New Developer Questions (Help!)

If you’re a new developer I’d suggest you should definitely make some minor / smaller games before going big.

You should also take some time learning blueprints together with C++, it’s going to help you alot.

To work on Steam games, you’ll have to change some settings.
There’s quite a few tutorials / documentations on that so it shouldn’t be too hard to get going.

Hello everyone!

I am very new developer with huge plans for a game. I’ve been stressing about the decision of creating an engine or using an official engine. I can honestly say the majority of my stress comes from lack of knowledge. I took on creating an engine at first because I didn’t want to get into Terms and Service of a big name like UE4 and figuring everything out in between that and getting it on Steam Greenlight. I dove into C++ in this attempt (I’m still learning it for eventual use and possible use in Unreal), but with no knowledge of the language you’re not going to get far into creating an engine in a language as complicated as C++. I have found that UE4 has the most appeal for my interests in the creation of my game (which is going to be a combo of 3D and 2D), however I’m getting lost in the details of it all and want to figure out what is relevant to an indie creator. Here are some of my questions:

  1. What do I need to get started? I have Windows 7 64 bit and I am aware that I need Visual Studios, Itunes, and DirectX version 10 or higher. With the intentions of releasing this on steam, how would you suggest I set everything up?

  2. Besides basic knowledge of C++ (And other typical things like the knowledge of game physics, geometry, & advanced math), are there other things I should know before I start development?

  3. As far as profit goes, say I start making a lot off my creation and exceed the $3000 every quarter month, therefore needing to start paying royalty. Can someone expound upon the details of this scenario and what is required of me?

As my questions are answered I’ll be able to better formulate other inquiries of mine that I might need explanations for. I would be very grateful for any other tips and pointers regarding game development.

Thanks for your help!

~TC

Thanks for your help. I have the intentions of starting off with some simple games like Pong, Pacman, Tower Defense, etc. I’ll start looking into the blueprints and some basics as well.

Here are some tips I wish I knew when starting out.

  1. Start with this series https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Videos/PLZlv_N0_O1gasd4IcOe9Cx9wHoBB7rxFl/w4XlBKeE46E/index.html
  2. Then this one https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Videos/PLZlv_N0_O1gY35ezlSQn1sWOGfh4C7ewO/EFXMW_UEDco/index.html
  3. And this https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Videos/PLZlv_N0_O1ga2b_ZaJoaR5dLHOFw4-MMl/zaVY5A0hqiI/index.html

WATCH THEM ALL they are the core of your ue4 essentials after that you can build off it later

  1. answerhub is your best friend
  2. The internet in general is your best friend
  3. When you fail at programming something DONT BE DISCOURAGED this is normal a key principal of programming is failing faster. Instead of spending hours perfecting a concept to see it not work.
  4. Start small
  5. START SMALL
  6. START SMALL
  7. cannot stress this enough i bet you have big plans and they are probably great ideas, but ideas are useless unless you know how to put them into action.
  8. Don’t start with pong frogger ect. make a simple FPS that can be a full 3-5 hour game in about 3-6 months
  9. Finally learn game theory “not the youtube show actual level design”
  10. The internet is your best friend here look up Mark brown and extra credits for general info then research the specifics for your game.

That is my advice. It will take hard work and time. A lot of time to achieve your goals, but if you are determined enough and pray to the Lord you can do whatever you set your mind to. Good Luck!

You’re welcome :slight_smile: good luck with the engine. Unreal is awesome!

Thank you!

Thanks a lot for the advice, I definitely have the determination to carry this out and no intentions of giving up at any point. The only thing that will be changing is the time from the start to the end of the game creation. I have one goal while making it and that’s to make it exactly how I intended it be. I know it wouldn’t be wise to jump right in without any prior knowledge to reference back to. I’m glad I stumbled upon this community to start me out. I’ve already obtained double the learning material I would have found myself. Thanks again, this helped a ton.