IamA Indie Game Dev, that has been making games since I was 11(now 22). Today I released my first mobile game AMA!

Which game are you the most proud of?

it is by no means a good game, but a quick game i made called, "death road"... a endless running sorta of game, where you control a semi-truck and trailer on a very slippery road avoiding obstacles... I'm mainly proud of it because it's my only game my friends played endlessly trying to beat XD

You made your first mobile game. Will you use your powers for good or for microtransactiony evil?

i definitely don't like micro-transactions... if i made a large scale mobile game i will most likely just sell it for, say $.99 or what ever and leave out IAP and microtransactions...

i like games that are games, you have to play it, level up, earn your gear and money, IN GAME... i fee like designing a game around playing being able to spend real money on stuff in the game would be boring, even if it is profitable

What about optional cosmetics? Nothing gameplay progress related is barred behind a paywall, but if someone wants a special outfit that's pink and pointy they pay a buck for it or something.

i would be open to doing that i guess ,but would still prefer to only have cosmetics that fit the theme of whatever game i'm making and have them unlocked with in game earned money

having to cater to someone that wants a pink or whatever outfit just to make a bit more money isn't really worth it to me

What recommendations do you have for someone who would like to make some very basic games as a hobby? What learning path or process do you suggest?

start watching tutorials, messing around with engines... i think great beginner engines are unity and godot, although i'm particularly fond of unity...

a lot of developers suggest cloning a game when you first start out.. something like snake, pong, pacman, even flappybird... are all great to try and recreate for your first project...

once you have a bit of experience and want to create your own game, scope is the most important thing to keep in mind.. understand what you know, what you can plausibly learn. also don't have a plan that's set in stone, maybe a type of game you want to make, but start with that and experiment with game play. a game idea you have in your head may play out completely different when to start developing it, so just kinda make it up as you go along, at least until you have a prototype you like

What do you think about the stigma Unity has among gamers?

i know there are a lot of half-assed shovleware games made with unity that flooded steam green light and are still more or less flooding steam... but honestly some of my favorite games are made with unity(kerbal space program and city skylines) so even if i didn't use it, i could never hate it...

Is this just advertising?

i enjoy answering the questions and being "the center of attention" ,but i will say... google ads are expensive

Auto­mod removed my comment beca­use It wasn't a que­stion. But now it's a question.

How many hours did you take to create a Android game? I create iOS apps and never understood the Android SDK. Or did you used another tool? AndroidSDK it's the worst thing on earth for me.

Here is your game description translated to pt_BR. Brazilians love free stuff so it can boost your numbers a bit.

This is not a word by word literal translation, it's using natural language that we use on a daily basis to make people feel more 'at home' when browsing, no machine translator can write this way. I added on the soundtrack part "A great soundtrack, really, put your headphones and raise the volume up!"; and 'A little different every time you play' I changed to 'No playthrough is the same'.

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A Densely packed Action-Arcade Shooter. You play as a cube with Immense power, as well as a grave weakness. when you are hit you shrink, shrink too much, you die...

Um jogo de ação estilo Arcade cheio de conteúdo! Você é um cubo com imenso poder, e também uma grande fraqueza. Você encolhe quando leva dano, e se encolher muito, você já era...

*Upgrade system : Collect Gold and buy new weapons.

Sistema de upgrades: Junte ouro e adquira novas armas!

• Random Components to levels: A little different every time you play.

Fases com mudanças aleatórias: Nenhuma partida é igual!

*Amazing Soundtrack by Eric Oberding!

Excelente trilha sonora por Eric Oberding! Sério, coloque seus fones e aumente o som!

Thank you very much for the translation!

i would say ~50-60 hours for this game

i use unity so exporting to android is pretty easy

Can I design your UI Art?

I'd like that

yes please...

What was the most challenging aspect you had to figure out during the development of your game? Also what’s the biggest thing you learned over the development of your game?

i would say the store and upgrade system. this is my first game that actually saves values of the player, like health,gold, what weapons you've bought, ect... and that's the main thing i learned, how to create a save/load system

As an aspiring video game composer, curious as to what your process is in collaborating and finding composers/music for your games?

the music for my current game, and one my other games i got from users on /r/gamedev offering to make music for games... a lot of people either just like making music and are kind enough to give it away for others to use and/or want to get their name out there

This is about software development in general: From 200-2003 I worked at CNN placing comercials into timeslots that pleased the clients and replacing commercials that didn't run because of breaking news. There were other parts but I'm curious about this part. Would one really good developer & 6 months of time to work on a program make a job like I used to have obsolete? Just curious. I felt like a trained monkey doing it.

i'm not sure about the timeframe it would take to develop it, but i'm sure there's a developer that could make a algorithm program that would do just that

What took you so long?!

a lot of my game projects were over ambitions and remained unfinished or were more or less suited for PC. recently I've scaled back my scope and have found the types of games i want to make are more suited for mobile

You're literally the person I was looking for because I can relate a lot.

I gained interest in programming and stuff since 11. I'm 14 now and I have a keen interest in game dev and coding though I can't find a proper game engine for me and thus I have no completed game made yet. I stuck to godot for long and unity's too complex for some reason. I have basic and intermediate knowledge of python. I see game development as a career path that I'll enjoy. What path would you recommend me to become a full fledged game dev and to make games like hollow knight and celeste?

ps. Wanna collaborate someday maybe with this comparatively rookie person?

i would recommend investing time in learning a language other than python... c# is a great intermediate language, and i believe godot is adopting it more and more, although the godot script is still best to use from what I've heard

maybe try out UE4(if you have a good enough PC) and use the visual scripting, or stick with learning the ins and outs of unity and learn c# as unity is a bit less complex than UE4...

tutorials are your best friends... I've mentioned unity countless times now in these comments but, i do believe it's the best general engine for anyone that wants to make games, so i would suggest keeping your nose to the grind stone and learning it, especially if you want to make your own games and not work for a large company

you could also try to learn c++ if you a traditional job in game dev

I am 14 have been programing with the intension to make games since I was 12, what are some things you wish you knew when you were younger and starting to make games?

My itch.io is Redfive11, and I mostly have used GMS2 in the past but am now learning blender to make 3d games using unity.

mainly not to be afraid of coding... when i first started out with unity, i would use the example scripts and stuff, from like the fps tutorial package, and only modify them a little bit and not really truly understand how coding worked...

so i would say you're on a good path...

also, knowing that a smaller, better polished game that's fun is better than an over ambitious failure that tries to do it all...

I'm a graphic designer/illustrator and always wanted to learn how to develop a game, do you think learning C# without any prior programming knowledge is a good idea? What should I learn first if I want to use Unity as the main tool? And congrats for your first mobile game!

i think you'd be alright with c# as a first language... it depends on the person, but i think coding is pretty intuitive... there are really great learning resources and tutorials nowadays, so it's never been easier... unity themselves have a good beginner c# video tutorial series, also "brackeys" on youtube has a very good tutorial teaching the basics of c#

As an indie dev, what are your thoughts on anti consumer practices? Like epic games snatching up fully funded kickstarter games, getting them removed from promised distribution channels abs locked into exclusivity?

the game industry is huge and like many industries, it becomes cutthroat when there's literally billions of dollars to be made(if you're a giant company)...

i do think that particular example is shitty business practice and will probably backfire like a lot of things epic has been doing lately

How complicated is building a brand new game engine and can it be done by a single person?

yes... I've never attempted it, but a single person could do it... it's relativity complicated, because most modern engines you can use , unity, ue4,godot, ect have everything incorporated into them, physics, how they handle light, ect... you'd have to do all that...so it's possible, but rather unnecessary and time consuming

How did you get into gaming ? And what are some good ways to start og learning it?

it makes it sound like i was alive in the 80s or early 90s, even though i wasn't. but i started out playing NES and SNES. my mom got one at a yard sale and we amassed about 50 games for it... super Mario 3 is one of my favorite games... i think when i was 7 or 8 my aunt game me her og PlayStation with a bunch of games, then i got an xbox and eventually a 360, and just went from there ... so i got about 25 years of gaming done in a decade... XD

Considering the abundance of great questions already asked and answered, I'll ask this terrible question:.

Are you gay and/or a frog?

not gay... and pretty sure i'm not a frog...

Hi! Congrats on finding your passion at such an early age. Do you have any advice for my 9yo daughter who wants to become a game developer? Or any advice for me as a parent (who doesn't understand code or anything like that). Is there anything that your parents did which you would/wouldn't recommend?

they showed occasional support, and never seemed displeased that it was what i was into... so that was good

overall i was left to my own devices...

i know a lot more schools are teaching better and better computer science classes, even in middle school, so it'd probably be good for her if she still wants to do game dev when she's a bit older

you could always download scratch(a basic gamemaker made my M.I.T) and let her play around with it

Game dev/game design as a career(not indie but as an employee at a company)..? Is it true about the cons of the gaming industry (heavy workhours and irregular pay)?

every studio is different, but from what I've heard more or less...

I really love rhe concept of the game do you think you will add cute/girly custom skins for the bullets, block, and other items?

i'm definitely update the game and add some custom skins, more levels, and maybe a few more weapons, and enemy types ... to tell the truth, i wasn't sure it was going to release today, i was getting different errors from google when i was trying to upload it, and then i fixed some stuff, reuploaded, then 30 minutes later it was published when i was expecting it would take a week or at least a few days

Congrats on your first mobile release! glad to see a fellow indie dev here :) I have been developing games myself since I was 12 years old, now almost 21 and still loving it! What are you doing for a living?

I used to work construction, but recently have been delivering food,lol

If I wanted to make games for fun which software would you recommend? I'm guessing unity?

Unity is great.but if you just want to mess around and have fun godot, gamemaker or fusion2.5 are great to get something up and running within a few minutes

I may be a bit late, but do you have a method for coming up with game ideas?

you usually get ideas while playing games or thinking about the type of games you could make.. once you sit down to make it though, it's very much trial and error seeing what works the best

Do you have any favorite game?

not a singularly favorite, but some of my favorites are, max payne 3, total war shogun 2, AOE2, kerbal space program, used to really like minecraft, but haven't played it in a long time, and classics like super mario 3

How bad is your vision man?

20/100

Are you open to changes in your game?

I played the game for a little bit and I have some problems so far (will add more if I find more)

You shoot by letting go of the button, not pressing it

Press R to upgrade... there is no R in a mobile game

I got a commercial in the middle of a fight.

Are these helpful?

Ya... Honestly I wasn't planning on this current build being released this soon. I uploaded it to google to see if was still getting errors and 30 minutes later is was live. Ill have an update out soon

What is your best advice for getting started out in developing a mobile app?

watch a bunch of tutorials, and try things out...read documentation

Do you think there’s a big difference between self taught developers and those who has gotten teachers to get a grip of it?

I’m 17 and I’ve been putting my hand on different gamemaker engines briefly, and I can see myself doing this as I like doing it, but I never quite breach the barrier to truly start to become independent without help from teachers and guides. I hope this isn’t too late.

If all else fails, I can make pixelart, I guess.

some people are more creative when they are given limitations... if you don't know how to pull something off, you'll be more creative in your solution, even if there's a by the book way of doing things...

i have definitely had guides, by watching tutorials, even interviews with esteemed devs

everything just takes time

How important is higher level math like calculus in game development? In my community college I had to drop my calc class and switch from being a Computer Science major because the one teacher who taught all of the calc classes is a psycho, along with terrible tutoring resources.

it's definitely important and used quit a bit, but if you have a grasp on math, you can usually figure out how to apply the higher level stuff by looking at scripting documentation

how did you learn???? and with 11 years??? I would like to learn programming and I know the basics but I have a hard time reading and reading and all of that, I'm 16

It just takes time, I didn't start really coding till I was a few years into my journey.

Any thoughts on Dreams for PS4? I’m 35, and always wanted to make games. Dreams is pretty awesome. Have you thought about learning it?

I havnt, I dont have a ps4. But it looks pretty cool

Have you used unreal engine before? I am looking into using it for a game I want to build. How long did it take you to make your first game? I have people lined up who could help me with different aspects and have a scope of the game in mind, but am already noticing changes in my process already just by doing a storyboard.

Ya, I used UE4 for a while. I like it beacse it has visual scripting.

Name a game new or old that you wished you made?

minecraft...obviously

What color is your toothbrush?

green and white... these are the questions i posted this for XD

If you don't mind sharing, which programming language(s) did you use or have preferred using?

Did the platform of choice (Android in this case) have any impact on your language of choice?

i use c#. When unity still sported java script i used that, but they are similar

with unity building to different platforms is seemless, so at least for this game, if i wanted to create a build of it for Pc or HTML5(which i'm planning on), or anything else i wouldn't have to change much code

if you wanted to build an android app "from scratch" you'd use JAVA

Hey u/chanceofgayfrogs I'm 25 and only ever played game, was bad at math but loved story telling and novel writing, would my skills be useful if I was to study games design? I understand programs a bit but I'm very much creative with it ideas lol

from my understanding even large game developers only have part time writers

if you want to work in games try the art side of it, world building/level design are very important nowdays... you can tell a story and put your own creative twist on different parts of an open world or level

What was the first game you ever made?

a game when i was first teaching myself gamemaker, probably back in 2007-2008 when I was 11. I called it ladder-man. you played as a stick figure that could climb ladders

my first "released" game was a shitty fps called "killing spree" where you shot bloated capsules, with awful background music I recorded with a cheap keyboard and a video camera... i think i used a movie editor to export only the sound ...my ears hurt thinking about it

This is a multi-part question!

Could you do a brief breakdown of your game making process? Which part of the game making process do you enjoy the most? Has it changed over time? How do you come up with ideas for games?

Thanks for the question

a lot of developers start with a standalone prototype, and more or less start over when they have everything worked out in a simple way. I've found I usually start a prototype and build on it, often replacing large parts of it and reworking things to their final form, as my initial prototype systems are "held together with duct-tape" so to speak and are sorta incompatible wit the more complex systems you have to add on top, down the road

honestly now, I enjoy scripting and creating and tuning the actual gameplay systems the most. whereas in the past i'd almost try to avoid complex scripting and yet my game ideas were much more ambitious and I enjoyed coming up with grand story ideas and "scripted" scenes and "epic" boss battles..so i'd say it has definitely changed over time

usually by playing games, one of my most ambitious projects, a open world action rpg called "Dark ages" was definitely inspired by 14 yo me playing skyrim every waking moment. I technically finished it and began starting over and over on it again, trying to improve. I had a vastly improved version i was making with UE4 but my HDD with the file broke and at the time i was too stupid to use cloud backups, so it's gone forever. The game i released today, i actually came up with the idea while sorta drunk and thinking about a small scale game I could make,as in the past i had a habit of biting off more than i could chew, especially for a solo dev, and I came up with the idea " when you get hit, you shrink.."

How do you get started in Game Development? Been wanting to learn how for years but have no clue where to begin.

i started out teaching myself gamemaker... then went to unity and just started watching tutorials, analyzing and "reverse engineering" the example scripts... then learned blender and how to make 3D models...it something you learn over a long period of time, slowly gaining experience and growing your skill set

/r/gamedev is a great place to start and ask question when you're starting off, plenty of great youtube channels too... i know "extra credits" had a series they did a few years ago about making your first game...

my personal engine recommendation is unity, but search around and find one that suits you

as i said in a different comment, try cloning a old simple game, think pong, snake, pacman, find some tutorials on that..it'll help you get your foot in the water, so when you start your own game you'll kinda have an idea of what you'll need and how to go about learning how to do it..

From one self-taught dev to another, what do you love most about programming? And if I may add, what is your favorite way to learn a new library?

probably control... i have always liked computers and even after i started making game it took a while before i fully started coding and i still enjoy the feeling from coding and seeing the instant result of my work

Is game development your only job, or do you have another job and this just provides a bit of cash on the side? Also if you don't mind saying, roughly how much does an indie game developer make?

this my only job right now, but i don't plan on doing it full time for the foreseeable future...maybe the term indie game dev hobbyist is a bit more accurate, although i did spent about 2 weeks full time making this game...

honestly I've never had a commercially successful game...so i can't say

What do boobs look like?

probably bags of sand, if i had to guess

I've always wondered this ever since I've learned how to make android apps. Does game making happen directly in the android studio 3.6 framework or is there a unity type framework built for android as well?

when you install unity there's the option to install all the android sdks... then you can export your game very easily to android... unity has a bunch of built in libraries for all the platforms it supports, being able to script for touch controls or gyroscope/ accelerometer controls, ect

Why does your g and your s look exactly the same?

because i have the hand writing of a second grader...

Been reallying wanting to get into game development. Scared i might be too old(25) and not sure where to start at. Have any suggestions?

you're never too old..

i'd start by browsing /r/gamedev, they've got some great resources

also "extra credits" on youtube has a great video series on making your first game