Just how hard is it to fully make a game?

[Lifelong]

Just curious.

me and my brother have long had an idea for a game with a particularly novel gameplay style.

Its always seemed impossible to bring it to fruition (multiplayer based) due to the high level of skill needed.

However, we've had a tinker around with the Unreal development kit and it seems exceptionally powerful. Added to which you can buy certain assets.


If two people worked part time (maybe 4 hours a day after work), supplementing some of the work to being paid, do you think it is possible to create a credible game?

And more to which, is it possible to create a game of a good enough quality to get people interested in buying it?

 

[Lifelong]

I figured it'd be pretty difficult! Maybe its worth trying to focus on

1) Getting the core mechanic to work. Without being able to get that working, there'd be no point continuing!

2) Getting one level created to a moderately polished level. Focus on getting it looking good and balanced.

Skill wise, we're fairly limited. He's fairly good with graphics so that will help out art wise. I've got a fairly logical mind and a fairly clear vision, and have been around computers long enough. I've got a high level of excel VBA, and have done some SQL in the past, so I reckon I could pick up a medium level of scripting easy enough.



I guess monetisation isn't the most important thing in the world, but I'd wonder how you'd get the exposure needed to get people interested in the game. Just word of mouth? Through forums?

 

[Lifelong]

Maybe but it would be difficult, a more realistic option could be a mobile game.

I don't know much about novel gameplay though, so who knows it might be within reach for you.

I'd like to do a mobile development game, but thats for the future I think!

Multiplayer games are incredibly hard to make without any game development experience.

The easiest way to do it is to mod an existing game that already has multiplayer support, but you'd need a game with an engine that's suitable for the genre of game you're developing. You wouldn't do a FPS mod of a racing game for example - well you could, but it'd be much harder than using a FPS game as a base.

Does the unreal engine not have multiplayer already? Seeing as they are developing unreal tournament 4.

This multiplayer is limited to sub 7 people, so balance would be an issue, but surely the technical sid wouldn't be "too" difficult?

 

[Lifelong]

Vague question is vague!

How hard is it to make a video game version of tic-tac-toe? You could probably do it in a week with no prior knowledge of programming.

How hard is it to make a sprawling open world RPG like The Witcher 3? Depends on how many people are you planning to hire for the next 5 years

I'm guessing since you're mentioning the Unreal devkit you're aiming for something relatively complex, and a toolkit is a good place to star, however the ease of making it do what you want it to do will depend on how well suited the toolkit is to the "novel gameplay" you have in mind.

TL;DR version - it depends

Relatively small closed environments, probably 7-8 levels. Need a moderate but not excessive amount of detail. 5-6 types of "weapons"

Graphics would have to be reasonable, not for the style of game, but merely because thats what people would want!

I guess I need to do more research to see what needs to be done and what can be done.

 

[Lifelong]

What type of gameplay specifically? What 'novel' aspect are you referring to. I get you may not want to give away your idea, but I doubt any serious game developers are on here scouring for ideas.

What does 'relatively small, closed environments' mean specifically? Use comparisons.

Generally, if you're actually thinking of making a go at a serious product release that isn't some bargain bin-type crap, I'd say you're probably looking at a difficulty of 'extreme' to 'impossible' without more people, more time, more money and more expertise/experience(this is a big one).

I'd probably work on toying around with little pet projects and learning the ropes before investing any time, effort and money into making a proper game.

It'll be an FPS game, built on other mechanics, but with a couple new things. I've had a look at existing ideas around this, and its sort of being done before (ish) so it looks possible to do.

Money wise I'm limited to putting in around 500 a month (could go to 1000, but I'm not going to "miss" 500).

Reading around it, you're right in that I'm lacking experience first and foremost. I've got another brother who would be another head, but he is not specialised in anything in particular.


Would this be sensible?

1) Research fundementals to make sure there are not glaring errors.
2) plan out rough ideas for gameplay mechanics, level design etc.
3) mock them up in the engine (or SDK for source which I dabbled with a few years ago) to get an idea of how it would feel.
4) If it holds up, try and script the actual gameplay mechanics
5) If it passes this scrutiny, then actually start to make/buy assets to flesh it out.

 

[Lifelong]

As for size comparisons, erm, perhaps the size of a small office? For a gameplay comparion, perhaps the biohazard level in killing floor? (I only really play CSGO now). Maybe the size of arms race shoots?