And how will my game be better?”. To be able to compete, you must either propose some new gameplay idea, or wrap the already familiar gameplay into such a new and clear wrapper so that it becomes attractive. The second method is used more often.
2) You have a great idea. Oh yes, here it is:

It will be a labyrinth that is built on the basis of an insensitism. Of course, horror. Of course there will be things like midnight, during which all sorts of creatures crawl to the surface and try to grab the main character. And of course there will be magical mirrors, passing through which the hero will hide from monsters. And most importantly - to reach the end. And of course ... I was carried away by fantasies. Just like when you decided to implement your idea.
The difficulty of introducing a new idea, of a new principle into the gameplay, is that it is a bet on a shot. If your project shoots - you're in the top. If not - are you in ...
')
The next question to ask yourself is: with whom will I make the game? And here there are three options:
1) Of course, I can do anything! And the result will be:

One you will not make a game that you can sell or which at least will not be ashamed to show your friends. Because you can not draw, animate. You do not have the skills of a designer who can explain to the artists the stylistics of the characters, set the color palette that will characterize the game or understands that if the bun is painted green - it is perceived as friendly / neutral, and if it is black in yellow torn stripes - then it’s the enemy which is not worth approaching. Because you are not a sound engineer, and even on a synthesizer you will not be able to pick up the necessary tones of sounds and tie them up with the game concept and compositions so that it sounds harmonious, and your bun does not emit wooden creaks when falling. Because you are not a developer who is able not only to write a game engine, but to understand the principles of operation of existing, free, and you do not understand the difference between keyframe animation and skeleton, and also for you is just a spell: mipmapping, anistropic filtering, parallax mapping , volume shadows, point light, GPU, CUDA, Inverse kinematics ... You do not realize that the number of polygons in the frame of the game is being considered, and that models with this definition are built on this basis. the number of triangles. What you need to set up portals and understand how that one or the animation will look like. scene with different lighting. You are most likely a screenwriter ... More precisely, the one in front of whom is a sheet with 10 - 20 abstracts about all the adventures of the kolobok through the labyrinth of improbability.
2) I have a team of friends with whom we truly gankali on 15th lvele Allods. Yeah i see

See that on the left? He is already in the drum on which he looks. Tomorrow he will say that he wants to take a walk, and after tomorrow that mom will not let the computer. The second one, who with a confident look, will take part in the project for a month, and then work on another project, where the month will also take part. Well, the third one, confident in himself, wearing bright socks with sandals, will hold out half of the development with you and when you have two left, he will leave to study in another city.
3) I have two friends who are interested . But this is the correct answer. For the whole process of developing a game without a bubble can be held on two powerful pillars: a leader who inspires to move everyone forward, or enthusiasm for aka the ability to bring things started to the end. So far, we have just started to do and have a fuse, we must immediately try to bring the project to a state where it can be “touched”: see, hear or even run. This will greatly motivate further, because the level of enthusiasm will fall every day, and the ability to look at the current result, especially if it constantly moves forward, motivates the team to work further.
It is also worth remembering that AAA-class projects, i.e. Top games of the best companies, engaged in a dozen or even hundreds of people. Developers, designers, artists, animators, modelers, screenwriters, makers, managers, those. support, accountant, secretary, cook (and who will feed everyone, right?)

Do not be particularly upset when it turns out not "Crysis 3".

You have a team, you have a project. Then you need to set aside some time, when all the members of a team gather somewhere and work simultaneously in a team. It is inspiring and it gives teamwork. Forget about all sorts of forums, skype chats and other nonsense, which supposedly should help you. All run away and be forgotten. Find a time and place. And the rest - let everyone work in their own rhythm.
It is worth remembering that when in half a year you are almost finished with your sapper and say that after tomorrow you will be released, you suddenly come to the realization that you will have to work for another half a year. Yes, yes, it will, see, I’m just warning you that there are no heart attacks.

Next you have to ask yourself: how do we even sell the game? If you write for mobile platforms, then the official Apple / Google sites will give you the answer on how to get the loot out. And if you want to write games for PC / XBOX, etc. - then you need to contact publishers. Or who release the game through all sorts of optical drives, ala DVD. Or who is engaged in digital distribution. Ala Steam. Be prepared for the fact that with your income the publisher will remove the chips and put yourself to eat. It's a shame, because this is your labyrinth and your bun? No, dear friend, this is reality.


But if you still implement your project, then do not think that the whole world was waiting for him. The audience of the gaming industry is huge in its mass, and someone likes the race, someone shooters, someone kittens. Someone will scream in the comments, someone will call the game of the year. None of these opinions should sway you.
Only bug reports and features requests.

PS
Yes, I have finished projects.
Yes, I wrote engines from scratch.
Yes, I wrote on other people's engines.
Yes, I am involved in the development of the game now.
Yes, I work in a permanent place.
No, not in the gaming industry.
Yes, I myself have collected all these rakes.
Yes, there really is no game with such a labyrinth.

UPD: I will quote again the phrase that is in the beginning of the article so that people who read the end of the middle and the end of the end could absorb its essence with the brain: I would just like to say that I do not want to cheat on someone with this topic, but I just want people to come closer to the question immediately, without stumbling on the first rake.