Game Creation/Design Catch All

So I am looking for work and though I haven't been in the game industry for many years but I thought "what the hell" when I saw a job posting for a level designer. The major requirement was experience with unreal engine 4. So I think to myself I have a lot of experience modding so I can whip up something quick like to demo in UE4.
Man, UE4's mapping tools really suck. And at least before you could block something together, even in skethup, and import it as a dxf file to use as a brush to subtract it in to the engine and wham just start playtesting.
Well UE4 is pretty but there importing sucks as obj files crash the editor (which has a really unusually long load startup time) and the fbx import has the normals flipped (so your character can't collide with it) with seemingly no way to flip the normals in the editor. The 2 suggestions are to create a double sided material or to flip the normals in the modeling program. The few times I've tried to flip the normals in the editing program it either does not have that feature or the export reflips the normals.
It is sort of bringing back head aches where the level building process involved using ~6 different programs to get the output correctly in the engine.
I can't help but think no wonder people are increasingly choosing unity for game development.

The general consensus in the games industry is that Unity is easier to learn and Unreal provides better gains for mastery, that is it has a bigger learning curve but from a performance and visual standpoint you can get more out of it. Unity themselves have squeezed some stunning visuals out of their engine (See Adam) but I haven't seen another studio get anything that looks nearly that good out of it, while great looking Unreal games come out all the time.

From an ease-of-use standpoint, I dont think Unity can be beat. A novice can get in there and get creating very fast.

The thing that is frustrating is that I have modded unreal 2 and unreal tournament back in the day and none of the familiarity with the UI applies anymore.
I'd bet the unity/unreal distinction comes from the devs that select unity are really emphasizing the rapid part of RAD. I'd imagine they don't have a lighting guy let alone a team responsible for lighting.
I would suspect that those that are successful with ue4 tend towards that level of professional makeup.
Though on 3d content creation boards there is some buzz about unity taking over pre-viz as they have incorporated robust 3rd party rendering plugins either upcoming or in a recent version.
I am downloading team fortress 2 to do level building/testing. Worldcraft was always my favorite editor and Hammer is the direct successor to it so that seems a more direct work flow for me.

edit: and there you have it... basic 2 room level with lights and a player start in 5 minutes

Cross-posting from the iOS gaming thread: TouchArcade.com just posted an interview that I did with them on the development of my iOS game, Vigil RPG. I thought folks in this thread might find it interesting!

http://toucharcade.com/2017/02/16/rp...

WolverineJon wrote:

Cross-posting from the iOS gaming thread: TouchArcade.com just posted an interview that I did with them on the development of my iOS game, Vigil RPG. I thought folks in this thread might find it interesting!

http://toucharcade.com/2017/02/16/rp...

Nice article! I enjoyed reading it. Some of the stuff you're shared here, but it goes into quite a bit of depth there.

Looks like Microsoft is finally ready to deliver on their launch promise of being able to use retail Xbox Ones as dev kits:

Introducing the Xbox Live Creators Program
Xbox is kicking off things this year by announcing the Xbox Live Creators Program, which empowers anyone to rapidly publish Xbox Live-enabled games on Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs, in a totally open way. With the Creators Program, anyone can integrate Xbox Live sign-in, presence, and social features into their UWP games, then publish their game to Xbox One and Windows 10. This means their title can see exposure to every Xbox One owner across the Xbox One family of devices, including Project Scorpio this holiday, as well as hundreds of millions of Windows 10 PCs, and millions of folks using the Xbox app on mobile platforms.

The Creators Program offers a straightforward way for developers to address a huge audience across Windows and Xbox One, with minimal additional development time. An important element is that developers can continue using the tools they’re already using today to create UWP games. Game engines with “out of the box” support for UWP games include Construct 2, MonoGame, Unity, and Xenko. The program works with retail Xbox One consoles, so you won’t need a dev kit to get started. For developers who want access to more Xbox Live capabilities and to gain additional development and marketing support for their game, they can enroll in the ID@Xbox program – even after their game ships.

On Windows 10 PC, games from the Creators Program will be available in the Windows Store. Xbox One offers players a more curated store experience, so games from the Creators Program will appear in a new, distinct Creators games section in the Store. This gives the best of both worlds – the curated store experience console players know and expect, and the opportunities that a totally open store experience offers as well. I’m stoked to see what developers create and offer the Xbox community with the Xbox Live Creators Program!

Starting today, we encourage developers to download and start using the Xbox Live Creators SDK at https://developer.microsoft.com/game..., where they can learn all the details of the program. The Creators Program is currently in preview, so the program will pilot with a select group of developers initially. We will be opening store publishing submissions to all developers soon.

Read more at http://news.xbox.com/2017/03/01/xbox...

OK, please excuse the "greeness" of this post, and direct me elsewhere if I need to go there.

I've been tinkering with a few ideas for education support for my own children (pre-primary through to year 4/5), things like numeracy, phonics, CVC words, and proficency with multiplication tables, etc.

I have limited experience with coding. Like, REALLY limited. But I'm not afraid to learn functional code, if it helps to make the process work as I need it to.

So, is there a suite of tools that can be used to "make games"?

I have all the knowledge and experience to make assests (2D, and some 3D proficiency), I'm just looking for something that I can use to "hang it all together".

I have RPG Maker, and I also have GameMaker Studio Pro thanks to a recent Humble Bundle. Am I in the right space with these, or is there something more "universal"?

I know this is a very vague question, without knowing what kind of games I'd even be developing, I'm only really grasping a whisps of ideas myself at this stage.

TLDR: Is there an app, or suite of apps, that presents a one size fits all solution (or most sizes even)?

m0nk3yboy wrote:

TLDR: Is there an app, or suite of apps, that presents a one size fits all solution (or most sizes even)?

GameMaker Studio Pro is likely the right solution. It's usually designated a "beginner" tool for making games, but don't let that moniker fool you: it is a full featured game engine, and does have the ability to make great games.

You might have to spring for anything more than PC builds it looks like, but overall it's a solid tool.

EDIT; looks like anything other than PC

I paid a little more and got the Android, iOS and Windows8 phone export plugins with the Humble Bundle deal.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll make some time, and dig into it, once I bed down some actual concepts.

I've put about 20-40 hours each into GameMaker, Unity, and XCode. I'm not sure I'd recommend GameMaker if you're looking to do this for more than one or two games. If you want to make one game that falls within fairly generic bounds, sure, GameMaker will likely get you there.

However, if you're looking to stick with this for a longer time period, or build something a bit more unique, I'd recommend Unity. Although the learning curve is slightly steeper, I feel like Unity is stronger, more flexible, more logical, and better supported.

Take this with a grain of salt, though, as I haven't made an original game yet.

What are you doing in XCode? Working on Swift or something else?

Speaking of Swift has anyone played around with Swift Playgrounds on an iPad?

I'd like to start making a couple very limited scope Unity games (small 5-10 minute games) on my own. I've done general programming and stuff getting a mathematical science degree back in school. Is there a good step-by-step walkthrough/run-through of putting together a really simple game in Unity? I don't really want to spend much money on this whim taking a course or something. The reason I want a step by step walkthrough is I just want to have an overview of what it actually takes to put together a simple game in Unity. I feel like going through that would allow me to wrap my head around what goes into a tiny game.

I was thinking I could dedicate like 4 hours a week to this whim. I'm busy, and I would have to keep the time limited so I wouldn't get burned out. I would love to try and make a simple 5-10 minute game each month that includes some music I would write on my own. Putting together some digital music is another thing I need to kick myself into doing. I relatively recently got all the tools to do that and have a dedicated mac with Logic and some extra stuff to do that.

Edit: Buying a book that's a good walkthrough wouldn't necessarily be a problem if it's what I need to do.

The official Unity tutorials do a pretty good job, and cover a range of game types. There's also a huge amount of youtube videos, with a fairly decent quality distribution, so if you can find a person that fits your way of thinking / project goals that's a good starting point.

m0nk3yboy wrote:

*snip*
TLDR: Is there an app, or suite of apps, that presents a one size fits all solution (or most sizes even)?

If you are not making "real" games and just looking for doing stuff for your kids, and potentially with your kids, you could check out Scratch

You can do some cool stuff pretty easily

Senkrad wrote:
m0nk3yboy wrote:

*snip*
TLDR: Is there an app, or suite of apps, that presents a one size fits all solution (or most sizes even)?

If you are not making "real" games and just looking for doing stuff for your kids, and potentially with your kids, you could check out Scratch

You can do some cool stuff pretty easily

We're actually doing that in a few weeks. My kids are on the Summer/Autumn break, and the bookclub had a "make 10 games in Scratch" tutorial book, so we are doing that together.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

I'd like to start making a couple very limited scope Unity games (small 5-10 minute games) on my own. I've done general programming and stuff getting a mathematical science degree back in school. Is there a good step-by-step walkthrough/run-through of putting together a really simple game in Unity?

Udemy seems to be having a sale right now. Bonus_Eruptus hooked me up with a learn to code by making games C# course, but there are some ones specifically for Unity.

Try this one, currently on sale for US$10 (ends 31 March)

Scratch is a lot of fun. I didn't go to far into it as it didn't have what I wanted, but I thought the system was pretty cool. My son was able to "make things go" pretty easily. When we discovered it, I had just finished teaching about a pen and paper game I used to play as a kid, where you flick a pencil on the page to move your spaceship or fire so I made that for him in Scratch as a test project.

Flick Battle

m0nk3yboy wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:

I'd like to start making a couple very limited scope Unity games (small 5-10 minute games) on my own. I've done general programming and stuff getting a mathematical science degree back in school. Is there a good step-by-step walkthrough/run-through of putting together a really simple game in Unity?

Udemy seems to be having a sale right now. Bonus_Eruptus hooked me up with a learn to code by making games C# course, but there are some ones specifically for Unity.

Try this one, currently on sale for US$10 (ends 31 March)

Cool. I also found out that Unity seems to have some simple tutorials of the type I was looking for. I'm planning on dedicating a couple hours to try and go through one of those this weekend.

Edit: How do you get it for $10? Is there a coupon code or something? It just shows the regular $195.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:
m0nk3yboy wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:

I'd like to start making a couple very limited scope Unity games (small 5-10 minute games) on my own. I've done general programming and stuff getting a mathematical science degree back in school. Is there a good step-by-step walkthrough/run-through of putting together a really simple game in Unity?

Udemy seems to be having a sale right now. Bonus_Eruptus hooked me up with a learn to code by making games C# course, but there are some ones specifically for Unity.

Try this one, currently on sale for US$10 (ends 31 March)

Cool. I also found out that Unity seems to have some simple tutorials of the type I was looking for. I'm planning on dedicating a couple hours to try and go through one of those this weekend.

Edit: How do you get it for $10? Is there a coupon code or something? It just shows the regular $195.

Ah... I had a similar issue when Bonus sent me through the link.

I'll send you a PM

If you can get Learn to Code by Making Games - Complete C# Unity Developer course https://www.udemy.com/unitycourse/ for that $10 price, go for it. Such a good course

Skraut wrote:

If you can get Learn to Code by Making Games - Complete C# Unity Developer course https://www.udemy.com/unitycourse/ for that $10 price, go for it. Such a good course

I was able to get it for $10 when creating an account. They ended up giving me that offer on a first course just to create the account, so I'm good to go.

That's the course Bonus gifted me Skraut. The guys presenting are very easy to listen to.

The one I got m0nk3yboy was on sale for $15, but kept coming up at $195, so I wrote their support and got a coupon to get it for $10, so if it's not giving you the discount, try that route.

I've become a bit of Udemy Junkie.

I got a further invitation to buy discount courses (AU$15, US$10). I now have a "learning pile", but I'm fairly cetain I've got all my bases covered, going forward

The Guitar lessons are for my kids, and the Clip Studio Paint is an exploration in photoshop alternatives for creating "hand drawn" assets.

Udemy courses wrote:

Start Making Comics with Manga Studio 5 / Clip Studio Paint
Adam Savage, Graphic Designer, Math and English Instructor

Learn to Code by Making Games - Complete C# Unity Developer
Ben Tristem, Best-selling Instructor, Game Developer, Online Entrepreneur

Master Unity By Building 6 Fully Featured Games From Scratch
Awesome Tuts, Teaching People How To Make Games And Apps

Learn 3D Modelling - The Complete Blender Creator Course
Ben Tristem, Best-selling Instructor, Game Developer, Online Entrepreneur

Complete Guitar System - Beginner to Advanced
Erich Andreas, #1 on Udemy! 30+ Years, 1000s of Students, Millions of Views

Become a Game Maker with GameMaker Studio 1.4
Benjamin Anderson, Game Maker, Game Designer, GameMaker User, and Teacher

The Unreal Engine Developer Course - Learn C++ & Make Games
Ben Tristem, Best-selling Instructor, Game Developer, Online Entrepreneur

Finish Your First Game Quickly Using GameMaker Studio
Benjamin Anderson, Game Maker, Game Designer, GameMaker User, and Teacher

iOS 10 & Swift 3: From Beginner to Paid Professional
Mark Price, Unity 3D Android iOS 10 Swift 3 & React Teacher

Mobile Game Development With Gamemaker Studio
John S, Game Devloper, Game Designer, GameMaker User, Game Maker

Digital Painting in Manga Studio 5 - Working in Perspective
Robert Marzullo, Comic Book Artist / Illustrator

Master Manga Studio 5: Bonus Drawing and Painting
Neil Fontaine, Art Instructor-Comic Artist-writer

Deleted.

Unit 5.X cookbook for free for 21 hours from the time of posting.

LINK

athros wrote:

Unit 5.X cookbook for free for 21 hours from the time of posting.

LINK

Grabbed it, thanks!

Skimming back a page, I think I've just started the pixel art course you've taken Godzilla. Tried teaching myself a couple years ago, your lil dragon and cheetah nudged me to have another go.

(I pm'd last minute to see if recommended but the £10 sale was up)

Now suddenly work has got crazy, so not sure when'll get chance to properly get stuck in.

There is a kickstarter going on right now for a tutorial class for the Godot engine. I've been messing around with Godot for a few months and really like it. It is most similar to Unity, but completely open source MIT Licensed. The 2D engine is more efficient than Unity as it has a true 2D engine rather than Unity's way of doing 2D in a 3D engine.

The 3D portion of Godot needs some work but that is the focus of the 3.0 release due out this summer.

Obviously if you want to take advantage of the massive asset store for Unity, work in a large group on a major project, or need a more polished engine, Unity's the way to go, but if you want something lighter weight, but still pretty powerful, and open source, so you aren't locked into a monthly contract f you make money, then take a look at Godot

The kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects... made its goal in the first 12 hours, but there are additional stretch goals to have the tutorial author update the official Godot tutorials and he has been releasing free tutorials throughout the campaign.

The 2D engine is more efficient than Unity as it has a true 2D engine rather than Unity's way of doing 2D in a 3D engine.

I've only looked briefly because Godot isn't particularly useful to me, but as near as I can tell this isn't accurate. Godot uses an 3D worldspace through orthographic projection, just like everything else (even something specialized like iOS's SpriteKit).