My rant about game making software

a reply to: undo

You never really answered my question?

Have you tried RPG maker?

If not have you looked at modding?

originally posted by: DeadSeraph
a reply to: undo

You never really answered my question?

Have you tried RPG maker?

If not have you looked at modding?

thats not 3d, which is part of the problem. there's like one 3d rpg creation software out there and i've been keeping tabs on it to see if it's improving or how the owner responds to requests for help. he used to have a forum and now he doesn't. he claims this is because the forum was being spammed relentlessly. now he expects people who need help to create their own forum and invite him to answer questions. i dunno. might be good, but i downloaded the demo and it wa a bit wonky at the time. i have no indication that it's any less so now.

a reply to: undo
Basically op what your talking about is making a game, called game creator. Most of that is out there, plenty of programs and all kinds of things. But ya its the reason why it takes a whole team full of many people to create even the smallest games now a days. I actually thought about going into videogame creating many years ago, but I just cant sit still that long without my mind wondering or my feet itching, and I liked playing games more then making them, but as the years pass I find myself not really liking any games out there, it all kind of wanes on you and its all kind of the same old, but that could just be me.

The programs however are not that complicated, I skimmed through the 3Dmax books and while there pretty thick its not something which cant be done if you wanted to, and really dont use anywhere that much math, or at least the computer is doing it for you, and you just have to guide it. Time consuming yes, complicated nah, and I to suck at math, so if you really tried you could learn to use them more efficiently. However that still does not answer your rant now does it.

I believe most engines out there are already simplified as they can be, and the only way your going to get things more simplified is to use those same engines to create a game called "videogame maker" sort of like the simple RPG maker game. In this it can be done, if you got some RPG thing and you wanted to create your own game, I see no reason why companies should not comply. But yes simplifying things may make a lot of degrees kind of useless, espeicaly if you have everybody able to make there own game worlds.

But in all I dont think it matters, generally most people are good at one thing, and they use there skills for that, for instance most programers have the imagination of a plank, and even if they by themselves created the most complicated engine capable to make the most mind blowing games out there, the program and engines may be complicated as hell and you would need books the size of dictionaries to help you understand, and even if they knew all of it like the back of the hand, really they would completely fail at doing anything with it besides that. And artists or people like you would be dumbfounded if they tried to program it all, ect ect. Basically if programers could create there own games they would have done it long ago. Which is why all big game companies and especially big game out there take teams of people to create a game, and generally they each have there specialties, and after its all done they can only hope that it sells.

Which is why now a days everybody is scared of trying anything new, if there game bombs and is a complete failure and people are fickle let me tell you, and none more so then the consumer and target audience, so if there game drops, there literally out of business and just wasted years and years. And most big companies such as EA, well they mostly just copy paste on games they know and have been proven to sell and they bring in the required people that is necessary for that, which is your whole argument of how the code is there and has been done and redone for ever. Its true, but its also true that if they could do it by themselfs they would have no matter how simple the coding and programing is.

But anyways lets just say you could do all these things by yourself, the art, the programing, the premise, the storyline, the mechanics, how it all fits together and everything else the whole shebang. Well you would have to not be working on it day in day out night in night out with very little sleep for years and years, and then you still would not likely be done, because there is only so much energy in the human body to do anything.

In all I think what you want is feasible, a toned down and streemlined game making engine, but in all essence it would be a game more so then a game engine. In fact if there is a market for that I dont see why companies haven't done it already, so far its moving to that with games and mods and everything but nothing specifically out there that just lets people or groups of people just create there own game. I could see were it would put a lot of people out of business, but then again not really because if you wanted to really make anything truly epic you still would need a whole lot of different skill sets and then some, and then people would still be complaining that they should have added this or that or that even with all the advances in technology its not as fun, etc etc.

I dont know, to tell the truth I dont really know what your trying to do, but if you have trouble with one thing you should probably try something else, and let somebody else who is good at that do it, stick to your strengths basically. But really, you are kind of ranting on things. But your quote " stop pretending like your customers are one man creation studios!" is pretty much on the money, but hey there just programers what do they know about making games. So ya chill ax there undo, I am sure if you spend more time with the programs you will get to know them better, pretty much like everything else in life. Or if not like I said stick to the thinks you want to make and let somebody else do the rest your not good at, its how everybody else does it.

So I'm a little late to the discussion, and probably not skilled/experienced enough to say anything profound...but...what you're describing (OP) is pretty much going to result in a serious lack of variety across multiple titles. I'm sure it's been mentioned but you can't take something like WOW and change a few lines to make it look/feel like Mass Effect. There's just so much more to it than camera angle and graphics/textures.

If you're having a difficult time with the coding part, just understand that it's something that takes a long time to become comfortable with. It is literally like learning a new language, with new grammatical rules being introduced with the more languages you learn (bad description but I'm sure you get what I'm saying). Check this cool resource out from MIT. It's an easy way to get your mind thinking the right way and while it's only a simple tool it is very powerful for the tons of people interested in learning coding.

Unfortunately for you, I don't think the tool that you seek exists at this point. Even if it did, there is just no way that a drag n drop game 'creator' could produce anything near what you can make if you spend the time to learn coding. Just my two cents.

Also check out this series. Pretty much a walkthrough to create a 3d adventure style game in Unity. The series is still in progress, with the last video being uploaded on the 7th of this month I believe. Might be of some help to you.

Also check out the game Unturned on Steam. Free to play early access game, built in unity by one person...who is 17 and learned to make games by using the internet.

I think the thing you need to do is learn and take apart the software piece by piece at a time.

I have used many of these types of programs before and I am fully aware of the steep learning curve required, but it's that way for a reason. Game making IS complex, it isn't supposed to be a point and click engine, if it were then you would end up with a less than desirable result for your game as it will play just like everybody else's because it would have to be so simplified.

It takes me on average 2-3 months to fully understand a program so you really have to put in the time if you want to progress and make the game you want. It's not going to be easy but you will learn a lot along the way and afterwards you will be glad that there was never a generic game engine for everyone to flood the internet with essentially the same games.