Frequently Asked Question #56:
How Do I Make My Own Video Game?

October, 2005

I design and produce video games, but I don't program them. I'm not a programmer, but people ask me this question a lot. So I'll give it my best shot. I get a range of questions, everything from "how do I make my own Playstation game" to "what game dev tools should I get to make my own MMORPG" to "what's the best game to mod" to "what the heck is modding?" I might not be able to answer all those, but maybe you'll find some useful general concepts and specific links here.

This paragraph added August 14, 2006. Today Microsoft announced a consumer version of the Xbox 360 SDK. It's called XNA Game Studio Express. Starting August 30, 2006, it'll be available for an annual subscription of $99. You have to have a Windows PC, you can use the system to create your own video game and share them on Xbox Live. Microsoft refers to it as a "YouTube for video games." The rest of this article was written before Microsoft announced this new program. The rest of this article is still mostly applicable (I'm not editing it, just adding this paragraph), and I recommend you read it. We return you now to our regularly scheduled program.

1. How Do I Make My Own Game For My Playstation 2 (Xbox, Nintendo, Game Boy, etc.)?

A: You can't. The manufacturers of game consoles intentionally made their machines use proprietary technology that cannot be programmed by a novice. They did this for their own reasons based on video game history (early 1980's).

Well, I exaggerated a little when I said "you can't." You can... if you go through the following steps:

1. Get a programming degree. In your spare time, work on your own stuff, make mods and a demo on the computer.
2. Get a job with a game company. They probably won't give you a job without a degree (and a really solid demo disc).
3. After several years' experience programming games for a game company, quit your job and start your own company. (You won't be ready to start your own game company until you've had several years' experience in the industry - see FAQ 29.)
4. Contact the manufacturer of the game console you're interested in and become a licensed developer. Shell out the money (tens of thousands of dollars, probably) to get the SDK and the development hardware. They won't license you as a developer and sell you the SDK until you've started your own company and have several years' experience in the biz.

Just four steps! That's not so bad. But of course, the consoles and the companies will be different by the time you get to this point, so you can forget about Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Revolution, Game Boy Super Advance, or whatever - we don't yet know what the consoles will be by the time you finish the four steps and are ready to create your own console game.

2. That Sucks! So What Am I Supposed To Do???

A: Program your game on the computer instead.

3. Doh! Why Didn't I Think Of That??

A: Because you love your console. I understand that. But really, you can make a computer do just about everything your favorite console will do - at least, close enough so you can impress your family, friends, and enemies. Well, maybe not your enemies. They hate you, and no game that you program will change that.

4. How Do I Program A Game On My Computer?

A: How should I know? I'm not a programmer. Get some software. Learn how to use it.

5. What Software Should I Get? (By the way, why didn't you just start with this - why'd you make me read all your lousy humor before you finally told me what I really wanted, regardless of how I erroneously worded my original question? You curmudgeon.)

A: It doesn't matter. Get any software. A lot of guys go online and ask this, then they get 30 different answers, and they don't know which one of those 30 programs is the best one for them. You might have a computer game right now that includes mod tools. Or you can go online and do a Google search and find several free programs available for instant download. Why not just download them and play around with them! You can waste a couple weeks asking people in chat rooms which program is best for you - or you can spend a few days trying different free downloads. Which of those approaches really sounds better?

6. What The Heck Do You Mean, "It Doesn't Matter" Which Software?? How Can You Say That?

A: Talk to 30 different game programmers. They all started learning with different tools. Yet they all became game programmers! ... Think about it.

7. I Understand You're Not A Programmer. But If You Were Going To Learn How To Program A Game, Where Would You Begin?

A: I might learn Flash, or I might start with a mod.

8. But Flash Is For Simple Online Games, And What The Heck Is A Mod?

A: That's an observation and a question. I'll respond to both, in order.

Maybe simple online games aren't your thing, but you asked me a hypothetical about what I would do. And I'm not you! As for modding...

Mod tools are tools provided by the creators of a computer game so fans can make their own levels. Not all computer games come with mod tools, but quite a number of them do. I read a thread recently on either the IGDA n00bs forum or the comp.games.development.design newsgroup where a n00b was asking how to start programming his own stuff. People advised him to make mods, and they mentioned a game that came with mod tools. The n00b says, "Aargh! I had that game, and just sold it the other day!"

Just go on Google (or your favorite search engine) and, for the search string, type "mod tools" - you'll get a whole list of games that include mod tools, along with links to follow to learn about using them. And see Resources, below.

9. But I Don't Want To Make Levels - I Want To Make My Dream Game!

A: Typical. You want to do it all, you want to do it right now, and you didn't want to hear this realistic reply. Look, you have a lot to learn (unless you are already fully expert in C++ and DirectX, which if you're reading this you aren't). You'll learn a lot by making mods - you gotta start somewhere, right? You can supplement that with classes in C++ and DirectX. It's going to take time, but modding will get you there in less time than some other ways. But you still need to study programming.

10. I Tried What You Said - I Tried Modding, But It Was Way Over My Head

A: Well, then why didn't you just skip down here to question #10 instead of making me write answers 1-9?? (^_^) Just kidding. Mod tools are probably over my head too (I haven't even looked at them). Some lower-level beginner programs do exist - programs that let you make simple games without writing any actual code. To do more, you need to learn the basics of programming. I also hear that there are a couple of programs that teach programming basics and let you learn a little about making games at the same time. I've never looked at those either, but check out blitzbasic, Game Maker, and Project Fun. They're listed in the links section, below.

11. Well, Thanks For Nothing!

A: I'm not finished yet. The real meaty part of this FAQ is below!

RESOURCES, LINKS, AND OTHER GOOD STUFF

These tips used to be at the bottom of FAQ 15 but it made sense to put them here.

BASIC BEGINNER STUFF

• There's an excellent starter tutorial for aspiring do-it-yourself game programmers at gamedev.net.

• Game Maker is Mark Overmars' program you can use to create your own game. For those who aren't ready to learn C++ just yet! (^_^) Go to / or also downloadable at pcgameworld.com. PC Gameworld says: "Game Maker is a program that allows you to make exciting computer games without the need to write a single line of code. Using easy to learn drag-and-drop actions you can make professional looking games in little time. Games with backgrounds, animated graphics, music and sound effects. And once you get more experienced there is a built-in programming language that gives you full flexibility. You can use the games you produced in any way you like."

• Torque Game Builder costs $100 and is available at http://www.garagegames.com/products/torque/tgb/. It's a 2D game engine that handles sprites, scrolling backgrounds, 3D objects, TorqueNET Lite networking, physics, and collision detection.

• Gamestudio is "an authoring suite for 2D and 3D multimedia projects, especially computer games, combining the C-Script programming language with a high end 3D engine, a 2D engine, a physics engine, level, terrain and model editors, and huge libraries of 3D objects." Free trial version available at http://www.conitec.net/english/gstudio/.

• Scrolling Game Development Kit -- http://gamedev.sf.net/

• From a post on the Game Design BB by David Dillion, 18 Sep 2002: "If your [sic] not a industry pro you might want to use game making tools that take no programming like klik and play and the games factory.Or learn basic - it's the simpelest [sic] programming language, just don't get one of those huge books."

• BB regular Kyle Quinland offers this advice for novice n00b programmer wannabes: "Klik and Play [is]... not very powerful... but it's a start." Just go on Google and type in "klik and play" - you'll find download sites. You can probably find them even quicker by typing ["klik and play" download] (just type everything within the square brackets, not the square brackets themselves). I heartily echo the recommendation to try easy programs, outgrow them, and move up a step at a time to harder ones ("more features" always equates to "harder to use").

• An excellent site for free downloadable code with explanations of the code -- www.gametutorials.com

• Game school Digipen has created Project Fun, "an amazing way for you to make your own games right on your personal computer. Project FUN is a suite of tools designed to make the process of learning how to program games FUN. By using games as the basis for instruction, and by making game creation the objective of all the assignments, people with no programming experience can not only learn how to program, but they can learn how to create their own games that they then can give freely to their friends and family."

• BB poster Sonny (the blue saynt) offered this trio of tutorial links in October, 2004 while I was at the KGC in Seoul, S. Korea:
  
  http://www.dutchthewiz.com/vb/games
  http://www.vbexplorer.com/vbexplorer/graphictutorials.asp
  http://www.gamemaker.nl

• For those who prefer books to web learning all the time, how about "MAKE AMAZING GAMES IN MINUTES" by Jason Darby (Charles River Media, www.charlesriver.com); ISBN: 1-58450-407-2. Publisher says: "A comprehensive approach to learning how to create games. Many game enthusiasts have aspirations to create their own games but don’t know where to start. Make Amazing Games in Minutes introduces the game creation process to the aspiring game developer with no experience or programming ability. Taking the reader step-by-step through the various stages of developing a game and using the popular “drag and drop” game creation software included on the CD-ROM, the reader can build his very own games. Using the tutorials and step-by-step methods, the reader will complete a fully playable retro game, as well as platform, bat & ball, and side-scrolling shoot-em up games. Other chapters cover more complex game features such as adding effects and scoreboards, porting the game onto the Web, and installation script building. This must-have book is the essential resource for anyone interested in learning game creation and the retro game style."

• The 2D Shooter Game Creator - http://redsparkstudios.co.uk/2dsgc.htm - A game creation tool that is easy to use and requires no programming. Create your own 2D scrolling shooting games.

• And check out http://www.blitzbasic.com/

• If you want to make text adventure games, check out the Text Adventure Development System. And Hugo is "a complete design system for developing interactive fiction." Thanks to Brian Upton for the links!

• From Doug, 4/23/02: "there is a very hyped up total conversion community out there that is trying some work with the tools being released for the Dungeon Siege engine. It's basically every tool the developers used to make the game, and it's supposed to allow you to make an entire game (new graphics skins, story, scripting) with little to no programming. Several people are remaking old favorite games with the new upgraded graphics engine capabilities of this new engine. At the very least your viewers could use the games built in graphics and just make their own new story line (you can record voice acting on your microphone too) It'd be a very good thing to add to their portfolio. http://www.planetdungeonsiege.com/ has some info about it."

• From Carey Chico of Pandemic Studios: "Look for more tools at www.planetquake.com - and here's the URL of a 3d engine site that displays individual and company based 3d demos and prototypes of their software: http://cg.cs.tu-berlin.de/~ki/engines.html . For those interested in other tools, look for the games with the toolsets. Battlezone 2 came with a mission editing tool - and so did Unreal and Quake, so those are good places for wannabes to start."

• Zhangfan offered this: "To those who wants to know about q3 modding: www.q3center.com maybe a good site,check out the coding page and have a search at www.planetquake.com/quake3."

• Just a few games that can be modded:

  • Battlefield
  • Battlezone 2
  • Dungeon Siege
  • Freedom Force
  • Half-Life 2
  • Max Payne
  • Neverwinter Nights
  • Quake 3
  • Unreal

  (Just to name a few.)

• It's easy to find lots more information on mod tools. Just go on Google and try these search strings:

  • mod tools
  • mod sdk
  • "level design" sdk
  • game engine for beginners

  And try your own search strings too. (Note that using the quote marks around "level design" is important - it tells Google to search for that exact word string.)

• Once you've graduated beyond non-coding game-making tools, you can try programming small games on the home computer (to be played on the home computer). Learn C++ and then use a library like the DirectX SDK, Allegro or OpenGL to create a small game. Simple is best for starters - tic-tac-toe, crosswords, checkers, cards, falling blocks, tile-matching, etc. You'd be surprised how much work there is in just designing and creating the optimal user interface (forget about gameplay for a sec)!

• There's a database of game engines at http://www.devmaster.net/engines/.

• I also hear that Python is a good tool for prototyping PC games, but I do not know exactly what it is. It's at www.pygame.org - from the wording I saw about it on Google, I suspect this might not be a beginner tool. If you know what the phrase, "The library is C++ with a set of Python bindings" means, then have at it! (^_^)

• BB poster "derek" (no capital D) wrote in January 2004: "For those with some previous programming skills (such as BASIC), I would recommend www.darkbasic.com. They are a British company that sells software specifically designed for game production. The software is relatively easy to use/figure out (they have many tutorials, commands list, and message boards) and is $40."

• BB poster Dan Lingman wrote in July 2008: "Just figured you might want to pass along to your devoted followers that there is a new alternative for people looking for cheap 3d tools. Caligari truespace 7.6 is now free. (as in beer)." I'm feeling lazy today, and besides Google and Yahoo, today there's a new search engine, www.cuil.com. Go use a search engine and find it yourself.

• Check out XNA, which offers ways to publish games on Xbox Live Arcade. And there may be a Linux kit for PS3; do your research, check out what's out there. And check my FAQ 60 for other self-publishing options. Making the game is the easy part. Once you've made the game, getting the game out there is a whole nother challenge!

• And of course there's that old standby, Wikipedia. There's a very nice List of Game Engines there.

Further tips are offered by Andy Bayless on his site - http://www.andybayless.com/resources.html.

Got a question or comment about this FAQ? Email your comments to - you'll get a response on the Sloperama Game Design bulletin board.

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© 2005 Tom Sloper. All rights reserved. May not be re-published without written permission of the author.